Just as we did with our mountain of PAX swag, the HBO crew has been bitten by the generous bug and is giving away their swag stash to a few loyal Halo fanboys. Someone just like you. But you'll have to do some work (and reading) if you have any chance of winning their coveted PAX swag.
Up for grabs in HBO's Take Our Stuff Contest are a few t-shirts, mugs, Bungie goodies and some signed pieces of artwork including a Jen Taylor autographed pic of Cortana. RaWr! To enter, send team HBO a link (no attachments!) of a photo or vid depicting something humorous, clever or beautiful that has to do with the Halo'verse. Entries must be received by September 22nd, so leap on over to HBO for all the contest deets and entry specifics. Be sure to tell them X3F says "HI!"
An update to last month's story about HBO and their friends whose mission was to make all of Halo 2's cut scenes available to the masses in beautiful high definition. Progress moved along at a slow yet steady pace, with each week bringing a new downloadable HD cut scene and at the same time, as each video was uploaded, a piece of our soul was fulfilled. Now, after a few weeks of hard work, we're proud to announce that all of Halo 2's thirty-five cut scenes are now available for download in HD over at HBO. Grab the complete HD series and clog HBO's bandwidth pipes. Mr. Louis Wu would love us.
You're familiar enough with us to know that we love a good video game themed LEGO creation every once and a while. So, when we spotted a new custom LEGO masterpiece over at HBO, we felt a compulsive urge to share it with you
The LEGO sculpture featured above (fully viewable after the jump) is the work of Nannan Z. who was inspired to create Halo 3's final warthog run out of LEGOs complete with airborne warthog, a falling platform and flaming fire below. Look close enough and you'll even spot a Sentinel laying waste to one of those damn popping infectious Flood forms. Blow 'em up Sentinel, blow 'em up good! We say fine job Nannan and now we think you're ready to take the next creative jump in your career by moving on to build life size Halo 3 warthog run models. We're sure WETA would be willing to lend a hand if you ask nicely.
Posted Jan 10th 2008 11:15AM by Dustin Burg
Filed under: News
As we continue to monitor the HD DVD and Blu-ray drama, today both HBO and New Line Cinema announced that they're leaving HD DVD behind and going exclusively Blu. The news shouldn't come as a shock to anyone though, seeing that both HBO and New Line's parent company is Warner, who made the Blu-ray jump last week. So, this means that starting now and through the foreseeable future, all HBO television shows as well as New Line releases will only come out on Blu-ray. We guess no more Sopranos HD DVDs for us.
The friendly faces over at halo.bungie.org have partnered with Bungie to give away four spiffy new Halo 3 branded Zunes. But be warned, you'll have to be somewhat creative to win one. To enter, you have to create a Halo video or song for one of the four categories including; Halo song parody, original Halo song, Halo 3 beta montage video, or Halo original machinima. One winner will be chosen from each category and become a proud owner of a Halo 3 Zune. Yes, you'll have to work for it, but we know you guys are creative and have some down time to get an entry finished. So, with the only words of encouragement we can offer, get to work already and win yourself a Haloicious Zune!
The new Halo 2 maps Tombstone and Desolation have been released for like, what, 30 hours and are already being torn apart. Over at Halo.bungie.org the legendary Mr. Wu posted a bunch of links cataloging all the glitches and easter eggs surrounding the two new maps, including an original Halo pistol sighting. And yes, you can pick it up via modding. People have even found a way to get out of the map in Tombstone, avoiding the instant kill barriers that float above head. Poor new Halo 2 maps ... you didn't even stand a chance.
Halo fanboy at heart, Chris Orgeron and his band created what they thought Halo 3's theme song should sound like. It's a lot more heavy on the rock side of things, but still incorporates the original Halo theme song feel featuring the "druid-like" moaning. Second thought, it seems to hit more onto Halo 2's mood with guitar in full force. Give it a listen and tell us what you think. Or are you a purist and think Bungie should just go back to an old school Halo theme song feel?
Today's One One Se7ven comic takes on the previously announced gravity adjustment feature in Halo 3's multiplayer. But Stuntmutt isn't all that impressed by this new feature, because he has seen it before in Halo 2. You know, super jumping and getting up ... just check out the comic to get what we are talking about. Also, has anyone been religiously playing Halo 2 for the past few months and know whether the modding/cheating community has taken a vacation? We ran into a few cheaters when working on the beta invite, but is it as prevalent as it was before?
