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Master Chief spills hot coffee on self; needs extra time to recover

For those of you who have been waiting for the PC version of Halo 2, looks like you will have to wait a little longer – that is, if you’re able to tear yourself away from the Xbox 360 Halo 3 beta. Microsoft has once again pushed back the release date for the Windows Vista edition of Halo 2 to May 31.

Halo 2 Vista was originally set for release on May 8, but Microsoft decided to push it back in order to make some important improvements to the install experience and to touch upon other technical issues. 

"Halo 2 for Windows Vista did not release to retailers on May 22, as previously announced, and will now ship from manufacturers on May 31," a Microsoft representative said. "Shadowrun will be the first game to debut the highly anticipated Games for Windows Live system on May 29. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused our customers."

Interestingly enough, reports are now surfacing that nudity is the cause for Halo 2 PC release. In an email statement received by Next-Generation, Microsoft said, “It has come to our attention that an unfortunate, obscure content error which includes partial nudity was included in our initial production of “Halo 2” for Windows Vista. As such, we have updated the initial game packaging at retailers with a label, so customers are aware before purchasing the game. Additionally, we’ve developed an online update which can be downloaded from www.halo2.com to remove the content. At Microsoft we take the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) guidelines very seriously and hold ourselves to high standards, with our customers always in mind.”

While Microsoft is officially calling it a delay, some stores have already received shipments and are selling copies. Stores such as Circuit City and other retail chain websites list the PC shooter as currently shipping and available for in-store pickup.

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XP
By kyleb2112 on 5/25/2007 4:26:49 AM , Rating: 3
Damn, I was hoping they'd got a clue and decided to include XP.
So...ignoring half your customers is cool, but god forbid we see a boob amidst the carnage.




RE: XP
By Noya on 5/25/2007 4:47:01 AM , Rating: 4
quote:
So...ignoring half your customers is cool


Half? I didn't realize 50% of gamers have switched over to Vista yet?

Wasn't the Halo series always for console lovers anyway?


RE: XP
By BladeVenom on 5/25/2007 1:17:11 PM , Rating: 3
Last month reports were that Vista was only on about 3% of computers.


RE: XP
By tgc2100 on 5/25/2007 3:39:29 PM , Rating: 2
fix for DX10 on XP, in case no one knows yet. I've posted it already, but it's way further down. So just in case no one reads all the posts to get there, here ya go.

http://alkyproject.blogspot.com/

You can also pre order Halo2 from them, and it comes with the fix for XP


RE: XP
By hannibal da mekanikabull on 5/29/2007 8:03:22 PM , Rating: 2
"Last month reports were that Vista was only on about 3% of computers."

So in just a few short months, the new (and mostly unnecesary) OS from MS is already more used than the entire MAC platform? LOL


RE: XP
By kyleb2112 on 5/26/07, Rating: 0
RE: XP
By Munkles on 5/25/07, Rating: -1
RE: XP
By rdeegvainl on 5/25/07, Rating: -1
RE: XP
By Aikouka on 5/25/2007 9:13:34 AM , Rating: 5
1. You're talking about games here. What would run Halo 2 at a decent framerate would run Vista fine. Also, consumers will always be idiots and install an OS or a piece of software on a machine that is really too slow to run it. I remember working IT and seeing a laptop come in... I think it was an old Pentium sub-100Mhz laptop that they installed Windows XP on. They said their laptop had problems... well, I think the problem is pretty obvious. Trying to run Windows XP on a laptop that retailed with Windows 95 isn't exactly the best combination.

2. I don't know where people get the idea that Vista makes tons of games incompatible. I haven't had a single game not run or fail during a point because of something in Vista. Also, the drivers are fairly solid, albeit some will say they're still a tiny bit slower. But if I really care about 85 fps vs 80 fps... well, that's a bit too nit picky for me.

