It had potential that it now lacks. Microsoft influenced the game development process in every negative way it seems. They:
Rushed it out the door on the Xbox, so the singleplayer was completed with horrible repetition.
Intentionally delayed the Mac and Win versions of the game so that it would remain an exclusive for their platform.
Payed companies to port console version of the game instead of using the near complete versions of the engines and the original hi-res assets.
Whats more I think they intentionally made the win code inefficient (not known how the Mac vers plays yet) to make their proprietry, more closely controlled platform look better. The pc versions should stomp all over the xbox ones, but worryingly lag far behind in relative performance.
It had potential that it now lacks. Microsoft influenced the game development process in every negative way it seems. They:Rushed it out the door on the Xbox, so the singleplayer was completed with horrible repetition. Intentionally delayed the Mac and Win versions of the game so that it would remain an exclusive for their platform. Payed companies to port console version of the game instead of using the near complete versions of the engines and the original hi-res assets. Whats more I think they intentionally made the win code inefficient (not known how the Mac vers plays yet) to make their proprietry, more closely controlled platform look better. The pc versions should stomp all over the xbox ones, but worryingly lag far behind in relative performance.
I completely agree on the first two points. However, since MS designed the XBox's APIs to play nicely with DirectX, it would almost certainly be easier to port the game from the XBox to the PC than to finish up the old Mac engine and then get that running on PCs. And since there were so many changes made to the game after Bungie was acquired, it would almost certainly be easier to port either the PC or XBox code to Macs than to finish and then update the old engine.
As to your claim that MS is intentionally making the PC version slow... well I certainly wouldn't put it past them. In MacWorld's review of Office 98, they noticed that it ran slower than Office 97 running in VPC on the same machine -- that's right, at the time it was faster to run the PC version in emulation than it was to run the Mac version natively -- so they've pulled this kind of stunt before. Except that MS isn't porting it; Gearbox is. And if Gearbox produces bad code, then other companies won't use them. So I doubt that they're intentionally doing anything bad to the code.
Don't get me wrong, I hate MS as much as the next guy, I just don't want to blame them for stuff that really isn't their fault.
I agree that the production process was somewhat distributed and that Microsoft may have given Gearbox the xBox fork of the project, but I do think you are underestimating the level of control Microsoft would have over the port. It is their operating system, after all.
Also, remember that Bungie was a dual Mac/PC developer before Microsoft stepped in, and both engines may very likely have existed. I also doubt that they allowed bungie to give the near completed Mac engine to whoever is porting it.
Also, remember that Bungie was a dual Mac/PC developer before Microsoft stepped in, and both engines may very likely have existed. I also doubt that they allowed bungie to give the near completed Mac engine to whoever is porting it.
The near completed Mac engine was an entirely different game...what Halo might have been.
I agree that the production process was somewhat distributed and that Microsoft may have given Gearbox the xBox fork of the project, but I do think you are underestimating the level of control Microsoft would have over the port. It is their operating system, after all.
If MS is making their entire OS slow just so their console looks good, they're dumber than I thought. I wouldn't put it past them though... \
The near completed Mac engine was an entirely different game...what Halo might have been.
Do tell. You seem to know a lot about it, but keeping it a secret from us. Let me guess...it was a turn-based RPG before it was an FS, right? And it was better that way, wasn't it?
Do tell. You seem to know a lot about it, but keeping it a secret from us. Let me guess...it was a turn-based RPG before it was an FS, right? And it was better that way, wasn't it?
Eh, you saw the engine in 1999, at MW Expo. And RPGs suck ass.
I don't give a crap about Halo anymore...but I'd love to see it perform better than the PC version. Although, how many times have I heard the Westlake folks trumpet their performance tweak abilities and then realize it was just a very bad joke.
If Halo's story line was half as good as Marathon's, I'd give it a try but seeing how the story line doesn't even come close to Marathon's and seeing how it's an old game with a tired physics engine (compared to Unreal Tourney 2k3 and the upcoming Doom 3 and HalfLife 2), I won't be buyin' this one.
Comments
But I loved it all the same.
That was close...
And Oni sucked, in my opinion. Bland graphics and nothing to make up for it.
The moves were quite cool but far too hard to pull off. I ended up using the basic combos on the bosses.
