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Microsoft's gaming studio Lift London has confirmed that there will be three new games they are developing will be shown in the "not too distant future". Lift London's studio head Lee Schuneman spoke with OXM, he said "We've got a high bar for innovation" he also said "We have three cool titles in development that we'll reveal very soon". Nothing is really known about these three new titles other than they are free to play and will likely follow in the footsteps of Remedy's Quantum Break OXM stated, which is another upcoming exclusive title for the Xbox. Further talking with OXM Lee Schuneman pointed out the need "to build universes that will grow with the audience and follow them unto any device that they own" this does suggest to hint at cross platforming but how much of it will be implemented has not been clarified at this moment. That's all we know of what Lift London and Microsoft Studios have up their sleeves but more info will arise in the near future.

Infinity Wards 'Call of Duty' series is so closely tied to the XBOX that when it was realized Microsoft's newest console could not support 1080p directly it was seen as a big discrepancy between the XBOX One and PS 4 consoles. Mark Rubin, executive producer at Infinity Ward explains the reasons to interviewer Wesley Yin-Poole of Eurogamer.net. Here is some insight from an earlier article. "If there is something about the Xbox One hardware that's to blame, it is the way it allocates memory resources", Rubin suggests. Microsoft's console reserves 10 per cent of GPU time for its operating system. As Digital Foundry's Richard Leadbetter describes it, features such as Kinect skeletal tracking account for "precious resources that are inaccessible to game developers". Rubin discusses this issue, and more, in the below interview. Xbox One Resolutiongate: Call of Duty: Ghosts dev Infinity Ward responds Original Article by: Wesley Yin-Poole Eurogamer.net Creating a next-gen launch title sounds like a nightmare. Can you explain exactly the challenges you faced? Mark Rubin: It is for our engineers, especially. Fortunately, both Xbox One and PS4 are very much like PC, more so than the last generation. That helped enormously. If the systems had their very peculiar architecture, like they did in current gen, this would have been a different conversation. But because of that the development this time around it was significantly easier. I have experienced the current-gen launch. I was at Infinity Ward for COD 2. When we launched it was just PC and Xbox 360, but that was our first console, period. There was a lot to learn leading up, but that was just one console, when all it was was PC and that new console. And that was an interesting challenge. So to do PC, current-gen two SKUs and next-gen two SKUs, was a massive challenge. Working with the theoretical hardware would have been a disaster if... honestly, the hardest thing to deal with is not the architecture. It's the OS (operating system) of the systems. That's the thing that comes on the latest. The Xbox One's OS on their box versus the Sony OS, becomes the hardest. All the SDKs and stuff you have to work with - that's the stuff that changes, not the hardware itself. What about the operating systems, exactly, is the problem? Mark Rubin: There's stuff in the console's OS that interacts with the game. So, for instance, voice chat is often supported by the hardware manufacturer rather than the software, and you're just using their channel. When that stuff is changing - because they're developing it on their side - and the resources they're using are changing - your, from a game design standpoint, challenge is with trying to make enough room for those resources to be used but at the same time use as much resources as possible. One of the greatest challenges the engineers have to deal with is memory management, or thread management. There are X number of threads in your CPUs. Where in those threads is the stuff that's Microsoft or Sony? Where does it fall? How does it work? We don't have the SDKs for those features yet, and then they come in and you go, okay, well it needs 3MB of RAM - oh, crap, we only allocated two! You can't just take a MB from anywhere. It's not like there's just tonnes of it just laying there. You have to pull it from something else. And now you have to balance that somewhere. It becomes a massive change internally for our entire engine, if they add