HA|aD Monkey has created a Windows XP/2000 app that allows you to connect to Halo servers using a halo://server.name address. You can find it at the Junkyard. Thanks Louis.

Enemy Down and Europe: ClanBase are adding Halo ladders for players in Europe. Thanks Louis.

Two years ago, Microsoft's Xbox console debuted with its first must-have game, "Halo: Combat Evolved."

That's the opening line of Associated Press writer Matt Slagle's review of Halo for the PC, appearing now in Yahoo News and, no doubt, in newspapers around the country. Those two years might have been used garnering information pertinent and useful for writing a review of Halo (or indeed for any computer game). Sadly, Mr. Slagle seems to have been doing something else with his time.

The review ranges from the merely inaccurate...

You play as Master Sergeant, an armor-clad space marine in the crosshairs of a war with an advanced collective of aliens called The Covenant.

Master Chief, guy. Look, it's even got fewer letters! It's easier to type than Sergeant!

... to the glib...

I can't remember the last time an action game had me checking my watch so often.

... to the insulting...

After all, the Xbox is essentially a mid-range PC wrapped inside a black plastic case. Perhaps Microsoft didn't want to crimp sales of its marquee Xbox game. Whatever the reason, Halo on the PC is too little, too late.

The Xbox's processor and hard drive might qualify it as "mid-range", but its GPU is not-- and certainly was not when it was launched a full two years ago.

... and finally the contradictory...

For owners of extremely fancy, high-end computers costing thousands of dollars, Halo's graphics are sure to dazzle.

Hold on a second here. At first, the author wonders why Halo took "so long" to come to the PC, since the Xbox is basically a "midrange" PC, and then he complains that the system requirements are too high, because most users don't have the horsepower to see the dazzling graphics?

Here's a clue, Mr. Slagle. The Xbox version was for those people. The PC version is basically for people with high-end computers costing "thousands" of dollars. (Last time I checked, almost all the computers worth having cost "thousands of dollars". If your budget runs more to the "hundreds of dollars" range, and you want to play Halo, buy an Xbox.

And for you, dear readers? Well, if anyone else feels like (politely, please) letting Mr. Slagle feel that he was perhaps ill-prepared to produce this review, then perhaps sending him a nice email would do the trick.

Have a nice day!

Thanks to GlennKM in the HBO forum who pointed out this review.

UPDATE: Shishka, over at HBO, noted that he emailed Slagle, who said a corrected article has been submitted. No note of what (other than the Master Sergeant flub) would be changed. At this moment, the original article is still available.

John Petrick at AEG, a company that seems to be doing PR for Microsoft's game studios, sent us an email that mentioned SketchFactor's post at Bungie.net that the new Halo client patch v.102 needed to connect to the Dedicated Server v.

HBO also notes (thanks again Louis Wu) that if you don't like the GameSpy matchmaking interface, there is an alternative that some like better, although it isn't free. It's called The All Seeing Eye, and it supports CounterStrike, Quake 3 Arena, BF1942, and now Halo. There's a 21-day trial and the price is $10 per year or $30 for a lifetime (assuming the business lasts as long as you do; the service has been around now for over 2 years).

Louis Wu at HBO points out that version 1.02 of the Halo Dedicated Server is available; but server administrators are warned not to install it yet, as the Halo client also needs a patch to work with this server version, and that patch isn't out yet.

Found another review of Halo PC it is mostly positive and says "...this is the game you want to own.", the review is found on a risque website that does contain nudity and adult material, so stay away minors. On another note Narcogen is sure that he's read this or something similar posted earlier. Check it out, if yer old enough here.

IGN is toting a new Halo PC Guide, according to my brother; unfortunately it's part of IGN's premium service called Insider. It might be worth the look to see what they have to say. If you have an Insider account check it out at Guides: Halo Guide (PC).

Another promising Halo PC review is up over at DailyGame, it is pretty much positive on most notes, and gave Halo PC a 9.5 overall score. They say that the port was worth the 2 year wait. Check it out.

Grenadiac over at HaloMods located a list of Halo's dedicated server commands over in the Gearbox forums. Killing went digging into the dedicated server package itself to find them and guess about their functions; there are slightly over twenty of them documented there.

Game Revolution's Shawn Sanders has given the port of Halo to the PC an A- report card, citing superior controls on the PC and online support as reason enough to buy it.

Jake 'Evergreen98' Billo at The Junkyard has reviewed PC Halo and given it a 9.3; several points were deducted from a Perfect 10 to account for performance issues, authoritative server model... and a cardboard sleeve? Can't please everybody,I guess.

Steve at Cortana.org took some PC Halo in-game screenshots and added them to their PC Halo gallery.

The Total Assault Gaming League has launched a ladder that supports Halo; they say they're the first such system, and who are we to argue? Their Halo ladder page also has some useful PC Halo info, such as how go gain access to the console and how to enable in-game screenshots. Thanks Louis Wu at HBO.

Louis Wu at HBO wrote that gaming site Shacknews now has added PC Halo to its list of games for which users can write reviews.