Halo 3 on PC: is it possible and should we even care?

[mikecoulter]

It's probable. I don't see why it wouldn't come out for the PC.

But I'm not sure that I'd care. I had my copy of Halo 3 for 3 days. Played online once and just didn't want to be associated with it.

 

[Daggermonkie]

isnt Halo incredibly uninventive? if you like the Halo series your not going to buy it again for the PC and people who havnt boughten it yet wont care so its a lose lose situation

 

[Treblaine]

And personally:

Halo 3 is the perfect 360 game, it doesn't need moving to other platforms, the mouse and keyboard system is not suited to first person shooters and, with years of experience of said system, I can happily say that there is no need for the game to be developed on such a system.

May I ask if you played Halo 3 on a HDTV?

You see Digital Foundry has been saying this for a while and have echoed it again with ODST (which uses the exact same engine) that although the game looks wonderful in terms of textures, shading and so on, it is terribly let down by all the damn aliasing and relatively low resolution. Things that are fixed with virtually no effort on PC.

Of course, you wouldn't notice that playing it on an SDTV which is only 480i... but this generation is all about HD... almost every other game this gen looks good and is 720p with at least 2x Anti-Aliasing.

...the mouse and keyboard system is not suited to first person shooters...

Err... you're kidding right?

I'm not saying I'd never use a gamepad for an FPS because I have, but no one can deny that mouse aim is quicker and more precise.

No one.

 

[Trivun]

Halo 3 has run its course on consoles, I don't know how ODST factors into this but I think the obvious way to milk Halo some more is to expand onto PC. I know this is in the wake of Activision utterly sodomizing the PC release of Modern Warfare 2... but who knows, maybe Bungie are listening to the internet and know a market when they hear it.

[HEADING=1]HALO IS NOT BEING MILKED!!!!![/HEADING]

Sorry for that, but I felt I had to state my main point before anything else. How many CoD games are there? How many Star Wars games, or Warhammer games? How many Fallout games and Elder Scrolls games are there? Counting all the side stuff they did, there are a lot. How many games are there based on Final Fantasy VII, never mind the rest of the franchise? Nobody ever claims that most of these are being milked. If Halo is being milked, so is Jak and Daxter, and so is Gran Turismo and Project Gotham Racing and Phoenix Wright and...

Anyway, seeing Halo 3 on PC would be exactly the same as seeing Assassin's Creed on PC, or Grand Theft Auto on PC. Successful games often get ported to the PC if they're any good on console, or even get released on PC in the first place. So I don't get why there's such a big deal over the possibility of Halo 3 being ported to PC as well...

 

[Treblaine]

Is it possible? Are you seriously asking whether a PC could handle Halo 3 or not?

Who cares anyway - it's ugly, unimaginative and not the best at what it does (by quite a long shot).

Oh, I know PC can DEFINITELY handle Halo 3. Hell, even some entry level laptops could handle Halo 3, especially if you only wanted to match 360's performance.

I was just thinking how Halo 3 could reach its true potential on the power of even a modestly priced PC. It's clear Bungie were aiming for higher resolution and anti-aliasing but they just couldn't eke that much power out of the 360.

I mean look at Capcom with Resident Evil 5 that has turned out so good on PC graphically and control wise. It certainly sets a precedent.

I will admit, I have not played Halo 3 yet... and though Halo 1 was great back in the day I played Halo 2 more recently and was distinctly underwhelmed. But it's Halo, it just seems wrong to skip it.

 

[Emphraim]

Of course it's possible to bring Halo 3 to PC. If my mediocre PC can run ARMA 2, Company of Heroes, and play Crysis on medium, then it can definitely play something as low quality(at least in the graphics department) as Halo 3. But I doubt anyone would buy it. On PC, there are much better(at least in my opinion) shooters such as Arma 2, Operation Flashpoint, COD5(with the Pro mod), TF2, and so forth.

the mouse and keyboard system is not suited to first person shooters

Please explain. There is a reason why the most popular FPS of all time, Counterstrike is on PC and is still played by millions worldwide.

 

[cainx10a]

I wouldn't mind Halo 3 + ODST being ported to the PC. Hell, just make it Windows 7 exclusive too.

 

[Treblaine]

Halo 3 has run its course on consoles, I don't know how ODST factors into this but I think the obvious way to milk Halo some more is to expand onto PC. I know this is in the wake of Activision utterly sodomizing the PC release of Modern Warfare 2... but who knows, maybe Bungie are listening to the internet and know a market when they hear it.

