Search the Community

BS Angel Talking about Flood (some medals and how to obtain them in this mode), Forward Unto Dawn, the map Abandon and much more! Read below for more details Source: http://blogs.halo.xbox.com/Headlines/post/2012/10/03/The-Halo-Bulletin-10312-.aspx Gold Halo 4 wallpaper, made by the amazing minolta1034 486 days ago at E3 2011, we introduced Halo 4 to the world, lifting the veil on our closely-guarded secret with a heart-pounding trailer featuring the return of the Master Chief.* Exactly 365 days later, at E3 2012, we gave media and fans alike their first true taste of the game with a Campaign demo and never-before-seen enemy face. Er, I mean race. Now the countdown really begins, because Halo 4 launches in a mere 34 days. I measure time in Halo Bulletins and according to my calendar, there are only five left – one of which is this one. Let’s just say the number of topics still left to discuss when compared to the number of Bulletins slated to be published before launch do not match up. Yes, there’s still a lot you don’t know. What, you didn’t think we’d tell you everything, did you?... Speaking of things you may not know, Halo 4 recently went gold (!!1!one!!1!). Bonnie Ross, General Manager of 343 Industries to some and Lady Boss to others, wrote up her thoughts about both that particular milestone and also the evolution of our studio. You’ll get to read her part-insightful, part-reflective words later in this Bulletin but for now, how about we take a deep dive into a topic we haven’t had a chance to properly discuss yet, like Halo 4’s brand new Flood mode? Flood Brand spankin’ new Flood screenshot 1! Flood is the spiritual successor to Infection, a fan-favorite game type from Halo 3 and Reach. Our goal was to recreate it and push the mode to be new and different from previous versions. As both War Games and Spartan Ops fit within the fiction of the UNSC Infinity, we wanted to use Halo fiction in this mode too, which led to us to create the Flood form in Multiplayer. Flood-converted humans are much faster and focus on melee attacks, so they were a natural fit for Infection’s successor. Halo 4’s Flood mode is a round-based, ten-player game. It is a true asymmetric experience with the added twist of dynamic teams; this really changes things up as each game is different, especially in the incredibly intense and high-action final seconds. At the beginning of each round, two players spawn as Flood forms and eight players spawn as Survivors. Survivors are standard Spartans equipped with shotguns and magnums, while Flood move very quickly and can only use a melee attack. When a Survivor gets killed by a Flood, the Survivor will convert and respawn as a Flood. The round ends if a Survivor makes it to 3:00 or if all players are converted to Flood. One of the things we concentrated on for War Games was establishing player roles in Multiplayer, so we put a great deal of attention into being the King, Flag carrier, Grif, etc. Being the final Survivor is another role we focused on, and it’s a very intense experience having nine other Flood rush at you. Some (and by some, I of course mean David Ellis) would even say it’s poo-inducing. Brand spankin’ new Flood screenshot 2! We went through several iterations of tuning settings, mostly around getting the Flood to feel right in the sandbox and making the Flood experience noticeably different than the Survivor experience. To ensure the Flood’s gameplay had a unique feel, we honed in on the following elements: The Flood Character Model A unique character model for both first and third-person. The Claw A special melee weapon tuned just for the Flood. Flood Armor Effect A special effect that trails behind Flood characters. Flood Screen Effect A first-person screen effect that shows the haunted view of a Flood. Dynamic Music When playing as the Flood or final Survivor, dynamic music plays in the background to intensify the experience. Flood Gameplay Tuning Flood move faster, react differently to bullets, and have specially tuned armor abilities, the core of which is an enhanced Flood Thrust Pack. The Floodsassination How could we not?! The biggest challenges when designing this mode were getting the Survivor vs. Flood balance just right, keeping the experience interesting and dynamic (whether it’s two Flood vs. eight Survivors or nine Flood vs. one Survivor), and building a system that made initial-round spawning more consistent. Where we landed, for the lattermost thing in particular is that players will not spawn randomly as Flood or Survivors at the beginning of a match. Instead, your initial spawn is based on previous rounds. Flood features an exclusive set of medals that can only be earned by playing this particular game mode, and it also has its own set of custom game options. The former is detailed below. Click here to view the medals and what you have to do to get them: http://blogs.halo.xb...tin-10312-.aspx Brand spankin’ new Flood screenshot 3! Here’s a sneak peek of our planned Flood settings for launch. Round Length 3:00 minutes (Survivor win or all Spartans converted) • Number of Rounds - 3 • Players - 10 Players o 2 Spawn as Alpha per round o 8 Spawn as Survivors For Lead Designer Kevin Franklin, the best part of the design process has been seeing players who have never tried Infection before try out Flood. The overwhelming sentiment from those players has been that it’s a great high-action, high-intensity experience with tons of close quarter combat and close calls. We expect you to tell us what you think, come November 6. Abandon https://waypointprod...0/4/abandon.jpg Abandon screenshot ABANDON DESCRIPTION: On the remote world of Erebus VII, at the very edge of human-occupied space, an ONI research facility which was once teaming with researchers now lies eerily vacant. Although the hostility of this world had been initially considered by its team leaders, it is tragically clear that a great many ‘things’ had simply not been taken into account. Abandon is a mysteriously abandoned ONI research station on a hostile alien planet. Initial surveys of this area were bold and promising, but it quickly became clear that these reports were far more hubris than logic. From the start, the theme for this map was constructed around the story of an ONI research team that mysteriously disappeared. We wanted to leave some story breadcrumbs that helped to imply that something dramatic occurred in this location. We