Halo 2

[Vostok 7]

I've got the Trifecta. PS2 (x2), Xbox, GC. I also have a GBA SP, a Game Gear, a Nomad and a Nintendo DS coming soon.

Vostok 7

[Kin]

Please give me a few reasons why Halo2 is "cool"

[mikeszekely]

0_o I'm not gettin anything else Nintendo wise after I bought my Gamestation, I mean Gamecube   That thing is personally I think meant to draw in the younger kids who aren't into the whole DVD/CD player scheme like PS and Microsoft who aim for older teens and adults.  I mean wow Nintendo was the head honcho way back in the 80's and early 90's, even Sega had a really hard time to catch up, than WHAM! Here comes Playstation who takes them all out and leads Sega into never producing a game system again, and Nintendo resulting in cheap knock offs like the 64 which didn't last long....than Playstation thought it had the world under its feet than WHAM! Hello Xbox now really no one even CARES what Nintendo does really.  Its just Microsoft and SONY.  Nintendo is gonna go away with the Sega and Atari I think REALLY soon, even with the DS.

Nintendo has sold more Gamecubes than MS has sold X-Boxes. Last Xmas put them up on top.

Hehe, kinda funny that I own the 2 consoles that are least popular.

Oh, and in response to my earlier comment, you guys are right. Sony is the only guilty party really. I think most of that annoyance stems from PC part manufacturers... Voodoo, GeForce, Radeon, TNT. But I suppose 3rd parties come up with some good names. I remember my GeForce DDR; Creative 3D ANNIHILATOR PRO. Heh, stemmed a funny discussion where we came up with different names for vid cards ("3D RAPIST PRO; F*cks your games in the @$$ after they said no!") Of course, that's off the top of my head, we came up with some better ones.

Dammit... sorry for being OT guys.

Nintendo sold more Gamecubes during the last holiday season, and Gamecube is safely #2 in Japan, but Microsoft has still sold more consoles worldwide since launch than Nintendo.

Microsoft is also likely to sell the most consoles this holiday season. There's another shortage of PS2s (maybe Sony doesn't like money?), and you wouldn't believe the number of people who have bought Xboxes over the past month just for Halo 2.

Meanwhile, even with a Metroid bundle and a Mario Kart bundle, the Gamecubes are just sitting in our stockroom collecting dust...

[mikeszekely]

Please give me a few reasons why Halo2 is "cool"

It's really hard to explain to someone who's never played it. Basically, it's a good console FPS with an amazingly addictive and fun multiplayer side.

If you don't like FPS (or at least console FPS), there's nothing about Halo 2 that'll change your mind. But if you do like FPS on consoles, Halo 2 is just the cream of the crop.

Edited November 18, 2004 by mikeszekely

[Ladic]

0_o I'm not gettin anything else Nintendo wise after I bought my Gamestation, I mean Gamecube   That thing is personally I think meant to draw in the younger kids who aren't into the whole DVD/CD player scheme like PS and Microsoft who aim for older teens and adults.  I mean wow Nintendo was the head honcho way back in the 80's and early 90's, even Sega had a really hard time to catch up, than WHAM! Here comes Playstation who takes them all out and leads Sega into never producing a game system again, and Nintendo resulting in cheap knock offs like the 64 which didn't last long....than Playstation thought it had the world under its feet than WHAM! Hello Xbox now really no one even CARES what Nintendo does really.  Its just Microsoft and SONY.  Nintendo is gonna go away with the Sega and Atari I think REALLY soon, even with the DS.

Nintendo has sold more Gamecubes than MS has sold X-Boxes. Last Xmas put them up on top.

Hehe, kinda funny that I own the 2 consoles that are least popular.

Oh, and in response to my earlier comment, you guys are right. Sony is the only guilty party really. I think most of that annoyance stems from PC part manufacturers... Voodoo, GeForce, Radeon, TNT. But I suppose 3rd parties come up with some good names. I remember my GeForce DDR; Creative 3D ANNIHILATOR PRO. Heh, stemmed a funny discussion where we came up with different names for vid cards ("3D RAPIST PRO; F*cks your games in the @$$ after they said no!") Of course, that's off the top of my head, we came up with some better ones.

