The Most Persistent Sound

"Everybody should have his personal sounds to listen for …
sounds that will make him exhilarated and alive or quiet and calm."
—André Kostelanetz, 1955

The Russian conductor André Kostelanetz was certainly not thinking about the sizzle of Covenant plasma grenades when he penned this memorable phrase in a New York paper a half century ago. Nonetheless, once the shrink wrap comes off that copy of Halo® 2, it is the sound of futuristic warfare that will exhilarate millions of gamers around the world. From the roar of the USNC Battle Rifle to the throaty rumble of the reliable Warthog, Halo 2 is—with apologies to Megadeth—a symphony of destruction.

The game's rich soundscape is the result of truly cutting-edge technology. The original Halo®: Combat Evolved was certainly no slouch in the sound department, but the sequel exceeds it in all respects.

It sounds as good as it looks!

For starters, the simultaneous sound count has dramatically increased. Halo 2 plays up to 81 simultaneous stereo sounds, plus up to 51 simultaneous 3-D sounds, far more than most games. Spec-savvy readers will know that the Xbox® hardware supports 192 stereo voices and 64 3-D voices—as amazing as theHalo 2 sound effects are, the system still has some headroom left!

The game's dozens of voices are not only positioned precisely on a Dolby Digital 3-D soundstage, but also processed with a variety of special effects created anew for Halo 2. For example, radio chatter is simulated in real-time with a distortion filter. Even more impressive, the game can add multiple reverberation effects to voices. For example, when you move from a tunnel to a wide-open outdoor space, you will hear sounds altered by both environments simultaneously.

This audio alchemy is the result of a 100-percent Bungie-built sound engine that takes maximum advantage of the powerful Xbox hardware, while only consuming two to three megabytes of precious RAM. In fact, the official Xbox sound tools were influenced by Bungie's early work on the first Halo—more proof that this team knows its stuff.

I can see my house from up here!

Sound Advice
To enjoy the full sonic assault of Halo 2, you'll need a Dolby Digital-capable surround sound system with an optical input. Also required is an optical digital audio cable and either the Advanced AV Pack or theHigh-Definition AV Pack. Your Halo 2 audio experience is as dependent on your own system as it is on the genius of Bungie's artists and developers. If you've been considering an upgrade to Dolby Digital, your excuse is shipping November 9.

Once you have the hardware hooked up, make sure you enable Dolby Digital in the Xbox Dashboard. You can find complete instructions for this in the Xbox.com Hardware Support section. Once Dolby Digital setup is complete, put in the game … and crank it up!

By Earl P. Thayton