wanted the map to make the player wonder, “What the hell happened here?” Unlike most Halo maps, there is a lot of overtly alien strangeness right in the player’s face. The creepiness and storytelling are simple and clear but doesn’t conflict with the game play. Early on in the development cycle for this map, there was a diverse array of visual ideas and ways to tell the story of this ominous place. Along the way, we had to consolidate this collection into a more concise statement that not only supported the theme but also felt appropriate to the Halo franchise. There was a lot of discussion about how we wanted the environment to feel menacing and forbidding. At one point, the map was a disparate arrangement of flora and fauna and we had to ask the questions, “Does all of this work together?” and “Does all of this support Halo Multiplayer?” When the answers were no, we made the hard call to change direction. Some of our favorite organisms that didn’t make the cut were lovingly known as meat loops, muscle humps, gas sacks, smokers, and momma trees. (Don’t ask). https://waypointprod...onceptart-2.jpg Abandon concept art Abandon had three distinct iterations. The first was the balls-to-the-wall alien greenhouse version. There was a dead monster-like creature on this map that you could use as a ramp, and there was a story that went along with it—something along the lines of: the monster attacked, killed the scientists, and then died from injuries it sustained. There were numerous subplots and supporting elements scattered around the map and in the skybox. The next iteration featured smaller animals trapped in containers underneath the map as the reason for the science team’s ‘disappearance,’ and early concepts show that the place was pretty badly assaulted. This version represented the first paring pass that reined the environment into a simpler and more believable statement of the original theme and cropped out some of the unnecessary components (we wanted to get back to what we really liked about the original concept art). The final iteration was an even tighter trimming of things that weren’t needed or weren’t working. The building’s interior looks relatively pristine compared to where it was originally, which is definitely to its advantage from a playability perspective, because it provides a stark difference between inside the structures and the wild flora that grows outside it. Gameplay-wise, Abandon plays much like the visual theme: claustrophobic and frantic, with danger lurking around every corner. It is a small map with lots of close quarters fighting; however, mid-range and long-range fights can be found in select locations. If you’re a fan of mid-range engagements, stick to the natural side of the map until you pick up your initial ordnance. Then you can go in, guns blazing. Oh, one last thing about this map. A Halo 4 concept artist wanted me to pass along his recommended strategy: Wear a diaper. Assuming you aren’t already, that is… Halo 4 Soundtrack Remix Contest If you have a thing for either music or awesome prizes, you definitely want to check out the just-announced-today Halo 4 Soundtrack Remix Contest. The competition starts October 3 and will run through October 29, with prizes awarded to the most original and creative tracks. Participants will have access to samples of Awakening, To Galaxy, and Revival from the Halo 4 Soundtrack, allowing for a wide range of potential remix styles and musical genres. For full contest submission guidelines and rules, visit: Halo4Remix.com. Entries will be judged by composer Neil Davidge of Massive Attack, Halo 4 audio director Sotaro Tojima and electronic musicians Sander Van Doorn and CASPA, based on originality, creativity, and musicality. Winners will be announced on November 16. Prizes for the Halo 4 Fan Remix Contest will vary per region and are subject to change: USA Grand Prize • Samsung Series 7 Laptop • Halo 4 Limited Edition Xbox 360 320GB Console • Halo 4 Trigger Stereo Headset • Complete Collection of Official Halo Soundtracks First Prize • Halo 4 Limited Edition Xbox 360 320GB Console • Halo 4 Trigger Stereo Headset • Complete Collection of Official Halo Soundtracks Second Prize • Halo 4 Trigger Stereo Headset • Halo 4 Official Soundtrack Canada Grand Prize • Halo 4 Limited Edition Xbox 360 320GB Console • Halo 4 Trigger Stereo Headset • Complete Collection of Official Halo Soundtracks • 12+1 Month Halo 4 Xbox LIVE Gold Membership First Prize • Halo 4 Limited Edition Xbox 360 320GB Console • 12+1 Month Halo 4 Xbox LIVE Gold Membership Second Prize • Xbox 360 Halo 4 Limited Edition Wireless Controller • Halo 4 Game Mexico Grand Prize • Halo 4 Limited Edition Xbox 360 320GB Console • Halo 4 Trigger Stereo Headset • Complete Collection of Official Halo Soundtracks First Prize • Halo 4 Trigger Stereo Headset • Complete Collection of Official Halo Soundtracks Second Prize • Halo 4 Trigger Stereo Headset UK, Ireland, Germany, France, Spain, Netherlands Grand Prize (1 per market, 6 in total) • Samsung Series 5 Laptop • Samsung 2.1 Wireless Audio Dock • Halo 4 Limited Edition Xbox 360 320GB Console • Halo 4 Trigger Stereo Headset • Complete Collection of Official Halo Soundtracks Runner Up Prize (1 per market, 6 in total) • Halo 4 Limited Edition Xbox 360 320GB Console • Halo 4 Trigger Stereo Headset • Complete Collection of Official Halo Soundtracks Australia Grand Prize • Halo 4 Limited Edition Xbox 360 320GB Console • Halo 4 Trigger Stereo Headset • Complete Collection of Official Halo Soundtracks • 12+1 Month Halo 4 Xbox LIVE Gold Membership First Prize • Halo 4 Limited Edition Xbox 360 320GB Console • 12+1 Month Halo 4 Xbox LIVE Gold Membership Second Prize • Xbox 360 Halo 4 Limited Edition Wireless Controller • Halo 4 Game Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn https://waypointprod...duntodawn-2.jpg We’ve been counting down the days to Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn with a series of short vignettes. That time is over though, because the live-action digital series that takes you back to the beginning of the human and Covenant war, leading into the events of Halo 4 starts on Friday. Yes, I’m talking about this Friday. The Friday that is only two days away… The first episode is just the beginning of this story and like any good story, it has to introduce the world and the characters to you in the right way before we get to the blowing shi – er stuff – up. This series is