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IGN brings you 2 hours of Halo 4 multiplayer while answering questions and discussing our review. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEVVJ_CETKk&feature=g-all-u

Gameinformer inverviewing Stewart Hendler; the Director for Halo: Forward Unto Dawn. Read below for more details Source: http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2012/10/05/halo-4-forward-unto-dawn-s-director-chats-up-the-live-action-series.aspx Do you consider yourself a gamer? I’ve always been a gamer for Halo. I’m sort of a partisan gamer in that sense. I would be completely lying to you if I said that I was good at anything beyond that. The way that I discovered Halo was that my roommates in college were huge gamers and I really wasn’t. When they got Halo for the first time, that was the one property that kind of sucked me in, and I felt myself spending a lot more time on the couch than with any other ones. So it’s always been my favorite franchise. Over the years I’ve sort of drifted in and out of playing other stuff, but always kept up with Halo, and always kept up with the story world of Halo, which is what I’ve always loved about it. So Halo is my main game. Working on the Halo series must be a dream come true. Oh dude, yeah, for sure. I actually got an e-mail from the producer on the show who was an exec at Warner Bros. when I did my last project over there. And she basically said, “Hey, I’m doing another web series, it’s for one of the major game franchises. It’s sort of the vein of…” and she listed some of Halo’s direct competitors. “Would you be interested?” I wrote back, “You know, probably not my thing. If you were to say Halo, that would be a different story. Thanks anyway.” And so the phone rang thirty seconds later and she told me what it was. And of course, I dropped everything. So you really like Halo. If it were any other video game franchise would you probably have just passed on it? Yeah. Never say never, but I was just coming out of H+, which is a different web series with Warner Bros. Web series are so much fun to direct but they’re a hell of a lot of work. It’s kind of like guerilla film-making. You’re wearing a lot more hats. So I was at the peak of exhaustion from that when she called, and I was like “Oh dear god, no.” And of course, the magic word came out, and I said “Okay, yeah, for sure.” This is the first time you’re working with a license. Was it intimidating to create something based on a franchise that people already know and love? Yes and no. In some ways working within that world is super exciting, because it’s built so you can come play in a sandbox that has so much depth and rich characters already established in it. On the flip side of that, there’s a reason why it’s such a big franchise, and that’s because it’s beloved by millions of people. But we also felt a huge sense of responsibility coming into that space and being the first long form live-action to try and bring this stuff to life. So yeah, absolutely, it’s super intimidating and exciting, all rolled up into one. How familiar are you with the expanded universe of Halo with the novels, comics, anime, etc.? I dabbled in some of it before I got this job. Obviously, now I’m way more caught up than any human being should be. But I had read a couple, and I definitely had the encyclopedia, all that nerdy stuff. The amazing thing about the Halo universe is that it’s so big that I don’t know if there’s ever a limit to what you can find if you want to explore it. They’ve done so much with graphic novels and anime that it’s just immense. They brought me in and they didn’t really have a sense of story, so it was funny because where do you even start in a world that has a timeline that’s like more than 100,000 years long, already filled out? It’s also been horrifying trying to figure out which corner of that universe to focus on and bring to life. How different is working on an online web series from working with film or television? Some stuff is obviously the same. You work with actors, you work with gear, and you put shots together in a certain order, that’s what it is. But the infrastructure and mechanics of the big studios that come with a feature just haven’t been built in a web series yet. So everybody is trying to figure out what the right way to do it is, and there’s a different sense of experimentation and adventure and freedom within the web series space. So from a director’s standpoint you spend a lot of time on a studio feature just managing the machinery of the studio, and dealing with the mechanics it takes to make a movie that big, which are very well entrenched. In a web series, there’s a totally different vibe. From a director’s standpoint, anything goes. You can pitch anything; no idea is too crazy. The sky is the limit, creatively. It’s also tempered with the fact that web series don’t have the budget that movies do yet. It’s a balance, but from my point of view, I’ve spent the last two years doing it, and I’ve had a blast being in this space. Read on for Hendler's thought's on 3D, which one of the Halo games is his favorite, and how much freedom he was allowed with the Halo universe. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfJVgXBfSH8&feature=player_embedded How much freedom were you allowed within the Halo universe? Were there very rigid guidelines for production? It cuts in two directions, because on one hand, the Halo universe is very established and specific. Our task and oath was to uphold all of that, so we wanted to make sure that every detail that already existed in the Halo world was realized as accurately as possible. The Microsoft guys and girls were really cool because they spent a lot of time figuring out who they want to work with and who they want to bring on the team, but once you’re on the team, they put a ton of trust on you. That seems to go down the line through the entire studio on the game side and at that point it belongs on our side. So basically, their edict to us was, “Look, as long as you don’t contradict anything that exists in the universe, you can have a lot of freedom, you