Dammit... sorry for being OT guys.

You also have to consider that GC's are cheaper than Xbox's.

[Zentrandude]

anyone have mod xbox? I hear halo2 scans for illegal mods.

[Gaijin]

anyone have mod xbox? I hear halo2 scans for illegal mods.

I've heard that too...it locks people's Live accounts or something.

[CoryHolmes]

Please give me a few reasons why Halo2 is "cool"

A couple of things for me make Halo2 "cool".

First off is the enemy AI. They'll flank you, retreat when they're losing, and work together to overwhelm you in pretty creative ways. You have no idea how annoying it is to be laying the smackdown on some Elite when a couple of Grunts run up and blast you from behind

The writing. The overall plot is pretty decent, but the actual writing of the story is nothing short of excellent. The voice actors, particularly Cortana and Seargent Johnson, have all done amazing jobs in bringing their characters to life. 343 Guilty Spark was a hoot in Halo1, too. All the VAs deserve kudos for their job on these games.

The controls. It's an extremely easy and smooth console control system that I found intuitive and quick to learn. Not many other games, particularly FPS' can claim that.

[Max Jenius]

You also have to consider that GC's are cheaper than Xbox's.

Who cares? M$ could afford to bring it down easily. GC has always been cheaper than XBox and up until last year it was a dead-heat. More units sold is more units sold is more units sold. They're both competing in the same market and their power is comparable. By that logic the generic brand cereal in the 20lb sacks should outsell the PC Game box sized name brand cereals... no? Its just as good, correct?

[Hikuro]

True GC's are cheaper, by a good 70 dollars. For the price of 1 Xbox is 1 Gamecube and maybe 1 new game, however you can't watch movies or play CD's on you Gamecube because of the disc size being so small. Not too mention there is no online feature, Gamecube is on its own in this department. But to make up for some of this stuff you can connect you GBA to your Gamecube with the right attatchments and play on your TV when your at home.

Now "Cool" with Halo or Halo2 in general....

I'm not a big FPS fan, if anything I try to avoid it....I don't like playing games where I can't easily see my enviorment surrounding me, trees, rocks, CLIFFS! Etc....not too mention I'm not into the whole survival deal, where you gotta get new weapons to replace those which are out of ammo. I'd rather just go full blaze and shoot every single little thing in existance....but that's what makes the game go dull so quickly, infinite ammo, it also ruins the realism of a FPS.

Halo will also cause you a few jumps of "WTF?!" from time to time, cause you there are things you don't see coming, and the Covenent can get so far spread out that you can't count their numbers so easily. Thus you kind of start running around getting shot at, and when ya look around, there's one of those lil midgets right there screamin "BAD GUY!"

Voice Acting is nicely done as well, the Sarg, Cortana, even the Master Chief at times make pretty bad ass remarks, "Time to stop wettin the bed and get out there and fight! Mommy ain't gonna whipe your ass with cotton soft toilet paper before you die!"

[Ladic]

You also have to consider that GC's are cheaper than Xbox's.

Who cares? M$ could afford to bring it down easily. GC has always been cheaper than XBox and up until last year it was a dead-heat. More units sold is more units sold is more units sold. They're both competing in the same market and their power is comparable. By that logic the generic brand cereal in the 20lb sacks should outsell the PC Game box sized name brand cereals... no? Its just as good, correct?

Yeah, it was always cheaper, but then last year GC also slashed it's price to HALF of Xbox's, one was worth $199 and the other $99, that's a HUGE price difference when talking about consoles.

And your example is flawed, because a genereci brand cereal probably tastes like crap, and noone has heard of it, while everyone has heard of apple jacks.

In this case, people know equally both systems, and perhaps Nintendo is more famous, so clueless parents, just buy a nintendo for their kids since that's what they have associated with videogames the last 20 years.

And you can't also say that X-box is MUCH better than GC or viceversa, both systems are equally lame, for a select few games.

