Podtacular 488: Silence of Biko

Posted on June 8, 2015 by Dust Storm

Ben finds himself waiting in the dark of his hideout where he’s waiting for his contact, but trying to keep up with what’s happening after his stunt.  After one stormy night, Ray shows up a day early delivering good news that the Chief was innocent from the case on Biko.  Turns out a group by the name Sapien Sunrise, a terrorist organization against the alliance with aliens, attempted to infiltrate the ranks of Sekibo to assassinate him, which Chief miraculously prevented.  While Biko requested assistance against these terrorists, the UEG placed a gag order on the planet, even after the footage leaks.  While there was evidence to support it, Ray’s contact was unable to recover the evidence needed to make the compelling case.  Following up with Petra, per request of Ray wanting to check up on his family, Ben receives a tip from her for a 72 hour window and coordinates on Bliss, that was an opportunity she said he couldn’t pass up.  After receiving the news, he headed back to his place to retrieve some hidden stuff in his apartment.  When he arrived, the building was condemned, every room wrapped in plastic with doors open, except for his, which was completely gutted. We are pleased once again to have Toa Freak or Halo Canon on YouTube back on the show to discuss this week’s episode.

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Podtacular 487: Signal Archive

Posted on June 1, 2015 by Dust Storm

The Hunt the Signal contest has come to a close, lasting less than two weeks until a winner was declared.  Similar to previous pre-launch ARGs, this contest heavily involved the use of cryptography to solve a myriad of puzzles to progress as a team of four.  Starting off with a mysterious signal embedded at the end of the sixth Hunt the Truth episode, the contest launched with a link to StolenGauntlet.com.  From there people waited for the countdown to reach the end and start the contest.  Many teams tried to solve the puzzles, but the victors came from a group behind the Twitter account ONISEC3.  How they got there is this episode’s topic.  To follow along, there’s a Waypoint forum thread here, and we also recommend checking out Halo Canon’s videos here and here.

Also in this episode, we had the privilege of talking with Media Bias, one of the members from the Halo Archive.  The archive is one of the more recently sprouted communities that has amassed a large following with regards to the Halo lore and universe.  They have a growing repository of information and articles that any lore fan would be best to check out.

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Podtacular 486: Hacked Revelations

Posted on May 31, 2015 by Dust Storm

Ben is just about ready to blow open ONI’s dark secrets waiting for a few more pieces to fall into place.  Wrapping up a recording session with Anthony Petrovsky’s testimony of the Spartan program, he finally gets the last bit of data he needs from Mashak to make his case.  He even goes one step further cleaning up a police report behind one of the cases where a Spartan abductee ran into his clone, which Ben decided not to use.  FERO, with her impeccable timing cuts off Mashak and get’s Ben ready to blow the story up to the UEG senators, throwing out his journalistic integrity in one fell swoop.  He manages to make it through the whole process and deliver his final testimony as FERO’s hack was curbed, but not before Sully told Ben he was done for good.  With Ben now a fugitive of ONI, out of money and lost contact with the outer colonies, we’re left to wonder what will happen to him and everyone involved with his discoveries. We also explore another possibility behind the identity of FERO thanks to an article over on Halo Archive that suggests, somewhat convincingly, that she could be Ilsa Zane, a Spartan IV washout turned Innie.

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Podtacular 485: ODST/Remnant Interview with Dan Ayoub and JP Eaton

Posted on May 30, 2015 by Dust Storm

Halo 3: ODST and Remnant are now available for Halo: The Master Chief Collection.  Before the release, had the chance to talk with Dan Ayoub, Executive Producer at 343 Industries, and JP Eaton, Lead Environment Artist at Certain Affinity about these additions to the collection.  As we talked with Dan, we discussed the challenges facing the team bringing Halo 3: ODST to the collection with the different campaign flow the game offered, the decision to not include Firefight, achievements we’ll see, and what changes were made to the game to make it fit with the collection.  Flipping over to Remnant, we talked with JP about the differences between Relic and Remnant, the reasoning behind choosing Relic to remake, and what new features we could expect with the map.

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New Halo 3: ODST Achievements for the Master Chief Collection

Posted on May 30, 2015 by Dust Storm

tmcc-odst-coastal-highway-establishing-invasion

With Halo 3: ODST and Remnant dropping in just around the corner, Bravo gives us the full list of achievements coming in at 1000 new gamerscore.  Many of these achievements players will recognize from the original game with the addition of new ones specific to the Master Chief Collection experience and one for the Remnant BLAST can.  Here’s the breakdown:

Campaign Completion (10GS ea.)