can do whatever you want to expand the world outward.” Granted, we were super reverential in making sure that they were happy with everything, but I was frankly shocked. By comparison to working with a studio, here you go in and pitch them an idea or send them a photo saying “Here’s why I love this!” and they say “Yeah! Do it!” It was awesome; it was a really fun experience. On the flip side, we had an entire staff position whose only job was to make sure that everything was authentic. Literally, 12 hours a day for three months, they were just checking and approving that the armor, guns, lore, and dates were all dead-on. You guys had to deal with plasma blasts and crazy alien vehicles. Were there any production challenges in replicating the visual style of a science fiction video game? The cool thing about the Halo world is it’s epic, it’s huge, it’s grand, it’s everything you’d ever want. The thing that we went into this knowing is that we needed to focus on what live action can do that the game has a harder time doing. The 343 folks and us agreed that live action has the power to connect you to real human faces and to tell stories about characters. So everybody wanted to make sure that that was up front. We definitely delivered on all of the action and pyrotechnics that are required in the Halo world, but we never lost sight of the fact that if we didn’t use this other way to tell a great story and connect people to the characters, then we weren’t doing our job right. So we came in with that vibe, which is really cool. Right off the bat, I pitched them the idea that we try to tell as realistic and authentic a Halo world as possible to counter the fantastic sci-fi of it all. They were awesome about it not having any need for it to look like the game. They didn’t want us to replicate the game experience. They wanted this to be its own thing and to make people feel like they were standing in the room with these characters. So from an aesthetics standpoint, that’s what we went in with, that kind of District 9 pseudo-documentary vibe in some ways. But we pretty quickly identified the places where we really needed to focus our resources and absolutely do up to the level of a 100-million-dollar-budget movie. That was definitely the visual effects, the Chief’s suit and the gear of it all. By comparison to our overall budget, we spent a much higher percentage of those elements that we would have otherwise. But in other areas we really tried to be guerilla. The Chief’s suit was done by Legacy down in L.A., which is the top of the top. These guys are the ones who did all of the Avengers suits and Terminator 2. Every cool creature or suit you’ve seen in a movie, those are the guys. This was Master Chief. We wanted to get the best possible thing. For the visual effects, we’re going to top out at just under 500 effect shots. These include fully-realized CG Covenant. Five hundred is a number that’s highly unusual for a web series. A gigantic blockbuster movie would be between 1,500 and 2,000. We’re not there, but we’re creeping up towards a really big show, and we felt like that was important. We actually literally got the last 17 shots in today. It’s definitely been a big part of where our priorities were - to make that stuff look awesome. The live-action stuff shot before this was pretty amazing, so we came in knowing the bar was already set, and that we could at least match it. Hopefully, we sort of took the next step and show people something else. Did you make sure to demand an early copy of Halo 4 for research? I’ve gotten to play it a couple of times. I’m kind of torn on it, because I love the anticipation of waiting and not knowing what I’m going to get when it comes in the mail. I’ve read the script, and I know exactly what happens in it, and we’ve tied our characters into it. On the one hand, I’m like, “this is the coolest job in the world!” and then in the background I’m a little bit sad that I don’t get the surprise of playing the game for the first time. But it’s okay. I do think they’re going to give me a copy though. Which Halo is your favorite of the ones that have released? I like the first one and I like ODST. They’re different, but I just like the look and vibe of ODST, the certain noir vibe of it all. I don’t know; the first one will always kind of have my heart. This doesn’t have anything to do with Halo, but in the field of film, how do you feel about 3D? Do you like it? That’s an interesting question. I’m not a huge advocate of 3D. I think it’s interesting. There are very few movies I’ve gone to in 3D that I feel are better for it. I guess I get frustrated because I see a lot of decisions being made from a financial standpoint within the industry based on 3D, and not necessarily based on what’s better for the material at hand. I think I have a pre-loaded knee jerk against it in some ways. When it’s used beautifully like in Avatar or Prometheus, I think it’s cool. But it has to be in the right filmmaker’s hands and it has to suit the material. Be sure to keep an eye out as Forward Unto Dawn’s new episodes release week to week for interviews with Daniel Cudmore, the actor playing Master Chief, and Frank O’Connor, the curator of Halo’s universe at 343 Industries. Be sure to keep an eye out as Forward Unto Dawn’s new episodes release week to week for interviews with Daniel Cudmore, the actor playing Master Chief, and Frank O’Connor, the curator of Halo’s universe at 343 Industries.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2mq9YTou-g&feature=player_embedded http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=rTa8FJKbIIY Source-CVG The new Spartan Ops Trailer came out yesterday for episode 6-10,also start playing the new episodes on monday! After a break over the holidays, Spartan Ops weekly episode releases resume from this Monday, January 21. Microsoft outlined its Halo 4 DLC release plans for January and February in a recent list, confirming episode dates and multiplayer updates. There are two videos above, the first a recap of the events in Spartan Ops episodes 1-5, and the second a teaser for the remaining five episodes in Season 1.

