Another of the big features of Halo, that made it so fun, was the adaptive AI. You actually felt like you were playing against sentient creatures, taking cover from your fire, and trying to maneuver to better attack positions. The tension was palpable, and the details and fluidity of the environments (sounds and visuals) made for a beautiful, excitingly immersive experience. Seeing the arc of the mysterious Halo in the distance right from the beginning, and realizing that was what you were traversing on, gave you pause to just sit and imagine what was going on. Where some games are busy with forward progression and unnecessary clutter, Halo allowed for an appreciation of the environment. The vagueness of the story stirred the imagination, and was never over-sold to be more than it was ever really going to be.

Microsoft was smart to scoop Bungie up when they did. It's likely that Halo would have drifted into obscurity if it maintained it's initial path as a Mac exclusive. With the current struggles that they are facing with the XBone console, I'm sure you'll see more of those, and more importantly newer games, make the transition to the Windows 10 environment, a la Quantum Break.

343 Industries seems to be doing a decent job with the Halo franchise, although I found Halo 4's campaign play to be less interesting (i.e. I didn't finish it), and I haven't played 5. The multiplayer has evolved to keep with the times, for better or worse. Bungie is great at making multiplayer shooters, but they fumble a bit when it comes to telling cohesive stories. They like to play with mystery, but they seem to do it without direction, so there isn't much of a payoff. Halo's stories are better discovered in the novels. Halo 3 ODST was one of the best Halo games, in terms of storytelling, I think because of the separation of the multiplayer aspect, and this is where I think Bungie has dropped the ball with Destiny. Creating a divided community from day one (Crucible vs PVE) was an unfortunate consequence of their design. It's not entirely their fault. I just don't think they know any other way, and the cost is too high to risk experimenting with better ideas.

I think you'll see all of Microsoft's first-party games come to PC very soon, at least the new stuff, with classics coming along the way. They obviously want to continue supporting PC, and I think it's smart.

They did the Master Chief Collection with 343 (and other studios), which was an upgrade of all the original games to HD. I'm sure they could handle PC ports (or remasters, or whatever you want to call it), given enough time. I doubt that Bungie will ever touch Halo again :(.

!!!!!!

I think I barely remember playing Rock n' Roll Racing with a friend on their SNES, but I didn't pay attention to the developer. Years later, when I got a PC, I got into Warcraft II after seeing the review in PC Gamer (maybe I played a demo, I can't recall). After that, I played Warcraft.

I picked up Starcraft when it came out. In fact, I traveled half an hour to Wal-Mart in another state (West Virginia) because I had trouble finding it locally. I really enjoyed it at the time and then again at least a few times years later (which includes the expansion). When I got my new beast of a PC, I got Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty and Heart of the Swarm. More recently, I finished Legacy of the Void and I have the new expansion pre-ordered.

A few or couple of years ago I got into Diablo III (because of Cheerful Ghost), which was the first I've played of the series. After that, I found the Diablo II Battlechest in KMart for $2, so I bought it, but I didn't spend very much time playing it. I do have a demo for Warcraft III, but haven't spent much time with it either.

I think I haven't played many of the other games. I also played Hearthstone and Heroes of the Storm, but not as much for the latter.

1) I've never played a Need For Speed game. I don't really know anything about it other than it's a car game. It looks like you're racing against the cops. It does look pretty cool and seems like it might have a good soundtrack. If anyone who's played one of these games wants to input their personal experience, I'd welcome that.
2) I'm so very glad at least one of us is being updated on these "On The House" deals with Origin. I only find out about them here. So, thanks!! =)

I was downloading it as I wrote the comment. =)

Most Wanted was one of the NFS games developed by Criterion, the studio that made the Burnout games. One of the things I loved about the Burnout games was that intense sense of speed, with precision control. Hot Pursuit felt that way. I'm sure Most Wanted does, too. Definitely worth a download, since it's free.

I played a Burnout game a few years ago, so I decided to get Burnout Paradise on Steam. I haven't played it much though. Thanks for the input, Scrypt, that makes this game sound cool. I'll give a try some time.