about great characters as well as great big explosions, so settle in for the whole ride…there will be plenty of all of the above to go around. There are some hints in Part I about important ideas in Halo’s future, so if you’ve been paying attention for a while, there’s a lot in there for your eyes only. That said, this show has also been created to help introduce many fans to the fiction of the universe (there are lots of people who don’t follow every date and character detail in the books or even the main Campaign stories – blasphemy, I know) and answers to questions like “So how did this galaxy-spanning war with a mysterious alien collective kick off, anyway?” We hope you love it, and we hope it’s as exciting a part of the big ramp-up to Halo 4 as we meant it to be! Office of Halo Intelligence: Part 11 https://waypointprod...wallpaper-2.jpg Bonnie Ross, General Manager for 343 Industries, has been with the studio since the beginning. Her insight, especially as it relates to the journey that was the development of Halo 4, provides a unique perspective on both the completion of our first full title and also the changes the studio has seen since its conception. Enjoy the words from someone who has an intimate relationship with both our game and the people that comprise our studio. 34(3) days… and counting Jessica asked me to write a section about us hitting gold last week. When we all celebrated last Thursday night, there was joy, relief, and pride. There was celebratory drinking, and champagne was poured on people’s heads, but mainly there was a lot of reminiscing about the path we took over the last few years. So I figured I’d write about that journey to the gold (disc) at the end of the Halo 4 rainbow. Along that journey, it is easy to be critical, even overly critical of every move and every mistake. When you get to the end, something washes over you (could be champagne over the head from a fellow 343er, Josh) that makes you look back at the journey with a little more forgiveness, Vaseline on the lens, maybe even a little regret that this part of our journey is over. Year of the Forerunner: In 2008, we weren’t working on Halo 4 yet because Bungie was working on ODST and Reach. So as a small 343 team, we had the luxury of a year to just think about the universe and the technology. Where did we want to go next? We had controversial discussions about the Forerunners and their origins. Should they always be a mystery or should we open up that Pandora’s Box? As you already know, we opened that box and Frank and the team set to help define the future fiction, the Forerunner backstory and characters that would ultimately become the Prometheans, the Didact and other inhabitants of Halo 4. While we weren’t thinking about the exact Halo 4 story back then, we were working on high-level themes for Halo 4 and the overall saga. We were thinking about Chief and Cortana, and we were thinking about new enemies and new threats, specifically Forerunner in nature. We chose the acclaimed science fiction novelist Greg Bear to write a trilogy dealing with elements of that story. As Greg’s first novel in that trilogy came out in 2010, he had a lot of questions before we had answers: what did the Prometheans look like? What did the living, breathing Forerunner civilization feel like? So between 2008 and 2010 our artists, designers, and writers met repeatedly with Bear to give him character sketches, talk about physics, shapes and characters that would ultimately take their first tentative steps in his book before coming to life on Requiem. Ghetto Halo: In the middle of 2009, we started working on the real design of Halo 4 and the not inconsiderable task of staffing it. Our rapidly growing team was crammed in a really small section of this building in Redmond Town Center (a mall). We were sitting two to three people in closet-sized offices meant for one, or camping out on the couch in the hallway. When people came onboard or interviewed, we would routinely get the comment, “Wow, really, this is Halo? I would think you guys would work in a better space than this.” We pretended like we wanted it to be that way – so uncool that it was cool, but in reality we were Halo wannabes and our company knew it and treated us as such. That all changed with the unsanitary sacrifice of our office savior Kenneth Scott. Kenneth, who fell for the “this space is just temporary while our real space is under repair” line during the interview process, joined our team as the Art Director. When the reality of the bad space set in, Kenneth started doing phone interviews for potential candidates in the hallway because there were no private meeting spaces. When it got too noisy in hallway, Kenneth moved his office to the men’s bathroom instituting a do not flush policy during phone interviews. Some of our best talent was recruited from the men’s bathroom. It was my own wailing and lamentation over Kenneth’s bathroom interviews that finally got my manager to approve us moving to a new space. When we moved into a much improved space, we started working on the Halo 4 prototype. How do you prototype Halo when you’ve never even built Halo before? Halo is already a beautifully balanced sandbox and we wanted to add more toys – and maybe some more sand. As a new team, we were in an awkward and unfortunate situation in that not only did we need to prototype how to take Halo forward; we needed to figure out how to build Halo in the first place. Halo? In 2010 we started working on what we call “vertical slice” which is really just a representative section of how we imagine the final game will look, feel and play. Going through that prototype process, we made the obvious decision that before we could add new things to the Halo recipe, we first needed to fully understand the existing ingredients. Could we make a level that feels and plays like Halo? Could this team build Halo? Typically with a vertical slice, you’re supposed to showcase the graphical art bar as well as a segment of gameplay. Our artists were working on a lot of art, but in 2010, David Berger and the development team were in the beginning of overhauling the engine so that in the future our artists could get their art in the game without compromising their vision. For the vertical slice, the mission we chose to build was part of our second mission, Requiem. We submitted it to our user research testing and it tested well. Users thought it was Halo, and they liked it. We at 343, as small a step as that was, celebrated a great milestone – and a kind of game design Hippocratic Oath:“First, do no harm.” When Kiki and the team presented the slice to the execs, it was met with straight faces with people saying this just looks like Halo, this just plays like Halo. “Yeah, I know”, I replied proudly, “Isn’t that great? 