Rampancy

GameSpot is reporting that Microsoft's Xbox division in Japan is now being run by Yoshihiro Maruyama, former senior vice president and COO of Squaresoft.

Just to let everyone know, I-- like I suspect many have in the Halo community-- been receiving email that loudly proclaims that it "is not spam" from a site called GiftStakes.com, and announcing that you've won an Xbox, and all you need to do is claim it from their website.

If you follow the link, you'll be asked for a code from the email, and taken to a page to enter your name and address.. and then they'll ask you to pay for the shipping and handling of your prize. Debit card is the only payment method accepted.

There are a number of things about this that are extremely suspicious, and unless you're willing to part with that shipping and handling fee on the off-chance that this is legitimate-- perhaps risking much more if your debit card number is abused in any way-- I'd advise against taking advantage of this "offer".

Although the site itself looks quite professional, with picture of supposed prize winners from June, July, and August of this year-- the domain giftstakes.com where the site is was registered through GoDaddy only three days ago.

That debit cards are the only accepted payment method is also suspicious; as you may already know, most of the mechanisms in place to dispute a fraudulent charge to your credit card don't apply to debit cards.

The registrant for the domain is one "Domains By Proxy, Inc" which lists as its only address post office box in Scottsdale, Arizona. Complete information is here:

Private, Registration

GIFTSTAKES.COM@domainsbyproxy.com

Domains by Proxy, Inc.

15111 N Hayden Rd., Suite 160

PMB353

Scottsdale, Arizona 85260

United States

(480) 624-2599

If anyone has actually received a prize from these people, we'll gladly post that this whole thing is above-board, but at the moment I'd urge people to protect themselves and not participate in this unless they are prepared to be duped.

There's a new, albeit short, preview of Halo on the PC done by Gamer's Pulse; it's got a quick rundown and some screenshots that suffered the usual fate. Their take is basically that it's worth it for the Internet multiplayer enhancements:

Halo's multiplayer on PC is distinctly more strategic than on Xbox, offering additional maps and weapons, as well as more strict gameplay parameters. When hosting a game, you'll be given a multitude of options regarding game parameters such as armor strength, starting health, the number of vehicles placed on the map, etc. You'll be allowed to hold two weapons and two types of grenades during play, forcing you to strategically decide which weapons will best serve your style of play. The addition of the Banshee, along with other vehicles, throws in another strategic element to gameplay, encouraging cooperative play and creative tactics. The new maps feature several vantage points for sniping, an element found heavily throughout the campaign.

Thanks to Blue's News.

With the interesting tagline above, CompUSA has announced their Halo VIP Contest, where the grand prize package includes VIP treatment at the CPL Winter 2003 event, participation in Nvidia's Halo tourney, a free PC game every month in 2004, and an Nvidia prize pack. All you have to do is preorder Halo for $49.99. We report; you shop. Thanks to CobaltNova, via Louis Wu at HBO.