Rampancy

Halo and Halo 2 news for today:

TeamXbox is spreading word that they've fleshed out the details surrounding an OXM-sourced rumor that a new version of Halo 2 they call Halo 2.5 will be an Xbox 2 launch title, and that it will support HDTV, possibly at higher resolutions than the current iteration, as well as "all the stuff people expected from Halo 2 but didn’t make the cut" in the words of TeamXbox's "trusted sources".

New regular Halo Babies strip today by Gruntsbane; thanks mrsmiley.

Between Marathon's tenth anniversary and this Christmas thing coming up, there's lots to do, necessitating Yet Another News Roundup:

• 1Up has an interview with Bungie Studio Manager Pete Parsons. It was conducted in early November prior to release of the game. Thanks MLG.
• Halo 2 has now sold over five million copies, reaching a milestone it took the first game two years in only three weeks. Including the PC version, total Halo franchise sales now top 11 million. Thanks Eurogamer.
• Sector7 points out entries for a Halo 2 movie due out in 2006 listed at IMDB and Movies.com; apparently IMDB is calling this now "announced" and the projected director is Ridley Scott, who has "been approached". File as rumor for now --Ed. HBO also notes this rumor, mentioning that it's even hit the front page of Variety magazine.
• Halo 2 did, indeed, win Game of the Year for 2004 from GameSpy. I have to chuckle a bit at crediting Bungie for the "innovation" of dual wielding in Halo 2, given that I was just recently reminded of the fact that Marathon 2 had dual wielding back in 1996 --Ed.
• HBO has opened a Cutscene Library with downloadable versions of Halo 2's cutscenes for convenient viewing. So far it's up to Home Field Advantage on Cairo Station. The Dialogue Databank also sees an expansion today.