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Halo's PC Upgrades Explored
Thanks to GameSpot for posting a new hands-on preview of Halo:Combat Evolved for the PC. This long-awaited title is making a "conservative" but professional transition from Xbox to Windows, courtesy Gearbox Software, and the enhancements are sparse but notable: "..the [in-game] resolution can be turned all the way up to 1600x1200, and the game's textures look much sharper and more defined than they ever did on the Xbox.. zooming in close to a grunt, we noted specular-mapping and bump-mapping effects on the grunt's gold-colored armor." Also discussed in more detail are the six brand-new PC multiplayer maps, plus mention of "..editing tools that will let creative players create new maps and significantly modify the game" - is there enough time for player-constructed maps to make it into Halo 2?
Of course, some of the other improvements are multiplay via network, two new weapons in multiplayer and a semi-new vehicle (Warthog jeep with rocket launcher instead of the regular machine gun).
I think that multiplayer over the internet is definetely the biggest improvement, at least the most interesting.
I remember watching a video of Halo when it was being developed by Bungie Studios, for MacOS / Windows. It looked awesome! My roommate has an XBox & Halo, but I don't really enjoy it that much. The graphics & gameplay look good, but I need my keyboard & mouse for FPS games.
:-)
My dream of playing Halo on a PC is back
OMFG have you seen the Halo 2 trailer it's like slow and it's telling you all the stuff you did in the first one then the music kicks in and and the chief comes out and gets a gun the earf is on fire and chief is like fuck this im jumping and HE JUMPS PUT OF TEH SPACESHIP with angels singing and he lands on the bad guys and that annoying ai lady is like GO GET EM TIGER! WILDCAT IS ON TEH SPOKE!!!~`1 and theres less polys but rawkin bumb mappings you can view this on a special MICROSOFT xbox disk that comes with EB games store.
When we consider there are newer titles coming out like Deus Ex 2, Half-Life 2, and Doom III that people are really eager for... well, I just can't see Halo doing as well on the PC/Mac as it could have done.
By the time it comes out on the PC, it'll be around 2 years old on the Xbox. How many PC gamers actually cared after it took over a year to get a true answer as to whether it was coming or not?
I think by then, most had gotten an Xbox and played it, or played on the Xbox of someone they knew.
Of course, you could say this was Microsoft's plan all along...to string the PC gamers along, promising the PC version...but never letting them get any info for a long time; all in the hopes that they would give in and buy an Xbox and the game.
It may have backfired in a way though....for those who still held out, most probably don't care about Halo anymore and are looking at the other games I mentioned above.
Thursdæ
Though you make a good point, I'm not so sure if I agree.
Example: GTA3 and GTA: Vice City. They were both huge successes on the PS2 and later, the PC, despite the games being out on the PS2 a long time before the PC versions finally emerged.
True, it was "only" little over a year between the versions, but the games still sold quite a lot of copies on the PC. And the graphics weren't even all that great, compared to the "standard" of the day.
Two years after release, and Halo is still being played by my hall. The addition of the grenade and the melee to the 'normal' FPS mix, as well as the crux of only being able to carry two weapons at a time, just adds so much depth...you can actually hit someone and lob a grenade on the fly, rather than having to switch to some cumbersome underpowered grenade or fist 'weapon'.
Halo PC will most defeniatly be a success. Finally, the thing that people have been having wet dreams about (mods and internet play) will become a reality.
I'm the guy with the unpopular opinion
there was going to be a Mac version, like Jobs demonstrated on the G4 Cube. I suppose that well have to wait another few years for that one i assume? Although by then ill have my G5 so no worries playing it on my G4 400.
I want 2D games back.
Halo wasn't a particularly enjoyable single player experience on the console.
What made it such a great and popular game was it's co-operative play mode.
That mode has been lost in the conversion and I tihnk it's a serious blow to the game. Even if they had included it to play coop over the network it wouldn't of been as good as playing with a friend on the same couch.
I have no doubt it will be an above average game, but it won't be all that it was on the xbox.
all i want to know, is will the pc version support LAN/interne coop.
I was going to hold out for the PC release of Halo myself, until I realised that the Xbox needed to play it today cost less than the new graphics card I'd need to play it when it eventually got to PC.
They practically give Xboxes away in cereal packets now (I'm sure they would actually do so if they fitted - b'dum tssh) so it does seem pretty pointless.
