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Easy come, easy go.
That poster Davis Beutler won yesterday? He’s selling it.(Louis Wu 16:27:39 UTC)
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IGN’s Tough Love for Spartan Ops
So while IGN is loving War Games, the team that’s looking at Spartan Ops isn’t quite so enthusiastic. Their latest commentary vid covers Episode 5 – they talk a lot about what doesn’t work for them, and how it differs from Firefight. (I found it intriguing that even with all the access IGN gets, these guys, who filmed this on Monday, didn’t realize that the second half of the Spartan Ops season would be coming out in January.) Thanks again, CyReN.(Louis Wu 16:25:42 UTC)
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Fan-made Halo 4 Spartan Ops Graphic Novel: Part 3
From HaloFanForLife:
Here it is folks, the third in a series of comic books from Spartan Ops. Dr. Catherine Halsey is brought aboard the Infinity to investigate a Forerunner artifact. Tension ensues between her and the Spartan IVs…Now in “Spartan Ops Episode 3: Catherine.”
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Halo 4’s November US Numbers
NPD’s sales numbers for November were released yesterday – Halo 4’s US sales for the month hit 3.2 million units. Not too shabby! Thanks, Gesalt. (Louis Wu 16:09:08 UTC)
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A Fan’s Open Letter to 343
RC Master has decided to write an open letter to 343 to explain his feelings about some of the features that didn’t make the cut in Halo 4 – if you swing by his post, you can read the 5-page letter, or simply watch a video of him reading it. Some good points in there!(Louis Wu 16:06:30 UTC)
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IGN shows you Shatter’s layout
IGN’s second Developer Walkthrough of Shatter, one of the three Crimson Map Pack maps coming out on Monday, went live yesterday. It differs from Wednesday’s video by focusing on the map itself – there’s no gameplay here. Thanks, CyReN. (Louis Wu 16:04:14 UTC)
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Halo 4 – A Master Chief Tribute
Dogiojoe sent word of her new video tribute to Master Chief – it contains Halo 4 campaign spoilers, but if you’ve played through already, it’s a nice history of John’s augmentation. Music comes from Halo Legends (well, the versions she used does – the song comes from Halo 2). (Louis Wu 15:59:09 UTC)
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Shatter – IGN’s Halo 4 Crimson Map Pack Developer Walkthrough, Part 2
From IGN:Halo 4 lead multiplayer map designer Kynan Pearson shows off “Shatter” from the Crimson map pack.
Shatter – IGN’s Halo 4 Crimson Map Pack Developer Walkthrough, Part 2
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They should get a McDonald’s sign.
According to this article at GameZone, the Halo franchise just hit the 50 million units sold mark; it’s unclear where this data comes from, but it’s pretty impressive if true!(Louis Wu 21:43:26 UTC)
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Halo 4 TU Change List
The next time you log into Halo 4, you will be prompted to download a title update. This particular title update tackles actual game and gameplay issues, not sandbox tweaks and balances. We have another TU in the works and will continue working on the timing and content of the next one. For now, here is a change list of what was included in today’s title update.
• Implemented general stability improvements
• Fixed glitch where quickly reloading after firing the Boltshot resulted in an instant reload
• Fixed glitch where sprinting prior to activating the Hardlight Shield allowed players to move faster
• Fixed glitch were players could throw a grenade and then immediately sprint afterwards to perform a high velocity grenade
• Fixed glitch where Mantis could fire more rockets without reloading if the machine gun was fired partway through unleashing the charged missile barrage
• Fixed issue where DLC was unavailable for other profiles on the same console
• Fixed issue where DLC disappeared after console reboot
• Fixed issue where players could not unlock Campaign completion achievements when using a rally point other than Alpha for any mission to finish the Campaign
• Fixed issue where players were not given credit for completion of a Spartan Ops Episode Difficulty Challenge when completing it through Matchmaking
• Fixed issue where players with 99 or more Xbox LIVE friends could not get File recommendations
• Fixed issue where loadout configurations were lost if the game was booted and then powered off before passing the “Press START” screen
• Fixed issue where attempting to upload large films to the File Share under poor network conditions caused the upload to fail
• Improved time to load variants with separate profiles
• Fixed issue where moving a profile from one controller port to another after relaunching the game reset loadout settings
• Improved consistency of random ordnance navigation marker display
• Fixed performance issues when launching Halo Waypoint from Halo 4We will update everyone when we have more information about the next Halo 4 TU. If you’d like to read more about this TU or the upcoming Matchmaking playlist update, please check out the 12.06 edition of the Halo Bulletin.
