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Re: Halo2 (PC) release
Posted By: Shishka	Date: 3/17/04 8:18 p.m.
In Response To: Re: Halo2 (PC) release (Bill Huebner) : I was only hoping for educated guesses and rampant speculation. Those are : what make discussions interesting and enjoyable. I thank you all for : thoughtful, polite and well put replies. 'Welcome! =D : I know that I (and others) would buy multiple and cross-platform copies. So I : doubt that keeping the sales exclusive to XBox would be a valid business : reason. $'s are $'s, the more you sell, the more you make. The technical : reasons do have some merit. The problem is that two years after Halo 2's : release that PC's will so far outstrip the hardware capabilities of the : Xbox (they already do, just imagine how much then) that a delayed port : might not be even as well received as Halo PC was. I would not argue that there are not people who would not buy both versions of Halo 2, were it to be released cross-platform. However, there are two points to be considered. As botman pointed out, there is money to be made in keeping Halo 2 XBox exclusive, even if just for a while. The proceeds in preparing for Halo 2, such as an Xbox, extra controllers, XBox Live, is all money that'd return to Microsoft. However, a PC release will not make as much in returns, as much of the supplies people may buy to prepare for the game will not return income to Microsoft. I realize your point was that "any money made counts." Consider the amount of work that went into Halo PC: At least a year was spent on getting the network code, new render engine, and making all of the content scalable (in other words, you have to program not for one computer, but for a wide range of computers) could easily add a huge chunk of time to the schedule. If Halo took a year to redesign, how long do you think Halo 2, with its far more complex graphics and lighting systems, would take? In my opinion, if we're talking about money, the cost of making Halo 2 PC wouldn't necessarily outweigh the earnings. At least, it would take a while to make a profit. Also, consider the scalability of a game like Halo 2. Halo 2 uses a number of incredible effects that only the latest video cards have to offer. I remind you that the GeForce 3 in the XBox is not the equivalent of a PC GeForce 3. You would need a very high end computer with a very high end graphics card in order to play Halo 2 in all its glory. The average PC user would find themselves alienated from the majority of the special effects in Halo 2; the real time lighting, the self shadowing, the bloom, and even the bump maps. That means that Bungie would effectively be making a small target audience (compared to console gamers) even smaller. Lastly, there's the issue of Bungie philosophy in mind. Bungie likes to move on to the next thing once they've released a game. This is part of the reason why Bungie chose not to do the Halo port themselves. All though I'm sure the 70 or so people working at Bungie are all crunching hard on Halo 2 right now, it wouldn't surprise me in the least if other ideas are being developed, be they another Halo, or an entirely new game. : Imagine them somehow working it so not only can PC and Mac multiplayers play : online, but XBox players too?!?!? A concept like that would rock and the : only people that care enough about the title enough to make it rock that : hard, would be the creators of it. Not someone who was granted a license : to port. That's not fair. Gearbox would have considered finding a way to make PC to XBox network code had the XBox version of Halo had code that allowed for it. Halo PC and Halo XBox are completely noncompatible. Something like cross platform networking has to be planned and executed from the beginning of production. Halo was not designed with this in mind. Halo wasn't even designed with internet play in mind. : I will admit, if it had happened that way, : it would have probably killed the Xbox as it was a debut title. Nope. The XBox version would have easily outsold the PC version. PC Sales < Console Sales. : One thought keeps coming back to me. IF there was going to be a game company : that would do something like this (hat-trick), AND keep it a : secret/surprise, from what particular game company would YOU expect that : sort of surprise? No one. It's an unprofessional move. -S

Message Index

Halo2 (PC) release	Bill Huebner	3/17/04 5:01 p.m.
Can I hear I "heck yeah"?	Scimitarex	3/17/04 5:07 p.m.
Re: Can I hear I "heck yeah"?	mercury	3/17/04 5:10 p.m.
Re: Can I hear I "heck yeah"?	Shishka	3/17/04 5:12 p.m.
Re: Can I hear I "heck yeah"?	mercury	3/17/04 5:14 p.m.
Oh, I see...	mercury	3/17/04 5:17 p.m.
Re: Can I hear I "heck yeah"?	botman	3/17/04 5:21 p.m.
Re: Can I hear I "heck yeah"?	JakeDaGreat	3/17/04 5:54 p.m.
Re: Can I hear I "heck yeah"?	DiscipleN2k	3/24/04 2:49 p.m.
On a slightly different note.....	GhaleonEB	3/24/04 3:01 p.m.
Heh, better late then never, I always say. =D *NM*	Scimitarex	3/24/04 3:02 p.m.
Re: Can I hear I "heck yeah"?	Dylan	3/17/04 6:27 p.m.
No, Sony's Microsoft bigger competitor, not Mac. *NM*	Eclarap	3/18/04 5:43 a.m.
Booooo. Mac is pwnz! *NM*	Mac-daddy	3/18/04 5:03 p.m.
Re: Can I hear I "heck yeah"?	Shishka	3/18/04 6:18 p.m.
I dont think it will ever be released...	r3c0nxiii	3/17/04 10:38 p.m.
Re: Halo2 (PC) release	thunderhawk555	3/17/04 5:09 p.m.
Re: Halo2 (PC) release	Shishka	3/17/04 5:09 p.m.
Re: Halo2 (PC) release	XLNC	3/17/04 6:00 p.m.
Re: Halo2 (PC) release	Bill Huebner	3/17/04 6:13 p.m.
Re: Halo2 (PC) release	Shishka	3/17/04 8:18 p.m.
The Real Question...	Rampant Cowboy	3/17/04 5:53 p.m.
LOL, I know what ya mean! *NM*	SketchTeno	3/17/04 8:40 p.m.