Oh this is rich. Bungie (aka Microsoft) has just announced that Halo 2 will require Windows Vista (aka Godot) to run. While I can imagine that Microsoft wants to help drive sales of Vista, this isn’t going to be the way to do it. I can just see the discussion at the sales counter when Joe Consumer goes to buy a copy of Halo 2 for the PC…
Clerk: Ah, I see you’ve chosen Halo 2! Great choice. Very nice for a three year old game.
Joe: Uhhh…
Clerk: Yeah, it was released on the original Xbox a long time ago, and Microsoft, er, Bungie, just got around to porting it to Windows.
Joe: Um, yeah, but it’s like $50, so it’s awesome, right?
Clerk: You bet! So I’m guessing you bought a new PC in the last week?
Joe: Um, no, why?
Clerk: Oh, well, you see this requires Windows Vista.
Joe: What’s that?
Clerk: It’s the new version of Windows that just came out. It requires a PC with 200 terrabytes of memory and 3 jigawatts of processor speed (editors note: this is what Joe Customer will think Clerk said).
Joe: Does that work on my XP machine I bought 3 years ago, and how much is it?
Clerk: It might, but only if you upgrade the video card, and add more memory. The upgrade will cost either $100, $200 or $800 depending on which one of the seven versions of Vista you want… Of course, the real thing to do is to buy a new game PC for $2000.
Joe: <putting Halo 2 back on the shelf>Yeah, okay, thanks. I think I’ll just go buy a Sega Revolution for $200…
I guarantee you that if Bungie was still a standalone company, they wouldn’t be tying it to Vista. It’s not a good business decision. Three years after the release of Vista? Sure, when the vast majority of your user base has upgraded, but not in 2006 or 2007. However if you’re Microsoft, you can try this, and maybe even get away with it.
I for one won’t bother with Halo 2 for the PC. Both because of this ludicrous Vista tying, and I don’t need another copy of a game that’s only 1/2 done.