Halo PC Q&A

I wouldn't be so sure that iD wont sell out to MS since iD've already been contacted by MS who offered x million $ if they'd exclusively make Quake4 for the xbox.
Millions of dollars just to make up for the fall in PC game sales.
So who knows then if MS might pay even more just to get Doom3 for the xbox too "exclusively"...
I'm just saying with MS messing around, the gamer comunity's probably gonna' get hurt more than once. Which is very sad.

I'd just like to say, thanks, Bungie.

I know this has been said many times before, but Halo was a PC game. It was meant to be a PC (I mean mac when I say PC, as well, btw) game, with a port of the title to Xbox. Some say it was supposed to be a dual launch, but it was a PC game. They made the PC game and the port at about the same time. Microsoft wanted this game to be thier flagship title for thier Xbox, so they had bungie delay the PC version of the game a bit to allow Microsoft to put the fancy little "Exclusively on Xbox" sticker on the box like anyone really cared about it. No one cares how "exlcusive" a game is. They only care what the game is, and how it plays.

I remember reading previews from the PR trying to calm the gaming community when everyone saw the "exlusively on Xbox" stickers on the preview screenshots. They simply said that Xbox was still a PC game, and that it would still be launching on/very near the same date as the Xbox version. And that the "exclusive" part meant that it was only for the Xbox, and no other console. But that it was still coming out near the launch date for PC. They even gave a nice little similie saying that it's like with movies. How when they say "only in theaters", this still means it's coming out for home video. Only that it's in theaters for that time period. Anyone else remember this?

And it's really nice that some people get to sit around and say that us PC owners are "whining" because they either have rich parents, or great college jobs that let the afford all the luxieries they want. However, alot of us arent that lucky, I guess. The Xbox itself is over $200. Add another $125 for a game or two, and maybe an extra controller, and you've got the price of my entire car. I work over 60 hours a week, and still only live paycheck to paycheck. I know none of you care about this. You shouldn't, it's not your problem. My point is that simply alot of people dont have an extra $200 to pay for a game system to jerk around on in the spare time, just because the glorious Microsoft wanted more money. I bet Bill Gates has one in his house. I bet he has a few of them. I bet he can afford it.

Dont get me wrong, I dont have a problem with bill gates. I'm just tired of getting screwed by his company.

To be honest, even if they had cancelled it, I wouldn't have minded. Hell, I might have even tried to get an Xbox for Halo when it was new. But to simply be lied to, over and over, is what makes most people mad. Not the fact that they can't play the game, or that they didn't get thier way. It's being lied to that drives people against both bungie, and microsoft. Call me melodramatic, call me a whiner, whatever makes you happy. But the truth is, people are just tired of being lied to.

Halo sucks ass, it was cool 4? years ago when it was shown at Macworld for the first time and blew everything the hell away. And look where 4-5 years of development time got them...a game that looks exactly the same as it did when first shown with stripped gameplay so that the console kiddies could use a gamepad and not get lost in the would-be massive levels. Thanks Bungie, but I'm not longer interested in Halo's ultra repetetive, ultra NON-innovative gaming experience, so 'stop pissing on our legs and telling us it's raining' because we all know Halo isn't coming out for PC. Team Fortress 2 will be out before Halo on PC, and guess what NOBODY CARES. Interviews like this are just irritating, Jason tried but that weak PR bullshit is so lame, too bad Jason didn't just punch him in the face after repeating the same answer for the 50th time.

If you were Microsoft how fast would you want to port Halo? It's one of the fastest million sellers on any console. It doesn't make sense to dilute that until it starts slowing down.

It's not like Bungie has the final call. I'd be very surprised to see Halo for the PC inside of another year. Certainly not until it's XB sales drop way, way off.

Anyone who ever thought they were gonna get Halo for the PC was fairly mistaken. It's the killer app for XBox and XB is 3rd in sales now. You really think they are going to lose the system seller to another platform?

And a thank you to Jason for asking the tough questions and making the Microsoft PR flak squirm. It did make my day.

I ain't holding my breath, you micRo$haft monkeys

i cant wait till the xbox mod chips become available and people start making divx players etc for it. ill buy an xbox and NEVER buy any games for it. fuck microsoft. they can lose some money from me and give me a nice set top box to do all sorts of shit with.

I stopped caring about Halo on PC loooooong ago...

Even if they get it out the door before the end of the spring, it'll have about as much impact on PC gaming as Deer Hunter XXVI or something, IMO.

