Too bad there's no online multiplayer support, amirite?

Can you imagine playing Halo:Combat Evolved over XBOX Live...without lag...with achievements...with customizable games. That would be a killer app for me.

If they did that, why would play Halo 2 or Halo 3?

Would they ship the MP at all? I'm guessing they'd just ship the campaign. Why include any MP functionality if you can't play it on LIVE?

Hrmm. If they do ship MP, I wonder if it will support more than 4 XBOX 360's. If it does, I'm calling dibs on a H1 LAN party.

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currently playing: Civilization 4
collecting dust: XBOX 360 Elite console, Halo 3
currently supporting: The guy who's won the most straw polls - r3/\O¯|ution

I'd expect that it would be a straight port, including multiplayer but excluding online support. While somewhat interesting, I don't see this being something I'd download. I have my Ex-box for playing my old games. I'd also expect that these games would have the same backwards compatibility problems that you have when playing from the disk (framerate, lock-ups, etc).

If they did modify Halo:CE to support online multiplayer, I would be smitten for life.

Take this next statement with a few shakers of salt:
This new feature does give some credence to the rumors that Shadowrun will eventually be made available as a free download on Marketplace.

In a land of chipmunks, an angry gnome is king.

I don't think they'll include online MP support. I really hope they do, but there's little more than a snowball's chance in hell. Here's why:

1. Who's gonna write the netcode for it? Bungie? They're independent now, and since they want to work on IP besides Halo, I assume they don't want to go back to 2001 and work on Halo: CE.

2. Only a small minority wants it. Remember, most people like the H2 and H3 gameplay and think the pistol was overpowered and unbalanced.

3. MS and Bungie wouldn't want it or allow it because of how well received it would be among the hardcore gamers in the community, which are often the most vocal. Internet blogs would be ablaze with talk of why this $15 download is better than the $50 and $60 successors to it on a better system. Nobody wants to see that, except us.

Gnome, SR a free download? Free? Where did that rumor come from?

Damn you guys for getting my hopes up and smashing them to oblivion all in a matter of 45 seconds of reading.

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"Oculus is just this guy, you know?"

@Midnight:

I would guess that the port of Halo 1 to XBOX 360 took many months to complete...long before Bungie became independent. Still someone would have to write the netcode. Bungie has over 100 employees. I would think that they've had the time and resources to do it - especially at the end of the H3 dev cycle. I think a lot of groundwork has already been laid for writing the H1 netcode. I mean, one guy at Gearbox Software did (a crappy job with) it for Halo PC. XBOX Connect faked it. H1 already has network play with lobbies. Surely Bungie could do it...and do it right. Did they do it? That's the question.

I'm guessing that H1 won't have online play because if it did, we'd be hearing about it right now. Fingers crossed, though.

I don't think Microsoft would be afraid to release online MP for H1. iD releases the source code for their Quake games years after they are released. They aren't afraid of people playing their games...for free. And they aren't making any money from those old games. At least MS is making money from H1. I'd say at $15 a pop, there's a lot of money to be made.

I bet at least 50% or more H2 and H3 users have never owned H1.

In #3 you said the the internet would be ablaze with people saying that a $15 game is better than a $60 game. But in #2 you said that a small minority wants H1 online. I don't think both can be true.

I would say that the chances are that #2 is correct and #3 most likely wouldn't happen. I don't think MS is not afraid of the community getting into an uproar. If there was any uproar related to a Halo game, surely it was when halo2sucks.com and company had a field day after the H2 launch. A lot of noise then. Of course, H2 when one to break a ton of records.

I've heard from an inside source that "big things are coming" for Shadowrun. But, more importantly, Gnome knows people.

Hrmm. I wonder if Crimson Skies will have XBOX Live support. It was one of the first XBL games. If it does, I wonder if any netcode had to be rewritten for XBOX 360 architecture.

Hrmm #2. Wait. Several games are coming out. I'd bet that Microsoft hired an independent team of people to make these games versus having each original developer do it. That would seem too taxing on these developers. I mean...FASA doesn't even exist any more and had their hands full with building the first cross-platform game while having a reduced work force. So, I'm guessing that it's likely that Bungie didn't port Halo 1. It was done by someone else and they won't take the time to add XBOX Live support to Halo.

