Bungie giving Halo 2 "one last hoorah"

Bungie's organising a send-off for Halo 2 a day before Microsoft shuts off Xbox Live support for Xbox 1 games.

On 14th April, those of you with all of the Halo 2 maps released so far will be treated to "one last hoorah".

"We're all saddened at the realisation that an era is coming to an end but looking back, we're incredibly fortunate to have had such a great run and such strong support from our fans," a statement on Bungie's website read.

"Halo 2 has been at or near the top of the Xbox live charts for original games since it launched over five years ago.  We're extremely thankful to everyone who has played, enjoyed and supported Halo 2 over Xbox Live.  We've had some great fun together, including far too many humpday losses to even recount. 

"That said," the developer added, "mark your calendars now - on April 14th let's all rally to go online for one last hoorah. One final farewell and one final opportunity for all of you to kick our asses at Halo 2."

Frustratingly, anyone without the full compliment of Halo 2 maps - including DLC - will be unable to play. And that DLC can no longer be downloaded from Xbox Live, making the retail-released map disk the only option should you be able to find it.

Bungie's aware of this and trying to find a solution.

"On it. Not sure what, if any, solution we can work out, but we definitely can't adjust the playlists over the weekend. Sit tight," wrote the developer on its forum.

Halo 2 was released in 2004 and earned 9/10 on Eurogamer - one whole point better than its predecessor.