Halo 2 Auto-Updates

This page lists all Xbox Live Auto-Updates for the Xbox version of Halo 2. The updates were released by Bungie as free downloadable content, though the release of the Halo 2 Multiplayer Map Pack did come with Auto-Updates 1-3 as disc installations for players who are not connected to Xbox LIVE.

The number of Auto-Updates released for Halo 2 is sometimes unclear, as four were released following the game's launch, but these updates were titled Auto-Updates 2-5. Thanks to a recovered Xbox console which had never been connected to Xbox LIVE to download the Auto-Updates, the release date for Auto-Update 1 can be placed in October 2004 - weeks prior to the launch of Halo 2 in November of that year, and only days after the official announcement of the game going gold (ie going to physical printing). It is unclear whether Update 1 is thus the original 1.0 of Halo 2 printed on the Xbox discs, or a pre-launch patch distributed for the game for any Xbox able to connect to Xbox LIVE prior to launch.

Prior to the shutdown of Xbox LIVE for the original Xbox in April 2010, the Halo 2 Did You Know? quotes were updated to poke fun at the game and the Halo franchise as a whole.

To see a list of the updates released for Halo 2 for Windows Vista, see here.

Auto-Update 1
Auto-Update 1 was authored on October 14, 2004, prior to the launch of Halo 2. Halo 2 was officially announced to have "gone gold" (ie officially finished and sent for disc printing) on October 11, 2004, meaning this update was deployed at an unknown time between then and launch.

Auto-Update 2
Auto-Update 2 was released on November 17, 2004 and was the first post-launch patch for Halo 2.

Auto-Update 3 (1.1a)
Update 2 was released on April 18, 2005, and was the second patch to be released following the game's launch. The patch's details were released across two weekly blog posts in an informal format, as opposed to an official patch notes list. As such, the text from the original two posts is transcribed verbatim below.

Auto-Update 4 (1.1b)
Auto-Update 4 was initially intended to be released in the second week of July 2005 following the release of the Maptacular Pack and Halo 2 Multiplayer Map Pack, though was delayed and eventually released on July 20, 2005. It was the third patch to be released following the game's launch.

Auto-Update 5 (1.5)
Auto-Update 5 was released on April 12, 2007. It was the fourth patch to be released following the game's launch.