Halo2 confirmed for Fall 2004!

[AzBat]

What a bummer. Guess I'll just get to play Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow till it gets here.

Here's the quote and sources...

But a spokeswoman confirmed on Friday that the "Halo 2" launch is now set for the later part of the year. A firm launch date was not available, although it would be in Microsoft's next fiscal year, which starts in July, the spokeswoman said.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040130/tc_nm/tech_microsoft_xbox_dc_1

So remember last year when we told you we don't announce release dates until we're confident we'll meet our deadline? Well now were confident. Halo 2 will ship in Fall, 2004. Please make a note of it.

http://www.bungie.net/



There's more to info included on the news item at Bungie, including a multiplayer screen shot in what looks like 720p.

Tommy McClain

 

[Megadrive1988]

like duh!


which means Halo3 on Xbox2 in fall 2006

 

[cybamerc]

Megadrive1988:

> which means Halo3 on Xbox2 in fall 2006

Eh... unless the second Bungie team is working on Halo 3 I doubt it. By the time Halo 2 comes out it will have been ~3 years since the first one. I doubt they will be able to put together a proper follow-up on new (and much more powerful) hardware in less time.

 

[Magnum PI]

There's more to info included on the news item at Bungie, including a multiplayer screen shot in what looks like 720p.

1600x1200 (!) screenshot:

http://www.bungie.net/images/site/halo/screenshots/halo2/h2_mp_01.jpg

 

[Blade]

Hey, as long as it's better than the first I don't care how long it takes.

 

[jvd]

Megadrive1988:

> which means Halo3 on Xbox2 in fall 2006

Eh... unless the second Bungie team is working on Halo 3 I doubt it. By the time Halo 2 comes out it will have been ~3 years since the first one. I doubt they will be able to put together a proper follow-up on new (and much more powerful) hardware in less time.

Well the pc version has just under gone some very big tweaks and add ons . Perhaps working to get it to run faster on current hardware . Or i should say the xbox 2 hardware and having it ready for launch with new content shouldn't be that hard .

First gen launch tittles often don't look the best and having a halo 3 that looks better than halo 2 at launch with online play would be a big plus for ms

 

[Megadrive1988]

If only Bungie could use the extra time to make Halo 2 a solid 60fps....

 

[hey69]

i don't see what's so cool about that screenshot but hey.. who am I ?

 

[chapban.]

GOTY 2004. Dot. Period. 8)

 

[nondescript]

1600x1200 (!) screenshot:

http://www.bungie.net/images/site/halo/screenshots/halo2/h2_mp_01.jpg

I hope this isn't taken as a flame ... we've got too many locked threads already. Here goes. (I rarely, if ever, comment on game graphics, since I don't consider them nearly as important as gameplay)

Does that picture impress anyone here? Not me... just look at it - no shadows off the dead guy, you have this glowing guy to the side, yet he casts no shadows at all - and he should be lighting up that dark corner. Hi-res bump-mapped textures galore tho (and nice lighting by the machine gun off the Warthog and players). I swear that cliff to the right is made of at most 8 polygons. And the ground seems to be made out of fake leather. And, of course, you can actually see the rocket, and count the paint lines on it - riiight.

And the colour palette - well, that's a matter of taste I suppose...

Well, I'm probably being too harsh, since the game is still being developed, and maybe this is just to show off the engine. The character model is insanely detailed. It's just that the contrast between the detail of the characters/vehicles and the background makes it quite unnatural. Still a long way to go, IMHO.

(And before someone else says it, there are plenty of PS2 games that look much worse than this, I agree.)

 

[chapban.]

8 more months of development.
It is also a multiplayer map. Thanks to Iceman at GAF, we can see how cool the draw distance is.

Blue Master Chief from a mile!

GOTY 2004. Dot. Period.

 

[chapban.]

It is already looking be better than Halo1(which at its time and even now, for what it did, remains a top dog in console FPS).

GOTY 2004. Dot. Period. 8)
* chilling by the quality of top Xbox games year in year out *

 

[_phil_]

Halo played pretty well.But bad art +low poly feel don't make it great at all in my eyes.I know it's bad to criticise mighty halo ,but i think it sucks visualy,and halo2 goes the same aparently.
I also think they should drop whatever necessary per pixel FX features to get it to run 60 fps.

no flame ,just personal opinion.

 

[cybamerc]

I actually think that Halo 1 screen is much more pleasing to the eye than the Halo 2 one. Hell, the environment is much smoother.

It'll be interesting to see if it's just the gfx in the multiplayer mode that have been scaled back or if it's representative of the overall game.

 

[pcostabel]

Halo played pretty well.But bad art +low poly feel don't make it great at all in my eyes.I know it's bad to criticise mighty halo ,but i think it sucks visualy,and halo2 goes the same aparently.
I also think they should drop whatever necessary per pixel FX features to get it to run 60 fps.

no flame ,just personal opinion.

I agree, I never quite understood this Halo mania. It looked average, low poly, generic art, repetitive environments. Halo2 looks no better.

 

[chapban.]

No problems guys, everyone is an individually different breed. Likey some not likey some. For ex, i could never understand the SH2/3/ZOE2 mania either. :shrug: I didnt even think SH2/3/ZOE2(cept ZOE2 particles + parts of SH3 cutscenes) look *that* pretty. Nothing wrong though. Different we are.

 

[Paul]

IMO Ninja Gaiden looks better..

 

[Qroach]

I don't knwo how anyone could think the halo1 pic looks better than the halo 2 pic. To those tha tsay it looks low reas and stuff like that, it did come out in 2001

 

[marconelly!]

I think for most people it still comes down to art direction we prefer. We've seen many tech effects appearing in the games nowadays and it's hard to get impressed by those alone anymore. Hell, I can think of couple of 2D games that I think look better than 90% of 3D games today.

As for this pic - this is how Halo game is supposed to look like. You can like it for what it is ot not, but they are doing a good job of improving the looks of the first game, while preserving it's cold, shiny metal look.

 

[Clashman]

I'd be cautious of comparing Halo1 screengrabs to Halo2 devshots at this point. For one, the Halo 1 shot seems to be way out in the open compared to some of the dev shots released.

Anyone remember these?

Now these both seem to be much closer comparisons to the Halo 2 shot, (although I think 2 does still look better). But closeups and non-gameplay camera angles can sometimes give a different impression than what you'll see in-game.