A few hours ago (yes, in the middle of the night), I set up and played Halo 2 on Windows Vista. Yes, I received permission from one of the PR folks. Ask everybody in the live community – installation was quite troublesome. No matter, I’ll play Halo 2 again (live on camera) at some point today.

The entertainment phenomenon that conquered the digital universe is once again out to save the planet as the award-winning, best-selling “Halo 2″ is coming to the Windows Vista platform on May 8th. Optimized for the advanced gaming features in Windows Vista, “Halo 2″ promises to revolutionize the first-person shooter experience for Windows gamers, as it did for consoles. With its classic story, enhanced visual presentation, multiplayer excitement and all-new Map Editor, “Halo 2″ for Windows Vista offers more new content and game customization than ever before.

My initial verdict? Disappointed with a few setup quirks (UAC needs to be enabled, having to enter and re-enter my Xbox Live account, rebooting a couple of times, etc.) – but blown away with the quality of graphics and gameplay. These textures look amazing on a Dell UltraSharp 3007WFP monitor (2560×1600, though I couldn’t get Halo 2 to go quite that high). I set the webcam on my head and the chat room on the secondary monitor – they were giving me hints instead of trash-talking.

Yeah, well… I didn’t play online. Maybe later today? If we set up a time, do you think we could get a few anxious Halo 2 fanatics to tune in? Fine. 2pm PST. Be there or be square. Might wanna spread the word to all your favorite gaming communities, too. Maybe we can survive another deluge? See for yourself. Live.