Edited November 18, 2004 by Ladic

[eugimon]

Actuallly, Xbox and PS2 sales are very close, and xbox has sold more units then PS2 every once in a while.

Gamcube on the other hand, has been selling about half of what xbox and ps2 are doing.

And considering that Halo2 has sold 3million units, I expect november will go to xbox as well.

Face it, if it weren't for the GBA, nintendo would be in serious trouble.

[fearyaks]

anyone have mod xbox? I hear halo2 scans for illegal mods.

I've heard that too...it locks people's Live accounts or something.

It's happening but I don't think people know how they're detecting it. Some people think it is HDD related but that doesn't seem to be the case (I've got a friend with a 120 GB HDD and he hasn't been banned). I chose to get an extra Xbox specifically for modding to avoid crap like this.

[mikeszekely]

anyone have mod xbox? I hear halo2 scans for illegal mods.

I've heard that too...it locks people's Live accounts or something.

It's happening but I don't think people know how they're detecting it. Some people think it is HDD related but that doesn't seem to be the case (I've got a friend with a 120 GB HDD and he hasn't been banned). I chose to get an extra Xbox specifically for modding to avoid crap like this.

I just went and got a modded PS2 instead. Everyone talks about how great the Xbox is for emulation, but I've burned myself plenty of PS2 emulators. Besides, there's more good games worth importing for the PS2.

[Hikuro]

lol I should talk to my friend Harry, he modded his Xbox with the 120 Gigs and what not, not sure if he's gone live or not, I should ask

[Gumper]

a friend of mine says the scanning isnt 100% right, some of the newer chips will turn themselves off if they sense something scanning them.

Never seen the point in modding my XBox to be honest.

[Panzer]

anyone have mod xbox? I hear halo2 scans for illegal mods.

I've heard that too...it locks people's Live accounts or something.

It's happening but I don't think people know how they're detecting it. Some people think it is HDD related but that doesn't seem to be the case (I've got a friend with a 120 GB HDD and he hasn't been banned). I chose to get an extra Xbox specifically for modding to avoid crap like this.

I just went and got a modded PS2 instead. Everyone talks about how great the Xbox is for emulation, but I've burned myself plenty of PS2 emulators. Besides, there's more good games worth importing for the PS2.

PS2 baaaah-looooowwz.

i was staring at the skinny PSN last night at my local gamestore, i even had $150 in my bank account.

but after pondering for a few minutes i couldn't think of one damn game i'd buy for it.

theres nothing i can't live without or get a huge boner for.

MGS3? *snooooore*

Killzone? i heard its a mess. i got Halo 2..

FF? uh.. no thanks, I got a little game called Fable where you actually swing a sword.

and GTA? most of my buddies have gotten rid of theirs cause they don't have the time or patience for it. graphics blow anyways.

The Armored Core series does look very tempting and so do the Gundam games which i've played before. i love battling in space. those would be what i'd play on PS2. but unless ones given to me for free i'm gonna pass. I like Katamari too.

and what controller is better than the S-controller? none my friends. and whats more fun than XBOX Live? nothing.

[Hikuro]

Really the only games I think are worth playign Mecha wise if not Gundam than Zone of the Enders, atleast you got really really cool moves like a Vector Canon coming out of another dimension of space and time to just rip the hell out of anything in range, and than you got Zero-Shift going from one point to another in a blink of an eye oooohhhhhhh yeah!

[mikeszekely]

anyone have mod xbox? I hear halo2 scans for illegal mods.

I've heard that too...it locks people's Live accounts or something.

It's happening but I don't think people know how they're detecting it. Some people think it is HDD related but that doesn't seem to be the case (I've got a friend with a 120 GB HDD and he hasn't been banned). I chose to get an extra Xbox specifically for modding to avoid crap like this.

I just went and got a modded PS2 instead. Everyone talks about how great the Xbox is for emulation, but I've burned myself plenty of PS2 emulators. Besides, there's more good games worth importing for the PS2.

