Forums | MacLife

You finally noticed. I thought my little joke might go forever unnoticed. {sniff}

Yeah. Icks and I've way too busy way too long; I haven't even fired up the PC to play anything whatsover in, like, 9-10 months. Need posting, a fireplug, and peeps out there playing to inject some interest back into the game; we're just poorly fixed to do it now.

Anyway, a prequel to tomorrow's anniversary:

In this, the week celebrating the fifth anniversary of the release of Halo for Xbox, we asked a few of our media chums what they think about Halo, Halo 2 and Halo 3 – and what they’re most looking forward to in the next installment. Oh and tomorrow? Boxors will be Roxored.

http://www.bungie.net/News/TopStory.aspx?cid=9181

/me pops head in

Hio. Surprised this is up and alive a little bit, but still. I'm still around and play here and there, but not much time on my hands and there are still a few people who sirf the pubs who should be executed. I work @ Disneyland Resort now as a full time photographer which causes the lack of time.

PPC = No Bootcamp = No Halo 2 =

I wish I had the money to blow on a Mac Pro but sadly that money must be invested in a new car. Transportation > Gaming

Bat wrote:

I hear that. Still, that's the next step, the foreseeable infusion of new energy. It's not clear what MA3 will be doing about that situation, or when, and for that matter the franchise runs thru Halo 3. Sooner or later you'll catch up, and the clan'll still be here. We didn't die when H2 came out for the 'Box.

Maybe you can afford a 360 at some point, esp. as the price drops, quite likely before H3. $360 << $Mac Pro

You can't kill what is already dead.

Actually I intend to purchase a 360 and Mac Pro by next winter. The 360 will probably come much sooner.

Bat wrote:

Zander wrote:

You can't kill what is already dead.

Hey, we're not dead. Soon as I finish building out my new dual-core/X1900XT rig and install the router, you'll see! We're a Norwegian Blue... ready to muscle up to the bars and VOOM!
Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my 4,000 volts. http://homepage.mac.com/oatmeal/MAF/max … troMax.gif

Pining for the fields?

I don't want to sound like a dick but, ah, it seems as though you are always working on your rig. Do you keep upgrading every week or does the silly PC crash?

Bat wrote:

(Really, have you kept track in Games? Halo 2 is really getting pimped out for Vista. Vs. just running at higher res on the 360... no comparo).

Actually I intend to purchase a 360 and Mac Pro by next winter. The 360 will probably come much sooner.

Cool beans. Halo 2.5 and 3, here you come. See you there... and who says it's not [MA] if it's not MA3? It's the playaz who count.

They also  pimped out Halo 1 for PC/Mac so I am not surprised they are doing the same for Halo 2. I wonder if they are adding new guns. Maybe I should look instead of ask.

Info about H2V is scattered all thru Games since early this year, but here's a choice bit from Oatmeal's 'Halo 2 for Mac' thread:

How do visuals and audio compare between Halo 2 for Windows Vista and the Xbox versions?

The quality of H2V scales with the hardware it has available. This will be the first time Halo 2 fans can play the game natively at resolutions like 1080p or even higher. The base art and audio from the Xbox has been re-used, with some retouching to help the game shine on high-end PC equipment. Audio will also scale with the equipment of your PC, and the game supports 5.1 surround sound. Suffice it to say that Halo 2 has never looked better and playing the game at 1920x1200 is a thing of beauty.

Do you plan to enable anti-aliasing? Other visual features?

Halo 2 for Windows Vista makes use of several DirectX 9 features such as edge anti-aliasing, anisotropic texture filtering, enhanced resolution shadow buffering, additional dynamic shadows, improved normal map filtering, parallax mapping, and per pixel specular mapping.

Why will Halo 2 for Windows Vista not support DX10?

Halo 2 will certainly support DX10 graphics cards but the game itself is not being re-written to specifcally take advantage of upcoming DX10 features. The more robust your graphics card, the more visual features and fidelity you will be able to enjoy.

http://www.macaddict.com/forums/post/1309600#p1309600

I'm also especially looking forward to them bumping LOD from rather severe to max, 'cinematic quality,' where Level of Detail in objects and textures is maintained to far away, eliminating that annoying model popping and keeping e.g. bipeds and foliage from becoming stick figures at moderate distances and invisible beyond that, so that an ally with a Sniper sometimes engages an enemy you can't even see, regardless of resolution. Framerate is being decoupled as before, and 60 f/s is often mentioned. The texture cache is gone so the cutscenes don't pop, and there's a boatload more fixes/ improvements I'm forgetting. Google the subject at Bungie.net or HBO; there've been a number of articles... oh yeah; like HPC and unlike either 'Box version, DX9 floating-point-accurate color & per-pixel everything. Updated shaders. Sweet.

I've been expecting a 360 version (the rumor mill now dubs that 'Halo 2.5') to come from the H2V work for ages. The heavy lifting'll have been done for the Vista version, so why not a few more tweaks for a 360 version? Money in the bank.

Edit:

Will H2V add new weapons or vehicle types?

Adding a new weapon or vehicle to the existing Halo 2 campaign or multiplayer maps could cause them to play in ways Bungie didn’t intend, and the team plans to stay true to the original Halo 2 experience. However, user-created custom content doesn’t have this problem, and the team may offer new gameplay elements through the H2V map editor. We’ll announce more when we’re ready.

No new guns, but a full, real editor included- Guerilla, Sapien, the real authentic deal. Jeap can go nuts. (Counting on it, jeap ).

Last edited by Bat (2006-12-02 1:43 am)