Halo 2 out this autumn

Bungie have confirmed that Halo 2 will be released this autumn. "Remember last year when we told you we don't announce release dates until we're confident we'll meet our deadline?" reads a statement on the developers' website. "Well now we're confident."

While no new details on the game have been revealed, Bungie have released one (yes, one!) new screenshot of the hugely anticipated Xbox first-person shooter, although it's noteworthy as it's the first ever shot of the game's multiplayer component.

Add Bungie, "It's really important to point out that this screen is straight from the current game engine. The resolution is a little sharper thanks to the way screens are dumped from the frame buffer but this is entirely representative of the lighting, polygon counts, bump-mapping and particle effects. There's no trickery or BS here. And, of course, this is early stuff, so things will change and improve between now and launch. We basically played the game and took a ton of shots until we finally picked the one that rocked the hardest and best represented what playing that level was like."

As for further details on the game, Bungie promise, "There will be a fair number of new details and announcements to follow over the next few months and, of course, there's always E3 [the huge games industry event that takes place in May]." We will, of course, keep you posted.