The latest news about the Halo series of games from Microsoft
From Certain Affinity:
This video covers the basics of editing using Forge in Halo 4. We’ll quickly build a simple Mongoose racetrack using Duplicate, Magnets, and Rotation Snap. People new to Forge should leave with a better idea of how to use Forge, while those more experienced will get a taste of the new features that make editing in Forge faster than ever before.
From Laura Akers:
As the editor for Halo Waypoint in the early days, I worked closely with the team’s writer, Jeremy Patenaude. Jeremy, like Jessica, was an important member of the Halo fan community long before he joined the ranks of 343 Industries, having co-authored the Halo fiction-based website, Ascendant Justice. In our time together, we wrangled over word choice and struggled to find ways to express the complicated and sometimes confusing world of Halo (without giving away all of its secrets), sometimes squabbling like siblings. That writer-editor relationship has to be based on trust and respect. And I can say that there are few people I respect as much as Jeremy. Of course, he’s also shot me in the head at point-blank range from behind playing Halo 2, so it’s not like I can trust him. But I’m so glad he’s giving me the opportunity to share the amazing guy I know with the world. Check out my interview with him via the link below!
From Greenskull:
We teamed up with GameStop and 343 Industries to give Lethbridge, Alberta the best Halo launch they’ve ever had!
From Geekscape:
The series finale to Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn was everything we wanted it to be. After watching, I could not think of a better way to hype fans of the franchise more than this live-action series did. If for some reason you haven’t seen it yet, do so NOW. Then check out JAKE108’s recap and analysis of Part 5 via the link below!
Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn Part 5 Recap and Analysis, by Geekscape
From machinima:
In Part 3, we speak with the cast and crew of Rooster Teeth about the advantages of Internet video production and the love they have for their fans. Includes a chorus of YouTube celebrities including Freddie Wong and Brandon Laatsch, and Rooster Teeth’s own Burnie Burns, Gus Sorola, Geoff Ramsey, Kathleen Zuelch, Gavin Free, and Barbara Dunkelman.
From Dust Storm:
In the final installment of Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn, after a terrifying night of combat and loss, Lasky makes a life-or-death decision to help the Chief.
Editor’s note: If you haven’t watched Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn Part 5 yet, there are definitely spoilers in this podcast. Consider yourself warned.
From Machinima:
Today on Inside Gaming we show you how to lower your gun in Halo 4 for those who want to start making their own Machinima videos.
Halo 4 is officially here! Thank you to everybody who celebrated the occasion at one of our launch events, and we hope you’re enjoying the game. We have been overwhelmed at the response, and we’re grateful for your continued support.
As you can imagine, there are a tremendous number of new players connecting to Halo 4 right now. We’re aware that some users are experiencing occasional issues connecting to the Halo 4 services, and we are currently narrowing down possible solutions. We will be providing regular updates across all our channels, so stay tuned to the following places for the latest information:
• Halo Waypoint Twitter
• Halo 4 Facebook
• Halo Waypoint Forums
Please report issues in this thread. Thank you for your patience, and we’ll continue working around the clock until the situation has been resolved.
As you head out to get your copy of Halo 4, bring your camera and share your launch experience!
From Kari:
FLAG tournament founders Kari Toyama and Tasha Pettengill are excited to announce the 7th annual FLAG tournament to benefit breast cancer research. This year’s tournament will be held on Xbox LIVE in Halo 4, November 16th – November 18th. In 2011 the community raised over $5,000 to benefit charity and this year we need your help to raise the bar.
Event Details
2v2 Tournament
Grifball Tournament (In partnership with Grifball Hub)
Creative Bundle
• Halo 4 Screenshot Contest
• Haloshop-a-thon
• Halo 4 Forge Challenge
• Halo Fan Art Contest
• Details here: http://www.flagtournament.com/creative-bundle-contest-details/
Event Schedule
Friday, November 16 – Creative Bundle submissions open
Saturday, November 17 – 2v2 Team, Creative Bundle submissions deadline 11:59pm PST
Sunday, November 18 – Grifball
Participate
Registration is now open at http://www.flagtournament.com. There is a $10 per person, per event entry donation. All donations are collected through Razoo and go towards the fight against breast cancer.
• $20 per team for 2v2
• $40 per team for Grifball
• $10 per person for Creative Bundle (donation allows entry in all creative categories)
About FLAG
The Fight Like A Girl Tournament (FLAG) is an annual Halo tournament that raises money and awareness for breast cancer research. Hundreds of gamers come together over one weekend to have fun, play Halo, and donate to our cause.
