Blue's News: Comments - Halo PC Hotfix

Halo PC Hotfix

[Jul 05, 2008, 2:54 pm ET] - Share - Viewing Comments

As noted on Gearboxity, an update is now available to close off an exploit in the PC edition of Halo, Bungie's science fiction shooter. The update is an unofficial patch, available on this Bungie.net Community Forum (thanks Gamer's Hell), and the accompanying blurb with the patch combine with the note on Gearboxity would indicate that no one should take this as a sign that the PC edition of Halo is actually being supported, though it's probably the opposite of the sentiment they are attempting to express: "We've received several reports of a server exploit in Halo PC recently, and teamed up with Roger Wolfson from Bungie to try to help the community address this problem. The fix is an unofficial fix and is not an indicator of the state of support for Halo PC, rather a few individuals' attempt to help solve the problem for the community."

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37.	Re: ...	Jul 7, 2008, 05:06	Prez
	"It's sad but true." Why is it sad? It's just a fact of life. As cool as it was to plan every facet of a mission in the original Rainbow Six, I just don't have the disposable time, or the desire, to do so anymore.




	Prez on Soundclick http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=604888

36.	Re: ...	Jul 7, 2008, 00:11	Jerykk
	And, while computers have gotten smaller, most of the guys I did that with are now married with houses and kids. None of them want to spend a night doing that. That speaks more to a lack of passion than anything else. As people grow older and have to bear the burden of jobs, families, etc, they simply lose the passion they once had for gaming. I've seen it on so many occasions. They grow complacent, possibly even apathetic, and lower their standards because they simply don't care anymore. It's sad but true. C'mon, this board whines endlessly about co-op, then you turn your noses up at a game that's actually well made with co-op in mind just because it's on the console? I've never whined about co-op. In fact, I think co-op is grossly overrated. If a game is only fun in co-op, it's a crappy game because anything can be fun in co-op. When you play a game with friends, your standards drop considerably and it's more about the social experience rather than the game itself. We stopped doing that in 1997 because dragging our computers around was too much of a pain in the ass. PC gaming has never been about convenience. It's about quality. I'd much rather play Q3 at a LAN party with 8 people than play Halo with 4 people in split-screen. If you're not willing to put forth the effort to achieve a superior experience, that's fine but you shouldn't proclaim that consoles are the supreme social experience.

35.	Re: ...	Jul 7, 2008, 00:10	MuzixMon
	I have a room in my house that I networked 5 PC's together (1 for each family member) for LAN play. Not all the PC's are top of the line, usually when I get a new one the older computers get passed down the line to my wife, sons, and daughter. Playing games like UT, FEAR Multi, Sniper Elite and Halo1 when I have friends over is great. It's no wonder my house is the preferred hangout when we all get together. I also have a 360 and PS2 in the room that collect dust. When everyone has the choice to use their own computer or crowd around a TV playing a console game the computers always win hands down. This message was edited at Jul 7, 00:12.




	---------------------------------------------- "When all thats left is console gaming, I will game no more."

34.	Re: ...	Jul 6, 2008, 23:45	Beamer
	It's a good four player game. Ever been to a LAN party (with friends)? Yes. We stopped doing that in 1997 because dragging our computers around was too much of a pain in the ass. And, while computers have gotten smaller, most of the guys I did that with are now married with houses and kids. None of them want to spend a night doing that. However, having people drop by and play a game? Works out very, very well. Console still trumps. And no, Halo is not a shitty game. Not four player. C'mon, this board whines endlessly about co-op, then you turn your noses up at a game that's actually well made with co-op in mind just because it's on the console? I just played some Diablo 2 against an old college roommate. We played a lot of Diablo 2 in college, when our desks were two feet away. Now? It's kind of playing in silence, occasionally seeing each other's character, occasionally typing chat. It's not very social. PCs will never compare to consoles for social gaming for that reason. Adding a headset really just makes it more awkward. I still prefer PCs for single player gaming, but quite frankly the time for that is getting less and less. I spend most of my day in front of a computer at work, often alone in my office. I'd really rather spend my free time not alone and not 12 inches from a monitor. And Halo, designed for playing your buddies, is damn good. The single player experience is terrible. All the others are great. PC snobbery keeps forgetting that consoles value different attributes. Being able to send a rocket into the face of the guy right next to you then force him to watch a replay? Priceless.




	------------- Music for the discerning: http://www.deathwishinc.com http://www.hydrahead.com http://www.painkillerrecords.com

33.	Re: ...	Jul 6, 2008, 17:16	Jerykk
	No, because Mario Party is a shitty game. And so is Halo... Isn't that kind of proving my point? That, for groups of four people looking for multiplayer, console > PC? I thought your point was that Halo was a good game. Aside from that, I still disagree. Ever been to a LAN party (with friends)? Based on my experience, that's pretty much the same as playing a console game on the couch with your buddies.

