While Frank and Ben Kuchera of Ars Technica are rather enamored with Shadowrun on the 360 and the PC, as a game it's a rather hard sell. The price is high for a multiplayer-only title, and of course it requires Vista to run. Same thing with Halo 2 on the PC: it's basically a older Xbox game that requires Vista for absolutely no reason and shows that Live on Windows still has quite a ways to go before it's a killer-app. Clearly these games aren't worth $50 apiece. Luckily, Circuit City has you covered: buy Halo 2 on the PC for $40, get Shadowrun free. It's like only being charged $20 for each game and, if you have Vista, that's a helluva deal.

He is not sure what such an aggressive sale says about the earning potential of these two games, but if you were interested in either of them and were just waiting for the price to come down, today is your lucky day. Sure, they won't throw a copy of Vista in there to sweeten the deal, but it's still an inexpensive way to try out the games and the new Live service for PCs.
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Did Shane Kim's loose lips reveal too much, too soon? Microsoft doesn't think so. Kim and Microsoft have told 1UP this morning "he was misquoted (or possibly misspoke) during the GameSpy interview, but either way, it was an error."

Microsoft reiterated the fact that Jackson's project is a Halo interactive series, but wouldn't say anything more than that.
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Upgrading to Windows Vista has been a broad leap for the few PC gamers out there who have made the jump. Unlike previous Microsoft software releases the feature set of their latest OS just isn't that compelling.

Sure, you get to play all the latest Games for Windows Live titles, but there's so few of them. Add on to that the still shaky hardware performance and the Halo 2 Vista servers are looking pretty empty.

Clouds look to be clearing up though for those still hesitant to upgrade just to play Halo 2 or Shadowrun. Falling Leaf Systems, a company working to get rid of the barriers constraining many PC gamers have with playing Games for Windows titles, has announced that they will be working independently to get Shadowrun and Halo 2 to run on XP machines.
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Microsoft is putting updated ESRB labels on copies of Halo 2 Vista, as the first batch of games to hit retail have shipped with "accidental," "partial nudity" included. "It has come to our attention that an unfortunate, obscure content error which includes partial nudity was included in our initial production of Halo 2 for Windows Vista," the company said in a statement this morning. "As such, we have updated the initial game packaging at retailers with a label, so customers are aware before ... » Read More

Microsoft reps today told Next-Gen the real reason for the Halo 2 Vista delay: partial nudity.
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The new issue of PCGZine has masses of PC games previews and reviews, including Starcraft 2, Call of Duty 4, Football Manager Live, Halo 2 and Tomb Raider Anniversary. The magazine is enhanced with video and multimedia. Written by professional game journalists, this is the only professionally produced free magazine for PC gamers, and it can be downloaded for free and without registration.
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Microsoft Games Studios has today confirmed what retailers have been saying for several weeks; Halo 2 for Windows Vista will now release across Europe on June 8 and not as previously announced May 18.
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Halo 2 PC, Odin Sphere Top Wishlists in U.S. Gamasutra's regular round-up of worldwide video game releases, "Release This!", takes a look at every game title we know to be shipping to stores this week, in an exclusively compiled list.

Odin Sphere and the PC port of Halo 2 currently headline as the biggest news in upcoming releases in the United States, where both titles are expected to meet with an enthusiastic reception and big sales numbers. Meanwhile, Europe will soon get its first shot at Wii online multiplayer with Mario Strikers Charged Football, while Japan enjoys Forza Motorsport 2 several days in advance of its release in other regions.
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Since its release on the original Xbox in November of 2004, PC gamers have been waiting patiently to try on Master Chief's helmet in Halo 2. Today was to be the day the first-person shooter finally arrived on the Windows platform, but Microsoft has announced it has pushed the game back another couple weeks until May 22.

Microsoft says the delay is to ensure a smooth Windows Vista install for fans once the game becomes available. There are other technical issues being wrapped up, as well.

The PC version of Halo 2 is the first Windows game to offer Achievement Points, and includes two exclusive maps and a map editor. While you wait for the release, amuse yourself with this photo of Master Meow.
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Evilavatar.com just got word from Microsoft that Halo 2 for Windows Vista has been delayed.
While no official date was given, it looks to be a relatively short delay.

