So... has anyone else seen Halo 2 in action? - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

Booboo · 10-22-2004, 07:12 AM

Wont get into too much detail.. but wow...

Was unsure as to wether or not this could be discussed as its leaked and all, didn't see anything about it in the rules. If it is cool... I can point out some cool things i've seen so far.

And yes I'm still buying it.

DarkPho · 10-22-2004, 07:54 AM

It's not cool, but they may still allow it.

Your not doing anyone any favors by downloading a leaked version. And seriously, why spoil the game for others? I played Halo with no idea what would happen.. and it was so much more fun... lets leave Halo 2 as a suprise, just like Bungie have forced every person that played the game at their place to do.

Stompy · 10-22-2004, 08:08 AM

I'll be finding out tonight!

I never even played the first halo though, so... I won't know what's new, what's not, etc.

silent_jay · 10-22-2004, 08:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarkPho

It's not cool, but they may still allow it.

Your not doing anyone any favors by downloading a leaked version...

He's doing himself some favors because he's playing the game, personally I download all games before I buy them, I would have wasted an insane amout of money had I bought every game I wanted to play, take True Crime for example I downloaded it and palyed it for maybe a day then got tired of it, now that saved myself $80, see so there are favors to be gotten from downloading.

MSD · 10-22-2004, 10:27 AM

It's OK to discuss it, but we don't condone it. Don't ask/tell where to get it, don't ask for copies of it, and don't talk about CD keys.

dbc · 10-22-2004, 11:38 AM

I've played it, but won't go into detail as some people don't want to know about it. I'll just say I really like the changes.

humpy012 · 10-22-2004, 11:49 AM

I have it reserved but I havent downloaded it and played it. Theres only a couple more weeks until the real version comes out. I can wait.

theburner · 10-22-2004, 02:09 PM

I played the Beta back at the end of August. Sweet game, gonna buy it.

DarkPho · 10-23-2004, 11:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by silent_jay

He's doing himself some favors because he's playing the game, personally I download all games before I buy them, I would have wasted an insane amout of money had I bought every game I wanted to play, take True Crime for example I downloaded it and palyed it for maybe a day then got tired of it, now that saved myself $80, see so there are favors to be gotten from downloading.

Would you steal a game from a shop, and if you like it, take the money to them a few days later? It's no different.
If you can only afford x games per month, then only buy x games per month. Then you'll actually appreciate the games you have.

I guess i'm a little forced of my views.. but i'm heading into that industry and i hate to see people that are just fucking it up for everyone. Read a review, play a demo.

pottsynz · 10-23-2004, 02:04 PM

I have no issues with the "download before you buy thing". Especially nowadays the game is released, then a month later the demo....wheres the sense in that?

I'd otherwise rent a game before buying it, however I can't find a place that rents PC games of course

My Xbox isn't chipped...everything that goes in there is legit

I'm even waiting for the official media centre thingy to come out, as the only reason I would chip it for would to play tv shows of this box.

blar · 10-23-2004, 03:31 PM

will this have 2 player co-op like the first game?

Booboo · 10-23-2004, 06:08 PM

Umm I already mentioned that I was buying it regardless. I am a huge supporter of Bungie and always have been since Myth. I fail to see how its hurting bungie in any way if I try the game before it is released. Regardless of what I do there will always be a substantial amount of people doing what they are doing. Was just curious as to others thoughts about it, mostly being good or bad. no details.

Mr.Deflok · 10-23-2004, 09:29 PM

I work in RETAIL of the Gaming Industry and I don't have a beef with people downloading games, if you're gonna pay for it then you'll pay for it, those who download it will just download it and wouldn't have paid for it anyway. It's still the biggest entertainment industry on the planet and exponentially growing.

Halo 2 and GTA:SA are gonna sell by the boat-load, Bungie, Microsoft, RockStar and Take 2 will make their money back plus 1,000 times more in an instant.

Like I said, the chances are that the people who download never intended to buy it anyway.

Stompy · 10-23-2004, 10:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarkPho

Would you steal a game from a shop, and if you like it, take the money to them a few days later? It's no different.
If you can only afford x games per month, then only buy x games per month. Then you'll actually appreciate the games you have.

I guess i'm a little forced of my views.. but i'm heading into that industry and i hate to see people that are just fucking it up for everyone. Read a review, play a demo.

Eh, I don't really wanna get off topic by going into this (the debates do get long and sometimes messy..), but physically stealing a game is NOT the same as downloading it. Copyright infringement doesn't equal shoplifting/stealing.

Like Mr.Deflok said above, these games will sell like MAD and will make more than enough money for the companies. It doesn't justify those who download it, but... it happens. Sure, in a hypothetical situation in which EVERYONE downloaded it, yes, that would be a problem, but that won't happen.

Most of the games I've downloaded... I never intended on buying to begin with. In fact, most I played for about a week and havent touched since. It doesn't justify it, but I'm personally glad I didn't go out and spend $50 on a game I would've lost interest in so soon.

