Halo 2 - Vista vs Xbox Graphics Comparison

Filed in archive PC Gaming Insights on April 28, 2007

Gamespot has an article comparing how halo 2 looks on the original xbox compared to how it looks like under Windows Vista. I am not surprised at all at the difference since we all know that the PC can handle higher resolutions than its console counterparts. But is this enough to draw all those Halo 2 players from Xbox Live to play what is essentially the same game on the PC?

Moving a game from the Xbox to the PC still requires a significant amount of graphics work. Games can get away with using low-resolution textures at standard definition, but those fuzzy surfaces will stand out once you get to high-definition resolutions. The Hired Gun team in charge of the Halo 2 for Vista project updated the game textures to ensure that the quality level remained high at PC resolutions. Some textures have increased detail. For example, weapon textures went from 256x256 to 512x512. The team also upgraded other textures with higher-quality compression settings.