Halo 2
Halo 2 is a first-person shooter developed by Bungie Studios for the Xbox. It is the sequel to the game Halo: Combat Evolved, and features a newly built graphics engine and the addition of new elements to the game. Like the Marathon series, the game will further develop the struggle between the human race and a religiously zealous and technologically superior foe (The Covenant from the first Halo). The release date of Halo 2 is currently set for November 9, 2004.
Previous plot details
From Halo: Combat Evolved
The human warship Pillar of Autumn, making a jump to a 'random' location away from Earth (the ship's AI, Cortana, did not tell the crew that she had extrapolated the co-ordinates from Covenant transmissions), has discovered a large construct of unknown origin known to the Covenant as Halo. Chased by the Covenant, they are forced to land on the construct and fight for their survival. Towards the end of the game, the main character (the Master Chief) destroys Halo because it is discovered to be one of a series of weapons designed to destroy all organic life in the universe.
From Halo: First Strike
The Chief finds surviving UNSC personnel in the remains of the destroyed ringworld, as well as incoming Covenant ships to investigate the destruction of their holy relic. The survivors determine that they must return to Earth and infiltrate the Covenant ship Ascendent Justice and make a jump to Reach for survivors.
After finding and picking up surviving Spartans as well as Doctor Halsey, they make a jump for Earth. While at Reach, it is discovered that the Covenant have discovered the location of the human homeworld and are gathering their entire fleet for the ultimate battle. To buy the unprepared Earth some time to prepare for a massive Covenant assault, the Chief and his surviving Spartans plan an operation to disrupt the organization of the fleet.
Known game details
The "Haunted Apiary" ARG
The website ilovebees.com is currently being used as a publicity site for Halo 2, with the site being pointed to by adverts for the game during movie trailers. Ostensibly a site about bees, the server appears to have been taken over by some mysterious force, which is "counting down to something".
The frontpage has a counter counting down to July 27 (when it says "network throttling will erode"), August 10 (when "this medium will metastasize"), and August 24 (at 8:06 am, when it will be "wide awake and physical") - many think something big will happen related to Halo 2 on these dates. Other messages relating to the Halo story are hidden throughout the site.
This style of publicity is similar to that which surrounded the movie A.I. which featured a grand Alternate Reality Game. The Halo ARG has been dubbed The Haunted Apiary.