There are currently 3 ways for you to redeem your discounted Halo: Spartan Assualt game: The Home Channel, The Games Channel, and The Games Arcade Channel. (There is currently a delay for those eligible outside of the U.S. but the discount will become available to them as well through the Trial Version of Spartan Assault on February 25.)

Here are the instructions posted on Waypoint for redeeming the discounted offer:

Home channel:

Available on this channel from Jan. 31st – Feb. 2nd in US

1. Turn on your Xbox 360 console and log in to the profile with which you bought Halo: Spartan Assault on Windows 8 or Windows Phone 8.

2. Once you’re signed in to your profile, you will be automatically taken to the “Home” channel on the 360 Dash.

3. To verify you’re on the Home channel, look above the tiles to see the list of available channels. “Home” should be highlighted. If you’re not on the “Home” channel, press LB or RB until you’re there.

4. Look for a tile with the Halo: Spartan Assault key art on it.

5. Click on that, and you will be taken to the purchase page for the game at the discounted price, and purchase as usual!

Games Channel:

Available on this channel from Feb. 3rd – Feb. 14th in US

If you do qualify for the offer and don’t see the it on the Home page, don’t panic! Go check the “Games” channel to see if the Halo: Spartan Assault slot is there. Here’s how:

1. Turn on your Xbox 360 console and log in to the profile with which you bought Halo: Spartan Assault on Windows 8 or Windows Phone 8.

2. Press LB or RB to navigate channels until “Games” is highlighted.

3. Look for a tile on the Games channel that has the Halo: Spartan Assault key art.

4. Click on this tile, and you will be taken to the purchase page for the game at the discounted price, and purchase as usual!

Games Arcade Channel:

Available on this channel from Jan. 31st - Feb. 28th

1. Turn on your Xbox 360 console and log in to the profile with which you bought Halo: Spartan Assault on Windows 8 or Windows Phone 8.

2. Press LB or RB to navigate channels until “Games” is highlighted.

3. Click on the “Browse Games” tile, located on the left edge of the channel.

4. Press LB or RB until you are on the “Arcade” channel.

5. You should see a tile with Spartan Assault key art on it.

6. Click on this tile, and you will be taken to the purchase page for the game at the discounted price, and purchase as usual!

**Discount offer requires original purchase of "Halo: Spartan Assault" for Windows 8 PCs and tablets, or Windows Phone 8 and login using a valid Xbox profile. Matching Xbox profile required for discount when purchasing "Halo: Spartan Assault" on Xbox One and Xbox 360.

Halo: Spartan Assault launches on the Xbox 360 tomorrow, discount and regular versions. Will you be buying it?

If you're familiar with NeuLion, a streaming company working with Microsoft, you have heard that they have a multi-year contract with them to bring NFL content to the Xbox One. The content includes DLC, statistics, and TV channels geared around sports to be delivered at 60fps (Frames Per Second). The console is capable of such feats as it has a suitable video card for the situation.

Chris Wagner, the company's executive VP had this to say:

“One of NeuLion’s core strengths is our ability to get our partners to market fast with an integrated experience, Our sports platform has helped to reduce the complexities involved and deliver for Xbox fans a tremendous live sports experience on the game console.”

The 60fps update has not yet been released, but the app is available, though it will require Xbox Live Gold and the free existing NFL app.

Hello everyone welcome back. I'm wrapping up where I left off and that is way back in November and the next one will be the huge jam packed December, and then hopefully we'll be weekly again!

Soucrce: Eurogamer.net

Following what seemed like a successful Xbox One launch, Microsoft seems to be attempting to push ahead of Sony in the race, now paying YouTubers to promote their system. Apparently, emails were sent out to YouTubers offering a payment of $3 per 1,000 views. For the average YouTuber that has, let's just say, 35,000 views, it would roughly translate to a cool $105. To those who have more, like 100,000 views or more, they can expect much more income.

View attachment: _1390077152.jpg

With recent events piling up, such as the bots used to win a twitter poll on Microsoft's side, and the original slue of issues on the Xbox One at it's reveal, negative press keeps rolling in for Microsoft and their Xbox One.

