BUNGIE ANNOUNCES
"HALO 2" FOR XBOX
Bungie
Studios, Microsoft Game Studios' premiere 1st party
game-development studio, today ended rampant speculation
by officially announcing "Halo 2" for the
Xbox™ video game system. Members of the press were
treated to their first look at this sequel to Bungie's
award-winning "Halo: Combat Evolved™",
Electronic Gaming Magazine's "Game of the
Year", game during "X02", a Microsoft
press event held in New York City.
"Halo
2" continues the story of the Master Chief, a
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',
only it's 'Halo' on fire, going 130 miles per hour
through a hospital zone, being chased by helicopters and
ninjas," explained Jason Jones, the head of Bungie
Studios, "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. This sequel also
increases Halo's number of 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 "Halo 2'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" has support for multiplayer action via
split-screen, Xbox "System-Link" and online
through Microsoft's "Xbox Live™" service.
"We still have the multiplayer game-types that
people loved in 'Halo', but we're planning something
special for multiplayer in 'Halo 2,'" hinted Jaime
Griesemer, "Halo 2's" lead designer. "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!" "Halo 2's" online multiplayer will
feature squad-oriented team-play, real-time voice chat
and extensive community support when it ships at the end
of next year.
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