a few MB to the amount of resources they need, or if they require all their processes to be on one thread. If it's not multi-threaded then we have to put it on one thread. Now we have to find space on one thread, where that can live, that it's not creating a traffic jam on that thread. Sometimes we have to be like, okay, we have to move all this stuff over to a different thread and then put that in to that thread, just to manage traffic. That's what engineers are often doing: managing the traffic of CPU threads and memory and where that's going, allocating memory, what kind of memory is it? Is it dynamic? Sometimes what has to happen is we have to allocate the 3MB straight off the bat and just say, these 3MB, specifically, these actual memory addresses, have to be used for this. They can't be used anywhere else. Whereas dynamic, it's like, okay, I need 3MB but it doesn't matter where those 3MB come from. So all that stuff can change on the fly. And you're trying to develop your system to match with that, and it's two systems, now, not just one: Sony and Xbox. That creates a massive engineering nightmare. Wow. It sounds harder than I realised. Is all that you've just described the reason the Xbox One version is native 720p and the PS4 version is native 1080p? Mark Rubin: In a way. I don't know if I can point to one particular cause. Early on, we didn't know where exactly the resolution of anything would fall because we didn't have hardware or the software to support it. We tried to focus in on 1080p, and if we felt like we were on borderline of performance somewhere... We tried to make the best decision for each platform that gives you the best-looking game we could get and maintains that 60 frames a second. There's no specific, oh, well, the VO chat on Xbox took up so much resources that we couldn't do 1080p native. There's no definitive one to one per se cause and effect. It's just an overall thing. We took each system individually and said, 'okay, let's make the best game for each system.' I think both look great. Some people might notice if they had them right next to each other. Some people might not. The Xbox One is 1080p output, it's just upscaled hardware wise. It was a late decision, too. That call wasn't made until a month ago. Put me in your shoes when you were told this was going to be the case. I assume your engineering team explains to you this is the way it has to be. How did you guys react internally? Could Microsoft engineers not have helped? Mark Rubin: It's not a thing, like pointing to the day he came and said... It wasn't like that. It's a long process. And we're always working with both platforms. There were Microsoft engineers there throughout development. They were always there. There wasn't an event, per se. There wasn't a meeting. It was just something that developed over time. Everybody was involved. Obviously the PR guys, when they found out, when they were told, that was more of an event than the devs sitting at work working on it. So you'd have to ask them. What everyone will ask is whether this is the result of the Xbox One simply not being as powerful as the PS4, and you're doing your best with the hardware you have, or whether for future versions you may be able to get the Xbox One version running natively at 1080p? Mark Rubin: It's very possible we can get it to native 1080p. I mean I've seen it working at 1080p native. It's just we couldn't get the frame rate in the neighbourhood we wanted it to be. And it wasn't a lack of effort. It wasn't that it was like last minute. We had the theoretical hardware for a long time. That's the thing you get pretty quickly and that doesn't change dramatically. It was more about resource allocation. The resource allocation is different on the consoles. That huge web of tangled resources, whether it's threads-based or if it's GPU threads or if it's memory - whatever it is - optimisation is something that could go theoretically on forever. I definitely see slash hope both platforms will look way better the next time we get a chance at it. As an obvious analogy - and if people are not sure about this it's pretty simple - look at Call of Duty 2 versus COD 4. It was a massive leap forward in graphics, and that's just because it takes time to get through this. First launch, first time at bat at a new console is a challenging one. That's just the way it is. For people fearful one system is more powerful than the other or vice versa, it's a long game.

