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First Person Shooters (Games) Entertainment Games

Halo 2 Only on Vista 524

Posted by CmdrTaco from the lot-less-carnage dept.
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 ;)
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Halo 2 Only on Vista More

Halo 2 Only on Vista

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  • Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Thursday February 09, 2006 @05:02PM (#14681391)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Thursday February 09, 2006 @05:05PM (#14681428)
      Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • Bootable Halo "Tech" DVD (Score:5, Insightful)

        by TWX ( 665546 ) on Thursday February 09, 2006 @06:19PM (#14682213)
        "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...
        • Has Microsoft managed to finally get all of of the Windows 2000 holdouts to switch to XP yet?

          Hell no. I use Win2k on my home machines (the ones that aren't running various free OSes). Why would I want to upgrade? All Windows XP has to offer me is Cleartype and SP2, and all SP2 has to offer me is a handful of security cushions that might possibly be valuable only if I were a clueless n00b. IE7 might interest me... if I wasn't perfectly happy with the combination of Firefox and Opera.

          I might upgrade to Vi

    • Re:I predict... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by arthas ( 654815 ) on Thursday February 09, 2006 @05:34PM (#14681774)

      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...

      • I'll take that bet (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Brave Guy ( 457657 ) on Thursday February 09, 2006 @07:39PM (#14682904)
        They are using Halo 2 to make more users switch to Vista (and to upgrade hardware).

        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.

      • Re:I predict... (Score:4, Funny)

        by Echnin ( 607099 ) <{p3s46f102} {at} {sneakemail.com}> on Thursday February 09, 2006 @08:28PM (#14683272) Homepage
        Well, new software that forces people to buy new hardware to make spreadsheets and text documents might not be that bad, honestly. Encourages hardware development, and drives prices down for those of us who need the hardware for more demanding tasks like image and video processing. Just thinking pragmatically here.

  • Wait... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by TheSpoom ( 715771 ) * <slashdot&uberm00,net> on Thursday February 09, 2006 @05:03PM (#14681398) Homepage Journal
    Does this mean DirectX 10 will be available exclusively on Vista? Or are they simply introducing an artificial restriction here? If the latter is the case, I imagine someone will work around it fairly quickly.
    • Does this mean DirectX 10 will be available exclusively on Vista? Or are they simply introducing an artificial restriction here? If the latter is the case, I imagine someone will work around it fairly quickly.

      Well, considering that hardware desktop acceleration is a fundamental change to UI behavior, I would say that yeah, we'll probably only see it in Vista. There's also non-essential service auto-unloading when you start a game, another Vista bullet point which I assume is attached to DX10 as well.

    • Re:Wait... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by TubeSteak ( 669689 ) on Thursday February 09, 2006 @05:19PM (#14681606) Journal
      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.
      • >>Or you could just boot Linux onto your Xbox 1, run windows Vista through an emulation, then play Halo 2.

        You are kidding right? Right?

      • Re:Wait... (Score:3, Informative)

        by DrXym ( 126579 )
        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.

        Well that's just dumb. For starters, Microsoft always lie about the minimum requirements for their operating systems so if you upgraded you may find it sucks worse performance wise than it did before. And secondly games always say what their requirements are right there on the box. If Halo 2 says it needs some high end machine then that's wha

    • At the very least, this officially means that any gamer today wanting to play Halo 2 will have to pay $250 instead of $50, give or take on the price of the version of Vista you're being forced to upgrade to.

      Is Vista such a tough sell that Microsoft has to enforce arbitrary restrictions to get people to use it? Totally lame. Why would I want a resource-sucking OS with twice the hardware requirements of its previous version when I'm trying to run a lean, mean game machine?

      I think Vista will be the Windows s

    • Yes, it does (Score:3, Informative)

      by Swamii ( 594522 )
      This has long been the case; ever since DirectX 10 was announced, it was known to be Vista-only. DirectX 10 will not run on XP. You can verify this yourself by running the DirectX 10 preview from Microsoft.

      Not only that, Direct3d 10 requires DirectX 10 capable hardware, non of which is currently available.

    • Re:Wait... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by WhiteWolf666 ( 145211 ) <{sherwin} {at} {amiran.us}> on Thursday February 09, 2006 @07:28PM (#14682828) Homepage Journal
      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.
  • I guess I'll just stick to Worms then!

  • What incentive? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by adjensen ( 58676 ) on Thursday February 09, 2006 @05:04PM (#14681411)
    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.
  • Ok that will convince the dozen people who liked halo and don't have an Xbox already to upgrade to Vista, but XP is still chugging along fine for the rest of us.
  • That's one way to force upgrades.


    I seriously doubt that one single game is going to convince very many people to go through the expense of switching to another version of Windows, and upgrading their hardware.

    • It wouldn't be as crazy as it sounds. More than half of the XBox owners I know bought it almost exclusively to play Halo. The statitiscal insignificance and bias of this sample notwithstanding, I could definitely believe that this would push a few people over the edge who were waffling between getting Vista and sticking with XP. Enough, at least, to make up for lost Halo PC sales. After all, the marketing guys at redmond are no dummies.
    • Precisely. More than likely this will simply spell terrible sales for the PC version of Halo 2. Don't overestimate the power of massive corporations. Ultimately, consumers have to accept a product if it is to be successful, not have it shoved down their throats.

