Halo 2

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Halo 2 Cover.

Halo 2 is the first sequel to Halo 1, released for the Xbox on November 9, 2004 in two different editions; the standard Halo 2 edition came in the traditional Xbox packaging, featuring a single disc with the single player campaign and multiplayer components. Also a Halo 2 Collector's Edition was released in a specially designed metal case, including an additional bonus DVD, extra booklet and slightly different user manual that accompanied the game. The sales of both units combined generated a $125 million entertainment record on its premiere day and over 7 million copies of the game have been sold world wide. It was recently announced that a PC port for the Windows Vista operating system is currently in development by an internal team composed from both Microsoft Game Studios and Bungie Studios.

The sequel features new game mechanics such as dual wielding, new vehicles and weapons, better A.I., the ability to hijack vehicles, and Internet-based multiplayer via Xbox Live. The game has a reworked, more advanced graphics engine than the original, that utilizes normal mapping and bloom effects, and as they say on G4 Tech TV if you look down, you can finally see you legs, which all together are helping to make it one of the best looking games on the Xbox. It also has Bungie.net integration and rankings and tracking of every online match, pushing the envelope of online console gaming further. Halo 2 supports the same LAN and split-screen multiplayer found in Halo: Combat Evolved.

Although Halo 2 is much more ambitious than its predecessor, both through the scope of its campaign and the inclusion of new features, there is heated debate over whether the game is inferior compared to its predecessor, mostly from the viewpoint of competitive multiplayer gamers.

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