Last January we got to play the Windows Vista port of Bungie's hit Xbox shooter Halo 2 on a single multiplayer map. Today at a GDC Microsoft game event we got to see for the first time how the single player game looks as well as learn more about what other features the Windows Vista port is like.

The game itself is being developed by Hired Guns, a 10 member internal Microsoft game dev team that is working with Bungine on the Halo 2 Vista port. We got to see a brief portion of the single player game in action and for a game that's nearly three years old it's not a bad looking title at all. Pumping up the resolution of the screen certainly helps, as does anti-aliasing and some of the textures in the original game that don't look good in high resolution have been replaced. Otherwise, the Vista port looks like a sharper and cleaner version of the original Xbox game. As you might expect you can play the game with a keyboard-mouse combo as well as the Windows Xbox 360 controller.

We then got to see how the upcoming Live for Windows service will be used for Halo 2 Vista. While Xbox 360 and PC owners will not be able to play against each other in Halo 2 multiplayer matches they will be able to message each other with the Live for Windows service. Halo 2 Vista will also be the first PC game to have achievements which is something that every Xbox 360 game already has. People who already have a paid for Xbox Live Gold membership for their Xbox 360 will not have to pay extra for Live for Windows Gold memberships; that fee will carry over to the PC service. And what do you get when you go to the Gold side? Well while you can play online multiplayer in the PC version for the free Silver membership, the Gold membership will let players use the Quick Match and Custom Match features for matchmaking (Silver members will get access to a GameSpy-like server browser). Silver members get access to achievements in single player while Gold members get achievements in both single and multiplayer modes. Players will also be able to set up dedicated servers for free as well and there will be full voice chat support as well.

We also got to see the Halo 2 Vista map editor which will ship with the product. The map will allow people to create new multiplayer maps as well as multiplayer mods. People will be able to either use assets from the game to make their maps or they can create and import new character models, weapons, vehicles and more for full multiplayer modes. There won't be any support for single player maps nor will there be any bot support. People who have dedicated servers can host new maps which people can download when they sign onto the server (maps with the game's assets will be downloaded quickly but maps with custom art will take longer). The developers were coy when asked if they will release new Halo 2 Vista maps with the game, saying only that announcements will be made about the game in the future.

The game is due out sometime before the end of June and it should be interesting to see how both the Vista port of Halo 2 and the included Live for Windows features will be accepted by PC players. We hope to get some more info about the game in the months leading to its release.

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