Halo 2 went gold before it was even released. So did Doom 3, so did Vice City. I work in the software industry and piracy actually hurts sales little to none. Look at Microsoft.. how many copies of XP floating around and they still make tons of money from it. Has there ever been a company, producer, artist, whatever that's actually been HURT by piracy? Again, doesn't justify it, but the amount of people who do it are a small percentage.

Mr.Deflok · 10-24-2004, 01:18 AM

Going Gold isn't a sales term for videogames, it's a term to describe the final version of the game being put onto a Gold Disc and sent out to be duplicated. Gold in the music industry is a sales term, I think it's for 250,000 copies being sold.

With that said however Halo 2 has hit around 1.1 (ish) million pre-orders worldwide.

Stompy · 10-24-2004, 06:49 AM

Hm, hahaha I never knew that!

Yeah, I probably got it mixed up w/ pre-orders then, since it always mentioned "Going gold with x pre-orders sold, [game] is shaping up to be one of the years' best!"

I remember the pre-order amount for Vice City was insane. It's gotta be nice for them.. I mean, the game isn't even RELEASED yet and the cash is just POURING in.

Church · 10-24-2004, 07:14 AM

//EDITED OUT

I apologize for highjacking. Sorry.

Stompy · 10-24-2004, 09:59 AM

Different strokes for different folks *shrug*

irateplatypus · 10-24-2004, 10:58 AM

well, if you preorder the title and play a downloaded copy... i think that is alright. the game company certainly isn't waiting to use the money you plunked down for their game, why should you wait longer than you must for the code you've already paid for?

seems like the time value of money should make it a legitimate practice to download the code before the physical release.

but, on the other hand... perhaps you sacrifice your preorder money because you are actually purchasing the rights to the first shipments of the game in addition to the game itself. i'm going in circles at the moment.

Suave · 10-24-2004, 11:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Church

Or you could rent them, at least they're still getting some profit out of it. But seriously, that's how our economy is based. It would be nice if we loved everything we bought, but sometimes you buy something you don't like. So what? That's how it works. Suck it up and stop stealing.

I don't know what rationale you hardcore anti-downloading people have for being so extreme about this, so if you'd care to explain, I'm waiting with open ears and baited breath. Please tell me how morally, trying out a game by downloading the code (at no cost to the developer or distributor) to see if you'd be willing to buy it is wrong. If you can concretely find a victim in this purchasing strategy, then by all means tell me.

DarkPho · 10-24-2004, 01:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Suave

I don't know what rationale you hardcore anti-downloading people have for being so extreme about this, so if you'd care to explain, I'm waiting with open ears and baited breath. Please tell me how morally, trying out a game by downloading the code (at no cost to the developer or distributor) to see if you'd be willing to buy it is wrong. If you can concretely find a victim in this purchasing strategy, then by all means tell me.

And how do you know when they are using that strategy? I know people that download.. because they don't give a damn. You can't let some people download and others not, so it's best to just stop everyone.
If you've preordered, then why not just wait for the actual game? You really want to play it french first? Won't that kinda ruin the suprise?

You mention code in your post. Downloading the code is defiently wrong. If i spent that much time on a game i wouldn't want the source code stolen from me. It's happened before to me, someone yoinked the game right off my PC at school whilst my back was turned.

Quote:

but physically stealing a game is NOT the same as downloading it. Copyright infringement doesn't equal shoplifting/stealing.

Explain how it is different. You still have a copy of the game you haven't payed for.

Sorry if it's going a bit off-topic. But i think it relates to Halo 2 being leaked quite a bit. Which bit was leaked? Just the game? (in french) or code too?

Stompy · 10-24-2004, 02:38 PM

I hate when people waste their time and try to convince others that downloading is "bad". Who cares? It doesn't affect you. Move on, let it be. Not everyone has the same concerns or beliefs.

Downloading isn't the same as shoplifting because when you shoplift, you're actually preventing that store from selling that copy to someone else. When you download, there isn't a lack of something to sell.

It's all based off the assumption that you had intended on purchasing 100% of everything you download, which is something frequently overlooked when discussing "piracy". If you didn't plan on buying it to begin with, then it's moot, really.

There's just so many flaws when trying to compare downloading to physical theft. Ok, fine, so go rent it. Copy the rental. You aren't stealing at that point because you paid your $5 for the game and the video store already paid the lump sum to rent it out to others. How often does one person rent the SAME game? So there ya go... tricky, isn't it? That's the difference between copyright infringement and physical theft. Think about it.

Just like the college kid that gets $200 a month from his parents for food and whatnot but downloads $3,000 of music, movies, and games each month. Yeah, because we ALL know that kid woulda bought $3,000 worth of entertainment otherwise

It's really not that big of a deal.. if you don't like it, then don't do it, and leave it at that. There's no need to waste post after post trying to convince the other side that your opinion is the right one.The fact is that there are those who choose to download and those who choose to buy. Right now, there are exponentially MORE of the latter than the former, so don't worry about it. Why go off on some moral crusade about it? They won't stop making games, game prices won't go up, so on .. so forth.