PS2 baaaah-looooowwz.

i was staring at the skinny PSN last night at my local gamestore, i even had $150 in my bank account.

but after pondering for a few minutes i couldn't think of one damn game i'd buy for it.

theres nothing i can't live without or get a huge boner for.

MGS3? *snooooore*

Killzone? i heard its a mess. i got Halo 2..

FF? uh.. no thanks, I got a little game called Fable where you actually swing a sword.

and GTA? most of my buddies have gotten rid of theirs cause they don't have the time or patience for it. graphics blow anyways.

The Armored Core series does look very tempting and so do the Gundam games which i've played before. i love battling in space. those would be what i'd play on PS2. but unless ones given to me for free i'm gonna pass. I like Katamari too.

and what controller is better than the S-controller? none my friends. and whats more fun than XBOX Live? nothing.

PS2 is fine. The Ace Combat series rocks, the Onimusha series is excellent, and as a Megaman fan, the PS2 happens to be where those are at. Federation vs. Zeon was great, and since I have a modded PS2, I might was well add that AEUG vs. Titans was even better. The ZOE games are also very good, if a little (okay, a lot) short. And again, having a modded console also means I can enjoy the Macross PS2 game, as well as the classic PSone Macross VF-X2 (which I still say is the best Macross game). And while I enjoy the Xbox controller for a lot of games, I still prefer the PS2 controller for racing games and flight games.

All three consoles have their strengths, and all three have their weaknesses. When you hate, you're the only one who looses.

[Gaijin]

anyone have mod xbox? I hear halo2 scans for illegal mods.

I've heard that too...it locks people's Live accounts or something.

It's happening but I don't think people know how they're detecting it. Some people think it is HDD related but that doesn't seem to be the case (I've got a friend with a 120 GB HDD and he hasn't been banned). I chose to get an extra Xbox specifically for modding to avoid crap like this.

I just went and got a modded PS2 instead. Everyone talks about how great the Xbox is for emulation, but I've burned myself plenty of PS2 emulators. Besides, there's more good games worth importing for the PS2.

PS2 baaaah-looooowwz.

i was staring at the skinny PSN last night at my local gamestore, i even had $150 in my bank account.

but after pondering for a few minutes i couldn't think of one damn game i'd buy for it.

theres nothing i can't live without or get a huge boner for.

MGS3? *snooooore*

Killzone? i heard its a mess. i got Halo 2..

FF? uh.. no thanks, I got a little game called Fable where you actually swing a sword.

and GTA? most of my buddies have gotten rid of theirs cause they don't have the time or patience for it. graphics blow anyways.

The Armored Core series does look very tempting and so do the Gundam games which i've played before. i love battling in space. those would be what i'd play on PS2. but unless ones given to me for free i'm gonna pass. I like Katamari too.

and what controller is better than the S-controller? none my friends. and whats more fun than XBOX Live? nothing.

If you don't like a console, fine. I own all 3 current gens, and have owned most every system released, including cart Neo, Neo CD...it'd be easier to name systems I didn't own...3DO...Virtual Boy...PC-FX...SuperGrafx...no console will appease EVERYONE.

I play my PS2 more than my Xbox and GC right now(this changes every now and then)...currently, it's got stuff I want to play...

Heck, I like old Mattel handheld Baseball.

[Jolly Rogers]

Most expensive copy of Halo 2 on eBay

[Hikuro]

lol his own damn fault!

[Druna Skass]

I just got done beating it on co-op with my brother and the whole time I was wondering, did several of the Starcraft people go to Bungie?

I mean:

Humans = Terrens

Covenant = Protoss

Flood = Zerg

Kind of makes me want to get an xbox of my own just for this... but with the PS3 just around the corner... f@ck it...

Edited November 28, 2004 by Druna Skass

[Kin]

Most expensive copy of Halo 2 on eBay

lol im not gonna pay 1000$ of digital crap

[Knight26]

Man I want to play this game but I am a PC Gamer only, anyone know of any good, stable, non-viral X-Box emulator that will run Halo-2?

