“Halo” contains all the action-packed combat and thrilling gameplay that made it a smash hit for video game fans everywhere. Armed with a new arsenal of weapons and vehicles, “Halo” delivers challenges and surprises as well as intense online multiplayer competition exclusively for the PC. We recently attended a Halo LAN party as well as a morning meeting with Gearbox to check out the progress on this highly-anticipated PC port. Read more and find out all the details, including some brand new screens!

Microsoft Game Studios and Bungie Studios today announced that the critically acclaimed "Halo: Combat Evolved" for Xbox has sold over three million copies worldwide. "Great to see that Halo continues to be a success on Xbox," said Bungie studio manager Pete Parsons, "and later this summer we will unleash Halo for the PC with online multiplayer capabilities featuring new maps, weapons and vehicles, plus the ability for fans to create mods." Bungie is currently hard at work on the highly anticipated sequel, Halo 2, which will come to Xbox in 2004.

Halo will soon be available for the PC. Featuring new multiplayer maps, weapons, vehicles and more, Halo for the PC has been on the short list of must-have titles for almost every first-person shooter fan around. Visit the newly launched official site today to find out more.

"Halo 2" is the sequel to the highly successful and critically acclaimed game "Halo: Combat Evolved." In "Halo 2," the saga continues as Master Chief, a genetically enhanced supersoldier, is the only thing standing between the relentless Covenant and the destruction of all humankind. Pushing the Xbox hardware to its very limits and utilizing Xbox Live in a way that Bungie believes will redefine online play, "Halo 2" will expand on everything that made the original game great. At its heart a compelling and captivating story, "Halo 2" makes revolutionary advances in design and technology. As expected Bungie has made the e3 trailer available, read more for download links. Be Warned, it's hires and 160mb big!

Randy Pitchford @ Gearbox Software posted up following news in his latest .plan file (were you also find all information):

Are you hardcore? Are you in the Dallas area? Play Halo PC on-line before the rest of the world! Get your name in the Halo PC credits!

We need another group of local, internal testers for Halo PC.

If you contacted us before but were not selected, please feel free to try again this time.

Also, if you were a tester with us before and want to do it again, please remind us so we can put you on a preferred list (don't lie, we'll cross reference the tester lists).

The contact e-mail address this time is: kristy@gearboxsoftware.com.

Please read all of the information below before e-mailing - we'll automatically reject inquiries that don't meet the requirements and supply the necessary information.

Halo 2 continues the story of the Master Chief, the genetically enhanced super-soldier who is the only human ever to successfully defy the Covenant—a coalition of alien races on a murderous march toward Earth. To the mysterious leaders of the Covenant, the human victory at the ancient ring structure known as Halo was an unacceptable failure. They will not fail again... Check out two new screens below!

Vanquishing a strange alien race on a distant ring-shaped world, battling against the end of creation as a Norse immortal, rewriting the world's past by prolonging Roman rule another thousand years, or re-creating Orville and Wilbur Wright's first flight: Microsoft Game Studios takes gamers on a gripping journey through the history of the world to distant lands with its PC games lineup at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) next week in Los Angeles, May 14-16.

Noticed on VE3D that Bungie has updated their Halo 2 site with some E3 plans for the game. Here is a clip:

A demo like Halo 2 requires a special setting and this year we’ve pulled out all the stops. As fans enter the Microsoft booth, one of the first things they’ll encounter is the glorious Halo 2 Theater (a concept drawing is pictured at left). This custom theater was built from the ground up specifically to showcase Halo 2. The theater seats about 65 people and comes with all the bells and whistles you’d expect (complete with hypnotic control rays for our diabolical world domination plans). By the way, this ‘aint just another movie. The original Halo 2 announce trailer was an in-engine cinematic that was prepared in advance and released to the world. This time around, the E3 demo will consist of 100% bona fide in-engine gameplay and cinematics. Bungie team members like our Director of Cinematics, Joseph Staten, will be personally playing through the demo for everyone to experience. It’s been said a bunch already but I can honestly say after seeing this impressive display countless times around the office – It’s good. Oh so good. It might be a good idea to pack some extra under shorts because we can’t be responsible for what might happen. As mentioned in my last story, we don’t have concrete plans for an online release yet but once we get back from E3 we’ll regroup and explore options for sharing this demo with the world.