Now, back to Halo 2...

Church · 10-24-2004, 03:33 PM

//EDITED OUT

I apologize for highjacking. Sorry.

Stompy · 10-24-2004, 04:09 PM

Uh, hahaha, so let me get this straight... it affects you because you make extra commission by selling GAME WARRANTIES, and you don't get that because people tell others "Just download it" whenever they go to buy a game? Wow, that's a new one, heh.

...and of all games to compare, you use SPIDERMAN 2? Sorry to break it to ya, but the PC version of spiderman 2 didn't sell well because it sucked, not because of piracy... if you would like, I'll be more than happy to link you to a plethora of review sites that say the game is a POS.

Good PC games have no problems selling well. You're using same line of BS that the music industry uses: "Our sales are down because of P2P/Piracy/blah." No, your sales are down because of shitty artists putting out shitty music. Watch, put out something good and you will see an increase in sales.

Just curious, but where are you getting your info from? Are you just making this up to get your point across, because it seems like that's what you are doing...

Quote:

Just think before you speak next time, that's all I ask.

At this point, I'd have to recommend that you use your own advice, heh. My last post was well stated and chock full of good points that you didn't even remotely bother acknowledging.

Sorry it upsets you, but that's life. Not everything that happens in life will go your way. Suck it up.

[edit]
Also, not once has the computer gaming industry ever been a good industry to be in. The majority of PC games suck and have always sucked. Occasionally you'll get something that's pretty cool or a company that has an ability to churn out hits (Id, Blizzard), but for the most part... games are knock offs of each other and really aren't that well made. Console gaming is where it's always been.

Church · 10-24-2004, 05:14 PM

//EDITED OUT

I apologize for highjacking. Sorry.

irateplatypus · 10-24-2004, 05:14 PM

well, downloading pirated games does effect anyone who does buy the legit game instead if you believe that there is a percentage of people who would've bought the game if piracy weren't an option. the game developers must sell the games at a higher price to negate the profit lost from copies they would've sold without pirates.

the most serious problem with piracy is this: small developers who go out on a limb and produce a good game may have their entire business banking on that single product. if game piracy suppresses their sales volume enough, they will not have the funds to bankroll their next project and/or will get screwed by game publishers without the leverage their previous sales would've given them.

i won't say that i'm blameless or that there aren't neutral/positive things about downloading games... but its hard to argue it doesn't hurt the little independent developer with an innovative game idea.

Jeff · 10-24-2004, 05:19 PM

This shouldn't be about piracy.

Let's hear about Halo 2 in action from those who did download it. I'd love to hear what the best, most important features are.

Stompy · 10-24-2004, 05:57 PM

Quote:

This is obviously something you're saying to yourself to justify your practices.

This is why these debates are pointless. See, you aren't even paying attention... otherwise you would've known that in my post (#14), I plainly said it doesn't justify it. It doesn't. Downloading stuff without paying for it has no justification - I'm just saying it doesn't really matter, because the numbers have yet to show otherwise.

I've also stated that the whole idea fails if EVERYONE suddenly just went out and did that, but that will never happen, so the hypothetical "what if EVERYONE did it.." doesn't apply. Guess what? Everyone KNOWS that you can go on P2P and download games, movies, music. Everyone has the option of doing so. Do they? A lot do, but most don't.

If everyone did, you would see sales drop steeply. Hasn't happened yet. Income lost to piracy is a very small fraction of total income. Look at music.. it's much easier to download songs than it is to get a 500 meg - 4 gig ISO. It's done on such a much larger scale than movies and music and the music industry has YET to see a sudden SHARP DROP in income.

Quote:

Its thinking like that that is the plague in people that pirate. Look at the bigger picture, YOU WILL NOT HAVE ANYTHING TO PLAY IF PEOPLE KEEP DOWNLOADING GAMES.

I remember hearing this 10 years ago when I got a copy of Doom from a friend at school.. people said almost the exact same thing you're saying now back then. Remember all those people who said usenet would be the downfall of the gaming industry because of the warez groups, and that in 10 years the gaming industry would be SOL?

Quote:

When you rent something, you pay for the rights to view/play it for the period that it is in your posession, NOT to do whatever you want with it for that time thereafter.

Mkay, but we're talking about how it hurts the industry, remember? Yes, it's a violation of copyright law, but who gets hurt in this case? If blockbuster already purchased the game, then the developer already got the money. If you paid to rent the game and you don't rent it again (most people don't rent the same game twice), who is that hurting?

The key here is to think outside of the box for one second and welcome the possibility that not every case has a negative effect.

Quote:

So its ok to steal if you don't have the money to buy something? Please clarify.

