Rampancy

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).

Negative at XboxFaction has posted a short note that their site will be coming back stronger than ever and with a new design and daily updates on or before the Xbox's Nov. 15 launch date.

Mike Donges of MumboJumbo has made a few comments about upcoming patches for the Mac and PC:

The Mac release will have integrated many of the issues that will be fixed in the PC patch. Because many of the issues on the PC are PC specific, those won't really be reflected in the Mac version.

Just to clarify, the first PC patch may not be version 1.1. We will probably version the full point releases only if they require cross platform network compatibility. For example, the PC patch and the Mac GM may both be 1.05. Or, the Mac GM may be 1.06 and the PC patch may be 1.05. Only when we need to release a patch that involves network compatibility will it get revisioned 1.1.

The origins of these quotes aren't known, but surely they are accurate since they come from Myth Village.

Once again, the Xbox preorders available from Amazon.com sold out within minutes; the Xbox page at Amazon now lists November 15, the launch date, as the next opportunity to order.