Microsoft has acknowledged that government snooping - moreover, the monitoring of internet data - is an "advanced persistent threat" in a blog post written by the company's General Counsel and Executive VP of Legal and Corporate Affairs, Brad Smith. “Many of our customers have serious concerns about government surveillance of the internet,” Smith writes. “We share their concerns. That’s why we are taking steps to ensure governments use legal process rather than technological brute force to access customer data. Like many others, we are especially alarmed by recent allegations in the press of a broader and concerted effort by some governments to circumvent online security measures in order to surreptitiously collect private customer data. “If true, these efforts threaten to seriously undermine confidence in the security and privacy of online communications. Indeed, government snooping potentially now constitutes an ‘advanced persistent threat’ alongside sophisticated malware and cyber attacks.” As a response, Microsoft has declared that it will be offering safeguards, boosting its encryption services and bolstering the legal protection for customer data. The company also promises to be more transparent about its own coding in an effort to ensure consumers are better able to understand how Microsoft handles their data. “Ultimately, we’re sensitive to the balances that must be struck when it comes to technology, security and the law,” Smith continued. “We all want to live in a world that is safe and secure, but we also want to live in a country that is protected by the Constitution. “We want to ensure that important questions about government access are decided by courts rather than dictated by technological might. And we’re focused on applying new safeguards worldwide, recognising the global nature of these issues and challenges. We believe these new steps strike the right balance, advancing for all of us both the security we need and the privacy we deserve.” <via MCV>

There have been talks discussing what halo 5's story will be, obviously they aren't going to into all details about it yet but some interesting things have been discussed about the next story and also about it being on the next gen console. Read the article below for more details. Credit to Lil Dog for finding this. Source: Examiner "Halo 4" brought Master Chief back in a fitting way this holiday season, but this is only the beginning for what's still to come from the series and on next-generation systems. According to a report from Product Reviews on Thursday, apparently people are in favor of seeing the next few installments on next-generation platforms. "We could simply see 'Halo 4': Next-gen land with improved graphics for the Xbox 720 at an event next year, but we’d favor something totally new in the form of 'Halo 5' with some major improvements in physics and graphics, which would be the bonus for the second and third games in this trilogy if they launch on the Xbox 720. "If 'Halo 5' hasn’t been worked on this year then launching it next year might bring something with limited work done, so again this is why we’d prefer to see a 'Halo 5' more thought-out with a release date in 2014 on the next-gen Xbox," the report stated. It went on to discuss how the next installment of the series could perhaps explain more about how Master Chief came to be. "Some of the ideas we’ve seen for the 'Halo 5' story include the possibility of an episode in the theme of “Search for Spock“, which could see Master Chief leave Earth looking for Cortana, although we also hear that a lot of fans want to see how the Spartans were created and how they were broke to make them a Spartan. "This would also deliver a lot more insight into how MC had been created, and what process he had to go through," the report stated.

Microsoft chooses new Chief Executive Officer Yesterday Microsoft announced that Satya Nadella will be the new Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors. Bill gates also has made a switch of positions as he takes on the new role of Technology Advisor after leaving as Chairman of the Board of Directors. Satya Nadella, who has replaced Steve Ballmer as CEO has been at Microsoft for 22 years, joining in 1992. Before the announcement yesterday Nadella was the Executive Vice President of Microsoft's Cloud and Enterprise group. Upon his new role, Nadella sent emails to his fellow employees saying how humbling it is for him and that it's like his first day joining the company over two decade ago. "Today is a very humbling day for me. It reminds me of my very first day at Microsoft, 22 years ago. Like you, I had a choice about where to come to work. I came here because I believed Microsoft was the best company in the world" Bill gates who was also among the change of positions said a few words on Nadella becoming CEO. “During this time of transformation, there is no better person to lead Microsoft than Satya Nadella,” The co founder also said; "Satya is a proven leader with hard-core engineering skills, business vision and the ability to bring people together. His vision for how technology will be used and experienced around the world is exactly what Microsoft needs as the company enters its next chapter of expanded product innovation and growth.” Quite a few changes have been happening at Microsoft lately, being within the main company itself and within their gaming studios. What do you think about the recent news? Leave any thought's in the comment below. Sources: Micrsoft (1), Microsoft (2)

Microsoft has bought the rights to Gears of War from Epic Games and has given their game studio Black tusk the task to continue making new games for the franchise polygon has reported. Rod Ferguson who was executive producer and director of production at Epic Games has joined Black Tusk to aid them in further production of the Gears of War franchise, he will be working along side the studios manager Hanno Lemke. Ferguson spoke to polygon about this new turn of events. "I'm extremely excited to be joining Black Tusk Studios to oversee development on the Gears of War franchise," Ferguson said to polygon. "I've been privileged to work on a lot of great games with a lot of great teams, but Gears has had the most impact on me professionally and personally, so this really feels like a homecoming. I can't wait to share more with you all soon." Polygon also spoke to Microsoft Studios corporate vice president, he stated that they are not planning to talk about the franchise yet, but will be making announcements this year. Most likely we will see something regarding it at this years E3.