Source-Xbox360Magazine Action Sack playlist to offer Lightning CTF, Rockets & Rails. 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.

The "Meet Your Maker" Forge Contest Series is back and is now looking to our forge community to build in what is arguably the toughest game type to forge for, Dominion. This game type, created by Certain Affinity, has captured the interest of some of the best forgers in Halo for a reason. We challenge all forgers to bring their creative ideas and technical forge skills to any forge canvas you choose and build your ideal Dominion map! This is an official map submission thread for the "Meet Your Maker" - Dominion Forge Contest! Questions and Answers thread. Submissions will be received until 11:59 PM EST September 6th 2013 Forge Rules and Guidelines Three bases only are required for this contest. Maps must be compatible with 6 V 6 player Dominion. A maximum of two (2) submissions per forger or forge group. Base resupply set based on match making standards, per the new update.* Only one capture terminal per base and only capture terminals may be used for base capture. Initial weapons spawns to be set by the forger. (a tutorial will be provided for reference) All vehicles may be used. Submission Guidelines Provide your file share gamer tag. Provide a link to the map in your file share. Provide the map name without any prefix or suffix, ie "Version 1", V3.1, Final, etc. Provide the forge canvas, ie Ravine, Impact, Erosin or Forge Island. Maps must be tagged "MYMDOMINION". Maps must be present in the provided file share for the duration of the contest and judging. Provide a maximum of three images and/or single video per submission. Maps must be the original creations of the submitting forger. No remakes of any existing Halo maps past or present. Prizes First Place: Champions Bundle which includes the Bullseye Map Pack, the Infinity Armor Pack, and the Steel Skin Pack, plus loads of new stances, armor skins, and new and colorful weapon skins. Signed concept art of Ravine, Impact and Erosion by Certain Affinity. Interview with the judges of "Meet Your Maker" on THFE. Feature Video on THFE (The Halo Forge Epidemic). Map featured on all participating sites. Certain Affinity T-Shirt. First Runner Up: Your choice of signed concept art of either Ravine, Impact or Erosion. Feature Video on THFE (The Halo Forge Epidemic). Map featured on all participating sites. Bulleye Map Pack. Second Runner Up: Your choice of signed concept art of either Ravine, Impact or Ersion. Feature Video on THFE (The Halo Forge Epidemic). Map featured on all participating sites. All forgers are encouraged to fully test their creations either in private lobbies or custom game lobbies at HaloCustoms. There is a dedicated group of forgers and players that actively participate in map testing there who can offer quality feed back. Consider using Zandril's Map Maker Pack to assist judges and players alike with an easy to view placement guide of all notable forge features. List of some judging criteria for forgers Spawn points placed in a manner that offers proper directional movement, supports 6 players per team and close enough to any vehicles dedicated to a particular team. Respawns facing in the proper direction, in a high enough number to prevent any spawn camping and enough in cover to reduce respawn exploitation from power weapons. Ensure any spawn points used outside of maps during forge have been removed. Considerations of safe zones. Proper use of soft and hard kill zones to prevent out of map game play and exploitation of structural features or environment not intended for play. Ensure ordinance drops, weapons spawns, players, vehicles, man cannons and other items are properly placed and/or do not become trapped or stuck in features of your maps and that all areas not intended for play are blocked from players. Double check all spawn times on weapons, vehicles and ordinance as needed. Be sure your map make proper use of color, distinct features or orientation that allows players to quickly orient themselves and provide team mates with accurate call outs. * Base Resupply Sets Four Drops per base: 2 Grenade Drops Plasma Grenades 2ea. Frag Grenades 2ea. Pulse Grenades 2ea. Assault Weapon Drop Assault Rifle Supressor Storm Rifle Magnum Plasma Pistol (optional) Precision Weapon Drop Light Rifle Carbine Battle Rifle DMR Spartan Laser Spartan Laser (optional) (Having two spartan laser slots slots gives the laser a higher chance of being dropped) Prizes offered by 343industries.org and THFE. The "Meet Your Maker" forge series is supported and promoted by 343industries.org, THFE, Halo Customs, Forge Cafe, Forge Hub, Online Knights, Mr Pokefile, The Halo Network and various other YouTube channels of participating sites.

The complete Halo 4 OST and Remix's. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6HQteJNk3A Track list: 01. Awakening - 0:00:00 02. Belly of the Beast - 0:05:41 03. Requiem - 0:08:23 04. Legacy - 0:10:39 05. Faithless - 0:13:11 06. Nemesis - 0:18:20 07. Haven - 0:21:53 08. Ascendancy - 0:27:40 09. Solace - 0:32:02 10. To Galaxy - 0:36:52 11. Immaterial - 0:41:47 12. 117 - 0:49:25 13. Arrival - 0:56:52 14. Revival - 1:02:28 15. Green and Blue -1:09:46 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOI-5Eek_EA Track list: 01. Awakening (Gui Boratto Remix) - 0:00:00 02. Green and Blue (KOAN Remix) - 0:07:23 03. Requiem (Bobby Tank Remix) - 0:11:26 04. Ascendancy (Matt Lange Remix) - 0:17:02 05. To Galaxy (Sander Van Doorn & Julian Jordan Remix) - 0:22:07 06. Haven (Hundred Waters Remix) - 0:28:57 07. Revival (DJ Skee & THX Remix) - 0:33:20 08. Ascendancy (Caspa Remix) - 0:37:00 09. Nemesis (Alvin Risk Remix) - 0:40:55 10. Solace (Maor Levi Remix) - 0:45:36 11. Arrival (Norin & Rad Remix) - 0:52:54 12. Green and Blue (Andrew Bayer Remix) - 0:56:55 13. Foreshadow (James Iha Remix) - 1:00:22 14. The Beauty of Cortana (Apocalyptica vs Neil Davidge) - 1:03:14

Source-Gamezone _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ We all knew that after episode 5 the next episode will reveal a big battle and many secrets but can you wait? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The second half of Halo 4's Spartan Ops Season 1 is set to return on January 21. The episodic adventure that went on a mid season hitaus in December after five weeks of delivering fresh gameplay content featuring the Majestic Squad aboard the UNSC Infinity. To help refresh the events, 343 Industries has released a little recap video of episodes 1-5. On Monday, Spartan Ops Season will continue bringing you episodes 6-10 over the span of another five weeks. Each episode offers Halo 4 players five separate missions. So when it's all said and done, 343 Industries will have provided fans with a total of 50 free bonus missions totaling to about 12 hours of additional gameplay time -- that's in addition to the regular campaign and the addictive multiplayer Halo 4 already offers. Not a bad deal if you really think about it. But we're not done yet; 343 Industries has also posted a stats summary of the first half of Spartan Ops Seas 1. Some of the numbers are quite impressive. Stats summary of the first half of Spartan Ops Season 1 8,125,908 games were played in Spartan Ops Matchmaking in the first two months. 4,696,752 hours were spent playing Spartan Ops Matchmaking in the first two months. 901,258,308 kills were earned in Spartan Ops Matchmaking in the first two months. 262,150,257 assists were earned in Spartan Ops Matchmaking in the first two months. 167,101,619 deaths were recorded in Spartan Ops Matchmaking in the first two months. Shootout In Valhalla” was the most played Mission in the first half of Spartan Ops Season 1. How do you stack up against the following averages? 49.77 was the average number of kills earned per game in Spartan Ops Matchmaking in the first two months. 6.77 was the average number of assists earned per game in Spartan Ops Matchmaking in the first two months. 7.15 was the average number of deaths recorded per game in Spartan Ops Matchmaking in the first two months.