32.	Re: ...	Jul 6, 2008, 16:48	Beamer
	You could be playing Mario Party or Guitar Hero and have the same social experience. No, because Mario Party is a shitty game. But yes, you can take any good 4 player console game, put 4 people on the couch, and trump any PC social experience. Isn't that kind of proving my point? That, for groups of four people looking for multiplayer, console > PC?




	------------- Music for the discerning: http://www.deathwishinc.com http://www.hydrahead.com http://www.painkillerrecords.com

31.	Re: No subject	Jul 6, 2008, 15:48	MuzixMon
	Dev, When I said at any given time I meant any given time that I have played it. I don't play it often and when I do it's usually to play with my kids and when I check the servers it's always around 2,000 people playing. Now that might be because I play at prime time either way so be it. Bottom line is Halo1 sold well for PC and has been successful for years. Granted it's no HL1 or HL2 but those are certainly exceptions. 100's of games that were out when Halo1 came to PC are dead and buried now and for it to still have 2,000 people online (sometimes) is very impressive to me.




	---------------------------------------------- "When all thats left is console gaming, I will game no more."

30.	No subject	Jul 6, 2008, 14:37	Dev
	Hump: Yeah it WAS early in the morning. However it was the same way for ALL the games in that list. As well, the guy said "at any given time." Fine, I took him at his word, and the given time was when I read that comment and responded. Let's check again. Yep, its noon on sunday, should be a lot now. Half life 1 (etc) is up to 124k, hl2 (etc) is up to 100k. LOL! Its still not quite at 2k. Although its moved up slighly to 17th place instead of 20. And hey, if you want to ADD all those versions together, go ahead. You still get under 4k at the moment, which still doesn't even crack the top 10. Compared to the even older title hl1 (etc) its only about 1/30th of the players in fact. I stand by my previous comment where I said its impressive for an older game, just not as impressive as the other guy is thinking (or as apparently you are thinking too). This message was edited at Jul 6, 14:42.

29.	Re: ...	Jul 6, 2008, 14:28	Jerykk
	Halo we were all in the same room, often on the same couch. Someone accidentally kills you, you lean over and punch him. Someone does something dumb, you mock him endlessly. Doesn't this apply to pretty much any game you can play on a couch with friends? At this point, the game itself doesn't really matter. You could be playing Mario Party or Guitar Hero and have the same social experience.

28.	Re: No subject	Jul 6, 2008, 12:28	>U
	End user created patches for games Calling this patch "end user created" is fallacious. This patch was end user suggested but NOT created. The patch itself was created by one of the programmers at Bungie who worked on Halo for the PC using an official build machine for the game. The only thing unofficial about this patch is that Microsoft didn't create it, test it, or have anything else to do with it.

27.	Re: ...	Jul 6, 2008, 12:10	Beamer
	We had a lot more fun playing Quake, Enemy Territory or any of the multitude of PC shooters that are completely superior to Halo in every respect. We all lived on different floors. In college, in dorm rooms, this was fun. In a house, not as much. There's no difference playing Quake with your friends or Quake with strangers if each computer is on a single floor. It's no longer a social experience, instead it's a solitary experience that your friends are sort of there for, too. Halo we were all in the same room, often on the same couch. Someone accidentally kills you, you lean over and punch him. Someone does something dumb, you mock him endlessly. Can't do that with PCs. Not when you're over 22.




	------------- Music for the discerning: http://www.deathwishinc.com http://www.hydrahead.com http://www.painkillerrecords.com

26.	Re: No subject	Jul 6, 2008, 10:50	LittleMe
	"Anyone who plays pc shooters and console shooters can agree that the halo series at least by the time it comes to the pc, is dated graphically and gameplay wise compared to what is available on pc at the time, if not before. " What PC game(s) in particular are you thinking of? I was playing BF1942 a lot when Halo1 came out. Is 1942 a better FPS? I presume it is but didn't play Halo except one time in a store. It looked nice.

25.	Re: No subject	Jul 6, 2008, 10:50	Elf Shot The Food
	Halo was a decent SP game (albeit one I'll never play again) and the MP was fun. Can't really figure out why it gets so much love from some and so much hate from others.

24.	Re: No subject	Jul 6, 2008, 10:12	Overon
	End user created patches for games. I don't like this trend. Anyone who plays pc shooters and console shooters can agree that the halo series at least by the time it comes to the pc, is dated graphically and gameplay wise compared to what is available on pc at the time, if not before. The only conclusion I can come up with is that console players tend to have lower standards of fps quality compared to pc gamers. The reason being is that pc shooters have been on pc for a lot longer than they have been on console and have evolved.

