If DX9 why not Xp

If games like Halo 2 and Crysis are using DX9 why aren't they compatible with XP?pharomarc

MS most certainly could have made Halo 2 work on XP AND Vista. But if they didn't want to implement Live and Tray&Play on XP, they still could have made the game run on XP in the traditional way, and on Vista in the "new and improved" way.

THIS WOULD HAVE INCREASED THEIR AUDIENCE IMMENSLEY.

So you see, all those who say "but XP couldn't do Tray&Play or Live FTW!!!" miss the point. Halo 2 Vista could have been developed and sold. For a little more $$$, MS could have ALSO developed Halo 2 XP (with less features) and made a TON more money.

Therefore, I conclude that Halo 2 is a Vista-exclusive exclusively to push Vista, NOT because Halo 2 inherently required Vista.

It's all about pushing the new OS and requisite hardware upgrades (e.g. graphics cards).

EDIT: Crysis is not Vista exclusive.

Crysis is XP compatible.  As for Halo2...  well, MS has a perfectly good OS in WinXP SP2.  At the moment, there's very little reason for anyone to upgrade to Vista.  Not corporations, and particularly not gamers.  Outside of the (relatively) small technophile group that has to have the latest of everything that comes out the most likely scenario is that not many people will upgrade, at least not in the numbers that MS is wanting.

What to do, what to do...  Well, take what's ostensibly your most popular game and port it to the PC and then make sure it runs on Vista only.  Now your average gamer who loves Halo2 and wants the PC version has to upgrade to Vista.  It's not quite as simple as "problem solved", but by making Halo2 "Vista Only", MS has probably raked in at least a quarter million more sales of Vista than they would have otherwise...

If memory serves, the technical reason is that Halo2 takes advantage of Vista's "Tray and Play" capabilities - ie you can pop the DVD in for the first time and be up and playing the game within minutes of inserting the disc.  ie, somehow, you can play the game at the same time that it's installing...

Do we care?  No.  But MS cares about the quarter million extra Vista sales...  ;)

 

Crysis is XP compatible. As for Halo2... well, MS has a perfectly good OS in WinXP SP2. At the moment, there's very little reason for anyone to upgrade to Vista. Not corporations, and particularly not gamers. Outside of the (relatively) small technophile group that has to have the latest of everything that comes out the most likely scenario is that not many people will upgrade, at least not in the numbers that MS is wanting.

What to do, what to do... Well, take what's ostensibly your most popular game and port it to the PC and then make sure it runs on Vista only. Now your average gamer who loves Halo2 and wants the PC version has to upgrade to Vista. It's not quite as simple as "problem solved", but by making Halo2 "Vista Only", MS has probably raked in at least a quarter million more sales of Vista than they would have otherwise...

If memory serves, the technical reason is that Halo2 takes advantage of Vista's "Tray and Play" capabilities - ie you can pop the DVD in for the first time and be up and playing the game within minutes of inserting the disc. ie, somehow, you can play the game at the same time that it's installing...

Do we care? No. But MS cares about the quarter million extra Vista sales... ;)

Treadstone71

anyone uprooting themselves from XP just for that really is just STUPID. WOW. i really cant put it any other way. 

If games like Halo 2 and Crysis are using DX9 why aren't they compatible with XP?pharomarc

[QUOTE="pharomarc"]If games like Halo 2 and Crysis are using DX9 why aren't they compatible with XP?mastershake575

The live service dosen't even work right now. Plus you have to pay for it when most online pc games are free. I don't see Blizzard charging a dime for battle.net or the thousands of tournaments they host free of cost to those that join. That is a real company. Vivendi and Blizzard know how to do business without screwing the consumer. 

