Parts in this article series: 1 | 2 | 3
Randy Pitchford, President of Gearbox Software, is not an enemy of the general gaming community. Rather, he stated in an interview with GameSpy staff that originally, they were stunned that a PC version of Halo wasn't already underway, and that "we hadn't even considered the possibility that we could be the lucky fools to actually do it." Gearbox's development teams were freed up after their respective projects of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, from PS2 to PC, and Half-Life from PC to PS2.
Effectively Gearbox got their chance to work with an easier conversion than the development tools for the PlayStation 2. Developers have publicly admitted that the system for writing games for the PS2 is difficult to learn, and that was one of the obstacles Microsoft overcame with their Xbox: Because the Xbox is similar to a PC, similar DirectX and C++ code could be generated for both platforms, making developers' lives slightly easier. There are differing sides to this issue: Both Gearbox and Bungie claim that the Xbox is a unique machine in its own right, while the Xbox-Linux crowd seems bent on proving that the Xbox and a PC are 99% similar.
Both groups are right in their own way: To all effects and purposes, the Xbox is just a Celeron 733 with a hot graphics card inside. Yet the programming of the system has to be done specifically for a console, with such things as "software emulation", the standby of users with less-powerful video cards, completely eliminated. A game can be written to support 720x480 resolution for a console, and yet PC users expect no less than "whatever my video card and monitor can handle".
So what will be the initial losses when you pick up that shiny copy of Halo for the PC or Mac upon its release date? Well, the "magic" of the console game will be lost. For many Xbox owners, Halo is their pride and joy, and the fact that it's exclusively available right now for the big green box gives them bragging rights. No more will we have to drag our consoles and TV's across to each other's houses to have a LAN party. We'll just find the geeky dude with the Windows 2000 Ulti-Server edition and the Internet connection with upload speeds that could choke a donkey, and bask in 16-player goodness.
Actually, that's an interesting line of thought: For all those who LAN with their Xbox consoles, what will happen once the PC/Mac are graced with the game? I know most of my friends will still want to get together and play the console version, due to the fact that you can pick up an Xbox and a copy of Halo now for cheaper than you'd buy a good graphics card for. Even if one was to settle for a lower-end card, there's still the issue of the rest of the computer, and the cost/time that it takes to upgrade the necessary components.
I daresay the "Game Demos" option will have been removed from the title screen as well; that, if anywhere, will be relocated to somewhere on the installation CD's autorun menu. It might look odd to only have three options; possibly a fourth one will be added, replacing "Settings" with a "Profiles" option and saving the Settings title for video/sound/network configuration.
So "Game Demos" – read: "Fuzion Frenzy" has been lost. Not a loss that affects the target audience on a PC or Mac. The "Multiplayer" option will probably lead directly to the GameSpy client embedded within the game, because no longer will cooperative play be in the game, and it's also pretty unlikely that split screen will be an option. It's just too hard to get four people all using the same keyboard and mouse.
Of all the things mentioned or yet to come in this article, the removal of cooperative play is the single most lacking thing that has occurred in the transition from Xbox to PC. I'm sure anybody who's listened to the Gearbox representatives knows the technical reasons why it's not being included in the initial release, leaving the proverbial carrot – that it MIGHT be included in a subsequent patch.
This feature is one that should not be left in the hands of a hex editing patch system. Patching gives developers two options: to push out a bad product intentionally, knowing that they can "patch" it to appease users unsatisfied with the beta files on their CD; or what should really happen – developers can fix issues that occur as many more users gain access to this game and decide to "break" it by adding new hardware.
I don't think Gearbox is intentionally trying to release a beta version of the game, but rather trying to add an "extra feature" at a later point. This "extra feature" is one of the more important parts of the Xbox version, though, so if they must have a patch, make sure it is released shortly after the official release date, and all subsequent CD's sent to stores include cooperative play.
Coop can be done; it's not an impossible problem. Gearbox Software's reasons for the lack thereof are legitimate. The networking system had to be complete. Split screen cooperative play would have made people scream uncle. Yet I can't help thinking that this game might turn into another Diablo II, where the whole game is changed when a new patch from Blizzard becomes effective. Let's hope Gearbox has the ability to deal with patches in a way that makes the most sense for end users.
No more will this screen be seen, either. It's almost subtle, the many ways in which the Xbox has been superimposed into the interface of Halo. Chances are this screen will become a giant server list of all the people out there waiting for their next chance to respawn.
That concludes Part 1 of this article series. Part 2 will take a look at the rest of the changes and missing features, and then focus on the more positive aspects of Gearbox's transition to the PC. Finally, Part 3 wraps up this article with a summary of why you should choose to either buy Halo again, for the first time, or perhaps give it a pass.
