Year: 2004

BBC Online has put up their own Editors’ Picks for best games of 2004 – Halo 2 was one of four games tapped. Thanks, MadscientistUK.

This is a new stance – according to James Pinkerton, of Newsday.com, Halo 2 (and games like it) serve a necessary purpose in our society – they ‘hone the killer instinct’, and ‘prep the next generation to do the hard work of freedom’. Whoa. There’s already a lively discussion on our forum – please try…

GameDaily wrote up a Halo 2/Half-Life 2 Face-Off, comparing the two games feature for feature. We won’t spoil the surprise – go read it. Thanks, TricKy.

A recent Silo Roberts comic looked at Christmas presents… and why some are not interchangeable. Thanks, Annie Muske-Dukes.

IGN has posted a Sniping Locations FAQ for Water Works. Just what it sounds like.

For anyone who wanted to grab the Spike TV Ultimate Gamer piece we released earlier today, but didn’t feel like dealing with QuickTime… you can nab it in WMP9 format (75 mb) off files2.bungie.org.

Because the next few cutscenes are so short, we’re releasing four at once – they all take place around the Gas Giant. Check out Juggernaut, Hey, Watch This!, Hot Pursuit, and Dead or Alive… Actually, Just Dead – all over at our Cutscene Library.

There’s a new Dialogue update from Captain Spark on his website – 62 new snippets, including an old favorite. Details in his forum post. (These will make it into our Dialogue Databank in the next couple of days.)

There’s a Mac Halo 1.5.1 patch out now from MacSoft. It fixes a few things in the recent 1.5 release – you don’t need to download this unless you’re having any of the problems listed below. Fixed a Software rasterizer model animation bug on ATI 8500/9000/9200 hardware. Fixed a Pixel Shaders bug where drop shadows…

Interesting article over at BusinessWeekOnline… a look at Bungie as a success story, and the role that Halo 2 has played in that. With the exception of Marty O’Donnell, all quotes from the inside come from FORMER employees… pretty odd, until you realize it’s a look at where they came from. Go read! (Thanks, Marty.)

DLX (Gamespot’s download site) gave out awards for the Best Trailer of 2004 – Halo 2 was nominated, but Grand Theft Auto beat it out. Thanks, TricKy. Update: Halo 2 (well, the Plantronics Halo 2 headset, anyway) was also up for a pair of awards in the Gamespot Hardware Awards… but lost those, too. Thanks…

Red Leader points out that Afterwar 9 has been posted… Master Chief bests a Hunter, and a Grunt is about to be surprised.

Wolfy, from Sector 7, has posted a direct download of the Spike TV Ultimate Gamer feature – and just so they don’t get too swamped, here’s a local mirror of it, as well. The BitTorrent seed is still running strong, but if you want a direct download, this should help. (If you’d rather have a…

Just 7 new pieces for you in the Fan Fiction section today – easy reading!

Rampancy.net has updated their Halo 2 Impressions section with a piece on Metropolis. The highs, the lows, the ‘why did they do that?’s. Go read.

Stuntmutt continues his look at Halo 2’s regression into the console world of yesteryear in today’s One One Se7en.

Another update at the Halogen site recently – textured renders, and a downloadable beta of a pretty familiar map for Generals: Zero Hour. Thanks, NiceMissMayonnaise.

TalkXbox has posted their Game of the Year awards – and Halo 2 cleaned up. Best Graphics, Best Sound, Best Multiplayer/XBL Title, Game Studio, Character, Game We’re Still Playing in 2005, Game of the Year, and runner-up in the Action Title. Thanks, 3Suns.

Back in early November, Spike TV hosted an episode of Ultimate Gamer based on Halo 2 – it’s basically a makeover show, with the focus on gaming. (We posted a few notes at the time.) nukedude recorded the whole show – but we couldn’t put up a copy until Spike stopped airing the episode. As…