Microsoft: Halo 2 Anniversary multiplayer "would have to be fantastic"
"In this fictitious world where that game existed..."
It seems likely that this year Microsoft will release Halo 2 Anniversary - a revamped version of Bungie's original Xbox shooter - although it has yet to announce it. But let's assume Microsoft had announced it. What, then, would be its most important feature?
That's the question IGN posed to Microsoft Studios boss Phil Spencer at the Game Developers Conference last week. His response: multiplayer.
"In this fictitious world where that game existed," he said smiling according to IGN, "it's an easy answer: it has to be just the multiplayer experience that we all found in that first Halo 2 game. If you think about what happened in the franchise and what were the hallmark moments - when did duel wielding come in, when did another playable character that wasn't Master Chief come in?
"All the things that you and I know about the evolution of the franchise, if you're going to say one thing about Halo 2, you're going to talk about real multiplayer. I think you just have to nail that in just such a fundamentally core way.
"Frankly [we'd have to do it] probably better than we did with Halo 1 Anniversary. I thought the multiplayer in Halo 1 Anniversary was good, but Halo 1 never had multiplayer in the truest sense, so it always was going to be something different."
"If there were something called Halo 2 Anniversary," he added, "I think the multiplayer would have to be fantastic."
Last month Spencer fuelled rumours of a Halo 2 Anniversary game on Twitter, saying: "Never get tired of questions on what's coming. Just can't always answer as we need news at events. Halo 2 is a good game..."
Following that, Microsoft issued Eurogamer a statement that reiterated the company's promise to publish a Halo game on Xbox One this year. The question is, is it Halo 2 Anniversary, or a fully-fledged Halo sequel?
"Other than confirming that your Halo journey on Xbox One begins in 2014, we have made no announcements related to specific titles," a Microsoft spokesperson said.
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary launched on Xbox 360 on 15th November 2011. It was a co-development between 343 Industries, Saber Interactive and Certain Affinity.
This November marks the 10 year anniversary of the release of Bungie's Halo 2.
