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XBox (Games)

Halo 2 Ready to Ship 280

Posted by Zonk from the now-more-stabbity-than-ever dept.
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."
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Halo 2 Ready to Ship More

Halo 2 Ready to Ship

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  • Hope it comes to Mac/PC (Score:5, Insightful)

    by hype7 ( 239530 ) <u3295110@an[ ]du.au ['u.e' in gap]> on Monday October 04, 2004 @09:58AM (#10428314) Journal
    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
    • I wonder how many people on /. played Pathways into Darkness... that was such a great game.
      • It was one of the few FPSes that ran decently on my old LC (Marathon was close, but the LC was just a little too slow to make the game playable). IIRC, it was one of the few games where your starting weapon was entirely worthless (it started out empty and there was never any more ammo for it in the entire game). The only other thing I remember about it was getting my butt kicked fairly regularly and going up and down ladders a lot.
      • I wonder how many people on /. played Pathways into Darkness...

        For those who don't know (and who would moderate as offtopic) Pathways into Darkness [bungie.org] was one of the FIRST Bungie games [wikipedia.org], and considered by some to be the forerunner of an underlying mythos that ties all of the Bungie games together (with possible exception of Oni, although some argue about that too.)

        You know you've delved too deeply into Bungie's games when you see se7ens and pfors everywhere...

    • Re:Hope it comes to Mac/PC (Score:5, Insightful)

      by SilentChris ( 452960 ) on Monday October 04, 2004 @10:26AM (#10428690) Homepage
      Personally, I was less than impressed with the Halo PC port. The graphics looked horrific on all but the best cards, and simple things like finding a game online were screwed up (sync errors, anyone)? Halo on Xbox, in comparison, is a blast.

      By the way, anyone see what they're doing with the graphics on the Xbox? Impressive shit. That's the oft-spoken of advantage of a console: by the time last-generation software rolls around for it, developers know the hardware inside-out.
      • Yeah Halo PC wasn't a great port at all. I still had great fun playing it, and competing in the Australia Halo PC Tourney, but it ran like a dog.

        I moonlighted between Unreal 2:XMP towards the end of my Halo PC Online gaming and that highlighted how bad the problem really was. I played XBOX Halo before that and that was really great, it just "felt" better than its PC cousin. O2 is on pre-order and XBOX Live is cranking so I'm just hanging out for it to come.

        BTW Unreal 2:XMP was a very underrated mod whic

        • Yeah Halo PC wasn't a great port at all.

          I agree. All the PC vs. console stuff aside, PC FPSers have basically two things going for them:

          • Controls. The mouse/keyboard system is probably the most intuitive and natural way to control your character in a FPS game. It doesn't require fiddling with the controller settings and it doesn't take any getting used to. (The small XBox controller comes close, from a design point of view. The button/trigger setup works really well, even for people who have literally n
          • Mods have been a limitation the software developers have added to console games. FarCry:Instincst, the FarCry port for the XBOX, is supposed to have an editor built in so you can design and distribute your own levels on XBOX Live! I'm sure it's relatively trivial to develop a way to have XBOX Live! connect to the PC and upload/download texture maps and models built in gmax.
            • Well, there's already a way to do that, sort of. If you have a modded XBox and use a hacked dashboard, you can already access the XBox's harddrive through any FTP browser.

              Some people soft-modded their XBoxes using the 007 hack a while back just to be able to add stuff to games (granted, most people who did roll their own "mods" did so to cheat). Then Microsoft fixed the hole.

              I'm not so sure Microsoft really wants XBox/PC compability. That's why XBox DVDs cannot be read by ordinary PC DVD drives. That's

      • The lack of co-op multiplayer mode on the PC port stinks.

        At least Doom 3 didn't let us down...oh wait
      • The graphics looked horrific on all but the best cards, and simple things like finding a game online were screwed up (sync errors, anyone)?

        Huh? The graphics looked great to me, on my old Ti4200. I never had anyproblems finding games online, although at first there was alot of lag, but they patched that pretty quickly.

        The PC controls are also suprior, plus the extra vehicals made the game well worth it for me.

        Halo Xbox suffered from crappy controls (especially the smaller ones, and the fact that while

      • I just finished playing through Halo PC for the second time, only took me a couple days of free time, which since it was the weekend, added up to quite a few hours.

        Anyway, I have a few observations on the game. First, they changed vehicle mechanics from the release version to 1.02 or 1.03 patch. That annoyed the piss out of me. It had to do with the traction that the warthog got, or its bounding box or something, but it affected the size of space it would squeeze through. I noticed because I patched it

      • I lost all respect for halo when I beat a few "seasoned" friends in it the first time I ever used an xbox. It doesn't seem to require much skill at all apart from learning the controls.
    • The word is that the Mac/PC port was a trojan horse to get more people interested in Halo to sell Halo 2, so I strongly doubt we'll ever see Halo 2 on anything besides an Xbox.
    • In fact Halo was featured in an Apple ad for the G4 [bungie.org] when it was a Mac game, and later for the G5 [akamai.net] when it was an Xbox-cum-Mac game.

