*Sigh* Halo confirmed for PC and Mac - Summer 2k3

segadreamcast

Just saw the horrible news (well, for me) on TeamXBox.

This is the move most XBox fans feared - but now that it has happened, many are calling it a master stroke by Microsoft. I think that's a rather foolish opinion to have - blinded by greed, Microsoft have ported their biggest exclusive on the XBox and basically surrendered the console 'war'.

Say what you like about it...

BKtje

wasnt Halo released with the Xbox?
summer 2003 is a long way off. by that time most peeps will be bored of it on the xbox?

dont see how this is m'soft abandoning the xbox..

that said i dont own/care/have much knowledge of the xbox so there might be flaws in my reasoning

Doodee

This is the move most XBox fans feared - but now that it has happened, many are calling it a master stroke by Microsoft. I think that's a rather foolish opinion to have - blinded by greed, Microsoft have ported their biggest exclusive on the XBox and basically surrendered the console 'war'.

its not surrendering the War, fact is that if pc users have to wait till 2003 then they may buy X-Boxs for the game...

I dunno... thats what i see it as being

Dcully

LOL ,I certainly wont be buying Xbox for Halo.
My brother has Xbox,PS2,Gcube.
Halo is the most over-rated game ever,
Since your talking about Console FPShooters MOH frontline on PS2 is by far the best on any console and makes a laugh of Halo and its Geeky so-called Aliens.
But none can compare with the hundreds of FPS on a fast PC.

Dont be at yourself

Err.. old news? I mean, neither Microsoft or Bungie never said anthing to the contrary.

And how is porting Halo to the PC and Mac surrendering the console war? Neither of the other two consoles have Halo, hence as far as console buyers are concerned, Halo is exclusive to the Xbox. I mean christ, if this is surrendering the console war then what about all the real blunders that Microsoft has made?

Dcully: Goldeneye and Halo both empty their bladders on MOH from a great height.

Doodee

Damn straight nekkid

spooky donkey

ANd why do you have a problem with pc users getting the game, who wants to be greedy any way, its a year off and i asume you are a pc user anyway seeing as you are on these boards. Is it not enough the the xbox got it first, even though it was suposed to be a pc game any way!

Shinji

Hmm, this might actually be worth a look, since it's NOT going to be the same game that appeared on Xbox. The work of bringing it to the PC is being done by Gearbox Software (best known for all manner of work on Half-Life) and they'll be working on it for a year. I'd expect a radically different game at the end of it.

Dcully: Goldeneye and Halo both empty their bladders on MOH from a great height.

Goldeneye yeah; Timesplitters 2 yeah... But Halo? I'd have said MOH: Frontline was a far better game than Halo. It's certainly more varied and more fun. And I wouldn't say Goldeneye or TS2 (my new Favourite Console FPS Ever) actually emptied bladders from a height either - they're better but that doesn't make MOH a bad game...

Dont be at yourself

I disagree. Frontline was pretty unremarkable, and offered little improvement over its PSX brethern. It was fun to play, but it didn't have anything like the affect Goldeneye had on me when I first played that. And the lack of multiplayer is unforgivable.

Not a bad game, but certainly not a memorable one in the way Goldeneye or Halo* is.


*If only for its use of purple.

Bhell

whats so bad about halo being on mac/pc? it WAS originally being coded for mac until bill got his evil hands on bungie besides halo isnt that great(yes i have played it) goldeneye was the best fps ive played and still is.besides the xbox sucks anything with that much power and having a hardrive shudnt have to pause halfway thru a lvl to load the next area!!!!the gamecube barely has to load!! in my opinion the xbox is HIGHLY overated and so is the ps2,i mean quake3 on the dc looks better then the ps2 version if u ask me theres something terribly wrong there lol.

chernobyl

Originally posted by Bhell
besides the xbox sucks anything with that much power and having a hardrive shudnt have to pause halfway thru a lvl to load the next area!!!!the gamecube barely has to load!!

Im sure Shinji can give you the specifics here.
but IMO, each level in halo is 500mb+ and a single load per level is something i would not complain about.

The Cube's load times are amazing, the Cube was designed to be so but the Xbox is a hack and slash machine that has been adapted to a platform.

Originally posted by Bhell
in my opinion the xbox is HIGHLY overated and so is the ps2,i mean quake3 on the dc looks better then the ps2 version if u ask me theres something terribly wrong there lol.

The something that is wrong is a poor game engine not the hardware (a ported one too i believe but the DC had its own).
You only have too look at Doom on the original Playstation, and it looked streets ahead of Quake on PS1.


As for Halo on PC....i dont see it as a virtual nail in the coffin for Xbox but many Xbox owners do...hmm
Xbox cannot continue to pretend Halo is "the!!!..!!" reason to own an Xbox and its not.
There are many good games that are being released on Xbox and you can use it as a router/Multi Region DVD/mp3 etc etc..

sceptre

By next summer with any luck, Halo will no longer be *the* reason to have an XBox in any case. It was the launch game, plain and simple. Assuming the XBox lasts the expected 4-5 years as the MS console before being replaced (MS know it will go to at least another round), there should be far better games than Halo released.

Look back at the launch of the PSX. Ridge Racer and Tekken were two of the reasons to need a Playstation. Long before better games had taken their place.

By that reasoning, launching Halo for the PC and Mac makes sense. It'll be a way of bleeding more money out of the title after hardcore XBox gamers have moved on.