Kari Toyama and Tasha Pettengill have organized this tournament since 2006. To date, FLAG has raised over $27,000 for breast and cervical cancer research.
Questions?
Please feel free to email info@flagtournament.com
From TheWarpZone:
Halo 4 is here and Master Chief is BACK!
In less than eight hours, we’ll be celebrating the launch of Halo 4 around the world starting with New Zealand, one of the closest countries to the International Date Line. Then, as the sun makes its daily procession around Earth, each consecutive region will host their frenzy of Halo 4 activity, marking the biggest game launch in Microsoft history.
In all, over 10,000 retail stores in more than 40 countries will play host to Midnight Madness launch events. In the U.S. alone, 7,000 retail doors will be flung open at midnight for a few hours to help the most eager Xbox 360 gamers and Halo fans get a jump on the rest of the population sleeping snugly in their beds. In addition to these retail activities, many countries and regions will host public launch celebrations. Europe kicked off launch festivities with theatrical flair in the principality of Liechtenstein earlier this week. Dubbed “Experience Halo”, it was truly a Halo experience to remember. In all, more than 30 marquee launch celebrations will occur in major cities including Tokyo, Sydney, Hong Kong, Dubai, Toronto, Mexico, Germany, Spain, Italy and France. The United Kingdom will host an extra special activity: A spectacular stunt on the Thames in London between O2 Stadium and Tower Bridge. Executive Producer Kiki Wolfkill will be on hand for the festivities. I can neither confirm nor deny that it will be awesome. I can tell you, however, that it will be AWESOME.
For those of us stateside, Midnight Madness will take place in every major metropolitan area at GameStop, Best Buy or Microsoft Stores, to name a few participating retailers. The Microsoft Store in Austin, Texas, will host activities by leads from 343 Industries, Rooster Teeth and Certain Affinity. Best Buy in West Hollywood and Pembroke Pines, California will deliver a $10k cash prize to the winner of their Halo 4 launch night tournament. Here in Seattle, 343 Industries, Xbox 360 and the Microsoft Store in University Village welcomes one and all to join us for an evening of excitement as we ring in the release of Halo 4. Game play stations will be set up so fans can play before the game is available, the Master Chief and our brand-new, built-to-scale Warthog will be available for photo opportunities and 343 Industries – from our Creative Director Josh Holmes and Franchise Development Director Frank O’Connor – will attend the launch event en masse to meet fans and share in the launch excitement. The University Village store will also host very special guests, including the voice of the Master Chief, Steven Downes.
Regardless of where you live or how you celebrate, we hope you enjoy the newest installment in the Halo franchise. We’ll see you soon, either at one of the launch events or on the virtual battlefields of Halo 4!
From petetheduck:
I created this Rube Goldberg machine to give Halo: Reach a proper Forge farewell! I hope you all enjoy it. Thanks Bungie and 343 Industries!
From MythicTyrant:
A new Halo game is on the horizon, and Skulls have been confirmed (the classic pallet, fortunately). You know what this means: It’s time to evolve our Campaign skills beyond the realm of Legendary and go all out Mythic!
What is Mythic difficulty? The name derives from the Heroic, Legendary, and Mythic ranks of the Bungie forums and the Halo 3 map packs. Mythic, however, was the only “rank” to never become an official difficulty. Since it is deemed to be the highest, the hardest mode the game has to offer needed to earn its title. Thus, Mythic was formed.
More specifically, Mythic difficulty refers to playing the game on Legendary with all skulls activated. We like to refer to this as SSLASO to incorporate both single player and co-op modes. No, that extra “S” wasn’t a typo. Unlike simple SLASO (Solo Legendary All Skulls On), SSLASO stands for “Single-Segment Legendary All Skulls On”, meaning the player must make it through each mission individually on Legendary with all Skulls on, from start to finish, in one go. No deaths. No saves. No reverting to the previous checkpoint in co-op mode. This is a challenge to be feared.
As such, this thread will serve as the main hub for Waypoint enthusiasts to visit for all their Halo 4 Campaign needs. I will be posting the guides for each mission here as they become available. For more information and guides for all Halo games, please check out my home site www.mythictyrant.com as well as Mythic Nation where all Mythic Conquerors and Apprentices (past and present) gather to share even more valuable Campaign information. You can also view all previous Mythic Guides on HBO’s homepage.