The live service dosen't even work right now. Plus you have to pay for it when most online pc games are free. I don't see Blizzard charging a dime for battle.net or the thousands of tournaments they host free of cost to those that join. That is a real company. Vivendi and Blizzard know how to do business without screwing the consumer.Unstoppable_1

and I quote
"Since LIVE wasn't working, I had to make do with creating a temporary profile (any attempt to sign into my Xbox Live account was met with a "can't connect to LIVE" error message) that warned me that because I'm not on LIVE, I can't get any achievements. That sort of took the wind out of my sail, right after I felt kinda good about being able to play the game while it installed."

end quote 

Features that don't even work, unacceptable.

http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/halo-2/790581p1.html

As for the 50$ charge here it is.

http://kotaku.com/gaming/games-for-windows/games-for-windows-+-live-gold-to-cost-50-244045.php

Considering the game is 3 years old, the least they could of done was have live gold for free a couple of years. I mean it's a 3 year old game, we're paying a premium price, why not free online? They want more $$$. 56 billion dollars Mr. Gates, share the wealth.  

BEcause Halo 2 for the PC was a big fat global scam so Stan Marsh and the Scientologists can make one million dollars!

Seriously, though, Halo 2 is a scam...at its best its a testbed for all the features Microsoft wants to incorporate into their games but shouldnt for atleast five years.

Silver lets you play with others. Gold gives you the ability to play with 360 users. That means... Uno and Shadowrun. Whoopie! So now, where do you have to pay for silver?Makari

Youc ant even VOIP with silver. Its a joke. 

From the Games for Windows Live page:

Silver Acct.

• Free
• Single Gamertag
• Common Gamer Profile
• Common Gamer Score
• Single Player Achievements
• Private Chat via Text and Voice
• Common Friends List and Online Presence
• PC Only Multiplayer Including Browsing a List of Active Games

Gold Acct.

• All of Silver
• $49.95 for one year membership
• Multiplayer Matchmaking With Friends
• TrueSkill Matchmaking
• Multiplayer Achievements
• Cross Platform Gameplay

Also, the guy that said Lost Planet is only for Vista, I am not so sure considering the demo runs on XP.  Not well, but it does run on XP.

From the Games for Windows Live page:

Silver Acct.

• Free
• Single Gamertag
• Common Gamer Profile
• Common Gamer Score
• Single Player Achievements
• Private Chat via Text and Voice
• Common Friends List and Online Presence
• PC Only Multiplayer Including Browsing a List of Active Games

Gold Acct.

• All of Silver
• $49.95 for one year membership
• Multiplayer Matchmaking With Friends
• TrueSkill Matchmaking
• Multiplayer Achievements
• Cross Platform Gameplay

Also, the guy that said Lost Planet is only for Vista, I am not so sure considering the demo runs on XP. Not well, but it does run on XP.

mclazyj

PRIVATE CHAT WITH FREINDS!! Not in game voip! 

[QUOTE="mclazyj"]

From the Games for Windows Live page:

Silver Acct.

• Free
• Single Gamertag
• Common Gamer Profile
• Common Gamer Score
• Single Player Achievements
• Private Chat via Text and Voice
• Common Friends List and Online Presence
• PC Only Multiplayer Including Browsing a List of Active Games

Gold Acct.

• All of Silver
• $49.95 for one year membership
• Multiplayer Matchmaking With Friends
• TrueSkill Matchmaking
• Multiplayer Achievements
• Cross Platform Gameplay

Also, the guy that said Lost Planet is only for Vista, I am not so sure considering the demo runs on XP. Not well, but it does run on XP.

ForlornHope

PRIVATE CHAT WITH FREINDS!! Not in game voip!

cause MS are idiots that insist on addding a bunch of crap almsot nobody cares about.ForlornHope

[QUOTE="mclazyj"]

From the Games for Windows Live page:

Silver Acct.

• Free
• Single Gamertag
• Common Gamer Profile
• Common Gamer Score
• Single Player Achievements
• Private Chat via Text and Voice
• Common Friends List and Online Presence
• PC Only Multiplayer Including Browsing a List of Active Games

Gold Acct.

• All of Silver
• $49.95 for one year membership
• Multiplayer Matchmaking With Friends
• TrueSkill Matchmaking
• Multiplayer Achievements
• Cross Platform Gameplay

Also, the guy that said Lost Planet is only for Vista, I am not so sure considering the demo runs on XP. Not well, but it does run on XP.

ForlornHope

PRIVATE CHAT WITH FREINDS!! Not in game voip!

