Podtacular 588: The Untold Story of Halo – Beginnings, Branding and Breakdowns

The developmental story behind is not a new journey that hasn’t been pursued before. Many Halo fans have some realization of the developmental struggle that the franchise has faced in the past and all throughout its lifespan, but it’s something worth diving into when the people who were in the crucible of making Halo the renowned title it is today bring their personal experiences to the table. The mantle of responsibility, as it were, brought many pressures to the team as we get the best oral record to date of the developmental challenges that was making the Halo games.

In this episode, we are taking a look at the first part in a three-part article that gives us the complete and untold oral history of the Halo franchise. We briefly refresh on what most people know that it began as a third-person shooter game for Macintosh and such, but mostly focus on some of the information that may not be as commonplace to Halo fans. The development of Halo isn’t as pretty as it may seem by the final product, so join us as we take a look at how such a masterpiece as Halo was forged into a world-renowned franchise.

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Podtacular 587: They Let Ske7ch Pick

This week we catch up with the latest Halo Community Update with a few wrap-up items from E3 and looking at what’s coming up with Halo at the Rooster Teeth Expo. We also tell the story of how Dust Storm came home with a nice piece of Halo Gear after his E3 attendance.

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Halo Summer Celebration Announcements – Backwards Compatibility, 4K Update, and More

E3 2017 has reached its close, and with other events like RTX and Gamescom ramping up with more news and announcements, it seems expected that 343 would release a few updates related to the series in this season. Halo 5 will be receiving a 4K update for the upcoming Xbox One X release, ramping up the title’s already gorgeous graphics to put it on par with the PC port Halo 5: Forge. Halo Wars 2 will be finishing off Season Pass content this August. July will bring an old character by to the limelight, the deceased AI Serina, and new campaign missions under the banner of Operation: Spearbreaker; August will put forth an entirely new leader, Yapyap the Destroyer. And finally, exciting news for backwards compatibility on Xbox One, four brand new Halo titles will be available through the backwards compatibility program this year. Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, and Halo 4 will complete the library of Xbox 360 Halo games playable on the Xbox One. All DLC for the Xbox 360 Halo games will also be available for free as part of this celebration.

While this is the major news to come out of the Summer Celebration blog post, there is much more to get excited for, and all of it can be perused on HaloWaypoint.com.

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Podtacular 586: E3 2017 Recap

Every year, 343 has blessed me with a pass to E3 and attend one of the biggest gaming conventions in the states. Every time around E3, announces are made, franchises and new games are added to Xbox/Windows 10 exclusives and of course the rest of our Halo family who attends. Major kudos to Bravo for pulling the strings to get tickets within a week of the expo starting. At E3, we learned some new things about the upcoming Halo Wars 2 DLC and were even fortunate enough to get a great interview with Executive Producer of Halo Wars 2, Barry Feather talking about the new Awakening the Nightmare trailer for upcoming DLC.

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Podtacular 585: Installation 01

It’s been a while since we’ve dedicated an entire show to a community project, but this one has caught our attention and we’re very interested in Installation 01, a fan-made Halo game as a tribute to the Bungie style of Halo for all PC platforms including Windows, Mac and Linux. We have the privilege of having the founder, project co-lead and creative director TheChunkierBean and co-lead Church on to answer our community’s questions regarding the project. Along with them are their Senior Art Lead Greg Wasdyke and Animation Director Matthew Lake. In addition to all of our questions we asked, they posted a lengthy question and answer article over on their website. We are very excited to see the development of this project grow. Keep up with the latest news including weekly updates from the team over at Installation01.org.

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Halo Wars 2: Awakening the Nightmare Announced; Heralds the Return of the Flood

Halo has always had a presence at Microsoft’s annual E3 conference, and this year, that tradition has not been broken with the announcement of Halo Wars 2’s latest expansion: Awakening the Nightmare. Officially revealed on the Xbox after-show, the downloadable content will bring about the return of a fan-favourite enemy, the Flood, and focus on the Banished and their crusade against the nightmarish parasites. The expansion will also include the addition of two multiplayer leaders, Jerome and Ripa ‘Moramee’s Arbiter, and two brand new maps. Another feature coming with this DLC expansion is Terminus Firefight, a new cooperative mode focusing on defense from hordes of enemy forces. Halo Wars 2: Awakening the Nightmare will be separate from the Halo Wars 2 Season Pass and available for $19.99 USD this upcoming fall.

GrimBrother One provides a variety of extra details on not only this expansion but future updates to Halo Wars 2 in the full article on HaloWaypoint.com.

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Podtacular 584: Making Barvo

We have another week of light Halo news from the studio and community, but we are excited to have our first guest on of the summer: Cary Gunner Lee, project lead behind making the real-life “Barvo” helmet. In the interview, we talk about the build process behind the helmet and the origins that brought this homage to Bravo’s MLG career alive. On the news side of things, Halo 5: Guardians ranked matchmaking now has a leaderboard available on Halo Waypoint. We are also hoping to see some exciting Halo news next week during the Xbox Media Brief at E3.

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