Podtacular 456: What Have We to Say Now

Posted on December 20, 2014 by Dust Storm

It is certainly an interesting time to be a Halo player, with the constant updates of the Master Chief Collection, but our patience will being rewarded.  Bonnie Ross announced earlier this week that Exclusive in-game items and Halo 3: ODST will be available for free for those who played the game between it’s launch and 19 December, and everyone will receive a Remastered Relic for Halo 2 Anniversary.  Furthermore, the Halo 5: Guardians Multiplayer Beta is receiving an early access period for folks from the media and those who are a part of the Xbox One Dashboard Preview Program.  Amongst the news, we welcome returning guest CMNeir from Halo Tricks and new guests Robowski from Post Game Carnage Report and Drew Freeman from Podcast Evolved.

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Halo MCC to Include Remastered Relic and Halo 3: ODST Campaign as a Thank You to Fans

Posted on December 19, 2014 by Dust Storm

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A few weeks ago, Bonnie Ross, Head of 343 Industries posted a written apology over on Halo Waypoint addressing the state of the Master Chief Collection when it launched.  In that, she said Halo fans would be compensated for their frustration with the experience.  Today, Bonnie delivers promising new content for those who have played the same since it’s launch through today.  Players will be receiving a free month of Xbox Live, an exclusive in-game nameplate and exclusive in-game avatar, but that’s just the beginning.  As a free content update to anyone who has played the game through today will receive the Halo 3: ODST campaign with the same updates found made to Halo 3 in the collection; 1080P, 60FPS, and all.  Wrapping up the free offerings, this one goes out to all players, including those who play after today: Relic will receive the remastered Halo 2 Anniversary treatment.  There is currently no date on when these will be available.

Discuss in our forums!

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Xbox One Preview Gets Early Access to the Halo 5: Guardians Multiplayer Beta

Posted on December 18, 2014 by Dust Storm

Halo-5-Guardians-Multiplayer-Beta-Truth-Mantle-Up

If you were one of those people eagerly waiting for December 29th to roll around to get your hands on the Halo 5: Guardians Multiplayer Beta, your wait may have just gotten expedited.  All Xbox One Preview users will gain early release access to the beta tomorrow.  Starting December 19th at 16:00 Eastern, 13:00 Pacific until December 22nd at 2:59 Eastern, December 21st, 23:59 Pacific, the Halo 5: Guardians Multiplayer Beta early access will feature content available during week one of the beta, which includes the three maps Truth, Empire, and Breakout featuring Crossfire, the new arena game mode.  The full beta will feature 7 maps and three game modes in total during the beta test.

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The Sprint – New Vidoc Series Behind Making the Halo 5 Guardians Multiplayer Beta Premieres Tonight

Posted on December 18, 2014 by Dust Storm

The-Sprint-Halo-Channel-Series-Promo-01

Earlier today, Xbox Wire announced a new video series premiering on the Halo Channel that will give Halo fans the inside look at making the Halo 5: Guardians Multiplayer Beta.  While the gameplay reveal of the beta that was shown during Halo Fest and released across the internet was received with mixed reviews, The Sprint will provide an unprecedented look into many of the considerations 343 is taking with Halo 5 multiplayer.  Starting with the first episode tonight at 19:00 Eastern, 16:00 Pacific, 343 will release daily episodes on the Halo channel through December 23rd, with the following schedule:

Episode 1: Balance 

Premiering Thursday, December 18 @ 7:00 p.m. Eastern time, 4:00 p.m. Pacific time

The 343 Industries pro team gives their final feedback on “Truth,” an homage to the Halo 2 map “Midship,” which will be included in the Halo 5: Guardians Multiplayer Beta.

Episode 2: Give & Take

Premiering Friday, December 19 @ 7:00 p.m. Eastern time, 4:00 p.m. Pacific time

The art team discovers that some of the ideas they have don’t quite meld with the layout set forth by the level designers. With time running out, what compromises must be made?

Episode 3: Prophets

Premiering Saturday, December 20 @ 7:00 p.m. Eastern time, 4:00 p.m. Pacific time

With the map “Truth” well on its way to completion, the art team must shift their focus to the remix map “Regret,” which presents a massive undertaking in and of itself. Will there be enough time to finish it before the deadline?

Episode 4: Breakout

Premiering Sunday, December 21 @ 7:00 p.m. Eastern time, 4:00 p.m. Pacific time

The Halo 5: Guardians multiplayer design team invites Halo pros to the studio to offer feedback that could shape the future of the competitive experience.

Episode 5: Shutdown

Premiering Monday, December 22 @ 7:00 p.m. Eastern time, 4:00 p.m. Pacific time

The Halo 5: Guardians multiplayer design team buckles down to make sure every detail of the upcoming Multiplayer Beta is firing on all cylinders.

