Praxis Solomen noticed an auction on eBay for a pen, collected during the 2008 San Diego ComicCon, which is labeled “The Battle Begins Fall 2008″ and lights up. The title is ‘Halo Movie Pen’ - there’s no information about where this name came from. (Seems more likely that we’re talking about something like the Peter Jackson project than the Halo movie, but again, there’s no other information included.) Auction ends in just under a week. Update: Urocyon solved the mystery - the pens are promoting the Halo board game coming in September. No movie news after all! Update 2: w00t! MsValentine sent along more card scans - Arbiter | Brute | MC | Group. (The Group shot is the same as the image Urocyon sent us.) Thanks, MsV!(Louis Wu 10:12:23 +0000)

Hawty McBloggy has decided to start highlighting some fan art - and her first choice is a doozy. ‘Cortana 2.0′ was done by EvilFlesh, from DeviantART, and it’s a really attractive piece. Take a look!(Louis Wu 13:43:18 +0000)

Dennis Powers let us know that Shipwrecked 38 is up - it’s about dumb things we do.
(Louis Wu 13:42:50 +0000)

The Weta PR guys are winding down from their whirlwind week in San Diego, and they’ve got a preview page up of the upcoming Limited Edition Halo collectibles. Preorders start in August, and if you want to be the first to hear about this stuff, you should really sign up for their mailing list. More when we know it!(Louis Wu 13:29:46 +0000)

OddGodHMK sent us a note yesterday - got lost in the noise, but his Boring Comic for the day was, again, Halo-related. (I’m not insulting the comic - that’s the name of the series.)
(Louis Wu 13:25:32 +0000)

AS JON L1-18 L1-18 sent us a link to a 22-second teaser on YouTube for something that looks to be going live in a couple of weeks. The video description contains some backstory. I guess this is the time of year for this sort of mysterious teaser…(Louis Wu 12:14:18 +0000)

NartFOpc pointed out a ‘Top 10 Video Game Chicks‘ flick over on YouTube - the whole thing seems designed to exist for the ads that bracket the content, and the voiceover is pretty overdone… but Halo’s Cortana does make the countdown, so here we are letting you know.
(Louis Wu 12:13:54 +0000)

Anton P. Nym found an article in Variety which looks at the situation that arose at this year’s E3 (where Bungie and Microsoft tussled over how Bungie’s next project would be presented) as an indicator of a larger shift in the videogame industry. Up to now, most of the power has been in the hands of the publishers - is this shifting? Go read!(Louis Wu 11:53:49 +0000)

HaloGrid.com is apparently hosting a 4v4 Grifball tournament - swing by Blinding’s post for full details if you’re interested in participating!(Louis Wu 11:53:21 +0000)

Zach Jarrell let us know that he’s running a caption contest - the contest itself isn’t Halo-related, but the prize (a rare Gamestop Halo 3 poster) is. Go look!(Louis Wu 11:27:26 +0000)