The holiday discount sales expand to the Limited Edition Halo 4 Console. Read below for more details Source: Computerandvideogames.com Fans of overpriced consoles covered in special paint will be pleased to know that the Xbox 360 Limited Edition Halo 4 console bundle will be slightly less overpriced than first expected. The $400 bundle, which includes the custom designed 320GB console and two matching controllers, Halo 4 and a code for various downloadable treats for the game, will be included in Microsoft's recently-announced US Holiday Bundle sale. This means a $50 reduction, for a neat price of $349.99 - a very tempting proposal. The console is available for pre-order now at the special price from participating US retailers (Best Buy, GameStop, Amazon, Target, Toys 'R Us and Walmart). For officialdom, here's a list of the other Holiday Bundles available in US for an unspecified "limited" time: 250GB Xbox 360 with Kinect and Dance Central 2, Kinect Sports, and Kinect Adventures and one month of Xbox LIVE Gold for $399.99 USD (ERP) 4GB Xbox 360 with Kinect and Kinect Disneyland Adventures and Kinect Adventures and one month of Xbox LIVE Gold for $299.99 USD (ERP) 250GB Xbox 360 with two games: Skyrim and Forza 4 Essentials Edition and one month of Xbox LIVE Gold for $299.99 USD (ERP)

After a terrifying night of combat and loss, Lasky makes a life-or-death decision to help the Master Chief... but will it be enough to save them all from the Covenant? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gULQ5GFIkcA

