Podtacular 431: Bringing Old School to New School

Many questions have risen since the announcement of the Master Chief Collection at E3 and in last week’s Halo Bulletin, and Bravo does his best to answer as many as possible.  There still remains questions to be answered and we’ll undoubtedly find out more when they head to RTX.  According to the latest Halo Bulletin, 343 will have a booth and panel at RTX, Halo 2 playable on original Xboxes in CRT TVs where you can play against pros and a campaign demo presentation you can line up to watch.  We will also be there so make sure you come by and say, “Hi!” Escalation, Issue 7 is out and a new novel has been announced.  Halo: Broken Circle covers the Great Schism and will release a week before the Master Chief Collection.  Our thread of the week is the Halo 5 Beta topic started by forum member PTBRULES.  Special thanks to Biowolf for joining us for the show this week.

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Podtacular E3 2014 Special – Randy Pitchford from Gearbox Software

The development of Halo has been shared between many developers over the years. While Bungie and 343 Industries are Halo household names, other contributing studios have left their significant mark on the Halo franchise, one of which is Gearbox Software. At E3, we had the rare privilege to sit down and talk with Randy Pitchford, President and CEO of Gearbox who helped work on Halo: CE for the PC. We had the opportunity to discuss Gearbox’s involvement with the Halo franchise and Randy’s thoughts on Halo: The Master Chief Collection. He’s still a fan of Halo and continues to produce awesome games including one of my personal favorite franchises, Borderlands. If you’re looking for a unique look at the Halo franchise or a bit of some development history behind the game that started it all, then you don’t want to miss this one.

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Halo: Broken Circle Revealed

Halo: Broken Circle

Halo Waypoint released details about the next upcoming novel, Halo: Broken Circle.  It tells the story of the Covenant’s beginning and the events leading up to the Great Schism.  The novel is scheduled to release on November 4, this year; a week before the Master Chief Collection releases.

Witness an untold chapter in Halo lore as John Shirley’s Halo: Broken Circle takes us to the dawn of the Covenant and the fateful first bargain between the Prophets and the Elites. Broken Circle will explore an Elite splinter group rebelling against the Covenant in its earliest days, a brave Prophet caught in the machinations of the new Covenant leadership, and the root of the betrayal that would ultimately shatter the Covenant during events seen in the blockbuster Xbox game Halo 2.

Source: Halo Waypoint

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Podtacular 430: Locke and Load

During the Xbox Media Briefing at E3, we got a glimpse into the future of Halo and Master Chief’s story with the introduction of Agent Locke, the mysterious ONI Spartan revealed during the Halo 5: Guardians announcement. Many questions have arisen as to his role among the new Master Chief journey we will dive into, and we’re here to discuss what the future holds. The Arbiter’s dialogue during the teaser also brings some questions to bear along with the loose ends left open by Halo 4 and other pieces of the Halo universe. Joining us on this journey this week is Greenskull and Nak3d Eli, both of whom were at E3 as well.

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Halo: The Master Chief Collection Pre-Order Bonuses

Halo: THe Master Chief Collection

We’re still trying to play catch-up from the last week of E3 escapades and happenings, but we’ve noticed something interesting when you pre-order the Master Chief Collection from participating retailers.  Currently  three resellers, Amazon, Best Buy, Gamestop and ShopTo are currently offering unlockable campaign skulls when you pre-order the game from their respective stores.

Pinata SullAmazon is offering the Piñata Skull, which causes enemies to drop plasma grenades when they are hit by a melee.


Grunt Funeral SkullBest Buy is offering the Grunt Funeral skull.  While it says that you explode after your death, it is probably the same as the Grunt Funeral skull found in the Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary campaign where grunts explode after being killed.


Bandana SkullGamestop is offering the Bandana skull, which gives the player unlimited ammunition and grenades during the campaign.


Bonded Pair SkullUPDATE: ShopTo, a UK retailer is offering the Bonded Pair skull, which gives a player 100% damage boost when their co-op partner dies. Another note is that it is mentioned to be exclusive to pre-order customers only until December 12th, 2014, which may apply to the other skulls, but we’re not certain yet.


UPDATE: The Microsoft Store isn’t offering a skull, but you will get a code for a $10 Xbox gift card, applicable to any purchase on the marketplace.

More pre-order bonuses may come as more retailers start to list the game for sale, but these are the ones we know are available.

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Podtacular 429: The Podkast – Why We Podcast, Part 2

This is the second episode in a series where we talk to the creators and hosts of shows featured on thePodKast.com, our gaming podcast network. Our topics for this show involves where we come up with the content for our episodes, what drives our discussions, how our sites facilitate our shows and how we promote the network. Guests include Agro from Kritzkast, the TF2 Podcast, Mark Turcotte from Guardian Radio, a podcast dedicated to Bungie’s upcoming title Destiny, and Jon Shute from How to Murder Time.

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Podtacular 428: E3 2014 Recap

The Electronic Entertainment Expo was certainly one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. It was a wonderful journey of seeing and experiencing new things, meeting new people and catching up with familiar faces. While the announcement of the Master Chief Collection was perhaps the biggest news, there were other things to be seen at E3. After the last day at E3, I decided to do a short recap podcast with Greenskull and Nak3d Eli about our E3 adventures this year. Huge thanks to 343 Industries for allowing me to go to E3 and have a truly breath-taking experience and I hope to see everyone again next year.

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