Base Resupply Sets

According to an article released last week, future titles will no longer be numbered like previous titles.

Last week, before Microsoft pulled a 180 on their DRM and internet policies, I remarked that because the Xbox One was in a rather rough spot, it was going to have to rely on Halo as a system seller now more than ever.

The playing field has been leveled a bit since then with the death of license-based disc games and internet check-in, but it’s a statement that still holds true. Microsoft seems to agree.

That’s why it’s been announced that 343′s Reclaimer Trilogy, which was meant to be Halos 4, 5 and 6, has now transformed into something Microsoft is now calling a Halo “saga.”

This idea sprung to life when they were pressed about what exactly the Halo title was that was shown at E3, as it didn’t have a number or even a subtitle. Would it be an add-on type game like ODST, or another full Halo game like the numbered installments?

The answer is the latter, though whether it will be called Halo 5 isn’t clear and might be beside the point now anyway.

With that news, Phil Spencer spoke to Gamespot about the new plan for upcoming Halo games:

“While we originally said trilogy, we’ve actually expanded this to more of a saga, so we don’t want to limit the Reclaimer story within a trilogy.”

What this potentially might mean is that Microsoft wants to bump up the frequency of Halo titles. I don’t think it would be physically possible to turn it into a yearly Call of Duty style release with only 343 working on it, nor do I think that would be good for the series. But we might see a higher occurrence of the games all the same.

When all the DRM/always-on drama was going down, I posed a question to Xbox loyalists/Halo enthusiasts about whether or not the games exclusivity on the one would make them buy a system. The response was an overwhelming no. Partly because Microsoft’s policies were too intrusive to stomach, but a fair amount said that Halo just didn’t have the same draw that it used to have after six shooter titles. Many were more excited about Destiny or Titanfall, new IPs from trusted studios, including Halo’s former masters, Bungie.

That said, Halo is still a powerful franchise for Microsoft to wield, and by “unrestricting” themselves from a trilogy, it’s clear they have big plans for the series.

Guess we will have to wait and see what Microsoft and 343Industries have planned.

Available only for Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8, "Halo: Spartan Assault" is a new top-down action shooter that brings a "Halo" video game to touch-based devices for the first time in franchise history. Developed by 343 Industries in conjunction with Vanguard Games, "Halo: Spartan Assault" provides an accessible, pick-up-and-play experience for fans and newcomers alike.

Set between the events of "Halo 3" and "Halo 4," "Halo: Spartan Assault" is a new chapter of the award-winning "Halo" universe that explores the first missions of the Spartan Ops program and dives deeper into the backstory of Human-Covenant wars. Play through the eyes of either Commander Sarah Palmer or Spartan Davis stationed aboard the UNSC Infinity as they fight never-before-seen battles against Covenant forces.

With rich storytelling, intuitive controls, and best-in-class action, audio and graphics, "Halo: Spartan Assault" brings the epic scale and action of the "Halo" universe to mobile devices through unrivaled action and intensity.

DEVELOPER

343 Industries and Vanguard Games

PUBLISHER

Microsoft Studios

GENRE

Top Down Shooter

RELEASE DATE

Coming July 2013

PLATFORMS

Windows 8, Windows Phone 8

PLAYERS

1

Original "Halo" gameplay. An action-packed, single-player campaign spanning 25 missions in battles never before experienced in the Halo Universe, all played from a top-down camera view

New and immersive storyline. An original story set between the events of "Halo 3" and "Halo 4," experience a new war with the Covenant, the first missions of the Spartan Ops program and the rise of Commander Sarah Palmer, all with best-in-class graphics and audio

Built for simplicity. A unique fusion of touch and consolelike controls for easy pick-up-and-play gaming, with the added flexibility of keyboard and mouse controls on Windows 8 PCs and tablets2

Integration with "Halo 4." Earn experience points (XP), all-new Achievements, and unlock emblems for your "Halo 4" Spartan career, with additional integration features available after launch

Nonstop competitive fun. Compete against friends in Leaderboards or hone your skills against an onslaught of Weekly Challenges while collecting more than 40 in-game Achievements and Medals

In-app purchases. Grind to earn upgrades or speed up your training by purchasing credits for boosts, unique weapons or armor abilities

Only on Windows. Available only on Windows 8 PCs and tablets and Windows Phone 8 devices.

DARK HORSE ANNOUNCES NEW ERA OF "HALO" COMICS

Fri, April 26th, 2013 at 11:29am PDT

CBR News Team, Editor

Dark Horse continues in the tradition of bringing only the biggest and best characters and story lines to comics with the announcement of the Halo: Initiation miniseries, launching in August! This exciting new miniseries will be written by Halo 4 writer and comics veteran Brian Reed, with art by Marco Castiello (Secret Invasion: Front Line, Star Wars: Purge)!

