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Halo 2 Only on Vista
iLogiK writes "Halo 2 will be available for PC, but only in Windows Vista. From the announcement: 'Halo 2 the game that redefined first-person combat and multiplayer action for millions of gamers worldwide, is set to explode onto PCs exclusively for Windows Vista. Halo 2 for Windows Vista will be developed by a dedicated Microsoft Game Studios team in partnership with Bungie Studios.'" That's one way to force upgrades. I thought just not releasing patches for the microsoft-worm-of-the-week would be enough ;)
Cost to play Halo 2 on a XBox: about $200.00
Cost to play Halo 2 on Windows Vista: A lot more than $200.00
Can't see this being any sort of incentive. Heck, I can't even see a big market for it.
Microsoft will learn very quickly that they can't treat PC gamers like console gamers. Its a completely different world. There is no such thing as an exclusive release on the pc side. No other game developer will make a game that only runs on Vista and risk alienating the entire community.
Second I would like to know exactly what Halo brought to the gaming market that "redefined first-person combat and multiplayer action..." Other than awesome marketing.
CS: It is all sink or swim...oh and did I mention there are sharks in that water?
It might have something to do with hardware requirements.
Vista requires a certain level of 3d graphic card & cpu power... by limiting Halo 2's release to Vista, MS doesn't have to code the game to run on older hardware.
In short, they get to program for a more predictable hardware environment.
Or you could just boot Linux onto your Xbox 1, run windows Vista through an emulation, then play Halo 2.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
I always thought anyone who really found the Halo's to be truely revolutionary has never played an FPS on a computer -- there really wasn't anything unique about the game. The rendering engine was at best on par with other games of its time, and the control was less than average (I'm a keyboard and mouse guy). Story isn't terribly important when it comes to player vs player. So if it can only be played on Vista, why does anyone really care? It's an old game that wasn't anything special to begin with.
They are using Halo 2 to make more users switch to Vista (and to upgrade hardware). I expect more and more games and other apps are going to be for Vista only.
You have an excellent sig btw...
Well if you upgraded OSes just to play one game, you are a nerd, and/or pirated the OS. A common mistake a nerd/pirate makes here is thinking the average consumer is anything like one. Nobody in all seriousness is gonna upgrade OSes to play a game.
Judges and senates have been bought for gold; Esteem and love were never to be sold.
I suspect that Halo 2 on PC has more to do with DRM than with anything else. It will likely use Vista's DRM techniques, and thus wouldn't run on an earlier version of Windows. I can see this being the proof of concept for using DRM in video game development. They may also be looking at this as a real world test of Vista's DRM.
IANAL... But I play one on
"Vista: Halo 2 Edition" == "Warezed copy of Vista"
I honestly wouldn't be surprised if someone made a DVD ISO of a nice, bootable Windows Vista install, stripped out to the bare essentials like those various tech/maintenance CDs, complete with a functioning copy of the game ready to run. If they did it right then it'd not need to do much more than use the HD for swap and for save games.
Has Microsoft managed to finally get all of of the Windows 2000 holdouts to switch to XP yet? I know that they're business customers mainly, but if they're having trouble with them then I don't see them having a lot more success with Vista in the business environment either. 3/4 of the computers at my employer still run Windows 98 or 95...
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
Second I would like to know exactly what Halo brought to the gaming market that "redefined first-person combat and multiplayer action..." Other than awesome marketing.
Had this conversation with a couple friends of mine and I think we finally hit on something. We're all approaching 30. We cut our teeth on Wolfenstein 3D, and stepped up to Doom and all that. How many nights were we up all night deathmatching? Too many to count. Doom was the greatest game of all time for us. We couldn't stop thinking about what we could do in that game and what would be possible if this or that would change and what maps were being made and wouldn't it be cool if there were a mod that did "x".
And that is our frame of reference. Quake brought us into three dimensions and from there on out it's been incremental improvements. To us, Halo is just more of the same.
But then you get a new generation of kids. The same basic stuff appeals to them now that appealed to us back then. Now they have an xbox and live (which makes the whole deathmatch thing much easier than anything on the ps2 or the gcn) and they absolutely love running around shooting their friends and getting shot by their friends and swearing like sailors and ta-da... you've got the new thing.
If you could strap them into a chair and force them to play through the same evolution of experience my age group has had, they'd see it's nothing new. But that's not going to happen and to them Halo is the most amazing game experience ever.
And then you've got people that are my age that just didn't give two shits about computers when my friends and I were playing Doom. Now they have an xbox and it's an entirely new experience for them as well.
Is it an experience I'm interested in? Hell, no. The level design is generally lacking and I don't find the balance of weapons and such to be all that attractive. But I don't stand there and complain and wonder why this game is so popular. It's the first time that lots of the current gaming audience has encountered such a thing. Of course they're impressed.
"We shall grapple with the ineffable, and see if we may not eff it after all." - Douglas Adams
Halo 2 coming to PC does not even remotely compare to the significance that Doom 3 and HL2 had on the PC gaming community.
Halo 2 is already old. By the time it is actually released on PC (relatively) few people will care.
There's no DirectX 10 anymore.
It's going to be called Windows Graphics Framework (WGF). WGF will be released in Vista, and will not be backported.
WGF = What was going to be DX10 + Avalon + OpenGL Emulation + Other Goop
I do expect that Transgaming will implement it for Linux; soon Linux will be a very viable gaming platform.
WhiteWolf666 an exBush supporter. All you new-school,compassionate,save the children Republicans can rot in hell
And you will jump right into the DRM box of your dreams. Enjoy.
Why is everyone so up-in-arms about the DRM in Vista? I havn't been impressed with the DRM-protected offerings in 2000/XP, so it's not like I'll be missing out on much.
I don't plan on watching HD-DVDs on my PC, or for-pay HD movies, so the requirement of HDMI for full-resolution doesn't affect me. I've seen what HD looks like on my 19" monitor, and it is not that impressive. I did play DVDs on my computer back in the 90s, but this was back when standalone players cost much more than DVD-ROM drives. I have no desire to reprchase my entire DVD collection just to get a marginal quality improvement.
Please keep in mind, NON-DRM VIDEO WILL NOT BE AFFECTED BY THIS REQUIREMENT. I can still look forward to downloading all the free xvid HD rips I want, and play them back on VLC at full resolution...should I be so inclined.
I don't plan on watching HDTV on this box. I don't plan on listening to DRM-encumbered formats like DVD Audio or SACD on this PC. I don't plan on doing anything remotely attached to DRM.
So, pray tell, could you point out where the DRM in Windows Vista actually affects me?
Man is the animal that laughs.
And occasionally whores for Karma.
Wanna bet?
Halo was a decent enough FPS, but nothing spectacular. It looks like Halo 2 is the same. I'd consider buying it if it were available for my system, but I'm not going to spend my time and money upgrading my hardware and risking a whole new OS just to play one game.
If Microsoft restrict their games pointlessly to running on Vista, that just means their competitors in the gaming markets have a free run over everyone still using XP or earlier. I'll bet there are a lot more people like me than there are mad keen types who will buy the latest and greatest graphics card and upgrading their whole system just for one title that's worth a few hours of gameplay.
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.