I already established that it's not stealing. If you want another example of hte differences between the two, think about what you just said... if you don't have the money to buy a game and you download it instead, did you actually steal $x from that company? The answer is no, because you didn't have the money to begin with, so.. how are you going to give them money you don't have? At the same time, it's not like "ooh, so if you don't have money you can just walk into a store and steal a candy bar?" No, it's not the same. If you still can't figure out why at this point, then there's nothing more I care to explain. I'm not saying it's justified, I'm saying it's not the same.

Quote:

Now, back to playing on my completely LEGIT xbox playing my BOUGHT games...

Have fun? Good for you?

I mean, really now... back to what I originally said: it's pointless to debate this. The gaming industry isn't going anywhere. I've been having these debates on piracy for years. I work in the software industry and it's no surprise that when you venture into the PC software world, you'll have to (at some point) deal with piracy. The numbers have always been a VERY small fraction of overall income to MOST companies and will most likely remain the same for years to come. I remember this was a big concern during the dawn of broadband. Numbers really haven't changed much.

I'll stop here though, because this thread has gotten wayyy off topic...

Booboo · 10-24-2004, 08:17 PM

well so much for trying to give some info to people who actually are interested... isn't exactly a gaming thread anymore is it?! .. now where do the threads on morals go...

irateplatypus · 10-24-2004, 08:46 PM

threads frequently end up with unexpected twists and turns... i thought this one was going better than most. additionally, i thought you had already resigned yourself to not sharing in fear of violating forum rules...

no one is being stopped from sharing firsthand experiences about the game. if you've got some you can share... please do, i know i'm interested. if you feel hijacked, please add something to get it back on track (w/mod approval of course). it will have an interested audience.

Jeff · 10-24-2004, 09:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Booboo

well so much for trying to give some info to people who actually are interested... isn't exactly a gaming thread anymore is it?! .. now where do the threads on morals go...

You haven't really tried to give info. I'm very interested to hear about it, so please share your experiences.

Church · 10-24-2004, 10:14 PM

Ok, I apologize for contributing to the highjack. I've taken out my posts in hopes that nobody else will reply to them. Sometimes I just get really passionate about something. Sorry again!

silent_jay · 10-25-2004, 04:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarkPho

Would you steal a game from a shop, and if you like it, take the money to them a few days later? It's no different.
If you can only afford x games per month, then only buy x games per month. Then you'll actually appreciate the games you have.

I guess i'm a little forced of my views.. but i'm heading into that industry and i hate to see people that are just fucking it up for everyone. Read a review, play a demo.

Well no I wouldn't steal a game from a store and then bring them in money, that's just stupid, the difference between the 2 is that with one you are actually stealing the game and with the other I'm only downloading the game not stealing it, see big difference.

It isn't that I can only afford x games per month it's the fact that that x game could cost $70-$100 for only a couple of games play, now that's retarded. As for playing a demo or reading a review we all know that isn't reliable I mean some of those reviews are terrible and they lie about the games, as for demos well they aren't always an accurate view of the way the game truly is.

People are fucking what up for everyone? That's all I hear about downloading games and shit that it' fucking it up for everyone, yet no one ever tells people how it's fucking it up. As for heading into the industry I'm in school for Programming and Network Systems Analyst and I could care less who downloads what.

Booboo · 10-25-2004, 05:28 AM

Ok.. well since people are interested, this game kicks Halo's ass. I have not been able to play as much as I would of liked but my initial impression are good. Im assuming it is assumed all info provided will be spoiler information, so if you dont have any interest dont read below..

While you play through the campaign you play through as the covanant as well as the cheif. One of the coolest perks of this is the ability to camo for short periods of time at the push of a button... and you start with the energy sword.
The only thing I have about the sword thus far, is that in the campaign they have energy that gets used up. I didn't really like this but it works out ok, because they are fairly plentiful. However, in multiplayer, the sword does not have expendable energy so you can go slash happy all you want.

The Multiplayer Maps (and to most people these are most important) are very well done. Some of the levels are huge though and playing with 1 or 2 other people on my box couldn't give me a complete idea of how they would be with larger groups. Personally I didn't really enjoy multiplayer unless it was 6+ people or Co-op (in the first game). And since someone did ask, yes, there is co-op play in halo 2.

Ghosts have had some changes as well. Most of you have probably all seen the video with the multiplayer play that bungie presents. Personally I think the changes were pretty good, I would call ghosts a little more balanced now. First off, in standard use (without boosting) they are slower than before and are pretty easily avoidable, however if you get caught in their fire (which is at least twice the firing rate of the first game) you will die pretty quickly. When you do boost, you get movin pretty quick but lose a lot of mobility in the turning department and you cannot fire. Also note that you cannot kill someone just by tapping them with a vehicle, you need to have the right speed or they just go bouncing off with some shields gone.

While on that note, there i no health in the game, just shields. But you can take a few hits when the shields are gone and they recharge a little faster. But there is a little more strategy involved because running into a group of enemies and expecting to smack them all isn't going to work in this one. They can mess you up real fast given the opportunity.