Before she was a supersoldier defending humanity as part of the Spartan-IV program, Sarah Palmer was an ODST—Orbital Drop Shock Trooper—carrying out the most dangerous missions behind enemy lines! See how she became the first Spartan-IV commander in this must-read series for fans of Halo 4 and the Halo franchise!

"A rich science fiction universe driven by compelling characters, Halo has all the makings for show-stopping comics, " said Dave Marshall, Dark Horse Editor. "In Initiation, Brian and Marco are delivering an action-packed thrill-ride with a beating heart of authentic human drama."

“It’s really exciting to work with Dark Horse in continuing the Halo story in comics. After Halo 4 and Spartan Ops, fans wanted to know more about the origins of the Spartan-IV program and Sarah Palmer in particular. So it’s great fun to be able to grant those wishes with a partner like Dark Horse,” said writer Brian Reed.

Founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson, Dark Horse Comics has proven to be a solid example of how integrity and innovation can help broaden a unique storytelling medium and establish a small, homegrown company as an industry giant. The company is known for the progressive and creator-friendly atmosphere it provides for writers and artists. In addition to publishing comics from top talent such as Frank Miller, Mike Mignola, Neil Gaiman, Brian Wood, Gerard Way, Felicia Day, and Guillermo del Toro, and comics legends such as Will Eisner, Neal Adams, and Jim Steranko, Dark Horse has developed its own successful properties, including The Mask, Ghost, Timecop, and SpyBoy. Its successful line of comics and products based on popular properties includes Star Wars, Mass Effect, Buffy the Vampire Slayer,Aliens, Conan, Halo, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Serenity, Game of Thrones, and Domo. Today Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent comic book publisher in the US and is recognized as one of the world’s leading publishers of both creator-owned content and licensed comics material.

With Halo 4's Castle Map Pack now available, Microsoft wants to offer you a bit of incentive to grab the rest of the game's extra content - but you'll need to hurry to grab it all.

The Castle Map Pack for Halo 4 debuted this week. That would be news in an of itself, but in an effort to pull in even more extra cash from Halo fans, Microsoft has opted to discount all previous DLC releases for the game.

The big caveat here? This sale runs for one day only. Either you buy these packs at a discount today, or you're stuck paying full retail price tomorrow.

So, what kind of discounts are we looking at? According to Microsoft, both the Crimson Map Pack and the Majestic Map Pack are each now now available for $7.50 (instead of their usual $10 price tag). Likewise, the War Games Map Pass has been discounted from $25 to a more wallet-friendly $20. You can find all of these discounts on the Xbox Live Marketplace, but again, they're only valid for today, so if you're interested we'd recommend you hurry over and grab your discounted content ASAP.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, the Castle Map Pack will set you back $10. It's too early for this addition to see a discount, though buying the discounted War Games Map Pass will allow you to grab all three DLC packs for what is effectively two-thirds of their normal pricing. If you've got the scratch and don't already own any of the DLC packs, that's definitely the way to go.

Are you one of the 11.6 million people who have played Halo 4 online? Have you ever been rude enough to steal someone else’s vehicle - while they were using it - contributing to a startling number of hijacked contraptions found in the Halo universe?

Microsoft has revealed some very interesting statistics that paint an interesting picture of everyone’s behaviour (and skills) online. While playing Halo 4 online, players have accumulated lots of kills, assassinations, headshots and more - get all the numbers below:

11.6 million people have played Halo 4, and while doing so there have been:

• 
  11.7 billion kills
  
• 
  388 million headshots
  
• 
  193 million assassinations
  
• 
  4.4 million air assassinations
  
• 
  30 million captured flags
  
• 
  64 million hijacked vehicles
  

Halo 4's final piece of DLC included in the War Games Map Pass, the Castle Map Pack, is available now on the Xbox Marketplace. For those without the pass, the map pack is $10.

The pack adds three multiplayer maps (Daybreak, Outcast and Perdition), with Outcast featuring "frequent Mantis vs. Wraith battles." The maps were designed for objectives and vehicles.

Daybreak

Two UNSC bases oppose each other in this large asymmetrical map. Teams must split focus between attacking the enemy base while playing close defense to their own. Claim your team’s sniper rifle to cover the central Man Cannon, or grab a Warthog to push through the side channels and flank the enemy base. The Rocket Launcher and Banshee both spawn in positions diagonal to the starting bases; claiming their firepower early is crucial to land the first flag cap or take an early lead in kills.

