Halo 2 Leaked!!

[LiquidX01]

I knew eventually this would happen. It seems some asshole has manged to get a hold of it, either actual game or beta test version and is spreading it all over the net. If you check out Xbox Connect there are a ton of people playing it as I type this.

I was browsing through the Halo 2 forum on xbox.com and the leak was announced by a user who claimed to have it and posted links to were the gameplay pictures and even a live webcam of him playing it could be found. Immediately the whole thread was pulled down by the MODS on xbox.com.


Here's 2 links of some of the pictures, there were much more but I couldnt get them because they were pulled quickly.

http://www.richeswillrust.com/index.php?act=ST&f=5&t=333&s=178d793b8d0772f7684b4382561a922e

http://www.defragdesigns.net/halo2/halogameplay.jpg

News link,

http://news.com.com/Stolen+Halo+2+hits+pirate+sites/2100-1043_3-5409959.html

BTW, The site with the webcam was also shut down.

[tholly]

if those are real, i like the second link you have....

the hold Y to dual-wield....im very excited about this game....i cant wait to get it


it will be disscussed in DP Wire 1.03 in preparation for its arrival

[ubersaurus]

I'm not surprised it leaked, I'm just surprised it leaked so soon. I expected another couple weeks, at least.

Oh well. My lack of modded Xbox makes pirating a copy impossible, and I wouldn't do that anyway.

[zektor]

Wow.. the excitement. "Leaks" pretty much are the norm these days. You just know it's going to happen. But, for some reason, I'm just not all that excited about it. I have the resources to get it, but I just will not bother. Not because piracy is illegal or whatnot, but just because I am really not interested in the game. Never really got into the 1st one either... ehh... gimme Frogger and I'm in heaven :)

[Ed Oscuro]

All this talk about the game's awesome environments and the best this player can do is show some lame shots of dingy brown walls (nevermind the bare picture in the second link)?

Eh.

I'll wait for the real thing, thanks LOL

[VACRMH]

I'm definately not a huge fan of the series, but I try to give everything a chance :)

So when this pops up on "Teh Nova" I may have to visit my friend with a modded Xbox.

[LiquidX01]

If you look around any bit torrent site, the game is available to download if you have a modded Xbox.

I just cant imagine what will happen if they find out who leaked it.

[SoulBlazer]

At my local EB, when I was in there last week buying Star Ocean 3, they had a video of this running. I believe it was from E3 or another major trade show, cause a person was talking and explaing what was going on, and the gameplay, as the game was being played. it was on a good size screen RIGHT at the counter, to encourge people to pre-order the game.

I watched about five minutes of it.

I don't see THAT much different in it from the first game -- the graphics are a little better, you can use both your weapons at once, the screen is aranged a little differently, there are more weapons, and a longer campaign.

I enjoyed Halo, and will get this one, but will wait till the price drops.

Basic rule of thumb here, guys -- if you enjoyed the first, you'll like the second.

[Darth Sensei]

Is this the pal version of halo2 or NTSC?

[LiquidX01]

Its the Pal version of Halo 2. I have seen a little bit of the gameplay footage and the audio is french with english subtitles.

[GrayFox]

Damn, I can't believe it was leaked.

Jeez, I wish I had a modded Xbox right about now :P

[Perkar]

last night when we folks in #vbender on EFNet heard the news, we hopped in #xbox. there were over 1000 users in the channel, and the scroll was hard to keep up with. basically everything said was "is the halo 2 real," "has anyone seen the halo 2 work?" or "where can i download halo 2?." of course there were a few more colorful questions as well, including "i will suck dick for halo 2." basically the channel was going nuts, the ops were having a helluva time kicking out people being absolutely retarded, and i think my respect of xbox fans has been diminished. i don't have a modded xbox, so no use for me...

but i've still got my pre-order and will be picking that bitch up on november 9th =)

[AB Positive]

wow, I have a modded xbox and still have no desire to play this, even for free. Heh.

-AG

[Jive3D]

Plus the version that is floating around the net appears to have the French Audio only (Since it's the PAL release) I wish I had an Xbox, I'm mildly interested in HALO, but I'll probably pick this up when it's a pack in with an Xbox system at a discounted price later in the game. There is no way that Halo 2 will take over MY grail (Metal Gear Solid 3)

[Tan178]

i traded halo for wolverine's revenge lol, need i say more...

[GrayFox]

There is no way that Halo 2 will take over MY grail (Metal Gear Solid 3)

Same here man. Same here.

MGS3 > All! :D

[EricRyan34]

I wish I had an Xbox sometimes x_x

[ddockery]

Perkar, nice avatar! Faith No More was the best.

[downfall]

Here's a thought:

Maybe they leaked it on purpose.

That's why it's the PAL version - the vast majority of the copies that will be sold will be in the U.S. - they know that people will still buy the U.S. version so they can have all the nice English features, etc. We don't even know if it's a 100% complete copy either. For all we know, it only works up to a certain point. They also know that the amount of people with modded XBox systems + the capability to burn a copy of the game and get it running is somewhat small compared to the entire amount of XBox systems installed in homes. I don't think they'll have trouble selling this game, regardless of whether or not a copy has been leaked.

