Halo 1 & 2 for PC
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RIP Halo 2.

Posted by: Recon Number 54
Posted by: Jesse16
Why is it only being made for Vista? I'm a little disappointed by this because I have XP but it's no big deal. Mostly I'm just wondering so any info would be welcomed. =)

The most prevalent reason is that the minimum system specs for Vista are going to ensure that the game is playable for everyone who buys it.

XP has been out for a long time now, and even with Halo PC, too many people used the OS requirements to determine that their PC was capable of running the game.

By making it Vista-only it is much more certain that the PC's running the OS will be able to run the game. Plus, Vista is going to have a much more unified hardware and network layer. As it is the upcoming OS and is not an incremental upgrade to NT-2000-XP, it makes sense for them to write for the higher standard and guarantee the higher level experience.

Let me rephrase that:
"Bill Gates and Microsoft marketing need something to get the general public to buy into their inevitably bug-filled and memory-whoring new OS, and what better way than capitalizing off one of the most popular games of all time even though it could easily run on an XP PC and DX9."

Yeah, I think I nailed it.

Seriously, if anyone is dumb enough to think that just because their PC can run XP that they can run Halo PC, they deserve to lose their money. And really, meeeting the Vista specs guarantees nothing. I could have a GeForce FX5200 and a GB of RAM and pass the trequirements. But that thing can't even run Halo PC at 640x480 right.

  • 05.26.2006 8:58 PM PDT

RIP Halo 2.

Regarding Solitaire, despite the obvious sarcasm, I'll reply to it. Why would I buy Windows for Solitaire when any *nix distro with KDE will give me that and a bunch of other fn free games for simple timekilling?

I'm not saying it's a conspiracy. I'm saying Microsoft needs something to drive the gaming community to their new OS, and what better way than the best selling game of all time? Us gamers have no reason to upgrade other than some fancy new "Aero" theme which eats all my RAM and CPU and video card power and still falls short to say, OS X. Maybe some snazzy new Control Panel or something and some Parental controls - but nothing the PC gaming community is über-psyched for. I'm not knocking on Bill Gates, it's a fairly clever marketing move, jus tone that disappoints me. My XP rig runs FEAR on high settingsd at 1024x768 with 8xAF on and 2xAA - surely it can handle a game developed around a 733MHz Celeron-class CPU. But isntead I'm locked out by my OS. I think MS did this with the AoE3 demo, not sure, but for XP.

I don't see forcing a game to require a specific OS streamliing and simplifying anything. What I do see is a few more lines of code that call winver or something and compare the output with that of Vista.

And so ends my opinion, I need to make install my FreeBSD kernel now that it finished compiling.

[Edited on 5/26/2006]

  • 05.26.2006 9:25 PM PDT

I like Halo.

STEPPIN LIGHTLY Jumping Challenge Map by Yours truly.

LOTR - Nightwish music video by Yours truly.

uhhh... uhh... I don't know what to think! ..... *MY HED ESPLODE*.

  • 05.26.2006 9:50 PM PDT

RIP Halo 2.

Posted by: Recon Number 54
If it's as simple as Winver, how long before someone is running it on XP? 20 minutes? The game is being coded for Vista.

It's a completely new OS. Not the NT-2000-XP kernel. Hell, I've not even heard that any legacy applications (even your current copy of FEAR) will definitely run on it except in emulation. A new audio, video and network stack. Imagine that the game was being ported to one of your copies of Linux.

Since you're running a multiboot, it would be just another OS to pick from. But I think that your current rig will likely be replaced twice over and that you'll likely have Vista installed before you can even buy Halo 2 Vista.

Call it marketing if you want. I think that it was simply a decision by the team making the port to make the port more efficiently.

Not gonna lie, hearing that recent apps like FEAR are going to need to be emualted is news to me. It worries me performance-wise, because emulation never works 100%. I'm using this as an example, don't take offense: but look at Halo 2 for 360. Here's a system with 10x the CPU power and 8x the RAM and a custom MS emulator built for the system, but it can't run Halo 2 right. I mean, any intense firefight results in catastrophic framerate drops. And we all saw the Backwash issue - apparently emulating the active camo shader along with the Fog isn't fun for the emulator.

On a side note, FreeBSD is not Linux, just so you know. But I did mention Linux as an example.

I honestly don't look forward to breaking my measly 250GB SATA drive (well, small for a media rig) into yet another partition, really. Seeing how I believe we are dealing with a new FS, and it's not even a good idea to run two copies of Windows on teh same partition anyways...

I still call it marketing. I think it's really there to push Vista. But, that's just my opinion. Obviously it won't get as many purchases without XP support. So there'd have to be a financial reason to counter that, and if it drives Vista sale, that would be the counterbalance.

I'm actually rather happy that we could have a nice civil disagreement without flaming or me getting the Banhammer for not completely loving all things Microsoft. Don't get me wrong, my PC's use Windows, but I like to keep myself open-minded to the other OSes available as they often suit my needs better.

[Edited on 5/26/2006]

  • 05.26.2006 9:59 PM PDT
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Sorry I said this being a little angry at your statements so if I insulted you in anyway my apologies. I do agree that this has been a pretty civil discussion so if I ruin it in anyway with my statement below I give my apologies once again...

