no7orious was kind enough to write not one, but two great reports covering his experience at the Halo launch party. The first report covers the span of the entire launch party, describing who did what, who played what, and what was played. The party started with an on-screen Halo drill sergeant getting people in line:

Right away a Halo drill sergeant was on the screen telling the attendees that he was expecting muscular good looking participants, and instead he had a bunch of pussy geeks in front of him. After that though he gave us a very short introduction to Halo, showed us the enemy (a grunt) and then shot it in the back. People cheered. The party had (officialy) begun.

The second report gives some Bungie responses to rumors, such as the Mac and PC versions of Halo, Phoenix, and SeventhColumn.org.