: Moving the magazine would make it a different model of gun.

Notwithstanding the practicality and the reasoning and how it would probably have different model number and possibly even a different name, I really doubt they'd show us something that to the uncritical eye looks exactly like the old SMG painted gray and have it not act pretty similar to the old SMG.

: Not really. 343i even billed it as a different model, the M395 as opposed to
: the M392.

I kind of forgot what the differences were. Still, though, it looks like they're mostly cosmetic, the overall length is almost exactly the same and the part of the barrel that sticks out of the body is similar. I may be going into "WTF are you talking about" territory, but it looks like you could swap a few parts (maybe including the whole exterior) and turn one gun into the other.

: That's a rail, I'm just complaining about the rails most of the weapons
: have glued to their sides.

OK I zoomed in, you mean those bumps in a line near the front? Would those be as un-useful as they look?

: I imagine that two seemed like a reasonable compromise between weight, size,
: and firepower. From Halo Wars (Gasp! I'm citing Halo Wars as canon?) we
: know that there's a four-barrel version that was fielded early in the war.
: This may have been special-issue to Spartans, it might have been a
: stationary model that Douglas-042 picked up and carried around.

: Don't think that would work. While it would let a user keep up the same rate
: of fire, it would still have a different feel than the current rocket launcher.

I was still talking about the design and choice of it there, the reasons they picked a two-barreled design in the first place.

: I see it this way: That second rocket in the clip is for mopping up what you
: missed the first time.

or what Nikko B201 said, yeah, those both make sense

: The ability to make a quick follow-up shot sets the
: MAV-AW apart from every other rocket launcher I've gamed with.

I hadn't thought about that, that's a good point too. The goal of the initial designs was, after all, fun guns, with a secondary goal of making weapons stand out, and realism not being much of a goal.

: Nah, you had it right the first time.
: If we want to be pedantic, there is no such thing as a rocket propelled
: grenade.
: If we want to be technical, a rocket propelled grenade is strictly a line of
: infantry anti-tank weapons made by Russia.
: If we want to be general, a rocket propelled grenade is a family of rocket
: launchers where the rocket does not wholly fit inside a tube, descended
: from (but not including) the German Panzerfaust.

Cool, noted, thank you; I'll keep saying "rocket launcher" and "rockets" and let people get mad and try to correct me if they want.