Bottomline: Microsoft will not sacrifice X-Box sales by introducing the PC version of Halo. People are buying X-Boxes for Halo (check the Halo attachment percentage on new X-Box sales, its like 80%)- and these same people already have PC's. If you give them Halo on the PC, they won't be forking over the $199 for the X-box. The question is: What's the X-box sales plateau at which MS will allow a PC version of Halo? My money is on the point on the graph where system sales start to steadily fall - then WHAM, introducing Halo for the PC. MS should target end of summer for the PC version of Halo - even then, the majority of the target audience for Halo on the PC are those people who've already beat Halo on Legendary. So, why do I want it on the PC? Higher Res? Smaller Screen? Mouse/Keyboard Control? Nah, Halo on the PC MUST have something new Bungie. We won't buy it unless there's something new. Don't make us (PC gamers who bought an X-Box for Halo) kick YOUR ass! Yeah I've got the shirt on right now...

Why can't we get a decent interview straight from the horses mouth, not from it's a$$ end :/

People care about Halo still? That's weird. I'll use the energy that would be spent caring about Halo on caring about Doom 3.

so its not coming out on PC. Big deal. whats with all the useless hand wringing and whining. If you really want to play it just get an Xbox and stop being so mad at Bungie.

sour grapes are plat du jour at the Shack it seems.

To summarize 90% of the posts here....."WAAAAHHHHHH". Trust me dudes, it's not THAT good of a game. There's plenty of other PC titles that are more impressive now.

No one ever bitches when Sony ties up devs and games for their console. Yeah, yeah, I *know* that Bungie was "going" to do Halo PC originally, but things change. They're Xbox devs now. Case closed.

I don't bitch about certain "other" console games not coming to PC. Regardless of what the wise, knowledgable Shackers may believe, PC Halo would never outsell Xbox Halo. If PC Halo were released on 11/15, I guarantee it would NOT be anywhere close to the Xbox Halo's numbers as of today.

There was a time when I was really excited about HALO.

But now to be perfectly honest if I had to choose never to play a game again or to play halo on xbox I would not take the xbox option.

I think Microsoft is scared that it will Warez beyond beliefe for the PC version. So once they made their quota for XXXX amount then you can see if for the PC :)

Hey Jason why not only bold the answers instead of the Questions and Answers :)

Halo for the X-box is NOT gonna happen anytime soon.

This is my reasoning.

First Halo has probably sold more x-boxes that any other title for that console. It is their flagship.

So of course they are expecting it to sell ALOT of their X-Box Live online services when they get an online version out of the gates. Call it Halo 1.5 (which the denied) or Halo 2.0 ("we have no clue what you are talking about") or even Halo Online ("Yeah maybe, but don't quote us on that" said while counting more stacks of cash).

Now IF they do release a PC version it will be AFTER they have an online version for the X-box and have miled it for every damn penny they can get it for. WHY?

If they were to release an online version of HALO for the PC, it would end up shooting themselves in the foot money wise.

Instead of playing on their PAID online service (a bad idea I think for anyone trying to bum rush the iron bull of Sony), you simple fire on the old PC, launch that app that some guy made to bypass the need for M$ new online service and off we go.

Don't think it will work that way, check out BNETD and Numerous MMORPG emulators.

So I guess what I am saying, is that we will not see a version of Halo until they have exhausted every penny for the X-box first, and being that they are saying that Halo Online for the X-box will not even be out on the opening date for that service, I would not expect it for at least another year to year and a half.

Nintendo President resigns:

http://forums.teamxbox.com/showthread.php?s=b04e78714af3e6d35c1116251572ec48&threadid=95205

"Friday, May 24, 2002
Nintendo Names 42-Year-Old Iwata To Replace President Yamauchi
...Yamauchi led the Kyoto-based game console maker for more than 52 years"

bullshi*

I wish we'd just get straight answer from Bungie...what's the deal...did MS pay you 10 bills to hold back the PC version...if so just say so, we won't boycott you...we actually can be understanding people sometimes :P

If Halo is getting released 6-12 months from now you can count that one off my list...each game that relies on fancy tech to sell their games only has a 3-4 month window of opportunity...right now Halo has ALREADY missed that...it's no long eyepopping gfx...it's just cool. Halo no longer has that appeal that will send it flying off store shelves like it would have last fall.

basically when there is another system seller xbox game they can release halo for the PC

Thank you Jason for asking msft exactly what was on *my* mind.. for those of you who still haven't played halo, atleast *rent* an xbox and play it over a weekend, it really is that good. As far as it looking good whenever it comes out, nah, d3 tech and jupiter lithtech will blow it away.

the funny thing is people were making clans etc for it years ago when the first videos came out.

What the haemorrhaging f*** sort of explanation is that???

"It is sort of maybe going to almost happen if we told you what we were saying was true but we can't really tell you that because the company line is that we are looking into thinking about the possibility of maybe almost planning something that will help us with potentially creating the shadow of this sort of thing."

Thanks you've been a great help.

"No really it's true, why don't you believe me"

I can't frickin understand you that's why...and goddamn right I will never buy your damn console or have anything to do with it. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!

Just wondering, but wouldn't this be relatively easy to port, since the Xbox is basically a Windows2000-running PC?

