NVIDIA has finally released non-beta versions of its release 50 drivers (52.16, to be precise). Performance in Halo PC improves by up to 58%, according to the official press release. Thanks, botman on our forum and Sean Johnson via email. This release is for Win2K/WinXP only.

Rapture mentioned on our forum that he and Diesel, from The Hushed Casket, won the SeeMePlayMe online tourney we pointed out yesterday. He also gave SeeMePlayMe some major props – he’s looking for more folks to join him there for rockin’ Halo fun. Check ’em out!

Paul Ryan points out two Halo reviews at Ace Games – an Xbox review that escaped us whenever it was published (they gave it a 10/10), and a new PC review (it got 8/10). They weren’t written by the same reviewer, but it’s interesting to see them side by side.

Aaron Claussen steps out of today’s One One Se7en guest strip to look at the phenomenon from the outside.

11 Fan Fiction pieces today.

• The Point of No Return [H&R 16], by Jillybean
• Halo 2: The New Front (Chapter 2) , by System Failure
• Appocalypse-Sector 2, by FF Echo
• Marooned, Chapter 3, by Steve Ollett
• Derailed Part 10, by Dispraiser
• Earth’s Fate: Chapter 1, by Sergeant B
• Evanangel (Part Three), by Jinkaiden-XI
• Plasma Burns and Bullet Shells-chapter 6, by Myth
• Countdown Earth: Hour Seven, by Mainevent
• New Lunar HQ: Chapter 3, by Fleet Admiral
• A Spartan Names James- Part 3, by ZePHyR wRaiTH

There would have been more, but a suprising number of authors believe the 750 word minimum is just for show, and can be avoided by padding their stories with garbage. It’s there for a reason, folks.

Three new reviews today, courtesy of Blue’s News (and Ash) – GameAxis, Gaming Age, and GameSpot AU. The first has something of a twisted view on the history of the game, but they loved playing it. The other two had the standard complaints (repetitive levels, steep system requrements, no coop).

Team Sexy has added some extra films for their registered users; visit the forum, follow the Extras thread at the top. There’s an alternate ending for their Red vs Who movie, as well as outtakes (both in Quicktime and DivX). There’s also a slick desktop and an audio track for an upcoming film. Thanks to SexyJosh for the heads-up.

Benny, over at XboxOttawa, has created another intstallment of Madda Cheeb, a Flash-based vehicle for his trash-talking action figure. It weighs in at 1.6 mb, and though it’s not a substitute for the long-awaited FTC 9 (coming, they say!), it is pretty funny, and very nicely made.

Framerate writes to say that a mod of Blood Gulch he’s created is now available on FilePlanet; it’s a hexedited version of the map allowing the LAAG to fire plasma blasts and the pistol to shoot rockets. (At 13.7 mb, one wonders why folks don’t just download the 46Kb BG Edit from Clan AKA to make their own…)

Dolbex, the mastermind behind Halo50K and a classy guy in his own right, has opened CarnageReport.com, a site devoted to tracking stats on Halo PC. Read the official press release, or just explore the site. Cool idea!

Thanks to Wheeler, who pointed out that the Halo: First Strike page at Random House has been updated – there’s a quick summary of the plot (including some pretty massive spoilers, if you haven’t finished Halo yet, and even if you have). Check it out – unless you’d rather wait until December.

SMPM-Albert writes to say that a new version of the SeeMePlayMe client will be out soon (possibly tomorrow) with a bunch of new features. Their next tournament is this evening, at 7 pm Central Standard Time – so go and play!

Wave 2 of the Halo Action Figures (Red Master Chief, Elite, Ghost) are now available for preorder from the Bungie Store. This is of special interest to non-US residents, since DieCastExpress (the primary web outlet for Joyride’s action figures) doesn’t ship internationally. As the Elite would say, wortwortwort! (Thanks to broony for the heads-up.)

One One Se7en takes a different perspective on the Covenant weapon collection…

Halo: Resolution reminds us that even in the 26th century, it’ll be hard to forget Steve Ballmer.

12 Fan FIction stories for you today:

• Attack on ERISTOCK Part 11: The Four Horsemen, by xitWOUND117
• Angels war IV stage, by Javier Fernandez-Vina
• Appocalypse-Sector 1, by FF Echo
• Derailed Part 9, by Dispraiser
• A pilot’s life: Chapter Three-Swamp King, by Captain Rasc
• War: Not a happy thing(Chapter 1), by Z4
• Halo 2: The New Front (Chapter 1), by System Failure
• Homeworlds XXI, by Mainevent
• The Rise and Fall of the Flood FINAL CHAPTER, by BlackValkyire
• Urchins, by Monarch Rat
• Battle for Croton 5 If a big purple dinosaur can be your friend why not a big blue Alien?, by Earl Hershberger aka Funkster
• 1st Special Forces Group part 3, by grylsy

They just keep rolling in…

Two more reviews – this time from Rampancy.net (who got ’em from Blue’s News, hehe): LoadedInc and deadalfs. LoadedInc was pretty disappointed, deadalfs enjoyed it, mostly. More screenshots in the queue… it never ends.

Gonna be near Chicago next weekend? Three Bungie artists (mehve, Robert Mclees, and Shi Kai Wang) will be at Anime Reactor, an Anime convention to be held at the Holiday Inn-O’Hare, in Rosemont. They’re holding an Xbox Halo tourney, and will be giving away prizes. (They’ll also be doing autograph sessions, panel discussions, and workshops.) Sounds like a party!

Whoa. Halo Maps Mods and More is offering $1000 for the best modded map submitted by December 10. These are not the same guys as you’ll find at Halomods, I don’t think. And there’s zero information (that I could find, anyway) about the rules for this competition. But wow… $1000 is a lot of money. (If they follow through, of course.) Posted on our forum by ToolNIN. (If you have any questions, be sure to add ’em to that thread.)

Whoa. Both Inside Mac Games and MacGamer have articles up today about the Mac Halo ship date – and December 3 is easily in time to buy a copy to put under your favorite Mac owner’s tree. Woohoo! (Thanks, madscientist.)