AI has been improved a lot, I dont recommend playing on legendary the firs time around... really. AI seems to improve a lot as well as accuracy with the difficulty. On legendary they will pop you in the face every time.

There is quite a variety of weapons to choose from this time around, slighty more than I thought there would be. There is pretty much a version of every gun for the Marines and for the covenant, though each has their diffrences. One thing I noticed that doesn't seem to be true, like they showed in the demo, is the ability to do single shots with the battle rifle. As of now (at least in the french version) you fire 3 round bursts every shot regardles of being zoomed in or not. Ability to lock on with the rocket launcher is awsome. Plasma rifles also fire 3 shot bursts and their rate of fire has increased and gets even faster if you hold it down for a second or 2 (duel weild 2 of these and they decimate alien scum). There is also a Covenant version of the sniper rifle, the Beam Rifle, that is pretty sweet. It overheats very fast though so you can only get 2 shots off before you need to let it cool down if you are firing fast. If you get the timing down you can fire fairly quickly without it overheating. I dont want to reveal all of the weapons but there are some other new ones that are pretty cool. Oh, and there is kickback with the SMG so you need to compensate.

Overall appearence of the game is amazing. Its not exactly the "realism" that you have with Half-life 2 but I dont think they wanted that. It still has a Haloish feel to it that I really like, with some amazing textures. Plasma's have a new look to them when they blow up that is very nice too.

Thats all I can really think of at the moment and I'm at work.. but if people have any specific questions feel free to ask.

DarkPho · 10-25-2004, 06:08 AM

I won't mention anything now. Make a new thread if you want. I do find it a bit ironic that you told me not to bother arguing and then you wrote all that.
And downloading a game clearly is stealing. You can buy games by downloading them, so it's no different. (Halflife 2)

And i nearly read some of that last post! I'll not come back to this thread incase i read something i'd rather not!

shipofshame · 10-25-2004, 06:26 AM

Someone put together a quick presentation using new footage from the leak. It's pretty cool, nice to see what the game looks like.

http://www.angelfire.com/ab8/halo2/Movie.wmv

silent_jay · 10-25-2004, 07:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarkPho

I won't mention anything now. Make a new thread if you want. I do find it a bit ironic that you told me not to bother arguing and then you wrote all that.
And downloading a game clearly is stealing. You can buy games by downloading them, so it's no different. (Halflife 2)

And i nearly read some of that last post! I'll not come back to this thread incase i read something i'd rather not!

That wasn't arguing that was giving the forum members what they wanted, people were asking what the game was all about and he merely gave the people what they were asking for. Understand?

Yeah we know you think downloading a game is stealing, I think the prices they ask for games is robbery. This isn't helping the thread or people who really do want to find out about this game, if you want a thread on the "legalities and ethics of video game piracy" then start a thread, as for your constant compalining if you actually think you changed anyones mind who downloads games you are sadly mistaken. Have a nice day I shall be going home and downloading San Andreas

Jeff · 10-25-2004, 02:31 PM

Cool info, thanks Booboo!

mandal · 10-25-2004, 11:23 PM

From what I've heard it isn't as good as the original. Too much has changed. Supposedly the dual weapons is too powerful in multi and you can fall an infinite height without dying. My friends say that it's definitely under a 9 in gamespot scale. I myself have the game, but haven't tried it. Too busy playing Burnout 3. I got Halo 2 pre ordered anyways, so I think I'd rather just try it out in english since I have no one to do multi with.

I think things will definitely be different when doing Live. My friends played with 6 people and they said it was very low in action since the level was insanely huge.

but, it's supposed to look great.

Mr.Deflok · 10-26-2004, 02:34 AM

Check out the new OFFICIAL ENGLISH TV SPOT!!

http://www.gametrailers.com/gt_vault/t_halo2_tv.html

AND BLOW YOUR MOTHERFUCKING LOAD!

10-22-2004, 07:12 AM	#1 (permalink)
Booboo Insane	So... has anyone else seen Halo 2 in action? Wont get into too much detail.. but wow... Was unsure as to wether or not this could be discussed as its leaked and all, didn't see anything about it in the rules. If it is cool... I can point out some cool things i've seen so far. And yes I'm still buying it. __________________ "Your life is yours to live, go out and live it" - Richard Rahl

10-22-2004, 08:08 AM	#3 (permalink)
Stompy Banned from being Banned Location: Donkey	I'll be finding out tonight! I never even played the first halo though, so... I won't know what's new, what's not, etc. __________________ I love lamp.

10-22-2004, 02:09 PM	#8 (permalink)
theburner Canadian Beer Ambassador Location: Cumming, GA	I played the Beta back at the end of August. Sweet game, gonna buy it. __________________ Take Off Eh!