Alltough according to Gamestop it looks like it was pushed back about 2 weeks until May 22nd from May 8th.
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EuroGamer.net reports that Microsoft was unable to comment on the rumors that Halo 2 for the PC had slipped a week. Microsoft were speaking after several leading retailers changed their listings for the game.

European dates shifted from 18th to 25th May, and American schedules went from 8th to 23rd May. It may still be a rumor, but it's unlikely for a retailer to be wrong this close to launch.
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With upcoming games like Halo 2 and Crysis requiring DirectX 10 in both hardware and software, it comes as a welcome surprise that a group has managed to release a preview build of a project which promises to bring DirectX10 compatibility to Windows 2000 and XP when completed. The Alky Project is also working on bringing Windows-only game releases to other platforms, like OS X and Linux.
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Bungie has released the promised two new multiplayer maps for Halo 2's still stupidly-popular multiplayer mode, though it'll cost you some bucks to get your hands on them. $4 is the asking price for the pair, which are both remakes of classic Halo arenas Hang 'em High and ... » Read More

Achieve360points.com finally has a list of 41 Achievements coming with Halo 2 Vista. The 41 achievements do total to 1000 points and while Hired Gun has been doing alot of the work with Halo 2 to bring it to PC one can't help but feel that the achievements points could've been done in a more consistent manner.
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The Microsoft development team converting Halo 2 to Windows Vista has spoken out about some of the achievements you'll be able to unlock as part of the game's integration with "Games for Windows - LIVE".
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There will be over 40 unlockable achievements, the Hired Gun team wrote on their development blog, with players rewarded for completing each playable level of the single-player campaign at Normal, Heroic or Legendary difficulties.

Completing all the maps on the Legendary setting will also net you a "Legend" achievement, and, as a corollary, killing a Legend over the Internet is also worth an achievement. Another slightly mad offering is "Demon", for which you'll need to complete an entire campaign level without dying.
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In a recent blog entry by Hired Gun, the MGS team responsible for bringing Halo 2 for Vista posted recently regarding the 41 Achievements the game will have. They cover the easy ones and the difficult ones the put in, from sticking your first enemy in multiplayer to killing someone who beat the game on Legendary to playing through the single player campaign without dying, although they didn't specify the difficulty required.
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Details have emerged on Halo 2 Vista's map editor and what the Halo community will be able to do with it.

While Halo 2 might be very old news for the Xbox audience, the upcoming PC Vista release will contain a few features we wish we'd got to play with on the Xbox version - namely being able to create your own maps and share them over Live.
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Gamepro play Halo 2 on PC, and are surprised to find some slight differences from the console version.
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Taking stage for the Microsoft keynote address at CES, Robbie Bach, president of the entertainment devices division at Microsoft, confidently announced that Vista and Games for Windows "will revitalise gaming" for the platform.

Bach explained that Games for Windows will benefit both the hardcore and casual gamer, and then introduced a video showcasing a line-up of Games for Windows titles, all of which can be controlled using the Xbox 360 controller.

Games featured in the video included Age of Empires III: The Warchiefs, Supreme Commander, Shadowrun, Alan Wake, Bioshock, Flight Simulator X, The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar, World in Conflict, Hellgate: London, Company of Heroes, Lego Star Wars II, Age of Conan and Crysis.

Also shown was the much anticipated PC version of Halo 2 and a Games for Windows version of Xbox Live Arcade favourite Geometry Wars.

The much touted Live anywhere, that was announced back at E3 2006, has gone onto the operating table and is now known as the 'Live Games and Entertainment Network'. This service will enable PC and Xbox 360 gamers to play together, with games such as Shadowrun and UNO confirmed as cross-platform enabled titles when the service goes live in the summer.

Windows Vista is scheduled for release on January 30 and we're sure to hear much more on Vista/Xbox 360 cross platform gaming in the near future.
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How many times have we badly beaten some kids in a friendly game of Halo 2 only to hear a string of profanities, racial epithets and the like either during or after the game? It seems that some of our fellow gamers cannot communicate without swearing, name-calling and trash talking. Now, I know what you are thinking, "What's wrong with a little swearing or trash talking after a particularly intense engagement in online multiplayer mayhem?" I agree I've been tempted to utter an expletive after getting killed by the same opponent several times in a row, or perhaps crouch down on the face of said opponent after returning the favor, however these should be the exception rather than the rule. After enjoying Halo 2 for over a year and a half, I've seen and heard just about everything, or at least come to understand the general online experience.
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