Bhell

Originally posted by chernobyl



Im sure Shinji can give you the specifics here.
but IMO, each level in halo is 500mb+ and a single load per level is something i would not complain about.

lol not just a single load per lvl have u played the first lvl? its not that big but a few times it loads mainly when running thru those little corridors where u need to put your flashlight on,thats totally unacceptable for something so powerful. if i want something to play my mp3's ill use my comp and of course the fact that the xbox is known to crash is a real put off :P

po0k

Tbh, I hope the PC port of Halo is new game.
And that it goes on the Mac too.

one thing which I haven't heard much discussion on is how will coders make future games look good on the XBox?
Isn't the increasing demand that new games put on our hardware one of the driving forces behind the hardware industry?
If programmers are forced to actaully do some nice clean efficient code, wiothout the chance of patches or hardware upgrades, won't that be them admitting they can do similar for the PC (the Xbox being a PC with a win2k/DX hybrid core OS afaik)?

Would be nice to see.

Look at some of the stuff taht came out on the amiga.
Death Mask anyone?

Of course, we may lose the scalability of some games and there cold be another standards battle, but it would be interesting......

Retr0gamer

Who will care when Halo comes out by the time it does doom3 will be out and the Unreal engine games (apart from the unreal single player games since epic still have to prove to me that they can actually make an enjoyable game) look fantastic.

tman

damn right, by the time halo comes out i wont really give a sh|t about it. i might download the demo, and if i'm seriously impressed, buy it. but i'd sooner spend my cash on doom3/half-life2/quake4/thief3........................

Swifty

Isn't Halo shít anyway?

(heheh)

Doodee

shudnt have to pause halfway thru a lvl to load the next area!!!!

omg, its all of like 2 seconds, wtf is with you, 2 seconds really aint going to wreck your gaming pleasure, ffs, what kinda sad case are you, u complain bout the loading between opening doors in resident evil? or loading on teh DC or PS2, ffs...

and of course the fact that the xbox is known to crash is a real put off :P

I've had an X-box for ages and I havent seen it crash yet, sorry, but I think your blind faith in the Gamecube is clearly blurring your vision.
Also, I dont like the way ppl keep refering to Halo as the Launch title for the x-box (i mean this in that its the only reason to buy one) ffs, theres also DOA3, and one game I cant wait for is "The Thing" , that will own....also...did any1 mention Beach Volley ball (with DOA gurls )and also, Knights of the old republic, RoboX, and others like it.
FFs.. if you dont like the x-box dont buy one, just quit the bashing it simply cause u hate microsoft, Bill gates is just a figure head now anyways...like he has even ****ing played the game.

Shinji

Alternatively people MIGHT be bashing Xbox because they think it's the weakest of the three consoles on the market, and it could have nothing to do with "blind micorosft hatred"?

I know that's why I criticise it, anyway. Not got any bother with the company or people behind it (actually I've met the top architects of the Xbox project and they're good blokes) but I do think it's got a weak software line-up and a painfully crap controller.

And Halo is quite rubbish.

Q_Ball

Originally posted by Doodee
omg, its all of like 2 seconds, wtf is with you, 2 seconds really aint going to wreck your gaming pleasure

I'm glad someone said that before me. I was astounded by the load times, especially after playing PC FPS that take a while to load. Thank god the scale of level's on the PC is getting larger - JKII, MOH:AA, RTCW and some in SOFII.

And I actually *like* the xbox controller. I can reach all the A/B/X/Y/white/black buttons with my thumb, it fits in my palms just as easy as the GC controller and I find the analogue sticks easy to use. The D-pad is the only aspect I have trouble with but thats hardly ever used.

The only games I have for my xbox are Halo and Hunter:The Reckoning, the latter of whichis being returned for warcraft III. I have 3 for my GC and i don't know how many for my ps2. As shinji said, the software line-up is pathetic for the xbox, with buffy the only thing I'm looking forward to for a while. Knights of the old republic, 007: Nightfire, The thing are all scheduled for release on the pc, albeit slightly different (007 for example will have better multiplayer support and a few new maps instead of any vehicular action). I'm honestly begining to think it was a waste of €300.

And Halo, spectacular first few levels (i.e. those set outside) but once you get indoors it all gets boring, then annoying. Especially the library level. Grrr

PyjamaMan

who cares anywayabout console wars, its not as if ur outside microsoft hq waving a wee flag sayin i love the xbox

_CreeD_

Rehash galore, soooo, Ill keep my $.02 short.

1. The controller is not definitively crap, different yup, looks like it would be a pain to use - yup again, but when it comes down to it the most comfortable and responsive console controller I've ever used.

2. Halo is not rubbish. It's far from the greatest FPS ever made, or the best looking. But it is great simple fun. I think it suffers from being held up as an avatar of xbox gaming, and it's merits sometimes get lost in the drop to reality.

tHE vAGGABOND

thread number 10 million on boards.ie full of console war rubbish!

must be a record!

SheroN

just like the SNES -V- Megadrive days eh vagga?

po0k

Originally posted by PyjamaMan
who cares anywayabout console wars, its not as if ur outside microsoft hq waving a wee flag sayin i love the xbox

pld

/me runs off to psp....

po0k

/me trots back from psp 10 minutes later....

PyjamaMan

HAHAHA