Yesterday, Gavino, a well-known fixture in the Red vs Blue community, posted a Halo Compilation. (Most of us call those things ‘montages’ - but hey, he’s a brit.) Now, normally, I wouldn’t even mention stuff that’s posted in RvB journals, because they’re not visible without an account… but this vid is pretty fun, so we put up local copies (QuickTime | WMP9 - each about 50 mb) if you don’t have an account. (If you do, you can watch it streaming, and you can comment.) Fun gameplay (plenty of betrayals), fun music, nice editing. Go enjoy! Update: RvB’s web guy, Ben, let me know that I’m behind the times - you can, indeed, read Gavino’s post and watch his streaming vid there, if you choose. (You can’t comment without logging in - but I can now link directly to content within the site! w00t!)(Louis Wu 16:33:46 +0000)

Over at Bungie.net, you can see a screenshot that recreates the very first Halo screenshot ever released - in a slightly updated engine. Go look!(Louis Wu 09:52:17 +0000)

K8lunch noticed that there’s a new Larry the Marine up - Larry needs to work on those instinctive responses.(Louis Wu 09:51:46 +0000)

The Halo Wars Monthly Update was posted on Friday (thanks to Omega for pointing it out yesterday - I feel behind, now). There’s info about the upcoming E3 show (and what will be seen there), info on the Cyclops unit, some strategy advice, and word that the screenshots archive is going to be updated soon. (Don’t forget the large screenshot collection posted recently by GamePro.com - and I hate to say it, but I totally missed the preview of the game that went along with those screens - thanks to Planet Halo for noticing that.)(Louis Wu 14:14:59 +0000)

Wow - this link was passed along to me tonight, and it’s one of the funniest vids I’ve seen in a while. A chunk of Halo footage makes it relevant - but I’d be recommending it anyway, even without the Halo connection. (Well, maybe not here, on HBO’s front page - but I’d be working to get the word out in other ways.) Go watch ‘The Website is Down: Sales Guy vs Web Dude‘ and laugh. (Minor NSFW elements.)(Louis Wu 00:15:22 +0000)

Omega pointed out that as of right now (the critical point was passed sometime late yesterday or early today), the number of kills in Halo 3’s campaign exceeds the population on our planet, right now. That’s a lot of killing!(Louis Wu 13:48:14 +0000)

Smurfa noticed that DigitalPh33r has posted Episode 9, Part 2 (Act 2) of ‘Deus Ex Machinima’ over at Machinima.com. Lots of action, no dialogue. Make sure you’re up on the story before you watch this.(Louis Wu 13:37:00 +0000)

News.com.au has a story about Supanova, a science fiction convention in Sydney, Australia this weekend. The picture gallery has a couple of nice shots of a fan’s Master Chief costume.(Louis Wu 12:44:19 +0000)

Last night, Bungie posted their Weekly Update (available, as always, in our Weekly Update Archive in addition to Bungie.net), and it contains a monster writeup of the Halo 3 Battle Rifle, and how it was designed to work. (This week saw a lot of discussion around the net about how the battle rifle is ‘broken’ - its bullet spread is too random at long range for many hardcore users. The explanation in the WU makes it clear that this is by design - and only affects the weapon at long range. Bungie wanted the BR to be used primarily as a mid-range weapon, with long-range tasks (like pinging a sniper to pull him out of scope, or finishing off an unshielded target), but without the ability to be used as a universal “I can kill anything on the map with this puppy, regardless of location” tool.) Past this very detailed writeup, there’s also information about the San Diego Comic Convention, mention of a couple of dates to keep track of, and a couple of gorgeous screenshots of Cold Storage (nee Chill Out). Large versions of the Cold Storage shots are available in Bungie’s Screenshot Gallery. Go read! It’s a good ‘un.(Louis Wu 10:38:03 +0000)

Scruss let us know that the Septagon, a Bungie.net group, has created the Septagon Gazette, a biweekly Bungie/Halo paper. Scruss and Just Another Fan report on happenings in the Bungie community, in the style of the Onion. There are currently two episodes available for download, from MediaFire - the June 9 issue is 3.6 mb, and the June 18 issue is 7 mb. (Adobe Reader could handle these, but OSX’s Preview choked on the text.)(Louis Wu 13:58:31 +0000)