Step 1: Chill out with the caps.  Mclazyj didn't even mention anything about VoIP...just the differences between Silver and Gold packages.

Step 2: It's kinda hard for MS to put in-game VoIP into games that it doesn't develop.  What you are talking about is a VoIP service that is run outside of the game (which is something that we've been told Gold will have...I believe the statement was XFire-like abilities).  Don't go blaming MS for something they can't control.  And seriously, out-of-game VoIP services like Vent and TeamSpeak are basically "private chat [channels] via text and voice."

Halo 2 is simply a game used to showcase various Vista features. For the people who have Vista already...it's a nice way to showcase and display some of the newer features. dnuggs40

[QUOTE="dnuggs40"]Halo 2 is simply a game used to showcase various Vista features. For the people who have Vista already...it's a nice way to showcase and display some of the newer features. BounceDK

Tray and play, live, achievements, and I am sure others...

"I'm lost"

Yup...

[QUOTE="BounceDK"][QUOTE="dnuggs40"]Halo 2 is simply a game used to showcase various Vista features. For the people who have Vista already...it's a nice way to showcase and display some of the newer features. dnuggs40

Tray and play, live, achievements, and I am sure others...

"I'm lost"

Yup...

If games like Halo 2 and Crysis are using DX9 why aren't they compatible with XP?pharomarc

Games for Windows Live -- only for Windows Vista.

Halo 2 Vista -- Games for Windows Live title.

It kinda works out if you have a brain.

[QUOTE="BounceDK"][QUOTE="dnuggs40"]Halo 2 is simply a game used to showcase various Vista features. For the people who have Vista already...it's a nice way to showcase and display some of the newer features. dnuggs40

Tray and play, live, achievements, and I am sure others...

"I'm lost"

Yup...

I find it weird that people spend money on DX 10 cards then prefer to stick with DX 9 on a 7 year old OS.

[QUOTE="dnuggs40"]

[QUOTE="BounceDK"][QUOTE="dnuggs40"]Halo 2 is simply a game used to showcase various Vista features. For the people who have Vista already...it's a nice way to showcase and display some of the newer features. BounceDK

Tray and play, live, achievements, and I am sure others...

"I'm lost"

Yup...

That's your opinion (and thats fine and all), but maybe other people dont consider them useless.  Just a thought...

[QUOTE="dnuggs40"]

[QUOTE="BounceDK"][QUOTE="dnuggs40"]Halo 2 is simply a game used to showcase various Vista features. For the people who have Vista already...it's a nice way to showcase and display some of the newer features. Deihmos

Tray and play, live, achievements, and I am sure others...

"I'm lost"

Yup...

I find it weird that people spend money on DX 10 cards then prefer to stick with DX 9 on a 7 year old OS.

[QUOTE="dnuggs40"]

[QUOTE="BounceDK"][QUOTE="dnuggs40"]Halo 2 is simply a game used to showcase various Vista features. For the people who have Vista already...it's a nice way to showcase and display some of the newer features. Deihmos

Tray and play, live, achievements, and I am sure others...

"I'm lost"

Yup...

I find it weird that people spend money on DX 10 cards then prefer to stick with DX 9 on a 7 year old OS.

Can anyone read? It clearly states:

Silver Acct.

• Private Chat via Text and Voice

[QUOTE="Deihmos"][QUOTE="dnuggs40"]

[QUOTE="BounceDK"][QUOTE="dnuggs40"]Halo 2 is simply a game used to showcase various Vista features. For the people who have Vista already...it's a nice way to showcase and display some of the newer features. BounceDK

Tray and play, live, achievements, and I am sure others...

"I'm lost"

Yup...

I find it weird that people spend money on DX 10 cards then prefer to stick with DX 9 on a 7 year old OS.

Thats a very good point. 

 

Crysis is XP compatible.  As for Halo2...  well, MS has a perfectly good OS in WinXP SP2.  At the moment, there's very little reason for anyone to upgrade to Vista.  Not corporations, and particularly not gamers.  Outside of the (relatively) small technophile group that has to have the latest of everything that comes out the most likely scenario is that not many people will upgrade, at least not in the numbers that MS is wanting.

