Did you know that as many as 20 people are still playing the PC edition of Halo 2? Surprising, isn't it? They won't be for much longer, mind, as 343 Industries yesterday announced it will shut down the servers on February 15. How sad that Halo 2's going away just as we finally have PCs capable of running it at a decent FPS. Ah, ha ha. That joke would've killed in 2007, you know.

Read more: LAN multiplayer will live on »

With Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary out of the way and Halo 4 just around the corner, what's next for Microsoft's Halo-dedicated studio? One rumor suggests 343 Industries will be moving on to updating another classic, Halo 2.

Read more: Due in 2014? »

Last summer, Bungie began the monumental task of transferring all its data management on the Halo series over to new developer 343 Industries. That process is finally complete, but in one last tribute to the franchise, Bungie unveiled a massive graphic of multiplayer statistics showing just how much data had been stored, and how popular the games were.

Read more: Game stats, player records, and more »

Microsoft and 343 promised more Halo 10th anniversary festivities at this year's PAX Prime, and now we're seeing just what they meant. The official site announced today that the Seattle gaming event will host its own Halo event inside it, like a Russian nesting doll. Called "Halo Fest," it will be at the Annex 3rd Floor of the Washington Convention Center during PAX Prime, running alongside the days and times of the regular PAX event.

The announcement promises "tournaments, exclusive panels, and sweet prizes" for Halo fans. It's in honor of the 10th anniversary event this year, which has already included an update to Waypoint, a new motion comic, and new Halo Avatar duds. We've also heard rumblings of a Halo: Combat Evolved remake serving as 343's debut project. Read more »

Microsoft and 343 Industries are preparing for the 10th anniversary of Halo, and the first of undoubtedly many celebratory salvos will be coming through the Halo Waypoint hub. This Friday, Halo Waypoint will be updated with performance tweaks, a new "Compare with Friends" feature, Instant On streaming video, and two new career levels. It will also reflect your stats for Halo: Reach and allow you to launch the game from WayPoint.

In addition, on Saturday, April 23, WayPoint users will be able to watch a new motion comic called "The Mona Lisa." The comic shows the crew of the UNSC Red Horse discovering a derelict prison ship called the Mona Lisa. Prisoners are nothing if not known for their appreciation of classic art. The crew goes to investigate and, unsurprisingly, ends up battling the Covenant. This is why most people know better than to check out creepy abandoned prisons. Read more »

Microsoft officially shut down Xbox Live legacy support for the original Xbox on April 14, 2010, effectively killing support for Halo 2 multiplayer. Halo 2 had retained a large population of players even after the release of the Xbox 360 and Halo 3.

Apparently, the lights aren't off yet for the Xbox and Halo 2. A group of players, rapidly shrinking, figured out that as long as they maintained a constant connection to Live and Halo 2, they could keep playing. Once the connection is lost it cannot be restored. Read more »

While Microsoft has been reluctant to pin down the reason for why Xbox Live still limits users to a list of 100 friends, a new report places the blame squarely on maintaining support for Halo 2.

One "high-level Microsoft source" told G4TV that Microsoft would have ended support for older Xbox Live games if not for Halo 2's continuing popularity. Read more »