Month: September 2001

M B sends in a fun logo for your perusal. On second thought, it brings to mind a frightening Stephen King ‘Night Shift’ story… ::shiver:: Check it out in our Logos section.

We’re not saying that they’ve decided on Chicago… just that they’ve decided, and Chicago is a good bet. Matt confirmed that his visit to Chicago was (in part) to scope out launch party sites… and he says he’ll be making an announcement tomorrow, barring catastrophe. Dang… I was really hoping for New York.

DeAdLy cOoKiE notes on our forum that MSNBC has an article about a joint Microsoft/NTT (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone) venture to offer online gaming via an ADSL network in Japan. No word yet whether that’s the ONLY way you’ll be able to play online… and no word about a US network yet.

Thanks to Harry Al-Shakarchi, who noted on our forum that the first Xbox ads will air tonight, possibly in Canada only, during the 2001 MTv Video Music Awards on MuchMusic. (They were made by a Canadian ad company, and the announcement was made by Microsoft Canada… so there’s no guarantee (and, indeed, no evidence) that…

There’s been quite a bit of discussion recently about the Teen rating that Halo has gotten (spurred by the recent Box Art sightings). Matt explained the Teen rating about a month ago… but apparently, he wasn’t clear enough. He jumped onto our forum today to be more concise. Bottom line – Bungie did NOT ask…

    “What year is it?”     This question caught the commander off his guard. “2527.”     Bobs eyes widened. Then he sighed. “This is going to take some explaining. You’d better sit down.”Hermes Trismegistus, never a totally staid story, continues on its slightly wacky course – check out Chapter 10, the latest offering from Tursas for our Fan…

Thanks to Char, who clarified that the Halo article in September’s NextGen is actually the same Online Xbox Magazine preview as we saw last month in PC Gamer. No new info, then… sorry.

Thanks to Matt Durrant, EIC of FunXbox.com, for putting up a higher-res, clear scan of the Halo box art. It’s high enough that I’m kinda wondering about one of the warnings on the back:IMPORTANT:! Read Instruction Manual for important safety and health information.Addiction info… or something more sinister?

And the MasterCard parodies continue. Kris puts a relatively bitter one together – brought a smile to my face, even though it’s off the mark. Check it out.

Shades sends word that the September issue of NextGen magazine has a 4-page preview of Halo for Xbox. It’ll be a while before we can scan it for you… but it’s out there! When we know more, you’ll know more.

Not sure exactly what Dolby 5.1 means to you? Get the low-down straight from the source – Marty O’Donnell takes a minute out of his crushing schedule to give you a few examples. Real-time Dolby 5.1: live it – love it. You tell it, Marty!

Thanks to KillGore =PN=, who pointed out the Halo Box Art scanned in over at VoodooExtreme. Nice!

Schmiddtchen sends along a tiny screenshot he scanned out of a German TV magazine, ‘TV14’. It appeared in an article comparing the Xbox to the PS2 – the caption reads ‘Furious shooting action in Sci-fi style’. Coverage outside of computer mags commences…

Last Friday’s Halo Update (one of the last) has been added to the Halo Update Database – The search term of the week is ‘Adrian’ – check what Mr. Perez has been up to this past month!

Dink!… The Halo SETI Marines fall ANOTHER notch, to 53, in the Battle of the Teams… what’s going on here? No wonder the Covenant ran over our colonies like they weren’t there! Check the 7-day stats to see who’s crunchin’, and who’s not.

Day off…been traveling all day, there should be some news later this evening. Apologies for the slow Sunday!

This week’s Halo Update can be found at Battleground: Halo… it’s almost the last one, so go savor it. Difficulty tweaks, AI improvements, and eye candy… what more could you want?

More info from Matt, totally different subject – while nothing has been decided yet, Matt lets readers of the R.net forum know that he’s off to Chicago next week to (among other things) scope out a particular site for suitability for the Halo Launch Party… in his words:Expect an announcement one way or another next…

OzHalo.com has a new poll up: “What do you think of the X-box’s supposed Internet capabilities?” Make your voice heard!

Not really NEW news, but it’s official confirmation: Matt Soell reminds us that you won’t be able to pilot the dropships, and you won’t be able to circumnavigate the entire Halo in ANY craft. Ah, well…