Microsoft working on Cortana voice search service; Coming Fall 2015. Around September of last year reports came out concerning a new voice search service called "Cortana." Cortana has been confirmed to be voiced by the same actor who voiced Cortana in the Halo video games, Jen Taylor. According to an entry on msftnerd: "Cortana will launch first in beta on Lumia this April for US developers. The service will expand to the Bing app for iPhone in the US market this fall. The underlying technology will be extended to American Xbox One & Windows users in 2015 with Threshold. Availability in additional English-speaking territories will be spread out over 2015 & 2016." This service is likely Microsoft's attempt to rival Apple's Siri voice searching service. I'm personally looking forward to using Cortana as a voice search system, let me know what your thoughts are in the comment section below. SOURCE:MSFTNERD SOURCE:ZDNET ~All for One

The Halo Bulletin 10.17.12 Read below for more details Source: HaloWaypoint.com Click the Source link for videos on this bulletin Every time someone spreads a leak, an angel loses its wings Every time someone spreads a leak, an angel loses its wings. At least that’s what I’m assuming is happening, considering my backside is suddenly bare. Oh yes, there’s no longer any junk above my trunk, I’ve lost the adonk from my badonk, and Sir Mix-A-Lot no longer likes me. Despite the absence of flying apparatuses, my spirits are still soaring. Why, you ask? Because in less than three weeks, you will finally have Halo 4 in your hands. Whether you start with Campaign, Spartan Ops, or the multiplayer mayhem that is War Games, you will soon be embarking upon an adventure – one that we’ve spent years crafting for you, and one that we hope you’ll enjoy immensely. Regardless of whether your road to launch includes getting touched by a spoiler, nothing will compare to the moment you feel the familiar weight of the Battle Rifle in your hands as you’re welcoming back your old friends, the Master Chief and Cortana. Speaking of the Chief, I can neither confirm nor deny that in Halo 4, he decides to mix things up a little. I can tell you, however, that he just may attempt to shoot his way out. Enough small chat, though. We have a lot we have to cover, in not a lot of time. This week’s topics include Meltdown (one of the multiplayer maps shipping with Halo 4), the Mantis (dat mech), a complete list of Halo 4 skulls (now with pictures!), Halo-themed pumpkin patterns (in case you’re planning on carving a jack-o'-lantern this year), and a few other interesting tidbits. Shall we begin? I think we shall! PLNB PRIORITY TRANSMISSION [CLASSIFIED] ENCRYPTION CODE: [CLASSIFIED] PUBLIC KEY: N/A Evolution of the Master Chief As the video game industry advances, so does its tools and techniques, and that is readily apparent when looking at the Master Chief’s evolution over the past ten years. Each iteration of our favorite Spartan super-soldier has been distinctive yet similar, but don’t confuse design with canon – the Chief is the Chief, just with the details and idiosyncrasies based on what each time period and toolset has to offer. So embiggen the picture above by clicking on it, and enjoy the walk down Master Chief Memory Lane. Just don’t wander off too long, because some brand new Meltdown screenshots are anxiously awaiting your attention. FROM: CODENAME SURGEON TO: CODENAME COALMINER Meltdown Brand spankin’ new Meltdown screenshots 1 and 2! MELTDOWN DESCRIPTION: While most Forerunner technology appears to support safe usage over immense passages of time, the failure of specific systems can cause a cascading effect which dramatically impacts a site’s foundational composition. This frigid moon’s icy conditions once served to control a Forerunner reactor’s intense heat, but those days are now long gone. The main objective when creating Meltdown was to design a medium size level that catered to both infantry and light vehicle combat. Early on, several paper maps were drawn in the attempt to find the best possible solution to these goals, and ultimately a figure eight-style took the crown. Though it had several iterations through its design, the figure eight vehicle path and base locations always stayed the same. The largest changes were adding more infantry paths (like the caves) and making simpler base interiors. Initially it was difficult to tell what side of the map the player was spawning on because of the rotational symmetry. We solved this with the level’s theme: Using the core meltdown of one of the base generators, one side of the level was essentially melting from the heat and the other remained