Rampancy

It's now November 15 in most areas of the United States, which means that the Xbox is now in stores and you will finally be able to play Halo all you'd like.

We would like to encourage you to post your initial impressions in the community forum. If you're descriptive enough, we will post a link to your thread on the news page to increase exposure to it.

Have fun and good luck!

Myth III got another positive review, this time at GameSpot UK. Scoring an overall 8.2 out of 10, its strongest point was the graphics while sound and gameplay struggled a little bit. GameSpot closes up and appropriately indicates that patches could seriously benefit the game:

Yet in spite of all these gripes there's no denying that Myth III is a seriously compelling game. The combination of excellent looks, decent level design and challenging missions mean your tactical skills will be tested to the full with each battle becoming a complex calculation of terrain, formation and differing unit strengths. It brims with that 'just one more attempt to complete the level' quality and in spite of the many frustrations, hooks and draws you in like a carp in a feeding frenzy. Once the multiplayer issues have settled down The Wolf Age has all the makings of a truly great title, minor AI and control niggles aside.

There aren't any reader reviews just yet, but some should start to show up pretty soon. (Thanks Myth Village)

Louis Wu has announced that HBO is back up:

Somehow, a whole bunch of things failed at once - including a thing that's supposed to tell me when it's not up. :(

It's back up now. Sorry for the inconvenience.

As a postscript, the they're all dead, Jim item was about the conclusion of a Halo fan fiction called the Hermes Trismegistus saga by Tursas.

After an appropriate amount of time playing Bungie's latest opus, Funky J has posted his own review of the game in the HBO forum. And while he admits that there are a few framerate stutters, and a few repetitive indoor areas, his review is mostly positive:

This is one of the most polished games I've ever played. The visual presentation of Halo is outstanding, even in split-screen mode on a regular TV with low gamma and too much glare, and at a low resolution. Of course, I had to try out the umbra effect for myself. Damn, that's a smooth effect. The enemies are detailed and well designed, with great animations. The levels aren't NEARLY as big in the movies as they are when you're actually walking around in the game; I'd suggest finding a vehicle to carry yourself around in/on. At least once, sit on the front tread of the Scorpion as it fires at distant targets; it's truly a humbling experience. The explosion-to-smoke effect is the best that I have EVER seen in a game, and the destruction of vehicles is so well done that you WILL shout, Oh HELL YEAH, every time you blow one up. It's an electrifying sensation, to say the least.

Thanks to CyberBob, who posted a link to the review at SubnovaHL.