3. Exclusives sell. If that's the case, why should their be any PS3 exclusives when it has the lowest adoption rate of all the next-gen consoles (not to say it's 0%, but it's still the lowest :P). Exclusives sell.


RE: XP
By rdeegvainl on 5/25/07, Rating: -1
RE: XP
By Munkles on 5/25/2007 10:16:44 AM , Rating: 5
quote:
1 we are talking about a game made for xbox hardware, that is also many years old. would the xbox run vista fine, no it would be wasted by vista's requirements. halo 2 will not need the amount of power that vista needs, any decent,( i use the term liberally here) would be able to run halo2 except for it being vista exclusive.


Yes Halo 2 was originally developed for the Xbox, but performance issues abounded! Also were not talking about running the game at 480p, were talking about (at least in my case) 1600x1200, which takes sizeable hardware adjustments. Bungie also stated that they had to change, dump or massively alter the game from what they originally wanted because the xbox simply wasnt powerful enough. With the current release that DX10 systems will have prettier fx here and there its all the more reason to say its going to be prettier than the original.

quote:
2.I do, I have vista and it has many more problems than my xp machines running the same games. and also I do care about 5 fps diffenence, especially on newer games that take so much more to fun, that can make or break the setting you want to run at.


Thats funny, ive been running Vista for almsot two years now including the various beta's Ive been through and NEVER had it crash on me, lock up or otherwise just say f-no im not doing that. Even with rough drivers.

quote:
3. i don't agree with exclusives, so there shouldn't be the any ps3 exclusives. also things sell better when they are compatible with more things. And a better comparison would be saying you have games that are exclusive to different versions of the ps3. being the 20 or 60 gig and what not. I miss the days when you could play atari and colecovision games on either console


You may not agree with exclusives but they exist and they work. Without exclusives, or at least the promise of exclusives the ps3 would have no footing to stand on. Nor wood the 360. People would simply migrate to the cheapest alternative... not the BEST option for their situation.


RE: XP
By rdeegvainl on 5/25/2007 10:30:23 AM , Rating: 3
quote:
Yes Halo 2 was originally developed for the Xbox, but performance issues abounded! Also were not talking about running the game at 480p, were talking about (at least in my case) 1600x1200, which takes sizeable hardware adjustments. Bungie also stated that they had to change, dump or massively alter the game from what they originally wanted because the xbox simply wasnt powerful enough. With the current release that DX10 systems will have prettier fx here and there its all the more reason to say its going to be prettier than the original.

halo 2 vista is not dx 10, so any dx 10 statement about that making it better is only applicable to those with dx10 cards. most won't get them until they either have enough dx10 games to make it worth it, or the cards lower in price a whole lot. Still wouldn't stop it from running on xp being as it is predominately a dx9 game. and still halo 2 ran on the xbox a system massively outdated years ago.(even if it had problems) even with upgrades to the game it doesn't require vista to make it work.
quote:
Thats funny, ive been running Vista for almsot two years now including the various beta's Ive been through and NEVER had it crash on me, lock up or otherwise just say f-no im not doing that. Even with rough drivers

Great that vista hasn't ever crashed for you, don't know how that is classified as funny, but you are not the only person in the world. and others do have problems with vista. just because i haven't ever gotten a computer virus doesn't mean that it isn't a problem.
quote:
You may not agree with exclusives but they exist and they work. Without exclusives, or at least the promise of exclusives the ps3 would have no footing to stand on. Nor wood the 360. People would simply migrate to the cheapest alternative... not the BEST option for their situation.

and once again the operating system vista wouldn't be the best choice for halo2. it would also still not be on the ps3 or wii. so it would retain alot of it's exclusivity.


RE: XP
By Munkles on 5/25/2007 10:47:12 AM , Rating: 5
rdee,

You make a lot of good points, but MS has to make the line of demarkation somewhere. If not with one of their flagship titles then where? Im not saying make it Vista only based off of better performance of DX10 necessity. Im saying make it Vista only because at the very least "gamers" need to get with the times. I HAVE a DX 10 card, and now just about anyone can for $200+ which isnt unreasonable.

