Well, mere hours after we heard that the new Bungie.net site is up, the Halo portion of the site, called Halo: Truth and Reconciliation is also online, replacing the cryptic graphic we noted before.

The new site has sections for screenshots, concept art, storyboards, a multiplayer strategy guide, and a links page (conspicuously absent Rampancy.net... hmm).

The top story is a recap of the Xbox Launch Party in NYC by Yeoren, and there's also a link to the How To Host A LAN Party article of Seventh Column to assist people in setting up times and places to meet and play multiplayer Halo on their Xboxes.

fate noticed and Louis Wu posted at HBO that Firing Squad has a section on Halo in their Xbox Launch article.

Nij and The Shrike have posted their first impressions in HBO's forum.

Xbox.com's resident grrl gamer Jacqui Kramer loved Halo enough to quote Jane Austen. Thanks to Allenthar.

Lophan pointed out an article at Games First called Notes Scribbled In The Dark While Playing Halo .

Jason at Xbox365 has posted that the manuals for Microsoft's first party Xbox games (including Halo) are available online in PDF format.

Jason also posted a story about his out of the box impressions. He didn't play Halo, opting instead for Project Gotham Racing, and what he liked best was the audio capability:

The ability to rip your own virtual CD and have top toonz playing during a game cannot be underestimated. For years, gamers have had to put up with listening to dodgy tunes whilst fragging, nuking, beating or racing - no more! - If you are partial to Abba, Beethoven's 5th or Korn, no problem, rip a virtual CD, select which tunes you want to hear and Roberts your fathers brother (as they say in England).

There is also a page with some pictures of the Xbox launch party in Times Square, including one of Bill Himself playing on an Xbox. (I wonder, could they have hooked it up to the Jumbotron?)

TeamXbox also has a story on the Launch Party with more photos of Bill and others.

xbox.ign.com has an article on overnight vigil before the Los Angeles Xbox Launch Party.

Well-known Bungie fan vector40 has written a review of Halo for The Junkyard:

Now, let me start by saying this: Halo has a level of hype surrounding it that you'd have to go back to Daikatana to match. The main worry of most fans (and, presumably, of Bungie itself) is that the hype will surpass the game, as has happened in the past, and no matter how good the game ends up, people will be left disappointed.

Wrong.

Sounds like he liked it. Thanks to Louis Wu at HBO for the heads-up story.

IGN Xbox has compiled a list of currently reviewed games. The best part about this is that the previously Insider-only reviews like Halo and Oddworld are now available to anyone who clicks their link.

Man, did they like Halo... it got a 9.7 out of 10 score and scored perfect 10s in the presentation, sound, and gameplay areas.

Louis Wu at HBO has posted a notice that there's an interview with Bungie Community Guy Matt Soell at HomeLAN. Among the highlights, he confirms that there are some unannounced surprise foes in Halo, aside from the Covenant Elites, Grunts, Jackals and Hunters we've all seen, and that adding online play to Halo would be more than a simple upgrade. He was also asked about what the experience of developing on the Xbox was like for Bungie:

Console development was something we've tried to get into as early as 1995, so obviously we're thrilled that we've finally done it. Learning the ins and outs of a system that wasn't even finished when we started developing for it presented its own challenges, but the developers didn't complain too much.

Soell also talks a bit about Halo's AI, level terrain, and future projects for Bungie.

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.

According to Reuters, 70% of preorder customers at Electronics Boutique ordered Halo with their Xbox, compared to 61% for DoA3 and 27% for Oddworld. Thanks Marcus Lai from Gaming Age who posted the story.

Gaming Age is reporting that EBGames has already shipped some of its preordered Xboxes, two days before the official launch date and attendant ceremonies in Times Square. Marcus Lai from Gaming Age got his Bravo Pack on the 13th.

And, as we all know, EBGames' Bravo Pack includes Bungie's Halo, as well as DoA3 and Oddworld.

Netshade at Brainrazor has put up his account of the Halo Launch Party in Chicago earlier this month. And just to warn everybody, there's a fair amount of profanity and humor at the expense of Bungiefen, so everybody don your asbestos. As for Halo, he liked it:

Visually, it's pretty kickass. Not OHMIGOD YOU NEED TO SEE HALO, not like it was when you first saw the MacWorld trailer or shit like that. There are tons of nice touches, and the fact that the framerate stays pretty good even with four players playing at the same time is a testament to the bulletproof QA testing they no doubt put it through.

Thanks to Louis Wu at HBO who posted the item first.

We've added a Halo Reviews page to the site, including all the known reviews of Halo since press started getting complete or nearly complete copies of the game.

Louis Wu has posted an item at HBO that Flawless Cowboy (aka Case) made a forum post about the Halo review at Gaming Age.

The review itself is positive, and makes a good counterpoint to PlanetXbox's, which termed Halo disappointing . G-A makes the case that Halo is indeed revolutionary, or at least atypical:

Halo is not your typical first person shooter. In fact, I actually prefer to not even call it a FPS at all. You play from a first person point of view, pick up weapons and kill enemies, but that's where the similarities to your run-of-the-mill FPS ends. Halo is strictly a story driven action/adventure game that incorporates some of the better FPS elements into it. The game most easily comparable would be Half-Life, but even that just pales to the overall scope and vision of Halo.

G-A gave Halo an A (superlative) rating.

Mavruss and Shadab's pictures are now online over at the Halo Launch Party website.