We've just gotten the word from an MS PR representative that in recent playtesting the Halo team has decided to simplify some aspects of Halo. He specifically points to weapons balance as one of their key issues:

Matt Soell of Bungie is supplying this week's regular dose of Halo dope via Battleground: Halo. Take a few hits before heading over there for the mother lode:

Marty appeared on the HBO forum to clarify some things regarding the audio effects and music we heard in the GameStock '01 Halo movie.

$erial-ki!!A informed HBO that PC Gamer UK, according to their ads for their May issue, will VISIT BUNGIE to get all the latest news and incredible SCREENSHOTS of this stunning tactical shooter! Following that, according to Halo Command Central's Griffon, the June issue will have the hi-res Halo Gamestock video on DVD. Sounds like a good time to get a subscription...

As noted below, Seamus Blackley reported at the GDC that Microsoft will be displaying various Xbox games at the Tokyo Game Show this year. Additionally, we've learned from PlanetXbox that Bill Gates will be giving the key note address there on the 29th, which will be webcast live via Xbox.Com. I'm anticipating we'll see some serious fireworks, since the Asian market will be the toughest sell for Microsoft's Xbox.

Matt Soell's weekly HALO update went to Halo.Bungie.Org this week. Here are some of its highlights:

- Chucky has made great strides toward getting breakable surfaces in the game.

- Aiming works better; you can no longer target enemies hiding behind objects, but you can target enemies in moving vehicles.

halo.bungie.org has posted the second round of Q&A's with Matt about the Halo Gamestock footage. It's just as interesting reading as round 1: lots about Halo's weapons and vehicles, and about working with NPC allies.

Char has found some insanely beautiful images in TIF format of HALO. The GameStock images are now available at XBox.com and boy are they big. The image sizes are 1920x1440 at 300 resolutions and weigh in at around 8 MB. It'll take a while to download, but they're absolutely stunning.