Slashdot Mirror
Halo 2 Ready to Ship
Thanks to pdawerks who alerted us to the post on the Bungie site stating that Halo 2 is ready to ship. It's filled with typical Bungie humor. "If you create a clan, do it because you intend to use it, and enjoy the camaraderie that Clan membership brings. We have systems in place to deal with "dead" or unused Clans. Unpleasant, pointy systems that reek of rust and blood and horror. Think Silent Hill meets Autocomplete."
Whilst many will not know, Bungie originally started out life as a Mac developer... until Bungie sold out to MS, in the ultimate act of treason for many Mac users :)
Even still, I hope Halo 2 makes it off the XBox onto the Mac and the PC. The first one was great, and Bungie make great looking games with a great plot.
-- james
about time! you can call me ethan from ctrl+alt+del
Opportunities of a lifetime must be seized within the lifetime of the opportunity. - Linda Ravenhill
Can't wait to jack one of them Covenant tanks - not to mention the ability to shank someone with the sword.
Woohoo!
I'll stick with Doom 3. How many "demonic aliens are taking over and I am the only surviving space marine who can save Earth from the horror" FPS games can our nerves take (in the dark, no less)? I'll stick with the original.
========
77 77 77 2e 6d 65 6c 76 69 6e 73 2e 63 6f 6d
about the team behind Halo 2
l
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.10/halo.htm
It's a good read if you're into the game!
-- james
Looks like they're on-time with this release date. That's a refreshing change from the usual cycle of pushbacks we've been seeing lately in the PC market (and to a lesser extent in consoles). Not that they're totally innocent-- they've pushed this one back, what, three times?
Let's hope it meets the expectations of the fans.
I just hope this game is as good as I imagine it will be. Fable was a huge dissapointment for me. I was waiting for it since last christmas, and was sick of it in a week. No where near as epic as I expected. Though I don't really see how they could mess up Halo 2, I am quit sure it is possible. Let's just all pray to the god of Halo.
Autocomplete sounds misleading...that'd be where they add bots to your clan until you've got enough to beat someone else.
Perhaps they mean the Outlook "Autoarchive" or Windows "Disk Cleanup" features...
First Doom III beats it to the shelf. Then Halo 2. Will Half-Life 2 really ever come out?
:-)
Half-Life 2's in a pretty similar situation to how Halo 2 is now - the developers think they are done with it, and are waiting for final bug-finding and testing from the publishers.
I wouldn't be surprised if there was some announcement of Half-Life 2 going Gold pretty soon, followed shortly afterwards by Halo 2.
I'm really hoping Halo 2 makes its way to the PC eventually. I don't buy many games, and when I do it's mainly for the modding potential, so a games console would be a bit pointless for me (especially as I don't have a telly to connect it to) - although having waited the best part of two years for the PC port of the original Halo I suppose I better sit tight.
Tedious Bloggy Stuff - hooray?
so when does it come out for PC?..... If the Xbox is just a PC it shouldn't take that much....
Loading Please Wait....
There has been fan-talk on Bungie.net about Halo 2 on the PC, and, to a lesser extent, Mac. Nothing confirmed either way by Bungie, but I would say that it would be reasonable to expect Halo 2 ported to the PC in about a year: I, for one, would be an eager buyer. I don't want to fork out money for Xbox Live when I already have a PC that can play online with my already-necessary broadband connection.
That said, I will be playing Halo 2 over at my friends houses quite a bit.
You're right. Nothing about the game was particularly spectacular, except this: It was fucking fun. Isn't that what counts?
Even Bungie will agree with you on the repeating levels, since they had to re-use some environments in order to meet the Xbox launch date. But if you think the AI is bad, you're just plain wrong. Halo is universally regarded as having some of the best FPS AI, possibly even the best ever. Try playing on something other than easy.
People keep telling me that I should put my girlfriend infront of Sims if I want to do some hacking on the computer, that way (according to them) she will be occupied playing the sims for hours and hours, funny enough this doesnt seem to work. However, me and my g/f played Halo1 for loads of hours coop, so this is my chance to get some hacking done.
:(
Oh wait, coop, anyone got any sugestions to keep me hacking while the chance of playing halo2 coop is starring me straight in the face with a wartorn girlfriend screaming "Comeon you bastards" at the top of her lungs while dodging bullets and throwing grenades?
Oh well, I guess this is just another change of totally neglecting work that needs to be done.
Will a Red vs Blue series foolow?
Rooster Teeth Productions already announced that they've started working on RvB season 3. I mean, it's called RvB: The Blood Gulch Chronicles, and the action is taking place largely on Blood Gulch when it left off. Thus, the next RvB season is probably not using Halo 2. Even if they weren't limited to Blood Gulch (not that they haven't used other maps), they still probably have to figure out all the nuances of Halo 2 that weren't the same in Halo 1 before making movies with it.
Fetch Text URL - Firefox Extension
They've had a lot more time to plan this one. Now, instead of rushing out a good game, they have planned an excellent game. I predict the game will look better graphically, because they've had more time to experiment.
