- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
Sure it may be a buisness driven reason for porting H2 to Vista, but shouldn't they look at the fanbase and realize, the majority of us cant afford a new OS and a new PC, sure we are teens, but you should read some of these comments, a lot have been put together well like this one
It wouldnt supprise me if i get blocked or somthing for what I am going to say below. I know it is not wise to speak against Microsoft in a Microsoft website but all of these people going on about how much better vista will be are getting annoying. Bungie isnt helping either - they are just spouting microsoft propaganda.
Bungie, I dont believe you one bit when you say that Vista will make the game so much better. You say it will improve performance and make the game "better". On a recent news post it was mentioned that Vista was a complete rewrite too (well, suspected that it was a rewrite). All of this is incorrect.
WindowsNT Version: -------- Operating system Name:
Microsoft WindowsNT 3.50: WindowsNT 3.5
Microsoft WindowsNT 4.00: WindowsNT 4.0
Microsoft WindowsNT 5.00: Windows 2000 Professional
Microsoft WindowsNT 5.10: Windows XP
Microsoft WindowsNT 5.20: Windows Server 2003
Microsoft WindowsNT 6.00: Windows Vista
Processor and RAM requirements for WindowsNT Workstation and 5.2 server:
Microsoft WindowsNT 3.50: 0025MHz CPU, 012MB RAM
Microsoft WindowsNT 4.00: 0066MHz CPU, 016MB RAM
Microsoft WindowsNT 5.00: 0133MHz CPU, 064MB RAM
Microsoft WindowsNT 5.10: 0300MHz CPU, 128MB RAM
Microsoft WindowsNT 5.20: 0550MHz CPU, 256MB RAM
Microsoft WindowsNT 6.00: ????MHz CPU, 512MB RAM and 3D card
Notice somthing here? Each new version of WindowsNT requries more CPU power and RAM while adding few new features. I find it very hard to believe that on a 3GHz computer, WindowsNT 5.20 will run software faster than WindowsNT 5.00. WindowsNT 5.2 needs a 550MHz CPU and 256MB RAM to get the same work done that WindowsNT 5.0 does on a 133MHz CPU with 64MB RAM. Unless the system requirements for vista are lower than previous versions of windows it will NOT run software faster on the same hardware.
Point 1: Each new version of WindowsNT is slower than the last and Vista will be no exception. It will NOT run games with greater performance.
New features (minor ones such as bug fixes excluded):
WindowsNT 4.0: Win95 interface, Windows95 compatibility, newer GUI, other minor changes.
WindowsNT 5.0: New interface, New MMC, PnP support, few new apps, other minor changes.
WindowsNT 5.1: New interface, New media player, new drivers, a useless firewall, new help centre, probably somthing else, other minor changes.
WindowsNT 5.2: New server managment features, more security control over internet explorer, other minor changes.
Notice how there is no huge difference between each version of WindowsNT - a few new apps, some new features that no one uses and a newer interface.
Point 2: It is no major difference between one version and the version before it. The new features are not normaly worth the money.
WindowsNT 3.10: Written from scratch
WindowsNT 3.50: Based on 3.10
WindowsNT 3.51: Based on 3.50 and Windows95
WindowsNT 4.00: Based on 3.51, Windows95 and Plus!
WindowsNT 5.00: Based on 4.00, new GUI features from Windows4.x/ME
WindowsNT 5.10: Based on 5.00
WindowsNT 5.20: Based on 5.10 and 5.00
Guess what 6.0 is based on..... 5.20!!!! Version 6.0 is not a re-write, it is just WindowsNT 5.20 (aka Windows Server 2003) without its server features, a new GUI and a few other new features which have been available on the internet as addons for years (like Google picasa). It still uses a WindowsNT kernel which still operates in the same way.
Point 3: Windows Vista (WindowsNT Workstaiton 6.00) is not written from scratch.
Other games handle older operating systems and DirectX versions without loosing any features. The difference between Vista and XP is no greater than XP and Windows2000. Most games fully support XP and Win2k with no problems.
Point 4: "We want as many people to enjoy as good a version of our game as possible" is not a valid excuse for not providing an XP verison - Halo 2 could be compatible with WindowsXP without making it any worse. If you realy wanted as many people to enjoy Halo 2 as possible you would make it compatible with Windows XP - it can be done.
Taking into account previous versions of WindowsNT Workstation it is very unlikely that Vista will perform any better, have any better security or have any new features that will make it worth the upgrade. Forcing it to be on Vista is not to take advantage of new "features" - it is just another way to force people to upgrade their operating system when they dont need to.
Point 5: Restricting it to vista does not benifit the user in any way - it only benifits Microsoft.
[Edited on 2/13/2006]