Rampancy

Cortana has been nominated, along with other curvaceous videogame characters, to be Cyber Vixen of the Year. Editor's Note: Why now, and not in 2001 when Halo launched, is really beyond us. Maybe on PC titles qualify, not console ones, or maybe she's been nominated for her as-yet-unseen performance in Halo 2. The contest is sponsored by Maxim and Spike TV, and features a mix of imaginary characters from videogames, as well as virtual versions of real people; so Cortana and Samus Aran are up against a virtual version of Carmen Electra and even film-game crossovers like Pussy Galore. and Winners will be announced on December 14. Thanks Louis Wu at HBO.

A GameStop manager identifying himself as tenaciousdave, who has apparently made a habit of posting about the annual store conferences he attends, has indicated that Microsoft is telling retail operations that Halo 2 will have cooperative play over the network, a feature that has in no way been confirmed by Bungie. Take it with some salt, people. Thanks Rams at HaloPlanet.

The New York Times has put up an article on how true innovation is lacking in today's videogames-- but holds up Halo as an exception to the rule. Editor's Note: Free registration required, or use the login/pass rampancy/rampant.

Marty O'Donnell has been interviewed by Electronic Gaming Monthly; the three-page article is online at 1Up.com. Fun fact: Halo 2 has about 15,000 lines of random combat dialogue. So far.

While most of Bungie has been mum lately about the single player campaign, Marty does reiterate how his sound work is contributing to it, and what Bungie is trying to do in the second game:

I think if you look at what we're trying to do with Halo 2 in the story is that we're trying to make the aliens more fleshed out, rather than just targets/cardboard cutouts. The Covenant is a collection of alien races that have come together for very strong religious purposes, and we wanted to make sure that people understand that this is a long, long history of cultures that have come together for a reason. There's something real there. So we spent a lot of time on fleshing out the alien races. Joe Staten will be back as a grunt, because he was sort of beloved, but let me just say that we've fleshed out the alien races quite a bit. There are more voice actors involved.

As a natural follow-up, EGM asks if Elites still speak in backwards English-- a question Marty won't answer.