[Styxx]

So it's November 9, apparently.

http://www.1up.com/article2/0,2053,1590349,00.asp

[Deathstorm V2]

Any idea if (when?) it's coming to PC?

[Turnsky]

Originally posted by Deathstorm V2
Any idea if (when?) it's coming to PC?

when bill gates wants more money out of the Xbox release;)

[TheCelestialOne]

Ow, I'm seriously not gonna get my hopes up. Release dates tend to shift forward in time just a little bit too often for my taste...

[Styxx]

Actually, Bungie stated many times that they would only announce a release date when they were positively, absolutely sure that it could be met. Rumors also say that the game is done, and all that's really delaying it is some sort of revamp of the XBox Live system... But I can't be sure of that.

[phreak]

well thats a nice surprise

time to brush up on halo

[01010]

Originally posted by Styxx
Rumors also say that the game is done, and all that's really delaying it is some sort of revamp of the XBox Live system... But I can't be sure of that.

Not likely, Bungie are still tuning the game, they have weekly updates on their website. The major Xbox live update was Tsunami (clan support, voice messages on invites, MSN messenger support) and that was done about two or three weeks ago I think. Unless they have another big update planned.

Also the word is that Halo 2 is Xbox only, that means no PC and no Mac versions but I'm not sure how reliable the source was for that piece of information.

[Fineus]

I wonder if the port to PC (assuming there is one) will be better than last time...

[SadisticSid]

It could well be if they don't use Gearbox again.

I do wonder though, how they're able to get really hi-res 1600*1200 screenshots, such as these.

[01010]

Originally posted by SadisticSid
I do wonder though, how they're able to get really hi-res 1600*1200 screenshots, such as these.

Because the Xbox can render at high resolutions using 480p, 720p and 1080i modes for HDTV's. Also, the Dev-Xboxes can output even higher resolutions for screenshots and such.

[Hippo]

Originally posted by 01010


Because the Xbox can render at high resolutions using 480p, 720p and 1080i modes for HDTV's. Also, the Dev-Xboxes can output even higher resolutions for screenshots and such.

It'd be nice if I could get a hold of a Dev Xbox, but apparently, you can't... wonderfull tools they are...

[karajorma]

Originally posted by Kalfireth
I wonder if the port to PC (assuming there is one) will be better than last time...

Not having played the XBox version what was wrong with the PC version? Okay No Co-op mode is a bit of kick in the nuts but apart from that?

[Hippo]

the fact it took 3 years, and that its requirements are over the top for a lot... (not for me though)

[phreak]

apparently it ran slower, but then again a PC isn't a dedicated console.  I would trade speed for a keyboard and mouse however.

[Hippo]

it only runs slower for me (Geforce 2 Mx, 450Mhz, 320Mb SDRam, and 2048 MB Virtual Ram) duing heavy firefights, or instances with many bipeds, or a lot of scenery, or if i turn on decals (bullet holes, blood, etc) or turn texture detail up... biggest problem with the PC version, is that it NEEDS a high end video card to look decent... (though my setup isn't too bad)

EDIT: a lot of that goes in respect to the amount of VRam, since i could set it as 20gigsish and probably get great performance...

[phreak]

well it will run slow since your system specs are lower than that of an XBox and the XB doesn't have windows/virus scanners/IM programs to contend with.

[IceFire]

Yeah I was going to say what Phreak there said.  The X-Box specs are roughly:

Pentium III 733
GeForce video system (comperable to the GeForce 4 Ti but tweaked for X-Box)
256 or 512mb ram (I forget)

So right away the reason it runs slower on your system is because you are under the specs for both the X-Box and the PC version of the game.  The PC version also boosted visual quality a little by adding PS2.0 support.

Halo did have some minor performance issues with some combinations (mostly GeForce FX and PS2.0 which is not game related) but it worked pretty well from what I understand.  The demo flew on my system...no problem.

So what did Gearbox do wrong (aside that it took so long to get to us)?

[Hippo]

right, but they were supposedly optonizing it to run on standard systems, which they failed to do miserably...

[01010]

Xbox has 64mb of ram, it uses the hard drive for streaming with most games. Also, the nVidia chip is a custom jobby that uses the GF3 as a guideline but with advanced (when it was released anyway) pixel shader support. I think it supports normal mapping too but I'm not 100% on that.

The Halo PC port was a travesty, I prefer the console version by far (controller and all) because it just feels right, the mouse and k/b control on the port was sluggish and the pacing felt off.

[Hippo]

Originally posted by 01010

The Halo PC port was a travesty, I prefer the console version by far (controller and all) because it just feels right, the mouse and k/b control on the port was sluggish and the pacing felt off.

Exactly, though its not too bad with a joystick with a hatswitch for movement and the x/y access for seeing...