Is it just me or does M$ really seem to have it's thumb up it's ass when it comes to marketing? The best example of this is trying to sell a $300 console in Europe for $450. I mean, WHAT did they think was going to happen? That they would have some kind of stellar launch at that bloated price and they'd break even on their hardware? Maybe if Europe had no connection to the world outside, and didn't know the rest of the world was paying 30% less than them, they might have fared better.

The other example of this is this wishy washy fence straddling they're doing on the PC version of Halo. If they want to sell Xboxes, then they need to come out and say with finality that HALO WILL NEVER BE PUBLISHED ON THE PC! There are too many of us that are holding out hope that it eventually will come out on a system with decent controls. If they said that wasnÂ’t going to happen, the at least a few of use would cave and get an Xbox and Halo (especially now that Sony has forced the price of the Xbox to $199.)

But to hear this now, that not only is the PC port not being worked on, but that it hasn't even been started nor are there even resources set aside for such a project. In the meantime, there are a lot of next generation titles that are coming out and making Halo look like old news. UT2 will certainly contribute to that. Releasing Halo on the PC after U2 will hurt their sales even more, and D3? Forgeddaboudit. Not to mention all the other smaller developers out there that are working on some very impressive engines and games, like Chrome and Stalker and Breed. Each game that comes out between now and when (if) Halo is released for the PC will eat into their sales just a little bit more. There will still be people like me who will likely buy it – IF – it seems that enough other people are buying it to make it worthwhile to play online. There's nothing worse than buying a game with MP only to find that there are only 12 servers out there for it, and they are all located in Minsk, judging from their ping.

M$ needs to either to call it, and say "No Halo for PC" – or – they need to get cracking on the port, RIGHT NOW if they think that they're going to sell a lot of units.

PS: Oh, and is it just me, or does every interview with M$ personnel always come out extremely invasive and always with the most positive possible BS spin?

Interviewer: Isn't it true that Windows ME sucked big donkey chubbs?

M$ PR Lackey: Oh no, we're very pleased with our sales and market penetration and paradigms and other words that stupid people use to sound more intelligent.

Interviewer: But millions of people have thrown themselves from buildings in frustration over the horrible bugs and instability! Rivers are choked with the dead!

M$ PR Lackey: With any new product there is a period of adjustment as end-users acclimate to the new paradigms.

Interviewer: What do you say to the fact that sociologists have incontrovertibly linked all the turbulence in the Middle-East to your products?

M$ PR Lackey: We're extremely happy with our business partners, both domestically and internationally, and it reinforces our strategic alliance paradigms in our business alliances.

Interviewer: You're not even listening to me, are you?

M$ PR Lackey: Dr. Claw is building a fighting force of extra-ordinary magnitude, we should all be greatful to Dr. Claw, let's give him a great big hand!

Dr. Claw (played by Bill Gates): Bolo!

Bolo: /me snaps M$ PR Lackey's neck.

M$ RP Lackey: Urk. /me falls dead.

You know, I was quite pumped for Halo back in the day when it was a Mac/PC release and those first screenshots/movies ruled the internet. At this point, however, I have yet to play it, or even see it in action on an xbox, and now it looks like I may never see or play it. :(

This is rich:

We'll keep getting email until this is posted, so here it is: Shacknews has an interview with Chris DiCesar, the group PR manager for Microsoft Games. Note that this interview says exactly what Bungie has been saying all along: They want Halo for computers to happen, they just don't have any details yet. Thanks to Jim Martinez for the heads-up.

The guys at halo.bungie.org have their heads in the sand. To read that interview, and conclude what they've concluded (status quo = they're going to get their software) is willful blindness.

I remember reading ages ago, a report of the promising Bungie Games Developers, they were releasing ONI, which was a wicked game. The holy grail, or hidden weapon for them was to be Halo, game based on a Ring World where you could drive vehicles and shoot stuff, combo driving and fps game type of thing.
I thought to myself this will be wicked, looks better than Rebel Assault, another game that tried this combo and failed.

Few Years Later, I read that Bungie had been bought by M$, and that their Secret Weapon HALO was to be used as one of the launch games of the M$ console. I thought, oh, shit there goes one great game down the crapper.
Entropy triumphs again, there is not more chaos, we do not have a great and ordered game.
Damn you M$, Damn you! You should never had gotten involved in anything other than OS's and Productivity software. Gaming is not the thing for you. You released awful games like Ashrons Call and other crappy RPG games (sorry I hate these types of time wasters) Combat Flight sim was passible, awful terrain compared to actual flight sims made by REAL games developers.

GET OUT OF GAMES M$
KEEP TO THE STUFF OF OLD

Here comes the WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHmbulance. Is this really a surprise to anyone? Halo PC will never be released; if you want to play it, get an Xbox.