Major Halo announcement soon

By Tom Bramwell Published 21 March, 2005

Bungie says it will make "a major announcement" offering details of its new maps, which will be "available for everybody", as rumours of an expansion pack go unanswered.

Bungie is promising "a major announcement" this week offering details of its new maps for Halo 2 amidst rumours of a full-blown expansion for the game.

The hullabaloo kicked off late last week when eagle-eyed servants of the Master Chief spotted an update on Microsoft's Korean website listing a Halo 2 expansion called "X-Pack".

Microsoft hasn't commented on the entry yet, but the X-Pack - whatever it is - has since been removed from the site's release schedule, and Bungie's response has done little to quash the rumour mongering.

Although the note in this week's Bungie mailbag did claim that "some dates, details and ideas out there...are actually wrong," it didn't specify which or how. "We can't talk about how and when the new maps will be released," it said.

However, Bungie did state that its "entire plan is designed to make new content available for everybody, those with Xbox Live and those without Xbox Live," which suggests that some form of packaged update is on the cards.

Downloadable content for Halo 2 has been mooted since before the game was even released, but so far - apart from a couple of patches - there's been nothing on the sort of scale we expected since the game's November launch.

As for the X-Pack? Your guess is as good as ours at this point, so we'll leave you to speculate in peace.

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About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000. Follow him on Twitter.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (48) Latest comment 7 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Pirotic #1 7 years ago

    im all for new content, but they should also fix the old content such as the maps which had the 'flag thru wall' glitchs, which as a result got removed from the 'play list'. im fed up of playing the same three maps over and over because the rest are all bugged.

  • IronGiant #2 7 years ago

    So for everyone offline this extra is free then? If not they can shove it.

  • towser #3 7 years ago

    sooo, better than Halo then?

    /runs away

  • Lutz #4 7 years ago

    They have done. Read Bungies latest update.

  • Pirotic #5 7 years ago

    I've stopped reading the Bungie updates, the chaps funny but half the time they refuse to give any sort of date - they keep saying the new maps are ace, and that they've found ways to stop the cheaters, but so far i haven't seen either of them.

  • onyxbox #6 7 years ago

    let it be online co-op PLEASE !!!!

  • Blerk #7 7 years ago

    Are they putting the single player game back in? :-)

  • #8 7 years ago

    /meh

  • Tiger_Walts #9 7 years ago

    How about a 'flood survival' mode.

    A bit like Natural Selection in that a team of Elites tries to destroy the Gravemind while the other side controls swarms of infection Flood. The Flood can then take over the bodies of fallen Elites.

  • Mr_Sleep #10 7 years ago

    I cynically suggest that they purposely put the X Pack bit up there for it to appear to be a mistake and it would naturally get latched on to by someone.

    Start a bit of hype and get the players all frothing, good marketing really.

  • Cyhwuhx #11 7 years ago

    .::: According to some pricelists HALO 2 is very close to being repackaged as a Classic-game. I wouldn't be surprised if the Classic-version turned out to be a reworked version with an "at the price of an update" excuse tagged on it.

  • Kami #12 7 years ago

    ... oh sorry, was I supposed to care about the Halo 2 announcement? Sorry... meh.

  • ssuellid #13 7 years ago

    You cared enough to comment :)

  • Johnson #14 7 years ago

    Is there any way to play multiplayer Halo 2 without being confronted with cheaters and 15 other players who all have very insightful comments on n*****s, my mother and how gay everything is (except for themselves, obviously)?

  • gizmo #15 7 years ago

    Very dissapointing stuff - they're heading for Rare territory.

    'We know something exciting, we know something exciting..., you don't, you don't'

    Ahh piss off and actually DO something.

  • Heds #16 7 years ago

    Has anybody ever got the friends list to actually work in Halo2? I've tried with about five people, each of them trying to host in turn, and it always times out telling us there's some sort of network problem, try again later.

    Except it doesn't work then either. Incredibly annoying.

  • Blerk #17 7 years ago

    Wow... compare this thread to the ones before the game was launched. It's enough to make a Bungie PR guy weep. :-)

  • Stevas mkII #18 7 years ago

    Yeah, weep. Weep right into his very tall bucket of champagne.

  • Mr_Sleep #19 7 years ago

    "Wow... compare this thread to the ones before the game was launched. It's enough to make a Bungie PR guy weep. :-)"

    I guess he's already done his job since the game has actually been sold and as much as most people say now that they won't fall for all that hype again, they probably will. Thing about PR and most majors is that they don't give a crap about end users or what happens after they've sold their product, it takes a small label to give a shit about the after effects.

    A friend of mine was telling me the other day about a fella he knows in a band whos record company were revealing all this stuff to the mags about how he's working on a new album and it's half way through production and all this stuff. The fact that the fella hadn't written anything at all and wasn't sure if he even wanted to be in the band any more didn't make any difference, the record company told him that it's a standard situation, they have to keep plugging something to keep it in the conciousness, they said they were probably going to do a similar thing at least three times before any releases. A bit weird and scary if you ask me.

