With the release of Halo 3: ODST just around the corner, it comes as little surprise that a lot seems to be happening with the franchise at large.

GameStop has announced that over 3,600 of their U.S. locations will be hosting a midnight launch event for the game on Monday, September 21st, with most stores beginning at 9pm (call to confirm). During the time before the first sale at 12:01am, festivities will include a "Warthog Race" through an obstacle course with pedal-powered go-carts and radio controlled racers, a trivia contest, and another contest for Spartan and Shock Trooper costumes.

You can find more information about the launch by checking out this PDF.

Last night, Spike TV ran a special about said game, during which a six-minute preview of the Halo Legends anime was shown. Of the anime, Topless Robot says, "Half of it will confirm the worst fears of the anime haters as it included boring shots of cafeteria lines, a spiky haired protagonist, and most egregiously, that spiky haired protagonist bitching and whining."

"But mid-way through, it switches to actual action, complete with killing aliens and Master Chief, and then it's probably just what people were hoping for -- Spartans sneaking around and stealth-killing Covenant Grunts, Master Chief being awesome, including beating up a Brute barehanded."

"Unfortunately, during this, the spiky-haired protagonist has to fall down a waterfall and lose his sniper rifle, but whatever. Right now, Halo Legends is batting .500%, and that ain't bad."

The best either Topless Robot or myself could find, however, was the following five-minute clip of Studio 4C's "The Babysitter," which cuts off abruptly. Despite that shortcoming, enjoy:



For those who would like to see the rest, GameTrailers TV's Geoff Keighley tweets that they are unfortunately not going to be posting the special to their website. However, you will have a second chance to catch it this Saturday night at 1am ET/PT on Spike TV.

Finally, Gameswire.net reports that One2Onecollectables.com has announced a limited edition, 1:2 scale bust of Master Chief (seen at the top of this story) that it will be releasing during the fourth quarter of this year. It stands 12 inches high and 12 inches wide, and is said to be "cast in high-quality polystone" and "hand painted to the highest standards."

But, as noted, it is limited. Only 650 will be made, in fact, and the price reflects it: $224.99 U.S. dollars, or around 135 GBP.

You can find an entire gallery of images of the bust on their website, as well as place your order there, should you have the cash to burn.