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I have no Vista, and will therefore have no Halo 2 beyond my tree-60. For some time.

Vista conversion team Hired Gun talks Achievements at IGN.

About Achievements
While dual-wielding across the campaign or inside a multiplayer match on Windows Vista, Halo players will soon earn achievements for the first time in the game’s history. And while there are a lot of exciting new features in “Halo 2” for Windows Vista, the achievements are one of the most compelling, especially for the gamerscore addict in your family.

Designing Achievements for “Halo 2” for Windows Vista
The Xbox version of “Halo 2” obviously predated the era of the Gamerscore, so this represents one of several compelling reasons to give “Halo 2” another spin. For the team, designing fun and significant rewards in a game that is already well-established was a bit challenging. This was accomplished with the help of the talented staff at Bungie Studios and Hired Gun, with a watchful eye on the latest trends in the gaming community. The achievements were designed with some fundamental goals in mind – keep the game fun, encourage beginners to join our “Halo 2” community, and provide a new challenge with a few tough or interesting achievements for our most dedicated fans.

Achievement Development Process
Designing anything for an existing and best-selling game can be arduous and risky, as options are weighed heavily against already-popular and well-trod game aspects. We started by brainstorming every possible achievement that trickled out of our caffeine-addled minds, and then whittled our list to a beefy 40+ achievements. It was a process we performed in lockstep with Bungie Studios and their designers and producers, through the course of many design meetings and reviews. What we ended up with was a set of achievements that beginners and skilled “Halo 2” players alike will immediately tackle with different results, but we were sure to include several that any veteran will only get to after some serious work.

So easy your n00b buddy could unlock it
Remember the first time you applied sticky grenade to Elite ass, and the ensuing cries of doomed anguish? Yeah, that’s a moment to cherish, and it’s not bad being able to point to a specific record of it. Or how about the first time you finally wielded the sword and started dominating for like 10 seconds? We want to encourage our expanded audience of PC players to enjoy these first moments in “Halo 2” for Windows Vista with a few easy achievements in the game. For pro-style Halo enthusiasts, you’ll see the familiar achievement indicator going off like you won a prize or something. Fear not, though: perfection will be a tall order.

For the more committed “Halo 2” warrior, try and imagine what it might mean to become a Violent Cartographer. *Pssst*! It involves maps and bloodletting.

Campaigning with Achievements
“Halo 2” for Windows Vista offers achievements for all aspects of the game. For campaigners, we have an achievement for finishing each playable level of the campaign, at Normal, Heroic, or Legendary, while you are on Games for Windows – LIVE. It’s like the Achievement system was designed for the very purpose of being able to demonstrate to the world your mettle and grit against Bungie’s awesome A.I. on Legendary. Prepare to throw down.

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I'm prepping the Upgrade machine for a planned dual-boot XP/Vista setup, so I don't have my most capable machine without drivers for peripherals I might want to run. I have to buy Vista anyway, so it really shouldn't cost any more to set up that way.

I think some of the newer wallpapers here might show some of what H2V Campaign may look like (many are 1600x1200). There's only one page showing 15, but keep clicking 'Next' and I think there are 25 all told.

Can't wait to see a destroyed Specter up close in Campaign, all jagged metal outgassing blue plasma. The energy sword should look sweet, too- heck everything should with those improvements.

Some1 wrote:

Will this be a PC vs. Xbox multiplayer game?

That would be awesome. But, sadly no.

Boot Camp supports Vista now. Don't know how well for gaming though. Depending on photography needs (glass) I will be aiming for a Mac Pro at or shortly after the next upgrade.

BTW, here is one of many things consuming my time:
http://www.digitalcorpus.com/image/Show … p-Maui.jpg

(That and working for the Disneyland Resort)

Last edited by Digital (2007-03-29 8:51 pm)

I've been pretty turned off with WoW myself recently. Wouldn't mind getting back into Halo more as long as theres folks around playing. As for Vista, i've been resisting it a lot cause for starters, I don't want to buy another GB of RAM. Then also drivers and such rather blow. Ideally i'd like to get the AM2 upgrade board for my system and move up to the higher speed RAM instead of dumping more into another 2 sticks of PC3200. Maybe even drop in a new PCIe board and move my AGP 7800GS to my Quicksilver. But all that costs a lot more $$$.

