My Halo News.com

The latest news about the Halo series of games from Microsoft

  • Why Games for Windows is a mess

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    rapture

    This guy at ExtremeTech put into words what I’ve been feeling about Games for Windows. It’s an excellent look at why Games for Windows needs to change drastically for it to be a success.

    Some key points:
    * Live on the PC only runs while you’re actually playing a Live-enabled game.
    * The GFW – Live user-interface was designed for a controller.
    * Microsoft charges for features that PC gamers have had for free for ages.
    * The only publisher to support GFW – Live is Microsoft.
    * No 3rd party developers are supporting it
    * Epic has said why they aren’t supporting Live on the PC with Unreal Tournament 3, and what Microsoft needs to do to fix it.
    * People don’t want to pay more to get less.
    * Just when the Xbox 360 owners get all hyped up about the vastly superior Halo 3, the Vista users get a port of a 2.5-year-old game they should have had access to simultaneously with Xbox owners back in 2004.
    * Geometry Wars is $5 on the Xbox 360, but the Vista version somehow costs $7.95.
    * Two of their whopping four GFW – Live games this year are ports of old Xbox 1 games.
    * They are publishing exactly zero triple-A Windows exclusives this year.
    * Don’t take your premier PC developers like Ensemble Studios and have them make real-time strategy games (best suited for the PC) and task them with making an RTS exclusive to the Xbox 360 like Halo Wars.
    * The Games for Windows branding and certification program is a good idea.

    I will be very surprised if the current version of Games for Windows – Live is a success. I expect it to fail unless a major overhaul takes place. I polled over 800 people and almost half of them don’t want to pay for a Gold membership. They don’t want to pay for a service that has less features than they currently have.

    I think all the game developers realize this. They see developing for GFW as a risky venture. Microsoft needs to make GFW an outstanding platform before other developers will jump on board. Game developers are showing more support for Xfire than they are GFW – Live.

    Still, PC gaming is fun. We’ll still have our old options like Xfire for us. However, we WILL be blocked from certain features in-game if we don’t have the right subscription. That’s discouraging.

    __________________________

    currently playing: Catan, HALO 3 beta, Guitar Hero II
    anticipating: Shadowrun, HALO 2 (PC), HALO 3, Quake Wars (in that order)
    rest in peace: GoW, CoD3

    Shadowrun rocks!

  • Halo: Contact Harvest

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    halo@bungie.org
    in
    Bungie.net has an interview with Joe Staten, the author of the next Halo novel, ‘Contact Harvest’, coming this fall. It’s the story of the first contact with the Covenant – told from the point of view of many, but primarily “a young UNSC Staff Sergeant named Avery Johnson.” There’s lots more – go read! Thanks, Stuntmutt.(Louis Wu 19:30:54 UTC)

  • Halo: Contact Harvest

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    Bungie.net’s Recent News
    The next Halo novel is announced. Halo: Contact Harvest, is coming soon, and the author is our own Joseph Staten. We chat.

  • 4 million in NA alone? Wonga.

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    halo@bungie.org
    in
    I’m not sure I like the fact-checking (“five different Greater Cincinnati Gamestop locations’?), but the numbers are pretty amazing – according to Xbox Evolved, Gamestop is reporting that they’ve already taken 4 million preorders for Halo 3 (at Gamestop, EB Games, and Funcoland stores). If this is true… that’s a lot of copies. Thanks to Major Winkey for the heads-up.(Louis Wu 14:04:07 UTC)

  • European release for H2V pushed to June

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    halo@bungie.org
    in
    Looks like Europeans will be waiting longer than the rest of us – again. Yesterday, we mentioned that the US release date for Halo 2 Vista was bumped back two weeks, to May 22. According to Xbox 360 Wire and a Microsoft press release, the European date is now ‘June 2007’. Oh, well…(Louis Wu 14:00:51 UTC)

  • HALO 2 (PC) launches May 22nd

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    rapture

    HALO 2 (PC) launches May 22nd. This is too weeks later than expected. The game was supposed to be out yesterday along with the Games for Windows – Live service.

    The game will require the Windows Vista operating system but have pretty low minimum system requirements. You will not be able to ZOMGpwn XBOX 360 users in a cross-platform fashion like in Shadowrun. You will only be able to play against other PC players.

    HALO 2 (PC) ships with two new maps not seen on a console. Hang ‘Em High and Derelict remakes will not ship with the game and won’t be coming to the PC anytime soon. Other than that, HALO 2 (PC) is pretty much exactly like HALO 2 for the XBOX except that it comes with a map editor. Gamers will be able to make their own custom maps and distribute them online for other to play on.

    HALO 2 (PC) will run on the Games for Windows – Live service. This means that most all of the Live game features available on the console will be made available in this game (voice chat, text chat, friend requests, reputation, achievements, etc.). All Games for Windows – Live titles will have those features.

    I will be running two HALO 2 (PC) dedicated servers and a voice server from Dallas via a super-secret Ninja connection. I will also host at least one Shadowrun dedicated server. A Counter-strike source server is already being hosted there.

    Hopefully there will be some money to win in HALO 2 (PC).
    __________________________
    currently playing: Catan, HALO 3 beta, Guitar Hero II
    anticipating: Shadowrun, HALO 2 (PC), HALO 3, Quake Wars (in that order)
    rest in peace: GoW, CoD3
    Shadowrun rocks!