covered in snow and ice. While the original concept took place in a canyon-like environment similar to Beaver Creek, this new theme solved many issues with environment identification. Meltdown is built around a looping layout with upper and lower pathways. The lower path is focused on vehicles (which tend to run loops around the map and perform hit-and-run actions on enemies), and the upper path is focused on infantry (which tend to move across the light bridges into the center combat space and use cover to ambush enemy players or move around the cliff walls and fight at range from the high ground). Throughout the design process, our goal was to make infantry feel on equal footing to vehicles. This is where the tighter vehicle paths, plenty of cover and numerous foot paths come into play. With this in mind, we wanted a level that felt like a large vehicle map while staying the size of a medium infantry map. Unlike the normal large vehicle maps that are usually seen in Halo, the tighter vehicle paths and prevalent infantry areas make it much easier for the player to traverse on foot without feeling vulnerable to snipers and vehicles. It's also possible to run from one side of the map to the other within a short amount of time, similar to other medium-sized maps. CLASSIFICATION: ELEVENTH HOUR [2/5] SUBJECT: OVER THE FENCE Brand spankin’ new Meltdown screenshots 3 and 4! As a large, vehicle-heavy map, Meltdown spawns a wide range of power weapons. Games on this map typically kick off with big explosions as each team spawns near both a Railgun and an Incineration Cannon. During the matches, Infinity keeps teams well equipped with the Incineration Cannon, Scattershot, Sniper Rifle, SAW, Rocket Launcher, and Fuel Rod Cannon. Despite its size, Meltdown does not spawn the Banshee by default. This helped us create unique vehicle combat, focusing on the clash between the high ground on the cliffs and bridges and the low ground below. Without the Banshee, it means getting to the high ground advantage is even more important in combat encounters. If you can’t live without the flying purple dealer of doom, you’re free to forge a Banshee for yourself for even more varied gameplay. Unlike the other maps, this particular playspace has the bases built into the outer walls. With these large, integrated bases, Meltdown is built to support Dominion (but Big Team Battle is also a studio favorite). Teams spawn inside the Alpha and Charlie bases and then contest the center, which is a large contrast from Longbow, which has players attacking and approaching all three bases from the start of the match. In the end, Meltdown became a fun level for both infantry and vehicle fans, and stands out in objective game modes. But look out for the Mantis, which has the ability to rip you a new one when you're not looking… /FILE EXTRACTION-RECONSTITUTION COMPLETE/ /START FILE/ The Halo 4 Mantis We first introduced you to the Mantis through the above dubsteppy, Spartan-stompy, teabaggy video. While it made the majority of people excited about piloting this particular bad boy, a few were concerned it was overpowered when compared to the rest of the Halo 4 sandbox. To quell that fear and talk a little more in-depth about this brand new vehicle, Ali Zandi, a Systems Designer here at 343, stopped by with more information you could ever want to know. And then some. The Mantis is a new UNSC bipedal weapons platform, fully equipped with a high caliber chain gun mounted on its right arm, multi-rocket system on its left arm, and UNSC’s energy shielding technology. The chain gun is effective up close, but has significant projectile spread and heat when laying on the trigger for long periods of time (once the chain gun overheats, it goes into a cool down sequence for a few seconds, disallowing the weapon to fire during that period). The rocket pod delivers massive direct impact damage, as well as moderate amounts of splash damage to infantry and armor. It has two firing modes, one being semi-automatic, and the second being a full volley of however many rockets are loaded in the pod. A total number of five rockets can be queued up by holding the weapon’s trigger down, or fired individually by latching the trigger. Once all five rockets are depleted, the Mantis initiates a reload sequence, replenishing the rockets after a few seconds. The Mantis has two variants – Campaign and Multiplayer – which differ greatly in terms of damage, spread, and projectile speed. The Campaign version of the chain gun deals much more damage as it uses higher caliber rounds, and the rocket system is anti-aircraft. Inspired by Halo Legends, the Mantis started out as