Major Nelson confirmed our hunch (and the BBC's taken-down, put-back-up-again report) that Halo 2 is headed to the PC to run on Vista's architecture. The press release from Microsoft via Major Nelson is after the jump.

Halo 2 Coming to Vista [Major Nelson]
PC Halo 2 a Vista Exclusive?

Master Chief Dual-Wields His Way to Windows Vista

Halo 2, the award-winning sequel to the instant classic Halo: Combat Evolved to make its PC debut on the Windows Vista platform

Halo 2, the game that redefined first-person combat and multiplayer action for millions of gamers worldwide, is set to explode onto PCs exclusively for Windows Vista. Halo 2 for Windows Vista will be developed by a dedicated Microsoft Game Studios team in partnership with Bungie Studios.

Only for Windows Vista, Halo 2″ will offer gamers both the single-player campaign and multiplayer experience of the original, as well as the additional maps offered in the Halo 2 Multiplayer Map Pack. Gamers will also have the exciting opportunity to build, create and customize their own multiplayer levels.

Halo: Combat Evolved and its sequel, Halo 2, have achieved phenomenal success on the Xbox video game platform as gamers around the world follow the saga of Master Chief in his battle against the Covenant forces. In 2003, the original Halo roared onto Windows PCs. In Halo 2 for Windows Vista, the action picks up where the first game ended. Master Chief, with the help of a small group of marines, has destroyed the religious artifact and artificial world known as Halo, and is making his way back to Earth. There, he and the last surviving Earth forces will mount a titanic struggle against the marauding Covenant enemy. To date, the Halo franchise has sold more than 14.5 million games worldwide with over 600 million hours of multiplayer action logged across Microsoft s Xbox Live online gaming service.

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