This deal is in-store only, unfortunately, so those with no TRU are SOL on ODST. The retailer ran a similar promotion with Batman: Arkham Asylum last month, so who knows, maybe it's getting much more aggressive as the fall sales season bleeds into winter.

$20 Gift Card Plus Halo ODST Rookie Action Figure When You Buy Xbox 360 Halo 3 ODST Game [Toys 'R' Us via 1Up]

Gladly, that's not the case. Well, provided you bought the game, at any rate. Xbox Live Chief of Police Stephen Toulouse has issued a brief statement saying that while Microsoft are looking into how this whole mess took place, "we will not be banning legitimate customers from Xbox LIVE who play early".

Glad we got that cleared up. Microsoft refused to clarify the situation with us yesterday, so it's nice to see that things have been sorted out.

So if you're French, speak English, are reading this and managed to get one of those copies...play away! You got lucky, hope you're enjoying it.

If, however, you're in possession of a copy not procured through innocent, legitimate means...well, you deserve what you get.

[Stepto @ Twitter]

It's the same Warthog that featured in Neil Blomkamp's ill-fated Halo short film, and was built by New Zealand special effects maestros WETA, the team behind Lord of the Rings.

These days, it's on promotion duties for Halo: ODST, hence the public display. If you've never been out there, just grab a ferry from Circular Quay; it shouldn't take you too long. Be a nice day out if you bring a picnic basket and some Halo action figures.

Cockatoo Island and the Warthog [Xbox Australia]

In this video, Nathan Fillion (Firefly, Serenity) talks about his voice work in Halo ODST as Sgt. Buck.

"We're doing a lot of pretty neat things in terms of mixing it up, introducing some non-linearity, some free exploration," Staten told the Times. "This is also a mystery story so there's a lot more clue-finding and mystery-solving than you would normally find in a game of this kind - nothing that strays too far from the fun 'Halo' experience, but we definitely decided to take a little bit of risk and have some fun with this one."

ODST allows players to explore the world trying to piece together clues to unravel what happened to the other members of the ODST team. When a player wants to drop into a more straight forward mission they just have to head to specific sites in the city to trigger a flashback, according to the Times article.

The Seattle Times article also touches on the future of Bungie and a bit more on the little known Halo game Reach.

Bungie told the paper that they got an early look at Project Natal. Studio head Harold Ryan said it could be used in "Reach." "I absolutely think 'Reach' could be enabled with it," he said.

Finally, Bungie told the paper that they are in the midst of relocating their offices to downtown Bellevue, Washington. The new offices would be located in the 80,000-square-foot former Galleria multiplex theater.

Developers at Bungie ready to spring new heroes in the 'Halo' universe [Seattle Times]

Market research firm Nielsen ran a poll between June 7-14, and asked a bunch of gamers which of the year's big Christmas or 2010 releases they'd either "definitely" or "probably" be picking up. You can see the results of that study below.

It's interesting seeing the disconnect here between the purchasing intent of the study group as opposed to what caught the attention of the people actually there. Or even the type of people reading this site.

OK, there's no Scribblenauts. That's to be expected. But no Uncharted 2? No Splinter Cell: Conviction? No Mass Effect 2? And no Modern Warfare 2? Now that's a surprise. Maybe they should have called it Call of Duty after all...

Who Won The Battle For Gamers' Hearts At E3? [Nielsen]

While I haven't had a chance to play any of the campaign yet, ODST's new multiplayer mode, Firefight, was at E3 for some heavy play testing.

What Is It? The enigmatically renamed Halo 3: Recon puts you in the shoes of a UNSC Orbital Drop Shock Trooper during the events leading up to Halo 3. The first-person shooter takes place in New Mombasa. At the beginning of the game the player gets separated from the rest team during a drop.

What We Saw
I played several rounds of multiplayer Firefight, which has a team of gamers taking on increasingly difficult waves of enemies.

How Far Along Is It?
Halo: ODST is due out Sept. 22, the matches I played seemed very polished.

What Needs Improvement?
Horde Two: When we started our hands-on time with Firefight the Bungie folks were quick to tell us that this was not Horde mode. After playing it for a bit, I'm not sure why they're trying to make the distinction. If they do want to differentiate Firefight from Horde, they have a long way to go. If they don't, then they should embrace what is a solid game mode.

What Should Stay The Same?
Damage Control: This is no Master Chief you're controlling, which means you're shield free and once more dependent on health packs. Nothing changes the flavor of Halo more than having to start scrounging for health.

Visor: You may not get Master Chief's height, shield or ability to dual-wield, but you do get a handy-dandy new night vision visor that you can toggle whenever you'd like. The visor also highlights enemies in a red outline, making it a bit easier to take on a wave of bad guys in the middle of a fire fight.

Humanity: Everything from the perspective (remember you're no seven-footer) to the fact that falls will hurt you are reminders that you're just a grunt, not a super hero. It's nice, after years of playing the guy on the horse, to finally be the one down in the dirt having to get by.

Team Play: It's kind of cool to be fighting shoulder-to-shoulder with four other grunts as you're taking on the full spectrum of Halo bad guys, including teams of Chieftans.

New Weapons: The silenced submachine gun is a fun, but mostly ineffective weapon. Not so with the pistol, which returns to the Halo universe in all of its glory. Firing off headshots with this bad boy has never been easier.

Final Thoughts
I loved Horde mode in Gears of War 2 and I love Firefight in Halo: ODST, both are fantastic multiplayer coop modes that force gamers to work together to survive. Adding skulls, achievements and leaderboards make it all the more fun.

Chatting with IGN, Bungie's Brian Jarrard says:

Overall though, we are viewing the ODST campaign and the included multiplayer maps as the final exclamation point in our ongoing efforts to extend the Halo 3 experience. We're really grateful to our fans for standing by Halo 3 for so long and continuing to show us such strong support.

Halo 3 was out in September 2007, ODST will be out later this year, that's a two-year run. Chin up. Be happy, remember the good times, prepare for new Halo - from Bungie or otherwise - and move on with your life.

Halo 3 Mythic Map Pack Interview [IGN]

It doesn't sound like Microsoft is bringing much in the way of big guns, at least if Techcrunch's report on details from the keynote are accurate. While we'll still be liveblogging the bejeezus out of the talk, it sounds dry as dust.

On the gaming side, Ballmer will talk up the two Halo universe titles being released in 2009, Ensemble Studios Halo Wars and Bungie's Halo 3 expansion Halo 3: ODST. And that's it. E3 this is not, obviously, as Microsoft has things besides the Xbox 360 on its 2009 slate.

We'd suggest keeping your eyes on our CES 2009 coverage regardless, especially if Ballmer decides to drop new Halo 3: ODST details. There's always a good chance Microsoft has something special up its corporate sleeve, so we'll keep our finger crossed that an extra day spent in Las Vegas was not done so in vain.

Ballmer’s CES Keynote Promises To Be A Snoozer (Non-Announcements Revealed!) [Techrunch via Gizmodo]