It’s official!

ElzarTheBam found a Reach machinima that mimicked the Dead Island trailer – pretty nicely done!(Louis Wu 14:26:41 UTC)

FyreWulff pointed out that Reach is now available for download from Games on Demand – it’s $50, which is $10 more than you’ll find it for in Gamestop, Wal-Mart, or Amazon right now, but it also removes the need for a disc in your disc tray. Amazing that it’s out so soon on this service!(Louis Wu 14:19:21 UTC)

BlueNinja whipped up 4 new panoramas from the Defiant maps – you can view them at Views from the Edge. So pretty…(Louis Wu 14:15:31 UTC)

spawn.com is giving away some Halo: Reach figures – just answer a few questions correctly, and you’re entered! Thanks, Mr.Sci-Fi. (Louis Wu 14:15:05 UTC)

Stephen Loftus managed to get out of Condemned… looks like the outside of the station was built by an Art Deco fan! (Louis Wu 14:14:40 UTC)

TTL Demag0gue stopped in with word of the latest Reclaimer – and an explanation of the oddness that took place over the weekend. (Louis Wu 14:14:15 UTC)

Yesterday, we mentioned a piece of Forge art that seemed out of the normal range of possibilities. b0anerges put together a film showing how he created the shot. Amazing! (Louis Wu 14:13:47 UTC)

Bungie.net stats are now available on your mobile phone – check out the new screens in this preview article, and then log in with your smartphone! (Louis Wu 14:13:23 UTC)

Stephen Loftus has added another 10 images to his ‘Signs of Halo’ collection – check the ‘Civilian’, ‘Miscellaneous’, and ‘UNSC’ sections for new goodies. Once again, I’m seeing things I never noticed in-game… (Louis Wu 14:12:56 UTC)

Halo Waypoint has gorgeous desktops based on Defiant concept art, in a multitude of sizes – go pick some! (Louis Wu 14:12:09 UTC)

The Defiant Map Pack is now available for download from Xbox LIVE Marketplace… 800 spacebucks buys you three of the best Reach maps there are! (Louis Wu 14:11:16 UTC)

Our winners from the Fly to Win contest have been notified, with their codes – congrats to:

Level 1: Hitmonchan107, dCon V, ANUBIS x MT
Level 2: SPECLAFRYRICE, Shuntup, theUnjust
Level 3: chris101b, windupharlequin, Pfhrogblast
Level 4: TacoPizzaHunter, Dmorr07, tinytim3501
Level 5: the henery, NartFOpc, Swiftsure

The high score list is still active; let’s see how long it takes for those scores to be beaten! (No more codes for the beaters, though… sorry.)(Louis Wu 23:28:02 UTC)

Adam Pavlacka let us know that WorthPlaying is giving away Defiant codes on Twitter – no later than end of day tomorrow. Start following!(Louis Wu 23:24:04 UTC)

Blinkz let us know that HaloTracker has a pair of Defiant codes to give away – one at 8PM EST, the other at 10PM, both in their forum chat box. Codes will be posted with missing characters to give everyone a chance to guess correctly. (Given the response to Waypoint’s use of this technique, I’m guessing there’ll be a lot of angry people at HaloTracker tonight.)(Louis Wu 22:58:45 UTC)

GhaleonEB has gone into great detail about how his most recent map has evolved, and why – the discussion should help almost anyone creating maps with Forge. I don’t build maps with Forge, and I found it fascinating – it’ll make you look at play spaces differently. (Louis Wu 22:15:05 UTC)