Additionally, hardware aside, I assume they've done A LOT of work on the AI. Moreover, they've obviously spent time on making sure it was xbox-live compatible. I know a lot of people who will now purchase xbox live because of this.
The point: Graphically, Halo was probably 90% of how good it was going to get. Multiplayer, Maps, Network Play (What network play?) were meager at best. If they can get those up to the level of what single player was, it will dominate the market for a long time.
That's like saying Blizzard "doesn't exist" because Vivendi Entertainment owns it. Or Retro Studios (the great company that put together Metroid Prime) "doesn't exist" because Nintendo owns the franchise.
Just because MS buys a developer doesn't necessarily make it bad. Bungie still makes kickass games. There's also a ton of other games that have come directly from MS in-house (MechWarrior, Age of Empires, etc).
Bungie is actually still quite intact. The orginal founder you mentioned did leave and start his own game company, which will be using and licensing a modified version of the original Halo engine, but the rest of them, for the most part, are still there. Heck, they started working on Halo 2 immediately after they finished the first game. Bungie is still very much it's own development studio, and not just a name. You might want to check out bungie.net.
I can't speak for everyone, but I think for a lot of people it's the multiplayer experience, not the campaign.
In Halo1, of course, this was limited to split screen and/or system link. The fact that Halo 2 has live support will probably be reason enough for Halo fans to buy the game. Add in some dual-wielding weapons, destructible vehicles, more multiplayer game modes (and maps, naturally)...hard to go wrong.
That doesn't change the fact that it's not for everyone of course, and there's nothing wrong with that.
If you're not into multiplayer FPS, there's not nearly as much there for you. The storyline was pretty good (IMHO), it WAS a fairly linear campaign though. I've heard some rumors about little differences (like, an AI driver while you're gunning on a 'hog), but the single player will still come down to story and creativity in the gameplay. Pretty hard to judge that in advance - I could see it going either way. Maybe they focused almost entirely on multiplayer and the single player campaign will be left behind. Maybe they heard the complaints about the Halo1 campaign being repetitive and linear, and have drastically improved. We'll just have to see.
This post seems to confirm that co-op is back (for the XBox version, at least), that's always a good thing. I wonder if you can do co-op over Live? I have some friends that're hard to get in the same room but we all have Live...
Xentax
You shouldn't verb words.
Umm. No. Jason Jones was and is the main guy behind Bungie and he's still there. He's the driving force behind the story of many (all?) of thier games. Most the original Bungie guys are still there. I can think of one high-profile dude that left to form his own company, but don't feel like digging up the details right now. Should be easy enough to find.
You may not like MS, but don't take it out on Bungie, they are some damn good developers.
They were in a compromising spot some years back where they just could not effectively develop AND publish AND distribute their games -- too many big publishers were doing a better job than they ever could because they had the name recognition and the people and infastructure in place to do so. Bungie was too small. So they decided to merge with a big developer/publisher so they could focus on development instead of having to worry about calling up EB and Gamespot and the rest and trying to convince them to carry their games.
"Hello, this is Bungie and we've got an awesome new game we'd like you to sell."
"Who?"
"Bungie."
"Who?"
compared to
"Hello, this is Microsoft and we have an awesome new game that you will sell. May I put you down for a million copies?"
"Yes, sir! May I have another!"
Great, the MS Office paperclip is runnig the clans now..
My friend won't buy any new XBox or PC games until this one comes out. He's been waiting for it all summer.
He plays the original HALO on multiplayer with either myself or his brother-in-law on an 8' wide, 6' tall wall using a Dell projector -- FOR HOURS ON END. I stopped playing with him about 3 months ago, because he knew where every dude was coming from, and the exact moment the AI would do this or that. He'd played it that much.
I've never seen a game with such replay value, or is my friend just a HALO nut?
At least, when HALO 2 does come out, I'll be able to see it in all it's Dolby DTS and 8' x 6' glory. It's a beautiful game -- unless you're still watching my friend play the levels he knows by heart 1 year after it's been released.
IronChefMorimoto
On the subject of overly repetative FPS what about game that you walk from one room to the next. When you enter a room, all the lights go out and some zombies crawl out of the woodwork.
Doom 3 didn`t appeal to me with its fancy guns and pretty animations.
That said I like halo, something about the way you put your life into the hands of someone who isn`t old enough to drive, and yet you hop into their warthog and wait to be blasted about 200 foot into the air by a stray rocket...
makes me smile, but then I'm easily pleased.
CJC
Well, some. Some are points that Yolegoman brought up, like the shield/health system.
You only have a few, (what, ten?) points of health, but over that you have an energy shield that will recharge given a few minutes of not taking any damage. This made charging into firefights a risky thing. You always had to be careful of how much health and shield you had. And if you had any tactics, you'd make sure you decently chipped away your opponent's health before taking them on. Of course, in close different weapons were better, so if you had the right ones you knew your chances going in.