I know Vista isnt prefect but a LARGE part of the issues people have with it are directly related to immature drivers not to the structure, functionality, or layout of the OS. So what ive been trying to say, is that since Hardware manufacturers and vendors have been LAZY in getting good drivers to market a couple really good, high-selling vista only games is whats needed. Since games utilize just about every component of a system, the manufacturers will have to make better drivers is they want people to take them seriously compared to their competition. Make sense?

For your final point, exclusivity vs ps3/wii has nothing to do with it at this point IMHO, its more about giving people one more reason to adopt Vista, and by proxy forcing better drivers out of Nvidia/ATI/Crativelabs.... etc.


RE: XP
By rdeegvainl on 5/25/2007 10:55:51 AM , Rating: 1
quote:
its more about giving people one more reason to adopt Vista

I agree with that completely. I also think that microsoft shouldn't be the one to make the line of debarkation. If halo 2 wouldn't run on xp because it needed directx10 i would have no problem with that. i think that is what they should have done if it was about gamers getting with the times. but it isn't it is about selling as many copies of vista as possible. not for vista's selling points, that being dx10, but to make as much money as possible.


RE: XP
By Aikouka on 5/25/2007 2:02:39 PM , Rating: 2
In regard to your comment on requiring DirectX 10. If Halo 2 did require DirectX 10, wouldn't the comments then simply shift to the other argument that gamers have... that DirectX 10 shouldn't be exclusive to Vista? I won't get into that argument as I'm quite sure there are some vibrant opinions on it, but what I'm trying to get at is that regardless of the current limitation, any limitation will cause people to complain.

To jump back a couple comments up. I'm not too sure what problems you're having with Vista, but in both of my home-built machines, I haven't seen a single issue. Personally, I usually attribute stability issues to how cheap the computer is. You buy the stereotypical $300 eMachines PC... well, they had to cut corners somewhere. I think the only bad issue I ever had was also present in Windows XP and was a bad issue with nVidia's G80 drivers. Certainly made it fun in WoW whenever I entered an Arakkoa village and both monitor's video feed sudden dropped and I was greeted with a nice black screen and an unresponsive computer.

I certainly do understand why you don't get Microsoft's Vista-only decision for Halo 2 as there is no clearcut physical limitation-based reason. Personally I think Halo 2 is a poor choice for trying to push Vista (I bet they'd have much better success if it was Gears of War for the PC), so I'm wondering if they're simply trying to strengthen Vista's Gaming section. Since Vista has the whole games window where it provides a launcher for any installed game and even more features of it's a "Game for Windows" game. Since it's published by Microsoft, they can control where it goes, unlike a game published by EA.


RE: XP
By NotAok on 5/25/2007 8:43:24 AM , Rating: 5
your comparison sucks, a 5 year old computer is nothing like a 5 year old operating system. XP is fine, no reason to upgrade.


RE: XP
By Omega215D on 5/25/2007 9:51:57 PM , Rating: 2
The point of Vista and DirectX 10 being tied to it, according to the MS developer interviewed in MaximumPC, is to break away from legacy coding.


RE: XP
By EODetroit on 5/25/07, Rating: -1
RE: XP
By psypher on 5/25/2007 10:22:50 AM , Rating: 4
ok, so if you are looking at just benchmarks, vista is not better. However, i have vista on my laptop and XP on my desktop and i'll tell you what, i prefer my laptop hands down over my desktop nowadays... vista is just a more friendly environment to work in. speed isn't an issue. I have pretty decent hardware in my laptop. I use it mainly for work, which means i use Access and SQL a lot. I even love the new version of office as well...

when it comes down to it, vista is the future. it is way easier to use, especially for people that aren't great with computers. Example: I bought my mother