Xbox360achievements have given us some tips on beating Halo 4 on Legendary. Read below for more details Source: Xbox360achievements.org Halo 4 is launching all over the world now and in the next few hours... heck, it's even out in Australia, so we thought we'd bring you some helpful pointers so that you can beat the game on Legendary, on your lonesome, and net those two big cheevos. "I think I said pre-launch that Halo 4 (read our review here, by the way!) was shaping up to be the hardest Halo yet, and having just come off the back of a mammoth Legendary session, completing the hardest Halo yet on the hardest Halo difficulty setting, I can tell you one thing: I was right. I like saying that, by the way. That’s not to say that Halo 4 is impossible, far from it. But with new enemies, new larger environments and new weaponry, you’re going to have one hell of a ride if you want to complete it on Legendary. That’s where we come in with our ‘unlucky for some, definitely not unlucky for you’ 13 top tips at beating Halo 4 on solo Legendary. Obviously, some skill is required, but if you follow all of the tips below, it should make everything so much easier. It is recommended that you play it on Heroic first to get a feel for the new enemies and how the levels shape up, but that’s not entirely necessary if you pay particular attention to our section on the enemies below. Notice I said Heroic too, don’t play it on Normal as the jump from Normal to Legendary is enough to kill the will of even the strongest man! Oh, and the insinuation that Heroic in Halo 4 is harder than Legendary on other Halos? Just not true. Also, there will be no spoilers here, so you can read on without a care in the world. Here goes... 1. Utilise all of the weapons on the battlefield – There are often times when playing on Heroic I’d skip past power weapons of sorts, knowing that I won’t need them in the long-run because I had enough on me to take the fight to the bad guys. When you ramp the difficulty up to Legendary, that all changes. Beam Rifles that you’d walk past because you already have one are weapons to go back to once you’ve used the ammo in your current gun. Fuel Rod guns that you just don’t need because you have an Incineration Cannon are good stop-gaps so that you can save your IC ammo until you truly need it – like on the odd Banshee or against a pair of Hunters. So, our advice is to pick them up, use them on Elites, Knights, whatever, and then go back for your original weapon once you’ve used all of the ammo up. It’s a valuable tactic that should prove to be one you use again and again. Be careful you don’t go through some doors though as some may close and never let you back through to collect your original weapons. 2. Vehicles are the way forward – Common sense, right? Well, yes, but sometimes though it might not seem possible to take a vehicle any further, but trust me, where there’s a will, there’s a way… within reason! So, for example, after you’ve tackled the open section in Chapter 2 (very early on), you can use the enemy grav lift to take a Ghost with you further into the level. When trying to gain access to the Forerunner facility and facing off against tons of foes, you’ll thank us for this tip. Another example, in Chapter 4 (at the very end), you have to make sure you take the Scorpion in the lift with you, so keep it alive until the end - first time through on Heroic I had lost it at this point. It’ll make the next area a lot simpler. The little things like this make Legendary so much easier. 3. Know your enemy – Knowing the easiest way to kill enemies in Halo 4 on Legendary is actually more key than anything else, and it wasn’t until the end of my first playthrough on Heroic that I'd honed my tactics against each foe. We’re going to break each enemy type down here so you know the easiest way to tackle them. You’ll thank us later. Promethean Watchers – Watchers aren’t particularly hard creatures to take down, but it’s essential to dispatch these ASAP, if not first. Why? Simply because they're basically the best battlefield aids that the Prometheans have at their disposal. They’ll shield allies while their shields restore, they’ll construct powerful beam emplacements, they’ll throw your grenades back at you, they’ll shoot at you and they’ll even create more Knights to take down, which can be a pain. Focus on the flying disc type creatures early on, probably at range with a Light Rifle, or if they’re close range a Scattershot or a Suppressor will make quick work of them. This is an invaluable piece of advice. Promethean Crawlers – The Crawlers can be relentless foes if you don’t know what you’re doing, but if you do, you can make quick work of a whole pack of them before they make their mark. You’ll want to use a ranged weapon with supreme accuracy, whether that’s a Light Rifle, Magnum, Covenant Carbine, Battle Rifle, DMR, etc. One shot in the mouth – the glowing yellow part – or to the head, thereabouts, and this beast will explode into a ball of hot yellow acidic matter. Using the Scattershot or Suppressor will work eventually but you’ll have wasted a lot of ammo. If they’re surrounding you, smack that melee button. Promethean Knights – This is the main one to pay attention to. When you first cross the Knights it can be an overwhelming affair, especially if they’re accompanied by a Watcher, however, once you work them out, they’re not as dominating as they first appear to be. The trick here is to get them on their own (take out everything else first – Watchers first, then Crawlers, then Knights) and then get as close as you can with the Suppressor and let rip. Make sure you get to some close by cover first, so you go in with full shield. Don’t get too close either as they’ll take a swipe at you and if they do come towards you for a hit, back off slightly while still firing. The blue discharge is their shield dissipating, so keep going until they disintegrate. It’ll likely take one and a half clips if you’re accurate. The Scattershot super-close can take three shots, maybe two, depending on your connection, but these aren’t as readily available as the Suppressor is. When you get towards the end with 5-7 Promethean Knights at once, things do get tricky, but try to isolate and lure them in. The best distraction and assistant is the Autosentry armour ability, so try to have that with you whenever possible. Some Knights even drop them, so keep an eye out for that. Elites – As with other Halo games on Legendary, the best way to take down an Elite is using the “n00b” combo – charge blast the Plasma Pistol, hit them with it to take away their shield, and then follow it up with a headshot using a pinpoint accurate gun i.e. Magnum, DMR, BR, etc. The Needler is effective too, as is the Light Rifle if you can execute headshot after headshot. Just keep your distance and stay close to some cover you can quickly duck behind. Hunters – You’ll face many pairs of Hunters in Halo 4’s campaign, luckily there are usually weapons around to take them down with. The trickiest pair is easily the first set, towards the end of Chapter 3, so try to make your blows count there. When they're distracted by the Sentinels, throw a Sticky Grenade on the weak spot on their back. Rinse and repeat. There should be enough grenades lying around. With the second pair in Chapter 4, you should be in a tank. The third pair, in Chapter 7, there should be a Sticky Detanator lying around in a side room and on the wall (you’ll want to get the achievement associated with this chapter involving the Hunters and the Sticky Detonator while you're at it). And finally, the fourth pair, Chapter 8, try and keep hold of the Incineration Cannon that you can pick up from a Knight earlier on in the level. Grunts – Pop in the head with a Battle Rifle, DMR, Covenant Carbine, Magnum, Light Rifle. It’s as simple as that. Line up the headshot though, so as to avoid wasting ammo. Jackals – One shot in the head and they die, like the Grunts, so adopt the same strategy. If they have a shield, shoot their hand (left side of the shield) and when they’re recuperating, shoot them in the head – you have to be quick and this may take practice but it's a handy move. Halo Legendary veterans will know this tactic. Jackals with long-distance weapons, take them down ASAP with the BR, DMR, Carbine, etc. because they can cause a lot of damage. 