  • ...now we know Vista sales aren't going to flop too badly, since some of the top games will only run on it. I remember something similar with Windows 95, in which new games in 1995 were released exclusively for Windows 95.

    Still, I wonder if the Vista requirement for Halo 2 is because of technologies only available in Vista, or because of an artificial requirement.

  • I look forward to 2011, when it's released.

  • Hype, nothing else (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Zed2K ( 313037 ) on Thursday February 09, 2006 @05:06PM (#14681435)
    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.

  • 1 Week (Score:2, Interesting)

    by cnerd2025 ( 903423 )
    That's the time it'll take for WINE to handle the "Vista-only" software. It's also twice the time it will take for M$ to respond with a lawsuit. Isn't it wonderful knowing what we're efficient at?
    • Given my comical experience trying to play Half Life 2 (a game which has been out for at least a year, for an OS platform that is already extant and in wide use) through Wine (it runs, but with appallingly slow frame rates, even compared to the one time I tried to run it on a box with only onboard graphics), I honestly doubt that Wine devs will come anywhere close to being able to support Halo 2 within a week.
  • Honestly, does this really mean anything to anyone?

    Let's face facts. Those who must play Halo 2 either already have an XBox 360 or plan on getting one. I played the original Halo port for the PC and I was unimpressed. The graphics were quite nice; the story was interesting; but compared to the plethora of first-person shooters, I did not think that Halo was all that great. And from what I've been reading, most PC people believe the same. I understand that a game like Halo was somewhat of a revolutio
    • "Let's face facts. Those who must play Halo 2 either already have an XBox 360 or plan on getting one."

      Halo 2 came out for the XBox a long time ago. I've already seen ads for Halo3.
  • I'm pretty sure I played (and beat) Halo2 a good while ago, before 'Vista' even existed...

    Maybe the Vista version will actually have an ending... Doesn't matter, I'm not going to buy Vista, and I'm definitely not going to buy Halo2 a second time, they lost my money to Epic and id (and Valve if I'm feeling masochistic).

    Halo and Halo 2 were fun, but the campaign was WAY too short (kinda makes sense when you find out that Halo 2 was supposed to be part of Halo...).

  • I wish Bungie would come home! (Score:3)

    by Dutchmaan ( 442553 ) on Thursday February 09, 2006 @05:13PM (#14681523) Homepage
    I miss them horribly! Ever since they moved to Redmond they are just a Halo factory. They made their name with wonderful games like Marathon and Myth, but now I feel they are a shadow of their former selves as far as creative flexibility is concerned. The people who ran Bungie made some nice money, but I feel that the quality of their games has diminished somewhat.

  • Software reasons? (Score:3, Informative)

    by Call Me Black Cloud ( 616282 ) on Thursday February 09, 2006 @05:13PM (#14681535)

    I remember reading that the 360 and Vista share similar software in the graphics system. In other words, MS was going to a "write once, play everywhere (that's from MS)" architecture so developers wouldn't have to do a lot of converting. It sounds like this is fallout from that, not some evil marketing plot to make people buy Vista to play a game.
  • You mean only Vista and Wine?

    We will find a way.

  • Marketing, marketing (Score:3)

    by Bullfish ( 858648 ) on Thursday February 09, 2006 @05:15PM (#14681558)
    Another cheap trick brought to you by the folks in marketing. Really, they need people to buy Vista, as most productivity software will continue to run just fine on XP (and continue to be released for it as well), they need to start getting some hype going. This is only the early going and while Halo 2 may pale beside many of the FPS games out there, some will want it. On it's own it won't be enough to warrant the Vista buy, keep you eyes peeled for more on the home entertainment front. It is already known cable card will only be supported in Vista (on the ms side of things) for example.

    Expect more Vista only over the next year, you ain't seen nothing yet.

  • Not to worry.... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Stephen Samuel ( 106962 ) <samuel@NOsPaM.bcgreen.com> on Thursday February 09, 2006 @05:17PM (#14681571) Homepage Journal
    The guy that runs the crackpot science site [slashdot.org] has proof that Microsoft is secretly working on a Linux port.
    :-)
  • WHO CARES!?

    By the time Halo 2 for Vista comes out it'll be old and outdated. Unreal Tournament 2007 will already be out. And who knows, by the time Vista comes out with Halo 2, Unreal Tournament 2010 might already be out.
  • What's this? Windows only? (And not just any Windows... Windows Longtooth^h^h^h^h^h^h^hVista.)

    So what gives, Bungie? You started out as a Mac game company, with tremendous loyalty from your customer base and promised to never forget us. I mean, a Windows *first* release is understandable, but to go Win-exclusive? I guess the lure of big money was too strong to resist. Like everyone's mom used to say "you're judged by the friends you keep." I would add "...and the ones you throw away."

    So long Bungie, we hard

  • DRM (Score:2)

    by emarkp ( 67813 )
    Surely this will be a DRM flagship product?

    I loved Halo one the PC, and refuse to use console controls for playing an FPS. I tried Halo 2 on xbox and the controller was pretty much unusable. All of the Halo fans who want to play on windows will have to lock in to DRM.

    And I've already decided I won't be using Vista, so I guess I won't be playing Halo 2. No big loss since from what I hear (and from the hour or so I played it) it's more like Halo 1.5.

    Since I'm also boycotting starforce [glop.org], I probably won

  • I guess I won't be playing Halo 2. I have absolutely no other reason to upgrade from XP Pro. If they really want people who want to play Halo 2 to upgrade, they should give Vista purchasers a free copy of Halo 2. That'd probably stoke the Vista fire for them, sales-wise.

  • Vista on Wine (Score:3, Interesting)

    by phorm ( 591458 ) on Thursday February 09, 2006 @05:21PM (#14681636) Journal
    I wonder how long it will be before Wine will support emulation of Vista?

    Truely, I found that my soundcard driver and various other thing would hard-lock my system in XP... very annoying when you're in the middle of a game. Most of the windows games I run play nicely on Wine/Cedega, some even better (as in the case of my laptop, where the video driver will not update in windows).

    If Cedega gains more support for newer games, all the more reason for me to stick with it and/or linux. XP is bad enough, I certainly wouldn't want to upgrade to vista just to play a few newer games.
  • Damn, I got my hopes up given Q4 and UT's latest games run that other FPSs might come accross.

    Hint: Funny/Sarcasm (Got a feeling some mods might go for Insightful)
  • I've used Windows since Windows 95 and upgraded everytime, and never been very satisfied with it.

    95 > 98 > ME > 2k > XP

    I *swear* I'm not going to Vista. I *swear* it! I'll keep using XP until it's time to buy a new PC, then I'll buy a Mac.

    Stephen
  • "Halo 2 the game that redefined first-person combat and multiplayer action for millions of gamers worldwide, is set to explode onto PCs..."

    With Windows, "explode" takes on a whole new meaning...

  • a-holes (Score:3, Insightful)

    by dchamp ( 89216 ) on Thursday February 09, 2006 @05:28PM (#14681703)
    Not that I really care about Halo... but what a bunch of a-holes.

  • Bah (Score:2)

    by HunterZ ( 20035 )
    As a PC gamer, I waited for Halo 1 to come to PC before playing it (other than casually on friends' XBoxes). After seeing that Bungie was too lazy to port over the cooperative muitiplayer mode, I no longer have any interest in Halo games on the PC.

  • Halo redefines the FPS clone...? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Paralizer ( 792155 ) on Thursday February 09, 2006 @05:31PM (#14681736) Homepage
    Halo 2 the game that redefined first-person combat and multiplayer action
    Redefined? Really? I thought the real innovations came from the Doom's and Quake's, not another FPS clone.

    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.
  • "Halo 2 the game that redefined first-person combat and multiplayer action for millions of gamers worldwide, is set to explode onto PCs..."


    Wasn't Starseige Tribes the first FPS that "redefined" multiplayer gaming?

    About the only chance MS has of getting me to buy an Xbox, is if I can get it modded to run MythTV for free.

  • Talk about false advertising. (Score:4, Interesting)

    by RoffleTheWaffle ( 916980 ) on Thursday February 09, 2006 @05:41PM (#14681847) Journal
    The only thing that Halo 2 redefined was hype. If these guys think that Halo 2 - which has been on the Xbox for months now - is going to be a selling point for Vista, they're sorely mistaken.

  • nice one xbox.com (Score:4, Funny)

    by Tibor the Hun ( 143056 ) on Thursday February 09, 2006 @05:42PM (#14681859)
    i really doubt that halo2 will be exploding onto the PC market.
    I think we've all learned what to expect from a year-late ports of mediocre games.

    and what exactly is it that halo2 will require that xp can't provide? is the engine more demanding than doom3 or source?
    thanks for selling out, again, bungie...

  • My theory... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by natet ( 158905 ) on Thursday February 09, 2006 @05:58PM (#14682023)
    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.

  • XBox Live on Windows Vista (Score:4, Interesting)

    by ObligatoryUserName ( 126027 ) on Thursday February 09, 2006 @06:12PM (#14682147) Journal
    For the last 3 years, Microsoft has said that they're extending their XBox Live service to Windows when Vista comes out. (No, I don't know why nobody has reported it either; maybe because it still seems so far off. The usb version of the XBox 360 controller [announced at the same time] has already come out.) Anyway, Halo 2 comes to mind when I think of a game that utilizes XBox Live well. It makes sense that they'd use that title to highlight the new features of Windows Vista.

    Notice, btw, how they're reinforcing their overall position by leveraging their two platforms in tandem. When some people say cross-platform they're thinking Windows/Mac/Linux. When other people say cross-platform, they're thinking PC/Console. Microsoft is creating an enticing proposition for the content developers.

  • That's nothing... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Angostura ( 703910 ) on Thursday February 09, 2006 @06:37PM (#14682362)
    Duke Nukem Forever is being designed so it will only run on Windows Vienna [wikipedia.org].

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