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Halo - An entertaining space/combat FPS game Pick of the Week
Halo imageThe macosxhints Rating:
9 of 10
[Score: 9 out of 10]
While I really don't spend much of my rare free time playing games, I've always liked Bungie's products (Marathon, anyone?), and so I put Halo on my Christmas list (four years later than it should have been, but that's not the point of this review). I wasn't sure how well I'd like it, but it seemed like a pretty safe bet based on prior publicity. And now, 30-some-odd hours of gameplay later (I finished it this weekend), I can say that the prior publicity was correct -- this game is a lot of fun!

The basic premise is ... well, not too basic! You're an elite soldier, and your ship has been attacked, leading to your crash landing on Halo, an odd ring-shapeed structure that's vaguely Earth-like in its features. From the landing on, you're on a survival and exploration mission, managed by the AI from the ship, which you're carrying about on a small card. You have a series of tasks to accomplish, sort of like missions, which fit together to help you understand the real secrets of Halo. To tell any more than that would be to give away too much of the story!

Although Halo is a very linear game, Bungie did a good job of disguising this fact. You spend a fair bit of time outdoors in large landscapes, helping hide the fact that your path has been relatively pre-determined. So although you're moving from Point A to Point B, it never really feels like you're doing just that.

The enemies in Halo exhibit relatively good AI maneuvers, including running away when outgunned, and doing some very nice dodging when attacked. There are a wide variety of enemies as well as weapons. However, you can only carry two weapons at any time, so you're constantly making weapon changes to match the current or expected battle. Each weapon has its own strengths and weaknesses, leading to further thinking about what to carry into the next battle. You can also carry a selection of grenades, which work really well in rooms crowded with aliens.

Bungie's world also includes vehicles, which play a key role in the story and your success. There are dune-buggy-like trucks, which help cover great amounts of territory quickly; there are surface-scooting armed hovercraft, and finally, there are Banshees (my favorite), which are full-blown fighter ships that give you freedom of movement in three dimensions. Some of the outdoor levels are so large that vehicles are required just to cut down on your travel time!

If you played Marathon, some of Halo's features will seem familiar -- there are save points, so you can't just do the save-die-restore cycle whenever you wish; you have to make a certain amount of progress to get rewarded with a save. Thankfully, unlike Marathon, you do not have to physically find a save terminal; the game just auto-saves checkpoints every so often. One downside to this feature is that you can't easily go back and play a previously completed mission, or demo the program by picking one particularly intense firefight location that you've saved.

Overall, Halo hooked me more than I thought it would; much like Half Life on the PC, it was the story that really held my interest. The game's not perfect; some sections are repetitive, and there are a couple spots where I had to re-do things quite a few times as the checkpoints seemed just a bit too far apart. But other than that, the game quite easily sucked up my free time over the last week or two -- in some ways, I'm glad I'm done!
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Halo - An entertaining space/combat FPS game
Authored by: syko on Jan 20, '04 01:37:07AM

sorry, no m$ product for me!!!!!



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Halo - An entertaining space/combat FPS game
Authored by: rockman2023 on Jan 20, '04 02:34:53AM
As much as i'd like to play Halo on my Mac (733 Quicksilver, 384MB RAM, 32 GeForceMX2), I've read that it runs horribly on even 867 systems. I'd like to save up for some more RAM and an ATI 9000, but that 20GB iPod is callin me, lol. It's a shame when developers port PC games over to Macs and the requirements are a Dual 2GHz G5 with 2GB RAM, minimum!! Just kidding, but you get the point.

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Halo - An entertaining space/combat FPS game
Authored by: ewelch on Jan 20, '04 02:53:43AM

Actually, it runs really nice on a dual 2GHz G5 with 9800 Radeon Pro. :-)

But it also runs rather nicely on an 867 Silverfast with 1GIG of RAM. Especially since the HALO update that came out today. Now we can play PC folks again and blow them away.

Interesting note with the update - you now have to have the CD in the drive - and they attribute the change to piracy.

