"Vista-Only" Microsoft Titles Hacked to Run on XP

Two Microsoft titles deemed "Vista-only" by the software company have been hacked to allow full operation on Windows XP, next-gen.biz reports.

Shadowrun and Halo 2 titles feature generally mediocre graphics but Microsoft had insisted that they were unable to run on DirectX 9 and required the company's new operating system for DirectX 10 mode.

The hacking group warez released a patch which creates DirectX 9 compatibility for both titles.

The development appears to validate the announcement in May by Falling Leaf Systems, a company "with the singular goal of providing software intdended to run on only one operating system, to users of various other operating systems."

Falling Leaf CEO said last month, "Microsoft has, in typical Microsoft fashion, decided to launch their forced migration onslaught in full force with the release of two games that will only run on Windows Vista. First they claim that it was impossible to implement DirectX 10 compatibility atop Windows XP, and now they also want us to believe that they couldn't successfully launch two DirectX 9 based titles on XP either. We plan to expose both theories as patently false."

DirectX 10 launched concurrently with Vista late last year but no A-list DX10 titles are yet available.