TruthPastor GBG let us know that the in-game Bible study he was doing (we mentioned it here back in August) has moved - if you’re interested in joining, here’s a page with all the info.(Louis Wu 14:22:22 +0000)

AvatarAang mentioned a couple of machinima links you might be interested in - if you’re a Rooster Teeth subscriber, you’ve got access to a pair of clips that were cut from the Reconstruction DVD, and the Running Gun crew has whipped up a project called ‘Paint the Line‘, as part of a 48 Hour Machinima challenge. (More info on their website.)
(Louis Wu 14:21:57 +0000)

RandomSauce let us know about a video from CO0L Beans - the man risks life and limb to promote the cause of Halo 3 MythBusters on Xbox Live. Funny stuff - but I’m telling you now, if I met him in Matchmaking, I’d still shoot him.

(Louis Wu 13:26:59 +0000)

According to the intertubes, Microsoft is forging ahead with Halo using a new internal studio. Forming the team are Ryan Payton, formerly of Kojima Productions and the producer of Metal Gear Solid 4; Corinne Yu, former technician at Gearbox; and at least two former Bungie employees: writer Frank “Frankie” O’Connor and animator Nathan “bentllama” Walpole.

Linkdump: Shacknews, Joystiq, GameSpot, GameReviews, HBO, bentllama’s HBO forum post, EDGE Online.

This formation puts Bungie’s independence in a bit sharper contrast. While Keep It Clean shows that Bungie isn’t done with Halo, it is no longer the only thing they are working on. While there were always supposedly other projects in the works while Halo games were in production, none ever reached fruition, and the Halo projects typically consumed the studio’s entire attention come crunch time.

That Bungie’s Halo project is billed as “Halo 3″, indicating an expansion rather than an entire new game, indicates that their commitment to the title will be somewhat less in the past, giving room for new developments.

Presumably the new studio will be 100% devoted to Halo. So the question will become: will fans be just as interested in Halo games not made by Bungie? Will these games be FPS, like the Halo series to date, or something else? Time will tell.

Hawty McBloggy uncovered a really cool Elite costume… but even better, she found the perfect soundtrack for it. Check it out!
(Louis Wu 17:01:52 +0000)

Willy let us know that his clan, CE United, participated in a LAN event with 8-Bit Brigade over Halloween - check out the recap!
(Louis Wu 17:01:03 +0000)

B mc gann put together his Top 10 MLG Exterminations - some great play, some funny mistakes by the opposition. Go watch!
(Louis Wu 16:05:32 +0000)

sniper2477 stopped in yesterday with word of a new Marathon Man episode teaser. It’s a fun little street race romp - dialogue could use some work, but the camera angles are great.
(Louis Wu 16:05:06 +0000)

NeoGAF’s Psychotext did some extended tests with the NXE and Halo 3. Now, it’s been known for a while that Halo 3 is already optimized to efficiently use the 360’s cache, so that loading times from the hard drive using NXE’s new ‘copy to HD’ feature are actually LONGER than standard loading - but Psychotext went a step further; he also checked second load times (i.e., post-cache), and compared the whole shebang to loading times if no hard drive is connected at all. He wraps it all up with an explanation of how to maximize your use of the cache if you’re playing multiple levels in a row. The results might surprise you.(Louis Wu 14:44:05 +0000)

Firestorm12 let us know that Halopen Films released their first podcast a few days ago - you can listen to it here. They discuss Halopen, Halo, and machinima news. MP3 format, 45 minutes long. Go listen. (Comments and suggestions can go on their forum.)(Louis Wu 14:40:29 +0000)