HBO has linked to a mirror of Final Solution's scans of the Halo manual. The mirror, setup by Kbjlake, lets you download the images one by one or you can download a 3.6 MB ZIP containing all of the scans.

Bounty is reporting at BattleGround: Halo that Electronics Boutique has begun shipping Halo preorders. It is expected to arrive Wednesday.

The last few days has seen a lot more information come out about Halo's multiplayer game types and options. First, xbox.ign.com posted Part Two of their Halo Multiplayer Guide, once again making it available only for IGNInsider subscribers. Then, over at HBO, Louis Wu posted about Dave Candland's item in their forum about the basic multiplayer game types and variations, noting that there are actually more than the quoted 26 possible:

Halo has five distinct types of gameplay: Capture the Flag, King of the Hill, Slayer, Oddball, and Racing. For each of these, there are rule variants (single flag, assault, moving hill, etc.) On top of these variants are a vast array of environmental settings like no motion tracker, pistols only, no shields, tanks only, etc.
We decided that it would be a good idea to take our favorite variations and create preset gametypes that ship with the game so people can just hop into a multiplayer game without having to set all the rules and variations before each multiplayer game. Saves time. There are 26 of these preset gametypes. However, what I haven't seen mentioned yet, is that you also have the ability to create your OWN custom gametypes. If you really get off playing team slayer with invisibility on, motion tracker off, indicators off and 50% health with only rocket launchers, you're more than welcome to do so. Halo is very flexible that way. There are far, far more multiplayer possibilities than just 26.

Dave Candland is on Bungie's Online Team.

Then, Matt (not Soell) noticed in the HBO forum that the IGNInsider article was apparently mirrored through another site called GameFixx, and therefore available to non-subscribers. (This may not be terribly important since IGN would likely make the second part public soon anyway).

Final Solution Xbox has posted some scans of the Halo disc, as well as some really useful advice for playing the game, like Don't piss off Covenant Elites. Spotted by Louis Wu over at HBO.

Gaming Age has put up an article describing their first impressions of playing Halo. It's generally complimentary, although their response to the game's opening wasn't nearly as enthusiastic as most fans' reactions to the intro movies posted awhile back:

Halo appears very much like your standard FPS at first glance, but after some play time the game's beauty and high production values shine through. The first level, which takes place on a rather boring looking space carrier is not what I would call a good representation of the game's visuals. Upon entering the very next scene, which is set on the alien wilderness covered surface of Halo, the graphics jump up a bit higher high on the scale.

The article is, however, universally complimentary about Halo's sound and soundtrack, calling it beautifully orchestrated . Louis Wu at HBO spotted it at TeamXbox.

Allenthar wrote a nice post in our forum about his experience at the Xbox Odyssey event in San Fransisco on the 4th of this month. It focuses mostly on playing impressions and combat events rather than story spoilers, but he does warn that reading it might take away from the first experience of playing the game, so beware.

Unlike some others who have played, he didn't mind the splitscreen modes:

Simply put, Halo looks great and any worries you may have had should be completely dispelled. On another note, I was afraid that Halo would look poor because of the low resolution of the ordinary television. I played for about half of the time on a 18 or so television and even with four players you could still see everything you needed to fight effectively.

There's a very interesting anecdote about some camping techniques near the end of the post; it's worth a read just for that alone.

TeamXbox has posted a link to a RealPlayer edition of the Xbox commercial featuring Halo gameplay footage that is expected to air starting November 11. There's a article about the campaign at adreview as well. And as some fans feared might happen, AdReview has misinterpreted the slogan Combat Evolved to be part of the game's title, referring to it as Halo Combat Evolved .

The German magazine GameStar has posted a Halo review that's drawn some fire from fans over in the HBO forum. For one, apparently it's a little more critical than most of the others we've seen in the English language press of late; it accuses Halo of being unoriginal of all things, then gives away just about all of the plot.

Beyond that, however, Uriel pointed out that they quoted one Boris Schneider-Johne somehow connected to MS' Xbox operations in Germany as laying out a general schedule for the PC conversion of Halo, giving a release date of fall 2002 .

Matt Soell replied that even Jason Jones doesn't really know yet how that's going to be done, and so it's unlikely this guy does, either, whoever he is.

Louis Wu at HBO spotted that xbox.ign.com has posted the second part of their Halo Multiplayer Guide. Just like the first part, right now it's visible only to IGNInsiders. This part describes Halo's 26 multiplayer game variations.

Thanks to no7orious for pointing out that ConsoleWire has previewed Halo. The article is yet another praise to put under Halo's belt and is a fairly interesting read. Check it out.

Game-Revolution has posted a rundown on the Xbox's launch titles in different categories. Naturally, Halo kicks off the Action category, and they liked the game a lot:

As a console first-person shooter, Halo's control has a slight learning curve, though it's negligible compared to other FPS's. Weapons are great and they each have a very distinct feel. The Alien Needler is the current office favorite, firing crystal shards that stick into an opponent only to explode moments after, causing spectacular collateral damage if used properly.

Halo is the Xbox's pride and joy. It's drenched in fun, laced with beauty and dipped in a vat of technological brilliance. If there's a shoo-in for launch, this is it.

They note that they didn't base their preview on final versions of the games, but it doesn't seem to matter much; there isn't much new information here, just more of the same almost unequivocal praise for the game-- including praise for the controls.

Chris Butcher, master of Halo AI, posted a message in HBO's forum about Halo's difficulty levels. Here's a snip:

for an epic battle (or if we're playing co-op) I pick Legendary. it took me about 60 hours of continuous play to finish the game on this difficulty, and that's after months of developing and playtesting the game. it's a very different kind of challenge to, say, myth's legendary difficulty. many of your enemies will be outflanking you and firing from multiple directions, and they'll retreat and build up their shields if you damage any individual too heavily. also, if you don't know what you're doing, or you get taken unaware, it's very possible for a single covenant elite warrior to nail you (and don't talk to me about the commanders).

There is also a follow-up post worth reading that further comments on the time-to-complete issue.

tanmeatloaf, or Sebastian, over at Xbox365 just got back from the Xbox Unleashed event in Los Angeles and has posted an article about his experiences there. Halo doesn't get mentioned much in the article itself except to say that despite earlier indications, Halo was available in the free play areas but not used in the competetion phases of the event. Later, in a response to a reader question about Halo, he wrote:

Halo rules. i played very little of it because i had the competition going on. then again, I did play a bucket load of it at e3. Don't worry though, all the problems with the framerates have been fixed, and it looks better than ever. I can't wait to get it in my house.

Considerably more digital ink is spent on his meeting Seamus Blackley and getting an opportunity to dis a prominent GameCube supporter, but you can check all that out yourself if you like.

UPDATE: This story from two days ago at xbox.ign.com that explained the structure of the Xbox Unleashed event also mentioned that Halo was not included in the competition because of the 'M' rating. There's no information on exactly why it was allowed in the free play area, then, or how access to it was policed, if at all.