Rampancy

Tim Stevens at ConsoleDomain has reviewed Halo, giving it a full 5 out of 5 rating, calling it a must-have game. There wasn't anything about the game he didn't like, but he focused more on gameplay balance, AI, and other elements, not just graphics:

One of the most impressive aspects of Halo is the intelligence of your enemies and comrades. Even though John is like a one-man army, you are only truly alone in the game about half of the time. The rest of the time you join up with friendly troops that are scattered about Halo to help with current objectives. They help you hold swarms of Covenant troops at bay; sweep corridors when you're trying to keep someone alive and chat to each other and you while youТre going about your business. They tell you whether someone's behind you, if another wave of troops is incoming, if someone dropped a grenade and even say Nice shot! when you show off your sniper prowess. These aren't mindless drones, they're surprisingly good at what they do, and having a few friendly AI snipers sitting on the ridge behind you as you charge into the thick of things can help things considerably.

Even so, Stevens calls Halo the best looking FPS in existence.

SpondMax has posted a slightly altered version of Mumbo Jumbo's recent update at Myrgard Times. If you're a fan of black humor, it might be worth a laugh. If you're not, it might be actionable. You decide.

Cesar at TeamXbox has reported that this week the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) is suing 15 indivduals, including 11 Nvidia employees, for alleged insider trading in shares of the graphics chipmaker based on advance information that it would win a lucrative contract with Microsoft Corp. Five are being charged criminally.

From the TXB story:

The government claims that the defendants were privy to confidential information that the company had signed a $2 billion deal to supply graphics processors for the Xbox video game console developed by Microsoft Corp.

The employees, nine engineers, a human resources worker, a financial analyst, and four friends and relatives, began buying shares on March 6, the SEC charged. They're accused of purchasing the stock before the deal was announced publicly and illegally profiting from it.

The government said when the company announced the deal days before it was to be disclosed publicly, the five committed securities fraud by purchasing stocks based on insider information.

Nvidia recently announced record sales and earnings, 15% of which they say came from Xbox chips.

The Mumbo Jumbo website has updated with some important Myth III information. The first bit of news offers a lot of hope to those of us worried about Myth III's future:

Regarding the recent postings concerning the status of the Myth III team, due to a change in developmental focus, we have decided to close our Irvine, CA office. We are continuing to develop and support Myth III in our Dallas, TX office. While we hope that many of the Myth III team members who have been affected will join us in Dallas, we know that they may not be able to leave their sun screen and surfboards behind.

Mumbo Jumbo also states that they expect the PC patch to be available by Thanksgiving. That's within three days, folks.

Also, there is some updated information about the Myth III demos. The single player demo for the PC will be released at the same time as the patch. The Mac versions of both the multiplayer and single player demos probably won't be out by that time, but we can expect them to be released simultaneously.