Anyway, this whole panic made me think of one thing: ilovebees.com - As if everyone wasn't buzzing about this game already, they certainly are now. This has been posted on every message board that I frequent. Perhaps that was the plan for ilovebees.com all along - if people worked hard enough to complete all the goals on the ilovebees site (and the thing is at 777/777), then this copy of the game would just pop up on the internet. Everyone would go nuts, and flock to it, acting much like bees themselves.

But, when the Half-Life 2 code was stolen, it made front page on Yahoo almost immediately. There's yet to be anything about this on Yahoo, and if I may wager a guess, I'd say that at this point, Halo 2 is much more anticipated than Half-Life 2. Certainly a news-worthy story if you ask me.

Possible? Yes. Probable? Eh. Iffy. Interesting? Definitely.

These are the things I think about.

[Perkar]

ddockery: thanks!

i had a bitch of time making the thing, scanning from an old cassette single i have =)

Patton > *

and to stay on topic... does anyone think that this "leak" will negatively/positively affect sales?

[Oobgarm]

Negative Impact? No way. The people who were going to buy it still will, and the people who were going to pirate it still will. I don't think that a leak of a non-english version is going to make anyone NOT buy it in favor of piracy.

[Tan178]

i'd say positiively, mostly on the facts that halo2 has 2 million pre-orders, so it'll sell regardless, and the xbox mod scene isn't as big as say ps2 is, wouldn't surprise me if it was intentional, just look at how many people are following this story whether they'll play it or not, no doubt generating interest, M$ knows piracy is out there, might as well get some free publicity out of it.

[SegaAges]

maybe everybody will get lcuky and the release date will get pushed back 6 months or something like with what happened with half life 2

[slip81]

What's "Halo?" LOL

[buttasuperb]

woot!

[hydr0x]

i think downfall is right, why should there be a french only leak otherwise?? the pal release will most likely have french, german and english voice acting so why should a pre-production copy differ from that? this one leaked on purpose...

[downfall]

Like I said in my post, "Probable? Eh. Iffy." I really don't think it did leak on purpose - MS is investigating the leak as we discuss this. I don't believe they'd go as far as faking an investigation just for the sake of getting some attention - they've gotten enough already. It was just an interesting thought I had, and I thought I'd pass it along.

[brykasch]

Myself, I want my full version english goodness. I want to experience a good midnight launch:) Besides there will be no internet play on this thing.

and if you base what a game looks like on some sub par screenshots your nuts (not that everyone has to love halo, just sayin)

I have my ce pre-ordered. But maybe they'll move up release date:)

[dreams]

Here's (http://news.com.com/Stolen+Halo+2+hits+pirate+sites/2100-1043_3-5409959.html) an article on it from cnet.

Basically says what we already know, but I thought I would share.

[themessage]

Microsoft is REALLY cracking down on this and looking for the source, a bunch of sites were e-mailed to take down their torrent, god knows what else their doing.

[ubersaurus]

Microsoft is REALLY cracking down on this and looking for the source, a bunch of sites were e-mailed to take down their torrent, god knows what else their doing.

From what I understand, they've got a phone number where people can call to turn in the IPs of people uploading the game to the net for people to download. I geuss if you ask about a reward, you can get some free time on Live or something.

[sirgeoph]

i'd say positiively, mostly on the facts that halo2 has 2 million pre-orders, so it'll sell regardless, and the xbox mod scene isn't as big as say ps2 is, wouldn't surprise me if it was intentional, just look at how many people are following this story whether they'll play it or not, no doubt generating interest, M$ knows piracy is out there, might as well get some free publicity out of it.

Trust me... the XBOX mod scene is many times as big as the ps2 mod scene... xbox-scene.com alone has thousands of unique visitors almost hourly...which explains why it's the slowest site ever...

[racecar]

WTF , i just had this damn thing pre order a while back !! maybe i should go to eb and get my $$ back(fully paid for) !!!!!

[LiquidX01]

WTF , i just had this damn thing pre order a while back !! maybe i should go to eb and get my $$ back(fully paid for) !!!!!

Why? You cant go online with the "french speaking, pirated version" of the game and you cant even use it unless your Xbox is modded.

Also the Xbox mod scene is very strong and I would say thats its much bigger than the PS2's also. The Xbox is built like a computer, there are many ways to hack and mod it. Believe me, its bigger than most people think.

[CitizenWhite]

Guys,

I just played this game last night at a friends house. I can go ahead and say it is not even close the being worthy of the hype it has gotten. In my opinion no game deserves that kind of pre-release attention, and this one isn't even close. Don't get me wrong, I played multiplayer on the various maps for about 3 hours and co-op story mode for about an hour and a half, and it's a good game. And also note that I havn't finished the game or played it extremely extensively, but to me it just seems like more of the same game, with a few modifications. Same type of drawn out areas that serve, seemingly, only to make the game longer. In multiplayer, you can't even touch the pistol anymore, it sucks. The assault rifle, however, is just like the old pistol, scope and all. Also, the heads up display sucks. It looks poorly designed; even the health bar is confusing (imagine that). The one thing that I believe will truly kick ass on it is xbox live.

