Greetings from Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, a place that has very nearly nothing to do with the following things which happened in the Bungieverse and the Xbox markets while I've been out here futzing around:

Another news roundup before I head out to the airport. I'll be away from the Rampancy Cave until Super Bowl Sunday (or, as it happens to be in this time zone, Super Bowl Monday Morning) but hopefully I will manage to pop in now and again. Here are some of the items of note from earlier this week:

A flurry of news in the console business today; Sony says they'll make a PS3 announcement in March, and that the console will be "playable" at E3 this year.

Again more news that deserves the personalized touch, but instead is going to get buried in the mass grave that is a news roundup. Pass the lye...

And no break in the Halo news, either, even when the site is down, as it was most of this past weekend. Sorry about that. Here's some of what went on:

Despite a strong turnout, the Bungie team was decidedly massacred by Electronic Gaming Monthly, who spanked them 3-0 on the strength of two no-radar Team Slayer games, and even obliged Bungie in the usual Zanzibar CTF game only to win that 3-0, too.

Xbox365 repeats the rumor that the Xbox Next will be out this fall.

Joystiq has a whole slew of rumors regarding Xbox 2 and Halo 2.5/3 today from an unknown individual or individuals claiming to have special knowledge. Toss some salt over your shoulder and get out your asbestos underwear. (A lot of these predictions are waaaaay out there --Ed.)

...the lazy do news roundups. Here's what didn't quite manage to slip past us in the past few days, hours, or even weeks:

After three levels of action on Earth, Halo 2 does two unexpected things: it takes the Master Chief away from humanity's homeworld unexpectedly, and it places the player in the size 14 horseshoes of The Arbiter, the once-disgraced Covenant Elite commander blamed for the destruction of Installation 04 now tasked with impossible missions that his Prophet Hierarch leaders believe-- and perhaps even hope-- will claim his life.

The big news in this week's What's What Weekly Update by Frankie over at Bungie.net isn't who's playing Halo 2, it's who won't be playing Halo 2 anymore. Frankie says that Bungie has just banned thousands of players for cheating, network exploits, foul language or player abuse.

And on a side note, the latest Halo Babies comic explains why some of those people might have been banned...

No doubt smarting from serious wounds to their pride from previous Humpday Challenges, Bungie this week decided to knock down some senior citizens trying to cross the street on walkers challenge the Geezer Gamers to some Halo 2.

At the Halo Story Page, Mnemesis interviewed Bungie's Joe Staten on the Halo storyline, setting to rest some old debates, such as who really released the Flood, where the other SPARTANs are and whether or not it's important, the relationship between the Forerunners and the Flood, and time travel. Joe also adds some information about the HSP Timeline. A must-read.

As usual there was more gaming news than we could keep up with over the weekend. Here's a rundown: