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Microsoft Software Windows Games Entertainment

Microsoft's Original Halo Game Is Now Available On PC (theverge.com) 60

Posted by BeauHD from the blast-from-the-past dept.
Microsoft is bringing the original Halo campaign to Windows PCs today. The Verge reports: Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary has been remastered with 4K support for PC, and it arrives 18 years after the game debuted as a launch title for the original Xbox. Microsoft is also including 60fps support, variable frame rates, and even native keyboard and mouse support. You'll also be able to use the classic audio in multiplayer and customize Spartans further. Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary is part of Microsoft's ongoing effort to bring all of the Halo: The Master Chief Collection to PC.
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Microsoft's Original Halo Game Is Now Available On PC More

Microsoft's Original Halo Game Is Now Available On PC

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  • No, not that one.

  • like 2003 never happened... (Score:5, Informative)

    by Mishotaki ( 957104 ) on Wednesday March 04, 2020 @06:16AM (#59795550)
    Halo was released on PC and MAC back in 2003, why do they make it sound like it never happened?
    • In the subject they most likely refer to the "original Halo" as being the first Halo game in the series. Later in the article they mention that it is based on Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary Edition (from 2011).

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      They seem to be pushing the 4k remaster angle hard but when you watch the trailer it doesn't look any better than the original really. Maybe a few more polygons here and there and some upgraded textures, but it still looks basically like a 2003 game.

      • Re:like 2003 never happened... (Score:4, Informative)

        by Synonymous Cowered ( 6159202 ) on Wednesday March 04, 2020 @07:25AM (#59795636)
        It's not about poly counts. I'm fact, I don't think they changed an of the modeling at all. But the original had very limited memory for textures. As a result, textures were massively reused. So in a given scene you'd see nearly all the walls using just a couple textures. With anniversary textures are not only higher resolution, but there is a ton of custom textures so the repetition is no longer glaringly obvious. There is also anlot more lighting and particle effects in anniversary. It may not have been enough to make it look like a modern game, but it was a very significant improvement.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Refalm ( 668976 )

        I'm just glad I can play that game in a better framerate.

        I remember Halo: CE and Halo 2 for PC being artificially limited to 30 fps, which equals unplayable in 2020 now that I'm spoiled by 60 fps.

      • You can update the textures, but you're still stuck with dated maps. The original Halo did a terrible job of pointing you in the right direction.

    • I was thinking the same thing. Maybe this time we'll be able to control the vehicles properly with the keyboard, with 'mouse look' being a separate function...

  • Not for the first time... (Score:5, Informative)

    by PhrostyMcByte ( 589271 ) <phrosty@gmail.com> on Wednesday March 04, 2020 @06:17AM (#59795552) Homepage

    Halo was available on PC a couple years after its initial release on XBOX. This new one is a remastered version of that.

    Hopefully with a better experience. I recall Halo being one of the first really bad console ports I experienced, where having a PC far beefier than the XBOX it was made for still resulted in very poor performance.

    • The first one was a good port. Performance was good, and it had extra content.

      Halo 2 for PC was a terrible port. It was right in the middle of the era when Microsoft was completely neglecting PC gaming in favor of the Xbox.

      • Halo 2 also was intentionally made Windows Vista only in an attempt to push Windows Vista. There was a small community patch to make it run on Windows XP and it ran fine, except that it needed to disable the bundled DRM to work which stopped multiplayer from working.

        • Moss: I think it might be a bomb disposal robot, Roy.
          Bomb Disposal Tech: I'm just having a couple of problems with it.
          Moss: What kind of operating system does it use?
          Bomb Disposal Tech: It's er... Vista.
          Moss: We're going to die!

    • You'll be able to experience going through a bunch of samey-assed hallways in 4k now!

      I thought all the other parts of that game were quite good, actually, but that part was tiresome.

      Anyway not only was it released way back when, but there's already been a recent re-release of all Halo titles for PC in one big wad. It's on Steam. I'm waiting for it to go on sale so I can re-experience the games I've played before, but this time with proper controls. Halo was IMO always a solid series, though the only way in

  • Now I can sit an inch from my monitor and pretend I can see the pixels in order to justify buying an 8K monitor!

  • I've never played it on anything but a PC.

    It wasn't until Halo 3 that MS started trying to use the series to force fans to buy an Xbox.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Aereus ( 1042228 )

      Uh... it was literally the vanguard launch title for the original Xbox. Halo was originally being developed for the Macintosh primarily with a planned PC release slightly later. MS bought Bungie specifically to turn Halo into their main launch title: The first thing they did was cancel the Mac version and delayed the PC version by several years.

      Also, multiplayer was originally imagined as something much closer to Starsiege Tribes: 64x64 on giant maps with a range of ground and flying vehicles. Obviously to

      • Comment removed based on user account deletion

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by Aereus ( 1042228 )

          I'm speaking of at the time they were bought out, the Mac version was stated as cancelled and PC on indefinite hold. Yes, they eventually did change their minds and a Mac version was released a few months after the PC release came out. (Both of which came out about 2 years after it released on Xbox)

  • I thought is sucked the first time around.

    • This. All of the console-playing untermensch were raving about Halo at the time, but it did nothing better than many PC FPS titles that were already several years old.

      And as always, KB & Mouse > Controller.

      • Mouse feels too unrealistic for my tastes. Spinning around with a BFG shouldn't feel like you're doing a pirouette.

        I like FPS's with a better sense of physical impact like Metroid Prime or those with a realistic tactical feel like the old Ghost Recon or Splinter Cell. Twitchy FPS games feel like a crappy arcade game to me.

      • That's certainly true, but Halo represented a pretty big leap over other console FPS titles at the time. Keep in mind that just 4 years prior, GoldenEye 007 for the Nintendo 64 was considered to be the best console FPS available. Halo had seemingly huge, yet detailed, outdoor environments that weren't something you tended to see on consoles due to hardware limitations, an almost seamless feeling to zone transitions (due to being able to load assets from a hard drive instead of having to stream everything fr

      • This. All of the console-playing untermensch were raving about Halo at the time, but it did nothing better than many PC FPS titles that were already several years old.

        Remember when grenades had their own weapon slot? Halo fixed that.

    • This. At best, the game was OK 15 years ago. I have a ton of games I've already bought that I don't have time to play, won't waste my time on this retread.

  • It came out September 2003. You mean this is an update to that version, or are they making you buy it again?

    • It came out September 2003. You mean this is an update to that version, or are they making you buy it again?

      It is a remastered version that is part of the Halo collection. So yes, you'd have to buy it again.

  • sorry, just have to ask, since i wiped win-10 off my lappy and i refuse to use ms-win as an OS, if ms wants to sell more software like premium games then they better make it very wine friendly or build a linuix port too, abd sell it at an affordable price (under 40 dollars) i wont use ms-windows just to run a game,

  • 10 bucks 18 year old game is asking too much for some nostalgia.

    • You should price a mint copy of Pokemon Red.

    • Why look at it that way? If you'll get 10 hours of enjoyment out of it, that's only $1 per hour. If you buy some modern game for $60 and only get the same 10 hours of enjoyment out of it, you spent 6 times as much. It shouldn't matter whether it's old or new.

      • Shut up M$ shill. I'd rather poke a hot knitting needle in my eye for 10 hours than give M$ anything!

  • “It's one of life's great mysteries isn't it? Why are we here? I mean, are we the product of some cosmic coincidence, or is there really a God watching everything? You know, with a plan for us and stuff. I don't know, man, but it keeps me up at night.”

    “...What?! I mean why are we out here, in this canyon?”

  • Original Halo PC, Windows 10 (Score:4, Informative)

    by thegreatbob ( 693104 ) on Wednesday March 04, 2020 @10:57AM (#59796056) Journal
    Protip: Bungie released a patch, a little while back, which allows one to properly run the original Halo CE software on a modern PC. As far as I can tell, it runs more than adequately on pretty much anything that will run Windows 10, and probably a minimum of an 'Intel HD Graphics' integrated GPU, or almost any add-in 3D card made in the last 15 years; I suspect it would flake out on e.g. i945 GMA, etc. in part due to lack of modern drivers for it.

    If you still have a copy, might give it a try:
    https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/64943622?page=0&path=0

    If not, or you really *must* have new shiny graphics, this seems like a reasonable alternative.

  • Halo was in beta in 2009 on the Mac, and was shown off by Steve Jobs at a Keynote. Then Microsoft swooped in and bought Bungie and history is changed.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

    • I'm assuming that 2009 was a typo as it was 2000 that Steve Jobs was showcasing Halo.

      I still remember my jaw dropping the first time I saw the public trailer.

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