---
Eric

Ernest Hemingway's writing reminds me of the farting of an old horse. - E.B. White



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Halo - An entertaining space/combat FPS game
Authored by: ChiperSoft on Jan 20, '04 12:53:18PM

Actually I've talked to a lot of people who said it ran great. The thing is you have to turn down the graphics. The game defaults to all the glittery-ness enabled.

I even talked to one guy who played it on his G4 400MHz with a Radeon 8500 Pro. He says he gets a great frame-rate.

I've got it on my PC tho, which is about 4 years newer then my mac, so I haven't had a desire to find out for myself.



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Halo - An entertaining space/combat FPS game
Authored by: ewelch on Jan 21, '04 03:44:11AM

Well, maybe on lesser machines, but on my G5 I have all the settings maxed out and it runs just fine. Smooth as butter. (Radeon PRO 9800 and 1.5 gigs RAM).

---
Eric

Ernest Hemingway's writing reminds me of the farting of an old horse. - E.B. White



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Halo - An entertaining space/combat FPS game
Authored by: ProfGumby on Jan 20, '04 11:08:37PM

I read that you can hold down the 'P' key when starting the game to let it run on machines with less than 698 MHz. This is what the dialog says anyway: "Halo requires a PowerPC processor running at 698 MHz or faster. To bypass this check, hold down the 'p' key when you start Halo."

I couldn't stand it anymore and told my family "Somebody get me this game!", and my brother came through. (Now he is jonesing for a new machine, too, heh heh)

Anyway, I knew the required specs, but I am running it on a:
-450 MHz G4 Cube
-Build-to-order Apple installed ATI Radeon (32MB) AGP
-832 MB RAM
-plenty of space on an 80 GB Seagate Barracuda V

I have played throught the whole thing now, twice,(some areas more, I like the tank), using different configs, from the lowest, to the highest possible (some graphics are greyed out because of my graphics card).

It plays decent on the absolute lowest settings possible, but still in places when the action gets hot, or there is a lot of other graphics stuff, it drags a bit. Sometimes to the degree that I have to adapt strategy because reaction time is slow.

However, in my opinion, it IS PLAYABLE on this platform, and is worth the money, even on this unsupported machine.

I have played it through most of the game with the graphics and audio settings cranked as high as I could, just to see all the cool effects, and it does become barely playable like this, but you are able to at least see the effects which is welcome after this long wait. And I have something to look forward to when I get a new G5 or G6 one of these days (years, more like it).

When I fired it up, I didn't know what to expect, whether it would even be playable, but I thought I would at least be able to see the effects, even if it was slow. (sad, I know). It turned out a lot better than I had expected given what I had read.



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Halo - An entertaining space/combat FPS game
Authored by: jmz on Jan 20, '04 02:46:44AM

Just some things. It runs NOT smooth on my dual 1,8GHz G5 with ATI Radeon 9600.
Their seems to be only a handful of levels. In one mission you ran 20 times thru the same rooms again and again.
It is a good game afterall. If it came out 3 years ago. Today its only 3 stars worse.



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Halo - An entertaining space/combat FPS game
Authored by: ProfGumby on Jan 20, '04 11:16:43PM

I agree with the statement repetitiveness of some of the scenes or 'rooms'. One segment, you keep going through the same type of environment, doing basically the same thing, with some variation with enemies, things to pick up, etc, but the actions taken, and the environments, are way too close to similar, and I would have thought Bungie would have done better than that. Other scenes or areas, I don't know what to call them, especially the outdoor ones, are a lot better, more varied in at least their appearance and flexibility of play. It's almost like they wanted to stretch the thing out, and sort of cloned these other areas. I would have like more variety among these indoor areas. If you have played this far, you know what we're talking about here. Disclaimer : I am not a game developer and so have no ideae WTF I am talking about. However, I did think this part of it boring and repetitive in that way.