As for the whole mouse thing, it only takes a short while to get used to it; certainly a lot less than it took to get used to mouse rather than keys in the first place.
"I Know You Are But What Am I?"
I just can't play an FPS with a controller to save my life. Give me a keyboard and mouse any day. That said-- this game was originally demo'd back in 1998 for the Mac, and it would have been cooler than anything back then. By the time it was bought by MS and retooled for the XBox, it was an average FPS at best, on a console limited to TV resolutions, with no option to play with anything but a controller.
Halo for the PC is apparently the same game, with a few extra multiplayer maps, and the ability to turn the resolution up-- AND it's a good two years older than its already-late XBox counterpart.
Call me crazy, but despite how great this game looked in 1998, it's just not all that great now, five years later. I'll buy it when it's in the $5 bin, but until then, I'll just have to console myself with the amazing Half-Life 2.
True
however GTA does not have the same sort of competition halo is facing
there are very few games that are at all like GTA and none that really follow the same exact theme
however Halo is facing up against HL2 Doom3 Tron 2.0 DeusEx 2 and more
being 2 years old i think it will probably get vastly outclassed and depend upon its reputation from the Xbox for sales
ill probably buy it but i think i will be waiting for its price to go down a bit before i do so
Xbconnect is much better than Gamespy IMO, and while there is the occasional lagged game, most games run perfect as long as all the boxes start out with and generally sustain a 55-140 ping.
It might do well, it might not. I mean sure Halo's a great Xbox game, but at it's core it's just Tribes 2. And I have yet to play any FPS that in my mind surpasses Tribes 2 for creativity, play value, and overall fun. I don't play much anymore but the fact that it's the oldest game I still have installed is a big endorsement from me. Anyway, nothin' new to see here folks, please move along.....
....to Half-life 2 =D
Wynter
"Not all who wander are lost" -- JRR Tolkien
The article makes no mention at all about the apperance of the cooperative mode.
Hear, hear. Co-op mode is one of those things that is almost always overlooked by game developers (and/or publishers), and the lack of it is one of the top reasons I purchase so few games.
Well, guess what, every FPS game for the PC now lets you use vehicles. I'm hooked on bf1942...huge mod community with INCREDIBLE (read:rivaling the original product ala CounterStrike) and there's ground vehicles, air vehicles (even helicopters in the EoD mod) water vehicles, subs, etc. There's gun emplacements that you can use, its incredible.
Planetside is kind of the same thing, except less traditional FPS style (Cone-of-Fire anyone?)but makes up for it with massively multiplayer battles with hundreds of people.
I'm sorry, Halo just isn't going to cut it anymore...Bioware should try the PC market with Halo 2, but this time release it at the same time as the Xbox version so the game isn't completely outdated by the time we finally get it on the PC.
Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
I think I will. I'm a Counter-strike player and Halo on the pc might be the change of pace that i'm looking for. I've tried other fps games but non are as fun online multiplayer as CS.
Also with the $30,000 tournament sponsored by the CPL, maybe some competetive players from the CS leagues will move over to HALO PC.
Quake 3
Unreal Tournament 2003
Soldier Of Fortune 2
Tribes 2
Battlefield 1942
All of the above are better multiplayer games than Halo or your current choice - Counter Strike.
I like CS - but it's such a simple game. This is probably why it's so popular. I think it becomes boring very quickly.
And there's absolutely zero depth to Halo's multiplayer (not to mention the 2nd half of the single player game sucks).
Save yourself some money - pick up Battlefield from the bargain bin, download the Desert Combat mod and you'll be set.
Can you fly banshees in multiplayer!?!?!?!11 Oh please for the love of God!! I want DOGFIGHTS!!!1
As a proud owner of Halo for XBOX, I will definately pirate this game.
...I'm not buying the same game twice! Bungie can have my money when they release Halo 2.
I RTFA!! yay!
Same company totally f'd up the Nightfire release for PC...
My heart says your xbox toasting friends keep telling you how good it is buy an x-box. My head says that your going to have to save your money for Half-life 2. Ahhh the decisions. In the end I will probably not get this because I have overplayed it already and it was not that fun, mainly because I sux at games an my friend is good.
You can take Tron 2.0 off that list. The demo was apalling.
Veteran, Bermuda Triangle Expeditionary Force, 1992-1951