News: Halo 2. Gold. Soundtrack announced too. That is all.
Development of Halo 2 has finished. It's almost here. It's "gone gold" as they say in the video game world and it's on track for the November 9 release date.
Bungie has also announced that Halo 2 will ship simultaneously in 27 countries over a three day period covering eight different languages. On November 9 Halo 2 will come to North and South America, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. November 10 will put it in the hands of gamers in France, Belgium and Switzerland. And finally, November 11 brings the Master Chief back to Japan and the rest of Europe. And if you're interested, those eight languages are English, Japanese, Korean, Chinese (traditional), Spanish, French, German and Italian.
Elsewhere, Sumthing Else Music Works has announced that they are releasing Halo 2: The Original Soundtrack Volume One on November 9 as well. Video game soundtrack releases have been few and far between on American shores, but Sumthing Else has lead the way with producing soundtracks for American games. The Halo 2 soundtrack will bring the new orchestral score by Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori to American listeners as well as new songs from Breaking Benjamin, Hoobastank and Incubus. Breaking Benjamin will supply "Blow Me Away", which can be heard right now at Sumthing's website. Hoobastank will deliver something called "Connected" and Incubus donated "The Odyssey".
Incubus' Guitarist Mike Einziger said, "Halo is the only video game that ever inspired us to write a song. Now if we could only stop playing Halo, we might actually be able to write another one!" A PR quote if there ever was one.
Rounding out the soundtrack will be a track from producer Nile Rogers called "Never Surrender", which is a collaboration with songwriter, artist and remixer, Nataraj. Nataraj also helped out with the "Halo Theme Mjolnir Mix". Guitarist Steve Vai plays on both of these songs.
We will keep you posted on all Halo 2 happenings and expect a full reivew (probably two) after Halo 2 ships on November 9.