Tony ‘ubald’ Marcotte sent word that he’d created a new Halo render – we’ve added it to his gallery here. Those hunters look badass!(Louis Wu 16:06:57 UTC)

LazerBlader found the True Heroes Plasma Blaster (it’s a plastic AR-lookalike; we mentioned it back in September) marketed by a different company (BuzzBeeToys), and on the shelves in K-Mart. (Front – 187k | Back – 182k) Price is a little cheaper than the first iteration – $12.99. He also ran across painted versions for sale on eBay (here, still running, and here, won last week). Entrepreneurism on display!(Louis Wu 16:04:34 UTC)

SeverianofUrth wrote this week’s HBO Fan Fic Pick of the Week – he wasn’t thrilled with his choices, but still made some judgements. Go see what he thought.(Louis Wu 16:04:12 UTC)

Hawty McBloggy ran across a series of vids called ‘Halo 3 Fails’ – folks doing stuff badly… hilariously. According to her, the fifth episode is the best so far. (Louis Wu 16:02:55 UTC)

ellpolloguapo let us know about a Christmas Eve gaming session of Hawty McBloggy forum regulars that’s been immortalized by CrazedOne1988 in a montage – check it out!(Louis Wu 16:01:18 UTC)

Adam Susskind wrote up a tutorial for creating screenshot-based Halo 3 comics; give it a read if you’d like to get started doing this!(Louis Wu 16:00:29 UTC)

ZZoMBiE13 whipped up what he considers to be his best Halo art ever. (And that’s saying something.) You can view the full-sized image at DeviantART… or a desktop-formatted version in our own Wallpaper section. I would agree that it’s very, very good.(Louis Wu 15:49:51 UTC)

2900d4u did a nice job of summarizing the new Halo Wars CES vids available for your viewing pleasure – swing by for links to presentations, gameplay, and demos.(Louis Wu 15:47:28 UTC)

radiant penguin stopped in with a bunch of sword-based (or Elite-based) panoramas – they’re not new, but it’s the first time he’s posting them on our forum. Check ’em out! (The last one could have almost come from Gears of War…)(Louis Wu 15:46:34 UTC)

The Bungie Weekly Update is online now – a taste of ODST development, a little bit of other news, and a final Bungie podcast for 2008 – almost 2 hours, 100 mb, full of… stuff. Go read, go listen! (As usual, it’s available in our Weekly Update Archive if you need or want it there.)(Louis Wu 02:08:03 UTC)

Heh – urk points out a pretty funny splatter spree filmed by BvrBoy123; I think the best part is the front red guy teabagging the ground just before getting pasted.(Louis Wu 19:45:29 UTC)