Outcast

Controlling vehicle paths is critical in this circular map set in a desert environment. Outcast features frequent Mantis vs. Wraith battles, so teams must keep their drivers informed with constant communication to get the drop on enemy vehicles. While driving the Mantis, you can target fusion coils in tunnels to flush out camping opponents directly into your rain of fire, or cover your flag runner’s dash to a friendly Warthog. If you find yourself without a vehicle, race to the secondary bases to secure a power weapon or drop on enemies for a game-changing hijack.

Perdition

Blending long sightlines, vehicles, and close-quarters combat, Perdition caters to nearly any gameplay style. Wheelmen and gunners will be right at home in this urban environment as a well-placed Warthog can lock down a quarter of the map, securing valuable ordnances for the team. Learning the interior routes is essential to both escaping danger and finishing off ranged kills. Be sure to look for the Gravity Hammer in Power Station 3 – an ideal revenge weapon against a pesky sniper or a big surprise for an enemy Warthog.

Castle is the final map pack associated with the Halo 4 Map Pass.

Those modes that have been confirmed for release are listed below, care of the latest Halo Bulletin. As somebody who reacts to the presence of heavy ordinance by running in circles, bellowing like a wounded cow, I'm getting the shakes already.

Binary Slayer

Binary Slayer features decreased gravity, increased speed, sniping and lots and lots of thrusting. Check out the link above to learn how to build this game type through custom game options and play with your friends before the playlist goes live next week.

Lightning CTF

Your starting weapon is the LightRifle and one shot - anywhere - kills. With a 5-second respawn, touch Flag return and no motion sensor, Lightning CTF brings an entirely new Capture the Flag experience to Action Sack and Halo 4. Also, the Flag carrier keeps the LightRifle out when running the Flag!

Rockets & Rails

This new game mode features 3 things: Rocket Launchers, Railguns and Jet Packs. Oh, and it also has lots of explosions.

Team Fiesta

Everyone loves parties - especially big parties with lots of random weapons. Fiesta is back, so you can now kill and be killed by the entire Halo 4 sandbox in one single game.

These may not be the only modes you'll find in Action Sack. "We're currently building many more Action Sack game modes, some of which will launch with the playlist on Monday, and others that will be introduced in upcoming weeks," recounts the Bulletin. "Be on the lookout for the final Matchmaking update on Monday, which will detail all of the playlist's modes and maps."

The Halo 4 team are "also in the process of finalizing our FFA playlist, which will feature both Infinity Rumble and Rumble Pro on a wide variety of maps, including specifically tuned on-disc and Majestic DLC map variants. We'll post additional details closer to the playlist's launch."

Right then. Who's up for some Rockets and Rails? I like to be on first name terms with my targets before I explode them.

Week of 3.4:

Bravo here with the Matchmaking update! On Monday, Spartan Ops continues with an encore of episode 6. In War Games, we’re proud to premiere Extraction in its very own, brand new playlist. While the variant is currently available in both Team Throwdown and Majestic Team DLC, this new playlist will provide you with the opportunity to extract all day, every day.

Here are the settings that will be featured in the playlist:

Mode

Extraction

Team Setup

5 vs. 5

Score to Win

5

Loadouts

Custom

Instant Respawn

Disabled

Death Cam

Enabled

Motion Tracker

Enabled

Personal Ordnance

Disabled

Active Sites

Map Dependent

Site Location

Sequential

Site Movement

On Extraction

Arming Time

3 Seconds

Extraction Time

45 Seconds

Conversion Time

3 Seconds

Timer Pause

Enabled

We’re very happy to offer this new game mode as a standalone playlist, and hope that you check it out this week. Afterwards, head to the War Games Feedback section and let us know what you think!

We’ll also be updating the Capture the Flag playlist with two new maps: Simplex and Settler. Simplex, an arena-style map from community forger SaLoT, has seen the spotlight in both the Community Forge Test and Team Throwdown playlists. Settler is a fast paced, semi-symmetrical on-disc Ravine variant that rests atop a verdant cliff side – it will be appearing in Matchmaking for the first time, slightly tweaked for 5 vs. 5 CTF. Also, as you may have seen on the forums, motion tracker is currently disabled for Rumble Pro, and we’ll be correcting this with Monday’s update.

We are currently evaluating the join-in-progress window across all playlists, and we’ll be updating this window for Majestic FFA DLC on Monday – be on the lookout for the specifics of this update in the Matchmaking section. Lastly, we’ll be revisiting the respawn times in the Majestic Team DLC playlist to ensure that they provide an optimal gameplay experience.