  • *drool* (Score:3, Funny)

    by Stypen ( 720346 ) on Monday October 04, 2004 @09:59AM (#10428324)
    about time! you can call me ethan from ctrl+alt+del [ctrlaltdel-online.com]

  • Yaaaaayy!!! (Score:4, Funny)

    by grunt107 ( 739510 ) on Monday October 04, 2004 @09:59AM (#10428326)
    Can't wait to jack one of them Covenant tanks - not to mention the ability to shank someone with the sword.

    Woohoo!

  • M'eh. (Score:4, Funny)

    by static0verdrive ( 776495 ) on Monday October 04, 2004 @09:59AM (#10428334) Homepage Journal
    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.

    • Re:M'eh. (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Doom 3 was the original?
    • How many "enter room, door closes, lights go out, secret panels open and hordes of demons/imps/whatever enter the room growling in the dark" can the gamers take?

      I'll stick with my money.

    • Re:M'eh. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Blakey Rat ( 99501 ) on Monday October 04, 2004 @01:51PM (#10431050)
      The difference is that in Doom 3 you get attacked by zombies that look like aliens because "they're evil" with no other story or reason given.

      In Marathon, you're being attacked by a race of slavers attempting to enslave your colony ship built inside a hollowed-out asteroid while one of the ship's built-in AIs has gone insane (more or less) and is using the teleporters to jot you from place to place to do his bidding. You're stuck in the middle... the aliens are a threat but then again, so is the Marathon rogue AI (Durandel) seeing as he wants to survive until the end of time where he can basically shield himself from the Big Crunch and become a God in the next universe that forms. Your job is to save as many colonists as possible while staying alive yourself.

      Doom 3 has missions where you run around and kill aliens. Marathon has missions where you have to rescue colonists, or where you have to activate a specific machine or device on the ship, or where you're teleported to the alien ship and have to scout out its layout and their weapons. Hell, the game doesn't even really end all that well... it's not a happy cheerful "look the colonists are all ok" ending, it's more of a Empire Strikes Back bittersweet ending.

      You're talking Apples and Oranges here. The Marathon universe, where HALO and HALO 2 take place, is a real breathing science fiction world where all the races and characters have actual motivations for what they do.

      id demonstrated with Doom, Doom II and Doom III that they can build a graphics engine and populate it with monsters. Bungie demonstrated that they can create a living, breathing world and an intense story, plop you down in the middle of it, and marvel at what transpires.

      • Re:M'eh. (Score:2, Informative)

        by Pfhorrest ( 545131 )
        Just a minor correction that I'm sure no one will even read or care to read: Halo is not set in the Marathon universe. In early drafts of the story is was, but it is clearly a very distinct world now, and Bungie has said as much.

  • There's a good article over on Wired (Score:5, Informative)

    by hype7 ( 239530 ) <u3295110@an[ ]du.au ['u.e' in gap]> on Monday October 04, 2004 @10:00AM (#10428349) Journal
    about the team behind Halo 2

    http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.10/halo.html [wired.com]

    It's a good read if you're into the game!

    -- james
    • I wish they would include info about the entire team, and not just the few top dogs as usual.

      I happened to bump into two Halo 2 people here in Seattle last Friday while shooting a video tour and failed to ask them what part of Halo 2 they were actually working on.

      Anyhow, if you guys are scanning these posts feel free to drop me a line.

  • Well! (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Firehawke ( 50498 )
    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.

    • Re:Well! (Score:5, Informative)

      by Yolegoman ( 762615 ) on Monday October 04, 2004 @10:05AM (#10428408) Homepage
      That's retarded. While there was a rumor that Halo 2 may be out in Spring of 04 (Or this year...), it was just that, a rumor. Bungie never said anything one way or the other about the rumor. It was back at the e3 2004 Convention that they stated it would release on November 9th: And for the love of bees, it looks like that's what's gonna happen! Be sure of your facts before dissing something, dude.

    • Re:Well! (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Jearil ( 154455 ) on Monday October 04, 2004 @10:05AM (#10428420) Homepage
      Like Doom 3, Bungie has never actually announced an official release date until E3 where they stated with certainty a November 9th release date. It seems they will be able to deliver on that.

      All other dates were pure speculation by the media. People think the game is pushed back because speculation and rumors prove to not be true.