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Halo - An entertaining space/combat FPS game
Authored by: basti_k on Jan 20, '04 02:54:44AM

i've always liked bungie's games: abuse, pathways, marathon (4 diskettes version), durandal, infinity. but halo really rocks, although it's an M$ game. and in runs great on my 2x1.25 G4 w/ ATI Radeon 9000 Pro. what sucks? gamepad support!!!

greetz
basti

---
when you don't know where you at
you can't know where you want to go today



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Halo - An entertaining space/combat FPS game
Authored by: acalado on Jan 20, '04 10:24:59AM

That's funny, most people who play the XBox version (including myself) will tell you that the thing that sucks about it most is that you have to play it WITH a gampad! I really looked forward to playing it on my Mac with a mouse and keyboard. I actually use a Belkin Nostromo N50 SpeedPad to replace the keyboard, but in my opinion, nothing is better than a mouse for aiming and shooting in FPSs.

Andy



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Halo - An entertaining space/combat FPS game
Authored by: imageworx on Jan 20, '04 10:36:40AM

I agree! My gameplay over the Xbox version was excelled when using the mouse/keyboard combo. I finished the game in a day, as opposed to week with Xbox version. And I love the resolution over the TV screen's. Just look at the ammo belt of the Warthog..or its gauges when you back up!

you could get a USB-Xbox controller adapter (Xbox game pads are USB...just typical Microsoft monopolistic adapter) and play. I did this with my Athlon system.

BTW, the images and play are far better than the Xbox version. Problem is, they should have created the games to work with Xbox Live players...what a Halo frag that would be!

Oh, expect Halo 2 for xbox this April (in time for E3). I would be Halo 2 for Mac in..2005-2006 the latest.

---
To BeOS or Not to BeOS



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Halo - An entertaining space/combat FPS game
Authored by: ChiperSoft on Jan 20, '04 01:14:14PM

Uhm, Halo Xbox doesn't support Xbox Live... Halo 2 will, but I expect there to be radical differences in the game play.

I think it's a very good thing that the game doesn't work with the xbox version, any xbox games would have to be limited to just the maps, vehicles, and weapons that the xbox supports. As someone who is in their prime on Timberland, I would be very disappointed with that.

Keep in mind, the computer version can be updated, the xbox version can't.



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Halo - An entertaining space/combat FPS game
Authored by: TigerKR on Jan 20, '04 03:27:02AM
xlr8yourmac.com is reporting a Mac Halo 1.0.3 patch:

Mac Halo 1.0.3 update (huge list of changes/fixes including special Nvidia shader support) - There's a 1.03 update for Mac Halo at http://www.bungie.org/machalo103mirrors/ "that brings Mac Halo to parity with Halo PC. Mac players will not be limited to 1.02 servers any more".

Pop onto their site for a version history.

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Halo - An entertaining space/combat FPS game
Authored by: randalla on Jan 20, '04 04:27:23AM

I'm not sure if anyone will find this of use or not, but when I first got the game, for my 12" Powerbook (867 MHz, 640 MB RAM, 10.2.8), I decided to just turn all the settings to their lowest, and build up. What I found was that the game played horribly on 640x480 with settings set to anything all over the board. However, upon reading the experience of another person with the same hardware, setting the screen resolution to 1024x768 made drastic improvements.

Anyway, I haven't tried the 1.03 update as I've been busy. It's a bummer it didn't fix my "698 MHz or faster" error on start (which I feel is related to that sysctl article somewhere else on the site). Tis also a bummer about the CD crap, but I'll live.

Good game, from a company that still is mostly Bungie (free reign inside of M$, almost).



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Halo - An entertaining space/combat FPS game
Authored by: robg on Jan 20, '04 08:00:04AM
I think that error is covered on MacSoft's website, along with a workaround:
When I run Halo on my Mac, I get a message that says that my processor is below the minimum system requirement and then the program quits. How can I bypass this?

Hold down the "P" key on the keyboard while double clicking the Halo game icon, and the game will bypass the message. This error message will also occur on some Macs that are above the minimum system requirement due to an incorrect value being returned by the hardware.
-rob.

