Halo 2 on XP?

Good news it would appear someone has found a way to run "Vista only" games on XP. Now I would image at least for the MS games, it would be against the EULA (or will soon be against the EULA) to circumvent DX10 and thus Vista.


Link

Hacking group warez has released a patch allowing gamers to run Halo 2 and Shadowrun, both released by Microsoft as Windows Vista-only titles, on the firm’s older Windows XP operating system.

ImageIt had been claimed that neither title would be able to run successfully using the older DirectX 9 graphics engine, with Microsoft urging gamers to take the plunge and switch to the Vista.

The news is sure to irk Microsoft who may now face an increased delay in some consumers adopting Vista at this early stage. However, it shouldn’t come as a surprise. Earlier this month Falling Leaf Systems said in a press release that it believed Microsoft was deceiving consumers by stating that the titles would only work on Vista, and announced its intentions to release compatability software to disprove the claim.

“Microsoft has, in typical Microsoft fashion, decided to launch their forced migration onslaught in full force with the release of two games that will only run on Windows Vista,” said Falling Leaf Systems CEO Brian Thomason in the press release.

“First they claim that it was impossible to implement DirectX 10 compatibility atop Windows XP, and now they also want us to believe that they couldn’t successfully launch two DirectX 9 based titles on XP either. We plan to expose both theories as patently false.”

It appears Warez has beaten Falling Leaf to its goal, although Windows Live and in-game achievements are features still only availalbe to Vista gamers.

If this works we could all get Halo 2!!! 😉

I found it, its only 328k, sheezh.

Really makes you wonder how much better BF or QW could be if they would hire these hackers to fix thier coding.

lexx wrote:
I found it, its only 328k, sheezh.

Really makes you wonder how much better BF or QW could be if they would hire these hackers to fix thier coding.

👍

lexx wrote:
I found it, its only 328k, sheezh.

Really makes you wonder how much better BF or QW could be if they would hire these hackers to fix thier coding.

To be fair we have no idea what it does. It may just change a few settings in the code or registry. The ability for the game to run in DX9 may have already been in place just not turned on.

I still agree that they need to patch games better though.

Email me that patch please. 😉

Not being a console gamer can someone explain this part:

"It appears Warez has beaten Falling Leaf to its goal, although Windows Live and in-game achievements are features still only availalbe to Vista gamers."

hehe they have a typo in there 😉

So what are in game achievements? Is the live part just the in game VOIP? What else does it give you?

I personally would like to just play it on line.....

Windows Live and Online Achievements are the reason we are seeing every FPS move to a persistent model.

It is my understanding that Windows Live is the same as XBox Live. Through this program, you can track all of your achievements and compare them against all other players. Sound familiar? It gets better.

There are two versions, the free version and the yearly subscription model. Wipe that drool from your face EA. It also includes micropayments, where as you use credits to buy certain things. MegaRon could probably go into more detail.

Think of it as the carrot and the fishing pole meets the corporate investor demanding a higher ROI....... 😈

Atomm wrote:
There are two versions, the free version and the yearly subscription model. Wipe that drool from your face EA. It also includes micropayments, where as you use credits to buy certain things. MegaRon could probably go into more detail.

Think of it as the carrot and the fishing pole meets the corporate investor demanding a higher ROI....... 😈

Indeed. I've also heard, er 'read' that without Vista the live part will not work, and its said the multiplayer will be probable as well.

I'd want concrete proof this works online before commiting $50 to it. If MS was stupid enough to screen live from non-V os's, then in all likelyhood, most people will just pirate the sp version of it.


Every single game released since 2142 has had a new angle to screw the consumer.

lexx wrote:
Every single game released since 2142 has had a new angle to screw the consumer.

Certainly seems that way doesn't it. Bastiges.

To be fair, 2142 didn't start this trend.

Dynamic ads appeared in Counterstrike long before EA got on board.

Closed server systems existed in MMORPG's and more recently, Consoles before BF2.

Unlocks, Achievements and Carrots have been the heart and soul of Console gaming for as long as I can remember. Personally, I always hated the idea that I had to do X before I was allowed to do Y just because you wanted to make sure I got my 10Hours out of your game. That just IRKs me.

If you blame anyone, blame World of Warcraft. While MMORPG's have been around for 10+ years, they haven't started being really big business until WoW came out. EverQuest at it's peak had 400,000 players. At $10 a month, that was a nice 4Million payday each month.

WoW peaked out at about 8Million. At $12.95 a month.... Holy Crap....

In fact, it has been said that World of Warcraft has single handedly saved PC gaming (considered as a whole like Xbox or PS2, etc) because it's hard to do a MMORPG of this caliber on a console. At the same time, it has been said that WoW has also caused sales of other games to plunge.

The net affect is what we are seeing today. Excluding WoW, PC Game sales overall are down, but ROI demands are higher than ever because of the success of WoW.

It's a catch 22 and we are all going to get screwed in the meantime.

Atomm wrote:
To be fair, 2142 didn't start this trend.

Dynamic ads appeared in Counterstrike long before EA got on board.

Closed server systems existed in MMORPG's and more recently, Consoles before BF2.

Unlocks, Achievements and Carrots have been the heart and soul of Console gaming for as long as I can remember. Personally, I always hated the idea that I had to do X before I was allowed to do Y just because you wanted to make sure I got my 10Hours out of your game. That just IRKs me.

If you blame anyone, blame World of Warcraft. While MMORPG's have been around for 10+ years, they haven't started being really big business until WoW came out. EverQuest at it's peak had 400,000 players. At $10 a month, that was a nice 4Million payday each month.

WoW peaked out at about 8Million. At $12.95 a month.... Holy Crap....

In fact, it has been said that World of Warcraft has single handedly saved PC gaming (considered as a whole like Xbox or PS2, etc) because it's hard to do a MMORPG of this caliber on a console. At the same time, it has been said that WoW has also caused sales of other games to plunge.

The net affect is what we are seeing today. Excluding WoW, PC Game sales overall are down, but ROI demands are higher than ever because of the success of WoW.

It's a catch 22 and we are all going to get screwed in the meantime.

Umm, maybe they had them b4 but counter-strike didn't have ads since I owned it until abuot this Jan they added them. Shortly after bf2142 came out.

Other than that I agree 👈

Dont forget about the other MMORPGs that preceded and followed WoWCrack.. like FFXI which was and still is crack to many just wasn't cracked as quickly and became a haven for the Asiatic money-making gangs though. City of Heroes/Villains came around for the straggling adults.... and many more...