Rampancy

Just a note: Rampancy.net has a feature called throttle that gradually disables site functions as traffic goes up, in order to prevent the entire thing from catching fire, falling over, and sinking into a swamp.

We tested it with the last Bungie Weekly Update we hosted, and while the site was unavailable for part of the night, generally we were pleased, and had less downtime while also being able to serve more users.

Much, much too much stuff out there now that November 9 is finally here (at least in some time zones).

Here's a summary, drawing on sites like HBO, Halo Planet, Halo Babies, The Junkyard, Voodoo Extreme, Sector 7, and of course, Bungie.net.

• Halo Babies forums will be down to give admins a break to play Halo 2 before having to deal with abuse and spoilers.
• CNN asks if Halo 2 is big enough.
• GameRankings compiles Halo 2 review results. Current average: 98%.
• The Junkyard's realism in Halo series covers Keyes. Thanks Mhaddy.
• Mnemesis notes that the Limited Edition of Halo 2 for the Xbox has this Bungie acronym: JNAMSFTFY. He also links to Matt Soell's post about these acronyms, from way back in 1997.
• Major Nelson waves his copy of Halo 2 in our faces.
• Bungie.net assembles all their get ready for Halo 2 content in one place.
• HBO now has separate settings for Halo and Halo 2 spoilers. Editor's Note: we've been working on a viable solution for hiding spoilers on this site, however it isn't ready yet. So until then, we won't be posting any real spoilers on the front page, although we may open a separate forum for them.
• Halo 2 setting up Xbox 2 at Canada.com.
• Want Halo 2? Get in line now! (The IndyChannel). Editor's Note: You'll laugh, you'll cry... you'll kiss $55 goodbye!
• The Toronto Sun thinks Halo 2's M rating will keep it from its fans. Editor's Note: This guy needs a whack with a cluebat. The most rabid Halo 2 fans are Halo 1 fans, and Halo 1 was rated M as well. But they think it will break sales records anyway.
• The Wall Street Journal takes a few hundred words to say Halo 2 comes out today. Editor's Note: Really!?
• This is your last chance to vote in the 343 Guilty Lantern contest.
• The last part of the 30-minute The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter movie is out today.
• poena.dare wants to find out how much you really know about Bungie with his 343-question Penultimate Bungie Giga-Quiz 1.0.
• MLG wonders if XBL will crash due to Halo 2 traffic.
• Joe Staten points out a misquote of him in an article on Halo 2's plot and notes that Halo 2 is not an anti-Bush polemic, despite what has been said. His statement: "Halo2's story is non-partisan. Any meaning you ascribe to it is yours alone. Play the game, and I think you'll see it's just that: a fun game with a good story."
• Bentllama talks trash on his blog, daring you to wrest away a copy of Halo 2 chained to his neck. Those Canadians are odd.
• Watch Halo 2 on HaloTV. Multiplayer only, so no spoilers... I think.
• People are waiting for Halo 2, says the Springfield News-Leader. Editor's Note: This and the many repetetive stories like it just goes to show that online newspapers still cling to their ideas of geographical territoriality, even though it's meaningless on the Internet, and doubly so when talking about an online phenomenon. Oh well.
• Halo 2 fans are cattle being "herded online", according to USA Today's headline. Editor's Note: I wonder what you could call USA Today readers, then.
• The Man Room reviews something to put in your ear. Related to Halo 2. Trust me.
• Halo 2uesday is a holy day, says the Seattle Times. They also note the long hours Bungie put in making it.
• Halo 2 might let the Xbox make money according to gamesindustry.biz. Editor's Note: Who'd have thunk it?
• XA Radio is having a Halo 2 Launch Party.
• Halo 2 is more destructive than the original, says the Boston Globe. Editor's Note: For shame. I'd have thought my hometown paper of choice could come up with something more imaginative. Still, they liked it, which means I can keep reading them.
• The Fresno Bee knows where you'll bee at midnight. Editor's Note: We love bees!
• Penny Arcade wonders why Halo seems to attract Greeks.
• CTRL+ALT+DEL asks the question.. can I touch it?

That is much too long a news post.

Bungie.net's Stats Overview is the place to go and start your calculations on how to game the system that Bungie.net will use for calculating player ranks. Let the whining begin!

[image:8656 left hspace=5 vspace=5 border=0]dogchow has produced an illustrated list of the available emblems in Halo 2. Check them out and pay particular attention to #8 and #29.