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Halo - An entertaining space/combat FPS game
Authored by: randalla on Jan 20, '04 10:54:36AM

The work around sucks. It makes Halo launch in the background, and the P key being held is active in whatever program you happens to be in the foreground. Usually, this is the Finder, and it causes all sorts of annoyances.

I just want the thing to work when I click on it, not have to hold down a key each time to play it (which I usually forget to do so I have to do it multiple times before it takes it).



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Halo - An entertaining space/combat FPS game
Authored by: a2daj on Jan 20, '04 12:51:15PM

The biggest performance hog (not called FSAA) that affects everyone is Light Flares. Setting it to High or Extreme will cause a huge performance drop in areas where Light Flares are used heavily. There's an apparent issue with how OpenGL handles them in Halo. Particles can cause some performance drops too but if you turn down Light Flares, it's not as much of an issue.



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Halo - An entertaining space/combat FPS game
Authored by: edoriv on Jan 20, '04 07:34:38AM

agreed! Halo was a lot of fun - I play very few games myself... but this was sort of a long time, "must have", from way back.

single player game is interesting and keeps you involved and learning... it's what makes you keep playing until you learn the ending. I played several nights about 24 - 30 hours also not consecutively.

The multiplayer game is real sweet though... the jeeps allow for highly interactive combat... one needs to drive another mans the gun and you can carry one extra side man.

in CTF you really need team work since while carrying a flag you can't attack unless you put the flag down... if you put the flag down they can return it to base... so you really need back up to cover you.

So what it's an M$ game this whole BS war over MS -VS- Apple is sooooooooooo old and tired, wish people would just get over it already.

I play on a Tibook 1ghz with 1 gig of ram runs fine for me

cheers



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It's not about MS vs. Apple
Authored by: SeanAhern on Jan 20, '04 02:44:33PM
So what it's an M$ game this whole BS war over MS -VS- Apple is sooooooooooo old and tired, wish people would just get over it already.

The issue is not one of Microsoft vs. Apple. It's more Microsoft vs. the rest of the civilized world. Microsoft is a convicted, unrepentant monopolist. They use strong arm tactics that are either illegal or barely on this side of legal to squash any wisp of competition, no matter what the consequences. This has nothing to do with Apple Computer.

I believe the state of computing has been held back 10-15 years by their actions. I will do everything I can to keep my dollars from their coffers.

As cool as Halo sounds, I will not buy it because of where it comes from.

---
-Sean

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Definitely Fun
Authored by: saint.duo on Jan 20, '04 08:53:00AM

Please don't turn this into another "it doesn't run well, it does run well" comments list.

I've probably spent way too much time playing Halo, both the single player campagain, and multiplayer. Bungie seems to have their "30 seconds of fun" forumla down well in Halo, and I never get bored sticking a plasma grenade to a grunt in a group, then dancing with an elite. Even the library level can be fun once you get used to it. Multiplayer deaths are usually spectacular, thanks to the pseudo-physics in the game, and the 3rd person camera when you die.

---
--
duo



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Halo - A Hog
Authored by: werikblack on Jan 20, '04 09:05:48AM

This doesn't sound like a Microsoft/Apple debate from what I've seen above. Look at the facts, though. Halo is a poor console port. When most first-person shooter games are getting 100+ frames per second, the top-of-the-line graphics card in the PC world can't break 60 frames.

See Halo frame rates versus Unreal Tournament 2003 frame rates.

Sure, Halo's an all right game, but if I'm paying $50 for a game, I expect it to perform comparably to "last year's games" that sell for $30-40 now. And why should I have to buy a cutting-edge system to get the privilege of poor frame rates anyway? In my opinion, this definitely enters into the discussion. If the performance is poor, it detracts from the gameplay, and Halo doesn't differentiate itself enough from other games to warrant rave reviews on the PC/Mac platform. Frankly, there are so many failings (lack of performance, differentiation, and bot matches for LAN play), that it doesn't deserve 7 stars, let alone 9.