an armored exoskeleton that Spartans would equip, augmenting their abilities. It had numerous weapons, roles, mechanics and shapes, and featured a dedicated shield. It also had the ability to jetpack, use thrusters, and fire a Railgun. We even had an early prototype that consisted of the Chief riding in a giant scaled-up Chief (Yo dawg, we herd you liek the Chief, so we put the Chief in your Chief so you can play as the Chief while you play as the Chief). The idea then evolved into an actual mechanized vehicle, which was more epic in scale and fit the UNSC better. SPECIES CANDIDATE//LINE RECORD 94:73:02:75 Once the concept was finalized and the Mantis was modeled and rigged for animation, we hooked up the bare systems to allow the weapons to fire and players to occupy the seat. During that time, there was massive animation work done to get all the parts moving and animating. It was difficult because there was nothing in the game engine that contained any logic for a mech. It was not easy iterating on values, because if we cranked the knobs on movement speeds or stomp delays, for example, the animation team would need to iterate on the animation content for the walk cycles and the stomp animation to compensate. Communication was crucial. We ended up using a biped/vehicle hybrid, and there were significant amounts of content and code work done to bring this to life. After that phase came the heavy animation work and iteration process on the timings and numbers to get the legs feeling and behaving correctly in all the different possible situations across numerous maps. The team focused heavily on the Mantis’ legs and foot pinning to make sure the legs would behave when walking across various elevations and obstacles. Once we felt good with the timings and animations of the movement, we starting balancing health, weapons, and numerous amounts of other magical systems for Campaign and Multiplayer. During the balancing phase, we discovered players were having a hard time knowing if the Mantis was reloading or not from certain distances, because the silhouette remained the same. To address that issue, we decided that it needed some sort of visual feedback to show when the weapons were temporarily down. It was definitely interesting and challenging to decide how we could animate the arms without it sorting into itself at different torso rotations and pitches, or looking like a Jersey Shore fist pump. Once we got the animations down, we found that it was extremely useful to players on foot, because it visually conveys the windows of opportunity infantry has when the Mantis weapon systems are down. Overall, it’s slightly similar to the Scorpion tank in terms of health and armor, but it trades firepower for maneuverability, allowing the Mantis to be more agile than the Scorpion when needed. Also like the Scorpion, it is capable of being boarded by enemies and EMPed by a Plasma Pistol charge. One notable difference is that the Mantis is capable of using its weight to deliver a devastating stomp to crush enemies in front of it by pressing the melee button. Time your stomp carefully though, and remember that it’s a risk reward. If you miss and or use it carelessly, you leave yourself open to being boarded. UNGGOY// Sensors at Balaho indicate stability, no off-planet transport recorded since Solipsis. Runners are claiming that Buwan has been abandoned as well, but we’re keeping our eyes on it anyway. Moderate Unggoy populations have been observed in Sangheilian systems at various intervals. The biggest challenge when designing the Mantis was making it feel satisfying both for the players piloting it and players fighting against it. The goal was to have an awesome new vehicle in Campaign and Multiplayer, and not have it pulled off the Multiplayer boards because it’s impossible or too easy to counter. Through rigorous playtesting and prototyping, we pursued the “less is more” approach and simplified the Mantis into a much more focused experience. One of the more effective roles for the Mantis in Multiplayer is base defense. It does especially well in close to medium ranges against both infantry and vehicles, but it’s good to have some cover just in case. You don’t want to be caught out in the middle of the battlefield in your big giant robot when the other team has a Spartan Laser. If used in an offensive operation (for example, escorting teammates toward the enemy flag), it is extremely critical to have a team supporting their fellow Mantis, killing potential boarders and anyone targeting the Mantis with a power weapon. While piloting the Mantis is an enjoyable experience, so is blowing it up. Hooking up and