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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?
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
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.
Not with Halo, you can't.
Gamespy provides a program that tricks your Xbox into thinking you've got a LAN connection with people who are actually on the Internet, which allows some internet play (laggy as hell, though), but Halo doesn't support Xbox Live.
Its still being made by bungie
its just microsoft decided to buy bungie and make halo Xbox exclusive
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