      It's sad how the opinion on a developer can be so easily lowered by incorrect assumptions made by gaming sites and the media.
  • 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.

    • Re:All it is cracked up to be... (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      ... I don't really see how they could mess up Halo 2 ...

      Well they could let the folks who did the the PC version of Halo do the PC version of Halo 2.

      Then it would suck big hairy donkey balls.
    • 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.

      So... it's like every other Peter Molyneux game ever made... good to know.

  • Autocomplete? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Infinityis ( 807294 ) on Monday October 04, 2004 @10:03AM (#10428386) Homepage
    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...

    • Re:Autocomplete? (Score:5, Funny)

      by EvilTwinSkippy ( 112490 ) <yoda AT etoyoc DOT com> on Monday October 04, 2004 @10:50AM (#10428952) Homepage Journal
      No, no. They mean autocomplete as in web browser autocomplete. Where you are typing in a credit card order and it suddenly fills in you address from 3 apartments ago. Where you are filling out a form with your wife for an anniversary present, and after tying the letter J is substitutes in the name of an ex girfriend.

      Autocomplete is an incarnation of evil. I just want to know where I can get it in a more concentrated form. Well, besides "Clippy"

  • PC? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Ziak ( 807893 ) *
    so when does it come out for PC?..... If the Xbox is just a PC it shouldn't take that much....

    • Re:PC? (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Gearbox took 2 years to port Halo to the PC so even if it may not take much ... don't expect it to see Halo 2 PC too soon.
    • That's the same thing that was said about Halo originally, but it took a couple years, IIRC, to get Halo ported. And it still ran pretty much like crap. Hopefully they'll do a better job porting Halo 2.
    • It's not how long the port takes, it's how long Microsoft delays it so that they can actually sell the game for the Xbox.

  • Finaly! (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anthet ( 462436 ) on Monday October 04, 2004 @10:19AM (#10428610)
    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. :(
    • You have a problem with a girlfriend that likes playing Halo with you? Give her to me, I'll make sure she's occupied while you're hacking some code : )

      but seriously, you'd better be creating Linux patches or something that important if you're going to be neglecting such a girlfriend ; )

  • You've told me you want help with fragging... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Jonny Royale ( 62364 ) on Monday October 04, 2004 @10:36AM (#10428785) Homepage Journal
    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."


    Great, the MS Office paperclip is runnig the clans now..
    • Great, the MS Office paperclip is runnig the clans now..

      Hi! I see that you're talking smack to that other clan! Would you like help to:

      • Challenge them to an actual match?
      • Put up a website with disparaging comments about them?
      • Brag to everybody that you've already beat them, and refuse to play them again?
      • Start playing them, and suffer a 'network failure' if they start winning?
  • 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 HA
    • He's just a Halo nut and probably an addict too. People have been like this with FPS games ever since Wolf3D and Doom hit the scene. It goes beyond FPS games though as I'm still addicted to the original Civilization - I can't install it as I lose my spare time and sleep to it. As far as FPS addictions go, Quake 2 was the one that consumed my life for the longest, but that followed on from innumerable hours playing Wolf3D, Ultima Underworld, Doom, Doom 2, Heretic, Hexen, Quake, etc. Personally I didn't f
    • Well...he isn't the only one.

      I'm not sure if my friends like it, or hate it, when I say "Okay, when we go through this door, there will be 3 guys, first you go to the right and silently bash the grunt sleeping- then I'll take out the shade, and we can both work on the elite that will come up the stairs". But yes, I know just about every enemy location in the campaign side of the game.

      There are a lot of Halo freaks out there. I will only put it in now for multi-player, but I spent more than my fair share
    • 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

  • What's Autocomplete? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by John Jorsett ( 171560 ) on Monday October 04, 2004 @11:24AM (#10429351)
    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.
    • 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?
  • "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.

    SourceForge needs that feature. Most SourceForge projects are empty. Projects that have neither activity nor code should be archived, just to declutter the open source world.

  • Was the multiplayer. We'd often have X-box parties at a friend's house where we'd drink and play 4v4 or 8v8 Halo as well as other games just about all night. People would bring over DLP projectors and their X-boxes and it was a blast.

    I've recently moved and thus far, most of the people I've met have really no desire to play X-box. Yeah, I have a 65" HDTV and thought of buying an X-box, but I got to thinking about it and realized that I liked to play X-Box, but it was the multiplayer stuff that was fun.

  • Halo 2 NOT ready to ship (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    -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
  • Blue team has the flag.
    Where did that grenade come from?
    Red team-flag returned!
  • One of the selling points of Halo 2 is its Xbox Live support. I currently don't have XBL, because none of my games support them; will there be a 12-month subscription card bundled with Halo 2 similar to the XBL+Crimson Skies package that they're selling now?

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