Something this guy isn't understanding is all the fine tuning that was done to get Halo 2 to look as good at it does on a 733mhz machine. Yes alot of XP systems will run Halo 2 just fine but a whole heck of a lot won't. People are out there buying crap systems everyday, every moment. I know, I sell people their overpriced paper weights because they won't spend a hundred extra to get something half way decent. By coding for the Vista OS you insure proper standards in a PC that will allow Halo 2 to look as good as it does on the Xbox. But even the standard version of Vista probably won't run it properly. I'm talking about the 32bit version for legacy systems that could not run the true Vista. If you don't want to buy Vista and don't like Halo 2 going to that platform then whatever. It's already been decided, it's already in motion and oh yeah, you can't stop it by putting your little hate post on Bungie's forums. Yes does it seem like a marketing scheme? I'm sure it does and I bet in a lot of ways it is. Oh well...that's what big buisness does...they think of ideas to get bigger. Not rocket science. The fact is that they are promising like eight to ten times overall improvement in gaming performance with DirectX10 and Vista...if you're a true gamer look forward to that. Stop complaining about a game that you can probably play just fine on an Xbox just because you don't want to buy a new OS. Technology advances every minute of everyday, adapt and move on. Or be like the people who come to others and complain about not adapting when you should have a long time ago. I work at a retail place that sales computers and office supplies and I cannot tell you how many idiots I help a day that get all pissed off at me cause nothing in this world runs of their Windows 98 first edition...not my fault you don't move on. Just stop complaining about something you can do nothing about.

[Edited on 5/26/2006]

  • 05.26.2006 10:08 PM PDT

It's too bad stupidity isn't painful. -Anton Levey

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Ok, I'm a technical noob, so it is possible to run all other games on Windows Vista right?

  • 05.27.2006 5:30 AM PDT
Subject: Halo 2 Vista

It's too bad stupidity isn't painful. -Anton Levey

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Why is it only being made for Vista? I'm a little disappointed by this because I have XP but it's no big deal. Mostly I'm just wondering so any info would be welcomed. =)

[Edited on 5/26/2006]

  • 05.26.2006 8:00 PM PDT
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Its a marketing scheme... but i don't think the OS won't do much harm.

  • 05.27.2006 7:40 AM PDT
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Recon Ninja 54, heres my input, if you what you say is true about Vista detecting the game and activiating some older OS code for the game to work, then isn't it possible that Mircosoft has made some improvements to the older OS codes to tweak it for the Vista OS so it would like normal on a older OS, Mircosoft must have realized this, but sorry, I know very little about an OS.

[Edited on 5/27/2006]

  • 05.27.2006 8:01 AM PDT
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Recon are you much of a PC gamer?
Anyway they're doing it because they want people to get Vista, as many people probably already think that it isn't that much more advanced than XP. Plus I am sure that Vista will support new hardware and have better everything. Asking this question is basically like asking why Halo 3 doesn't come out for regular Xbox. Its all because the 360 (or Vista in this case) kicks ass.

  • 05.27.2006 8:06 AM PDT
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Who in the world would buy an operating system just to play one game? I'm not going to upgrade to Vista any sooner than I would have anyway. I don't think people will upgrade their computers any faster for a game they can already buy for a obselete console. The logic just doesn't work. I think Microsoft and Bungie, who know the market for their products, know this too.

Since we're talking about Vista is it true that Vista is being built on top of a Unix type os? Will the command line be in unix? I'm looking forward to getting some unix experience, but linux is a pain in the butt and I can't get my wireless card to work.

[Edited on 5/27/2006]

  • 05.27.2006 8:51 AM PDT
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As I understand it, vista is dx9 compatable, but it has to emulate it. This means all games using dx9 or lower (everything out today) will run slower. DX10 is a HUGE step forward, even though it should have happend a long time ago. The only way you can say you support dx10 is if you support every single feature with hardware. With dx9, you could support most, but not all, and still say you support it. This makes programming and optimizing programs easier, and you can do alot more. Just like the xbox and halo 2. They optimized the hell out of their code because they knew what was possible with the hardware. On a pc, they have no idea what hardware you have.

  • 05.27.2006 11:22 AM PDT
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Posted by: IIDWells55XII
Let me rephrase that:
"Bill Gates and Microsoft marketing need something to get the general public to buy into their inevitably bug-filled and memory-whoring new OS, and what better way than capitalizing off one of the most popular games of all time even though it could easily run on an XP PC and DX9."

Yeah, I think I nailed it.


Vista is going to be a brand new OS, and although it's been in development for a long time, doesn't mean it's going to be bug free. I don't think porting H2 to Vista is a marketing scheme, it's a logical step. Why make a game for an OS that's going to be tossed in the Recycle Bin anyways?

As for Vista being a "memory whore" as you so elequently put it, Back when XP came out, it was considered a memory whore as well. But guess what? You can turn off all that fancy junk in XP, and you can probably do it in Vista as well.

  • 05.27.2006 12:14 PM PDT

It's too bad stupidity isn't painful. -Anton Levey

GT: sLavyer

Please do not send me an invitation to your group. I will not join because your group is probably pointless so don't waste your time or mine.

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Is Vista out or what? If it isn't, then does anyone know when it''s coming out?

  • 05.27.2006 12:20 PM PDT
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Posted by: Jesse16
Why is it only being made for Vista? I'm a little disappointed by this because I have XP but it's no big deal. Mostly I'm just wondering so any info would be welcomed. =)


It's because Microsoft wants us all to buy Vista. Don't listen to the BS that Bungie gives us about how it'll "work the best" on Vista.

  • 05.27.2006 12:21 PM PDT
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Posted by: Jesse16
Is Vista out or what? If it isn't, then does anyone know when it''s coming out?


vista isn't out yet, but it's coming Soon. (tm)

to eveyone who doesn't like the idea of buying vista... there's always the good ol' unix based OSX that is the mac.

  • 05.27.2006 12:48 PM PDT
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xp not powerful enough it need the xtra kick and bungie just wanted mor $$$$$ even thougjh got gates the starter of mircrosoft and since bungie=microsoft they have alot of money

  • 05.27.2006 3:04 PM PDT

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