10-23-2004, 06:08 PM	#12 (permalink)
Booboo Insane	Umm I already mentioned that I was buying it regardless. I am a huge supporter of Bungie and always have been since Myth. I fail to see how its hurting bungie in any way if I try the game before it is released. Regardless of what I do there will always be a substantial amount of people doing what they are doing. Was just curious as to others thoughts about it, mostly being good or bad. no details. __________________ "Your life is yours to live, go out and live it" - Richard Rahl

10-23-2004, 09:29 PM	#13 (permalink)
Mr.Deflok Blood + Fire Location: New Zealand	I work in RETAIL of the Gaming Industry and I don't have a beef with people downloading games, if you're gonna pay for it then you'll pay for it, those who download it will just download it and wouldn't have paid for it anyway. It's still the biggest entertainment industry on the planet and exponentially growing. Halo 2 and GTA:SA are gonna sell by the boat-load, Bungie, Microsoft, RockStar and Take 2 will make their money back plus 1,000 times more in an instant. Like I said, the chances are that the people who download never intended to buy it anyway. Last edited by Mr.Deflok; 10-24-2004 at 01:33 AM..

10-22-2004, 07:54 AM	#2 (permalink)
DarkPho Tilted	It's not cool, but they may still allow it. Your not doing anyone any favors by downloading a leaked version. And seriously, why spoil the game for others? I played Halo with no idea what would happen.. and it was so much more fun... lets leave Halo 2 as a suprise, just like Bungie have forced every person that played the game at their place to do.

10-22-2004, 10:27 AM	#5 (permalink)
MSD The sky calls to us ... Super Moderator Location: CT	It's OK to discuss it, but we don't condone it. Don't ask/tell where to get it, don't ask for copies of it, and don't talk about CD keys.

10-22-2004, 11:38 AM	#6 (permalink)
dbc Tilted	I've played it, but won't go into detail as some people don't want to know about it. I'll just say I really like the changes.

10-22-2004, 11:49 AM	#7 (permalink)
humpy012 Upright	I have it reserved but I havent downloaded it and played it. Theres only a couple more weeks until the real version comes out. I can wait.

10-23-2004, 02:04 PM	#10 (permalink)
pottsynz Crazy	I have no issues with the "download before you buy thing". Especially nowadays the game is released, then a month later the demo....wheres the sense in that? I'd otherwise rent a game before buying it, however I can't find a place that rents PC games of course My Xbox isn't chipped...everything that goes in there is legit I'm even waiting for the official media centre thingy to come out, as the only reason I would chip it for would to play tv shows of this box.

10-23-2004, 03:31 PM	#11 (permalink)
blar Insane	will this have 2 player co-op like the first game?

10-24-2004, 01:18 AM	#15 (permalink)
Mr.Deflok Blood + Fire Location: New Zealand	Going Gold isn't a sales term for videogames, it's a term to describe the final version of the game being put onto a Gold Disc and sent out to be duplicated. Gold in the music industry is a sales term, I think it's for 250,000 copies being sold. With that said however Halo 2 has hit around 1.1 (ish) million pre-orders worldwide.

10-24-2004, 06:49 AM	#16 (permalink)
Stompy Banned from being Banned Location: Donkey	Hm, hahaha I never knew that! Yeah, I probably got it mixed up w/ pre-orders then, since it always mentioned "Going gold with x pre-orders sold, [game] is shaping up to be one of the years' best!" I remember the pre-order amount for Vice City was insane. It's gotta be nice for them.. I mean, the game isn't even RELEASED yet and the cash is just POURING in. __________________ I love lamp.

10-24-2004, 07:14 AM	#17 (permalink)
Church Tilted F*ckhead Location: New Jersey	//EDITED OUT I apologize for highjacking. Sorry. __________________ Through counter-intelligence, it should be possible to pinpoint potential trouble makers, and neutralize them. Last edited by Church; 10-24-2004 at 10:13 PM..

10-24-2004, 09:59 AM	#18 (permalink)
Stompy Banned from being Banned Location: Donkey	Different strokes for different folks shrug __________________ I love lamp.

10-24-2004, 10:58 AM	#19 (permalink)
irateplatypus can't help but laugh Location: dar al-harb	well, if you preorder the title and play a downloaded copy... i think that is alright. the game company certainly isn't waiting to use the money you plunked down for their game, why should you wait longer than you must for the code you've already paid for? seems like the time value of money should make it a legitimate practice to download the code before the physical release. but, on the other hand... perhaps you sacrifice your preorder money because you are actually purchasing the rights to the first shipments of the game in addition to the game itself. i'm going in circles at the moment. __________________ If you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly, you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance for survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves. ~ Winston Churchill

