Did something this week that I had figured to be doing about five years ago: played Halo on a Mac. It was the demo, which was just now released. Unless a boxed copy of the full Mac Halo suddenly materializes next to me in the next few seconds, the demo is as much as I’ll be playing. Let’s see…

Nope, no sudden materializations.

Back in 2003, in the comments of this Slashdot story about Myth II being updated, I wrote a sardonic reply that spawned a mini-debate:

Maybe we can expect to see Halo finally! Go Bungie!

Disclaimer: This post suffers from Rose Colored Glasses Syndrome (RCGS), a sometimes deadly disorder associated with blind devotion to particular software companies beyond all evidence to the contrary. Please give as much as you can afford to the RCGS support outlet near you. With your help, we can eradicate this dread disease.

Point being that the game was first demoed on a Mac at a MacWorld keynote in 2000, and then Microsoft bought Bungie. Or rather, Bungie sold its soul to Microsoft.

In 2004, after the game had finally been released, MacSlash had a story about pirates running rampant with the Mac version of Halo, which spawned another bitter comment from me:

Screw it. If I want to play Halo, I can go bug my buddy down the street who has an Xbox. I’m all for supporting Mac gaming, but I’m sure as hell not going to buy any more Bungie games.

Yes, I felt betrayed by their sell-out back in the day, but that’s only part of it: I personally refuse to purchase any Microsoft products. I don’t care how good the multiplayer is. ;)

After playing a bit of the demo, I am saddened. You might be asking why — it’s just a game, after all.

It’s the same bittersweet feeling I had playing at my friend’s house. The same sadness mixed with laughter watching the first season of the hilarious Red vs Blue. The same half-smile, knowingly, as the revamped Xbox is announced along with Halo 2.

And it was epitomized by a scene in the demo single-player level, coming across a downed dropship, human soldiers dead, ammo and health packs scattered around them, and a rocket launcher laying there with ‘SPNKr’ on the side:

Here’s what it used to look like:

Too bad, too. Halo is really a fun game.