polishing all the numerous little bits and doodads that splinter off the Mantis when each section starts taking damage and breaking apart was definitely the most fun (and time consuming) out of all the vehicles to setup. Each destruction asset piece is tuned to give proper visual response when popping off its parent region. There is a lot of attention to detail, and we made sure that the destruction is granular and satisfying. Oh, one more thing to all you budding mech pilots: Watch your back, because she can be boarded from behind. And yes, that’s what I said. KIG-YAR// Eayn’s native population continues to grow and expand within reasonable governing parameters; its economic and social lines have stabilized in the wake of the war. Muloqt, Kaelarot, and Valyanop, the primary interplanetary colonial sites, all remain static, with little notable movement. There are rumors of mercenaries operating alongside a handful of more conservative Sangheili states, although that has yet to be substantiated. Section 3 Please remember to take out the garbage. SANGHEILI// Most intel here originates from ground contacts, but sensors have assisted with validation. The primary issue with the Sangheili is that of discordant cultural symmetry. It is difficult to assess military growth across several dozen active colonial vectors all with disparate political structures. Nevertheless, any and all visible military activity appears to be internecine in nature. Halo 4 Skulls Skulls are a longstanding tradition in the Halo series and one we’re excited to continue. Modifying gameplay and multiplying difficulty, the Skulls in Halo 4 will behave like the ones you already know and love from Halo: Reach. In Halo 4, they will be available in Campaign and are automatically unlocked from the start. For the uninitiated, you can find the names and descriptions below. By the way, if you’re the type that leaves no stone unturned in your quest for hidden secrets, fret not, because the Domain Terminals will scratch that itch… and more. Famine - Weapons drop much less ammo. Tilt - Enemy resistances and weaknesses are increased. Mythic - Enemies have increased health. Catch - Enemies are grenade happy! Black Eye - Shields don't recharge unless you melee enemies. Tough Luck - Enemies always go berserk, always dive out of the way, and never flee. Iron - Co-op: Back to previous checkpoint on death. Solo: Restart mission on death. Thunderstorm - Major upgrade to the capabilities of enemies. Cloud - Motion sensor is disabled. Cowbell - Acceleration from explosions is increased. IWHBYD - Rare combat dialogue becomes more common. Grunt Birthday Party - Headshot a Grunt, HAPPY BOOM TIME! Blind - The HUD and the first person arms and weapon are hidden. NOTE: A cluster of Sangheili frontier worlds saw a sudden and anomalous convergence of unregistered ships, largely cruisers of varying classes according to a handful of remote relays stationed nearby. By the time sensors were deployed, the ships were gone. The relays can’t assess numbers or strength, but the readings we have indicate that this wasn’t an expeditionary voyage or something tied to a single state. It appears to have been much larger. Carve this way Last year we provided a variety of pumpkin carving patterns perfect for your Haloween-related festivities, and this year we’re doing the same. Below you will find seven different patterns, some relevant to Halo 4, some specific to Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn, but all somehow related to this crazy thing called Halo. So choose your difficulty, pick your favorite pattern, print it out on a paper-like product and carve it into a large orange fruit (the white portions signify areas to carve while the gray patches should simply be scraped). Then, once you’ve completed the aforementioned activities, share it with us via the “Submit News” button on the front page. Yes, we want to see it, because we kind of sort of like you. And your gourd-like creations. /END FILE/ And that wraps up yet another Bulletin. Until next week... <3, bs angel

To kick of 2014 with games with gold Sleeping dogs is up first to grab for free until the January 15th then Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light will be up after that for remainder of the month. Sleeping Dogs is an open world game developed by United Front Games, it takes place in Hong Kong and involves the organized crime of the Triads Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light is a platform action game which was developed by Crystal Dynamics. The game follows Lara Croft to Central America as she searches for ancient relics and battles ferocious beasts.