23.	Re: No subject	Jul 6, 2008, 10:06	maldoror
	Did you really just call Halo one of the greatest single player games of all time? I would agree that the single player was not horrid and maybe even fun but I would stop well short of calling it one of the greatest single player games of all time. That is just me though.

22.	No subject	Jul 6, 2008, 08:36	Hump
	I actually liked Halo SP (played it on PC). I must be a closet console weenie. No, you're simply not a hyper-critical cry baby. Halo was one of the greatest single player games of all time. People seem to forget that there were no games that had that level of cinematic feel at the time. BTW, that list shows halo with under 750 people right now, not 2k. you're posting at around 5 a.m. How many people do ya think are going to be playing? Also, there are 2 versions of the game on the list (3 if you count the demo which is also there). Theres Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo MP which was a seperate .exe that Gearbox worked on for several months after they finished the original game. It has an editor plus a lot of optimizations for online play. This message was edited at Jul 6, 08:42.




	---------------------------------------------------------------------- "Insert pretentious atheist rant here."

21.	gamezone PC review	Jul 6, 2008, 08:17	rocketpcguy
	according to a gamezone review, halo 2 for the PC has some of the finest visuals out there, and explains why you need a very hot PC and graphics card. ... Even two years later the game is easily one of the most exciting experiences in the gaming world. The online play upgrades and new fancy look will please even the staunchiest of PC elite players. http://pc.gamezone.com/gzreviews/r20880.htm but then, it's the same site that gave higher scores to Halo 2 & Doom 3 than to Deus Ex.

20.	Re: ...	Jul 6, 2008, 06:31	peteham
	It's Vista only and was ported VERY badly, hence why few people even acknowledge it. How it took them two-and-a-half years I'll never know. Not to forget also, that some guy managed to make a modified DLL or something like that to enable it on XP without it even being considered as a crack. While Gearbox really did a lot of stuff for the original Halo PC port, like improved shaders, higher res textures/other assets among others, the Halo 2 port seems to have been allowed the BARE minimum to make it run at all, and nothing else. It looked highly dated already on the console.. Vista Exclusive indeed. Just goes to show how idiotic big corporate decision makers can be. Did they honestly expect people to buy into the whole "it needs Vista's advanced features to run!" schtick when it looked like a 5 year old PC-game? This message was edited at Jul 6, 06:34.

19.	No subject	Jul 6, 2008, 05:51	Dev
	theyarecomingforyou: Yeah I know. MS lost $4 billion on xbox 1 (and that includes all software, games, liscensing, etc. In fact the very first quarter they made a profit on the console was when halo 2 was released lol) over the lifetime of the console. They've lost a bunch more on xbox 360 (I haven't bothered to run the numbers). Sony has lost $3 billion on ps3. Its so funny these companies losing piles of money. MS can easily afford it, they make $4 billion in PURE CASH PROFIT every single quarter. Guess they just look at that as the cost of entereing the market. Petty cash or something. MuzixMon: 2k players is nothing. I mean its reasonably impressive for an older game like that, but its nothing compared to the top of the list of online PC FPS games. http://archive.gamespy.com/stats/ At any given time, generally 100,000 players are playing half life 1 and its mods (mostly counter strike). And at any given time usually 60,000 are playing half life 2 and its source derivitives (mostly counter strike source). BTW, that list shows halo with under 750 people right now, not 2k. Here's all the games that currently have more players than halo 1 (generally all the mods/derivitives are included in each listing) in order (and they fall off quickly, only COD 4 and BF2 have more than 10k ppl on right now aside from hl1 and hl2): Half Life 1 Half Life 2 Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Battlefield 2 Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory Battlefield 2142 Unreal Tournament 2004 Quake 3: Arena Call of Duty Enemy Territory: Quake Wars Command and Conquer: Renegade Demo Call of Duty 2 Soldier of Fortune 2 Neverwinter Nights Americas Army: Special Forces Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy Red Orchestra Ostfront Medal of Honor Allied Assault Unreal Tournament And finally in 20th place, Halo. It IS somewhat impressive, 20th place in online games (mostly shooters, not counting any MMORPG or anything like that), and its sad that MS isn't bothering to support it. But its not quite as impressive as you are likely thinking it is This message was edited at Jul 6, 05:54.

18.	Re: ...	Jul 6, 2008, 02:33	Jerykk
	I know Halo is pretty hated around here, but if you lived in a house with two other gamers you'd love it. I've lived with other gamers and rest assured, we sure as hell didn't love Halo. We had a lot more fun playing Quake, Enemy Territory or any of the multitude of PC shooters that are completely superior to Halo in every respect.

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