Hrmm #3. Ok. I think I laid out cased for me to be both right and wrong with what I've just written. I guess that mean I'm wrong...

unless I made two wrongs ;)

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currently playing: Call of Duty 4 360, Gears of War PC
collecting dust: Halo 3
currently supporting: The guy who's won the most straw polls - r3/\O¯|ution

I think #2 and #3 can both be true because hardcore gamers enjoy H1 and are vocal on the net about it. However, the majority of gamers are not hardcore gamers. I am not adamantly claiming they will be true, as you bring up many good points, but that is my rationale for why they can logically coexist.

It won't happen but if H1 MP was on live, I would ignore 2 and 3 altogether. H1 XBL would be a nerdgasm for me :D

I am hoping it has online play, but I really don't think they would implement match making on it, which MS would probably want. Also a Halo:CE re-make is coming fer sure, re-making is a big trend. They know its a pile of cash waiting for them.

I say that it's more likely that the game stands a chance of getting negative publicity for not having any added features. I mean, you can buy the game at the store for $10 or $15 and you get the media. What incentive is there to buy H1 for XBOX 360? What H1 owners are going to buy this game? If anything, the H2 and H3 gamers are going to fuss that H1 doesn't have XBL functionality or achievements.

I just don't get why Microsoft would be afraid to sell a $15 title for being too good. I don't think they would be afraid of that. Some $5, $10, and $15 titles outsell $50 and $60 titles currently. MS praises the games that do that.

I would guess that the internet would be ecstatic that MS resurrected a killer hit and added functionality to it. I think it would be positive publicity for MS and the HALO franchise.

That's what I was thinking rapture...they must be adding something to justify a online purchase....you can get it for pretty much the same dollar value in real life...why buy it online with nothing added?

posted by Trixie over at Xbox.com forums-
"No, this isn't a new or updated game with new code. This is the classic Halo: Combat Evolved. The coolness is that you can download it over Xbox LIVE--you don't have to mess with a disc."

so basically its a stupid ripoff >: [

http://forums.xbox.com/1/16721150/ShowPost.aspx#16721150

I have no reason to buy Halo 1 then.

I guess it's cool to know that 20 years from now I can go online and buy the game if my disc is broken. But, who's to say that XBOX Live Marketplace will have the game in 20 years.

I guess this pretty much means that we'll never see an XBL version of H1.

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currently playing: Call of Duty 4, Gears of War (PC)
collecting dust: Halo 3
currently supporting: TIME magazine's person of the year overwhelmingly supports the r3/\O¯|ution

Agreed, no reason to buy when I already own multiple copies.

Yeah, I too have multiple copies, so there is absolutely no reason for me to waste my money.

That is really stupid. I went looking for that info today and ran across that topic on xbox.com as well. It really pisses me off.

It's being a dirty tease is what it is....I wasn't expecting it to happen but that doesn't mean I am not sad over it :(

I really don't see the point of this. Anyone whose a big enough fan to get this probably already has Halo on either their PC or the original xbox disc. Anyone who pays to download it is insane, Because these days you can still easily find H1 at an EB games or something and pay like 10 bucks. That way you still have the game if you go to someone else's xbox, or your hardrive fails and loose all the data and have to pay for stuff again. In fact, that holds true for most of the games they listed.

Look out Virtual console my ass. At least the games on there are going to be hard (even impossible) to find in the real world on account of their age.

And before anyone says anything, I'm not a Wii fan, I'm an Xbox fan. Even still, I call it like I see it.

I was looking at that Xbox.com thread...its basically 5 pages of angry gamers, including myself. There was only one guy who thought it was a good idea, heh.

Well, why ISN'T it a good idea? It's just providing another place to get the game. It's like adding another shelf to an video game store. If you don't want to, don't buy games from that shelf.

I think it's a good idea from MS's perspective, I just pointed out that I have no reason to buy. It actually makes a lot of sense. I assume that since the games are going to be buggy that very little effort was required to make them DLC. MS's investment will be very small, and they will make several dollars from people that have never played H1 and other original xbox games. Now they can also advertise a capability similar to Wii's virtual console.

There's also a great LANning aspect to this: Do you live in the boonies and have to get your internet through a cell phone? Have a bunch of people over for a LAN? Did somebody forget a copy of Halo 1? Download it!

Now if we could only download TV remote controls.

@Mintz: DL'ing H1 software through a cell phone connection? The LAN party would be over by the time the DL completed.

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currently playing: Call of Duty 4, Gears of War (PC)
collecting dust: Halo 3
currently supporting: TIME magazine's person of the year overwhelmingly supports the r3/\O¯|ution