Halo 2 available NOW!

[yllus]

UPDATE - NOV 9, 2004:

Back from the 12:00 opening at Best Buy where I had my preorder. Snagged a Halo 2 hat on top of my Halo 2 t-shirt for being one of the first 100 buyers. The Master Chief made a showing in his Hummer H1, as did some babes from Microsoft. But for now, pics of the merchandise.

1) The outside case. Kind of awe-inspiring...
2) The case again, slipped out of its protective plastic shell.
3) Contents of the Limited Collector's Edition.
4) Halo 2 hat, free to first 100 in line at Best Buy.
5) The Master Chief, his Hummer H1, and a friend of mine.
6) The lineup for Halo 2 at Best Buy in Mississauga, Canada.

To answer one popular question: It seems that EVERY copy of Halo 2 (regular or collector's) comes with 2 months free of Xbox Live. More pics and caps in the morning.


UPDATE - NOV 8, 2004:

I recommend NOT reading the reviews if you're looking for spoiler-free gameplay.

Halo 2 Reviews
TeamXbox: 9.9 / 10

IGN.com: 9.8 / 10

Gamespy.com: 5 / 5

GameSpot: 9.4 / 10


UPDATE - NOV 6, 2004:

Currently, 69.5% of Xbox owners on AT are planning on buying Halo 2 on Nov 9, or have a preorder.

The future of online stat tracking = Halo 2
- Kills, assists, deaths, and flags captured
- Check every single Halo 2 game you've played online
- Set up your own forums and news pages
- Game Viewer: Your replays from 15 perspectives, where you performed all of your kills, where you were killed, visual trajectories showing who killed you using what weapon, flag carry paths...


UPDATE - NOV 1, 2004:

Currently, 72.5% of Xbox owners on AT are planning on buying Halo 2 on Nov 9, or have a preorder.

The Halo 2 Limited Collector's Edition is apparently actually limited and not just a marketing phrase. When this initial shipment of them runs out, it's over. Just more reason to buy it. For you Canadians, try a pricematch using DVD Soon.

The Collector's Edition includes...
- A metallic tin case seen with some difficulty here
- "The Making of Halo 2: Behind the Scenes of Bungie Studios"
- Numerous featurettes on game design, animation, and multiplayer
- Deleted scenes and outtakes (Master Chief is famous for flubbing his lines)
- Commentaries from the development team
- Art gallery
- "Much more..."


UPDATE - OCT 28, 2004:

Fill out the poll.

Stock of the regular and collector's edition arrived in retail locations across North America last week. We're all now officially waiting for go-time to pick up a copy.

Oh, and lastly, pics of the t-shirt Best Buy Canada is giving away with preorders of the game! 1 2


RECEIVE A MSN MESSENGER ALERT WHEN YOUR FRIENDS ARE ON XBOX LIVE:

Apparently, if you link your MSN Messenger account to your Xbox Live account you can choose to receive alerts directly in your MSN Messenger window when your people on your XBL Friends list log on to the service. You also get notified of what game they're playing, if they're sending you an invite, etc. Seems very neat.

http://www.xbox.com/en-CA/alerts/

 

[rh71]

need to add poll option for pre-ordered.

 

[Rallispec]

i saw my first halo2 commercial on tv last night.


anyhow, wont be buying it anytime soon. not intersested. Didnt like Halo 1 enough, -- and i doubt halo 2 will have anything so revolutionary in it that it will be a game iv'e got to go buy.


I've got tiger woods 2005 to keep me busy for a while

 

[PoPPeR]

yawn. Give me CS:Source any day of the week

 

[mchammer187]

Originally posted by: PoPPeR
yawn. Give me WoW any day of the week

corrected

 

[mchammer187]

n/m

 

[ivol07]

I can't wait. It should be good.

 

[Danman]

Meh. Never was a big Halo fan. Have fun with it though.

 

[azazyel]

I am really excited for this to come out. By some stroke of good fortune my g/f and one of my friend's g/f is going out of town that weekend. I am taking off Friday and going to spend 3 days being a geek.

 

[CVSiN]

Originally posted by: mchammer187

Originally posted by: PoPPeR
yawn. Give me WoW any day of the week

corrected

Wooot WoW 4 teh wins!

 

[ViperXX]

Oh yeah baby!

Gonna have an XBox party!

 

[RaynorWolfcastle]

MS is having a random presentation at school on Monday where they will be giving door prizes. Among these door prizes are copies of Halo 2, you can bet your ass I'll be attending Free pizza and drinks don't hurt either

 

[rh71]

Halo 2 for doorstops ? Kind of a waste, isn't it ?

 

[mb]

Originally posted by: PoPPeR
yawn. Give me CS:Source any day of the week

Seriously. I tried Halo. I played it for a week, figured I'd give it a fair chance.
After that week, I've never had the desire to play it anymore.

 

[Feneant2]

Ordered my EQ2 with express shipping instead of Halo 2... I'll get it eventually, but considering I also have Wow preordered, I might play Halo 4

 

[BornStar]

I'm all over this game when it comes out. Both of my roommates and myself own Xboxs so we won't betting much sleep that week.

 

[RagingBITCH]

I have it preordered. Elite Halo players....psh. My cousins and his friends would pwn you. Now me, not so much, I rarely play it except on holidays.

 

[MaxDSP]

have had the collector's edition preordered since they announced it

yllus, whered you get that shirt? I want

 

[Kelemvor]

I've never played Halo so woudln't know what is improved in the new one. WOuld it be good to borrow that from someone and play it for the next week or so and then get 2 so I too can feel that it's such a big improvement?

 

[ViperXX]

What's the difference between Halo2 standard and Halo2 the collectors edition?

 

[RagingBITCH]

Originally posted by: ViperXX
What's the difference between Halo2 standard and Halo2 the collectors edition?

Tin can it comes in and the bonus DVD with the making of featurettes and other assorted stuff.

 

[Wingznut]

I went to pre-order the CE a few weeks ago, but apparently MS will have no more of them on day one. So, I'm still torn between pre-ordering the regular edition, or trying to snag a CE.

I'll probably pre-order the regular edition so that I can pick it up at midnight.

 

[ivol07]

Originally posted by: Wingznut
I went to pre-order the CE a few weeks ago, but apparently MS will have no more of them on day one. So, I'm still torn between pre-ordering the regular edition, or trying to snag a CE.

I'll probably pre-order the regular edition so that I can pick it up at midnight.

Just go to EBGames.com and pre-order the LE there. It says on their site that if you pre-order it and choose in store pickup you'll get a copy on the day of release. I also asked their online help people and they reassured me that I would have it on the 9th.

 

[jagec]

Why oh why do they make these games come out on CONSOLES?

FPS belongs on the PC. Better graphics, better controls, better networking.

Chances are by the time Halo2 comes out for the PC in like 5 years they'll make it run really badly and take out cooperative mode, just like with Halo1. Too bad, I liked that game...why did they have to screw up the port?

 

[luckyducky]

The new 60second H2 commercial is up:
http://halo.bungie.org/oldnews.html?item=11030