I'll have to consider staying with my current setup longer. Would be cheaper at the moment. Maybe I could string it along at 1.5GB RAM for a lil bit and just get some cheaper 256MB chips. But then its still the big cost of Vista.

Hmmm, just realized that after all these upgrades to play H2 on my PC, I could just get an Xbox360 and play H2 on that .

Bat wrote:

You wouldn't just be planning on a Harry Potter-reading weekend during our first big event like last time, would you?

Eh, it worked last time.

Some1 wrote:

I'm not shelling out for a new OS just because M$ forces me to if I want to play Halo 2. They can lick my balls for all I care.

That's about where I'm sitting now.

Some1 wrote:

I'm not shelling out for a new OS just because M$ forces me to if I want to play Halo 2. They can lick my balls for all I care.

Hell, I wouldn't even bother pirating Vista, because everyone I know who uses has either gone back to XP, or wants to go back.

Yeah we had quite a few on our raid team switch quickly. Last I heard they all dumped Vista and reinstalled XP.

Hey, the reason I asked for a cracked server the first time round was because, when Halo 1 was released, I was making the transition from Mac to PC for gaming purposes, and didn't want to buy the Mac version, then have to shell out for the PC version in under two months.

Bat, that was a while ago too, and I havn't been all that active on the forums, I'm surprised you even remember it.

Last edited by Some1 (2007-04-02 3:39 pm)

Some1 wrote:

Hey, the reason I asked for a cracked server the first time round was because, when Halo 1 was released, I was making the transition from Mac to PC for gaming purposes, and didn't want to buy the Mac version, then have to shell out for the PC version in under two months.

Bat, that was a while ago too, and I havn't been all that active on the forums, I'm surprised you even remember it.

Some things from the early days stand out in memory. Also it came up again in Games just a few months ago IIRC.

IcarusFountain wrote:

I just installed Vista Business on Kira's MBP via Boot Camp 2 days ago.  It takes 6+GB to install the OS.  I've only got a hair over 2GB remaining on the partition I alloted it.  However, the graphics on it are pretty decent.

This one is just a test, though.  I'm ordering a Mac Pro as soon as Leopard gets announced (preferably with hardware bumps), and once it arrives I'm going dual-boot with Vista specifically for H2V.

Cool. I preordered H2V at Amazon over the weekend ($45 + free S&H), and Vista Home Premium OEM this AM (Newegg)... I have a never-used XP SP2 to dual-boot it with to keep the main machine functional whether or not any peripherals have Vista drivers yet, and being essentially new (plus an old drive or two), I'm off to WFL to see how much space Rib allocated to each OS. Winders seems to have a propensity to grow over time, and the last 8GB partition XP got seems to've nearly filled despite loading most apps onto other partitions. I was thinking 20/40 this time since drives have grown so.

Given the home situation those'll probably be the last leisure expenditures for some time, but needed, sufficient and a learning experience for the cross-platform comp guy. Hardly all play.

Aren't new models expected Tuesday?

Apple to launch Clovertown Mac Pros
Now with white headphones
By Charlie Demerjian: Monday 02 April 2007, 11:03

APPLE WILL LAUNCH Clovertown-based Mac Pros tomorrow.

In a shock to no one, the 2S four-core machines will be touted as the next great thing, during Tuesday's dog and pony show.

Call me crazy, but a standard Intel workstation with a new white badge six months after everyone else doesn't seem half as innovative as the mini. µ

Is that bump enough?

Wish we could've played, Oats. It was a fun time.

My Hog got stuck in midair at one point between ramps, and I have a screen of me asking, "Harry Potter?"

Sez you... and we don' need no steenkin' proof. No lawyers here, just Clan officers.

'Sides, it's all consistent, like your thread on ripping Bungie's IP into your iTunes library when the soundtrack CD was for sale. Kin you say illegal? I knew that you could.


Bungie's flaming ninjas have been apprised, and word is Matt Soell haunts the rivers near you, waiting to tromp such as you into gooey paste... so watch it.