Spartans For Troops Stream Schedule

Posted on February 29, 2016 by Dust Storm

As we count down the hours to the Spartans For Troops Halo Community livestream, we have worked out our tentative schedule of events.  Right now, we’re waiting on one large event to be confirmed on a time: the pro exhibition.  The latest we know is both teams that have been asked to participate are checking with their schedules to ensure they’re able to do the exhibition map during the weekend.  The exhibition is currently penciled in to the following schedule, which will be updated to reflect their availability. Continue reading →

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Spartans For Troops Grifball Tournament Info and Registration

Posted on February 28, 2016 by Dust Storm

Spartans for Troops Grifball

In partnership with GrifballHub, the Spartans For Troops Halo community stream event will have the first ever Halo 5 Grifball tournament.  This tournament is currently scheduled for March 5th at 1:00PM EST, 10:00AM PST and will host 16 teams from the Good Games League, American Grifball League of America and European Grifball League.  In partnership with OSD, every team who registers through GrifballHub will have their 4th player be a veteran participating in the event.  Registration for Grifball teams is done over on GrifballHub.  Registration for Veterans is available here.

Grifball teams will register three team members through GrifballHub and will pick up a 4th veteran player who registers to participate in the tournament.  All game mode settings and map selections are provided by GrifballHub.  The tournament will be streamed using the spectator mode feature in Halo 5.  Teams are required to check-in 30 minutes prior to the start of the tournament to receive final bracket information and rules for the tournament.  The first place team will receive $10 Xbox Live Gift Cards and GrifballHub t-shirts.

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Announcing the Spartan For Troops Halo Community Livestream

Posted on February 26, 2016 by Dust Storm

In conjunction with Operation Supply Drop, Podtacular is pleased to announce the inaugural Spartans For Troops Halo Community Livestream event!  Partnering with over twenty groups and personalities, this event involves some of the most well known YouTubers, content creators, and players of the game all coming together to stream Halo for thirty-six hours starting on March 4th at 7:00PM EST, 4:00PM PST on Twitch.TV over at Operation Supply Drop.  This stream will feature game lobbies, tournaments, giveaways, machinima, podcasts, and special appearances by some of the biggest names of the Halo community.

The event features many opportunities to participate in the festivities during the livestream consisting of Warzone matchmaking with community groups, live recorded podcasts, custom game lobbies including remakes of classic Halo maps, and a HCS-style Arena tournament.  In addition, viewers of the stream can also catch debut machinima from your favorite Halo YouTubers and a Grifball tournament featuring teams from the Good Games League and the American Grifball League of America.  Among the communities represented during the event are GrifballHub, Ready Up Live, Ultimate Halo, ForgeHub, ProAceJOKER, Halo Canon, Thomas Productions and more.  More info about the Arena tournament including rules and sign ups will be available this weekend.  Once the schedule has been finalized, a complete list of community groups and personalities will be revealed.

Spartans For Troops aims to bring awareness to all kinds of Halo communities and raise awareness and support for Operation Supply Drop and their mission.  Throughout the event, viewers will learn about this charity organization and their impact on active-duty military and veterans through the power of video games including Halo.  We are excited to have this opportunity to showcase the best of the Halo community and bring awareness to a charity that has proven to make a positive impact to our brothers and sisters in arms as our fellow Spartans.

We are excited to bring an incredible amount of Halo talent together and embrace the many different aspects of the Halo community.  Through the livestream we hope to bring awareness to other Halo groups and personalities and support Operation Supply Drop.  The event is also supported by 343 Industries, Mega Bloks and Simon and Schuster who have graciously given us Halo merchandise, prizes and giveaway items for viewers and participants.  Please join us March 4th for an incredible weekend of Halo content and community involvement.