Bungie.net has a post from Matt Soell saying that Halo 2 will definitely not ship during 2003 - sources close to the company say the first quarter of 2004 is the current target. 'There has been much speculation regarding Halo 2's release date since we announced the game last year. The fact is we don't like announcing release dates unless we're certain we'll meet the deadline.' Read more for the full statement...

Halo 2, a sci-fi action/first-person shooter game, is a full sequel to the best-selling original and will continue the story of the Master Chief, a genetically enhanced supersoldier who is the only man that has successfully defied the Covenant, a coalition of alien races on a murderous march toward Earth. “Halo 2” surpasses its predecessor both in graphical beauty and combat intensity. Bungie has released 4 new Halo2 screens, read more to check them out ...

A few houers ago we tossed up the announcement about Halo 2 is coming to X-Box.. Now we got the first screens from this version, so enjoy them below!

Microsoft Game Studios Announces 'Halo 2' and 'Project Gotham Racing 2,' Highly Anticipated Sequels to Top-Selling Xbox Games.. Microsoft Corp. today announced at the X02 North America event that "Halo 2" and "Project Gotham Racing 2," sequels to best-selling Xbox games from Microsoft Game Studios, are in development for the Xbox video game system. "Halo 2," developed by Bungie Studios, is expected to arrive on store shelves for the 2003 holiday season, and "Project Gotham Racing 2," developed by Bizarre Creations, is due in early 2004.

We received a 18MB windows media trailer showing of some crazy dudes driving in fast speed on the highway, connecting their xbox's together between their car's and playing Halo.. The movie runs for 3 min and 47 seconds. Pretty funny clip, read more for the links!

Competition Evolved: Halo National Championship Registration Begins Today.. Microsoft Game Studios today announced the Halo National Championship in conjunction with iGames and Electronics Boutique. Halo players nationwide can stop trying to make Warthogs fly and start winning some serious prizes. Prizes at stake include an RCA 50-inch plasma flat screen television, Bose Lifestyle 35 surround sound audio systems, Xbox video game systems, controllers, and stacks of Xbox games.

Microsoft Game Studios announced today development of the PC and Macintosh versions of the critically acclaimed Xbox first-person shooter, "Halo: Combat Evolved."

"WE WANT IT. You want it. Everybody wants to know what's really going on with Halo 2. We know. Other than confirming its coming, Microsoft has been very coy about the game, repeatedly dodging everyone's questions. Everyone, that is, except for Official UK Xbox Magazine."

Hailed widely as "video game of the year" and recipient of multiple industry awards for excellence, "Halo: Combat Evolved" has earned the distinguished honour of being the fastest million-unit seller ever for any next-generation console. According to NPDFunworld, the definitive source for toy and video games industry sales data, "Halo: Combat Evolved" recently crossed the magical 1 million mark in sales in the United States and Canada. Statistically, this means that more than six copies of "Halo: Combat Evolved" have been sold every minute of every day since its launch on Nov. 15, 2001.

Xbox.com tossed up an interview with Marty O'Donnell, audio director for Bungie Studios at Microsoft. They talk about sound and music on all Bungie products. Here is a snip from the interview.

Xbox.com: A little bit of your background: What is your position at Bungie?

Marty O'Donnell: I'm audio director for Bungie Studios at Microsoft, which means I oversee everything that has to do with sound and music on all Bungie products. Luckily, I don't actually have to do it all (that would be horrible) and I've got really talented people that work with me. Jay Weinland is my right-hand man... Full interview HERE!

Matt at bungie says: We passed certification yesterday. Halo is done. The manufacturing plant got the GM today and is pressing up a zillion Halo discs as I type this. All of us worked very hard to get to this point and we are collectively very proud of what we have done.

The official Halo Xbox site offers a new trailer of the 3D action game Bungie.

There is also a new video of Bungie's upcoming Xbox (and eventual PC) title, Halo. You can grab this babe right here!