Burton's Bytes: A game that's simply divine

It's a little known fact that the game was originally destined for the PC (natural home to the FPS genre) but development was switched to Xbox when Microsoft snapped up the publishing rights.

What a great decision. Six copies of Halo: Combat Evolved were sold every minute of every day between the launch of Xbox on November 15, 2001 and April 8, 2002.

The decision to make Halo a launch title undoubtedly helped shift thousands of extra consoles for Microsoft and a sequel is due any day now.

So why should we bother with the original game that has only just emerged on PC?

Interestingly, the job of handling a Halo conversion has been passed over to another company. Texas-based Gearbox Software is well versed in handling important PC ports, having worked on Duke Nukem, Quake, Counter-Strike and Tony Hawks titles.

Gearbox hasn't taken the line of least resistance with the PC version. Instead, they have continued to develop the software, refining it for the more powerful platform and adding extra value in the form of new weapons and options.

The levels may remain the same (apart from the Internet multi-player stuff) but Halo on PC can surely be seen as the ultimate version of a classic game.

Set hundreds of years in the future, you play a space marine fighting a war against a group of alien races collectively known as the Covenant.

To play Halo at its best, you need a decent PC. The game will run on a Pentium III rig that's a couple of years old but for all the great effects and a super smooth frame rate, you'll be needing a P4 and a top-of-the-line graphics card.

At least you can use the traditional mouse/keyboard combo that makes FPS on the PC so enjoyable. Halo has never felt so good.

Biggest news is that, for the first time, gamers can challenge one another on-line competitively or cooperatively. In addition to supporting Internet play and local area networks, Microsoft has set aside dedicated servers for Halo to allow hoards of gamers to compete against each other in thrilling, on-line multiplayer games.

These dedicated servers offer gamers a simple way to connect on-line hassle-free.

Halo for Windows supports as many as 16 players on-line and has a multitude of new multiplayer features. Gamers can use the all-new rocket launcher warthog and flying banshee in battles for on-line dominance through 19 multiplayer maps including six all-new maps.

Microsoft, with the help of iGames services, plans to support the launch of Halo with a worldwide tournament starting in November and culminating in January 2004. Gamers will compete for prizes with an estimated value in excess of $30,000, plus the ultimate grand prize of being crowned the world's best Halo player.

Mac owners needn't feel left out, either.

The Macintosh version of Halo: Combat Evolved will be developed by Westlake Interactive and published by Destineer, which has brought other top Microsoft games to the Macintosh, including Age of Empires II and Links Championship Edition.

FOCUS SELECT: DESKTOP PUBLISHING. Publisher: Focus Multimedia. Format: PC CD ROM. Price: £9.99.

BEFORE the advent of gaming, one of the reasons people bought computers was to design their own leaflets, newsletters and posters. Desktop Publishing made everyone with a PC into a budding Rupert Murdoch.

Or at least it did if you could afford the vast cost of DTP software, which often ran into hundreds of pounds.

Not surprisingly, DTOP isn't as popular among home PC owners as it used to be. Software like Quark Express is now mainly bought and used by businesses (the page you are reading now was designed by Quark) because they can afford the massive cost.

Home users who fancy a bit of design dabbling more often than not fall back on their word processing problem.

While software like Word provides for basic design and layout, it's true that not even the latest version offers as much control as a DTP package.

So what to do if you run a club or a small business that needs a publication that stands out from the rest? Well, you could lash out on a mid-range DTP package like Serif PagePlus 9 or Microsoft Publisher but even these programmes aren't cheap.

Alternatively, you could slap down a tenner and try Select Desktop Publishing courtesy of Focus Multimedia.

Now you can probably be forgiven for thinking that ten quid isn't going to buy much of a DTP programme but you'd be wrong. Very wrong.

Despite the name, what we really have here is Serif's very own Page Plus programme - the DTP software of choice for millions of home-users and small businesses across the world.

It may lack some of the bells and whistles of the latest version but really, you'll find everything you need and plenty more if you are just starting out.

The interface has been designed with ease of use in mind. There's lots of built-in help and page design wizards to help you plan a really eye-catching publication. Sadly, though, the software doesn't come with a printed manual - you have to refer to the PDF file that's downloaded to your PC. Still, that's a small price to pay for such powerful software at such a giveaway price.

As a bonus, the disc even includes a copy of Serif's 3D logo creator 3DPlus 2, a small programme that compliments the DTP package by helping you create eye-catching type.

For the price, you'd be mad not to give this disc a spin in your PC before deciding whether or not to lash out a lot more for a more fully featured piece of software.