That said, I've had some fun playing it, but it's not on my LAN party group's list of games because of all the failings. Unreal Tournament 2003 has a much better engine, and that alone makes it more fun. Save $20 and buy UT2K3 if you haven't bought that one yet! :)



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Halo - A Hog
Authored by: saint.duo on Jan 20, '04 09:10:55AM

This has been gone over a billion times other places. Halo's graphics engine for PC and Mac is NOT last year's technology. This is just the beginning of a long line of games that is going to push hardware to the limits again. Doom III, Half Life 2, and more. This is also the first FPS that I know of that started on a console and migrated to computers, and not the other way around. Gearbox had to rewrite a lot of the rendering engine just to get it to run on the amount of hardware they did, and then Westlake had to change that code to run on Mac hardware.

---
--
duo



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Halo - A Hog
Authored by: acalado on Jan 20, '04 10:35:30AM
"but if I'm paying $50 for a game, I expect it to perform comparably to "last year's games" that sell for $30-40 now"
Let me get this straight. You expect a new release to perform as well on the same hardware as games released a year ago? What are you smoking? Anyone knows that as time goes on and games programmers design more advanced games, more powerful hardware is required to keep up! If a game is a year newer, then you should expect to need a year newer computer to get the same performance, all other things being equal.

Andy

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Halo - A Hog
Authored by: imageworx on Jan 20, '04 10:48:24AM

RANT Below:

He's got a point. The game really isn't that great. Its like the Quake'rs versus Halo'ns! each has its "frame rate" points and hardware needs games like these to excel (accell!). I've noticed slowdown's on the Xbox (if a port to the GC was done, I would expect near 200fps!) especially with the flood and explosions! On the PC (with a radeon 9000), it doesn't quite cut its teeth.
(far better than my TV, but still not jaw dropping speed and graphics)

However, I alway thought of Bungie as a let down. Oni is a perfect example. Here is a game, with a female lead character, that not only uses weapons, but advanced moves and blocking. The game was great. But the inability to include net-play was its downfall. If only Oni had multi-player, assault levels and custom mapping...its play would have exceeded Halo's playability (which by the way, I still love going back to "I could have been your daddy" level and kick elite butt with vehicles!).

Face it, unless some major studio sees the Mac as a better gaming platform, the money is in numbers. And the Mac, albeit better at many things, will always get short end of the (joy) stick.

---
To BeOS or Not to BeOS



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Halo - A Hog
Authored by: Hes Nikke on Jan 21, '04 12:49:40PM
Oni is a perfect example. Here is a game, with a female lead character, that not only uses weapons, but advanced moves and blocking. The game was great. But the inability to include net-play was its downfall. If only Oni had multi-player, assault levels and custom mapping...its play would have exceeded Halo's playability

i can't agree with you more, i had the optertunity to play Oni multi player at macworld a couple of years before it was released. it was much funner than any FPS shooter that i've played multi player.

i was so disapointed by Oni's lack of MP when it shipped, i didn't bother to buy it.

---
vacuums do not suck. they merely provide an absence that allows other objects to take the place of what becomes absent.

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Halo - A Hog
Authored by: ChiperSoft on Jan 20, '04 01:08:51PM

> Sure, Halo's an all right game, but if I'm paying $50 for a game, I
> expect it to perform comparably to "last year's games" that sell
> for $30-40 now. And why should I have to buy a cutting-edge
> system to get the privilege of poor frame rates anyway?

This statement is so absurd it just blows me away. Every new game pushes the envelope. Apparently you don't remember how much fear there was regarding UT2k3's requirements. Hell, even the original UT only ran well on recent hardware.

Additionally, your claim is simply foolish. Turn down the graphics effects and the game runs fine on even 3 year old Macs. I've talked to plenty of people running it on GeForce2 cards who report great framerates. They don't have all the specular effects and pixel shaders turned on, but the game plays fine.

It should also be pointed out that MacSoft basically rewrote the entire graphics engine from Gearbox's code (Halo PC uses DirectX 9, Mac Halo uses OpenGL) and in many ways they made the engine run BETTER then it's PC counterpart. If you have the hardware to play it with all the coolness enabled, then it is a GORGEOUS game, simply stunning.

