mikeszekely

Ah, come on. So far, only Sony's really done it, and I understand a part of that was because the press/consumers were already used to calling it PS2. When Sega was around, they had great names for their consoles... Genesis, Saturn, Dreamcast, etc. And as for Nintendo's "originality," going from Nintendo to Super Nintendo or Gameboy to Gameboy Color to Gameboy Advance is almost as bad as going from PlayStation to PlayStation 2. Nintendo 64 really wasn't that hot either, and frankly, Gamecube and Nintendo Dual Screen are really more descriptive than original. Yeah, I think I'm sticking with Sega for most originality.

I think Halo 2 is pretty realistic. I mean, if I ever see any nasty-looking aliens, clobbering one, taking its pink needle-shooting gun, and using it to shoot more aliens is definately the way I'd approach them.

Code-named Xenon. Just like the Gamecube was code-named Dolphin, or the Dreamcast was code-named Katana. It also goes by Xbox Next or, for the unimaginative, Xbox 2. There's a difference, though, between a project's code-name, nicknames, and the final products finished title.

Besides, I don't see how going up with only four missiles could be any fun.

Alright, David! Another guy who owns all three systems! Except I'm not really interested in the new Metroid (scanning everything gets real old, real fast) right now, and my Cube is kinda collecting dust. Now Halo 2 online is where it's at! I hate playing strangers online, but I had a kick-ass time playing CTF with two bros and a stranger against four strangers. Anyway, I think you're alright to start a new game. Don't load your old stuff, though. Just pick Campaign, then New Game instead of load, and then save it to a different file.

David, as far as I know, you must beat the game on ACE to get the Falken's SP color.

Though supposedly Bungie is through with Halo...if this is true...who will take up the reigns? And most likely on the next gen console. Almost finished with KZ so...Halo2 here I come. Actually, I think that's somewhat misleading. Bungie was asked about what they'd be working after Halo, and they talked about possibly finishing Phoenix and what not. But it's obvious that they're not done working on Halo. Now, think of it this way. Xbox dev kits have been out for awhile. Elder Scrolls IV looks very nice (hope the gameplay is good). So, suppose that Bungie had finished work on the single-player part of Halo 2 some time ago. Then, they split the team so that some of them could fine-tune Halo 2, while the rest immediately began work on Halo 3? When Bungie comments on what's after Halo, they may not mean after Halo 2, but after the Halo trilogy. Anyway, as the rumors go (and the rumors are credible enough to get some press in OXM), Microsoft's next system will be out before the PS3, probably as early as holiday 2005. Halo 3 will be completed and ready to release the same day as the PS3. And if Halo 2's sales are any indication, that's a wicked yet brilliant strategy for Microsoft.

Just finished the game. Don't really want to spoil anything, but where the original Halo had a conclusive ending to it's little story but room for sequels in the overarching war against the Covenant, Halo 2 just ends with a major cliffhanger. Now, I had fun with the game, sure, and it's by far my favorite game on Xbox Live now, but I felt the ending (or lack thereof) kind of cheapend the whole thing. Like it's less the sequel we've been waiting years for, and more of a stop-gap in between the original Halo and a Halo on next-gen hardware. Fact: There will be a Halo 3. Oh, the other thing is... after you beat it, you're supposed to get a certain something for the multiplayer. But I didn't get it. Weird.

Better cancel my preorder...

you know you can connect your computer to your tv and sound system. then you just need a wireless keyboard and mouse/trackerball if the keyboard doesnt have a touchpad built in or you dont like it in games like me. But again, the thing is, just as the hardcore PC crowd thinks that mouse and keyboard is the only way to go, console gamers are just used to our controllers. Check this out, guys. You can go to Bungie's Website, click on "stats" at the bottom of the page, and then type in your Gamertag (for those without gamertags, mine's Pharaohman, if you want to have a look). You can see ever game you've played, who you played with, who won, etc. You can also click to see a map of who died and where. That's a pretty cool feature. Plus, once you get involved in clans, Bungie is provided each clan with it's own clan forum.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/11/10/news_6112915.html I knew I was busy yesterday... Anyway, did some more online playing. Just like Halo 1, some of the maps are great, some aren't so great. It's fun that you can drive the Banshee and the Wraith in multi-player now. And it's really fun to drive vehicles into the fan on Zanzibar. Oh, and another Halo-moment... I was using a Banshee to chase down one friend, and another comes up and tries to jack my ride! I bailed, so he could have it... then I shot him with a rocket launcher while he was climbing. As an added bonus, the explosion took out the guy I was chasing in the first place. Double kill!