343 can build Halo, this is huge.” The execs sat with straight faces repeating, “This just plays like Halo.” I walked my team from the room. “Was that good or bad?”, Kiki asked. “Um, good. I think they ate something bad for lunch.” To be fair to the execs, they didn’t want to see the inside of the sausage making factory, they just wanted to know this team could not only build Halo, but take Halo forward. They wanted to see the “Wow.” It was kind of a crazy time in the studio as we had a bunch of “wow” on paper, but really nothing in the game yet. Coming out of vertical slice, the team heard the message that it wasn’t enough. While it was in the plan to take that “wow” from paper to game, we were just getting started. Bungie wasn’t built in a day, and neither was 343. Year of the Wow: In my opinion, 2011 was our hardest year. The team might argue that 2012 was the toughest, as people put in such long days and endless weekends. But in 2012, we knew what we were building and the stress came from wondering if we would we have enough time to get everything we wanted into the game. In 2011, we knew the game we wanted to build, but the “wow” and the magic was slow in coming together. Josh and the team had their design work cut out for them. In 2011, the focus was sandbox. As you know, Halo has had (mostly) the same enemies in the sandbox for the last 10 years. For Halo 4, we had new enemies, new weapons, and new vehicles all ready to go into the sandbox. But as you also know, Halo’s sandbox is delicately balanced, so adding new stuff while ensuring it’s fun and properly thought-out, is easier said than done. For the first part of 2011 the fun wasn’t coming together. Then one magical day, I think it was sunny (a statistical anomaly in Seattle), Josh wandered over to me with a gleam in his eye – and explained that he’d just got done playing for a few hours and it was fun, it was really fun, and he thought we had it. And so it happened. Over the next few months the game started to come together. Daily playtests went from Chris and the producer team begging for players to people vying for an empty seat every day at 4:00. There is never a specific date when you exit preproduction as different areas move out of preproduction early and others later. But in Fall of 2011, every part was out of preproduction and into full production. We could play through the entire game, and for the most part it was fun. We had one mission, Dawn, where Kenneth, Neill and the art team had set their visual target and polished it to a glittering finish, and it was beautiful. The multiplayer maps were fun, the new modes were fun. Spartan Ops was starting to come together. In Fall of 2011, we could see the light even after we recovered from our exit from preproduction party. Year of the Dragon: 2012 was a very long work week that never ended. In January of 2012 we had all of the pieces of the game in some form of done or undone, and all that was left was the long hours to put all of the pieces together and polish the game to perfection. Or as close to it as time and physics permitted. From February on, there would be something new to look at or play every week. The cinematics team started dropping in all of their work and the story came to life. Every time you played the game it was new, different and better. It was a pretty amazing time to be part of 343, part of Halo 4. Everyone on the team worked incredibly long hours – basically for the entire year of 2012. Phil Spencer, the VP of Microsoft Studios told me our building smelled like human. Good human, I’m sure. In one of the take-home tests where we were supposed to play Campaign Co-op, I played the first three missions with business guy Matt. Matt wanted to explore and ensure we looked at every inch of the first three missions. It took us hours and hours to trek through three missions playing Co-op on Normal. I’ve explored every rock, plant, structure, vehicle, and vista in the first three missions. At one point in Requiem, Matt called for me to come over and look at this amazing view (literally a Sparth concept piece brought to life), and as we stood together looking over the edge, I had flashbacks of childhood family vacation pictures at the Grand Canyon – it was that awe-inspiringly beautiful. Of course, the Grand Canyon isn’t filled with inverted megastructures made of massy hardlight, but you get the idea. In between vista viewings, we also shot a few things. Last week before we hit gold, I was playing a Spartan Ops take-home on Legendary (so not a Legendary player, for the record). I got in a mission with Tajeen, Kiki, and artist Chris. In between expletives from getting annihilated by another pack of alien scum bearing Fuel Rod Canons, I found myself laughing giddily, waiting to respawn into some impossible new situation to “help” my team. It was fun, it was invigorating, and you could almost see the gold through the plasma mortars. I started this journey with huge passion for Halo, and that hasn’t changed. I ended this journey with huge passion and respect for 343 and our people. Halo 4 is a result of the energy, blood, sweat, tears and the distinct human smell of the people at 343. At the end of the day, at the end of the year, at the end of the journey, it is about the people, the team. It has been an honor to work alongside such an amazingly talented and passionate group of people. So is this the end of the journey, or is it just the beginning? I hope it is the beginning for us at 343. I hope we did the fans proud. No regrets, but sentimental. There is no crying in Halo, but I dare you not to by the time the credits roll. Thank you for bearing with us. Thank you for letting us try our hardest. I hope we earn it. b There is no possible way I can end this on a better note than Bonnie, so I do believe that is my cue to wrap this sucker up. Try your hand at the remix contest, check out the first episode of Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn this Friday, and I’ll see you here next week, same time, same place, but with new stuff to talk about. Until then… View full article

