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[Draugoth]

That famous Halo 2 demo from E3 2003 is finally going to be playable later this year.

More than a year before Halo 2 hit store shelves, publisher Microsoft debuted a full-fat nine-minute demo of the game at E3 2003 that made the already hyped shooter an even bigger event. But the entire demo's mission and ideas like the winding city highways never saw the light of day and were scrapped as Bungie made last minute changes to the game.

At this weekend's Halo World Championship Series 2024, 343i revealed the demo would be revived for Halo 2's 20th anniversary on November 9, alongside a first look at its remade Earth City linked below - a fun little peek at what could've been. The updated demo will also come with overhauled lip sync in the demo's cutscenes, added waypoint markers to the map in case you want to go off-script, and will obviously use assets from Halo 2's release build.

Source

 

[Big Baller]

Thank you Halo Studios

 

[Cert.in.Death]

Time to finish the fight

 

[RagnarokIV]

Cool.

I wish more games had their early demos and betas released. Imagine being able to play the water chase from the old MGS2 trailers for example.

 

[Unknown?]

Wish more games did this for scrapped content. Pretty cool!

 

[lockdown2222]

Finally. I can die happy now. This has been up there with half life 3 for me lol.

 

[clarky]

Cool stuff.

Halo studio has yet to put a foot wrong.

 

[Punished Miku]

That's a pretty cool deep cut.

 

[HL3.exe]

21 years ago, fuck me

 

[TheUsual]

That's a pretty cool thing to do! Dear God...21 years ago
I remember being so pumped after seeing that trailer.

 

[Roberts]

I'm not ashamed of loving the shit out of Halo Infinite, but the franchise is obviously in a need of a shakeup and this could be the right first step - will generate a lot of goodwill and could be a beginning of Halo renaissance.

 

[flying_sq]

That's pretty sick

 

[GametimeUK]

I'm not ashamed of loving the shit out of Halo Infinite, but the franchise is obviously in a need of a shakeup and this could be the right first step - will generate a lot of goodwill and could be a beginning of Halo renaissance.

I love Halo Infinite too. Matter of fact I loved Halo 4. They aren't as good as the Bungie games, but I still believe in the franchise in terms of the campaigns. Never really enjoyed the MP since 3.

I think since the disastrous launch of MCC they've managed to turn things around for that game and hopefully it translates well to their next project.

Fingers crossed.

 

[DanielG165]

Awesome. Will be verrry interesting to play this infamous piece of Halo history.

 

[Shadowstar39]

21 years ago, fuck me

It only gets worse. Seeing 30th and 40th anniversary on things, really makes me know I am becoming old. (well some of those 40th anniversary things means I was 6 when it came out.) Got to keep it in perspective)

This is awesome for those who want to play it. Would be cool if more games get scrapped content (optional playthroughs)

I own the MCC, got it for $5 or 10 spot (forget which) and yeah still not into Halo. Didn't help my first time playing it was Halo2 on vista. Shit had a "play before its done installing" thing and half the textures were missing....ms was such shit back then. Was fun for a bit and then it switched to the Alien guy and I was like wtf... Not knowing the story it through me off.

I tried going back in with Reach but that game confused me even more, yet it was supposed to be first on the timeline. Guess I either need to start with halo 1, or admit "you had to be there" to get it.

 

[ManaByte]

MS should release the Halo 3 E3 trailer on YouTube with G4 cutting to commercial in the middle of it.

 

[Shadowstar39]

I love Halo Infinite too. Matter of fact I loved Halo 4. They aren't as good as the Bungie games, but I still believe in the franchise in terms of the campaigns. Never really enjoyed the MP since 3.

I think since the disastrous launch of MCC they've managed to turn things around for that game and hopefully it translates well to their next project.

Fingers crossed.

Where do you start playing these? I own the mcc and I tried going into Reach as it was the first to install and it confused me on what was even going on. I thought master chief was unique, and they all looked like him. Just different colors. Also different refrences to things I had no clue what they were talking about.
No clue why that game was the first to release.

I guess I should just start with Halo 1. I tried that for a bit but man it doesn't hold up that well. I get it's a product of its time, but I was a pc gamer only between ps1 and ps3 so I remember way better shooters on pc.

 

[MadchesterManc]

Where do you start playing these? I own the mcc and I tried going into Reach as it was the first to install and it confused me on what was even going on. I thought master chief was unique, and they all looked like him. Just different colors. Also different refrences to things I had no clue what they were talking about.
No clue why that game was the first to release.

I guess I should just start with Halo 1. I tried that for a bit but man it doesn't hold up that well. I get it's a product of its time, but I was a pc gamer only between ps1 and ps3 so I remember way better shooters on pc.