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Achievement HORSE 104
Jack and Geoff are back with a new Halo PIG (the lack of Fileshare functionality makes them not want to do the whole HORSE) – go see some cool new maps (AH.com | YouTube)! Thanks, Nikko B201.(Louis Wu 18:51:01 UTC)
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Halo 5 already in the works
CVG talked to Frank O’Connor about what’s coming up – looks like they’ve already begun tossing around ideas for Halo 5. (Spartan Ops Season 2, however, though much closer, is not yet decided upon.) Thanks, TheOddOne.(Louis Wu 18:23:16 UTC)
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PGCR 140 – plus sports
Robowski sent word about Post Game Carnage Report Episode 140 – the crew gets into a tussle over Campaign. (There’s also a video called ‘esPGCRpn CenterSports‘… MegaBloks + Halo, in sports journo action.)(Louis Wu 18:21:56 UTC)
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Halo Bulletin – contests, updates, artwork
The Halo Bulletin went live this morning on Halo Waypoint (and of course in our Halo Bulletin Archive, for those who need a leaner version) – it contains information about a number of subjects. There’s a new contest called the Infinity Challenge – you’ve got a chance to win a Halo-themed pickup, an appearance in the next Halo, and more. Spartan Ops will be taking a break, until late January – you can still play existing Episodes, but the last five from Season 1 won’t be showing up for at least six weeks. There’s a Matchmaking update coming on Monday – King of the Hill is out (the loss is temporary, but we don’t know when it’ll be back), Crimson Map Pack list is in. (The Crimson maps will show up in other lists as well, heavily weighted, if everyone in your match has them.) If you missed any of IGN’s Crimson Map Pack walkthroughs or videos released recently, they’re embedded here. And finally, there’s some beautiful Halo 4 concept art from John Wallin Liberto. Check it out!(Louis Wu 16:09:57 UTC)
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Cool new additions to HaloSphere2
Firestream wrote to remind us about HaloSphere2, which has had some pretty fun updates recently. There’s now a built-in card game called Halodex – completely PVP. There’s also a mobile mode for the game, so you can have fun while on your phone. (Visit the mobile URL for this.)(Louis Wu 15:58:22 UTC)
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It’s better than fried eggs.
WhoLikesChicken pointed out a TED talk called ‘Your Brain on Video Games‘ – cognitive researcher Daphne Bavelier talks about how video games affect the human brain. It’s not specifically Halo-related… but she talks a lot about shooters. Great watch!(Louis Wu 15:55:52 UTC)
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I AM Video Games.
Spike has released a commercial for its Video Game Awards, coming up tomorrow night – it’s pretty fun. And both Halo gameplay and the Master Chief make an appearance. Go watch! Thanks, IHaveIce.(Louis Wu 15:51:37 UTC)
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See? Social Engineering Works.
Davis Beutler took a picture of a QR code at some point, and it won him a pretty cool (giant) poster, signed by 343’s Josh Holmes. Nice!(Louis Wu 15:49:14 UTC)
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Award Time in Halo Town
It’s December, which means awards for a lot of gaming sites. Here’s what we’ve seen in the past day:- Game Informer’s January issue has declared Halo 4 the best Xbox 360 Exclusive, the best Competitive Multiplayer, and the best Shooter for 2012. (It has some killer cover artwork, too, as seen in this NeoGAF thread.) Thanks, TheOddOne.
- GameTrailers has skipped the whole ‘2012’ thing, and put up a list of the Top 10 First Person Shooters of All Time – Halo 3 makes the list at #5. (It’s a solid list, this time around.) Thanks, UNKNOWN iXi.
- X-Play voted Halo 4 the Best Shooter of 2012. It was nominated for, but did not win, in three other categories: Best Multiplayer Game (Black Ops 2), Best Multiplayer Co-Op Game (Borderlands 2), and Best Art Direction (Journey). Thanks again, TheOddOne.
- IGN included Halo 4 in its nominees for 2012 Game of the Year.
Looks like people are liking what they’re playing!(Louis Wu 15:47:54 UTC)
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Custom Flood games introduce fun variations
The Halo Forge Epidemic has a couple of videos up on their YouTube stream that offer intriguing custom options to Halo 4 players – take a look and download the maps! Jurassic Park is a take on the Flood gametype – the map actually has self-driving vehicles on it! (Thanks, Tawpgun.) How they managed this isn’t explained, but they DID say a tutorial would be coming. There’s also a gametype that brings up memories of Slender Man – it’s another Flood-based game, and apparently it’s really, really scary. Check these out, and give ’em a try with your friends!(Louis Wu 15:32:49 UTC)
The latest news about the Halo series of games from Microsoft
