For a start Microsoft decided to “Stab in the back” its own customers the Windows XP PC Gamer by releasing it as a Windows Vista Only game. Now “So what?” you might ask. For a start Microsoft Told that Halo2 was a “Too-complicated” for Windows Xp this was way back when it was first announced for the PC and that it would use DirectX 10 which only Windows Vista Supports. Now its easy to understand why Microsoft would do this;

1)They wanna make Vista the new big thing and force PC Gamers to upgrade to it which in turn boosts Hardware sales and makes everyone in the PC Hardware market happy.
2)They wanna make money from selling Copies of Vista even though its got many problems with drivers and performance for PC Games

The Lies:
The above all is fair enough until about a few weeks into June a “Warez” Group called “Razer1911″ released a “Loader” for Halo 2 Windows XP which worked allowing the installation and play of Halo2 only in its Single Player Form at the moment. Not only this but the Game runs much faster in Windows Xp than Windows Vista.

This was the proof that people had been wating for and suspecting that Microsoft Lied about Halo2 needing Vista to run. Not only this but Halo2 is a Directx 9 game it has NO Directx 10 (Windows Vista) features. This is not the first game either in the same “Boat”. “ShadowRun” another Vista “Exclusive” also can run in Windows XP. Its no secret that Windows Vista is not selling in the numbers Microsoft wants and this “Force-Feeding” method by Microsoft on Windows Vista is not going to work. Both these games in question are very “Average” games.

Halo 2:Not so good
Graphics Dated
Looks very dated, its graphics are just way outta date against the current state of PC Games like “Stalker,Quake4,Armed Assault,Prey,Half Life 2 etc”.

Multiplayer Servers?
Multiplayer is non existant at the moment as not many people have this game and Windows Vista. Multiplayer doesnt work at the moment with Windows XP which is a huge shame really. Halo 1 was one of the best Multiplayer games on the PC ive ever played, it was fun easy to get into and the maps and game modes were very good. In short it was worth buying Halo 1 just for the muliplayer.

The Vista Halo 2 Experience:
Windows Live
I purchased Halo 2 and shunned downloading it from the usual torrent sites so i could play the great Multiplayer part of it that i loved about Halo 1. I had alot of problems with the game especially the “Windows LIVE” feature/service that Halo2 and Windows Vista use. I had trouble signing in and registering my Product Key between the annoying Browser windows that keep putting you out the game so you can sign into “Windows Live” something that will have you cursing every having bought the game after 10 mins. I found this to be a hugly dissapointing and terrable let down in comparison to how easy it was to get a Halo 1 Game going.

Performance
My Graphics card is still a good one and can run games good with hight graphics options. When i first installed it, it was unplayable and i couldnt figure it out i had up-to-date Graphic Card drivers. After a few hours of endless head scratching and cursing i freed up some disk space on the Vista Hard Drive and updated the Sound card drivers and this fixed the problem. But the game seems to run badly in comparison to running it on Windows XP.

Lies VS The PC community
I really hope that Halo2 flops as its NOT worth
the price
the upgrade to vista
the hassle
the time.

Force Feeding
If Microsoft want to sell Vista to the PC Gamer “Force Feeding” is not the way to do it and Halo2 is not a game worth getting Vista for. Hopefully Halo 2 will be able to work in Multiplayer Mode under Windows XP until then i wont be playing it and as much as id love to i cant get a refund on it. So im stuck with the game and all its problems. The single player game is about as entertaining as watching paint dry when there are so many other great games out there.

Windows Vista Games:
No doubt Microsoft shot themselves in the foot with this game and implemented a lame Vista check before the game will run. Of Course there are some great “Vista” only games coming soon and these games look like being worth the upgrade and hassle unfortunately Halo 2 isnt.

Windows XP & Halo2
The Single Player:
works up to a point i believe where “Activation” is needed which doest work under Xp even when you have purchased copy of the game.

Multiplayer:
Almost works but wont let you connect to any games for some reason it gives the message “Unable to join Party at the moment, please try again.”
So no Halo 2 Multiplayer on Windows XP yet and probably never once Microsoft release a patch to “Fix” the game running on Windows XP. Ill keep any progress i make posted in here.

Halo 2 Windows XP Loader:
Which will run the game in windows XP, dont expect 100% compatabilty or trouble free gaming but at least it works.