Does this seem like desperate business, or a smart strategy for the Xbox One?

Source: CinemaBlend.com

If this sounds like the kind of thing you'd be interested in, the good news is that it's not a hypothetical situation! Competitors from three sites will be coming together over the next few months to participate in perhaps the biggest cross-site tournament in Halo 4's history, and we want you to take part. To participate, all you need to do is sign up at your respective sites, check to see when your match is and who it is against, and then play the game. There's currently no time limit on signing up, so you have plenty of time to find yourself a partner for the battles to come. If you're the mercenary type however, don't worry: while teams will need to be fixed before the tournament begins, you're free to change your teammate as many times as you wish until registration closes, and if you don't enter with a partner we'll find you one from the other single entrants. It's a bit like speed dating - but with less kissing and more bullets.

Maps, fixtures and results will be kept updated at Forge Cafe, so remember to check there regularly to stay up to date with how the tournament is progressing and to get download links for any required Forge maps.

If you want to take part but don't already have an account, why not register? It's fast, completely free, and also entitles you to earn site awards, take part in discussions on the forums, and participate in our regular Community Events.

If you're from 343 Industries Community Forum, you can register here!

If you're from our friends at Forge Cafe, you can register here.

If you're from our friends at HaloCustoms, you can register here.

Registration in this thread will need to take place in this format:

Team Name

Member 1's Forum Name and Gamertag

Member 2's Forum Name and Gamertag

For example:

The Competitors

RedStarRocket91, GT RedStarRocket91

BlueMoonMissile19, GT BlueMoonMissile19

We wish the best of luck to all participants, and we'll keep this thread updated with all the latest news and information.

Terms and Conditions

This tournament is open to all members from 343 Industries Community Forum, Forge Cafe or HaloCustoms, including staff: the only requirement is that your account is in good standing and remains so throughout the duration of the tournament. While you can sign up at any site that you're part of, please bear in mind that you can only register at one participating site at any time, and should you wish to register at another you'll need to withdraw any existing teams. Attempting to enter using duplicate accounts or gamertags is grounds for automatic disqualification from the tournament if discovered, as is any attempt at match-fixing or cheating. Replays will need to be provided to validate the outcome of each match, so please make sure to save a copy of the file in order to avoid disputes. While participating in the tournament, it is your responsibility to ensure that registration details are accurate and up-to-date, and your responsibility to attend each fixture. Staff of all three sites may be called in to resolve any disputes, and any decisions made are final and binding.

With the recent announcement of the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS' projected sales being cut down drastically, the company took a huge hit in their stock, going down 17.09%. The share price now sits at $14.89, compared to the almost $18 it started with today. To make things worse, their numbers seem to have gone down an incredible amount when compared to their amount less then a week ago, at over $19. This number was the highest it had been since 2012, and was a signal that the company might finally be out of their array of oncoming losses.

Following both of these announcements, Nintendo's CEO Satoru Iwata gave an apology to all of the company's investors, and also stated today that he would not be resigning due to these events.

"There will be no major management shake-up in the short term,"

Check in on my previous article about the price cuts if you would like the full picture of what is currently happening to Nintendo, and how this particular event came to be.

Source: IGN.com

The developers took to their twitter, cautioning anyone looking into this beta system, the company said below:

"Hey, so if you hear about any kind of No Man's Sky beta, it isn't anything to do with us,"

When investigating the site, there are telltale signs of a scam, as it asks you to "click this button" to access it. As a friendly warning, don't unless you want a virus of some kind.

Source: Twitter.com

Around September of last year reports came out concerning a new voice search service called "Cortana." Cortana has been confirmed to be voiced by the same actor who voiced Cortana in the Halo video games, Jen Taylor.

According to an entry on msftnerd:

"Cortana will launch first in beta on Lumia this April for US developers.

The service will expand to the Bing app for iPhone in the US market this fall. The underlying technology will be extended to American Xbox One & Windows users in 2015 with Threshold. Availability in additional English-speaking territories will be spread out over 2015 & 2016."

This service is likely Microsoft's attempt to rival Apple's Siri voice searching service. I'm personally looking forward to using Cortana as a voice search system, let me know what your thoughts are in the comment section below.