What: Inaugural “Spartans For Troops” Halo Community Livestream with Operation Supply Drop
When: March 4th, 2016 at 7:00PM EST, 4:00PM PST thru March 6th, 2016 at 7:00AM EST, 4:00AM PST
Where: Operation Supply Drop Twitch Channel (http://twitch.tv/operationsupplydrop)
Who: Halo community groups and personalities including: 405th Infantry Division, DefendTheHouse, Drunken Halo, Forge Channel, ForgeHub, GrifballHub, Halo Canon, Halo Wheelmen, Halo5Remakes.com, iSpiteful, KnightmareFilmz, ProAceJOKER, Ready Up Live, ThaGreatIsaiah, Thomas Productions, Ultimate Halo

About Podtacular: Podtacular is a community-based podcast covering the Halo franchise and community featuring news coverage, franchise discussions, notable Halo group and personality appearances, and community interaction. https://www.podtacular.com

About Operation Supply Drop: Operation Supply Drop is a military charity organization supporting US, NATO and ANZAC active-duty military and veterans through video games and digital entertainment across their three global outreach programs. http://www.operationsupplydrop.org

About 343 Industries: 343 Industries is the developer of the Halo video game series oversees the Halo franchise, including games, original programming, novels, comics, and licensed products. http://www.halowaypoint.com

About Mega Bloks: Mega Bloks is a division of MEGA Brands, member of the Mattel family of companies and is home to the Mega Bloks Collectors licensed Halo construction line of products. https://collectors.megabloks.com

About Simon and Schuster: Simon & Schuster, Inc., a division of CBS Corporation, is the the parent publishing company of  six Halo novels including the upcoming paperback edition of Halo: New Blood. http://www.simonandschuster.com

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Community Evolved Available for Purchase

Posted on February 25, 2016 by Dust Storm

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In 2001, the Halo community celebrated a decade of Halo at Halo Fest.  In response to that celebration, the folks over at Forward Unto Dawn took it upon themselves to shine a light on the communities that helped Halo thrive during that first decade.  The culmination of their interviews and exploration of these communities amounted to the publication of Community Evolved.  This book covers different community groups, creations and activities ranging across the spectrum of fan fiction, machinima, clans, traditional and untraditional art, mods, Forge, competitive, and more.  This book was originally only available through their Kickstarter campaign, which we highlighted an our podcast in the distant past.  Today, Forward Unto Dawn announced that the book is now available through Lulu.com.  This hardcover copy comes in 188 pages of black and white highlights of the community’s first decade in support of Halo.  The book costs $28, which is strictly limited to the cost of producing the book since it’s not an official Halo publication.  Despite the fact, this is one book every Halo fan involved in some aspect of the Halo community should not pass up on purchasing.

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343 Honors a Fellow Spartan’s Loss in Hammer Storm

Posted on February 24, 2016 by Dust Storm

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In honor of the tragedy encountered by one of the Halo community’s most beloved members, Adam aka. thecrzedspartan, 343 has created the Spartans Never Walk Alone pack.  This free REQ pack comes with the Hammer Storm update and features the very first animated emblem, True Light.  In memory of Adam’s loss of his two daughters Trinity and Lena, 343 also embedded their names in the stars on the latest arena map Torque.  Last month, the community came together in a valiant show of support hosting a 24-hour livestream called Halo for Crazed and ended up raising over $28K for Adam’s family.  This is a truly remarkable thing 343 has stepped up to do for the community and it just goes to show that even though they make the game we all love to play, they are just as much a part of the Halo community as we all are.

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Halo 5: Guardians Hammer Storm Details

Posted on February 24, 2016 by Dust Storm

Hammer Storm is February’s Content Update and features a bunch of new content added to Halo 5: Guardians and is already being heralded as the largest update to Halo 5 yet.  Adding new modes and requisitions to the game, Hammer Storm continues to show 343’s commitment to the community giving fans some of the most requested features.  Here’s what you have to look forward to today as you launch into Halo 5. Continue reading →

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Future Halo 5: Guardians Content Details Including Warzone Firefight

Posted on February 24, 2016 by Dust Storm

Halo-5-Guardians-Free-Spring-and-Summer-Content-Preview1In conjunction with today’s Hammer Storm update release, Xbox Wire has released a few details regarding upcoming Halo 5: Guardians content.  To date, we’ve received five new maps (not Forged), three new game modes, Forge and over 180 new REQs in the first four content updates.  343 will continue to offer free content monthly through June this year including more maps, modes, REQs and features as they continue to address community feedback.  They also unveiled a new mode that will come in a future content update: Warzone Firefight, an answer to the community’s cry for a Firefight-like PvE game mode.

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