  • Stat Reset/Playlist Update

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    halo@bungie.org
    in
    Last night, SketchFactor posted a note on Bungie.net – the playlist update and stat reset mentioned a few weeks ago are both now operational. (Well, according to sawnose, the full reset didn’t actually complete until about an hour ago – but you get the idea.) Things to keep in mind: you’ll need Tombstone and Desolation to play in 5 of the 9 matchmaking playlists, if you downloaded those maps before Monday, you’ll need to do it again, and those maps will be free for download sometime in July. w00t – get to playing!(Louis Wu 12:09:33 UTC)

  • Hired Gun Head Talks Halo 2

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    halo@bungie.org
    in
    Jo Clowes sat down (well, stood up) with Tina Wood, of Microsoft’s Channel 10, to discuss Halo 2 Vista – interesting conversation. 7 and a half minute movie, various sizes – go watch! Thanks, darthbob.(Louis Wu 11:53:36 UTC)

  • Halo 2 Playlist Update and Stat Reset

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    Bungie.net’s Recent News
    Tonight is the night for the long awaited Halo 2 Xbox Live Matchmaking Playlist update and ranking reset. Tombstone and Desolation will be required for some of the playlists and if you purchased them before Monday, 5/7, you will need to download them again before you can play online. Both maps will become free in early July.

  • Shadowrun launches May 29th

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    rapture
    As Gnome reported at SR.THX, Shadowrun will be released on Tuesday May 29th for the XBOX 360 and Games for Windows platforms. This is the first game released that will allow XBOX 360 players to play with PC players in the same game.

    Everyone. Go grab a copy. We’re going to LAN it. A demo will likely be made available before launch. Remember, the HALO 3 beta will end in early June. You’re going to have to get your fix somewhere. 😉

    /me crosses fingers and hopes FASA ships out a complementary copy before launch. I think EnragedGnome may be getting one (autographed even).

    __________________________

    currently playing: Catan, HALO 3 beta, Guitar Hero II
    anticipating: Shadowrun, HALO 2 (PC), HALO 3, Quake Wars (in that order)
    rest in peace: GoW, CoD3

    Shadowrun rocks!

  • 5 Meeellion Players.

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    halo@bungie.org
    in
    Wow. 15 minutes ago, the 5 millionth unique Live account (not including guests) started a game of Halo 2 online… that’s a lot of fraggers! (Louis Wu 20:28:01 UTC)

  • Halo 2 hits 5 million players!

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    Bungie.net’s Recent News
    Moments ago, we watched the odometer of Halo 2 players roll over the 5,000,000 mark. Today also happens to be the 2.5-year anniversary of launch. Here’s to continued growth of 2 million players per year!

  • Frigate Flyby

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    halo@bungie.org
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    Nabsuh posted a cool little animation of a frigate (retextured) flying by the camera. Tiny, fun – go look! (The local QT mirror is H.264 encoded; I’m thinking it might be time to move that way, finally. QuickTime 7.1.6 plays this admirably on a multitude of machines here; let us know if it works for you (and if not, what you’re playing it on)!)(Louis Wu 18:01:45 UTC)

  • LiL Poison’s Getting Old!

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    halo@bungie.org
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    Okay, not OLD, really – he just turned 9. But man… the kid’s been present on the pro scene for YEARS! Happy birthday, LiL P! (There’s a documentary about him coming out next year…)(Louis Wu 15:49:54 UTC)

  • Flushed Out.

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    halo@bungie.org
    in
    One Porta-Potty joke wasn’t enough for Stuntmutt – there’s another one in today’s One One Se7en. Child.(Louis Wu 15:46:14 UTC)

  • Pod TV: Blastacular!

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    foomojive

    iPod version | Google Video version

    The Pod TV team bring us a detailed look at the new maps: Tombstone and Desolation. They walk around explaining the layout and weapon spawns and then play 4v4 on the maps for us. Cool! This one’s about 21 minutes.

  • Reid 18 Montage 5 Remix

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    halo@bungie.org
    in
    Back in December, we mentioned Reid 18’s fifth montage; we just got word from Z, at Halo3Forum.com, that Vox has remixed it. I found it a bit hard to watch in places, but the synching is really good. Take a look – WMP9 format, 91 mb.(Louis Wu 13:40:19 UTC)

  • Podtacular Episode 112

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    halo@bungie.org
    in
    Big Goalie Dan pointed out that Podtacular Episode 112 has been released – they’re still focusing on leaked content. 75 minutes, 72 mb.(Louis Wu 13:08:49 UTC)

  • Austrocity opens

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    halo@bungie.org
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    DuBbLe stopped by to announce Austrocity, a new Australian Halo 3 Beta blog – swing by for some basic info about what’s coming in the future.(Louis Wu 13:05:12 UTC)

  • Blastacular Head-to-Head

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    halo@bungie.org
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    If you’re an IGN Insider, you can go watch a video comparison of the Blastacular Map Pack maps (Desolation and Tombstone) with their original Halo counterparts (Derelict and Hang ’em High). (If you’re not an Insider, there’s not even a low-res free version – but don’t worry too much, they just run around the maps and point out how gameplay has changed.)(Louis Wu 10:54:18 UTC)