A little HALO 2 Update - Full Story
Just in case you guys didnt see this at the Official Xbox Site. Just some info on halo from the New York XO2 show.
NEW YORK—Bungie Studios, Microsoft's premiere 1st-party game development studio, has ended rampant speculation by officially announcing Halo 2 for Xbox! The announcement came at "X02," a Microsoft press event in New York City.
Halo 2 continues the story of the Master Chief, the genetically enhanced super-soldier who is the only human ever to successfully defy the Covenant—a coalition of alien races on a murderous march toward Earth. To the mysterious leaders of the Covenant, the human victory at the ancient ring structure known as Halo was an unacceptable failure. They will not fail again.
Halo 2 surpasses its predecessor in graphical beauty and combat intensity. "Halo 2 is a lot like Halo 1, only it's Halo 1 on fire, going 130 miles per hour through a hospital zone, being chased by helicopters and ninjas," explained Jason Jones, Bungie Studios head. "And the ninjas are all on fire, too." The Master Chief and his marine allies return to battle the full complement of Covenant forces, as well as as-of-yet-unrevealed foes. Halo 2 expands the Master Chief's already substantial arsenal with powerful new weapons, many pried from the twitching claws of his defeated enemies. There will also be many more drivable vehicles, giving players many more ways to speed into battle or explore the game's vast landscapes.
Halo 2 is powered by a completely new graphics engine designed specifically for the Xbox hardware. "Our code squeezes every drop of power out of the Xbox," said Chris Butcher, one of the sequel's engineering leads. "We're doing dynamic lighting and shadows, per-pixel everything, rendering gigantic, lush environments. The graphical features we're using are so advanced we don't even have buzzwords for them yet."
In addition to an epic single-player campaign, Halo 2 again makes use of the multiplayer split-screen System-Link feature and… Xbox™ Live.
"We still have the multiplayer game-types that people loved in Halo, but we're planning something special for Halo 2," hinted Jaime Griesemer, lead designer of Halo 2. "I don't want to ruin the surprise, but imagine the essential Halo single-player experience: pitched battles between the humans and the Covenant, massive vehicle and infantry engagements. Now imagine that every combatant is an actual person playing over Xbox Live!" The Halo 2 online multiplayer experience will feature squad-oriented team-play, real-time voice chat, and extensive community support.
The game ships at the end of next year.
An official, downloadable version of the Halo 2 announcement trailer will be available soon. It features two-and-a-half minutes of in-engine footage as well as an original musical score by Bungie's award-winning composer, Martin O'Donnell. Go to
http://www.bungie.net for exclusive screenshots from the trailer.
