Rampancy

[image:4283 left hspace=5 vspace=5 border=0]HBO's rounded up a couple new PC Halo previews/reviews: GameGossip is the class of the previews, Gamers Hell packed a walloping 33 new screenshots. You know where they went.

[image:4307 left hspace=5 vspace=5 border=0]Word has it that Xbox Live subscribers are starting to see the updated dashboard as of today, with all new features including access to the Friends list and to voice chat in the dash itself, without loading a game.
UPDATE: I've managed to get and try out the update myself; it seems to me that the voice quality is better. The in-dash voice chat does indeed, work. There's a new feature to play the voice output through the speakers instead of just through the headset, which, given the subscription fee and internet costs, makes Xbox Live a passable and inexpensive speakerphone.

[image:4046 left hspace=5 vspace=5 border=0]Eric Trautmann of Microsoft, who is the point person for the Halo novelizations, mentioned on the HBO forum that the manuscript for the next Halo novel, Halo: First Strike, which will cover the as-yet-undivulged amount of time between Halo and Halo 2, has been turned in for copyediting. Also, we hadn't noticed before, but apparently Eric maintains a blog at LiveJournal. There are a few Halo-related goodies there that I won't relate here. However, I would suggest not mentioning the word Jedi to Trautmann any time in the near future.

[image:4247 left hspace=5 vspace=5 border=0]French game site GameKult.com put up a bunch of Halo screenshots, and HBO's Louis Wunoticed. They're in the PC Halo Gallery now.