Originally posted by Stoo
The moves were quite cool but far too hard to pull off. I ended up using the basic combos on the bosses.
Mmm, I forgot about them. Yeah, they were cool, but it ended up feeling like Tekken.
- Rushed it out the door on the Xbox, so the singleplayer was completed with horrible repetition.
- Intentionally delayed the Mac and Win versions of the game so that it would remain an exclusive for their platform.
- Payed companies to port console version of the game instead of using the near complete versions of the engines and the original hi-res assets.
Whats more I think they intentionally made the win code inefficient (not known how the Mac vers plays yet) to make their proprietry, more closely controlled platform look better. The pc versions should stomp all over the xbox ones, but worryingly lag far behind in relative performance.Originally posted by Linds
It had potential that it now lacks. Microsoft influenced the game development process in every negative way it seems. They:Rushed it out the door on the Xbox, so the singleplayer was completed with horrible repetition.
Intentionally delayed the Mac and Win versions of the game so that it would remain an exclusive for their platform.
Payed companies to port console version of the game instead of using the near complete versions of the engines and the original hi-res assets.
Whats more I think they intentionally made the win code inefficient (not known how the Mac vers plays yet) to make their proprietry, more closely controlled platform look better. The pc versions should stomp all over the xbox ones, but worryingly lag far behind in relative performance.
I completely agree on the first two points. However, since MS designed the XBox's APIs to play nicely with DirectX, it would almost certainly be easier to port the game from the XBox to the PC than to finish up the old Mac engine and then get that running on PCs. And since there were so many changes made to the game after Bungie was acquired, it would almost certainly be easier to port either the PC or XBox code to Macs than to finish and then update the old engine.
As to your claim that MS is intentionally making the PC version slow... well I certainly wouldn't put it past them. In MacWorld's review of Office 98, they noticed that it ran slower than Office 97 running in VPC on the same machine -- that's right, at the time it was faster to run the PC version in emulation than it was to run the Mac version natively -- so they've pulled this kind of stunt before. Except that MS isn't porting it; Gearbox is. And if Gearbox produces bad code, then other companies won't use them. So I doubt that they're intentionally doing anything bad to the code.
Don't get me wrong, I hate MS as much as the next guy, I just don't want to blame them for stuff that really isn't their fault.
Also, remember that Bungie was a dual Mac/PC developer before Microsoft stepped in, and both engines may very likely have existed. I also doubt that they allowed bungie to give the near completed Mac engine to whoever is porting it.
Originally posted by Linds
Also, remember that Bungie was a dual Mac/PC developer before Microsoft stepped in, and both engines may very likely have existed. I also doubt that they allowed bungie to give the near completed Mac engine to whoever is porting it.
The near completed Mac engine was an entirely different game...what Halo might have been.
Originally posted by Linds
I agree that the production process was somewhat distributed and that Microsoft may have given Gearbox the xBox fork of the project, but I do think you are underestimating the level of control Microsoft would have over the port. It is their operating system, after all.
If MS is making their entire OS slow just so their console looks good, they're dumber than I thought. I wouldn't put it past them though...
Originally posted by Eugene
The near completed Mac engine was an entirely different game...what Halo might have been.
Do tell. You seem to know a lot about it, but keeping it a secret from us. Let me guess...it was a turn-based RPG before it was an FS, right? And it was better that way, wasn't it?
Originally posted by Placebo
Do tell. You seem to know a lot about it, but keeping it a secret from us. Let me guess...it was a turn-based RPG before it was an FS, right? And it was better that way, wasn't it?
Eh, you saw the engine in 1999, at MW Expo. And RPGs suck ass.
Originally posted by Eugene
Eh, you saw the engine in 1999, at MW Expo. And RPGs suck ass.
I missed the MW demo. Can you elaborate?
If Halo's story line was half as good as Marathon's, I'd give it a try but seeing how the story line doesn't even come close to Marathon's and seeing how it's an old game with a tired physics engine (compared to Unreal Tourney 2k3 and the upcoming Doom 3 and HalfLife 2), I won't be buyin' this one.
Posted System Requirements
Steep Requirements.. but its on its way!
Will this play at all on my 1s gen 12pb?
who's buying?
flick.
::EDIT:: add the link!