Microsoft Makes Halo 2 a Vista-only Title

Posted on February 20, 2006

Microsoft has decided to limit the PC version of the popular and multiple award winning Halo 2 Xbox game to the Vista operating system. Vista is expected to come out later this year but it still has not been confirmed by Microsoft. The BBC News reports that there will not be a version of Halo 2 for Windows XP. The BBC News story notes that gamers will need a computer with an advanced video card and a large hard drive in addition to the upcoming Vista operating system.

The BBC also says Microsoft's decision could make it a costly one for gamers who have to buy Vista as well as new PC hardware just to play Halo 2. It is really the wrong path Microsoft has taken with Halo 2. They already angered gamers with the Xbox 360 delay. Instead of doing a Vista-only release they should have gone ahead with a version supporting the current Windows XP operating system.

Bungie, the developers of Halo 2, dispute these rumors. They posted on the Halo site that they are not jerks who are trying to force people to upgrade to Vista.

Bungie says in its statement, "But we're not idiots and we're not jerks. We realize that the underlying sentiment here, is that there are a lot of XP (and Mac) users out there, who feel like something has been wafted under their nose and then snatched away. Well, that's simply not our intention. We want as many people to enjoy as good a version of our game as possible, but the fact remains that when Microsoft publishes Halo 2 for PC - it will have released its new, bigger, better operating system and our game will take full advantage of that fact, and Microsoft will take full advantage of our game."

It is certainly more complicated to make a game for multiple operating systems. Technorati currently shows many posts about Microsoft's decision and some of them are unhappy posts by unhappy gamers.

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