Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Halo PC Updates Delayed, Much Desired

Posted by simoniker on from the make-it-go-faster dept.

Thanks to VE3D for its article reprinting comments by Gearbox Software's Randy Pitchford regarding future Halo PC patches. Pitchford, seemingly irked at Bungie/Microsoft testing and approval delays, notes the enhancements Gearbox "...has generated between launch day and now is amazing in quality and volume. Thus far, just a fraction of that work has made it into the official updates." These prospective updates, mentioned last month, include the HEK (Halo Editing Kit), the lack of which is preventing substantial modding from taking place, and a waiting-in-the-wings "massive [graphical] performance boost... we call it 'fast shaders' - we're seeing a 30% to 50% [framerate] increase."

10 of 53 comments (clear)

  1. does anybody care? by Hes+Nikke · · Score: 2, Insightful

    does anybody still care about halo? it shipped as a has-been product for a premium. if halo for the PC was released 2 years ago (as was the plan before bungie was assimilated) then i'm sure people might care. maybe

    --
    Don't call me back. Give me a call back. Bye. So yeah. But bye our, well, but alright we are on a shirt this chill.
    1. Re:does anybody care? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Of course people still care about Halo. People still care about CounterStrike and Quake, too. Both of which have been out for years.

      Halo has pretty decent graphics (though shittily rendered map textures). It has great gameplay, the best vehical play I've ever seen in an FPS and is generally a very fun game. There is nothign else out there right now that is entertaining gamers since there has been a serious glut in major releases in the last few years.

      The last game I looked forward to seeing come out was... um... Wow - I can't even think of the last time I looked forward to a game coming out. And I'm not looking forward to anthing until Unreal 2004/DoomIII/Half-Life-II. Halo is a good filler game in the meantime.

    2. Re:does anybody care? by Hott+of+the+World · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Im just glad I didnt pay for it. Horrible excuse for a PC FPS.

      Sure, the single player was spiffy, but the lack of any distinguishing multiplayer features pretty much clinched the deletion tab for me.

      --
      | - | - |
    3. Re:does anybody care? by __aatgod8309 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Bear in mind that some of us don't play multiplayer - if the single-player experience is great, then that's all that's important for us.

    4. Re:does anybody care? by prockcore · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Bear in mind that some of us don't play multiplayer - if the single-player experience is great, then that's all that's important for us.

      Yeah, but the single player experience in Halo is miserable. Hey look, this looks just like that corridor I was just in. Hey look, the bad guys are in the same exact spots they were in the last identical room.

      The Library will probably go down in history as the single most worst gaming level ever.

  2. Yes by 0x0d0a · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It's still a fun game. Bungie puts out good software.

    Heck, most Game Boy Advance software could be considered to be roughly ten or more year old computer software, but it's still entertaining.

    That being said, I can see Microsoft not having a lot of interest in improving PC Halo. They made a promise to do a release, but have little interest in really polishing it. And, frankly, PC Halo is in many ways (frame rate, lack of sitting next to your best friend and playing in cooperative mode in front of the TV, driving the vehicles with a mouse) not as nice as the X-Box release.

    --
    May we never see th
    1. Re:Yes by cbirdsong64 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      One - The vehicles control wonderfully with a mouse.

      Two - Where's my co-op patch?

  3. M$ does not know how to market anything by mrshowtime · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I bought HALO last month for the PC, even though I have owned it for the past two years on my XBox. Why did I buy it? Well, I was dying to play the rediculously large multiplayer maps with more than FOUR people and to be finally able to use my mouse and keyboard. Now, after playing it for a month, I am bored, and apparently so are a lot of other players given the immense amount of T'kers lurking online with Halo. Biggest question: Where are all the f'ing maps? You mean to tell me that after two years, M$ could not come up with any new multiplayer maps for HALO? Now the Halo Editor is coming out in June?!!! By then we will hopefully have moved onto Unreal 2004, HL2, and DOOM3; with Halo becoming a game that could have been much more.

    --
    "Jeremy, you need to get to an internet cafe and cut and paste some appropriate sentiments about me from the world wide
    1. Re:M$ does not know how to market anything by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      They don't know how to market? You bought the same game twice. What is your threshold? Would they be good marketers if they convinced you to buy it 8 more times?

  4. Something smells fishy.... by Undefined+Parameter · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Consider that Microsoft has allowed at least one patch through that introduced major bugs into the game. Also consider that, by Pitchford's words, we are now informed that Gearbox is only supplying the fixes, and that Microsoft is the one which is testing the patches and rolling them into an update.

    And it's taking so long as to make Pitchford publicly angry.

    I can see three possibilities: either the Microsoft lead for the Halo PC patches is incompetent, not enough money and/or men have been allocated to that particular project by Microsoft, or Microsoft is playing dirty with both Gearbox and the paying public. Note that the first and second explanations could also be the last, though that may not necessarily be the case.

    I'm no fan of Microsoft or how it usually plays with plebs and politicians, but I have to give them the benefit of the doubt. It could simply be that the Microsoft lead doesn't know what he or she is doing in getting these patches out, that Pitchford can't get Microsoft to put a new lead in, and public pressure by fans hasn't had an effect. It could be that Microsoft simply didn't anticipate the number and complexity of the patches Gearbox has been issuing, and is now reluctant to make changes to the personnell and/or funding levels.

    Hell, it could even be Gearbox trying to shift some blame in order to get out from underneath the heat that a portion of the Halo PC fanbase has been giving them.

    Or (and most of you have probably been salivating in anticipation of this one) it could be that Microsoft has an ulterior motive and is malevolently, quietly, and intentionally sabotaging Halo PC and Mac updates. Reasons for this could be to boost xbox and Halo xbox sales due to a difference in the ammount of profit gained, internal politics against Bungie for making sure that an outside company did the port (or making sure the port was made at all), or any other of a number of reasons.

    I'm not trying to excuse Microsoft or Gearbox here, or lay any blame at either company's feet; but if patches are being delayed intentionally, as Pitchford (and some critics) has suggested, then there is reason for anger and outcry.

    What kind of outcry is left to the individual Halo PC fan / Microsoft basher.

    ~UP

    --
    Eat the Path.