I saw a lot of game journalists playing the beta of Halo: Reach over the weekend, though I didn’t detect much in the way of excitement. Not that it matters, as Halo and its sales are critic-proof, nor is it ever reviewed with anything close to a critical eye, seemingly immune to criticism lest magazines and websites upset their vociferous and loyal fan-base. Me? Previous Halo games have been boring and empty. Should be called Hollow.

Now that you’ve completely disregarded my opinion, why not read the opinions of two hardcore Halo freaks as they discuss the pros and cons of the new Halo: Reach beta:

Sascha Lichtenstein: Let’s make this conversation quick, because I’d much rather be playing this beta than talking about it.

I’m having a blast with Halo: Reach. Arena and Invasion are both locked out until the official start, so it’s a little light on new features, but I like the way the combat has evolved. The four armor abilities all bring different strategic elements to the game, and their value changes depending on the map and the game type.

Kyle Wattenmaker: I like it, and I’m saying that with tempered enthusiasm. I’m not nearly as enthusiastic as I thought I might be, but there’s still plenty I haven’t seen. Balance is iffy, but it’s a beta. Armor abilities are awesome.

SL: I was worried that the armor abilities would be completely unbalanced, that some would be incredibly powerful and others would be completely useless. Off the top of my head, I can’t think of an armor ability that I haven’t been able to use with great success, save for maybe armor lock…and that’s only because I keep forgetting I have the ability with the battles start getting heated. I always die and say “Dammit, I could have used my ability!” But I’ll get used to it.

The rest of this excellent feature can be found here.

The NPD Group just released a study which found that there has been a significant increase in the total number of female gamers over the last year – up as much as 28%. While the report does break things down in detail, it fails to give any hard numbers that might be of real help to many of the male gamers who spend the majority of their life online. Specifically of concern, but conspicuously omitted – what are the real odds that the party’s scantily-clad Elven warrior-priestess you’ve been chatting online with for weeks isn’t secretly wielding a sword? Or the possibility that the flirty new shooter calling herself “ImH0t4W11″ in your Conduit clan doesn’t carry an extra piece in her belt?

Unfortunately, science may never be able to give us those kind of specifics. However, the report was able to offer this ray of hope for those so concerned:

“These types of players ["extreme" female gamers] account for just four per cent of total gamers, says the report, however their playing habits have become a little less extreme. While they still spend an average of 39 hours a week playing games, that average is down seven hours from 2008.”

GamesIndustry.biz has a few more specifics of interest from the very dense report.