Xbox Gamers's own Akuma has written a Halo review. The game was praised for its immaculate sound and gameplay as well as in all other reviewed criteria. Xbox Gamers scored Halo 9.9 out of 10. (Thanks HBO)

Krillian Hex of Xbox Gaming got a hold of Halo and gave it an extremely positive review:

The game never gets boring. It will have you playing for hours upon hours, days upon days. The game doesn't have a very unique story line, but when played, the gameplay is more than what you expected. The AI is incredible. You will have enemies duck, or even run away from you if you killed all there teammates. Your troops will back you up and deploy specific tactics in order to win. They don't just run in with guns blazing- if they know they are outnumbered, you will have to sniper to clear as many enemies as you can before you are spotted.

As pointed out in numerous reviews, Halo's story doesn't seem to be its strong point, which is contrary to what we expected from Bungie. Nonetheless, Halo scored 98% overall. (Thanks HBO)

Interestingly enough, PC Magazine has reviewed the Xbox version of Halo, though it is an extremely short article:

If the Xbox has a killer app this is it. Halo is simply the best action game to surface since Half-Life was released for the PC in 1998. Stunning 3-D graphics, an epic sci-fi storyline and tense shoot-em-up action all make Halo a compelling and memorable game experience. Trapped on the artificial ring world of Halo, you must battle past waves of hostile aliens while trying to unravel the mystery of Halo.

PC Magazine scored Halo 5 out of 5. (Thanks HBO)

Byron Hinson at ActiveXbox has posted a Halo review, and he gives the game a 95% rating:

What can I say? Graphically Halo is miles ahead of any other console game released today. Sound wise again I have to say, I haven't really heard such a great range of voices, sound effects or Dolby 5.1 in any other game ever. Gameplay can become a little repetitive but in saying that, I enjoyed every moment playing Halo and if you play all of the different difficulty levels then you are going to be treated to different endings.

The only negative points in the review included some framerate slowdowns, level repetitiveness, and I want Halo 2. Which I suppose isn't really a criticism.

Tom's Hardware has a nice feature on the console wars, talking about the battles between videogame systems all the way from Atari's Video Computer System up to the Xbox and the GameCube. Thanks to Noctavis who pointed it out on RHL.

The Armchair Empire has given Halo a rating of 9 out of 10, lauding it especially for the graphics, while griping a bit about a few framerate issues:

On the graphics front, Halo is simply stunning. Though the levels are huge and, as such, fairly sparsely detailed, the details that are there are truly amazing. The textures are high-resolution and feature heavy use of bump mapping, giving every object, building, or vehicle a solid, real life look that is completely unmatched to this point on consoles. Watching two friends play co-op on the night of the Xbox launch, I noticed them constantly focusing on the ground to look at how real the grass seemed and zooming in with the sniper rifle on things like tree bark and tire treads. Amazingly, the textures displayed no blurring, regardless of how close the camera got to them. The characters and creatures are equally well done. I had nearly as much fun watching the computer-controlled members of my assault team exchange fire with the aliens as I did killing them myself.

Game Over also reviewed Halo, giving it a 97% rating. They liked the AI particularly:

Another area that Halo excels in is artificial intelligence, both enemy and friendly. When youТre accompanied on a mission by a team of marines, youТll never have to issue orders or worry whether or not theyТre taking cover in heavy fire. They react accordingly to the situation and, at times, issue you orders to advance or provide cover fire for them. If you hop into a Warthog, donТt be surprised if a couple of soldiers jump in with you, one in the passengerТs seat, the other manning the three-barelled machine-gun mounted on the rear. Considering in most first-person shooters, itТs often the player that comes to the rescue of the NPCs, itТs a welcome sight to see the favour gets returned in Halo.

Interesting to see them cite the fact that you can't give orders to NPCs as a plus, instead of a minus.

Nintendo has put out a press release to combat yesterday's offering from Microsoft, and there are some interesting developments here:

Nintendo of America reported today that, based on direct communications with its retailers, its new NINTENDO GAMECUBE(TM) home video game console has reached sales of nearly 600,000 units in America in 15 days, or an average of 27 per minute -- nonstop -- since its November 18th introduction.

Because Microsoft has declined to estimate its actual consumer sales numbers, no fully accurate picture of comparative market activity is yet available. That data won't be available until The NPD Group releases its full projected sales report for the month of November in the next few weeks. For example, NPD's sample does not reflect system sales at Wal-Mart, the nation's largest retailer, and also the largest retail outlet for NINTENDO GAMECUBE.

Those who are keen to make something of this should note: NPD numbers are not actual sales. They are estimates based on surveys of a cross-section of retailers; and as this notes, one of the country's biggest retailers is not included in the sample.

Thanks ShackNews.

IGN Xbox has made available a Halo PDF guide for its Insiders. No word on whether it's simply the Halo walkthrough at IGN Guides available in PDF format or if it's something entirely different. We won't know until an Insider gives us the scoop.

Uriel sent scans of the Halo review in the November 2001 issue of GameStar to HBO. The German review is a twelve page monster. Be warned that there are some major spoilers though.