I'm Jack Sparrow, or O-Ren Ishii. Either way, I have issues.

Oh, I don't know about that. It probably would have released a lot sooner, and not looked so dated by PC standards. Also, Bungie would have done it right. The mediocre PC version of Halo was mediocre because it was a port handled by some third party. i've read a few more posts from you man, it doesn't even sound like you have an xbox. actually play halo sometime and i think it'll change your mind. Are you implying that Gaijin doesn't have an Xbox, or me? Because I most definately have an Xbox, and I've most definately been playing Halo 2. Anyway, to get this thread back on track, I think the thing I was dissapointed with as far as Killzone goes is the pop-up and spotty hit detection. When I shoot someone in the head, I expect them to go down, dammit!

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. If Studio Nue and Big West are going to sink time and money into doing more Macross, I'd rather a new original TV series than a remake of the original.

I like MS, too! I also take care of my system, and I think Windows XP kicks much ass! I stopped using IE, though. I liked it, but it was directly to blame for letting in some of the spyware/malware that corrupted Windows and forced me to do a system restore. I tried disabling ActiveX, but soon got tired of warnings from IE that it might not be able to display a page properly and so on, so I eventually switched to Firefox, and haven't looked back since. I was hesitant to buy an Xbox, because no American console has succeeded in the console market. I was afraid the Xbox was going to pull another Dreamcast. But, Halo and DoA3 were just too hard to resist. And I gotta give Microsoft a lot of credit. They've set up a user-friendly online system, and really captured the attention of the mainstream American gamer (and with the Japanese gaming industry on the decline, plus the rising dominance of non-Japanese developers like EA and Ubisoft, the American market has definately become more vital than the Japanese). Today, I have more Xbox games than any other console. Anyway, I'm sure a lot of Halo's popularity is due to the multiplayer. It's not the mindless frag-fest that Unreal is, although not quite as stalk-and-shoot as Goldeneye or Perfect Dark. It was the kind of multiplayer that was easy to get into, and the kind where you'd often create moments to laugh about later (like the time I was driving the tank, and my friends were going to try to use the Warthog to attack me, but the driver panicked and backed over his teammate). But, if you don't like splitscreen gaming, it's just a fun console shooter, but probably nothing outstanding to the PC crowd. And why is Halo 2 so good? Well, Bungie heard the complaints about the first one, and really worked hard to to fix things like the repetetive levels and to create more multiplayer maps. See now, if you have friends who want to play (again, don't play strangers), then you might try Halo 2 online.

Oh, I don't know about that. It probably would have released a lot sooner, and not looked so dated by PC standards. Also, Bungie would have done it right. The mediocre PC version of Halo was mediocre because it was a port handled by some third party.

I'm not pretending that voice chat was invented with Xbox Live. I keep mentioning it because without it, it wouldn't really matter if I was playing a friend, stranger, or a bot. I am saying that Halo 2's online play has that combination of things... the TV in the living room, voice, and the same game and same friends you'd be playing with if everyone really was in your living room... that really make it almost as good as if your friend really were there.

I didn't say that PC FPS gamers are a minority... I said that PC gamers period are a minority. Most of the money in the videogame industry is in consoles. I have no idea how many copies of Half-Life were sold, but the original Halo sold 4 million copies in the US. Microsoft may have jumped the gun announcing those sales figures, but I wouldn't be suprised if they're correct. Remember, $22,000 in one day at my store. We're lucky if we top $10,000 on Black Friday. And that's just one store. And yes, that seriously was mostly Halo 2. I sold maybe three copies of Everquest II, one copy of San Andreas, a used copy of Madden 2004, a Yu-Gi-Oh game for the GBA, and few Halo 2 strat guides, and something between 200 and 300 copies of Halo 2.

But that's the brilliance of it! I'm not just logging into some server to get raped by some middle-schooler who does nothing but play Halo in their free time... I've got my best friend down in Virginia, two more local friends, plus three guys from work on my Live Friend List. Then, I only play with them. With voice chat enabled, you still have all the smack talk, plus the usual "So, how's your wife?" or "Do you want to get a beer after work tomorrow?" I kid you not, it's seriously as good as if they really were there with you.