    That whole story reminds me of this story, a small murmur and everyone gets a bit excited again, Halo 2 fever has died out so they have to start a big of exposure again.
    Edited by Mr_Sleep at 21/03/05 @ 12:53

  • dr_zoidthrob #20 7 years ago

    I wonder if it'll have the last level included? A better pistol wouldn't go amiss either. Oooh... the option to not have shields on a level too (bloody campers that just sit by the shield spawn location).

    Meh. I'll probably download it, just to see if the multiplayer is any smoother (the 2MB ntl line might help a little too). The number of games I've played on Live might then get into double-figures. Maybe.

  • #21 7 years ago

    "I can't wait for some new maps !!! AND i am quite happy to pay £2.99 ! "

    See... idiots like this is why Live is chargable... If 'everyone' told MS to fuck off and no-one would pay for Live, it would be free now... *rolls eyes*

    /no offence to the guy posting and sorry for calling you an idiot.

  • #22 7 years ago

    "Eurogamer's comments sometimes verge on the ridiculous"

    Examples?

    ooo How about "I bet most of you don't even own an Xbox"? That's a ridiculous comment isn't it?

  • Master Cheif #23 7 years ago

    Can you say Official Xbox Magazine Demo Disc i mean a couple of weeks ago they gave out some free game types, i can see this being how the offline players get their updates and DLC for Xbox Live users

  • gizmo #24 7 years ago

    Are you a friend of Master Chief? Or should that be freind? ;)

  • Master Cheif #25 7 years ago

    lol haha i missed spelt the name once and now im stuck with it

  • oceanmotion #26 7 years ago

    Master Cheif, your wrong there. The OXM guys just put there favourite custom game types on the disc which anyone can make up themselves.

  • Master Cheif #27 7 years ago

    ye true. but it would be the same price as DLC if it was to be paid for so i could see Bungie using OXM to put the new stuff on there

  • The-Bodybuilder #28 7 years ago

    >"who all have very insightful comments on n*****s"
    This is one of the reasons why I am holding out on going LIVE until the rest of my friends get broadband. Me being black, I'll probably piss them off by saying "i luv u" to freak them out.
    I can't imagine things getting better when the xbox360 comes out with a camera.

    >"as much as most people say now that they won't fall for all that hype again, they probably will."

    Ofcourse, they are the same people that say they won't buy FIFA, but have already preorderd the next installment.

    I personally hope that not only does this update include new multiplayer maps, but also that single player level that was shown in E3.

  • Johnson #29 7 years ago

    Oh, the "beta" level. Wow, Bungie really are the new Rare.

    I've only just got XBox live and no-one I know IRL has Live either (I'm really too old to be playing games). Is there a clan where they'll accept only people who have reached basic levels of intelligence and speech (i.e. somewhere where George W would be refused)?

  • tengu #30 7 years ago

    A Halo 2 expansion pack, eh? Is this the one that'll somehow make the game not shit?

    Must be a miracle in a disc if it is.

  • Syrette #31 7 years ago

    come on now. sure it may have been a a little disappointing, but can you really class it as shit?

    theres a lot worse games out there more deserving of such a label.

  • Khab #32 7 years ago

    "beta" level my arse - they clearly stated on the extras DVD it was no more than a rolling demo.

  • davyuk #33 7 years ago

    If they did just one thing, it would be to remove Coagulation from team slayer. It's like playing footie on a pitch the size of Texas.

    And will Halo 3 really sell Xbox 2? *hears sound of sheep* Oh yeah, maybe it will.
    Edited by davyuk at 21/03/05 @ 20:47

  • Genji #34 7 years ago

    "come on now. sure it may have been a a little disappointing, but can you really class it as shit?"

    FINALLY, there's someone on this thread I can agree with. I am SO SICK of people mouthing off at Bungie because Halo 2 failed to live up to their inflated expectations. I don't think it's an overblown theory that many people who criticise Halo on these forums don't own an Xbox. In the same way, many who criticise Nintendo games don't own a Gamecube, and have never actually played the games that they're pouring shit on.

    Just because I like a game that is popular, does that make me one of the "sheep"? Well, I guess that the overwhelming majority of reviewers that gave high scores to Halo 2 when it came out are also "sheep", or at least don't know what the hell they're talking about.

    No, it wasn't the best thing since sliced bread. No, it probably didn't live up to the hype. Few games do. But it was still a damn fine game, full of the setpiece battles that made me love Halo in the first place.

  • PhatCat #35 7 years ago

    Well said, Genji.

  • #36 7 years ago

    " I don't think it's an overblown theory that many people who criticise Halo on these forums don't own an Xbox. "

    I own an xbox, I own a rev 1.0 xbox so you can see how long ago I bought one (yeah, one of those 'dodgy' ones that might catch fire)
    I *loved* Halo when it came out and loved playing it.
    I was very excited to learn the 2nd one was on its way out.
    I warned people that the hype machine being kicked into hi gear spelt trouble and maybe wait for a review.
    I was right; when you look at the sales, the drop off was after 2 weeks or so, co-inciding with the realisation that Halo 2 was 'just another FPS', and not a very good one at that.