4. Headshots are key – Seems like a simple thing to suggest, but it's important. Sometimes it might be easier to load the previous checkpoint than to continue if you miss your headshots… especially if you miss shots with power weapons or the DMR, the Battle Rifle - actually, any UNSC weapon, as the ammo is few and far between and they are generally the stronger weapons. Two headshots with a sniper rifle could take down an Elite, but miss the headshots and it could take as many as four. It’s the difference between failure and success. Practice taking down Jackals with shields in two shots. I’d recommend turning on the Grunt Birthday Party skull too so you know when you’ve connected with a headshot on a Grunt – that way you don’t waste ammunition shooting at a falling corpse. 5. The right tool for the right job – There’s no point firing a Suppressor at a Watcher from the other side of the map, it’s just pointless. Use the right piece of kit for the right job. Take down a Watcher with a Light Rifle; shoot Crawlers with precision weapons; and get close and take down Knights with the Suppressor. Don’t use a power weapon on a standard Grunt and save your grenades for times when you really need them. Use the Binary Rifle on Knights and Elites, use the Sniper Rifle, Beam Rifle, etc. exclusively on Knights and Elites. Be sensible, and if you only have two weapons in your arsenal, then search for something close by to use temporarily. 6. Big things can come in small packages – “Oooohhh, look at that Grunt there, he’s so cute… I’ll just pop him in the head. Wait, what’s that!? What the hell!? He has a Fuel Rod Cannon!! Ruuuuuuunnn!!” On Legendary there seem to be more and more Grunts armed to the teeth with some bloody strong weapons. Our point is simply to pay attention to these folks first and take them down before they do any serious damage. They’ll often have a jetpack, so look out for that trait when they’re on the battlefield. Just because they’re small and weak by definition usually, don’t discard them. Whip out your accurate ranged weapon of choice, whether it’s the Light Rifle, Battle Rifle or whatever, and then quickly take them out with a headshot. Then when you can, pick up their weapon and turn it on their allies. 7. Stick to cover, hang back – In Halos gone by on Legendary, it was a case of hanging back when you had AI with you and then sweeping in to mop up the rest. Halo 4 doesn’t really present that many opportunities to do this, mainly because Master Chief is a lone wolf. In Chapter 3 there’ll be a few instances on the way to the second pylon and then to the end where you should hang back and let the action play out before you jump in, otherwise you’ll be faced with a mammoth task while wasting ammo in the process. When you do get friendly AIs to assist, use them as distractions more than anything, because chances are they won’t last long. War is tough, and Master Chief knows it. 8. Don’t get frustrated, if all else fails, seek a different approach – Sometimes there’ll be moments in the campaign where your usual strategies don’t work. If they don’t, try something else. In fact, just try anything to get through, but make sure you’ve hit that checkpoint first – it’s essentially a license to experiment. For example, taking on a Knight with an Incineration Cannon isn’t like taking on a normal Promethean Knight with a Light Rifle. Chances are you’ll have to distract it using the Autosentry, maybe sneak closer using the Hardlight Shield as protection and then unleash on him while he reloads. Heck, there might be points where you’ll have to spam grenades at groups of enemies, use different weapons that you have at your disposal, come from different approaches... Basically, do something unconventional and against what you’ve been doing for the rest of the game. The main point is to not get frustrated. You’re going to die a lot. Just accept that. And if the method you’ve been trying for an age isn’t working, there will always be another tactic that might be more risky but could get you over the finish line. It’s all about finishing, no matter how messy it might seem. 9. Make use of those armour abilities – Some armour abilities in the campaign are completely useless, others are invaluable. For instance, the Promethean vision is only likely to help you in Chapter 4 briefly, whereas the cloak doesn’t really seem to ever help, and neither does the Hologram. In fact, it’s all about the Hardlight Shield and the Autosentry. The Hardlight Shield is good last minute cover, but in all honesty, it’s ALL about the Autosentry, which is like an AI turret that fights your corner. Not only is it a perfect distraction for the enemies you’re trying to takedown on the battlefield, but it’s also accurate and does a fair bit of damage. It’s great for ammo conservation amongst all else and is even dropped by some Promethean Knights, so it’s quite readily available. Don’t be afraid to wait behind cover and let it recharge either. Seriously, get this, use this, fall in love with it as it becomes your most valuable asset when playing on Legendary. 10. Don’t use power weapons until absolutely necessary – I mentioned this a bit earlier, when talking about utilising all of the weapons on the battlefield, but I feel I need to stress this point further. Don’t use a Fuel Rod cannon to take down a Grunt, unless you’re just using it to pick up your original weapon, but even then, use it on an Elite, on a vehicle, something that deserves it. You can take down a Grunt with one bullet, why waste a Fuel Rod shot? If you’ve played Halo 4 through on Heroic beforehand then you should know what’s coming for the most part, whether you have vehicles to take out or Knights with Incineration Cannons. These are the times to save the power weapons for and the best time to use them. You don’t want to find yourself taking on a pair of Hunters with a Magnum and a Covenant Carbine. 11. Even the Master Chief gets scared – Sometimes running and bypassing enemies is a perfectly viable option, so remember that. It was an option in other Halos (Reach is a good example) and it is here too. There are a couple of really good examples early on in the game in Chapter 2: when you have to bypass the Covenant and the Prometheans in a battle on the planet’s surface – if you try to take them out before progressing, it could take you an age; and on your way to the second pylon, where you have to take out the three field generators to unlock the grav lift to the top of the pylon – simply take out the shields zipping round with the Ghost, and then take the Banshee up to the top. It’s not cowardly or cheating at all, it’s necessary if you are to keep your sanity and finish the game in a reasonable amount of hours. So if it’s possible, just peg it, staying behind cover where possible as it doesn’t take that many shots to bring you down. Bear in mind that it isn’t always possible though and in order to open some doors and hit checkpoints you’ll need to clear the way first. 12. Scavenge and don’t get ahead of yourself – 343 Industries have put some really interesting weapons in some really interesting places, and all you need to do is explore a little. Players who climb places they maybe shouldn’t be climbing and heading into rooms to rummage through whatever may lie there will generally get their just rewards. We’ve found Sniper Rifles lying on top of ships, Sticky Detonators on boxes off the beaten path, ammo on corpses and what not, so it pays to explore and scavenge. The truth is you’re not going to spend much time with the UNSC weaponry during the campaign on Legendary, mainly because the ammo on the battlefield is sparse, so getting your hands on any weaponry that can give you an advantage will certainly aid your cause. 13. Turrets are your new best friend – We’re not talking the Autosentry armour ability here - although that’ll probably be your Legendary playthrough BFF - we’re talking UNSC fixed turrets and Covenant plasma turrets. If they’re around, jump on them to thin out the numbers, being careful to jump away if you’re close to death. If no-one is around and you have to continue on into the level, grab them and take them with you. Not only will this save on ammo and what not, but it’ll allow you to make quick work of the next few batch of Covenant or Promethean patrols, which will make you feel like you’re making progress AND saving your ammunition.