10-24-2004, 02:38 PM	#22 (permalink)
Stompy Banned from being Banned Location: Donkey	I hate when people waste their time and try to convince others that downloading is "bad". Who cares? It doesn't affect you. Move on, let it be. Not everyone has the same concerns or beliefs. Downloading isn't the same as shoplifting because when you shoplift, you're actually preventing that store from selling that copy to someone else. When you download, there isn't a lack of something to sell. It's all based off the assumption that you had intended on purchasing 100% of everything you download, which is something frequently overlooked when discussing "piracy". If you didn't plan on buying it to begin with, then it's moot, really. There's just so many flaws when trying to compare downloading to physical theft. Ok, fine, so go rent it. Copy the rental. You aren't stealing at that point because you paid your $5 for the game and the video store already paid the lump sum to rent it out to others. How often does one person rent the SAME game? So there ya go... tricky, isn't it? That's the difference between copyright infringement and physical theft. Think about it. Just like the college kid that gets $200 a month from his parents for food and whatnot but downloads $3,000 of music, movies, and games each month. Yeah, because we ALL know that kid woulda bought $3,000 worth of entertainment otherwise It's really not that big of a deal.. if you don't like it, then don't do it, and leave it at that. There's no need to waste post after post trying to convince the other side that your opinion is the right one.The fact is that there are those who choose to download and those who choose to buy. Right now, there are exponentially MORE of the latter than the former, so don't worry about it. Why go off on some moral crusade about it? They won't stop making games, game prices won't go up, so on .. so forth. Now, back to Halo 2... __________________ I love lamp.

10-24-2004, 03:33 PM	#23 (permalink)
Church Tilted F*ckhead Location: New Jersey	//EDITED OUT I apologize for highjacking. Sorry. __________________ Through counter-intelligence, it should be possible to pinpoint potential trouble makers, and neutralize them. Last edited by Church; 10-24-2004 at 10:13 PM..

10-24-2004, 05:14 PM	#25 (permalink)
Church Tilted F*ckhead Location: New Jersey	//EDITED OUT I apologize for highjacking. Sorry. __________________ Through counter-intelligence, it should be possible to pinpoint potential trouble makers, and neutralize them. Last edited by Church; 10-24-2004 at 10:13 PM..

10-24-2004, 05:14 PM	#26 (permalink)
irateplatypus can't help but laugh Location: dar al-harb	well, downloading pirated games does effect anyone who does buy the legit game instead if you believe that there is a percentage of people who would've bought the game if piracy weren't an option. the game developers must sell the games at a higher price to negate the profit lost from copies they would've sold without pirates. the most serious problem with piracy is this: small developers who go out on a limb and produce a good game may have their entire business banking on that single product. if game piracy suppresses their sales volume enough, they will not have the funds to bankroll their next project and/or will get screwed by game publishers without the leverage their previous sales would've given them. i won't say that i'm blameless or that there aren't neutral/positive things about downloading games... but its hard to argue it doesn't hurt the little independent developer with an innovative game idea. __________________ If you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly, you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance for survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves. ~ Winston Churchill

10-24-2004, 05:19 PM	#27 (permalink)
Jeff And we'll all float on ok... Location: Iowa City	This shouldn't be about piracy. Let's hear about Halo 2 in action from those who did download it. I'd love to hear what the best, most important features are. __________________ For those who believe in God, most of the big questions are answered. But for those of us who can't readily accept the God formula, the big answers don't remain stone-written. We adjust to new conditions and discoveries. We are pliable. Love need not be a command or faith a dictum. I am my own God. We are here to unlearn the teachings of the church, state, and our educational system. We are here to drink beer. We are here to kill war. We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us. --Charles Bukowski

10-24-2004, 08:17 PM	#29 (permalink)
Booboo Insane	well so much for trying to give some info to people who actually are interested... isn't exactly a gaming thread anymore is it?! .. now where do the threads on morals go... __________________ "Your life is yours to live, go out and live it" - Richard Rahl

10-24-2004, 08:46 PM	#30 (permalink)
irateplatypus can't help but laugh Location: dar al-harb	threads frequently end up with unexpected twists and turns... i thought this one was going better than most. additionally, i thought you had already resigned yourself to not sharing in fear of violating forum rules... no one is being stopped from sharing firsthand experiences about the game. if you've got some you can share... please do, i know i'm interested. if you feel hijacked, please add something to get it back on track (w/mod approval of course). it will have an interested audience. __________________ If you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly, you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance for survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves. ~ Winston Churchill

10-24-2004, 10:14 PM	#32 (permalink)
Church Tilted F*ckhead Location: New Jersey	Ok, I apologize for contributing to the highjack. I've taken out my posts in hopes that nobody else will reply to them. Sometimes I just get really passionate about something. Sorry again! __________________ Through counter-intelligence, it should be possible to pinpoint potential trouble makers, and neutralize them.

