Nude Master Chief further delays PC Halo 2

Mike Bantick
Saturday, 26 May 2007 09:44

Your IT - Entertainment

Microsoft has announced that a ‘bare backside’ contained within the soon to be release Halo 2 for PC has further delayed the game.  Bummer!

It seems so long ago that I finished Halo 2 on the Xbox (and then again on the Xbox 360) , but now I guess I will need to go back an have a closer look.

Not that I will see anything, it seems that, the game which was due for imminent release will be held back a week or so to alter the packaging (for the US at least).  From a Gamasutra report;

"It has come to our attention that an unfortunate obscure content error which includes partial nudity was included in our initial production of Halo 2 for Windows Vista.

As such, we have updated the initial game packaging at retailers with a label, so customers are aware before purchasing the game. Additionally, we've developed an online update which can be downloaded from www.halo2.com to remove the content.

Game packaging will only be labeled for the initial run of games; subsequent shipments will not include the content.

As a result of updates to retail packaging, Halo 2 for Windows Vista will now ship from manufacturers on May 31. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause our customers.

At Microsoft we take the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) guidelines very seriously and hold ourselves to high standards, with our customers always in mind."

The ESRB has also sent a statement detailing the 'content error,' stating:

"After the M (Mature 17+) rating assignment was issued for Halo 2 for Vista and just prior to the shipment of the game to retail, Microsoft notified ESRB about pertinent content found in a map editor tool that is being bundled with the game.

The content in question, although likely to be inaccessible to the vast majority of users, displays a photograph of an individual showing his bare backside to the user when a particular error occurs, and thus warrants a 'Partial Nudity' content descriptor in order to alert consumers to its presence in the product.

Microsoft has therefore applied stickers with correct ESRB rating information to the packaging of virtually all copies that will ship to retail in the U.S. and Canada. We have been advised by Microsoft that future runs of the game will be produced without the content in question, thus negating the need for the descriptor to be displayed on those versions.

ESRB's job is to ensure that games are appropriately labeled, and that is precisely what we did in this case. We greatly appreciate Microsoft's cooperation in this matter."

It seems the obscure bum file is in the map editor and not the single player game itself.  Happy hunting new Halo 2 owners.