A Kotaku reader snapped some photos of Halo 3 boxes arriving at some game store. Not long to wait now!

Russ Pitts at the escapist has never preordered a game-- until Halo 3, that is.

Gamesindustry.biz reports that Microsoft is expecting to sell out of the Legendary edition of Halo 3, in the US at least.

According to CVG, the Legendary edition has already sold out in the UK.

Frank Caron from Ars Technica had a chance to play through the game and will have a thorough writeup after the 23rd when the embargo ends.

Char Easter was invited to play Halo 3 at Bungie and wrote up his experience.

GamerMetrics says Halo 3's launch means fewer sales of other titles. Fancy that.

Bungie says that a blue filter will be very helpful for those keen to get the most out of the Audio/Video calibration tool they're providing with the Legendary Edition. They'll be available in the Bungie store soon.

Frankie has posted at Bungie.net that Best Buy may be your best friend come Halo 3's launch day:

During the launch period of Halo 3, the 25th, 26th and 27th of September, Best Buy will be sponsoring the Xbox Live Gold service and making it free for everyone. Think of it as Halo Free Gold Days. That means that even if you only have Xbox Live Silver, or you picked up a 360 just for Halo 3, that you’ll be able to try almost all of the features – online co-op, Multiplayer, Forge editing, viewing networked Saved Films - however, you will not be able to use our File Share system unless you subscribe to the paid Xbox Live Gold service.

Interesting restriction. Looks like nobody wants a lack of a Gold subscription to get in the way of Halo 3's online multiplayer numbers.

MasterChief2829 pointed out a link to an eBay auction that claims to have the full retail Halo 3 package, including an unboxed shot.

It appears to be a PAL version of the game from Australia.

Kotaku has the story that says that eighty-eight Best Buy locations have been chosen to open at midnight to sell Halo 3 on September 25. See Kotaku for the full story or click the thumbnail on the left for the complete list.

Tex went to pay off the last installment of her Halo 3 Legendary Edition preorder and got a couple of unexpected surprises: the early arrival of the new Halo 3-themed wireless controllers, and a special Halo 3 bracelet given out to GameStop employees. Check the Queen of the Hill blog for photos.

Louis Wu at HBO pointed out that ComWave-- apparently responsible for the Radio Shack website that just added a Halo 3 product page-- will correct some of the errors in the previous product description, and also added additional screenshots to their gallery. I've collected the new shots, with Wu's gracious technical assistance, in the images gallery.

Yes, everybody has to get into the act. Even Radio Shack is offering pre-orders of Halo 3. If you can get over the terrible description of the game noticed by Avateur in the HBO forum (thanks for the heads-up to Ibeechu in #hbo), you'll notice a collection that seems to include some new screenshots; shortly they'll be added to the galleries here.

Tex did a calculation over at Queen of the Hill to find out exactly how much her Halo obsession costs. The grand total? $2098 and change. Yowza.

The mysterious "fourth console" that was on stage at the Microsoft press event and then surreptituously removed before it began was the rumored additional Xbox 360 SKU-- it's a special edition of the 360 for Halo 3, with a green and orange color scheme. No word yet on specifications.

UPDATE: Bungie.net's post says the console has HDMI, so possibly the other specs are also the same as the 360 Elite.

Haven't played Wideload Games' debut effort, Stubbs the Zombie? Maybe you've never seen it in stores. Well, that's no longer an excuse; for $19.95 you can get a digital delivery of Stubbs via Steam.

Ducain wrote to alert me of an update at Certain Affinity's site, and it's good news all around.

First off, they're passing around the news that Frankie at Bungie.net says the map downloading problems have been fixed.

Secondly, the first Certain Affinity fansite, CertainAffinity.net, is now open for business, although you may still smell sawdust from fresh construction.

Think there's already too much Halo merchandise out there? Too bad. Corgi International today announced a partnership with Microsoft to add Halo products to their "Master Replicas" series of collectibles. No word on if they'll call them Master Chief Master Replicas.

From Corgi's site:

While details of the line are still being worked out, look for products running the gamut from gifts to collectibles, spanning the vast universes of Halo, Halo 2, and the hotly anticipated Halo 3. Look for further product announcements and releases throughout 2007.

Thanks for the heads-up to Kotaku.

Ars Technica notes that recent decreases in the costs of parts and manufacturing may mean Microsoft no longer has to subsidize the sales of their Xbox 360 console with profits from software: they may be making as much as $75 on each console sold, according to iSuppli.

Meanwhile, it is estimated that Sony will lose about $240 on each PlayStation 3.

No Xbox 360 price drops have been spotted just yet, but Microsoft would seem well-positioned to offer one if they so choose.