What to do, what to do...  Well, take what's ostensibly your most popular game and port it to the PC and then make sure it runs on Vista only.  Now your average gamer who loves Halo2 and wants the PC version has to upgrade to Vista.  It's not quite as simple as "problem solved", but by making Halo2 "Vista Only", MS has probably raked in at least a quarter million more sales of Vista than they would have otherwise...

If memory serves, the technical reason is that Halo2 takes advantage of Vista's "Tray and Play" capabilities - ie you can pop the DVD in for the first time and be up and playing the game within minutes of inserting the disc.  ie, somehow, you can play the game at the same time that it's installing...

Do we care?  No.  But MS cares about the quarter million extra Vista sales...  ;)

Treadstone71

Boy, what a smart idea. So the first time you start playing the game it will be running a lot slower because it has to install at the same time.  Then people will think the game or their computer sucks, when in fact its just this crappy new feature that is worthless.

[QUOTE="Treadstone71"]

 

Crysis is XP compatible. As for Halo2... well, MS has a perfectly good OS in WinXP SP2. At the moment, there's very little reason for anyone to upgrade to Vista. Not corporations, and particularly not gamers. Outside of the (relatively) small technophile group that has to have the latest of everything that comes out the most likely scenario is that not many people will upgrade, at least not in the numbers that MS is wanting.

What to do, what to do... Well, take what's ostensibly your most popular game and port it to the PC and then make sure it runs on Vista only. Now your average gamer who loves Halo2 and wants the PC version has to upgrade to Vista. It's not quite as simple as "problem solved", but by making Halo2 "Vista Only", MS has probably raked in at least a quarter million more sales of Vista than they would have otherwise...

If memory serves, the technical reason is that Halo2 takes advantage of Vista's "Tray and Play" capabilities - ie you can pop the DVD in for the first time and be up and playing the game within minutes of inserting the disc. ie, somehow, you can play the game at the same time that it's installing...

Do we care? No. But MS cares about the quarter million extra Vista sales... ;)

Smithgdwg

Boy, what a smart idea. So the first time you start playing the game it will be running a lot slower because it has to install at the same time. Then people will think the game or their computer sucks, when in fact its just this crappy new feature that is worthless.

Actually it did not make a difference while I was playing and it installed in the background. I think it was running off the CD while the game copied to the hard drive plus it did not take long at all. I have a dual core so maybe that is what made the difference.

I wouldn't go as far as to say it's a crappy feature because you do have the option to do a regular install. Those who cannot wait to play can pop the disc in and start playing within seconds.

So, if I understand this right: Halo2 needs Live, and Live only only runs on Vista.

The question is: why can't Games for Windows Live run on XP?

So, if I understand this right: Halo2 needs Live, and Live only only runs on Vista.

The question is: why can't Games for Windows Live run on XP?

Erlkoenig

Crysis will be Xp it's been said by the developers I believe. Halo 2 and Lost Planet are Vista only because Micro$oft loves to force consumers to buy into their new operating systems so they can rank in more $$$. It would perform better on Xp too which is the ironic thing. Don't buy into it Microsoft is evil.Unstoppable_1

First let me say I agreed that Microdorks made it Vista only to try and sell Vista. Whats funny to me though is I have Vista and I still won't be getting Halo 2. I just aint interested in a 3 year old game. Especially when we have ALOT of WAY better FPSers on the PC anyways.

Hah you haven't heard? As for what I meant of course Live Gold will cost 50$ a year. You can use silver but don't bet on being able to play with others. Link in 5 mins.Unstoppable_1

[QUOTE="Makari"]Silver lets you play with others. Gold gives you the ability to play with 360 users. That means... Uno and Shadowrun. Whoopie! So now, where do you have to pay for silver?ForlornHope

Youc ant even VOIP with silver. Its a joke.

[QUOTE="Makari"]Silver lets you play with others. Gold gives you the ability to play with 360 users. That means... Uno and Shadowrun. Whoopie! So now, where do you have to pay for silver?ForlornHope

Youc ant even VOIP with silver. Its a joke.