  • Junior Detective – Find the 1st clue to unraveling the mystery.
  • Investigator – Find the 2nd clue to unraveling the mystery.
  • Gumshoe – Find the 3rd clue to unraveling the mystery.
  • Bloodhound – Find the 4th clue to unraveling the mystery.
  • Private Eye – Find the 5th clue to unraveling the mystery.
  • Secret Agent – Find the 6th clue to unraveling the mystery.
  • Tayari Plaza – Complete Tayari Plaza.
  • Uplift Reserve – Complete Uplift Reserve.
  • Kizingo Boulevard – Complete Kizingo Boulevard.
  • ONI Alpha Site – Complete ONI Alpha Site.
  • NMPD HQ – Complete NMPD HQ.
  • Kikowani Station – Complete Kikowani Station.
  • Data Hive – Complete Data Hive.
  • Coastal Highway – Complete Coastal Highway.
  • Rookie – Complete every level of the game on Easy difficulty.
  • Urban Warfare Badge – Complete every level of the game on Normal difficulty.
  • First In, Last Out (20GS) – Complete every level of the game on Heroic difficulty.
  • Mean Streets of New Mombasa (30GS) – Complete every level of the game on Legendary difficulty.

Par Time (10GS ea.)

  • Bill Past Due – Beat the par time on Tayari Plaza.
  • Floor It! – Beat the par time on Uplift Reserve.
  • An Artist’s Canvas – Beat the par time on Kizingo Blvd.
  • A Pleasant Trip – Beat the par time on ONI Alpha Site.
  • First Stop: Anywhere But Here! – Beat the par time on NMPD HQ.
  • Feet Don’t Fail Me Now – Beat the par time on Kikowani Station.
  • Overtaken By Events – Beat the par time on Data Hive.
  • Double Time! – Beat the par time on Coastal Highway.
  • Can’t Stop Here, This is Brute Country (20GS) – Beat par time on all Halo 3: ODST levels.

Par Score (10GS ea.)

  • Survey Says … – Beat the par score on Tayari Plaza.
  • Don’t Strain Your Metaphors – Beat the par score on Uplift Reserve.
  • Son of a Gun – Beat the par score on Kizingo Blvd.
  • I Love My Job – Beat the par score on ONI Alpha Site.
  • Pour It On – Beat the par score on NMPD HQ.
  • Squid Jackpot! – Beat the par score on Kikowani Station.
  • Magic Touch – Beat the par score on Data Hive.
  • This Oliphant Has No Brakes – Beat the par score on Coastal Highway.
  • The Marine Corps Gives Its Regards (20GS) – Beat par score on all Halo 3: ODST levels.

Audio Logs (5GS ea.)

  • Listener – Find the 1st Audio Log.
  • An Ear Full – Find the 2nd Audio Log.
  • Tuned In – Find the 3rd Audio Log.
  • Do Tell – Find the 4th Audio Log.
  • Hear Me Out – Find the 5th Audio Log.
  • Eavesdropping – Find the 6th Audio Log.
  • Auditor – Find the 7th Audio Log.
  • Overheard – Find the 8th Audio Log.
  • Wiretapping – Find the 9th Audio Log.
  • Monitored – Find the 10th Audio Log.
  • Hand Onto My Words – Find the 11th Audio Log.
  • Give Heed – Find the 12th Audio Log.
  • Get A Load – Find the 13th Audio Log.
  • Snoop Troop – Find the 14th Audio Log.
  • All Ears – Find the 15th Audio Log.
  • Ear Bender – Find the 16th Audio Log.
  • Plugged In – Find the 17th Audio Log.
  • Attentive – Find the 18th Audio Log.
  • Watchful – Find the 19th Audio Log.
  • Observant – Find the 20th Audio Log.
  • Scout – Find the 21st Audio Log.
  • Adventurer – Find the 22nd Audio Log.
  • Spotter – Find the 23rd Audio Log.
  • Considerate – Find the 24th Audio Log.
  • On Your Toes – Find the 25th Audio Log.
  • Archivist – Find the 26th Audio Log.
  • Your Attention Please – Find the 27th Audio Log.
  • Catching On – Find the 28th Audio Log.
  • Wisening Up – Find the 29th Audio Log.
  • Audiophile (10GS) – Find the 30th Audio Log.
  • Record Store Owner (10GS) – Find all 30 Audio Logs.

Campaign Challenges (10GS ea.)

  • Naughty Naughty – Kill 10 Engineers.
  • Well… Maybe One or Two – Kill 25 Engineers.
  • Catch ‘Em Napping – Kill 5 sleeping Grunts on Mombasa Streets.
  • Bip! Bap! BAM! – Earn a Triple Kill medal with the pistol on any level.
  • Deference of Darkness – Complete any level without activating VISR mode.
  • Xenophobia – Complete any level without using Covenant weapons.
  • Those Left Behind – Finish Tayari Plaza with at least one Marine still breathing.
  • Shiny… – Pilot a Banshee on Kizingo Boulevard.
  • Fowl Hunt – Kill 3 Jetpack Brutes with a shotgun on ONI Alpha Site.
  • What About Those Tanks? – Destroy 7 Wraiths on ONI Alpha Site.
  • Bits and Pieces – Destroy 5 Phantoms on NMPD HQ.
  • Shoot and Scoot – Complete NMPD HQ without firing the Sniper Rifle on Heroic or Legendary.
  • Fast and Low – Splatter 7 enemies with a Banshee on Kikowani Station.
  • Strong, Silent Type – Assassinate 3 Brutes in a row on Data Hive.
  • Firefly – Kill a Drone with a flame grenade on Data Hive.
  • BLAM! Said The Lady! – Swap Dare’s pistol for a Rocket Launcher on Coastal Highway.
  • Pineapple Express – Kill 4 enemies with a single plasma or frag grenade.
    Does Whatever a Spartan Can? – Destroy a Wraith… with your bare hands.
  • One Way Ride (20GS) – Complete any level without using a health pack on Heroic or Legendary.
  • Just Sayin…I Ain’t Dead (20GS) – Complete any level without dying on Heroic or Legendary.
  • Classic (20GS) – Finish any level solo on Legendary, with no shots fired or grenades thrown.