Bravo! Spoken like a true hater! Sorry, Isamu, there's just no way I can take your opinion seriously when you're trying to tell me that a game as ugly as the N64 Turoks looks better than a game as gorgeous as Halo 2.

Killzone's two biggest problems are that it was actually Sony who was billing it as a Halo killer to get it more attention, and that it was made for PS2. Don't get me wrong, I like my PS2, and I think it's great for games like Ace Combat, which just looks gorgeous on it. But it's not so hot for FPS. And then, when people finally play the game, they find it's nothing really like Halo... more like Medal of Honor in the future.

See, me and my friends did that too, and later with Perfect Dark. And it took awhile to grow on us (and I still wish it had better maps), but Halo captured some of those good old days. Now, the thing is, the friends I used to play Goldeneye with have all moved around the US with jobs and what not... and that's one of the reasons Halo 2 is good. Completely lag free, voice-chat enabled. In the living room, on the TV with the home theater. It's the next best thing to having my bros in the living room with me (and on the plus side, I can play in my boxers). Is that something new and revolutionary? Well, as it's been pointed out, PC gamers have been doing it for years... but it's just not the same. Halo 2 with Xbox Live is a lot closer to those days of yore when we all crowded around a TV with an N64 and Goldeneye. As for the campaign, Bungie heard the (valid) complaints that the levels were rather repetetive in the original Halo, and they took great care to mix things up better in Halo 2. Attacking that big spider-looking mech was like nothing I'd ever done in a game before, and later, I was pleasantly suprised to get to play a level as a Covenant soldier known as "the Arbiter." And the story is pretty good, too. The orignal Halo's story was good for an FPS, but maybe kind of so-so in general. The story is a lot more interesting this time around.

So, anyway, like I said, I worked today. 8 hours of people non-stop picking up their Halo reserves. To give you an idea, my store usually does maybe $1000 on a weekday, $2000 on a weekend. $10,000-$15,000 a week. Big games come out, like Madden, maybe we have two days of $5000 before it goes back to normal. When Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (a game many thought would be the best-selling game of the year) came out, we did $7000 two days in a row, and didn't go below $2000 for a few days after. Well, Halo 2 basically crapped on GTA. We did over $6000 from midnight to 1:00 am last night, and we did $22,000 today (with an hour and a half left to go when I left). Bear in mind, these are just sales figures. I'm not saying that one game or another is definatively better (although I got bored fast with GTAIII an had no interest in San Andreas), and there's no law that says you can't enjoy both. I just think it's unreal how incredible the sales have been for Halo 2.

Is Halo 2 the best console FPS? Yes. PC gaming and console gaming is like pie and ice cream. Sure, they're both basically desserts. They're both enjoyable, and if you like one, you can like the other. But for all their similarities, they're not the same. Halo 2 doesn't bring anything new to the FPS genre, or anything that PC gamers that were weened on Quake and Tribes haven't already experienced. But, Halo isn't made with PC gamers in mind... it's for the people who spent hours playing Goldeneye on four player split-screen. PC gamers are a hardcore lot, and I give them credit for that. But most gamers today don't feel like spending $500 bucks to upgrade their video card to play the newest game (only to turn around later and buy a new motherboard and processor for same reasons), then have to patch the hell out of their game to squat in front of their 17" monitor when a $300 Xbox will let them play most of the games they want with no hassle on (at least) a 27" TV from the comfort of their favorite armchair. It's for that reason that Halo 2 will, in all likelihood, outsell Doom 3 and Half-Life 2 combined. But, anyway, this thread isn't about the pros and cons of PC gaming vs. console gaming. It's a fact that some of us prefer one method or the other, for various reasons, all valid. And some us enjoy both. Let's please just all accept that, remember this is a discussion about Halo 2, and be respectful of each other.

Those new enemies would be the drones. If you have a Battle Rifle, stand back and use the scope. Hit them when they land. Again, the online is the best I've ever experienced on the Xbox. There was aboslurmely no lag. It's like all those times, whenever my friend from VA was visiting here in PA, we'd play Halo 1 in my living room. It's just like that.