    So, I say your theory *is* overblown and in my case, completely untrue.

  • chacha #37 7 years ago

    you muppet the drop off sales after 2 weeks is more likely because the vast majority of xbox owners interested in the game had already purchased it.
    As for hype, that is just how the industry works and is something you have to live with (MGS 2 being a perfect example of the game not living upto the hype, even more so than halo2). IMO halo2 is a great game it does what it was meant to do, expand on halo1 world and have a great online mode

  • #38 7 years ago

    LOL @ "You muppet"

  • Genji #39 7 years ago

    Great! You own an Xbox! Did I say "all" people? No. I said "many", so you being an exception doesn't change things at all. I see them all the time. People who criticise movies without ever having seen them, and people who hated (but never played) Zelda: the Wind Waker because the look was too "kiddy".

    There are some people who hate Halo 2 because it's an Xbox game, and still more who hate it because it's an fps on a console, period. I know. I've met them. Some of them are good friends, albiet very closed-minded friends.

    My point: if you have never played a certain game, then there is absolutely no way I am going to take your opinion on that game seriously.

    For everyone else who played Halo 2, welcome to the argument! All I was trying to say previously was that Halo 2 is NOT A BAD GAME. The problem was that people's expectations were so high; they were expecting the game to be perfect, even though no game is. When it turned out to be not-so-perfect, we began to see the type of bitter comments seen at the beginning of this thread. The game had its problems, but I have seen far, far worse. I bought Soldier of Fortune 2 for some reason (possibly the promise of extreme violence helped somewhat), and some sort of scripting bug prevented me from completing even the first mission. I'd choose Halo 2 over that any day of the week.

  • #40 7 years ago

    Directly from Bungies website... This is BUNGIE, not some player in a forum mind you!

    In the weeks and months following the release of Halo 2, cheating has become a growing epidemic amongst the Live community.

    Q

    Why doesn't Bungie just "fix" the game and stop this cheating from happening?

    A

    Hey, great idea! Actually, our team is working right now on potential solutions to some of the issues being encountered online.

    So... Weeks and MONTHS of cheeting in Halo 2, no fixes yet (and some fixes are just not possible by the sounds of it). Seems like these people who piss and moan might have a point. But maybe the bug-fix is iminent... Right?

  • Lutz #41 7 years ago

    Djini:

    Click

    They're fixing it, and IIRC this is the 3rd patch of MP fixes.

  • Genji #42 7 years ago

    Djinni, there are cheaters in most online multiplayer games. Does this excuse the fact that Bungie hasn't fixed it yet? No, it doesn't. People have a right to be angry about that. I'm not against people pointing out the game's problems, both past and present. Halo 2 DOES have faults. But do they make it a bad game? In my humble opinion, no. It's just my view on things. I think a lot of people have lost their sense of perspective as to what makes a bad game and a good game.

  • #43 7 years ago

    In single player mode (frankly, the only aspect I was interested in with this game) is best summed up by this poster who said:

    "Halo 2 ended where Halo 2 should have begun." ROFL

    Genji... Most 'closed' online games (ie on consoles where people cannot alter the code, or maps etc etc like PC Multiplayer games) are virtually cheatless (not exploitless - Cheatless). Sure they have some exploits and bugs, no denying that, but I cannot find a single instance on any console game where the game makers themselves declare their game has cheating at epedemic proportions.

    We can talk about this all day, but the facts, as bungie tell them, is that although they hope to fix most of the exploits soon, the game is presently rife with cheating. The words "Some", "hope", and "soon" would have me very worried if I was 'into' H2 online multiplayer...

  • Genji #44 7 years ago

    Well, I would disagree with that, but I'm all out of steam. I just hope this announcement is the answer everyone's been waiting for.

  • #45 7 years ago

    "Well, I would disagree with that, but I'm all out of steam."

    Me too... The halo 2 is great/gay has been done to death... As a Halo fan, I felt let down. The online play is bunk by the sounds of it. He's hoping the announcement is a very stong bug-fix, and gets rid of the majority of cheating... No-one, fan or not, likes cheaters... Even in games they don't like.

  • Genji #46 7 years ago

    Well, I'm sure they were hoping to *increase* that small portion of the market. It's hardly Bungie's fault that noone caught onto the Live craze.

  • Universal_Hamster #47 7 years ago

    Im another one in the "Halo 2 was dissapointing" group, though I wont for a second argue that its a bad game. Single player is fairly Meh-worthy, so I can certainly see why people are pissed off with it, but online it becomes worth it.
    As for the d/l content, I just say woo, and thanks very much to bungie. If there is a small charge, so be it. We are not owed free extra content by these companies, its just very nice of them to do so. Certainly the random game-choosing nature of the online modes suggests that the extras will be free, as octo said, but as long as they are good, £2.99 is a pretty minute price to pay.

  • davyuk #48 7 years ago

    And here's the expansion pack to buy online for offliners:

    http://www.ebgames.com/ebx/product/256424.asp

    9 maps + bonus content