Halo: Spartan Assault Is (Sort Of) Windows Exclusive

[Andy Chalk]

Halo: Spartan Assault Is (Sort Of) Windows Exclusive

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Halo: Spartan Assault is a top-down twin-stick shooter in development exclusively for Windows 8.

Windows gamers longing for a Halo title to call their own may or may not be thrilled with today's reveal of Halo: Spartan Assault, which is being developed exclusively for Windows 8, but first and foremost for touchscreen devices - that'd be tablets and phones, and not the PC. It's not an FPS either, but rather a twin-stick shooter that bears at least a superficial resemblance to Frozenbyte's underrated Shadowgrounds games - or perhaps, more recognizably, Diablo with space-guns.

Spartan Assault is being developed by 343 Industries and Vanguard Games, and will offer leaderboards, weekly challenges and exclusive rewards for Halo 4, beginning with new Spartan emblems. If touchscreens aren't your thing, it can also be played with a mouse and keyboard, and Microsoft said it will also support wired Xbox 360 controllers "shortly after launch" via a title update - because hey, why wait until it's actually finished and ready, right?

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It is a Windows game, but the tablets and phones floating through this announcement trailer, with nary a keyboard nor a mouse in sight, make it clear that Microsoft is aiming squarely at the mobile gaming market with this thing. So does the price: The "accessible, pick-up-and-play" experience of Halo: Spartan Assault is set to come out in July at an estimated price of $6.99.

Source: Joystiq [http://www.joystiq.com/2013/06/04/halo-spartan-assault-breaks-off-peace-for-windows-8-pcs-tablet/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+weblogsinc%2Fjoystiq+%28Joystiq%29]


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[Zhukov]

I think it actually looks quite fun.

Windows 8 though. Heh. Nice try Microsoft.

 

[DSP_Zulu]

So is it Spartan Wars, Spartan Ops, or Spartan Assault? All three names are used within two sentences of each other.

 

[shadowxvii]

Meanwhile, some people are still foolishly hoping for Halo 3 to reach the PC platform ...

 

[Hairless Mammoth]

From the article title, I thought it meant it would be bowser based and use a Win 8 exclusive version of Silverlight. I guess I figured the worst could happen. Still, why does MS pull this bull with limiting a Halo game to an OS people hate? They could of put Halo 3 on Win 7 and broke this pattern of ass-hattery. No one who doesn't want touchscreen centric nightmares on their computer will put up with it just for Halo. Five years ago, or if it was Call of Duty, maybe.

 

[CyberAkuma]

If this is Micro$ofts way of convincing its users to switch to Windows 8 - regardless if it is on desktop or tablet form; it's a piss-ass poor form of trying to drag us gamers to that new piss-ass poor excuse of an OS.

This is equal to what Micro$hit did with Halo 2 launching it as a Windows VISTA exclusive claiming it to have "DirectX v.10 exclusive features" (features hat turned out to be false afterwards since the game ran fine on WinXP/DirectX v9 when hacked)
It was a piss-poor attempt at dragging new gamers to a shitty OS by tossing it an old past-gen Xbox1 game and I can absolutely see the resemblance with this game.

The PC-gaming division at MicroSoft has apparently learned very little since the last time they tried to pull off something this equally retarded and stupid.

I have nothing against the Halo-franchaise but I am going to call out a measly excuse of an attempt when I see one.

Meanwhile, some people are still foolishly hoping for Halo 3 to reach the PC platform ...

Was that before or after Valve released Half Life 2: Episode 3?

 

[Link XL1]

so let me get this straight, there making a good looking sticks shooter... on devices that dont have sticks?!?!!? WTF?

 

[Araksardet]

To me, this just further reinforces that Microsoft's vision for "PC" gaming is really to destroy PC gaming as we know it and split the carcass between the Xbone and tablets. Go to hell, Microsoft.

 

[Andy Chalk]

so let me get this straight, there making a good looking sticks shooter... on devices that dont have sticks?!?!!? WTF?

Twin-stick shooters are actually fairly common, and I suppose even popular, on touchscreen devices. I don't know why, except that I suppose it's the best control scheme for a top-down action game that anyone's been able to come up with so far.

 

[Infernai]

If this is Micro$ofts way of convincing its users to switch to Windows 8 - regardless if it is on desktop or tablet form; it's a piss-ass poor form of trying to drag us gamers to that new piss-ass poor excuse of an OS.

This is equal to what Micro$hit did with Halo 2 launching it as a Windows VISTA exclusive claiming it to have "DirectX v.10 exclusive features" (features hat turned out to be false afterwards since the game ran fine on WinXP/DirectX v9 when hacked)
It was a piss-poor attempt at dragging new gamers to a shitty OS by tossing it an old past-gen Xbox1 game and I can absolutely see the resemblance with this game.

The PC-gaming division at MicroSoft has apparently learned very little since the last time they tried to pull off something this equally retarded and stupid.

I have nothing against the Halo-franchaise but I am going to call out a measly excuse of an attempt when I see one.

Meanwhile, some people are still foolishly hoping for Halo 3 to reach the PC platform ...

Was that before or after Valve released Half Life 2: Episode 3?

Before Half Life 2: Episode 3 but after Final Fantasy Versus 13

 

[Abomination]

This is either a ploy to get more people to buy gaming tablets or Microsoft honestly believes that there is a big enough market of gaming tablet owners to release a game like this.

Either solution is terribly ballsy but I suspect also terribly stupid.

I get the feeling that the industry seems to be trying to convince consumers that tablet gaming is the "next big thing" or "the way of the future" when the people who decide that are the consumers who will actually buy or not buy the product.

I just can't see tablet gaming, with its limited number of gameplay genres, becoming the "next big thing". Sure it's essentially the next version of handhelds but the PC and consoles will always be able to offer a superior product.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

*Reading the title*: Oooh! A Halo title for PC? Could be interesting!

"Top-down twin-stick shooter for touchscreens": Oh fuck off...

To be honest, I lost interest when i read "Windows 8".

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

From the article title, I thought it meant it would be bowser based and use a Win 8 exclusive version of Silverlight. I guess I figured the worst could happen. Still, why does MS pull this bull with limiting a Halo game to an OS people hate? They could of put Halo 3 on Win 7 and broke this pattern of ass-hattery. No one who doesn't want touchscreen centric nightmares on their computer will put up with it just for Halo. Five years ago, or if it was Call of Duty, maybe.

They did it with Halo 2 by making it Vista only.

Lets just say that it didn't work back then.

Then again I think this was back when GFWL was nothing but a straight port of Xbox Live.