Wednesday 31 May 2006
The PC version of Halo 2 will not be playable on Microsoft's Live Anywhere, the new Xbox Live system which will allow gamers to compete against each other whether they're playing on Windows Vista or Xbox 360.
As the PC version of Halo 2 is only being released for Microsoft's new operating system Windows Vista, it was widely believed that this would mean it would make use of Live Anywhere, allowing PC gamers to take on Xbox opponents. But this is not the case.
According to Bungie.net, the reason the two sets of gamers are being kept apart is because it wouldn't be fair on the PC gamers taking on Xbox gamers who have been playing Halo 2 online for over two years. Also, the aiming systems have been fine-tuned to suit the different formats and so would offer imbalanced gameplay.
Microsoft's new shooter Shadowrun was used as an example of a game that "was built from the ground up to run on both platforms with finely balanced cross-platform gameplay." Bungie hasn't been able to do this, so is now concerning itself with making the "Vista version of Halo 2 the best it can be".
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