EternalDarkWing let us know that a friend created a custom Halo 3 Grunt Birthday Party skull - pics and details can be found at Destructoid. It’s even got the input plug!(Louis Wu 12:44:31 +0000)

Last week, I asked for stories from couples that game together, or that met while gaming. (It seems that submissions to that thread have dwindled; I guess it’s time to start thinking about compiling the info into a story…) On the other side of that issue is this kind of thing. People have always groused to friends when their spouse is spending too much time doing something they find less than valuable… but blogging about it - grousing to a MUCH larger potential audience, most of whom don’t actually know you or know how lighthearted (or serious) your grousing is - seems… meaner.(Louis Wu 13:36:15 +0000)

Zafar Iqbal found a site that’s offering to record Halo 3 clips in any resolution up to 1080i for you. Eventually it’ll be a paid service, but right now they’re offering a 7-day free trial. Swing by for details!(Louis Wu 13:29:09 +0000)

Bungie posted their latest Halo Humpday Challenge last night - it’s easier to pull off a Bungie win when both teams are Bungie. They played on the new maps - if you want to get a sense for flow, give it a read! BolognaFire was first with the news.(Louis Wu 12:57:22 +0000)

Elnea’s posted Halo Action Figure Theater #139 - the pretty blue lady explains how she makes her most important choices. I think it’s a valuable glimpse into the female mind.(Louis Wu 13:48:49 +0000)

Yesterday, we mentioned a Halo theme for Ericsson phones - there was interest in the forum, so Don sent along the theme itself. It’s quite small (30k, zipped); to install it, put it in your phone’s “theme” directory then apply it by going to settings > display > theme. (The theme itself has an underscore in the front of its name; it’s there so that the theme sits at the top of the list. If you’d rather remove it, there’s no problem doing so.) Thanks, Don!(Louis Wu 13:33:04 +0000)

Dennis Powers let us know that the Halo CE Chronicles series ‘Shipwrecked’ Episode 4 is out - The Exception shows what happens when you get too hungry.(Louis Wu 12:29:49 +0000)

If you missed the ‘Our Favorite Things’ movie download last week (there aren’t that many of you who have, we’ve served almost 100,000 copies of it, in various flavors), Bungie has made it available (for free, of course) on Xbox LIVE Marketplace. Head to New Arrivals -> Halo 3 to grab it! There are a lot of people with better picture and sound on their TV than their computer monitor… and this puppy takes nice advantage of that.(Louis Wu 10:56:12 +0000)

Bungie reminds you that the Heroic DLC is now free - there was an issue this morning making them available, but they’re up now. Swing by Xbox LIVE Marketplace and grab ‘em if you don’t already have ‘em!(Louis Wu 17:00:23 +0000)

The Rooster Teeth crew has released Recovery One, Part IV, with Director’s Commentary (for sponsors) and without (for the masses). It’s the finale of a great mini-series… go watch! (If you’re a sponsor, there are some intriguing hints about what might be coming next…)(Louis Wu 05:05:36 +0000)