All in all, not an extremely impressive game.

[kainemaxwell]

Microsoft is REALLY cracking down on this and looking for the source, a bunch of sites were e-mailed to take down their torrent, god knows what else their doing.

From what I understand, they've got a phone number where people can call to turn in the IPs of people uploading the game to the net for people to download. I geuss if you ask about a reward, you can get some free time on Live or something.

So you turn in fellow gamers for a reward from MS...that sounds about right of them. :eek 2:

[Bad*Star]

First off, I'd like to say hello to all, as this is my first post. I got tired of the rampant juvenile behavior of the Nintendo forums and it seems people actually have intelligent topics here.

Just be forewarned, **spoilers ahead**

Anyway, I played the leaked Halo 2 on Thursday night in my friend's dorm room. And I have to say, I think it's worth all the hype that it's recieving. The gameplay was tight, although the multiplayer felt much different than Halo. I liked the fact that it wasn't just all a rehash of the original....the weapons are all just about completely different, including the returning weapons. Here's some descriptions of the weapons...

Battle Rifle - Basically a combination of the pistol and assault rifle from Halo. You can zoom in with it and fire short burst shots, and use spray fire in close combat situations. This is going to be the dominant weapon.

Magnum - A dumbed down version of the pistol You can zoom, but can't shoot while zoomed. Very weak. However, dual-wielding two of them makes you feel like a total badass.

Needler - Almost the same, but a tad more useful than before. Dual wielding this and a plasma weapon is great, because you can freeze them with the plasma gun and needle the hell out of them.

SMG - Pretty similar to the original assault rifle, this is a close range weapon that everyone saw in the campaign mode trailer.

Shotgun/Sniper Rifle - I put these together because they're exactly the same as they were before.

Rocket Launcher - The rockets fire WAY faster than in the first game. I think it's even more unbalanced than before. Whoever picked this up just annihilated everyone with it.

Plasma sword - Now this is what everyone's been excited about, and for good reason. THIS WEAPON IS FREAKIN AWESOME! I had so much fun with this weapon that I grabbed it everytime I came back in the game. If you get up close with this baby, it's over.

Covenant Sniper Rifle(dont remember the actual name) - Very similar to the regular sniper rifle, although I found it a little harder to shoot because of the odd reticle. However, it seemed to be able to reach around corners to a small extent, which could make for some very interesting kills. I'll have to play around with this one some more.

These aren't all the weapons, but I didn't get to use everything. I'll post more info on Monday for anyone who wants to know. Here are some general notes of interest about the game:

- The multiplayer options are staggering. There are so many levels of customization that it made my head spin. There is honestly nothing left to be desired when it comes to options.

- The maps are huge...the majority of them are equal to or bigger than blood gulch or sidewinder. This posed a bit of a problem for games of 4 people or less, as we were running around looking for each other the whole time. However, I can only imagine how great these big levels will be for big games.

- Blood Gulch and Battle Creek are both playable, in slightly altered forms (and with different names).

That's all for now, I'll probably post some more info on Monday.

[GrayFox]

Grooooooovy

[LiquidX01]

Welcome to the forums, Thanks for the *Spoiler* warning.

Like many people, Im trying to stay away from any threads with info on Halo 2. I have waited for this a long time now and I dont want it to be ruined with just 3 weeks left. I dont care that you posted that, just giving my opinion on it.

I hope MS dont see that though.... :o

[jonjandran]

Well I've played with it for a while and I like it and I don't.

The multiplayer is Awesome and has enough extras to warrant the purchase but the Single Player feels just like the first one.

During the first level I kept thinking I was playing Halo 1 . :o

Oh well the kids love it. They've played the multiplayer for 8-9 hours in the last 2 days. LOL

[themessage]

Halo 2 is definitely more story oriented.

[Barbarianoutkast85]

Yea I was reading about it on gamespot.com and like 5 minutes later someone called me and said "wanna come over and play Halo 2" but I had to go to work at 5 dismorning so work before play makes homer go something, something

[ubersaurus]

Unrelated to Halo 2's leak, but they have a Halo 2 soundtrack song up on halo.bungie.org for download. Halo Theme: Mjolnir Mix, composed by Marty O'Donnell, with Steve Vai on guitar.

It's totally fucking awesome. :rocker:

[NE146]

Nice! :) Once you said Steve Vai I had to check it out.


... How bout just a direct link next time though ;)

http://halo2.nilerogers.com/HaloTheme/HaloThemeMjoinerMix.mp3

[LiquidX01]

Thats pretty good. I have also heard the song by Breaking Benjamin on the H2 soundtrack, Its really good also.

[RCM]

There was a report on DP a while ago handed in by yours truly about Halo 2 being complete. My source was involved with the game and even had a copy ready for play on xbox minus those neato modchips. Im surprised that Halo 2 didn't end up on the net sooner.

THE ONE, THE ONLY- RCM