Like they say, all's well that ends well -- and that's certainly true in the case of a gamer named Nathaniel. If you'll recall, the Xbox 360 owner had sent his very personalized console into Microsoft for repairs, making very clear that the signed and drawn-on system had great sentimental value to him... which the technicians in Redmond promptly ignored. After the console returned to him wiped clean of the aforementioned "value," it seemed like all hope was lost. Luckily, the kind souls at Bungie have taken it upon themselves to try and right the wrongs perpetrated in this case, and have mailed Nathaniel a super-ultra-mega awesome package, featuring a Legendary Edition helmet signed by most of the Bungie studio staff, the soundtrack disc signed by Martin O'Donnel, a jacket, t-shirt, limited edition wireless controllers, and much, much, much more. Hit the read link to get the full story, and check out Nathaniel's thanks to the gaming community and Bungie.

[Thanks, Saad]

After Nathaniel's nostalgic Xbox 360 was quite literally wiped clean when sent in for repair, we had a sneaking suspicion the powers that be would make sure things were rectified. Thankfully, the bigwigs at Bungie are already conjuring up a solution that it hopes will "come very close" to acting as a replacement. According to Bungie community director Brian Jarrard, his team is "rallying to help fix this unfortunate situation," and while no details beyond that have been divulged, we can't help but suspect that the resolution to all of this will be more than satisfactory.

[Thanks, Steve]

Listen up kids -- the holidays have come way early. We've got our hands on the special edition Xbox 360 all done up in Halo 3 fashion... but that's not all. The boys from Redmond sent a massive, massive package our way, including a giant, custom army bag, custom dog tags, two army meal rations, a first aid kit, the Xbox itself, two Halo 3 controllers and a headset, plus some other stuff hidden in the nooks and crannies. But -- there's one thing in the box we weren't expecting... and that's the crazy Legendary Edition packaging for the game itself, housed in a full size, manically detailed Master Chief helmet. Hit the gallery and feast your eyes on all the (presumably) rare goodness in our Engadget-style unboxing of the bag and system. We can honestly say we're a bit stoked on this.

If you haven't gotten hyped enough over the forthcoming third installment of the Halo series, perhaps you might want to get your paws on these illified (and expensive) toy guns from Jasman Toys. Apparently, the Halo 3-modeled firearms will not only look really bad-ass on your mantelpiece at home, but the recoiling, sound-projecting, light-flashing gats will also enable you to play a game of "advanced" laser tag, called "Halo Laser Pursuit." With the accompanying wearable laser target you can try and reenact your favorite scenes from the games, as the receivers perform somewhat like Halo's shields, or so says Jasman. Really the only way this game of tag differs from the actual game is that no one dies -- and it's not nearly as much fun. Priced between $79.99 and $119.99, available in October.

[Via Xbox 360 Fanboy]

Oh yes it is. That special edition Halo 3 Zune is real, out, and up for pre-order exclusively through GameStop. Available June 15th (pre-order now), the $249 promotional Zune comes packin' a 30GB disk loaded with a flood of Halorific music, video and artwork. Although you've made your thoughts about Microsoft's would-be iPod killer abundantly clear, the tie-in with the hotly anticipated September 25th release of Halo 3 by Bungie Studio (owned by Microsoft) could generate some renewed Zune-buzz all but lost since its initial launch. Welcome to the Social Covenant kids.

[Thanks, Russell D. and everyone who sent this in]