Hello everyone! For those of you who still haven't gotten their Flood fix yet, check out these two full games on Complex! Thanks to CyReN of THC for the video!

A 7 minute gameplay on the map Complex with the game mode "Flood".The pistol is still in and we get to choose 1 of 3 loadouts from Flood and Human alike. It appears you can choose Camo, Hardlight Shield and Thruster pack. I am not sure exactly what side can do what but Camo is for both sides and i haven't saw a Human with Thruster pack and i have not saw a Flood yet with a Hardlight Shield. Give me your thoughts on this. From and By: ducain23 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrPt2rWwbOg&feature=g-user-u Fan Mail Friday Post: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=480727948617768&id=2675... Original Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUaPZC0Ydq8 View full article

Hey everyone! By now I'm sure all or the majority of you have seen the Flood match on Complex. However, this time the player starts out as a Spartan.. however he dies within the first twenty seconds of the match But we get him as a Spartan again in Round 3 so no worries This overall is some really good gameplay, and it happens to showcase a bit more of the map than the last video that was released. so be sure to watch and enjoy c: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jwfap3S8O7I&feature=g-user-u Thanks for watching and hope you enjoyed. Don't forget to give Ducain23 a like for all of the news he's helped bring to us View full article

Hey everyone! By now I'm sure all or the majority of you have seen the Flood match on Complex. However, this time the player starts out as a Spartan.. however he dies within the first twenty seconds of the match But we get him as a Spartan again in Round 3 so no worries This overall is some really good gameplay, and it happens to showcase a bit more of the map than the last video that was released so be sure to watch and enjoy c: Thanks for watching and hope you enjoyed. Don't forget to give Ducain23 a like for all of the news he's helped bring to us This post has been promoted to an article

Look into the Eyes of Flood Mode Now we can see through the eyes of these mysterious creatures. Up until this point we have only seen this picture but now we get inside of them. We get to see what will be on our HUD. And we hear a little information on the attacking style that these creatures will have. Ducain also talks about the new map called Complex, but it's a very brief analysis. Here is the video. Watch till the end. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IZfuB5jIDk&list=UUzGLSfWbq4CiqKFO9lU9HLg&index=2&feature=plcp Video by Ducain23 I hope you enjoyed let me know what you think in the comments below. Edit: One more Screenshot from Flood Mode View full article

Look into the Eyes of Flood Mode Now we can see through the eyes of these mysterious creatures. Up until this point we have only seen this picture but now we get inside of them. We get to see what will be on our HUD. And we hear a little information on the attacking style that these creatures will have. Ducain also talks about the new map called Complex, but it's a very brief analysis. Here is the video. Watch till the end. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IZfuB5jIDk&list=UUzGLSfWbq4CiqKFO9lU9HLg&index=2&feature=plcp Video by Ducain23 I hope you enjoyed let me know what you think in the comments below. Edit: One more Screenshot from Flood Mode http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IR-0QjDX52k&list=UU2h5a5ukmyXC_kerPqKSk5A&index=1&feature=plcp Video by Naked Eli This post has been promoted to an article

