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One cannot help but wonder about Halo 2�s future. Definitively it is to set the standard for what makes a killer app in the console games category: a standard which precedes itself only by
Halo: Combat Evolved for the same
Xbox console. In addition to this monumental feat,
Bungie is expected to revive interest in Microsoft�s
Xbox Live online console gaming service by sheer virtue of a single game.
So much of Microsoft�s games division depends on Bungie, in fact, that it�s effective to "putting all your eggs in one basket." If Halo 2 fails to surpass the original Halo�s incredible sales, positive press and entire attitude as
the game to own, an entire console could be scuttled. The team at Bungie must pull through for Microsoft�s investment into a new territory to pay off. Early statements boasting of success have already been made, such as Frank O�Connor�s "for certain... Halo 2 is exactly 183% more dramatic than the original", will result in a hefty price to pay if Bungie crashes.
What the general public has seen of Halo 2, so far, has mercifully been that of an improved Halo, delivering the promised excitement in drama in small, irritatingly devoid chunks. The last significantly worthwhile content � what could be considered the
only significant content � is the leaked E3 2003 video of Earth City, released nearly one year ago.
Why the leaked copy? Any viewer who has seen both it and the official version might be hard-pressed to compare the two. What the crystal-clear Windows Media 9 version lacks, though, is the feeling of something tangible; something more than polygons and bumpmapping and powerful nVidia rendering can achieve alone. Communities of Halo lovers consume terabits and terabytes of bandwidth every month because they share this feeling of connection. When the crowd roars as the Master Chief pulls out the new dual SMG bullet hosepipes, or when John-117 "punks" the new, improved Ghost, that feeling of connection has never been stronger. Subsequent Halo 2 Updates and screenshots have diminished the feeling. Your Xbox is unable to establish a network connection; with the trio of standard Microsoft options, the choices consist of Abort/Retry/Ignore. For nearly a year some have been content as Ignore is repeatedly selected. As this year unfolds what the community needs is for someone to Retry the connection.
Connecting, though, is just one of the ways in which Microsoft wants to embrace and extend the world, beginning with Xbox Live. Extending a connection that has faintly existed since November 15/02, the largest single trial run of a console pay-for-play service has had its good times and killer times � almost literally. The vast majority of Xbox console lovers have not had the disheartening experience of being told that Xbox Live 2.0 murdered an hour-old console. What makes this tale interesting is that if the Xbox had been a PC, the murder would have simply been the digital equivalent of a slap in the face. Digital rights management of the Xbox will play a heavy role in Halo 2, and in the third part of this series.
Of the first generation Xbox Live games, MotoGP set the standard for the best online interface. Game lobbies were clean and concise; the developers handled voice communication well; and motorcycle racing made for a fun introductory online game. MechAssault�s various patches - or "security updates" in Xbox Live terminology � improved the game to such an extent that gamers tired of it returned. The crown jewel of the Xbox, the Dashboard, received some important changes such as Voice Chat and Auto-Sign In. There is no question that great expectations for Halo 2 will wholly depend on Tsunami, the code name for Microsoft�s next upgrade to the Xbox Live service -- also known as Xbox Live 3.0.
What types of tools will Microsoft have when implementing Tsunami? This development kit certification tool allows game developers to perform online tasks to test games.
Tsunami will commence Microsoft�s master plan for the online service. By enabling users to store small quantities of data on Microsoft servers, the company ensures subscribers and also prepares the way for the future: an ill-conceived hard drive-free console, relying on large Flash memory storage. Interestingly enough, the
"hard drive" used in the iPod Mini, which has 4GB of storage, is actually a CompactFlash card. Such a device is rumored to cost
Apple up to more than the devices cost: at present, retail customers
could expect to pay close to $500USD for the MicroDrive.
Preliminary
reports about Tsunami have suggested that 32KB of data could be stored on Xbox Live servers, per Gamertag account. This figure seems absurdly low when considering that one "block" of data (blocks are the storage unit for the Xbox) is equivalent to 16KB, and most games require at least three blocks to save a single game. While future titles could write high scores or ghost data in less than 16K, each file on the current Xbox hard drive will always consume at least 16,384 bytes of disk space. This is due to the file system, typically called FATX, which the console uses for formatting the hard drive and memory cards.
In less technical terms, if a game save takes up 5 blocks of disk space, the actual content stored in the save file may only be the equivalent of 4.1 blocks (just over 64KB.) When storing the save, the file system rounds up the difference, leaving the remainder of the "block" unusable for any other files. In fact, during the promotion of Windows 98, a large feature that was advertised frequently was the Drive Converter. Converting your drive from the FAT16 file system (which uses 16KB blocks) to the FAT32 file system (using 4KB blocks) theoretically could recover upwards of 20% more free disk space. This effectively solved the same problems as the potential online storage phenomenon could have.
To reiterate the problem that Microsoft will face, an analogy to a PC is needed. You can demonstrate this phenomenon if you are running a copy of Windows 2000 or later: create a new text document entitled "hi.txt" with the text "hi" in it. Save and close the file; then right-click on it and choose Properties. While the
Size caption reads "2 bytes", the
Size on Disk more telling: it shows how much space the file physically takes up. The file should use 4,096 bytes: 4,094 bytes more than needed to store the information. With the Xbox hard drive, duplicating the same experiment yields a result of 16,384 bytes in space used on disk. This is
four times the waste of space.
Unfortunately for Microsoft, there are several technical and logistical problems waiting if Tsunami's primary goal is to hold users' data on a big bank of servers. While some of these problems are
quite technically complex, the end user may experience a transition from a "Live Aware" game (where a user is signed into Xbox Live and can receive alerts and invites, even while playing Campaign mode), to a "Live Required" title. Specifically, games might evolve into a derivation of the classic, overused phrase: "All your save are belong to
ms."
All the future visions for Tsunami certainly will create a dynamic splash � pun intended � in the evolution of online gaming. With it, both users and companies have choices to make about their oh-so-precious data: how it will be used; where it will be stored; and who will be the rightful owner.
In the second part of this series, "Pride and Prejudice", the attachment and benevolent attitude that many Xbox Live users have towards the service is the primary focus. The third and final instalment, "Nineteen Eighty Four", targets future privacy issues and speculates upcoming security for games like Halo 2. These articles will be released on Thursdays -- one and two weeks from today.
