Bungie's Weekly Update this past Friday was all about atmosphere and flocks of seagulls. Frankie dished the dirt on how the environments in Halo 3 apply the real world physics behind what makes the sky blue, Rayleigh and Mie Scattering, which in turn gives distant objects that realistically faded tint. Following that, he continues his obsession with the water effects, going into extensive detail of a waterfall and the dynamic changes in the flow of H2O from the start to finish.

Next up, he described the use of "flocking" behavior in air battles taking place in the far distance. That being said, when you're in aerial combat, the enemy AI will be in full force. Even so, apparently if you fire a rocket and get lucky, you can even hit some of the distant crafts. Also on the subject of "flocking", the artists have been putting some time into adding birds into the game, primarily seagulls and a form of cockatoo. They currently fly in packs of about 50 or so, and can be individually shot, if you want a closer look at the model. Well, that's enough blabbing on our part, if you want to hear more of what Frankie had to say about Halo 3's progress, click the "Read" link to go to the article.