Thanks to Harry Al-Shakarchi, who noticed an article over at IGN Xbox, on the Game of Show at TGS 2001. The winner was Dead or Alive 3… but the article asks:

You were thinking Halo, right? Unfortunately, in terms of what’s being shown at TGS for the Xbox, the Halo demo is pretty conservative, especially considering some of the more epic outdoor environments they could have chosen for a show demo. Still suffering from some frame stutters, the game offers some incredible moments at the show, but not the guaranteed gaming promise of Dead or Alive.

Those pesky frame stutters… Thanks for the heads-up, Harry!

Thanks to Noah “MigraineBoy” Brimhall, who pointed out that Halo got a couple of mentions in the November issue of Wired Magazine, during a story on Flextronics, the company that Microsoft outsourced the manufacturing of the Xbox to. (Eep – ending sentences with prepositions again…) I’d found it a pretty interesting article, but not all that Halo-related… but Noah noticed a quote I managed to miss:

So what about the games? Though the console pushes the envelope graphically, its first line of games isn’t nearly as inventive. With the exception of Halo and Fusion Frenzy, most of the launch titles feel like souped-up versions of the games you know by other names.

(Fusion Frenzy has been mentioned the past as a game that has sucked up the spare time of Halo Dev Team members… Jaime Griesemer, in particular.) They also picked a Halo screen as a representative Xbox screen… nice exposure!

Once again, new screens means new desktop images. Three came in overnight – one from Sikora, two from Shaun Brookman. You’ll find all three in our Wallpaper section.

Come Get Some… another new desktop, this time from Deimosâ„¢, poison crazy lush from Subnova.com. Find it in our Wallpaper section!

Hand-drawn desktop from RAZORBACK – check for it in our Wallpaper section.

Thanks to Fuolornis Fire Dragon, who noticed that IGN has a new Halo movie from the Tokyo Game Show. His post will give you a nice rundown on the contents – you can grab the film from this page (the Halo link is here, but there are other goodies you might want to snag).

Funky color shifts in RAZORBACK‘s latest desktop, Binary Code – you’ll find it in our Wallpaper section.

We’ve added the new, hi-res version of the ‘Combat Evolved’ Halo logo to our Logos page, in a couple of resolutions – these might be helpful for those thinking about creating new artwork with it.

Okay, we lied. We decided to put the new screens up after all – they’re just so nice to look at… The Screenshots section has been updated. The first 13 shots are brand-spankin’ new, never seen before. (They’re a lot more reasonably-sized here than they were in Tokyo, because they’re no longer TIFF files.) The remaining four have been seen before, but never at this size, or without text obscuring the image. (The cover art is included because 1) details show up better, and 2) It’s not cluttered with lots of text.) Enjoy! (Side note: TeamXbox has also extracted some of the shots – they’ve picked 9 of the new ones, and put them up here.)

Okay… once you’ve caught your breath and stopped drooling over all that new Halo goodness to come out of Tokyo… Matt dropped by our forum to let us know that there wouldn’t be a Halo Update tonight. The good news, though… is that Halo might go Gold Master next week. (That would leave them almost four weeks to burn several hundred thousand DVDs, package ’em up, and distribute them througout the US – I don’t envy the crew doing that.) A few other goodies in the post… go read it.

Boatloads (and I mean BOATLOADS of new screens at the official Xbox Japan Press Information site… there’s no WAY we’ll get ’em up tonight (too damn many to thumbnail and categorize), so go and grab ’em for yourself! 8 zipped archives, a total of 27 megabytes (yeah, you read that right) of Halo goodness. GO! (Thanks to TeamXbox for the general heads-up.) Followup: Read this forum post to see what’s what, and maybe save yourself a little downloading.

Is there no stopping this man? Michael Maddux sends in yet ANOTHER desktop, following his recent theme. You’ll find it (and all 5 of his other images) in our Wallpaper section.

Is he on a roll, or what? Michael Maddux submits ANOTHER desktop image, ‘Evolve THIS!’, in three resolutions. Nice blast! Check it out in our Wallpaper section.

Michael Maddux, on a desktop-creation kick, turns in his fourth image in as many days. I’m inclined to say that the text in the background is not Halo-related… but I wouldn’t swear to it. 🙂 You’ll find it, in three resolutions, in our Wallpaper section.

Jason Simrany sends word that Gaming Age has posted an article describing one person’s experience at an Xbox Exposed event, a series of retail demonstrations going on right now. (You have to be an employee of a retail establishment selling Xboxes to get in.) Several of these have already been published, on the TeamXbox Forums, the IGN Xbox forums (that’s one of MANY threads), and elsewhere… but there’s a bit of gameplay description here. Worth a look…

Thanks to Zypper, who posted a description of the Halo presentation at the Tokyo Game Show last night. Lo-res, but full of promise… nice summation. 🙂 Go read his description for yourself!

Albino Joe sends in a nicely hazy desktop image for our Wallpaper section. Check it out!

Fanatic sends us a new image – he lists it as a logo, but it’s desktop-sized, really… we’ve added it to our Wallpaper collection. Check it out!

Mike “my aim is to be interviewed by every Xbox site” Salmon, Editor in Chief of the Official Xbox Magazine, has talked to XboxAddict… and true to form, has played up Halo:

XBA: What is the most anticipated game by OXM staff? Which game do you guys think will be THE console seller?

OXM: Halo and DoA3 are two of the best reasons to buy an Xbox. After playing final reviewable versions, I can say with confidence that Halo and DoA3 simply couldn’t be done on any other system. And I’m not just talking about graphics. The whole package is so stunning and the immersion is so incredible that you really get a different feeling than any other console. You have to play’em to believe it.

It’s unclear from the context… but I think he means consoles when he says “any other system” – Mike used to run PC Accelerator mag, and probably still plays a PC game or two. Go read the rest!

Eep, nearly missed this. Eric followed up his submission of the Fall of Reach cover with some information about the artwork, posted to our forum. Check it out!