Over on Bungie.net, Urk pointed out that Sawnose had been talking in the forums about using the Halo 1 CD keys for something special in Reach. Now he has talked a little more about it, hears the post.
Yes, that was me in the podcast, and in fact we were discussing details at the office today. We should have the final feature ready for use in about a month.
We're dealing with the keygen problem as best we can. For starters, I pulled a list of keys that had actually been used as of a month or two ago, and we'll probably validate against that list. So people won't be able to just get the keygen now and claim the... reward. (i.e., people who didn't even bother to pirate the game :-) It also means that buying one of the few remaining copies at retail won't help you anymore.
So yeah, we're on it. Start spreading the word on other sites that Halo PC users should check here a couple weeks before Reach launches for details on what to do with the key.
edit - see my addendum at the end of the OP
edit -
To clarify, OLD keys work. If you ever used your key (technically, to enter the multiplayer game lobby, since that's what validates the key) at any time from 2003 until a couple months ago (May?), you should be ok. We won't be allowing NEW keys, because we'll assume they were keygenned.
"Halo 1 for Mac" users are included in this.
"Halo 2 for PC" is NOT included since Bungie wasn't involved in that port.
edit -
The reward is a small "visual flair", as was described during the last days of Halo 2 for players of that game. Not armor or anything in the Armory. We realize that some people have lost their keys or never played online to validate their key, and unfortunately we can't do anything about that. If that's you, you're not missing out on something like Recon or Flames, it's just a little indication that people have been part of a certain Halo community for a while, and we wanted to give them a nod.
As others have noted, we have no way of telling if you've played the Xbox version, so that isn't included here.
edit -
Yes, you can continue to play the game without invalidating your key.
edit -
"Halo: Custom Edition" - YES
And the precise cutoff date for CD Keys was May 26th, 2010. If your key was ever used online before then, it counts.
Check out the full post here:
http://www.bungie.net/News/Blog.aspx?mode=news#cid27512
Halo: Reach
Game » consists of 13 releases. Released Sep 14, 2010
A prequel to Halo: Combat Evolved, chronicling one of the most cataclysmic events of the Halo Universe through the eyes of a squad of Spartan super-soldiers known as Noble Team. It is also the last game in the series developed by Bungie.
Still got your Halo 1 CD Key? Step Inside
I have my Halo 1 PC key that I bought at launch that allowed me to play for hundreds of hours in its prime. Halo lost me this gen, any offers?
"
As others have noted, we have no way of telling if you've played the Xbox version, so that isn't included here.""
lol thats a complete and utter fud, they can easily tell I've played halo 1 or 2, if I put it in my 360 that information is kept. they can all so tell if I played online since their own stats servers keep that info.
" I have my Halo 1 PC key that I bought at launch that allowed me to play for hundreds of hours in its prime. Halo lost me this gen, any offers? "What do you want? I'll do anything minus most things.
" This seems stupid. Why reward people who played Halo PC and not Halo CE on the xbox? "Exactly I bought Halo 1 on Xbox the first day it was released (which was the same day as the console) so why aren't we getting rewarded? Also, I heard about this on Joystiq a long time ago so I don't know why this is considered as news.
" Who the hell played Halo on PC? "I guess you never played Halo 1 on PC using LAN with your friends, good times.
" @ISuperGamerI: cause PC gamers deserve EVERYTHING! "Nah PC gamers just need to stay out of our business and I'm also a PC gamer so just saying.
" @ISuperGamerI said:Oh yeah for sure man, Halo 2 was great, so much better than Halo 3 in my opinion." @Bones8677 said:No, but I played Halo 2 on X Box LAN. Now THOSE were good times! ^_^ "" Who the hell played Halo on PC? "I guess you never played Halo 1 on PC using LAN with your friends, good times. "
" @sixghost said:The keys for Halo on PC are printed exactly like Xbox Live codes. Same with Fable on PC. So the code can be entered the same. I believe it would be easier to treat the PC players than the original Xbox players because they have no way to tell who used it and not. The first Halo was released on November 14th 2001 and Xbox Live didn't come out till November 15th 2002. So Halo on Xbox didn't have Xbox Live support. Therefore no usernames or emails went with the game. Neither did Halo on PC, but they at least have the genuine CD keys. That's why they brought up that they will crackdown on keygens." This seems stupid. Why reward people who played Halo PC and not Halo CE on the xbox? "Halo CE never had Live Support for Xbox, so there is no way to track who played and who did not. "
Probably more people than did so on the Mac. :)" Who the hell played Halo on PC? "
And definitely everyone that made Halo machinima.
@WilliamRLBaker said:
Don't suppose you could post a screenshot of your Bungie.net profile for Halo 1? (This conversation doesn't actually involve Halo 2.)lol thats a complete and utter fud, they can easily tell I've played halo 1 or 2, if I put it in my 360 that information is kept. they can all so tell if I played online since their own stats servers keep that info. "
Oh yeah... you can't.
Guess that's a bit of a problem. And playing it on your 360 doesn't exactly count as being part of the original Halo community, does it?Wikipedia:
As Halo was released before Xbox Live, online multi player games were not officially supported.
So yeah I'm gonna say that the dude wot works at Bungie isn't trying to pull the wool over anyone.
I played Halo 1 on PC more than any other Halo game i ever played online combined. And i got the game case with the key right up there in my shelf. So awesome.
Wha? People played the PC version of Halo? And bungie is rewarding those people? Madness. Tis madness I tell thee.
Wow, I've had my PC version of Halo sitting in my stack of PC game disks just an arm's length away from me for, what, going on seven years now? Hold on... seven years? Seven? How appropriate.
" @WilliamRLBaker said:um...okay.." " As others have noted, we have no way of telling if you've played the Xbox version, so that isn't included here."" lol thats a complete and utter fud, they can easily tell I've played halo 1 or 2, if I put it in my 360 that information is kept.It's not. "
you mean if I have in my achievement list a halo 1 entry and halo 2 entry dated...a year ago...its updated on xbox live then that info is not kept? righttt.
and lets see..they are able to tell by halo 2 server stats that I was on it...so yes your wrong, they do keep that info.
""@Brackynews said:
" @Bones8677 said:
Probably more people than did so on the Mac. :)" Who the hell played Halo on PC? "
And definitely everyone that made Halo machinima.
@WilliamRLBaker said:
Don't suppose you could post a screenshot of your Bungie.net profile for Halo 1? (This conversation doesn't actually involve Halo 2.)lol thats a complete and utter fud, they can easily tell I've played halo 1 or 2, if I put it in my 360 that information is kept. they can all so tell if I played online since their own stats servers keep that info. "
Oh yeah... you can't.Guess that's a bit of a problem. And playing it on your 360 doesn't exactly count as being part of the original Halo community, does it? So yeah I'm gonna say that the dude wot works at Bungie isn't trying to pull the wool over anyone. "Wikipedia:
As Halo was released before Xbox Live, online multi player games were not officially supported.
wait...it doesn't involve halo 2...odd last i checked the op had this.
"" Halo 2 for PC" is NOT included since Bungie wasn't involved in that port.""
Looks to me like halo 2 is part of the conversation.
1. there is no logical reason for them not to give people whom had halo 2 an incentive. They can easily tell who has played halo 2, and give them an incentive for it in halo reach. I am talking of halo 2 xbox.
2.Halo 1 and Halo 2 both appear in my games played list, Microsoft easily has access to that information.
so yes Halo 2 is part of the conversation, and there is no logical reason for bungie to give halo pc users an incentive and not halo 2 pc users, or hell even halo 1 and halo 2 xbox users they can get access to said information easily.
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