Will there be a Halo 2 PC version?
 

Thread title says it all. If it comes out more than a year from now screw it (I mean, look at Halo 1, coming out 2 freakin' years after the X-Box version. Total BS).

Not in the foreseeable future. Nor will GTA: San Andreas be coming to the XBox anytime soon.

Yeah, that surprised me that GTA: SA won't be on the X-Box...

It (GTA:SA) will be on the Xbox next year, early to mid 2005, when or shortly thereafter the release of the PC version. As for Halo 2 on PC, doubtful anytime soon, maybe when Halo 3 is in development for the Xbox 2, it (Halo 2) will be released for PC.

One thing to understand is that the console market is in a huge tug of war right now. Publishers (the companies who take the completed game, stamp it on a CD, and handle the distribution) are eager to cross-platform practically everything. You can see that everywhere this year, just think of all the big name titles produced for both the XBox and PS2 (Nintendo has a stricter corporate policy about Gamecube titles, so they sometimes intentionally opt out of cross-platforming)... All the EA/ESPN sports titles, Tony Hawk, Need for Speed, Lord of the Rings Third Age, Def Jam: Fight for NY, Mortal Kombat, and so on. There's a huge list of cross-platformed titles. Publishers make money based on number of copies sold, so of course it's in their interests to cross-platform as many games as possible.

The hardware companies themselves (Microsoft, Sony) have an interest in keeping as many titles exclusive to their system as possible. Why buy a PS2 if 90% of the good games are available for the XBox also? So developing companies often keep their very BEST titles exclusive, as a way to pull customers to their platform. Fable and Halo 2 round out Microsoft's lineup this fall, competing against Grand Theft Auto and Gran Turismo 4 on the PS2 (delayed until 1/03, btw), and Metroid Prime 2 and Paper Mario 2 on the Gamecube. Those are the very BIGGEST sellers of the year (ok, maybe Madden gets a spot in the Top Five), and they're all exclusive. There's your reason to buy a PS2.

So don't be surprised to hear that GTA isn't coming to the XBox any time soon. Sony did something very wise with Vice City. They milked the exclusive rights for all they were worth, THEN sold the rights to Microsoft, and announced San Andreas only weeks after GTA: Vice City appeared on the XBox. So Sony got to clean up on exclusive game sales during the first year of release, then pocketed a huge chunk of change in licensing fees... and then they pulled the rug out from under Microsoft by announcing San Andreas as an exclusive PS2 title, making gamers think twice about buying an XBox because of Vice City. MS did the same crap putting Halo on the PC, only they got their "second wind" from box sales and not information rights.

Platform dependancies suck.

My PC is a computer, and Xbox is a computer. Yet, time and time again software gets released that will only play on one or the other, total bullshit.

I have to wonder if there will come a day when I can play whatever games I want on my PC, whatever happened to XBox and PS emulators anyway?

I don't forsee Halo 2 coming to the PC anytime soon. They'd rather see the PC users go out and buy an Xbox.

That will be the day after the last console company goes out of business. Welcome to Economics 101.

Yeah there's my problem... Halo/Halo 2 are the only two games I'd play on X-Box. Everything else I want to play I can play on the PS2 or the compy.

Oh well.

Who cares? Halo and H2 are great console shooters. But pale next to the PC shooters. UT2004 is an amped up version of H2 and we have HL2 coming out next week.

Although I would like to see them out and online compatable so I could wack some consoler with my mouse/kb combo.

Wingless, if there's an xbox version of the ps2 game you enjoy I highly recommend you play the xbox version. I have two xbox's and two ps2's and I have to say that my ps2 is rarely touched.

if you have a good PC there is no reason for you to have an xbox, most games are already on ps2 or pc. Halo 2 will be on pc soon enough....same with kotor 2.

They wont release halo 2 on the pc Until after the xbox2 is out i bet. They didnt release Halo 1 until 2 years after its release because they didnt want to hurt sales. Once the xbox2 is out then they wont really be worryign about xbox1 game sales and will release it for the pc.

I think that GTA: SA will come to the Xbox before Halo 2 goes to PC, and by the time HALO 2 comes to PC, it will be outdated, just like Halo was.
As everyone has said, Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo rely on the exclusivity of their games. If they all had the same games, no one would feel the need to buy all of the systems. We gamers are left with decisions as to which games we can live without, and what games we have to play.