343 Industries released earlier today that the Flood will be in Halo 4. Along with the announcement, there came an especially detailed screenshot at what can only be speculated to be the new look for the Flood Combat Form. At first glance, they appear to be infected Spartan-IV's or ODSTs. The armor is suggestive of either, and if you look closely at the face you can see the outlines where the helmet may or may not be. The armor is very thin, so that could make them marines. Spectacular attention to detail, however. The only issue I see is that they all look exactly the same (with the exception of armor color). While not exactly a huge problem, some variation would have been well-accepted. Thanks for reading, and don't forget to comment and tell me what you all think! -Church

Sweat is dripping from my face...Warm steamy air is grazing my face as I.....Take another bite of this super spicy taco. I take a bite and some of the spicy sauce lands on my Tracker Helmet. "Didn't know the UNSC raised pigs in the forces" says a sarcastic male. I look up and smile as I see S-295 Gareth. I wipe the sauce off the helmet and put the helmet back on. "So much for a break 295.." We hear something moving in the pipes up ahead. Gareth grabs his assault rifle and moves up and tells me to move up. I hold my DMR up close to my chest as I am scanning the area. I hear dripping from the ceiling and I look up as the drops then splash on my helmet visor. "What is this green gooey stuff.." I said confused rubbing the goo between my fingers. "Skys...Shh.." Gareth points forward at a corpse lying on the ground. "Is that?..." I say nervous as I recognize the armor. I open my bracer and write down.."S-312 MIA" I walk towards the body and grab the data chip in his helmet. There is a hole in his armor chest.."Damn flood..I thought they'd be wiped out already" Gareth then turns sharply around aiming his gun."Did you hear that?" I hold my DMR up turning left and right. Sweat rolls down my cheek and suddenly infection form flood start falling from the ceiling. "Crap crap crap!" I yell as I begin shooting and popping them with each bullet. Gareth starts laying suppressive fire as I start dragging the dead spartans body down the hall. "Fire in the hole!" Gareth says as I cover for the explosion. As the grenade explodes smoke fills the room and I am soon blinded holding my DMR up and Hardlight Shield. "Promethean Vision on" says Gareth as his visor is now heat oriented. "This isn't good.." Gareth says in a paniced voice. "Move back" In his visor he sees about a dozen carrier form flood rushing towards us. I begin walking backwards with my hardlight shield up and the dead spartan in my other hand. I hear Gareth open a door and as he does I turn the shield off and walk in carrying the spartan. He shuts the door and I begin placing rubble at the door. I place the Spartan against the wall and silently mourn his death for a second. I begin looking around panicing. "This way!" I say panicing as I point towards a door letting Gareth enter tactically as I follow behind. We shut this door with relief. "I think we lost th.." As I am about to finish the sentence a container falls off a metal shelf. We aim our guns ready to fire when suddenly. "Don't shoot..Friendly here" Green acknowledgement lights go off twice on my HUD. I sighed as I saw an old friend. S-316 Bullet. "Glad to see you're in one piece Spartan" Gareth says. Bullet nods and holds up his shotgun. "We need to reach HQ I lost transmission with them at 0900 and haven't heard from them since" I walk towards some rubble and move toss it out of the way. A door is broken but I kick it down and I create us an exit. "Lets move" I say. Gareth takes the lead with Bullet behind him following me. I strafe left and right trying to check my surrounding. It is getting darker as we progress and we soon turn our visor lights on. We are now surrounded in darkness.."I got a bad feeling about this"...I say ready for an ambush. We then hear a terrifying yell. ROARR! We hear as Gareth quickly turns his vision on and begins shooting in the darkness. Bullet enables his thruster boost and flys towards a flood combat form and stabs it in the chest popping the infection. I start shooting in the distance as more floods begin running in our field of view. Our visor light is the only thing that is keeping us from seeing nothing. A flood then rushes at me knocking me too the ground. I pull out my magnum and just as the Flood attacks I shoot a clip into its head and it falls lifeless. I get up trying to get back into the fight when a tentacle breaks through the wall and smashes everything in its path. We all fly from the impact. I struggle to get to my feet.. My visor light is flashing on..and off...I look up and see bullet shooting some infection flood when the tentacle grabs him. "GET OFF ME!" Bullet yells as the tentacle grips him and slams him against the floor. Bullet goes unconscious and we hear a demonic yet human like voice. "You...humans....are fragile...where...is...she....?" I stand aiming my DMR confused by the question. This couldn't be a gravemind already. The flood just went viral months ago. How? Gareth is soon seen jumping on a tentacle stabbing it trying to free Bullet. His effort is useless. The tentacle flings him away and Bullet is taken away with the tentacle. We then hear an even louder yell from the flood...ROARRR!!! And flood come at us in every direction. I run to pick up Bullets Shotgun. I start shooting in each direction killing off six flood. Gareth is struggling with one on top of him. He kicks it off and he stands and looks my way. Gareth lifts his two fingers and swipes his fingers across his faceplate. I stand shocked. A Combat form flood had his hand pierced through Gareths chest. "GARETH!" I yell shooting flood running toward him. The flood grabs his body and pulls him away from my vision. It gets quiet. I am standing pointing the shotgun in each direction. "No...Gareth..Bullet..." I hear movement but my visor light is broken. I open my bracer and begin writing. "S-316 MIA...S-295 MIA....S-315..MIA" I close the bracer and drop my shotgun. "Come on you ********.." I stand firm and I see a Combat Form standing in front of me. "Where..........Is........She......" It jumps towards me i can feel them all around me now. It lunges and I instantly black out....My eyes slowly open as I see my friends and family waving at me...I close my eyes and the darkness consumes..I am unconscious..And most likely...dead. Well hope you guys like the short story. I only put two members in it and they will know who they are. If I added more it would've been to crowded and less gripping I hope you guys enjoy my short stories. And don't forget to read the 343i Great World War series I Salute all members of 343i. Skys,

