Bungie Bids a Silly and Fond Farewell to Halo 2
- Thread starter John Funk
- Start date
I never actually played Halo 2 online, but we bought the tin box the day it came out and my brother and I finished the solo campaign around 6 the next morning. Good times...
The lack of Xbox Live doesn't really make a difference to me - I rarely play online on the PC and I've never bought a console.
The lack of Xbox Live doesn't really make a difference to me - I rarely play online on the PC and I've never bought a console.
Read the second part of my post, please.Azalin137 said:
Halo 2 made online multiplayer on consoles a central, expected part of the experience. Before, online console play was a novelty at best - you had Crimson Skies, MechAssault, yes, but maybe a few thousand players, tops. Halo 2 exploded the popularity of Xbox Live, cemented online on consoles as the way of the future going forward, in a way like no other game did.
Modern Warfare 2's millions of people playing on XBL concurrently? That was all thanks to Halo 2 breaking new ground.
Wow. If my 360 wasn't imitating an asthmatic brick right as of late, I would have helped in the send off.
It was a pretty fun game to play, from time to time. *takes hat off for a moment*
Alright, moment over. Time to check the wall of mocking to see how this will go down.
Alright, moment over. Time to check the wall of mocking to see how this will go down.
meh.........I play all my FPS's on PC due to the superiority of a Keyboard/Mouse interface.... so I really enjoyed Halo on PC and I own Halo 3 on XBOX 360 since it was a gift (havent opened it yet) Personally I could care less.....Im just saying Halo 2 is cool but not THAT great.....John Funk said:
"Tell a gamer, Passer-by. That here John 117 lies." - Would have been the best way to kill it off by putting that message on every map on Halo 2 and 3 when They killed Halo 2.
I'm not a big competitive shooter fan but this right here is one of the big problems I see with gaming and the entire "digital"/"online" component of games which is becoming increasingly mandatory.
A lot of people look at things like Digital Downloads, DRM, and other things and act like they are no big deal since the companies will be around forever, and how the company supporting a popular game "loves it's fans" and would never do anything that would render a game unplayable.
Right here Halo 2 indirectly shows a problem with this attitude. I personally feel that if you buy a game you should be able to play it forever. If a big part of that game is multi-player that can be a problem, when the defining feature of a game is it's multiplayer it's an even bigger problem. Of course even a game that is totally single player is a problem if it requires online interaction (like say Assasin's Creed 2).
To me there is no doubt that Bungie could successfully make Halo 2 run on the current networks. It would probably involved patching/redoing a massive portion of the game, but it could be done. This is however not going to happen (and be deemed impossible) because simply put "Halo 2" is no longer selling, and there is no cash revenue coming in to justify that kind of massive development on an old title, when those man hours could be used to develop something that will make money.
See, from my perspective I see this as a milestone in part because it demonstrates a
massive problem with the industry, and should be a wake up call for fans. Simply put, as long as there is one person out there who paid money for Halo 2 and wants to go online with it, I think it should be kept operating no matter what it takes. Or more to the point, I think developing games that can't stand/operate/network on their own should not be happening.
What I'm saying isn't really all that impractical, since basically it's something that can be addressed from a design perspective in many cases, and basically amounts to NOT using things like online DRM. Though admittedly as far as things going on right now are concerned I feel companies like Bungie should be being forced to refund money to any Halo 2 player who demands it as opposed to making jokes about it before they shut it down for good. Then perhaps they might sue Microsoft for a refund due to the central issue being related to them retiring the original XBL infrastructure
Of course what I think is irrelevent. Heck, given the way I feel right now I doubt I'm even all that coherant (my cat of 18 years just died, and I've been unable to sleep).
A lot of people look at things like Digital Downloads, DRM, and other things and act like they are no big deal since the companies will be around forever, and how the company supporting a popular game "loves it's fans" and would never do anything that would render a game unplayable.
Right here Halo 2 indirectly shows a problem with this attitude. I personally feel that if you buy a game you should be able to play it forever. If a big part of that game is multi-player that can be a problem, when the defining feature of a game is it's multiplayer it's an even bigger problem. Of course even a game that is totally single player is a problem if it requires online interaction (like say Assasin's Creed 2).
To me there is no doubt that Bungie could successfully make Halo 2 run on the current networks. It would probably involved patching/redoing a massive portion of the game, but it could be done. This is however not going to happen (and be deemed impossible) because simply put "Halo 2" is no longer selling, and there is no cash revenue coming in to justify that kind of massive development on an old title, when those man hours could be used to develop something that will make money.
See, from my perspective I see this as a milestone in part because it demonstrates a
massive problem with the industry, and should be a wake up call for fans. Simply put, as long as there is one person out there who paid money for Halo 2 and wants to go online with it, I think it should be kept operating no matter what it takes. Or more to the point, I think developing games that can't stand/operate/network on their own should not be happening.
What I'm saying isn't really all that impractical, since basically it's something that can be addressed from a design perspective in many cases, and basically amounts to NOT using things like online DRM. Though admittedly as far as things going on right now are concerned I feel companies like Bungie should be being forced to refund money to any Halo 2 player who demands it as opposed to making jokes about it before they shut it down for good. Then perhaps they might sue Microsoft for a refund due to the central issue being related to them retiring the original XBL infrastructure
Of course what I think is irrelevent. Heck, given the way I feel right now I doubt I'm even all that coherant (my cat of 18 years just died, and I've been unable to sleep).
