Halo 2 for PC

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Saiyan

Saiyan

The L33t Admeen
Galvanizer
Even though Halo 2 shipped for the original Xbox in 2004, Microsoft sees plenty of potential in the upcoming PC version to spur its new Games for Windows initiative. Halo 2, after all, was the biggest selling Xbox game ever made, and it remains incredibly popular on Xbox Live even today. The PC version is being developed by Hired Gun, an internal Microsoft studio working in cooperation with Bungie, and executive producer Jo Clowes was on hand at Microsoft's showcase event at Game Developers Conference to give us our first hands-on time with the single-player portion of the game.
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The major difference is that it will look a lot nicer on the PC thanks to the vastly improved resolution and some higher-resolution textures. We had a chance to see it for ourselves by playing the Delta Halo level, and the visuals were so sharp that you could read the fine print on the Master Chief's rocket launcher.
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The system requirements for Halo 2 are a bit high considering the Xbox version ran on 2001-era hardware, though you've got to factor in the higher graphical resolutions and OS overhead in the PC version. However, they're fairly modest for a Windows Vista machine. You'll need a 2GHz CPU, 1GB of RAM, and a decent DirectX 9 video card. The game will not use DirectX 10, so you won't need the latest video card to play it. However, you will most definitely need Windows Vista, because Halo 2 will only run on Windows Vista PCs. According to Clowes, that's because the game takes advantage of many Vista-only features, such as rapid install. When you first insert the Halo 2 disc into your PC, you won't have to install the game like you traditionally would a PC game. Instead, like a console game, Halo 2 will begin to load up and you can play immediately while it installs in the background. The PC version will also have support for Games for Windows Live, the PC version of the popular Xbox Live online service that allows for matchmaking, friend tracking, gamerscore, and much more.
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As its, Halo 2 is on track for release sometime before the halfway point of the year.
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Source : GDC 07: Halo 2 Single-Player Hands-On - PC News at GameSpot
 
Halo 2 wont work on XP even if its a Dx 9 based game... Only Vista cause it does Rapid install... What crap :@
 
Microsoft wants gamers to buy vista! What a surprise that they would pull this!

Oh well, someone will eventually make a crack or maybe redo the setup program.
 
Pointless. As much as I loved Halo 2 and the whole Halo series (see avatar) the only smart way to play the game is on the Xbox with the pad, preferably with a buddy in split screen co op on legendary. Gaming Nirvana.

I would have bought this if it had been released on XP just for the online multiplayer but no way am I installing vista for this. Can't believe Bungie are willing to miss out on massive sales by making it Vista exclusive.
 
spindoctor said:
not trolling here guys but exactly what did you like about halo 1 pc? other than the reasonable story that is...
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I liked the game(Halo 1), and i don't have a console to play Halo 2, so Halo 2 coming for PC is a good news for me, and i don't mind installing vista for this game either and its just me.

Reasonable Story is more than enough for me to play a game;)
 
Saiyan said:
Reasonable Story is more than enough for me to play a game;)
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don't get me wrong here... i recently realized that all the games i would call 'the best games of the last few years' have extremely strong story components.

what sucked about halo was its utterly hopeless level design. i mean 7 levels to infiltrate a library, then 7 levels to come back out? that was bullshit. and repetitive gameplay, the damn flood. it was basically serious sam if you think about it.

also, at the time, the port was too heavy on the system. gearbox messed up royally there.

to me it was a very average game (something like sin episode 1 was). i have never understood why it sold SO well for the xbox (the only really attrative feature - co op - was missing from the port anyway)
 
spindoctor said:
i recently realized that all the games i would call 'the best games of the last few years' have extremely strong story components.
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You don't know anything, just get Planescape :ohyeah:
 
spindoctor said:
don't get me wrong here... i recently realized that all the games i would call 'the best games of the last few years' have extremely strong story components.

what sucked about halo was its utterly hopeless level design. i mean 7 levels to infiltrate a library, then 7 levels to come back out? that was bullshit. and repetitive gameplay, the damn flood. it was basically serious sam if you think about it.

also, at the time, the port was too heavy on the system. gearbox messed up royally there.

to me it was a very average game (something like sin episode 1 was). i have never understood why it sold SO well for the xbox (the only really attrative feature - co op - was missing from the port anyway)
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I can't believe that you just compared Halo (whose AI pisses all over Half life 2, FEAR and most new games) to Serious Sam.

Halo had a lot of things going for it when it was released back on the Xbox. It was the first game to do driving vehicles in a game well. It was the first game to have a recharging shield system which made the game superbly tactical when played on higher difficulty, instead of just run and shoot which was the norm back then. It was the first game to do a decent two weapon at a time only, which was made even greater because all the weapons were useful (think about it, how many FPSs have weapons that become useless once you get more powerfull ones, never the case in Halo). It was (is) the best co op FPS ever made and trust me I've played every Co op one on the Xbox (split screen and System link). Sure the level design was repetitive but you can blame that on MS who wanted the game in time for launch of their Xbox.

The problem is that by the time it came to PC all of those things had been copied by a lot of other games (Far cry for eg which did a lot of those things very well) so it was not so unique anymore. So people who played it on the PC never actually got what made Halo such an Icon on the Xbox and the whole gaming community.

Halo Co op on Legendary will always be one of my greatest gaming experiences in my fourteen or so years of gaming.
 
halo ai is not better than fear. no pc game has ai as good as fear. the comparison to serious sam was because you just kept on killing more and more enemies (you DO remember the flood right?)

the pistol was imbalanced, at least in multiplayer. its a little sad if your basic pistol is the most powerful weapon in the game.

the level design was atrocious - how can you gloss over that fact so easily? apart from half the game being backtracking, the levels themselves were horrible. symmetric hexagons all the way. yikes.

not to mention the 3" radius crosshair. all signs of a shoddy port. they could have at least tried to make some of the features less 'consolified'.

i didn't say it was a bad game. the outdoors were done well, the scale was lovely, some of the setpieces were fantastic. but in the end, it was boring, especially the second half.

play deus ex or baldur's gate 2. you will see how easily one of your greatest gaming experiences will be dethroned.
 
Oh so everyone is going to gang up on me huh? :)
Time to run from this thread.

BTW I do agree that Deus Ex is far superior to Halo. But thats not fair is it? Deus Ex is far superior to most games.

And Baldurs gate 2 is good, not as good as the original or even Fallout 1 and 2 but still good. Buts its a RPG FFS, completely different set of rules.
 
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