[yellowlightman]

Played the hell out of this yesterday with some friends, only played multi though... so I have no idea what the single player is like. But based on that I'd say the game is good, but not great or nearly as amazing as so many XBox fanboys say it is. Outside of goofing around with vehicles in team matches, it seems like a pretty average FPS to me. For what it's worth, I can't see myself putting in as much time on this one as I did with Goldeneye back in the day.

[TheLoneWolf]

It's happening but I don't think people know how they're detecting it. Some people think it is HDD related but that doesn't seem to be the case (I've got a friend with a 120 GB HDD and he hasn't been banned). I chose to get an extra Xbox specifically for modding to avoid crap like this.

The most likely thing MS is doing is scanning for HDD key as well as the xbox's eeprom. If your hdd key is different than what the xbox's stock hdd key, you're banned. Of course, there are a few ppl still playing on Live with non-stock hd's, so it's still sketchy. The only known way to get yourself unbanned is to create a new GT, new stock hd, and eeprom, so I've got to assume that the hd plays a vital role in the banning process. More than likely, it's a mix of the three variables (HDD, eeprom, GT).

Also, Xbox live isn't the only way to play Halo 2 online. Xbconnect and Xlink are alternatives, and did I mention they're xbox-modded friendly

[Mr March]

First I'd like to apologize for the lengthy delay in responding. I've been without my computer for several weeks and have only just got back online to post in the last 3-4 days. I'd also forgotten about this thread, since it fell off the front page.

Regardless, I'll respond to several questions regarding my original post on page 2.

First off, PC gamers are most certainly the minority. NPD Group reported annual video game sales figures in North America are around 6.9 billion in 2003. Of that, pc game sales account for only 1.2 billion or roughly 17% of all video games sold in North America.

News Link:

http://www.megagames.com/news/html/pc/game...nclusions.shtml

To spotlight Halo 2, the game has sold more than 5 million units world wide. I'm sure most of us are also aware that Halo 2 sold 1.5 million units through preorder on the day of release and a total of 2.38 million units sold that same day. It is also important to keep in mind that Halo 2 is for the X-Box, a console system that holds only 27 percent of the North American console market share.

News Link:

http://www.pcvsconsole.com/news.php?nid=2850

News Link

http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/4885/Xbox-Market-Share-Grows

By comparison, software company Blizzard just released the pc game "World of Warcraft" (release date December 1, 2004) which broke the PC game record for One-Day sales at 240,000 units in North America. Blizzard software is also a record holder in the pc gaming industry for most units sold on three of its titles. The pc games Warcraft II, Diablo, and Starcraft all sold over a million units each worldwide (Starcraft also enjoyed a surprise boost beyond 1 million when it became hugely popular in Korea many years after it's release in North America). This should give you some idea how PC game sales rank against their console competitors.

News Link:

http://www.pcvsconsole.com/news.php?nid=2848

Long story short, pc gamers are the minority.

Now onto Goldeneye. I unfortunately only played Goldeneye for the Nintendo 64 breifly, but I never said it wasn't a good FPS for a console. Indeed, Goldeneye was one of the first successful FPS on a console system. However, it lacked significant innovations to the genre and had only a passable game control. By comparison, Halo offered far more innovative ideas, many exclusive to the console platform and also had superior game control for the inherent limitations of a gamepad. And obviously Goldeneye wasn't nearly as influential or popular as Halo, no doubt due to Nintendo's dwindling market share all through the latter half of the 1990s.

As for what makes Halo and Halo 2 great games, this is of course a matter of perspective and has already been described in the pages following my last post. Obviously if you don't like the games, I can waste decades describing why they are quality titles and the words will be wasted. If you don't like the games, I can only persuade you to give them an honest effort. If you can't manage that, then just take my word for it

[Oihan]

First I'd like to apologize for the lengthy delay in responding. I've been without my computer for several weeks and have only just got back online to post in the last 3-4 days. I'd also forgotten about this thread, since it fell off the front page.

Regardless, I'll respond to several questions regarding my original post on page 2.

First off, PC gamers are most certainly the minority. NPD Group reported annual video game sales figures in North America are around 6.9 billion in 2003. Of that, pc game sales account for only 1.2 billion or roughly 17% of all video games sold in North America.