What is the Gravemind? The Gravemind is the super-intelligent controlling unit of the Flood. It is a collectivization of the minds of the beings which it has overrun with its 'disease,' and is capable of controlling countless units of mobile Flood at once, through some sort of telepathy. The Gravemind then uses these thoughts/memories/intellects to expand its ever-noble cause: to consume all sentient life in the galaxy. *However there is a problem. As shown from the terminals in Halo: CEA, the Gravemind forces its victims into submission. It is made up of innumerable minds of countless species, which in 'life,' had many different beliefs and agendas, and yet it consists of one, powerful consciousness. THEN WHOSE CONSCIOUSNESS CONTROLS ALL THOSE MINDS? WHOSE CONSCIOUSNESS IS THE GRAVEMIND ITSELF? There is an answer. In Halo: Primordium, the Prisoner of Charum Hakkor (the Primordium), claims to be the last Precursor, the race of beings that preceded the Forerunners, that were even more advanced. This Precursor says to the Forerunner commander, the Didact, "We meet again, young one. I am the last of those that gave you breath and shape and form, millions of years ago. I am the last of those your kind rose up against and ruthlessly destroyed. I am the last Precursor. And our answer is at hand." At the end of the story, this Precursor is revealed to be a Gravemind. This 'Prisoner' was allegedly killed by the Didact in a reverse time capsule. I believe that the time capsule killed the body of that Gravemind, but the consciousness of the Gravemnd was preserved. In Halo: CEA, The oracle has a conversation with a mysterious 'construct.' In response to the Oracle's question, the construct says, "I serve, none serve me, Oracle." (He serves the will of the Precursors, but none are left to serve him) He continues to say, "We follow the path, and I am part of the -stone, -journey, -swarm that serves... I, we, serve. They will find, then I will be free." -Throughout the Halo's, the Gravemind refers to itself both as I and We. The Flood is being held 'prisoner' in the Halo. The Gravemind in Halo 3 says to Chief, "Child of my enemy, why have you come? I offer no forgiveness. A father's sins, cast to his sons." -Humans are noted as 'Reclaimers' by the Forerunners, and there is evidence to suggest that that humans are from Forerunner lineage. This shows that the Gravemind is still exacting judgement on the Forerunners, even though they are gone (or are they?). In conclusion, I believe that the Gravemind is the consciousness of one of the Precursors, who are said to be 'transsentient' by the Forerunners. Much of their technology dealt with the mind. This makes sense seeing that the Gravemind has such a strong will and can communicate telepathically. I believe that this Precursor/Gravemind will be the primary antagonist later in the new Halo trilogy, because there are so many hints in Halo: CEA and Halo: Primordium that would not be worth discussing if it were otherwise.

So halo 3 wrapped up with a nice little ending with the covenant alliance falling apart, truth was silenced, and the flood threat was eliminated... right? I say wrong. And here is my evidence "Knowing that it faced its own complete extinction, what remained of the uninfected, stable specimens fled the galaxy aboard a commandeered vessel, destination unknown and remained dormant for thousands of years, biding it's time." http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/Flood As we all know, the flood are ruthless. The scary thing about the flood is not necessarily their combat abilities... a single combat form alone really stands no threat against an agile warrior. But what about 7 billion? Thats when things get a bit scary. The flood retreated to 'god knows where' for literally thousands of years. Who knows what planets they came across, what civilazations they conquered and the sheer mass that they eventually required. When you really start to look at the cosmos as a whole, an infection like the flood NEEDS to be stopped early. And the flood was not. So i say that no matter what happy ending halo shows or bungie or 343 wraps up with, eventually more flood will come... and they will suceed.

