Feature: BUNGIE WATCH: If Xbox Live Was Religion, Halo 2 Would Be God Subscribe to this RSS feed

All is quiet on the Halo 3 front, but Halo 2 is stealing it share of headlines. Is Bungie plotting to port Halo 2 to the PC? Check out the latest Halo gossip here!

It may have been a quiet week for Halo 3 news, but Halo 2 is making some major rumblings of its own. As usual, we're all over that action.

One key piece of information comes straight from Bungie's employment office: They're hiring! But don't get too excited, yet--this project doesn't involve Halo 3.

Bungie is searching for "grizzled veterans" to work on an unnamed project for the PC...one that involves working on the "biggest franchises for Microsoft Game Studios" (hint). Oh, and applicants need "a background working with other people's code." (hint, hint)

So it looks like Bungie is getting ready to port the uber-popular Halo 2 to the PC. If the that prediction holds true--and trust us, it almost certainly will--it's reasonable to expect slick WASD/mouse controls, enhanced visuals, and hopefully some new guns and deathmatch levels.

Hold the phone. What makes us so sure that Bungie's porting Halo 2 to the PC? Well, for starters, Halo 2 is still phenomenally popular. In fact, it was the number one played game over Xbox Live last week, beating out Xbox 360 fireballs like Perfect Dark Zero and Call of Duty 2. This may not be official confirmation that Bungie is plotting to expand the Halo 2 fan base by porting the game to the PC, but it certainly sets the stage.

Our logic is simple. Don't forget that Microsoft is far, far more than just the Xbox brand. This colossal company has a massive interest in keeping Windows PC gaming as healthy as possible...and the Halo games are a proven mega-hit, both for the Xbox and the PC. A PC version of Halo 2 could also serve to be a perfect killer app for Windows Vista and Direct X 10. This is more likely than you might suspect: We recently met with the Windows Vista developers, and those guys are determined to make Vista a gamer's operating system.

And hey, if nothing else, Microsoft can count on Halo fanboys--um, YOU--to cough up another fifty bucks to own a newer, slightly shinier revision of Halo 2. We sure would! Besides, what does Microsoft have to lose? Releasing a slicker version of Halo 2 on the PC won't impact the Xbox game--that community is already too deeply entrenched.

Courtesy Bungie.net

Trust us on this one, guys. Sooner or later, Halo 2 is coming to the PC.

Oh, and one word of warning: if the first Halo port was anything to go by, you'll need a bleeding-edge video card to play Halo 2 on the PC. Luckily, we've given you plenty of advance warning, so start pinching your pennies for a 7800 GT or 1900 XT now!

On a side note, Bungie.net's Content Producer, Frank O'Connor, sent us some good news: the Halo 2 Soundtrack Vol. 2 has been sent to the burners. The bad news: there's still no official release date. Bummer!

For you collectors out there, O'Connor also reports that Halo composer Marty O'Donnell is planning to sign copies of the Halo 2 Soundtrack Vol. 2 for the official Bungie.net store.

Yah, autographed swag rules!