[HEADING=1]HALO IS NOT BEING MILKED!!!!![/HEADING]

Sorry for that, but I felt I had to state my main point before anything else. How many CoD games are there? How many Star Wars games, or Warhammer games? How many Fallout games and Elder Scrolls games are there? Counting all the side stuff they did, there are a lot. How many games are there based on Final Fantasy VII, never mind the rest of the franchise? Nobody ever claims that most of these are being milked. If Halo is being milked, so is Jak and Daxter, and so is Gran Turismo and Project Gotham Racing and Phoenix Wright and...

Anyway, seeing Halo 3 on PC would be exactly the same as seeing Assassin's Creed on PC, or Grand Theft Auto on PC. Successful games often get ported to the PC if they're any good on console, or even get released on PC in the first place. So I don't get why there's such a big deal over the possibility of Halo 3 being ported to PC as well...

Hey, I never said "milking" was a bad thing.

Halo is being milked... I just want *sum o dat milk* for my PC. Even though I have a 360, I just know Halo would be better on PC than on 360 with the certain graphical considerations I have mentioned.

PS: I hope it isn't like the PC port of GTA4... that was a god damn disaster of a mess.

 

[LGC Pominator]

May I ask if you played Halo 3 on a HDTV?

I have played it on both HD and SD tvs, a 12" one in my mates room, a 36" SDTV that my parents used to have, then a 42" 1080p HDTV that my parents now own, and my own 24" SDTV that I have in my house, which is adequate for all my gaming needs, of course whenever I visit my parents, I bring a few of my good 360 games to see the difference.

...the mouse and keyboard system is not suited to first person shooters...

Err... you're kidding right?

I'm not saying I'd never use a gamepad for an FPS because I have, but no one can deny that mouse aim is quicker and more precise.

No one.

Nah man, I have used mouse controllers for years, I still have my own custom built, weighted differential mouse that i use when I dig out some of the old PC games on STEAM, no matter how i adjust sensitivity, weight, crossfeeding the control system and even utilising different speed delay programs to get the most out of my mouse (oh and also a FNATIC everglide mousemat) it never feels as natural, or functions as well as the 360 controller, which, for me, is the perfect interface for playing FPS games, like I said, I have years of experience on both sides of the fence, and I can happily say that I will always play my 360 over my PC (which for the record is custom, self - built and bloody powerful)

 

[LGC Pominator]

Of course it's possible to bring Halo 3 to PC. If my mediocre PC can run ARMA 2, Company of Heroes, and play Crysis on medium, then it can definitely play something as low quality(at least in the graphics department) as Halo 3. But I doubt anyone would buy it. On PC, there are much better(at least in my opinion) shooters such as Arma 2, Operation Flashpoint, COD5(with the Pro mod), TF2, and so forth.

the mouse and keyboard system is not suited to first person shooters

Please explain. There is a reason why the most popular FPS of all time, Counterstrike is on PC and is still played by millions worldwide.

I honestly could not say, the game is quite possibly the most unentertaining use of ones PC south of actually working on the damned thing!
after 2 years of playing 1.5 and source, I can confirm that CS is absolutely devoid of funsies, and I hope to never have to play it again (yet it remains sat on my STEAM server like an annoying koala)

 

[Starke]

Not to mention Halo 2 was made compatible with only Vista for some utterly arbitrary reason, though people have made ways for it to work on XP.

The reason wasn't really arbitrary, just misguided. It looks like they thought they could use Halo 2 to drive sales for Vista because it was such a killer ap on the XBox. On the PC no one gave a flying flippity f-ck about Halo (at least not enough to buy a new OS and a high end graphics card for a three year old game), so the DX10 requirement came across as arbitrary. And PC gamers were savy enough to immediatly identify the DX10 requirement as utter BS, partially due to the 360 not supporting DX10, much less the original XBox.

...the mouse and keyboard system is not suited to first person shooters...

Err... you're kidding right?

I'm not saying I'd never use a gamepad for an FPS because I have, but no one can deny that mouse aim is quicker and more precise.

No one.

Nah man, I have used mouse controllers for years, I still have my own custom built, weighted differential mouse that i use when I dig out some of the old PC games on STEAM, no matter how i adjust sensitivity, weight, crossfeeding the control system and even utilising different speed delay programs to get the most out of my mouse (oh and also a FNATIC everglide mousemat) it never feels as natural, or functions as well as the 360 controller, which, for me, is the perfect interface for playing FPS games, like I said, I have years of experience on both sides of the fence, and I can happily say that I will always play my 360 over my PC (which for the record is custom, self - built and bloody powerful)

You, sir, are a weird freak, and I applaud you. That said, I still find the mouse and keyboard more comfortable for FPSs, and I suspect I'm in the majority. I just can't get the pinpoint accuracy out of a controler.

 

[asinann]

The plactform could do it, I doubt Microsoft would do it though.