This is my Halo 4 Wish list. Sorry for my english, I'm french. I actually address this message to 343 industries because... Its a Wish list... XD. Don't be afraid to leave comments. Hi 343 industries, I’m a big fan of the halo franchise. I bought every halo game in the past 10 year and each time the game was getting better. There’s still a few thing that I would love to see in the next Halo 4. I was disappointed to see that those few things were not in Halo reach or Halo Anniversary and this is why I made this little wish list. I know that you are probably almost done with the game but still, this is some add up that could be great to see in the game. Even if I reference to me in this message, keep in mind that there’s a lot of people out there that think like me. Please bring the firefight back for Halo 4!!! I know you removed it but that was one of my favorite playing game types. I hope there is a way to bring it back cause, I had some add on to it that I think it would have been the next step to make it even better… The use of forge for firefight maps and a forge world type map for firefight is something missing in reach and I would love to see that in Halo 4. The use of training Spartan bots for target training and team bots plus the ability of choosing how many friendly bots or enemies bots you want in the game to play multiplayer maps or try your forge maps or even your new maps. Also, put some for firefight map like a coop Spartan bots. I always wanted to have that in a halo game (I finally had to try it on the Xbox in the Call of duty Black ops training game mode type and it was awesome). In firefight, this is one of my first big dreams to see the flood in the customization. I was really, really disappointed to find out that it was not in the Halo Anniversary. I’m a big fan of «Nazi zombie» Call of duty and I would love to see a way to do a firefight zombie game type with the flood. Even the ability to us them in the forge would be awesome. In the halo anniversary firefight, I really liked the ODST but there were to week and they died to quick. If you can bring them back in halo 4 firefight and do something about it, like drop more back after a round or make them a little bit stronger plus, the ability to remove them or add more in the customization would be awesome. The Forge in the Halo Reach had a big step with the Forge World but I think the next step should be to let the people customize and build the entire map. (Like in the Xbox Far cry customization game mode). The ability to choose the size of the map ex: small, medium, large, extra large… The variety of the sandbox background ex: Space, Earth, Halo, Forerunner, Covenants, Floods, cave or more… Plus a way to choose the season and weather like ex: Snow, rain, sunny, blizzard, cloudy, fog… The day light ex: day, night, morning, afternoon… And finally, the control of the environment with different type of ex: water, valleys, grass, rocks, trees, sand, caves, fire, dirt and bumps… Finally, a bigger variety of walls, doors, bridges customization ex. Changing the aspect or the color of the object for a covenant, Forerunner, Human or a Flood look… The possibility to add lights with different color so we can have some shadows in those fans made maps will be a big thumb up. The ability of selecting more then one object at the time will be pretty useful to... And for the pleasure of every one, the possibility of putting some enemy or friendly artificial life form in it ex: covenants, Floods, Spartans, ODSTs, marines or Forerunners. All this would give us a huge step in the forge map construction and a huge variety of fan made map with out just seeing the same boring forge world built map. I hope you will keep and upgrade the Armor customization. I really loved the Reach armory way of «buying» stuff with credits that you earn in the game and I would love to see that with even more stuff to customize and «buy». Just keep in mind that in Halo Reach they were never an update of a new stuff in the armory. If you could think about it and find a way to do that in the Halo 4 it will be a big thumb up to. The visor customization should have more color. I saw in the halo 4 trailer that they were some hexagonal pattern in the visor and if they were a way to customize that symbol pattern like change the color of it or the symbol example: triangle or circle even none… and The ability of putting carve symbol or add on bumps on the visor like the Emile helmet, it would be great to. For the rest, I’m really exiting about it. Except for the lost of the bubble shield that is not really a big lost but still I would love to see it back in multiplayer or firefight. I love the fact that you removed the Armor lock cause I hate to play with it or again it (it was killing the action). Finally, this is not so important but I have one more thing. This was just a personal wish to see back the Halo 1 map, Chill out. I was so disappointed to see that it was not coming back in the Halo Anniversary that I even did a remake in Halo Reach forge world.

I always thought of this for a new Infection in Match Making. I want there to be a 16 player team on a map and for everyone to try and survive the Flood! I think it would be a great gametype and what not, Just waves and waves of flood come everywhere till everyone dies or kill every last infection form. (Hope none get stuck or anything) But just a fun idea I had for awhile.

What do you think?

I wish there was a playlist in firefight where you could fight both covanent and flood. A three-way battle between us, the covanent, and the flood would be epic. Having some of the covanent get turned into flood while fighting. Who here agrees with me? What are your opinions on what I think?

I'm not sure what you guys (and girls) might think about this but I believe they should actually use the flood to play in the infection gametype. Not computers playing against players of course but actual players playing as the flood. Also in fire fight they should use the flood to play against you. But I believe the infection idea is actually a very good one. If you beleive so to then just try your best to get the word out about it in the forums and online. We could help shape halo 4's future gameplay XD

in Halo 2, there was supposed to be a flood Juggernaut located only in the game files. there were several locations that were prime for it. <----- Flood Juggernaut game playI personally believe that this should be included in Halo 4, if you agree, lets try to make it happen! (by the way, if you play computer halo 2, its possible to bring it back onto the halo 2 disk, since it is in the codes...)

an interesting game type would be Flood Zombies, effectively like zombies from COD except where you have to survive endless waves of the flood. This is so logical i cant believe no on has though of it yet (game designers). thoughts?