The status of Halo for the PS2 remains a little foggy, since no formal declaration regarding its debut outside of the PC has been made. For those that read IGN on a regular basis, however, it has been known for quite some time that our sources inside Bungie have disclosed that console versions (for both the PlayStation 2 and Dreamcast) have been in production for quite some time now and that an announcement revealing the set-top Halos is just days away. Publisher Rockstar Games has also gone on record by stating that the PS2 is the most likely console that Halo will appear on and that 2001 would be the year that it does.

For those that don't follow PC gaming very closely, Halo is a team-based third-person 3D shooter, set in an exceptionally complex futuristic setting. Bungie has always been known for its intricate story construction, and Halo will be no exception. Many years into the future, mankind expands outward to colonize the galaxy, and encounters the classic consequence of interstellar expansion: an alien race that's at least as unpleasant as we are. Called the Covenant, they keep mostly to themselves, sending only short communications of oddly religious cast before blowing the hell out of human colonies. Eventually, there is a final confrontation, as the Covenant fleet approaching Earth is met by humanity's last line of defense...and unfortunately, we lose.The last surviving human ship, the Pillar of Autumn, decides to get the hell out of there, guided by its commanding artificial intelligence. Setting a random course for as far from Earth and the Covenant as possible, it makes its way to a remarkably strange planetary system. This system has three major components: Threshold, a gas giant planet; Basis, a small moon; and Halo, the really interesting bit. Readers of Larry Niven's Ringworld should have a handle on the basic concept, although the Halo sits at a Lagrange point between Basis and Threshold, rather than encircling a sun. Halo is a massive, ring-shaped construction, with a habitable environment covering its inner side; it has rotational gravity, an atmosphere, and so forth. And it's the Halo upon which the Pillar's last survivors crash, after the Covenant catches up to them. You are one of those survivors, bailing out of the ship with all the supplies and armament you can jettison in time.That's just the backdrop, of course, and many more elements should come to play in the game's story - things like the origins of the Halo and how Halo's story relates to Marathon's (the Bungie cognoscenti seem to have drawn a number of parallels). In any event, though, less immediately interesting than the backstory is the game's vast and beautifully-rendered world. Bungie claims that Halo will be "seamless," i.e., that there will be no loading between areas, even if you travel around the entire Halo. The question then arises concerning whether or not Bungie can actually build a world that large - they say that they are not using any sort of random generation system to do it. Regardless of how big it turns out to be, however, Halo is certainly sounding like remarkable 3D creation -- with mountains, forests, plains stretching off into the horizon, and huge bodies of water connected by rivers and streams. The sky above is equally beautiful, the sun shining through the clouds and the rest of the Halo climbing straight up from the horizon. It really is a lovely place, filled with reflection and lighting effects in the sky and on the water and particle effects that replicate floating dust and skidding gravel, until the guerilla war between humans and the Covenant comes along to spoil the pastoral atmosphere.That war will be fought with whatever resources you can find, the last remains of the Pillar that were dropped onto the Halo. Leftovers that they are, the game's weapons, and vehicles are nothing to sneeze at. Machetes, pistols, submachine guns, rocket launchers, and the awe-inspiring mini-gun are only a sample of what you'll be able to wreak havoc with, and that's just when you're on foot. You can also pick up vehicles - tanks, jeeps, flyers, and so forth - with their own mounted weaponry, and pilot them in teams.Team play is evidently one of the core elements of Halo, working together with other players or AI allies in combat. On foot, you can attack in pincer movements or have different elements support each other. In vehicles, players can take on different roles: one player drives while another handles the weaponry, and so forth. Specialization like that is encouraged as you gradually master the game. If you can drive well, become a driver; if you like flying, become a pilot; if you can shoot well, become a sniper; if you want to be a grunt, grab that mini-gun and run around blowing up everything.To be sure, Halo will present a great-looking stuff-blowing-up experience. The game's animation and physics have raised eyebrows ever since its debut. Jeeps rock on their suspensions just right and bounce realistically down a hill when they tip over during a sharp corner; Flyers zip about and leave little contrails from their engines. The mini-gun (sorry to harp on it, but I really do love the thing) spews a realistic fountain of brass from its ejector port. And lest they be forgotten among all the mechanical whatsises, the humans animate perhaps the best of all. Halo uses a skeletal animation system that will allow individual animations to combine into realistic simulations of simultaneous actions - firing a gun while doing back flips, for exampleOnline multiplayer gaming is obviously going to be one of the main components of Halo on the PC and Macs - how that would fit into a potential PS2 version isn't entirely clear (pending resolution of rumors about Sony's plans for connecting the PS2 to the Internet). We'll be playing Halo at E3, so you'll be getting more of those details and impressions soon... and perhaps more information concerning the game's future on home consoles.