MacSoft on Wednesday announced that a Universal Binary version of Halo is now available. However, the company said that given the "extensive rewriting of the Halo code" the update required, anyone who purchased the game before Jan. 1, 2006 will need to pay US$9.95 for an upgrade CD. Anyone who bought it after that date can get one for free.
Those who want to download the update, though, can do so through MacGameStore under the same terms, although the charge is $5.00 for those who bought the game before Jan. 1. The download is 650MB and requires users to burn the image to a CD so they can play the game.
Regardless of the upgrade option they choose, gamers will need to supply their Halo registration codes when they ask for their updates. The postal address for requesting a CD is on the MacSoft Web site.
System requirements for the Universal Binary are the same as the original version of Halo, except for the need to run Mac OS X v10.3.9 (v10.2.8 was the minimum before). Other requirements include an 800MHz G4/G5/Intel processor, 256MB RAM (512MB recommended), 32MB Video RAM (64MB recommended), and 1.4GB of hard drive space. The Halo Universal Binary is compatible with the earlier version when playing against others online.