Podtacular 807: Halo Infinite First Impressions

Posted on January 14, 2022 by Dust Storm

Halo Infinite has released, a new year has rolled in, and in typical Halo community fashion, people are letting their passions show. However, with campaign finally in hand and the first HCS LAN completed, we’re staring to get a foundational picture of how Halo Infinite will affect the Halo Community. Kicking things off, we discuss our initial, spoiler-lite reactions to the campaign and the results of the HCS LAN, which seems promising for the future of competitive Halo.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:22:58 — 57.2MB)

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Podtacular 806: Creepy Teeth

Posted on December 18, 2021 by Dust Storm

Halo Infinite‘s campaign is finally here! It’s been over six years since we’ve gotten a new addition to the FPS line of games and nearly four years since the release of Halo Wars 2 introducing us to the Banished. With a week behind us to dive in, this is our opportunity to give our spoiler-lite impressions on the game. The reception so far as been very positive and we feel the story is a great continuation and brought a lot of pieces together very well. And since we’ve been off for a couple of weeks, there’s plenty of news for us to rush through as well, so pop on your headphones, grab some hot cocoa, and enjoy! (And before we get questions, there’s a reason behind the title. You’ll get it when you hear it.)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:34:32 — 65.1MB)

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Podtacular 805: First Week on Zeta

Posted on November 27, 2021 by Dust Storm

Halo Infinite Multiplayer has been our for a week with a surprise launch of the beta on Halo’s 20th anniversary and for the most part, the game play is solid and many of the issues brought up during the flights have been resolved. Customization and progression on the other hand has the community wondering what happened to the systems anticipated to be in the game. While players grind out their ranks, 343 has said feedback is out and clear and that, while it will take some time, changes are coming to customization and progression. Do you have any fun, clutch, awesome, hilarious moments from Halo Infinite? Share them with us on our socials or in our Discord and we’ll talk about them on the show!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:31:16 — 62.9MB)

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Podtacular 804: Infinite Community Feedback

Posted on November 18, 2021 by Dust Storm

As we enter the final month before Halo Infinite finally gets into our hands, 343 is ironing out the kinks and getting Halo ready for prime time along with the outcomes of the second flight featuring the new Big Team Battle experience. We’re also coming up on Halo’s 20th anniversary with a potential special announcement being all a buzz in the community.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:56:16 — 80.0MB)

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Podtacular 803: Anniversary Overlay

Posted on November 6, 2021 by Dust Storm

It seems like the Halo Infinite promotion cycle is finally in full swing with the latest introduction of the UNSC Archives series, the beginning of IGN’s month-long coverage of Halo Infinite with our first look at the multiplayer map, Streets, and the celebration of Halo turning 20 in a couple weeks. It’s hard to imagine that were just a month away from Halo Infinite launching and finally get to experience the latest installment in the Halo saga. Two new Canon Fodders and a new Inside Infinite makes for most of the discussion on this show, and just a reminder, registration for the Fiesta Frenzy Tournament closes November 6th.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:38:12 — 67.6MB)

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Podtacular 802: You’re Safe Driving Off a Cliff

Posted on October 26, 2021 by Dust Storm

Our hopes have finally been delivered on as 343 released a new look at the Halo Infinite campaign. A fresh coat of paint on the environment is making the open world of Zeta Halo an amazing place we’ll get to explore with new enemies and upgrades to give Master Chief the tools to take down the Banished. Thankfully, there is not a lot of story that’s spoiled with the campaign overview so for those wanting to avoid any narrative spoilers, this video is pretty safe. We discuss all we learned in the overview and our excitement growing for the upcoming December release.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 56:00 — 38.6MB)

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Announcing Podtacular’s First Tournament: Fiesta Frenzy (in partnership with ForgeHub)

Posted on October 23, 2021 by Dust Storm

For a long time we’ve considered the possibility of hosting our own Halo tournament and through the generosity of the community and in partnership with ForgeHub, we’re able to finally announce our very first event: the Fiesta Frenzy Tournament! Taking inspiration from the competitive aspects of Halo and the hectic nature of Super Fiesta, we’re giving Halo 5: Guardians a send out like no other in a tournament never considered.

This is part of a larger event with ForgeHub where the Forge community has created maps specifically for this tournament. If you’ve been following us or ForgeHub on social media lately, you may have already caught glimpses of some of the maps entered into the Forge contest that will be played on. Once judging is complete, the top picks will be sprinkled into the tournament bracket along with developer maps. We’re excited to partner with ForgeHub on their last Forge contest before Halo Infinite arrives in December. With the results of the Forge contest expected in the first week in November, we’re happy to announce our tournament dates:

  • Saturday, November 13th, 2021: Noon EST (9AM PST, 5PM GMT)
  • Sunday, November 14th, 2021: 1PM EST (10AM PST, 6PM GMT)

In typical competitive Halo fashion, we are putting together an HCS-style bracket with Super Fiesta game modes of Slayer, Capture the Flag, Strongholds and Oddball with some slight tweaks we’ve made to balance out the increased amount of power weapons and optimize scoring along with game time. We thoroughly tested these game modes and think they’ll provide a good balance, at least as much as we can muster given we’re dealing with Super Fiesta weapons. Notably, the following settings have changed:

  • Pod Fiesta Slayer: No changes
  • Pod Fiesta Oddball: Carrier shield Percentage 120%
  • Pod Fiesta Strongholds: Scoring frequency 5 seconds; Score to win 75
  • Pod Fiesta 3 Flag: Carrier shield Percentage 120%
  • Pod Fiesta 5 Flag: Carrier shield Percentage 120%

We’ve also partnered with Europa Halo and Halo Création to bring their Arbiter production tournament tools to our stream! For those who don’t know, Arbiter is a powerful, community-built tool that brings tournament management capabilities and bracket display on stream to a very functional and easy-to-use interface. We’re excited to use this tool and see how it enhances viewership for this one-of-a-kind event. If you want to get a glimpse of what Arbiter can do, check out this Twitter post.

Now for the juicy details you’re probably wanting to hear, the tournament prize pot. With the generosity of the Podtacular community through Twitch subscriptions, Patreon patrons and donations, we are able to offer a $2000 prize pool coinciding with the $2000 ForgeHub contest for a total of $4000 for the Fiesta Frenzy partnership! The prize pool breaks down as follows:

  • 1st place team: $1000
  • 2nd place team: $650
  • 3rd place team: $350

Sign ups are available now and close November 6th at 9PM EDT or when the maximum 32 teams have registered. Learn more about the tournament rules and sign up for the tournament here.

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