Podtacular 461: Halo 5 Beta Breakdown: The Response

Posted on February 7, 2015 by Dust Storm

We did it, more specifically, the Halo community did it!  Through countless hours of play time with the Halo 5: Guardians Multiplayer beta, we are helping shape the future of Halo.  Earlier this week, Josh Holmes, Executive Producer at 343 Industries wrote a blog over on Halo Waypoint detailing some of the immediate decisions they are making to change the final game based on community feedback and also offered some pretty interesting statistics.  Did you know that beta players played for a total amount of almost 290 thousand years and that the highest kill metal received, Killpocalypse was only earned once?  Did you know Sprint will be toggle-able for custom games and the traditional SPNKr Rocket Launcher is returning as a Legendary weapon?  Joining us this week is our resident Welshman, Receptor 17.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:33:12 — 69.8MB)

Subscribe: Spotify | RSS

Posted in Media, Podtacular | Tagged , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Halo: Nightfall Coming to Blu-Ray and DVD

Posted on February 4, 2015 by Dust Storm

Halo Nightfall Movie Poster

For those of you wanting to take home the experience of Halo: Nightfall on physical media, pre-orders are now available in Blu-Ray and DVD format.  Owners of Halo: The Master Chief Collection can watch Nightfall for free on the Halo Channel, but if you did not purchase the game or feel like shelling out a few bucks for a hard copy, it’s available for pre-order on Amazon, the Halo Waypoint Store and other distributors for a release of March 17th.

Posted in News | Tagged , , , Leave a comment

Podtacular 460: Halo 5 Beta Breakdown: Spartan Abilities

Posted on February 2, 2015 by Dust Storm

It is time for us to delve into our thoughts and feelings of the Halo 5: Guardians Multiplayer Beta.  We had three long weeks to test it out and break it down.  We start off with the features that were the most pretentious at the start: the new Spartan Abilities, and yes, that includes sprint, which you can imagine took a good chunk of the show to talk about and will likely be discussed again.  This week we are joined by Josh or 0IAH as many may know him, who is a well known Halo YouTuber.  This is the first of a series of shows we’ll be talking about the Halo 5: Guardians Multiplayer Beta.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:01:51 — 87.7MB)

Subscribe: Spotify | RSS

Posted in Media, Podtacular | Tagged , , , , , , 2 Comments

Podtacular 459: Out with the New, In with the Old

Posted on January 25, 2015 by Dust Storm

Halo 5 has come to a close, which means we’re shifting our focus back to The Master Chief Collection.  A patch was recently released, but still leaves the collection in a broken state.  There is another update on the way with changes so great it’s having it’s own beta!  The update has been delayed from it’s weekend release, but according to a vague statement from Frankie, it may be very soon.  In the same statement, Frankie continues to battle the adverse backlash of fans in response to the current state of the Master Chief Collection.  In another article that continues the recent writings in response to faulty game launches, IGN has a new editorial on how gamers can help put a stop to broken shipped games.  Next week, we will have our Halo 5 beta analysis and looking to have some special guests on.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:08:32 — 48.8MB)

Subscribe: Spotify | RSS

Posted in Media, Podtacular | Tagged , , , , Leave a comment

New Digital Short Novel Halo: New Blood Announced

Posted on January 22, 2015 by Dust Storm

canon_fodder_ep2

A new Halo novel has been announced and it’s taking us back to the Halo 3 days and ODSTs.  Following the story of Gunny Sergeant Buck after the events of Halo 3, this new Digital First Short Novel written by Matt Forbeck, Halo: New Blood is told from the perspective of Buck after the Human-Covenant war.  Here’s a short summary:

While Spartans get all the glory, no soldier?not even the legendary Master Chief?wins a war on his or her own. Gunnery Sergeant Edward Buck and his team of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers played a major role in saving the Earth from all-out invasion at the end of the Covenant War?acts of bravery and ingenuity that did not go unnoticed by the United Nations Space Command.

Now, after many Spartans have been killed in battle and the Master Chief is listed as MIA, the UNSC decides to create a new generation of Spartans to defend humanity from threats both outside?and within. When they come to Buck with an extraordinary proposition, he is forced to make a life-altering decision. With the Covenant War finally over, is it time for him to finally retire to the sidelines for a life he could only dream about…or is he prepared to step up and become part of the military’s new blood?

You can learn more about Matt Forbeck and New Blood in GrimBrother One’s latest Canon Fodder.

Posted in News | Tagged , , , , , , Leave a comment

Halo: The Master Chief Collection Content Update Beta

Posted on January 21, 2015 by Dust Storm

Halo: The Master Chief Collection

The next content update for The Master Chief Collection is slated to contain some major changes as 343 Industries is looking to use Xbox Preview members to do some additional testing on their next patch.  Xbox Live members who are part of the Xbox One Dashboard Preview Program now have the opportunity to opt-in to participate in a beta test for the next content update for the game by answering a short survey in the preview app.  The beta contains changes primarily affecting the matchmaking experience and party system.  The update is expected to be released to on January 23rd and run through January 26th and will be available to players that have the highest level of engagement in the collection thus far.  For more information on the update, head over to Halo Waypoint.

Posted in Halo: The Master Chief Collection, News | Tagged , , , , Leave a comment

MCC Patch Notes: Jan 19th

Posted on January 19, 2015 by Dust Storm

Halo: The Master Chief Collection

With the conclusion of the Halo 5: Guardians Multiplayer Beta, it’s time to turn our attention back to The Master Chief Collection, which has a whole new content update.  The update is a hefty 750+ MB download including fixes to almost every aspect of the game.  Here’s what you’ll get next time you launch the game:

Matchmaking

  • Improved matchmaking search success rates.
  • Made an update to reduce instances of “Awaiting Privileges” matchmaking errors.
  • Made an update to ensure player counts more reliably match the expected numbers for each playlist.
  • Fixed an issue where player would sometimes appear to be searching in an incorrect “FIND GAME” screen.
  • Added countdown sound effect to the voting timer.

General Multiplayer

  • Made an update to improve Halo 2: Anniversary network performance, specifically in regards to bandwidth spikes.
  • Made several improvements to party joining through the in-game Roster.
  • Made an update to ensure that the mute icon is visible while in Matchmaking.
  • Fixed an issue in Halo 4 where players could equip the same weapon as their primary and secondary weapons.

General Campaigns

  • Made several improvements to stat tracking for Halo: CE, Halo 2, Halo 3, and Halo 4.
  • Made changes to Halo 3 and Halo 4 scoring to ensure that players are not penalized for destroying empty vehicles.

General Menu

  • Lowered the music volume level in multiplayer menus.
  • Fixed an issue where friend emblems in roster would show up as default when exiting a game session.
  • Made updates to UI and menus to improve multiplayer status messaging, such as when a player joins your lobby.

Control Layouts

  • Made an update to the Halo 2: Anniversary “Legacy” Stick Layout.

Stability

  • Made stability improvements across multiple titles for campaign and multiplayer.
Posted in Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Waypoint | Tagged , , , , , , Leave a comment