It is being reported that hackers have successfully developed and released a patch for Windows XP that allows users to play Microsoft games such as Halo 2 and Shadowrun meant for Windows Vista only on Windows XP SP2. The latest version of the patch called Wowloader, first introduced at Filefront Forum earlier this week, contains a game setup loader (loader.exe) and a few DLL files like dwmapi.dll, mf.dll, mfplat.dll, wow.dll and xtaskdlg.dll which need to be placed in the directory where Halo 2 is installed. The loader.exe is required to install the game and subsequently launch it everytime. Users have reported to play Halo 2 successfully on Windows XP with Wowloader.

Make sure you read the readme.txt included in the download.

Meanwhile, hackers have foiled all attempts by Microsoft to promote OS specific softwares and games. For example, last month, Office Mobile suite from Windows Mobile 6 for Smartphones was ported to Windows Mobile 5 Smartphones.

Also, the unofficial version of DirectX 10 for Windows XP is still under development and is capable of playing only a few demos from the DirectX 10 SDK.

Download >Wowloader 0.3