TheChrisD pointed out that the Rumble Pit World Series Summer Season 2 kicks off on August 3 - signups are open now. Check out the details (including goodies on the line for winners) at the Signups and Incentives page.(Louis Wu 11:26:57 +0000)

evildoctorwill noticed that the seventh MLG/ESPN Top 10 is now vieweable at MLGPro.com. Ten pretty cool clips, and an amazing Moment of Zen. Go watch!
(Louis Wu 11:52:14 +0000)

Terminal Failure pointed out a very funny ‘Stump Speech’ over at the New Yorker - it could be Obama, until about the third sentence. The Halo reference that makes this mentionable here shows up about halfway through, but the whole thing is worth reading. Give it a look!
(Louis Wu 11:51:37 +0000)

HeavenlyYeti wants to build your next Forge project. Swing by NinjaCritic for the details.(Louis Wu 15:20:33 +0000)

G4’s Awards show, G-Phoria 2008 is open for voting - Halo is up for a few categories. Best Downloadable Content, Best Online Multiplayer, Best Shooter, Stride Longest Lasting Game, and Game of the Year. Vote now - winners announced on August 7th at 8 pm! Thanks to General Vagueness for the heads-up.
(Louis Wu 15:11:48 +0000)

PlanetXbox360 gave Halo Wars the nod as the Best Strategy Game in its Best of E3 2008 Awards. Nice! (”No New Halo Game” was also a contender in the “Biggest Surprise” category.)(Louis Wu 12:40:14 +0000)

Major Nelson posted his standard LIVE activity list last night, for the week of July 14… and Halo 3 tops the list for the first time since the week of January 21. Folks have been discussing this (on our forum, among other places), and nobody has a really good explanation as to why (well, why NOW). Time will tell if it’s just a blip, or if Halo 3’s staying power is greater than CoD4’s (or something else entirely)!(Louis Wu 12:31:56 +0000)

The Bungie.net blog posted a couple of items yesterday that were new to HBO. DigitalPh33r released a Director’s Commentary version of the first episode of Arby ‘n’ the Chief; he has a little trouble staying focused on what he’s saying at times, but in general, it’s an interesting look into how he works. And the 2old2play crew has released the maps used in the 2o2p Pwnathon (last mentioned in early July) - go grab ‘em!
(Louis Wu 10:06:56 +0000)

Yesterday, Google Alerts brought me news of a new screenshot released by Predator5791 and highlighted by bs angel on her I <3 Halo 3 Screenshots website. I’m hesitant to point out specific screenshots on our front page, because… well, because there are millions of them out there, and once you start to spotlight individual shots, you’re opening the door to a force that could overwhelm the news page. So I posted it on our forum, instead - and the reaction it got was strong enough (and I got enough behind-the-scenes urging) that this time, I’m front-paging it. Go look. It’s amazing what you can do with Forge.(Louis Wu 10:04:08 +0000)

mrtitan, over at Planet Halo, has summarized a roundup of Halo Wars articles in the wake of E3 that were listed on the Halo Wars website - there are a bunch I hadn’t seen. Go read!
(Louis Wu 14:14:37 +0000)