Halo and Gotham sequels confirmed

In a move which will surprise nobody who has been paying any attention over the last few months, Microsoft have today officially announced that work is underway on sequels to two of the Xbox's top sellers, Halo and Project Gotham Racing. Both games proved popular at the console's launch, and have gone on to sell more than a million copies each worldwide. Halo 2 will continue the story of the nameless super soldier known only as the Master Chief, with players facing both the familiar Covenant forces from the original Halo as well as a selection of new enemies. Microsoft and Bungie are promising twice as many vehicles to drive, a wider selection of weapons, and an "epic" single player campaign in addition to the much vaunted Xbox Live support. Improved graphics are also on the cards, which should make this a beauty to behold. We can only hope that the gameplay will also be tweaked; a little less repetition and back-tracking in the later stages of the game would be welcome, for starters. Halo 2 should be on the shelves for Christmas 2003. Project Gotham Racing 2 also follows the "more of the same" formula, adding new cities such as Edinburgh and Hong Kong and new licensed cars from the likes of Ferrari and Porsche. Mmm... The rating system has also been given an overhaul, and Bizarre are expanding the Kudos system in the sequel to give players more ways to earn the points. Oh, and naturally online racing will be supported through the Xbox Live service. Expect to see Gotham 2 screeching into view some time in 2004. Related Feature - Xbox goes Live

Source - press release