Halo Wars

Those who have already forked out for the last five multiplayer maps of Halo 2 released by Bungie will be learning the true meaning of the phrase “patience is a virtue” as those very same maps are now free to download from XBOX LIVE as of today. Bungie offered two options for gamers whereby they could either pay up and get the Halo 2 maps immediately or they could wait and they would be free to download in a month or so – but we all know how hard it is to wait for downloadable content so it’s understandable why so many gamers stumped up the cash to get first dibs on playing the multiplayer maps rather than wait around for them to be free. Read more »

Halo 2 swept the board at the G-Phoria awards in Los Angeles, taking no less than seven awards including Game of the Year. The awards are apparently determined by audience voting and there were more than a million votes recorded via online and text messages. The award show won’t be aired until August 9th but a sneak peak of the recording showed that Halo 2 won awards for Best Original Soundtrack, Best Shooter, Best Male Voice Performance, Best Sound Design, Best Boss for the game’s Scarab battle, and also Best Multiplayer Game. Read more »

Hackers and modders beware: Bungie are on to you and are not happy bunnies at all. Too often has a player logged onto XBOX LIVE to play a few matches only to encounter someone who appears to be beyond superhuman – they can leap over objects too high for any other regular player, appear invisible or even move objects through solid walls. These people are those who use cheats to increase their stats at the expense of those playing through the game legitimately and Bungie are planning to crack down on this sort of behaviour with the release of their latest update. Read more »

No, it’s not some new character introduction to online play by Bungie and JK Rowling – the latest Harry Potter book is due for release at 12:01am tomorrow and could be all set to topple the sales record of Halo 2 which made $125 million in the first day of release, a record which still stands. But all this could change as Harry Potter shoves his wand up Master Chief’s backside and says “Move over, mate”. Read more »

It’s all over and a real Halo 2 master has valiantly battled his way through stiff competition from 23 other regions from all over the world to be crowned the first ever XBOX LIVE Halo 2 World Champion. King Tuur from the Netherlands triumphed over 50,000 other combatants to win this coveted title and all the spoils that came with it; the final match being between players from the Netherlands and Japan. The six global finalists were from Germany, the US, the Netherlands, Japan, Australia and France with aimitux of Japan facing off against King Tuur in the end. It began with both Halo 2 masters hunting each other down during raging battle all around them before King Tuur took the lead and just kept on going until he walked away with the Champion title. Read more »

Things are hotting up in the global tournament to find the ultimate Halo 2 champion as 22 out of the 24 regions on XBOX LIVE have already announced their winners of the regional contests and are soon to be advanced to the championship round. The US and Japan are still in the process of running their regional competitions and the winners are set to be announced at the end of May. All finalists will be playing entirely online via XBOX LIVE as they vie for the coveted title of the first ever Halo 2 global champion. Read more »

Have you got mad skills with an SMG? Can you hurl a frag further than anyone else? Are you the master of melee? If you think you’ve got what it takes, then this is the opportunity to prove yourself to the rest of the world as there is now a worldwide competition underway to find the best Halo 2 player on the planet, with the eventual champion set to receive a nice little package of goodies as a reward. There are 24 regions on XBOX LIVE and each one will have their own mini tournaments with the winner going forward to play the winner of another region. Read more »

On April 25th fans of Halo 2 will be able to get their mitts on two free multiplayer maps as well as being able to purchase two further maps for $5.99. The free maps will be “Warlock” (inspired by Halo: Combat Evolved’s “Wizard” map) and “Containment”, a massive level covered with snow. The two maps available for $5.99 are “Turf” and “Sanctuary”, collectively known as the Killtacular Pack. For those who have enormous patience and small budgets, the Killtacular Pack will be free on June 28th. Read more »

Those of you playing Halo 2 online will have no doubt noticed that those players wielding heavier weapons such as the Brute Shot in the past have been slower and more sluggish in their movements. You may even have lobbed a grenade only for it to be about as powerful as a slap in the face; injuring rather than killing your opponent as intended. If that’s the case, then watch out because the latest auto-update will see Bungie tweaking like they’ve never tweaked before and redressing certain balances. Read more »

Halo 2, Bungie’s upcoming sequel to Halo: Combat Evolved (which is available on the XBOX and PC), has received no less than four nominations for the Game Critics Awards: Best of E3 2004 this evening, exceeding those of Jade Empire, Splinter Cell 3, God of War and Half-Life 2 who each received three each. Read more »