And the weapons themselves, a nice selection with one firmly in each of the basic groups (machinegun, shotgun, pistol, sniper, rocket, energy-weapon, enemy-seeking) and all had their disadvantages and advantages. Yes, just like any other FPS. But you could only carry two at a time. This goes back to the tactics involved in your personal style of play.
I know mouse/keyboard purists will tear me apart, but having a decent controller (Yeah, I dig the XBox one. The old one, at that.) to play a game like this on is fun. It actually got the 'fudge-factor' right. The "precision" that everyone whines about losing? Screw that. If you can't manuver that joystick to where you want it, you're just not trying or have some kind of mental/physical disability. Okay, not really, but note that mouse/keyboard purists are in the minority of console game players right now, even if it is a very vocal minority.
But what I'm betting is the most important factor for Halo's success... Was the fact that it was system-link only.
Absolutely nothing beats having fifteen friends divided between two rooms shouting and whispering plots. Then looking at the single player/coop? Solid plot, good characterization, excellent music... What more do you want in a single player game? Sure you have Unreal2k4, but that's just this year. And there's a few others, but they don't have 'everything' that Halo had. Just parts. Halo, to the fans, was everything that they had been asking for in a FPS. The question isn't why did they like it. It's what was NOT to like about it? (Aside from a few occassions of monotonous level design.)
Though, Halo was missing one thing for me. It didn't allow you to toss grenades or shoot rockets through teleporters like Duke Nukem 3d did. C'mon. That was good stuff.
Yes, Halo is not only developed by the same people that did the Marathon series, but also shares many plot devices in common, particulary in relation to the AI. This is why many people believe that Cortana will go 'rampant' in Halo 2, and also why the ilovebees site has a lot of references to an AI. Technically, I believe it's even possible that the Halo plot could be directly related to the Marathon games, and not just similar.
Well of course not everybody will like it, but multiplayer Halo is a LOT of fun in the right company, especially with 8 or more players over System Link. You don't run as fast as in Counter-Strike, but that doesn't make it bad, just different. Multiplayer is the main reason Halo has such a large following today. The single player game was OK; it was the best thing out on the XBox for a while at the beginning, so it's what people played. The repetition is bad, but the combat itself is fun and has a lot of depth because good variety and balance in the weaponry. Bungie is specifically avoiding repetition in Halo 2 levels, so that particular problem of Halo 1 has been addressed. I'm hoping the story is better too; Halo 1's story was good for an FPS but there's so much more potential there. With Halo 2's xbox live support, 8-16 player games will be available 24 hours a day in your living room, so it won't be a big deal involving transporting XBoxes and TVs to experience the coolness of larger Halo games.
main(c,r){for(r=32;r;) printf(++c>31?c=!r--,"\n":c<r?" ":~c&r?" `":" #");}
Is Autocomplete a game I've never heard of, or a reference to the feature in some computer programs? If the latter, the joke needs a little work.
Holy Shit! Was that English?
I don't care who bought them, or even who is working on them, all I care about is the quality of the games. In my opinion Bungie peaked with Marathon 2, and has been downhill ever since. The plot and gameplay on Marathon 2 were better than any FPS I have seen since, it was 5 years ahead of it's time for features like team play, customizability, and audio chat as well. I waited and waited for Halo to come out and blow me away again, but after the Microsoft purchase it took forever (3+ years after showing a working demo, and then it was only Xbox and PC. Even so, I tried it immediately on a friend's system. It was, sadly, obviously dumbed down for play on the Xbox, lacking half the features of Marathon 2, without the compelling, interactive story line, and basically without the fun.
Maybe Bungie will be back in all their former glory for Halo 2, but I am certainly not counting on it. I suspect this will be another cookie cutter game with the same crap as every other FPS and slightly more realistic graphics. I'm not sure a console can have enough controls to make a game truly great, and everything they put out will certainly be designed with the Xbox as the primary platform. Prove me wrong guys.
I should've added that he's beaten the single player about 5 times on Legendary. Sadly, I just wait to die and respawn if I play coop with him on that level.
IronChefMorimoto
Ever played Marathon? Bungie invented MOST of the conventions of the FPS genre back in 1995. Hell, Marathon even had real-time VOICE CHAT in networked games!
It's not "just another FPS" it's like if Lord British said they were making another Ultima, or if Blizzard was working on a brand new RTS. Even if the genre and theme is repetitive, it's going to be great and you know it. It's Bungie, it has to be!
Comment of the year
-User gspawn, forgotten password and too lazy to care.
As has had to be noted DOZENS of times all over the internet, Halo 2 is NOT ready to ship. They sent it to be certified, the last step before production, which is the step before shipping.
I would expect Slashdot readers to be above the masses in figuring that one out... 0.o
Asking what Autocomplete is is legit, since it's contained in the summary. Some of the people moderating here are idiots. And I notice that nobody has supplied the answer. What. Is. Autocomplete?
Uh no buddy. "Ensemble Studios" created Age of Empires and AoE:RoR. M$ bought Ensemble Studios, but its still Ensemble Studios that makes those games - AoK, AoK:TC and AOM, no banana-boy Ballmer and his loser troope of codemonkeys.