If there’s no Matchmaking Update next week, it’s because I’m at home playing Extraction and following up by posting my constructive feedback on the Waypoint forums. Man, I’m awesome. [bs angel note: And humble as well. ]

It has been suggested that the problems may be linked to the release of new Halo 4 DLC on Monday.

"There are a few hundred players who have been unable to connect to our servers since yesterday," acknowledged a member of the Halo Waypoint forum team. "We're investigating now and hope to have an update soon."

Another moderator said more recently: "The number of players in the fallback hoppers has dropped, however there are still people experiencing problems accessing the main servers. We'll continue to investigate and push out fixes until these issues are resolved."

An entry on the Halo Waypoint Twitter account also says: "We're actively investigating the server issues. Apologies for the inconvenience."

343 has requested that players experiencing connection problems share their Gamertag and location on the Halo Waypoint forums.

The pack will include three new small-to-medium sized maps--Landfill, Monolith and Skyline--developed by longtime Halo mapmakers Certain Affinity.

"Landfall’s emphasis is on infantry battles amidst a glittering ocean and a city under siege on a distant world. Monolith is an open battlefield; a Forerunner monument that exposes you to the naked vacuum of space – and the firepower of opposing teams. Skyline puts you in the air on a new construction site, and its distinctly industrial surroundings and sky-high locale provides new challenges in confined spaces," wrote the Halo Waypoint blog.

Alongside the maps comes two Majestic DLC playlists--eight player FFA DLC and four-versus-four Team DLC--and a free-for-all gametype called Infinity Rumble, which combines lengthier respawn times with an increased focus on ordnance, allowing special medals, assists and style kills to contribute to your ordnance.

The Majestic Map Pack DLC will cost 800 Microsoft points, and is included with the War Games Map Pass or Limited Edition copies of Halo 4. It is the second of the three map packs coming to Halo 4.

It's probably not as nefarious as it sounds, actually. NeoGAF user Wifiplayer13 found them by altering the URL on the Halo 4 website. "I simply changed the name of the map in the images they have on the website to find them," he writes. The image above is the playlist picture for Monolith. The three images below are the lobby pictures for it, Landfall and Skyline. 343 Industries back in January said Majestic would arrive in "late February," describing Majestic as "two small maps and one medium sized map."

In November, a screenshot from a German Xbox 360 dashboard correctly pegged the release date of the game's Crimson DLC and dated Majestic for Feb. 25.

Skyline

Landfall

As detailed by the latest Halo Bulletin, the update "is nearing completion, and it is expected to release within the next two weeks. It addresses some of the concerns we've been hearing from the community," the post continues, "but just to set your expectations accordingly, we know we still have work to do.

"There's more balancing to be done and more issues to address, and we are actively working with the Halo 4 game team to investigate the feasibility of additional fixes."

Here's a very partial list of the fixes and changes, plus a Halo-themed Valentine's Day card, which may cause you pain. Speak not to me of pain, readers. Alas, my precious Boltshot. Never shall you and I glory in the sight of somebody evaporating from the neck on down.

- Reduced the range of the Boltshot's damage scaling over distance. The previous effective range for 1-hit kills was 20'-25'. The range has been reduced to 15'.

- Fixed an issue that did not allow players to create respawn timers or disable instant respawn in custom games.

- Fixed issues with friendly fire against vehicles. If FF is disabled, damage / EMPs from friendly sources will no longer damage vehicles that are fully controlled by your team.

Next Monday sees the addition of Team Throwdown to Halo 4 matchmaking, billed as "our premiere competitive playlist". The Halo 4 team "have been monitoring community game type settings and feedback over the past few months, and teamed up with competitive community leaders Walshy, StrongSide and Gh057ayame to build this playlist.

"We created an experience that will feature the popular "v2" settings and maps, which have been carefully developed and tweaked for competitive play. The playlist will feature Team Slayer, Capture the Flag, Extraction and King of the Hill at launch." Read the piece in full for specifics as to how each mode has been customised.

343 is also "aware that there is a portion of the competitive community who'd prefer to see game types that utilize the DMR, as well as more of Halo 4's sandbox. As a result, we are working with Walshy, StrongSide and Gh057ayame to develop alternate settings with balanced loadouts that offer varied options for Primary Weapons, Armor Abilities, Tactical Packages and Support Upgrades.

"We are still making final tweaks to these settings - they may launch with the playlist on Monday, or may be released in a future update. We'll be sure to announce a final, detailed breakdown of the settings that will be featured in the playlist in the Matchmaking section of the forums, so be on the lookout for that this weekend."

Shot anybody in an amusing way lately? And what's your favourite playlist or post-release Halo 4 mode variant so far?