• GameStar November 2001 Halo Review (Page 1)
• GameStar November 2001 Halo Review (Page 2)
• GameStar November 2001 Halo Review (Page 3)
• GameStar November 2001 Halo Review (Page 4)
• GameStar November 2001 Halo Review (Page 5)
• GameStar November 2001 Halo Review (Page 6)
• GameStar November 2001 Halo Review (Page 7)
• GameStar November 2001 Halo Review (Page 8)
• GameStar November 2001 Halo Review (Page 9)
• GameStar November 2001 Halo Review (Page 10)
• GameStar November 2001 Halo Review (Page 11)
• GameStar November 2001 Halo Review (Page 12)

Remember Halo's review in the Official Xbox Magazine that we reported about a while ago? In case you missed it, HBO has added the scans of the review to its site.

• Official Xbox Magazine December 2001 Halo Review (Page 0)
• Official Xbox Magazine December 2001 Halo Review (Page 1)
• Official Xbox Magazine December 2001 Halo Review (Page 2)
• Official Xbox Magazine December 2001 Halo Review (Page 3)
• Official Xbox Magazine December 2001 Halo Review (Page 4)

Kudos to Louis Wu of HBO for scanning the Halo review from the November 2001 issue of Game Informer. They called it the Xbox essential and gave it a 9.5 out of 10 rating. The bottom line? [Halo is] one of the most impressive, if not THE most impressive, first-person shooter consoles have ever seen.

• Game Informer November 2001 Halo Review (Page 1)
• Game Informer November 2001 Halo Review (Page 2)

Microsoft has put out an item on PRNewsWire claiming that more Xboxes have been sold than GameCubes, and asserting that it, and not the GameCube, is the best launch ever:

The Xbox&trade video game system from Microsoft Corp. had the best-selling video game console launch on record after two weeks of sales, according to The NPD Group Inc., the definitive source for sales and market data on the video game industry.

To show this, they're quoting the same NPD data everyone else is, with a particular focus on the Xbox's higher attach rate (2.4 vs 1.9). How this meshes with Nintendo's reports, which claim exactly the same thing, is unclear as yet. The PRNewsWire story does not mention specific sales numbers for either the Xbox or the GameCube.

In addition, Robbie Bach, the Chief Xbox Officer, says that Microsoft is in fact shipping 100,000 units per week to retailers.

It's not over yet, folks, and it'll be a while before we know the full picture. And whether we know whether the Xbox is leading the Cube or not, we know for certain it's not out of the running yet.

Ferrex pointed out a couple of URLs on RampancyHL that point to silly statistics offered by IGN's GameCube and Xbox sites. Both refer to the exact same report by Credit Suisse First Boston, yet each conclude that their respective console is winning the war.

IGN Cube reports:

The firm, which based its figures on NPD TRST data, estimated that more than 469,000 GameCube units and 810,000 pieces of software were sold to retailers during the system's launch week. Luigi's Mansion was, according to the analyst, the top selling game for any console during the period, selling through an estimated 257,000 units. Star Wars Rogue Leader and Wave Race: Blue Storm also sold strongly.

Xbox sales for the week were projected at 186,000 units for a total of 556,000 Microsoft consoles bought since the machine's release November 15. Halo was the system's best seller with 97,000 units shipped.

And IGN Xbox's story:

According to CSFB's interpretation of NPD TRST data, as of November 24, 2001, Nintendo had sold 469,000 GameCube consoles compared to 556,000 for Microsoft's Xbox. The Xbox had a three day head start on the GC with its November 15 launch date.

Xbox had most of its sales activity confined to the Thursday, Friday and Saturday before GameCube's launch on Sunday November 18. For the week beginning on Sunday Nov. 18 and ending Saturday Nov 24, the 'Cube outsold the 'box 469,000 to 186,000. Post Thanksgiving sales figures are still forthcoming and should give a good indication as to how well each system will do throughout the remainder of the holiday shopping season. With strong titles on the way for each console, the competition will be even more fierce.

We already reported on the NPD report a short while ago, which both PlanetXbox and ie Magazine say that NPD has stated the Xbox is selling more.

Silly journalists. Let's wait until we have some solid numbers before we declare any winners. Actually, I'd be more interested in seeing accurate numbers a year from now because they would tell a more interesting tale.

Have you wondered about Microsoft's stance on the Xbox Gateway and GameSpy Arcade Tunnel software that enables online play for the Xbox? Surprisingly, they are for it. Taken from the Xbox FAQ:

Q: I've heard that utilities have been developed that allow Xbox Systemlink games to be played over the Internet. Is this true? What should I tell my customers?

A: It's amazing and exciting to see the lengths that gamers will go to in order to take their Xbox games online. The GameSpy arcade efforts are a strong indication that people want online console game experiences. Additionally, these efforts showcase the superiority of Xbox because it was built from the ground up to provide people with the next generation of exciting online game play.

Of course Microsoft says that its software will be superior to these hacks, but it's nice to know they condone third party efforts in the meantime. (Thanks HBO)

Another Halo review has seen the light of day, this time at 123 Xbox. Halo got near-perfect scores in every category; in fact, its lowest score was 9.7 out of 10 in the life cycle rubric. Overall, Halo scored 9.8 out of 10. (Thanks HBO)