10-25-2004, 05:28 AM	#34 (permalink)
Booboo Insane	Ok.. well since people are interested, this game kicks Halo's ass. I have not been able to play as much as I would of liked but my initial impression are good. Im assuming it is assumed all info provided will be spoiler information, so if you dont have any interest dont read below.. While you play through the campaign you play through as the covanant as well as the cheif. One of the coolest perks of this is the ability to camo for short periods of time at the push of a button... and you start with the energy sword. The only thing I have about the sword thus far, is that in the campaign they have energy that gets used up. I didn't really like this but it works out ok, because they are fairly plentiful. However, in multiplayer, the sword does not have expendable energy so you can go slash happy all you want. The Multiplayer Maps (and to most people these are most important) are very well done. Some of the levels are huge though and playing with 1 or 2 other people on my box couldn't give me a complete idea of how they would be with larger groups. Personally I didn't really enjoy multiplayer unless it was 6+ people or Co-op (in the first game). And since someone did ask, yes, there is co-op play in halo 2. Ghosts have had some changes as well. Most of you have probably all seen the video with the multiplayer play that bungie presents. Personally I think the changes were pretty good, I would call ghosts a little more balanced now. First off, in standard use (without boosting) they are slower than before and are pretty easily avoidable, however if you get caught in their fire (which is at least twice the firing rate of the first game) you will die pretty quickly. When you do boost, you get movin pretty quick but lose a lot of mobility in the turning department and you cannot fire. Also note that you cannot kill someone just by tapping them with a vehicle, you need to have the right speed or they just go bouncing off with some shields gone. While on that note, there i no health in the game, just shields. But you can take a few hits when the shields are gone and they recharge a little faster. But there is a little more strategy involved because running into a group of enemies and expecting to smack them all isn't going to work in this one. They can mess you up real fast given the opportunity. AI has been improved a lot, I dont recommend playing on legendary the firs time around... really. AI seems to improve a lot as well as accuracy with the difficulty. On legendary they will pop you in the face every time. There is quite a variety of weapons to choose from this time around, slighty more than I thought there would be. There is pretty much a version of every gun for the Marines and for the covenant, though each has their diffrences. One thing I noticed that doesn't seem to be true, like they showed in the demo, is the ability to do single shots with the battle rifle. As of now (at least in the french version) you fire 3 round bursts every shot regardles of being zoomed in or not. Ability to lock on with the rocket launcher is awsome. Plasma rifles also fire 3 shot bursts and their rate of fire has increased and gets even faster if you hold it down for a second or 2 (duel weild 2 of these and they decimate alien scum). There is also a Covenant version of the sniper rifle, the Beam Rifle, that is pretty sweet. It overheats very fast though so you can only get 2 shots off before you need to let it cool down if you are firing fast. If you get the timing down you can fire fairly quickly without it overheating. I dont want to reveal all of the weapons but there are some other new ones that are pretty cool. Oh, and there is kickback with the SMG so you need to compensate. Overall appearence of the game is amazing. Its not exactly the "realism" that you have with Half-life 2 but I dont think they wanted that. It still has a Haloish feel to it that I really like, with some amazing textures. Plasma's have a new look to them when they blow up that is very nice too. Thats all I can really think of at the moment and I'm at work.. but if people have any specific questions feel free to ask. __________________ "Your life is yours to live, go out and live it" - Richard Rahl

10-25-2004, 06:08 AM	#35 (permalink)
DarkPho Tilted	I won't mention anything now. Make a new thread if you want. I do find it a bit ironic that you told me not to bother arguing and then you wrote all that. And downloading a game clearly is stealing. You can buy games by downloading them, so it's no different. (Halflife 2) And i nearly read some of that last post! I'll not come back to this thread incase i read something i'd rather not!

10-25-2004, 06:26 AM	#36 (permalink)
shipofshame Crazy Location: Montreal	Someone put together a quick presentation using new footage from the leak. It's pretty cool, nice to see what the game looks like. http://www.angelfire.com/ab8/halo2/Movie.wmv

10-25-2004, 02:31 PM	#38 (permalink)
Jeff And we'll all float on ok... Location: Iowa City	Cool info, thanks Booboo! __________________ For those who believe in God, most of the big questions are answered. But for those of us who can't readily accept the God formula, the big answers don't remain stone-written. We adjust to new conditions and discoveries. We are pliable. Love need not be a command or faith a dictum. I am my own God. We are here to unlearn the teachings of the church, state, and our educational system. We are here to drink beer. We are here to kill war. We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us. --Charles Bukowski

10-25-2004, 11:23 PM	#39 (permalink)
mandal Crazy	From what I've heard it isn't as good as the original. Too much has changed. Supposedly the dual weapons is too powerful in multi and you can fall an infinite height without dying. My friends say that it's definitely under a 9 in gamespot scale. I myself have the game, but haven't tried it. Too busy playing Burnout 3. I got Halo 2 pre ordered anyways, so I think I'd rather just try it out in english since I have no one to do multi with. I think things will definitely be different when doing Live. My friends played with 6 people and they said it was very low in action since the level was insanely huge. but, it's supposed to look great.

10-26-2004, 02:34 AM	#40 (permalink)
Mr.Deflok Blood + Fire Location: New Zealand	Check out the new OFFICIAL ENGLISH TV SPOT!! http://www.gametrailers.com/gt_vault/t_halo2_tv.html AND BLOW YOUR MOTHERFUCKING LOAD!