News Link:

http://www.megagames.com/news/html/pc/game...nclusions.shtml

To spotlight Halo 2, the game has sold more than 5 million units world wide. I'm sure most of us are also aware that Halo 2 sold 1.5 million units through preorder on the day of release and a total of 2.38 million units sold that same day. It is also important to keep in mind that Halo 2 is for the X-Box, a console system that holds only 27 percent of the North American console market share.

News Link:

http://www.pcvsconsole.com/news.php?nid=2850

News Link

http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/4885/Xbox-Market-Share-Grows

By comparison, software company Blizzard just released the pc game "World of Warcraft" (release date December 1, 2004) which broke the PC game record for One-Day sales at 240,000 units in North America. Blizzard software is also a record holder in the pc gaming industry for most units sold on three of its titles. The pc games Warcraft II, Diablo, and Starcraft all sold over a million units each worldwide (Starcraft also enjoyed a surprise boost beyond 1 million when it became hugely popular in Korea many years after it's release in North America). This should give you some idea how PC game sales rank against their console competitors.

News Link:

http://www.pcvsconsole.com/news.php?nid=2848

Long story short, pc gamers are the minority.

Now onto Goldeneye. I unfortunately only played Goldeneye for the Nintendo 64 breifly, but I never said it wasn't a good FPS for a console. Indeed, Goldeneye was one of the first successful FPS on a console system. However, it lacked significant innovations to the genre and had only a passable game control. By comparison, Halo offered far more innovative ideas, many exclusive to the console platform and also had superior game control for the inherent limitations of a gamepad. And obviously Goldeneye wasn't nearly as influential or popular as Halo, no doubt due to Nintendo's dwindling market share all through the latter half of the 1990s.

As for what makes Halo and Halo 2 great games, this is of course a matter of perspective and has already been described in the pages following my last post. Obviously if you don't like the games, I can waste decades describing why they are quality titles and the words will be wasted. If you don't like the games, I can only persuade you to give them an honest effort. If you can't manage that, then just take my word for it

I couldn't have said any of that better myself. Thumbs up!

[mikeszekely]

Well-spoken, Mr. March.

[Knight26]

Ok, yes us PC Gamers are in the minority, but I don't care, I refuse to go console. But to my earlier question does anybody know of any good, X-Box emulators that will run Halo-2 on the PC?

[Mr March]

Ok, yes us PC Gamers are in the minority, but I don't care, I refuse to go console. But to my earlier question does anybody know of any good, X-Box emulators that will run Halo-2 on the PC?

That is of course your choice. As I stated before, I am a PC gamer first and a console gamer second. But regardless, I know a great game when I see one. The point I was trying to make is that many PC gamers lack the understanding that their gaming experiences are not shared by the majority of gamers. Thus, pc gamers should not be surprised when the popularity of a game genre they've enjoyed for years suddenly explodes on the console market.

As a pc gamer, you're on the fringe of software development, the leading edge. It sometimes takes a while for the rest of the world to catch on.

Sorry, but I don't know of any x-box emulators for the PC.

[Gaijin]

Ouch...finally got to playing and finishing it.

Ending....ummm...the first point where I begin to get excited as much as the 1st game and then....hey it's the credits! Oh well.

Too many cooks spoil the soup.

I'll give it props for what it is but...some minor annoyances here and there.

[mikeszekely]

Ending....ummm...the first point where I begin to get excited as much as the 1st game and then....hey it's the credits! Oh well.

Yeah, I'd say my one real gripe about Halo 2 was that it was less the amazing sequel we were all waiting for, and more of a teaser to get us all to buy Halo 3 (which better damn well be the amazing sequel we're all waiting for!).

[Mr March]

I doubt we'll see Halo 3 on the X-Box. I'd guess the second generation X-Box will be the one to feature that sequel. Especially since Microsoft nows has a huge following of Halo fans who will no doubt follow cross-platform. Besides, the X-Box and all the current generation gaming platforms are well into the end curve of their market life.