 

[Treblaine]

i agree with most of what you said, and halo 3 on pc would be good (even though i probably wouldn't get it) but i feel i should point out, nobody noticed the 640p resolution until someone actually counted the pixels... so its not a major factor

Well I play my 360 on my monitor at my desk... so under 3 feet from the screen. I can tell when a game is low res + no-AA and is upscaled to the res of my monitor, like Tomb Raider Legend on 360 has the combination of blurred textures and yet extra jagged edges... it is just so annoying knowing you could get it better.

That's why I got TR: Legend on PC and am holding off on Halo 3... for now.

May I ask if you played Halo 3 on a HDTV?

I have played it on both HD and SD tvs, a 12" one in my mates room, a 36" SDTV that my parents used to have, then a 42" 1080p HDTV that my parents now own, and my own 24" SDTV that I have in my house, which is adequate for all my gaming needs, of course whenever I visit my parents, I bring a few of my good 360 games to see the difference.

...the mouse and keyboard system is not suited to first person shooters...

Err... you're kidding right?

I'm not saying I'd never use a gamepad for an FPS because I have, but no one can deny that mouse aim is quicker and more precise.

No one.

Nah man, I have used mouse controllers for years, I still have my own custom built, weighted differential mouse that i use when I dig out some of the old PC games on STEAM, no matter how i adjust sensitivity, weight, crossfeeding the control system and even utilising different speed delay programs to get the most out of my mouse (oh and also a FNATIC everglide mousemat) it never feels as natural, or functions as well as the 360 controller, which, for me, is the perfect interface for playing FPS games, like I said, I have years of experience on both sides of the fence, and I can happily say that I will always play my 360 over my PC (which for the record is custom, self - built and bloody powerful)

Hmm, well sounds to me you just have a weird personal preference. Far be it from me to tell another guy "what feels natural". Whatever floats you're boat, I guess.

Similar with your resolution experience, flitting between an undersized SDTV and HDTV I can see you would get more attached to one and it would be hard to look at each output objectively.

 

[coldshadow]

Its highly possible and likely. care for it, I do not. not unless they made it a proper competetive game rather than what it currently is.

 

[Bigeyez]

Halo 3 has run its course on consoles

Isn't it still in the top 5 games played on XBL. That doesn't seem like its run its course to me...

Anyhoo it certainly is possible, but with the fairly lackluster sales that Halo 2 for PC had I wouldn't hold my breath.

 

[LGC Pominator]

You, sir, are a weird freak, and I applaud you. That said, I still find the mouse and keyboard more comfortable for FPSs, and I suspect I'm in the majority. I just can't get the pinpoint accuracy out of a controller.

To each his own I say, perhaps it is just personal skill and preference for control mechanisms, I do wish we could end this culture of elitism that surrounds either control type however, maybe one is in fact no better than the other and it is entirely down to what we are personally suited for, or maybe I am entirely wrong and I am just not a "true gamer" because my preferred platform doesn't support excessive modification up the arse

on that note I do wish I had Max Payne 2 for the PC rather than the XBox, I loved Kungfu3.0 for Max Payne 1!

 

[Spectrum_Prez]

If they follow the tradition of Halo to PC ports, it'll far more resources than it should, have no co-op, and will "need" the latest windows to run till someone hacks it to run on XP.

This needs re-iterating. I was one of the few people who played Halo 2 on the PC and it was a completely bizarre experience. First, it didn't look much better than Halo: Combat Evolved (aka Halo 1 for PC). Second, it ran worse than Halo: CE. Third, it ran worse than better looking games released around the same time. So, yeah, even among console to PC ports, Halo 2 was terrible. Worst of all, even with a keyboard and mouse, it felt like I was playing a console FPS (this was a problem shared with the first one), the aiming was weird and movement felt kind of... 'sticky'? It just wasn't optimized the way other FPSs usually are.

 

[Starke]

You, sir, are a weird freak, and I applaud you. That said, I still find the mouse and keyboard more comfortable for FPSs, and I suspect I'm in the majority. I just can't get the pinpoint accuracy out of a controller.

To each his own I say, perhaps it is just personal skill and preference for control mechanisms, I do wish we could end this culture of elitism that surrounds either control type however, maybe one is in fact no better than the other and it is entirely down to what we are personally suited for, or maybe I am entirely wrong and I am just not a "true gamer" because my preferred platform doesn't support excessive modification up the arse

on that note I do wish I had Max Payne 2 for the PC rather than the XBox, I loved Kungfu3.0 for Max Payne 1!

Yeah, modding is the one thing that will keep me loyal to the PC for a long time to come.

And to be fair, I still find a controler more useful for driving games, even driving hybrids like GTA4 or Saints Row 2.

There's an element of the question "which is the better control system" where you can get proficient with any control scheme though, I used to be on the road regularly and did most of my gaming until about 4 years ago on a laptop. While that was the case, I got really good at using a trackpad to aim.