NFL players playing a a best out of three game of Halo. A 'Halo Bowl'. Read below for more details Source: http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2012/10/31/sports-some-famous-football-dude-clash-in-sportsnation-halo-4-bowl.aspx Grab your remote and throw it out the window; you won't need it tomorrow. SportsNation on ESPN2 Will be airing the first ever Halo Bowl tomorrow at 5 PM EST/2 PM PST. When we said you didn't need your remote, we meant you should probably do something other than watch TV. Tomorrow is November 1, it's also the day that Victor Cruz, Ramses Barden, and Terrell Thomas of the New York Giants face off against Rob Gronkowski, Wes Welker, and Donald Thomas of the New England Patriots in a best-of-three game of Halo 4. Check out the action on ESPN2, or jump on Twitter (by using the hashtags #SNHalo4Gronk or #SNHalo4Cruz) and Facebook for a chance to win some Halo 4 related prizes, like a 320GB Halo 4 Limited Edition Xbox 360 Console, Halo 4 Wireless Headsets, copies of the game, and more.

Gaminformer interviewing Frank O'Connor franchise development director for the Halo franchise about Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn. Read below for more details Source: Gameinformer.com The third episode of Halo’s live-action web series premiered today, and we had a chance to talk to Frank O'Connor, the franchise development director for the Halo franchise. He has a somewhat ambiguous job title and it means that O'Connor has his hand in just about everything related to Halo. We spoke to him about creating Halo 4's live-action web series, Forward Unto Dawn, and got some clarification about what his job is exactly. You’re the franchise development director for the Halo franchise? What does that job entail? Obviously I’m a spokesperson and that entails being an expert in every aspect of everything that we’re doing and then talking about it, but the vast majority of my work involves building and creating new elements of the franchise that end up in all of the various aspects of it. It’s a very large business at this point, even outside of the game. Obviously the game is the bulk of it, the game is the absolute master of everything else we do in the franchise and so everything feeds back into the game. It’s a really big franchise and it’s a big business on its own. From that perspective, how involved were you with the show, with the production? Were you writing and that kind of thing? We were editing and we were tweaking, really all the writing was done by Todd and Aaron Helbing realistically. We make notes and stuff like that but we were in the initial meetings with the Helbings about story and their first pitch, and the reason they got the job actually, was a story set on Harvest, which is one of the worlds from the Halo universe. We’d interviewed a bunch of writers and we had seen a bunch of pitches, and their pitch wasn’t the show we wanted to make, but it showed a really profound understanding of the universe and what the universe was about. It also mapped directly to what we wanted to do which was tell a story about people because that’s what we wanted this thing to be. Obviously it’s going to be great for fans. Fans are going to look at just about every single detail in this and hopefully love it. We wanted this to be approachable for people who are not familiar with the Halo universe and to do some setup, not in the sense of a pure origin story, but to give context to the beginnings of events that actually end up playing out in Halo 4. So their Harvest story did a lot of that but we needed to do something much more directly connected to it, so in the early meetings we basically helped them craft the story from the get-go and it was a completely different story from the one they originally wanted to tell. We were very involved in crafting that original plot, but we barely put pen to paper, that was those guys. We had meetings where we discussing things like Lasky’s allergy to the cryo-sleep as a sort of motivation for his character. It was basically world and story building from the get-go but they did all the writing. You’re talking about getting pitches. Did you guys put out a call for writers? We did, we put out a call. First we interviewed a bunch of writers and then we narrowed down that list and then we put out a call for pitches, but those guys actually had the most complete pitch to begin with and the deepest understanding of the universe. They had done really good work on serials with Smallville and Spartacus in terms of really quickly being able to establish characters. We don’t have a lot of time with this show, it’s five weeks of content, so we needed writers that could rapidly establish character, and motivation, and universe building, basically in a very rapid time frame. I don’t mean their execution on the script, I mean the five weeks of content that this thing ends up being. What was the impetus for doing a live action show for a video game? We haven’t had a numbered Halo sequel in almost five years at this point, and we wanted to refresh people and we wanted to bring people back into the universe. We were talking about doing it both in the game and in TV commercials, and both of those things are actually going to happen. There’s going to be a lot of bringing people up to speed, hopefully in really unobtrusive and non-obvious ways. That conversation started extending out into, “Well what else can we do here?” What can we do to really make people sit up and take notice? And what can we do to tell a really good Halo story? I think people love watching the TV commercials, but they’re not terribly satisfying in terms of narrative content. They’re really big and you see some cool action, maybe an explosion, and while people enjoy seeing Halo stuff brought into the flesh as it were, they’re just not getting a lot of satisfactory resolution to those brief vignettes, and so it literally just snowballed from that conversation and we said, “Well why don’t we just make a show? We can do that kind of thing.” The next step was starting to talk to first a production company and our producers, so we gired Lydia and Josh (the executive producers behind Forward Unto Dawn) and with those guys in tow we started farming out the pitch to various writers and directors. We were really trying to pick people who would fit the scale of this project and honestly give us the most bang for our buck. All of the people we’re working with have worked on pretty cool things that are able to do a lot with fairly limited resources. We’re trying to get as much of our budget up on the screen as possible. Read on to find out exactly how Forward Unto Dawn fits into the narrative of Halo 4. How important Forward Unto Dawn to the plot of Halo 4? Will players who only play the game and skip the show be lost? Certainly not. They’re connected via characters and some elements I can’t talk about, but if you don’t play the game, Forward Unto Dawn will make perfect sense to you. In fact it’s very self-contained, again kind of like a superhero origin story where you’re finding out all this stuff and hopefully that will drive people to be interested in the game, not the other way around. People who play the game and have watched Forward Unto Dawn are going to recognize characters and scenarios and certain pieces of setup that should provide really cool resonance. They will work really well together but they’re absolutely not essential to each other. They both need to be their own stories and they both need to be complete. Is there a fear that this might turn into what the Matrix kind of had, where there was almost too many versions of stories that all came connected into one place and left people out in the cold a little bit? I think if you have a matrix, and I don’t mean the movie, if you have a matrix of things that are required to understand something, you’re just creating a mess for yourself. We don’t want to make an ARG. We wanted to tell a story that established the human covenant conflict, the basic ideas and premises of the Halo universe like the UNSC, what are Spartans, and this story actually does all of that. In some ways it’s kind of the origin story of the Halo universe as we understand it today, and it’s a completely standalone story. The connection points, again, are sort of through lines for characters. The character of Thomas Lasky, who’s the lead in Forward Unto Dawn, is going to be in his 40s by the time you see him again in Halo 4. Just that simple fact means that the stories, while connected, are not linear or chronologically connected and they both stand alone completely. Even in Halo 4 we want to make sure we have a story with a beginning, middle and an end that doesn’t require that you read a book, that doesn’t require that you have any previous understanding of the Halo universe. These things should all be complimentary, but not essential. If you do watch Forward Unto Dawn, and you do read all the books, and you follow all this fiction, and you check out all the terminals you’re going to have a very different experience. But if you shoe-in all of that stuff you’re still going to be in a perfectly safe and valid narrative space. You’ll understand everything that’s going on no matter which of those discrete pieces you consume, or all of them. Your experience should be enhanced by it, not required. You just talked about a character that ages 40 years when he appears in Halo 4, are there any other ways you can talk about how Forward Unto Dawn ties into the Spartan Ops or the main campaign of Halo 4? Not without giving away some spoilers. There’s a device that’s used throughout the show that does have a very direct connection to Halo 4, but I don’t want to ruin it. It’s a piece of context for the overall premise of the show and it will make sense by the time you see episode two, that will completely make sense, but I don’t want to spoil that for viewers. Do you feel like you had a good experience making the show? Do you think you would want to do more stuff like this? Not even necessarily for future Halo games but even just to keep going with the story? I think we had a great experience with the people in the production and actually seeing the final show last week, we had been watching it with ADR caption and the wrong colors and placeholder special effects and all that stuff. It was already really compelling at some point a couple months ago, where you could watch the whole thing from beginning to end, and we really enjoyed the story, but seeing it all come together as this polished piece – I had to watch the first two episodes for feedback in their finished form a couple of days ago and I was genuinely disappointed and irritated when I got to the end of episode two and I didn’t have the finished episode three to watch, so I went back and watched one of the unfinished builds of it just to keep the story going. It’s actually just a good story, it could be set in the 20th century or the 30th century and it would still be a good story about compelling characters. Be sure to check out our interviews with Forward Unto Dawn's Director Steward Hendler, and Daniel Cudmore, the actor playing Master Chief in the series. Halo 4 releases November 6 on Xbox 360.