I look forward to embarking on this journey with all of you. Godspeed, and as always, I’ll see you on the battlefield!
From IGN:
It’s Halo week on Cheap Cool Crazy! Featuring: A real fake Energy Sword, a Halo-themed Xbox 360, Halo 4 Limited Edition, the best Master Chief costume ever made, and a life-size and fully-drivable Warthog!
GAEMS, along with Mad Catz and 343 Industries, have come together to host an amazing Halo 4-themed giveaway! There are numerous prizes up for grabs, and with the primary entry requirement being posting a reply in the appropriate forum thread, there is no reason to refrain from throwing your hat in the ring. You can enter until 11:59 p.m. PT on November 6, 2012, so check out the specifics below, read the rules, and then get to entering. Good luck!
Please note: We will only accept one entry per person regardless of the number of comments posted. This giveaway is open to numerous countries and regions, so please read the rules for the specifics.
Grand Prize
GAEMS Halo UNSC Vanguard, MSRP $349.99
Tritton Halo 4 Warhead 7.1 Wireless Headset, MSRP $299.99
Xbox 360 320GB Limited Edition Halo 4 Console, MSRP $399.99
2nd Place
GAEMS Halo UNSC Vanguard, MSRP $349.99
Xbox 360 250GB Console, MSRP $249.99
Xbox 360 Halo 4 Limited Edition Wireless Controller, MSRP $59.99
3rd Place
Tritton Halo 4 Warhead 7.1 Wireless Headset, MSRP $299.99
Read the rules
Enter here
From BravoMLG:
This is the world’s first ever Halo 4 montage, from Tashi – http://www.twitter.com/tashi0106. These clips were captured all in one day. Enjoy!
We are pleased to announce, just days away from the worldwide Halo 4 launch and the first MLG Halo 4 tournament in Dallas, the Competitive Skill Rank system in Halo 4. The CSR will appear post-launch in an update to Halo Waypoint and associated Smartglass applications.
When will it launch?
The short version is CSR will launch early next year when it’s ready. We have an extensive post-launch plan for Halo 4, including DLC, playlist updates, and title updates. As soon as we have a confirmed launch date for the Waypoint update that includes CSR, we’ll make an announcement. Set your expectations for release timing appropriately since this will require delicate tuning, testing and implementation for Waypoint Web, Waypoint Console and Smartglass integration and is a feature designed specifically for the competitive community.
What is it?
At Halo 4’s launch, the competitive skill system will measure your performance against other players in Halo 4 War Games and use this information to match you up against opponents of comparable skill ranks. When the CSR system is fully implemented post-launch, Waypoint will assign each player a visible and detailed Skill Rank, viewable in the player profile section of Halo Waypoint.
How will it rank me?
All players will be ranked on a per-hopper basis, so, for example, you will have a unique CSR for your Slayer Pro games vs. your CTF games. CSR is currently planned to use a familiar and easy to understand 1-50 scale (subject to change or alteration). Your CSR will go up and down based on match outcomes.
Which playlists will support CSR?
All competitive playlists will support and track CSR. As the playlists will continuously change post-launch, the exact list of playlists that will support CSR will be determined when the system is ready to drop.
Will a CSR be ‘assigned to me’ once the system launches? Or do I need to start fresh?
Matchmaking and hoppers will be tracking and analyzing data from Day 1, and when the final settings for CSR are in place, we’ll make the call on whether to use existing data as a baseline for your CSR, or to start everyone fresh in new playlists.
Why the delay?
We know how important skill rank is, and we take skill integrity very seriously – we want to make sure we’ve taken the time to test, tune, and balance the CSR system in a live environment, and identify problems and potential exploits before launching the system publically.
Taking the time to test and tune the system ensures we can deliver a very accurate and meaningful skill rank, and gives our competitive playlists time to mature to for optimize a wide range of playlist and game settings.
Enjoy the launch!
We’re incredibly excited for Halo 4 to launch, and to see you at one of our worldwide events, or online November 6th. We see this announcement as just one of many new experiences and features coming post-launch to Halo 4 and are excited to share more with you in the future.
From MachinimaPrime:
Sark and Kovic discuss Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn with Anna Popplewell, who plays Chyler Silva in the live-action web series.
From Prima Games:
We recently sat down with Kiki Wolfkill, Executive Producer at 343 Industries, and chatted about the journey of making Halo 4. Read the complete interview via the link below!