Halo 2 getting a HD Remake – Video Games Update
The latest Issue of Official Xbox Magazine has revealed that 343 Industries (343i) is working on a High Definition (HD) version of Halo 2 for the Xbox 360.
343i was a studio created by Microsoft to develop Halo games after Bungie, the original creators of Halo, decided to go their separate ways after making Halo Reach.
343i launched their first Halo game, Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary in partnership with Saber Interactive on November 15, 2011. Anniversary was the re-release of Bungie’s Halo Combat Evolved in HD for the Xbox 360.
The game used a custom engine which allowed players to switch between the old and the new HD graphics so that they could compare and appreciate the improvements to the game. 343i did not change the game-play in anyway because they thought that they wanted
to recreate the exact experience just with better graphics.
The Multi-player of the game was developed by Certain Affinity and was not based on the Halo: CE engine but on Halo Reach Engine. The reason for this was that 343i did not want to split up the Halo community. The multi-player maps were also released as paid
downloadable content for Halo Reach.
Anniversary had a positive reception at launch scoring around 81 percent on Metacritic and has managed to sell around 1.84 million copies since launch.
When 343i were asked if they were also going to do an Anniversary edition of Halo 2 they replied that, “Obviously Halo 2 is one that we’ve talked about. I wouldn’t say this is a strategy for us to go back and remake Xbox 1 games. This was the 10th Anniversary
of Halo so it made sense. We don’t really have a ‘remasters’ program that we’re kicking off with this launch.”
The latest cover of OXM says otherwise, as it seems that 343i has been hard at work with not only Halo 4, which comes out this November, but also a HD version of Halo 2.
Halo 2 HD will probably be released next year as Microsoft is also adopting a yearly release strategy just like that of Activision’s Call of Duty.
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