Episode 6: Gold

Premiering Tuesday, December 23 @ 7:00 p.m. Eastern time, 4:00 p.m. Pacific time

The Halo 5: Guardians multiplayer design team begins to wrap up production on the public beta… but not before getting a little friendly competition in to celebrate another milestone.

In the meantime, you can refresh yourself with our hands-on coverage of the beta.

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Podtacular 455: Gods of the Damned

Posted on December 16, 2014 by Dust Storm

Halo: Nightfall had some high anticipation going for it when announced that 343 would be working with Ridley Scott to produce the origin story for Agent Locke, who will be a prominent character in the upcoming Halo 5: Guardians.  While it was a pretty good production, it didn’t live up to the standards of Forward Unto Dawn, which told the origin story for Thomas Lasky.  It received mixed reviews from many of the Halo fans, with the opening episode leaving much to be desired.  With all 5 episodes of the series out, we give our opinions and thoughts on Halo: Nightfall.

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Podtacular 454: Get Your Update

Posted on December 7, 2014 by Dust Storm

As is now the norm for the Master Chief Collection, Content Updates seem to be the prime source of news lately, leaving a lot of other typical happenings in the community a little dry.  The latest update addresses some minor Matchmaking issues and because of the focus on fixing the collection, Halo: Spartan Strike is now delayed until early 2015.  The Halo Championship Series Handbook was also posted by Bravo with the different tournament point tiers and the first season schedule. And that’s pretty much it for this week.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 47:09 — 34.7MB)

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MCC Patch Notes: Dec 7th

Posted on December 7, 2014 by Dust Storm

e3-2014-halo-2-anniversary-ascension-needles-versus-bullets

A new content update is available for The Master Chief Collection and it’s a big one.  343 Industries is making some pretty widespread changes including a lot of stability fixes for matchmaking, which seems to be the big hitter needing updates.  There are a few smaller fixes including game specific fixes, custom lobby issues like making the “Make Party Leader” option work properly, achievement unlocks, game stability and post-game carnage report fixes.  Here’s the full list of patch notes from Waypoint:

Matchmaking & Parties

  • Made improvements to matchmaking team balance
  • Made an update to improve matchmaking search times and success rates, specifically expediting the “Players Found” and “Connecting Session” search phases
  • Made improvements to prevent a player’s rank from resetting unexpectedly
  • Made an update to resolve an issue that allowed players to be placed into an incorrect lobby after a matchmaking game
  • Made improvements to prevent the party from being disbanded upon returning to lobby
  • Made an update to ensure that players are sorted by team in the “Match Found” screen
  • Resolved an issue where Team Slayer matches in Halo 3 could separate players onto individual teams
  • Resolved an issue where players could be placed into a group of 7 players and unable to find more
  • Made improvements to ensure that the party-leader is prompted to “Bring Party” when leaving a lobby
  • Made an update to ensure that split-screen players cannot be divided onto different teams
  • Made improvements to ensure that clients are not kicked from parties at the end of matchmaking games with a “failed to connect” error
  • Made an update to ensure that Halo 2: Anniversary matches do not continue indefinitely after entire opposing team quits
  • Made an update to ensure that parties are not separated when the party leader navigates through multiple titles

Custom Games

  • Made improvements to prevent manual team selection from getting reset after a Custom Game match
  • Made an update to ensure that the “Make Party Leader” command functions correctly

Achievements

  • Made an update to ensure that the “Too Close to the Sun” achievement unlocks when prerequisites are met
  • Made an update to ensure that the “Monopolized” achievement unlocks when prerequisites are met
  • Made an update to ensure that the “Devastating” achievement unlocks when prerequisites are met
  • Made an update to ensure that the “You’re Joking” achievement unlocks when prerequisites are met

Game-specific

  • Made improvements to Halo 2: Anniversary objective pickup, specifically in regards to objective “juggling”
  • Made an update to Halo 3’s movement input, specifically to resolve a deadzone issue which affected moving in a straight line
  • Made additional improvements to Halo: CE fall damage scenarios
  • Made an update to resolve a Halo 2 Classic campaign issue where a black screen could overlay the gameplay screen

Stability

  • Made a variety of stability improvements across the following areas:
    • Matchmaking
    • Custom Games
    • Halo 4 Campaign

Misc.

  • Made an update to ensure that clan tags appear in the post-game carnage report for all players
  • Made an update to ensure that players are sorted by team in the post-game carnage report
  • Made an update to ensure that emblems are displayed correctly in the post-game carnage report

Discuss in our forums.

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