Matt Soell of Bungie is supplying this week's regular dose of Halo dope via Battleground: Halo. Take a few hits before heading over there for the mother lode:

- AI just keeps getting better. The Covenant will search in packs and retreat in squads. They search different locations and will concentrate their attentions in the areas they think you were headed to. Eventually different races will use different searching methods. - Mat Noguchi made it possible to record movement macros in the editor. In other words, you can record anything a unit or vehicle does and then replay those movements or actions any time you want. Should come in handy. - Bernie created what Jaime calls the umbra effect: if there are trees between you and the sun, you'll see sun beams shining realistically through the leaves and branches. VERY impressive.

The remainder of the update reports that they have been balancing weapons in multiplayer, describes some nice touches being put into the game with character death and water transparency, and introduces us to artist newcomer Derek Moore. Welcome to the cause, Derek!