The Future of Halo will no longer considered a "trilogy" but rather a "Saga". According to an article released last week, future titles will no longer be numbered like previous titles. According to Forbes contributor Paul_Tassi .... Last week, before Microsoft pulled a 180 on their DRM and internet policies, I remarked that because the Xbox One was in a rather rough spot, it was going to have to rely on Halo as a system seller now more than ever. The playing field has been leveled a bit since then with the death of license-based disc games and internet check-in, but it’s a statement that still holds true. Microsoft seems to agree. That’s why it’s been announced that 343′s Reclaimer Trilogy, which was meant to be Halos 4, 5 and 6, has now transformed into something Microsoft is now calling a Halo “saga.” This idea sprung to life when they were pressed about what exactly the Halo title was that was shown at E3, as it didn’t have a number or even a subtitle. Would it be an add-on type game like ODST, or another full Halo game like the numbered installments? The answer is the latter, though whether it will be called Halo 5 isn’t clear and might be beside the point now anyway. With that news, Phil Spencer spoke to Gamespot about the new plan for upcoming Halo games: “While we originally said trilogy, we’ve actually expanded this to more of a saga, so we don’t want to limit the Reclaimer story within a trilogy.” What this potentially might mean is that Microsoft wants to bump up the frequency of Halo titles. I don’t think it would be physically possible to turn it into a yearly Call of Duty style release with only 343 working on it, nor do I think that would be good for the series. But we might see a higher occurrence of the games all the same. When all the DRM/always-on drama was going down, I posed a question to Xbox loyalists/Halo enthusiasts about whether or not the games exclusivity on the one would make them buy a system. The response was an overwhelming no. Partly because Microsoft’s policies were too intrusive to stomach, but a fair amount said that Halo just didn’t have the same draw that it used to have after six shooter titles. Many were more excited about Destiny or Titanfall, new IPs from trusted studios, including Halo’s former masters, Bungie. That said, Halo is still a powerful franchise for Microsoft to wield, and by “unrestricting” themselves from a trilogy, it’s clear they have big plans for the series. So there you have it! Future Halos will no longer be numbered with new titles planning to be released more frequently. Also note the response to the "exclusivity on the One would make them buy a system"... "response was an overwhelming NO." What does this mean for the franchise that alot of gamers deemed the "best first person shooter"?? Guess we will have to wait and see what Microsoft and 343Industries have planned. Image and content courtesy of Forbes.com.

Next gen Xbox and Playstation graphics impact will not be as big as the 360 & PS3? It may be the case. Read below for more details. Source: Examiner In an interview with VideoGamer on Tuesday, Cevat Yerli provided some interesting commentary in regards to the graphics of the PS4 and Xbox 720 next-generation systems. The CEO of Crytek revealed that the studio did not believe that the upcoming consoles won’t have the same visual impact as when the PS3 and Xbox 360 first launched. You can check out some concept renders of the PS4 and Xbox 720, as well as some screens from the upcoming multiplatform title, “Crysis 3,”. "The current generation consoles, when they launched, were far ahead compared to PC. But PC has caught up. With current generation consoles and what's on the horizon – new ones – due to the fact that the cost of CPU and memory are so much more expensive than they were in the past, it is simply impossible to have the same kind of impact on the console business; to be so far ahead of PC." View slideshow: Why PS4 and Xbox 720 won’t have the same graphics impact as PS3 and Xbox 360 Crytek is the developer behind “Crysis 3.” The latest video game from the “Crysis 3” will be published by Electronic Arts when it launches for the PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 gaming platforms in North America on Feb. 19, 2013. You can pre-order the first-person shooter in the following link: “Crysis 3” The PS4 and Xbox 720 consoles are expected by many to come out next year.

An article posted on teambeyond.net say's 343 Industries Creative Director Josh Holmes has stepped down from his position and has become the executive producer instead. As you can see from his twitter page it states he is the EP (Executive Producer) at 343. The person replacing him is Tim Longo who was the creative director of Republic Commando and the Tomb Raider reboot. He has also stated his new position on his twitter page. The reason for the switch of positions is unknown at the moment as neither of them has stated why it has happened but news on that may surface soon.