You know, it's people like you that make it so hard to bring games over to the mac. If your machine can't run the game, then you don't play the game. I didn't play WC3 until about two months ago when I got a new videocard that could handle it. There are plenty of PC users who are in that same boat, and you know what, they don't get to play new games until the inevitable day that they have to replace the machine. They don't *censored* about the steep requirements, they live with it and get new equipment.

Doom 3 will be coming out this year... It will be pushing the envelope. LOTS of people will not be able to play it because of it's graphics requirements. But do you think a single person will *censored* about the fact that the graphics engine is so demanding? Not likely, it's to be expected.



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So good, so good.
Authored by: zedwards on Jan 20, '04 12:33:25PM

The only thing I have to add is: Never have I had such a claustrophobic experience of running around in circles in some dark catacomb (before the emergency escape pod launches) as I have with Halo. It is more addictive than anything I know of. I have never really played many games, so I don't know what to compare it to. It seemed to work just fine on my 867 12" PB.



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So good, so good.
Authored by: calroth on Jan 21, '04 02:14:42AM

Compare it to Marathon.

Those claustrophobic creeping-around-in-the-depths-of-a-starship moments are familiar and welcome to old Marathon hands; it's great. Bungie did it again (in that regards; they missed in others).



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Halo - An entertaining space/combat FPS game
Authored by: beerguy on Jan 20, '04 12:39:47PM

I bought the game when it first came out and like it. It runs fine on my 15" Al PB. My gripe is with the fact that with the latest update you are required to use the CD. For you mobile gamers, like me, that means you better find someplace to plug in.

Halo good - update bad



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Halo The Update
Authored by: buddilla on Jan 21, '04 12:04:21AM

All i Read on Versiontracker is that nothing was improved rather
the opposite. The biggest complaint the need for a cd in the drive.
This was to protect against piracy. Crack Anyone thats what they
are for. Now all we have to wait for is to fool the game into thinking that there is a cd in the drive hmmm framework fun... lol... I was glad when The UT2003 took away the need for the cd in the drive in its last update ( my drive was dying ). All i say is forget the update play the game. Besides my machine wont handle the extra graphics stuff. Runs Fine on My Dual 500 ha... Stock Video Card As well (not for long ;0) )

---
aim: buddilla



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Halo - An entertaining space/combat FPS game
Authored by: johnq on Jan 21, '04 03:37:08AM

Hehe...you guys need to get XBOXes.....

(No I have no morals...XBOX is quality, I don't care if SATAN makes them.)

I gave up on Mac ports when the PS2 came out. Strike that...when the Sega Dreamcast came out.

For the price of one Mac to run games adequately (say, $1200-$2300), I've bought (in the last several years) a Dreamcast, Nintendo 64, PS2, XBOX and damn close to getting a Gamecube.

The point is, my Mac love doesn't limit me. This isn't a cult people. Relax, have fun, buy games and whatever works for you.

Personally I like having games be removed from my work/home computer. Yes, certain games are best on a crisp LCD and with a keyboard. Even mice and trackballs are more precise for certain things. But for 80% of games, a dedicated console is worth thinking about.

If you love gaming, the bullet and buy one each of the big 3 consoles.

Your Mac Masculinity isn't threatened if gaming doesn't cut it on your Mac. We're not bound to the Mac.



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Halo - An disappointment
Authored by: yellow on Jan 24, '04 11:58:24PM

It had such a cool beginning, and then.. I didn't know Halo turned into Half-Life.. :(



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Halo - An entertaining space/combat FPS game
Authored by: unixphreak on Apr 15, '05 08:18:58PM

first of all the game halo was developed for the mac from the very first and then bought out by microshaft and then ported to the xbox and pc. and put on hold for the mac for marketing reasons. and it was gonna be a mother of a game from the beginning. and opengl games run less efficently on the mac that dx9 does on the windows ware. just a fact of life we have to live with using the system we have chosen. in stability we lose the jiggy hacks that let the hardware fabricators tweak performance.

just my 2 sense



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