"Create beautiful maps almost by accident in Halo 4's overhauled Forge mode. Kynan Pearson and Lori Zawada walk us through the improvements to Forge." Source: http://www.gamespot....iveHalo4ForgeMo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOJ5lqXXtpU&list=UUbu2SsF-Or3Rsn3NxqODImw&index=1&feature=plcp A new 10+ minute long Halo 4 Forge video showcasing a new amazing Forge environment and a lot more. Check it out right now! Insane stuff!

This guide features the locations of all 7 terminals hidden throughout Halo 4's campaign. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CWIeTucsak List of Terminals: Requiem: 00:20 Forerunner: 00:35 Infinity: 00:50 Reclaimer: 01:03 Shutdown: 01:15 Composer: 01:34 Midnight: 01:55

http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=US&hl=en&client=mv-google&v=5dkfh4T6tF8&feature=youtu.be&nomobile=1

While Corbulo Academy is being destroyed by the Covenant invasion, the surviving cadets fight bravely alongside their only hope: The Master Chief. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZ_xn889cSk&feature=plcp

Information From Frank's Twitter Frank O'Connor has tweeted confirming that a map remake will be in Halo 4. He has not confirmed which map it is yet but gives a very brief description. Here is what he said: "Halo 4 only includes one map remake. I know what it is, it is good. It will cause the least drama of any new thing. It is NOT Small." I'm thinking maybe its Blood Gulch but who knows, leave a comment on what map you want it to be.

Episode 1: http://www.343indust...dawn-episode-1/ Episode 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K56gSEJ6IGc

Halo 4 Legendary Gameplay walkthrough with IGN.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uA0BdYA3wk4 On the second day of RTX, 343 Industries announced the Bullseye Map Pack, featuring a much loved classic, The Pit, only now called Pitfall, a brand new map called Vertigo, and a new armor permutation which is supposed to resemble a football outfit, the Ricochet armor. There will also be another pack, called the Infinity Armor Pack, which you can download separately for 240MSP, which include three armor permutations, the Prefect armor, Mark V armor, and the ODST armor. There is also another pack called the Steel Skin Pack, which include a sleek gold and black skin for every UNSC, Covenant, and Forerunner loadout weapons. The Steel Skin Pack will too be 240MSP. You can purchase the Champions Bundle for a better value at 800MSP which will give you all content within the Bullseye Map Pack, the Infinity Armor Pack, and the Steel Skin Pack, plus loads of new stances, armor skins, and new and colorful weapon skins. The Champions Bundle, Bullseye Map Pack, Infinity Armor Pack, and Steel Skin Pack will all release on August 20th. The Bullseye Map Pack WILL NOT be free for those who have purchased the War Games Map Pass, as Frankie stated at the Halo 4 RTX panel.

Heres a look at Chiefs suit that will be in the forward unto dawn series http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8E_XmEoB3b8&feature=player_embedded

IGN has released forge mode games of Grif Ball and Odd Ball, these all time favorite games types look amazing in Halo 4. The quality isn't 100 % but still can be viewed clearly. These game types will surely provide one of the most fun and memorable moments in Halo 4 and some frustrating moments too, Check the videos to see the changes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GkDYD9MRLI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsC-R8Us3XU Source: IGN

All Credit to Nak3dHalo for uploading and all credit to VPLUS2 for finding me it. Red Vs Blue CTF. If you want to know more about LOADOUTS, then check Archangel Tyrael's Thread HERE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1rdfWjD5zU New Features and confirmations: 1. Pulse Grenade. 2. Ghosts in halo 4. 3. Beam Rifle returns 4. Red Vs Blue, no colour changes. 5. New Weapons.

Halo 4 lead multiplayer map designer Kynan Pearson takes us on a tour of the "Meltdown" map. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2_6L-j26ag&feature=g-all-u