Todd McFarlane is doing what he does best: Redesigning other people’s creations. The famed comic book artist will be offering clear plastic “Active Camouflage C.Q.B. Spartan” and Spawn-inspired “E.V.A. Hell Spartan” figures at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, which runs from July 24-27. The two Spartans will come packaged together for an unknown price and cannot be purchased separately.

Well done, Mr. FcFarlane. An unpainted Spartan-shaped mound of plastic and yet another Spawn-colored action figure. Truly your creativity knows no bounds.

‘HALO 3′ COMIC-CON EXCLUSIVE FIGURE ANNOUNCEMENT & PHOTOS [Spawn.com via Xbox 360 Fanboy]

With the Halo 3 Legendary Map Pack less than a week away, the folks at Bungie are done building the game’s latest downloadable content and have the time to run amok in the map pack’s three new levels. Lucky for us, they were kind enough to record it.

A trio of developers take turns playing in and discussing their creations, highlighting the unique aspects of each map. They also spend some time fooling around with Forge, giving us our first in-motion glimpses of the new filters coming with the Legendary Map Pack.

Each of the three new maps look fantastic, and using man cannons to catapult ghosts and mongooses across the snowy wastes of Avalanche appears to be reason enough to part with $10.00 when the Legendary Map Pack arrives on Xbox Live on the 15th.

ViDOC: Mapmaker, Mapmaker Make Me a Map [Bungie.net via Gaming Today]

Rooster Teeth Productions, the talent machinima team behind Red vs. Blue and The Strangerhood have returned to Halo (specifically Halo 3) with a new Red vs. Blue project titled Red vs. Blue: Reconstruction.

Reconstruction doesn’t focus on the same oddball group of Spartans (plus one talking tank) who stared in the original web series. In fact, fans expecting the same goofy shenanigans and wall-to-wall humor are in for a shock: Reconstruction is a darkly serious teaser to what promises to be an equally dark and equally serious series.

The Rooster Teeth boys undoubtedly have the skill to pull to this off, but I can’t help but question why this new Halo project still features the Red vs. Blue title.

RVB: Reconstruction [Rooster Teeth Productions via Gaming Today]

Halo 3 players will no longer need to take screenshots from the heart of grenade explosions in order to paint their masterworks in amazing lighting effects. In addition to the new maps, the Halo 3 Legendary Map Pack will also come with six new lighting filters ranging from “juicy” and “gloomy” to “old timey” and “colorblind,” allowing you to visually customize the maps with Forge. Besides affecting Saved Films and screenshots, the new Forge filters also color gameplay in real-time, leading to some particularly unique (and headache-inducing) deathmatch sessions.

Bungie is also bringing a few new Forge objects along for the ride, including new Forerunner architecture designed specifically for Avalanche and wooden scaffolding for Ghost Town, allowing you to build entirely new routes through the map.

Please note that Halo 3 will now sport seven distinct video filters, proving that Bungie is not only the master of downloadable content, but also of appeasing obsessive fans.

Bungie Weekly Update: 4/04/08 [Bungie.net]

Microsoft has a new trailer available on Xbox Live to get everyone good n’ hyped for the upcoming Halo 3 Legendary Map Pack. Seeings as how none of us are using Xbox Live to access this page, however, let’s enjoy this embedded GameVideos copy of the trailer instead.

Players eager to try out the new Halo 3 maps – Avalanche, Blackout, and Ghost Town – will need to keep waiting until April 15. Just keep replaying the trailer until then.

Halo 3 Legendary Map Pack Trailer: Darkness [Major Nelson]

In celebration of the Halo 3 Heroic Map Pack becoming free to play today, Bungie released this video showcasing some of their favorite community creations set in the map pack’s three maps. There are plenty of noob-killing Rube Goldberg devices, a robot built entirely out of assorted level assets, and some impressive plasma grenade tosses. What this video really highlights, however, is just how great Halo 3’s Saved Films and Forge features really are, allowing the community to keep itself entertained with or without new content from Bungie for years to come.

Bungie shows off their favorite things [Xbox 360 Fanboy]

Today Bungie revealed the third and final map in the Halo 3 Legendary Map Pack due April 15. Titled Blackout, the map is a remake of Halo 2’s Lockout that substitutes a UNSC Antarctic weather station for the original Forerunner installation.

Unlike Avalanche, which is a reimagining of Combat Evolved’s Sidewinder, Blackout sticks much more closely to its inspiration. “We tried to keep it as close to Halo 2 as possible,” said Bungie’s Dan Miller. In fact, aside the from the obvious visual differences, Bungie assures us that the level’s layout is identical, with only the introduction of Halo 3’s equipment and altered jumping physics differentiating it from the original.

Of course, Bungie plans on watching “the community Forge it up” along with everybody else.

Legendary Map: Blackout [Bungie]