Strolling Through Stonetown

Posted on October 20, 2014 by Dust Storm

sdcc-2014-halo-2-anniversary-zanzibar-power-madWe’ve already seen a few snippets of video from the upcoming map Stonetown, the remake of Zanzibar, but today we have another walk-through video from IGN with Max Hoberman from Certain Affinity.  As one of the staple maps from Halo 2, not much needed to change as Max explains, but there are a few new tricks added to this map to help avoid camping control spots and, of course, it looks gorgeous.  A few new jump-ups gives a little more freedom of movement, the gate button is forgeable like other H2A interactive elements we’ve seen thus far, there’s a man-canon up to the sea-wall on the other side of beach spawn, and there’s a new bridge from the base to the wheel that behaves similarly to the wheel bridge.  If you’re looking for one-sided objectives, this is the map for you.

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Bloodline is Probably the Best Halo Map Ever

Posted on October 19, 2014 by Dust Storm

H2A-BloodlineEvery Halo fan has fond memories of that one map they fall in love with.  For those who have been there since the beginning, Blood Gulch is likely the one map that defined Halo’s multiplayer.  Bloodline takes the best of every iteration before it and makes one of the best multiplayer maps incorporating a couple of new things as well.  There are new structures that help players grab cover in traditionally wide open spaces including bridges and a central small base.  The Hornet is playable replacing the Banshee in the default configuration.  The last big change, the interactive element of Bloodline, is an EMP, that is triggered at the top of each based and temporarily disabled all nearby vehicles.  In the IGN First walkthrough with Max Hoberman, we also get a short ride on the much anticipated Gungoose, the new Speed Boost powerup, and the Silenced SMG, which is dual-wieldable.

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NYCC 2014 Special: Mega Bloks

Posted on October 18, 2014 by Dust Storm

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Mega Bloks is a well known brand for any Halo collector and when it comes to putting forward a hefty penny to some awesome merch, specifically the Halo signature series. At NYCC this past week, they showed for the first time the finalized Scarab set, which is the third one in the Halo Signature series line. Lots of time and effort goes into every set Mega Bloks makes and big builds like the Scarab is no easy task. While we were in New York, we got to sit down with some of the Mega Bloks design team who work on the Halo sets to discuss how sets are designed from concept to final production, interaction with the community at large and all the juicy info on the upcoming Scarab.  On this special episode, we are joined by Tim Gorham, Social Media Manager for Mega Bloks Collectors; Felipe Rojas, Product Designer for Boys and  Mega Bloks Collectors; and Maxime Pouliot, Product Designer for Mega Bloks Collectors.

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Halo: The Master Cheif Collection is Golden

Posted on October 17, 2014 by Dust Storm

E3-2014-Halo-2-Anniversary-Cairo-Station-Chief-Hero-Home-jpgToday, Halo fans everywhere rejoiced when the announcement came in that Halo: The Master Chief Collection has gone GOLD, but that’s not all!  Since the game is ready for prime time, you can pre-order your digital copy of the game and pre-download the content today from the Xbox Marketplace.  The digital version does come with the Microsoft Store pre-order Boom Skull so you don’t miss out on the digital goodies.

The Master Chief Collection is so large and complete that after the 45GB of space the game takes up on one disc will be a day-one 20GB update that will deliver the rest of the game’s content to your console.  Campaign is playable straight from the initial game install, which you can sink your teeth into while you wait for the update to download.  Spartan Ops will be a separate update coming in December.

We want to congratulate everyone on the 343 Industries team who has made this a reality and we can’t wait to play it in just under four weeks!

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The Eight Halo Multiplayer Maps Making their Xbox Debut

Posted on October 17, 2014 by Dust Storm

H2DistrictIf you think you’ve played every single Halo multiplayer map, but you’ve never touched the PC side of Halo, then you haven’t quite played them.  Among the six new remastered maps for Halo 2 Anniversary, eight maps exclusive to Halo: CE and Halo 2 Vista for PC are making their way to Xbox One in The Master Chief Collection.  Six maps from Halo: CE including Death Island, Danger Canyon, Infinity, Ice Fields, Gephyrophobia and Timberland and two maps from Halo 2 Vista including District and Uplift will make great additions to the multiplayer sandbox.  One of the maps may be familiar to fans who played Halo: CE Anniversary’s Ridgeline, which was a remake of the original Timberlands.

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New Campaign Leaderboards for TMCC

Posted on October 17, 2014 by Dust Storm

halo-the-master-chief-collection-leaderboardsHalo: The Master Chief Collection is taking the campaign experience to new heights introducing an all new leaderboard system that takes Halo 3, ODST and Reach’s scoring system to a whole new level.  We already know from the list of achievements announced last week that every campaign will have timers and scoring, and with the new leaderboard, you can compare your progress to friends in real time!  From the unified UI, you can select a rival that will enable a HUD element in-game that tracks your score and time progress against your rivals.

One other feature mentioned in the video is the ability to select an achievement from your career stats and automatically jump to the right mission or playlist with the correct settings to earn the achievement, similar to Halo: Reach’s challenges.

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Halo: Spartan Strike Announced for Windows 8 and Steam

Posted on October 17, 2014 by Dust Storm

halo-spartan-strike-key-art-horizontal-rgb-finalThe next installment of Halo twin-stick shooters is coming with Halo: Spartan Strike.  The spiritual successor to Spartan Assault comes with new Promethean enemies, new weapons, new armor abilities, drivable Warthog and the new Kestrel VTOL!  Spartan Strike starts in New Mombasa and takes players through 30 missions to Gamma Halo.  Spartan Strike is developed by 343 Industries in conjunction with Vanguard Games and releases on Windows 8, Windows Phone and Steam December 12th, 2014 for 5.99USD.

IGN sat down with Fred LaPorte from 343 Industries talking about Spartan Strike and some of the new features we will see in the game.  The game starts in 2552 during the events of Halo 2 as you are trying to recover an artifact in New Mombasa the Covenant are trying to recover and eventually takes players to 2557 during the events of Halo 5 on Gamma Halo and New Alexandria.  There are currently no plans for Xbox platforms or other mobile platforms.  Windows and Steam achievements are separate and three of the Windows achievements will unlock entitlements in The Master Chief Collection.  Micro-transactions have also been removed.

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