Over at halo.bungie.org they've posted a new One One Se7en comic and they're challenging one way to enter the Halo 3 beta ... the Crackdown code. Not only is the bundling of a Halo 3 beta invite in select copies of Crackdown downright sneaky, but we know Microsoft's marketing department is patting themselves on the back.
We've never really asked your opinion on how the Halo 3 multiplayer beta code in Crackdown affects your purchasing decision. Are you seriously thinking about purchasing Crackdown for the sole purpose of the Halo 3 beta invite? Indeed it's hard to swallow, but a very viable option for those who are desperate.
We all know halo.bungie.org (HBO) is a great resource for Halo news, but did you know they throw some of the best LAN parties on the face of the planet? Recently HBO invited some close friends, community members, and Bungie employees to their "Connecticut HQ" for a memorable Halo 2 throw-down. The LAN was held at HBO stud Louis Wu's house and was packed full of people, televisions, gaming consoles, food, and did we mention people? Cheers to you HBO for pulling off another memorable Halo LANfest ... now only if we could get invited. Full story and lots more photos after the jump.
Halo.bungie.org got word from Mandalore that he has finally perfected his Lego version of the Halo Elite. The Lego mini-fig is well constructed and even includes a make-shift sword to pwn all those noobs. Any fanboys out there ritually play ... I mean build with Legos and create some video game inspired work? We'd love to see someone create Viva Piñata, Gears of War, or even Geometry Wars inspired creations. Be creative, get building, and send them in!
In a continuation of our Christmas wishes and coverage we stumbled upon a new One One Se7en comic that was posted today at HBO for your looking pleasure. Not only has our best buddy Stuntmutt found himself in a certain Halo 3video, but we finally find out what caused the Mongoose to take a tumble. And, as a bonus, we learn a great lesson from the comic today kids. A drunk Stuntmutt is an extremely enlightening Stuntmutt ... "Happy ... Hic! ... Chrishmush!"
Update 1: Drinking and driving makes more grammatical sense ... oops.
Over at HBO they've put on their creativity caps and got to work on creating some Halo inspired snowflakes (or as we call them, glistening treasures of joy). Look at that craftsmanship, that effort, and do I see Stuntmutt in one? Go check out all the snowflakes on HBO's forums and maybe you could create your very own Xbox 360 Fanboy inspired glistening treasure of joy. But be sure never to eat Halo inspired snowflakes, because they'll make you want to dance.
We found this movie cruising on HBO (that's halo.bungie.org, not the Home Box Office) a while back, and the slow news day that is Thanksgiving is the perfect time to share it. This (very brief) video answers the age old question, "what would have Raiders of the Lost Ark been like if it was set in the Halo universe." What, you've never asked that question before? Guess it's just us then.
If you've not managed to get some Spartan lovin' in Dead or Alive 4 yet, never fear; you can still get your fill of the lovely lady thanks to this video, put together by a poster on halo.bungie.org. It goes nicely with the screenshots Major Nelson recently posted. Whether this will tide us over until Halo 3, we're not sure, but it's spectacular viewing in the interim.
As we continue to monitor the HD DVD and Blu-ray 
Halo fanboy at heart, Chris Orgeron and his band created what they thought Halo 3's theme song should sound like. It's a lot more heavy on the rock side of things, but still incorporates the original Halo theme song feel featuring the "druid-like" moaning. Second thought, it seems to hit more onto Halo 2's mood with guitar in full force. Give it a listen and tell us what you think. Or are you a purist and think Bungie should just go back to an old school Halo theme song feel?
Today's One One Se7ven comic takes on the previously 
Over at halo.bungie.org they've posted a new One One Se7en comic and they're challenging one way to enter the Halo 3 beta ... the Crackdown code. Not only is the bundling of a Halo 3 beta invite in select copies of Crackdown downright sneaky, but we know Microsoft's marketing department is patting themselves on the back.
In a continuation of our Christmas wishes and coverage we stumbled upon a new One One Se7en comic that was posted today at HBO for your looking pleasure. Not only has our best buddy Stuntmutt found himself in a certain Halo 3 