[QUOTE="mismajor99"]VOIP for instance, is a GOLD "privilege" under MS's train of thought, not a silver one, but we PC Gamers have had this for a very long time.Makari

Our Microsoft PR contact, who has been a good sport about this article, tells us that both the free Silver and paid Gold accounts for Live on the PC will have voice chat in games. There will be no difference at all in voice functions between free and paid accounts.ExtremeTech

[QUOTE="ForlornHope"]cause MS are idiots that insist on addding a bunch of crap almsot nobody cares about.BounceDK

woo :) 

[QUOTE="Deihmos"][QUOTE="dnuggs40"]

[QUOTE="BounceDK"][QUOTE="dnuggs40"]Halo 2 is simply a game used to showcase various Vista features. For the people who have Vista already...it's a nice way to showcase and display some of the newer features. BounceDK

Tray and play, live, achievements, and I am sure others...

"I'm lost"

Yup...

I find it weird that people spend money on DX 10 cards then prefer to stick with DX 9 on a 7 year old OS.

Exactly. Even in a non native dx10 enviroment the cards would still have kick ass performance. 

[QUOTE="ForlornHope"]

[QUOTE="Makari"]Silver lets you play with others. Gold gives you the ability to play with 360 users. That means... Uno and Shadowrun. Whoopie! So now, where do you have to pay for silver?Makari

Youc ant even VOIP with silver. Its a joke.

[QUOTE="mismajor99"]VOIP for instance, is a GOLD "privilege" under MS's train of thought, not a silver one, but we PC Gamers have had this for a very long time.Makari

Our Microsoft PR contact, who has been a good sport about this article, tells us that both the free Silver and paid Gold accounts for Live on the PC will have voice chat in games. There will be no difference at all in voice functions between free and paid accounts.ExtremeTech

What part of PRIVATE CHAT WITH FREINDS dont you understand? They DONT mean in game voip. 

If games like Halo 2 and Crysis are using DX9 why aren't they compatible with XP?pharomarc

Microsoft $uck$! CryTech shows him!

[QUOTE="Makari"][QUOTE="ForlornHope"]

[QUOTE="Makari"]Silver lets you play with others. Gold gives you the ability to play with 360 users. That means... Uno and Shadowrun. Whoopie! So now, where do you have to pay for silver?ForlornHope

Youc ant even VOIP with silver. Its a joke.

[QUOTE="mismajor99"]VOIP for instance, is a GOLD "privilege" under MS's train of thought, not a silver one, but we PC Gamers have had this for a very long time.Makari

Our Microsoft PR contact, who has been a good sport about this article, tells us that both the free Silver and paid Gold accounts for Live on the PC will have voice chat in games. There will be no difference at all in voice functions between free and paid accounts.ExtremeTech

What part of PRIVATE CHAT WITH FREINDS dont you understand? They DONT mean in game voip.

xp has no dx 10 because of how the way xp works with graphics ... dx 10 was built from the ground up for vista

if microsoft wanted xp to have dx 10 they'd ave to release many patches for the core graphics which would be too much of a problem apparently 

so thats the main reason why xp have no dx 10 

[QUOTE="ForlornHope"][QUOTE="Makari"][QUOTE="ForlornHope"]

[QUOTE="Makari"]Silver lets you play with others. Gold gives you the ability to play with 360 users. That means... Uno and Shadowrun. Whoopie! So now, where do you have to pay for silver?Makari

Youc ant even VOIP with silver. Its a joke.

[QUOTE="mismajor99"]VOIP for instance, is a GOLD "privilege" under MS's train of thought, not a silver one, but we PC Gamers have had this for a very long time.Makari

Our Microsoft PR contact, who has been a good sport about this article, tells us that both the free Silver and paid Gold accounts for Live on the PC will have voice chat in games. There will be no difference at all in voice functions between free and paid accounts.ExtremeTech

What part of PRIVATE CHAT WITH FREINDS dont you understand? They DONT mean in game voip.

dont care its still something games have done for years for free anyways. 

dont care its still something games have done for years for free anyways.ForlornHope