~All for One

Nintendo's recent Next-Gen console, the Wii U, was met with positive feedback at launch, but since it has dwindled due to a lack of exclusives and games. The company originally targeted the sales of the Wii U at 9 Million consoles, they have demolished this number down to a mere 2.8 Million by the end of march, a major loss on their part. The successful 3DS also took a hit, going down from 18 Million to 13 Million.

Nintendo forcasted profits of 55 Billion yen originally, but they are now in a deep hole expecting a net loss of 25 Billion yen. It is sales in the US and European markets causing this, as they were significantly lower then Nintendo expected.

"In particular, sales in the US and European markets in which we entered the year-end sales season with a hardware markdown were significantly lower than our original forecasts, with both hardware and software sales experiencing a huge gap from their targets,"

As said, the 3DS surprisingly did not perform to the best of it's abilities either, as it was seemingly met with critical success at first. Currently, we are not aware of the 3DS' earnings, but it likely fared better then Nintendo's Wii U.

"Using the US market as an example, Nintendo 3DS became the top-selling platform in the last calendar year... however, the estimated annual sales of the Nintendo 3DS hardware remain significantly lower than our initial forecast at the beginning of the fiscal year."

Source: IGN.com

1. Go to TitanFall's Official Site
   
2. Log in with your EA Origin account
   
3. After logging in, simply click "continue"
   

343 Industries released a job listing recently for someone experienced in Online and Connection Engineering to go to work on a Halo title. Taking detailed info from the article, they are looking for someone who will work on a "new experience in the Halo universe." They will be helping 343i to deliver Online and Connected Experiences for the

mentioned Halo title. They will collaborate with other designers, to deliver polished code as well.

View attachment: New-1.JPG1.JPG

To qualify, the person needs to have Experience with services development and at least 5 years of C++ Expertise. Finally, a big red flag, "Experience on a current Generation AAA game title."

This could hint at a Halo experience being released on the 360. Furthermore, it could just be that you need experience on the past gen to qualify.

So what do you guys think? Is this a current generation title for Halo, or just simply looking too deeply into this?

Source: Microsoft.com

Dualshockers.com

The architecture of the buildings stands out the most though, reminding us of the DLC map, Skyline with a shiny metal coating and sleek gloss, unlike the gritty green makeshift cabins of the UNSC, is it possible this is a rebel base? Or even a makeshift rebel town or village?

Finally, we notice a shape above, that looks like a piece of the image was cut out, correct? Compare this to the shape of a halo ring. Very similar in detail and form, correct?

And finally, the small line of info we got, and how this is just "little game project we’re tinkering with…" This one line gives more detail then anything. It proves this is not the next chapter in the Halo trilogy, and it is a small test project, and not the final route, making way for a Halo Wars sequel as the only option, since Halo 2 Anniversary would contain no hint of the Infinity.

In a press release on Steampowered.com, Valve co-founder Gabe Newell stated that: 'The first generation Steam Machines offers something for every gamer, which is a critical part of extending Steam into the living room... With over 3,000 games and more than 65 million gamers on Steam, it’s important to offer gamers a variety of Steam Machines that allow them to select what makes the most sense for them.'

With the release of components and specs for most of the machines, the accuracy of this statement quickly becomes apparent: aside from the controllers and operating system, not a single element is common to all devices. The least expensive models, produced by iBuyPower and CyberPowerPC, feature 500GB HDDs and 8gb of RAM, but feature customisable CPUs and GPUs.

Outside these models, variety only increases. RAM varies anywhere between 8GB and 16GB; GPUs are chosen from both Nvidia and AMD in both single and dual configuration and vary from the GCN series to the TITAN; storage is represented by traditional and solid-state hard drives, and sometimes both; even the CPUs show a mixture of both i5 and i7 components.

Even though the specs of some devices are dominated by TBD labels or consist of little but case images, it certainly seems as though Valve will fulfil its claim of a machine suitable for any gamer.

If you're a PC gamer, are the devices enough to tempt you away from custom building? If you're a console gamer, with the current generation still in its early stages has Valve tempted you enough to consider a move to PC? Let us know in the comments!

Source: Steampowered.com