Reach was the last Bungie Halo, released after Halo 3 & ODST. Its more of a prequel to the events of the first game given how it ends and the Spartan programme involved. It's probably best to just start with the original and work through to Reach after the trilogy (tho it is probably my favourite of the bunch)

 

[Rentahamster]

fuck me

Cash, or credit my good sir?

 

[LordCBH]

That’s pretty sick. I’ll play that.

 

[proandrad]

This is a good start. Stop trying to make Halo your own, just keep Halo as Halo. Make a new IP if you want to be creative.

 

[nordique]

This is pretty damn cool!

 

[EverydayBeast]

Would have been awesome years ago, 2003 was a lifetime ago.

 

[Lone Wolf]

FYI This is PC only.

 

[Alexios]

Neat.

I redownloaded it for this. Can anyone help me, my MCC launches fine in Anti-Cheat Disabled mode but crashes after the initial logo video with no error or anything else in normal launch.

 

[rapid32.5]

I watched the demo hundreds of times on laggy 56k AOL, great times.

 

[Codes 208]

Neat.

I redownloaded it for this. Can anyone help me, my MCC launches fine in Anti-Cheat Disabled mode but crashes after the initial logo video with no error or anything else in normal launch.

If you have nvidia it may be a botched patch. You’ll probably need to wait for an update or two (this has happened to me twice now)

10 years later and the game still feels like its held together by rubberbands and duct tape

 

[Come On Tars]

I wonder how faithful it’ll be. We gonna get a semi auto battle rifle?

 

[Complistic]

Happy 20th Halo 2

 

[Xdrive05]

Bumping this because it's now available on PC!

Get it on Steam:

Steam Workshop::(H2) E3 2003 Demo

steamcommunity.com

Some new videos of people playing it:



This is surreal if any of you were around back when this demo came out. It was such a hot topic. So weird that it's now literally playable on PC.

 

[BlackTron]

Thanks for the update I actually checked for it around noon but it wasn't added yet. When I saw your post I rushed to Steam to finally play the game I was promised 20 years ago and upon downloading, game crashes at Xbox logo.

 

[Luc2010]

Fuck, ya! I remember being disappointed this was not in Halo 2.

 

[Hugare]

Its cool, but seriously, they would waste time with this but not adding co-op that was already half way done?

 

[Bry0]

I wonder how faithful it’ll be. We gonna get a semi auto battle rifle?

Played it today,

For those wondering, yes! It’s incredibly faithful. They even recreated the self shadow stuff. It’s very very cool.

 

[Gojiira]

Cool.

I wish more games had their early demos and betas released. Imagine being able to play the water chase from the old MGS2 trailers for example.

Now that is a game that should be remade with genuine justification for changing certain things. Could REALLY expand on the Tanker such as with having to escape its sinking, a fight with Ray on the deck etc.
And of course all the cut Big Shell content such as Raiden having to escape sharks in the flooded parts.

 

[brokenwatch]

Is it available for Xbox or just PC?

Edit: Steam Workshop, I guess not. Great anniversary present.

 

[CamHostage]

Very cool that they were able to make this into a releasable demo, it wasn't even playable at the E3 it was demoed at so this is a special occasion to actually put hands on it. And it is an amazing relic to investigate what was possible with tech back then yet also why game demos sometimes have to change in the full game release.

 

[SportsFan581]

Cool that they were willing to put that much effort in for the anniversary. Time flies.

 

[Panajev2001a]

That famous Halo 2 demo from E3 2003 is finally going to be playable later this year.

More than a year before Halo 2 hit store shelves, publisher Microsoft debuted a full-fat nine-minute demo of the game at E3 2003 that made the already hyped shooter an even bigger event. But the entire demo's mission and ideas like the winding city highways never saw the light of day and were scrapped as Bungie made last minute changes to the game.

At this weekend's Halo World Championship Series 2024, 343i revealed the demo would be revived for Halo 2's 20th anniversary on November 9, alongside a first look at its remade Earth City linked below - a fun little peek at what could've been. The updated demo will also come with overhauled lip sync in the demo's cutscenes, added waypoint markers to the map in case you want to go off-script, and will obviously use assets from Halo 2's release build.

Source

This demo makes me think of ODST. On my XSX, after all the updates to MCC to restore the OG effects and looks, I decided to replay Halo 3, and Halo: ODST recently.

The lighting in Halo 3 and the urban warfare chaos of ODST are super impressive to this day. I am amazed at the productivity and ingenuity of Bungie in those days… to turn around Halo 3, Halo: ODST, and Halo: Reach in record time and with that game quality… hats off.

Btw, to those that have skipped Halo: ODST… please reconsider, it is a true gem!