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.
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.
An official, downloadable version of the "Halo 2" announcement trailer will be available soon. This is the same trailer shown to the press at Microsoft"s X02 event, and 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. For now, please head to https://www.bungie.net or click the links on the left for exclusive screenshots from the trailer.