Campaign Playlists

  • NEXT! (10GS) – Complete a Halo 3: ODST playlist.
  • Trifecta (20GS) – Complete three Halo 3: ODST playlists.
  • Safety Not Guaranteed (30GS) – Complete a Halo 3: ODST LASO Campaign playlist.

Easter Eggs (10GS ea)

  • One Got Away – View the missing link.
  • Like a Broken Record – Find a legendary hidden music cue.
  • Vandalized – Face it.
  • Saturday Morning Cartoon – Is there a toy inside?
  • Two Places, Same Time – I’ve got my eye on you, Marine.

Miscellaneous

  • Do You Remember When We Met (5GS) – Play a game of Halo 3: ODST on the 22nd of any month.
  • Déjà Vu (20GS) – Complete Coastal Highway on 4-player Legendary co-op, with Iron, and no ‘Hog or Scorpion.

Remnant

  • Monumental Thirst! (10GS) – H2A: Found and destroyed the BLAST soda can on Remnant.
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Halo 3: ODST Drops for Halo: The Master Chief Collection

Posted on May 30, 2015 by Dust Storm

TMCC-ODST-Tayari-Plaza-No-Loitering

Halo 3: ODST joins the Halo: The Master Chief Collection looking new and improved running at 1080p/60fps.  For those new to the experience, Halo 3: ODST takes place during the events of Halo 2 after Regret flees from earth.  Originally planned as an expansion for Halo 3, the game grew to be a fully recognized experience with a campaign focusing on an ODST squad rather than the Master Chief, new multiplayer mode Firefight and bundled with the complete Halo 3 multiplayer experience.  This content only includes the campaign however and is available for free to everyone who logged into Xbox Live and played the Master Chief Collection between November 11th, 2014 and December 19th, 2014.  Redeemable Xbox Live codes for the DLC are now being sent out through Xbox Live messages to whose who qualify.  For those who don’t meet the qualifications, the DLC can be purchased for $4.99 from the Xbox Marketplace.  Here’s some new screenshots for you to gaze upon while you download the 8.1GB DLC.

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Halo 3: ODST for MCC is accessible under the Halo 3 campaign menu, similar to how Spartan Ops is under the Halo 4 campaign menu.  Mombasa Streets, the level unlocked after you beat the entire campaign, which is actually the hub map you play through finding clues as the Rookie, is also available from the start.  ODST also has it’s own control schemes and set of playlists including:

  • LASO Non Stop Action
  • SLASO Campaign
  • Vehicle Rally
  • Arena Battles
  • Hoofin’ It
  • Street Smart
  • Non Stop Action
  • Campaign Difficulties
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Remnant Now Available on Halo: The Master Chief Collection

Posted on May 30, 2015 by Dust Storm

TMCC-H2A-Relic-Establishing-Megalith

The remake of Halo 2’s Relic, Remnant is finally here and available to everyone for free.  As you’ll recall, back in December, 343 Industries announced that due to the conditions of the Master Chief Collection’s launch, they would bring back Relic as a remade map for Halo 2 Anniversary and Halo 3: ODST’s campaign.

A secluded island, hidden along the coastal regions of Delta Halo, “Remnant” features a towering and iconic Forerunner megalith, weathered by untold millennia. The map’s asymmetric layout and the artifact’s elevated, yet embedded position, make it perfect for classic Slayer, Assault, and 1-Flag CTF game types. Of course, this re-imagined version of the classic map sports its share of innovations.

Screenshots

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Relic is a great one sided team objective map most popular with the One Flag CTF gametype.  You’ll find that the gametype specific ramps on the front of the tower are now permanently replaced with man cannons for all game modes.  The Covenant sniper tower has been traded out for a UNSC research facility that provides more cover over this key position.  The teleporters are still around and must be activated by a switch inside the base, but like it’s Halo 2 MCC counterpart, is bi-directional.  Because of the amount of interactive elements already available to Halo 2 Anniversary multiplayer, no new pieces were introduced with Remnant, where Certain Affinity has decided the switched teleporter provides that interactive element already.  Weapon placements and types are identical to the original and the layout of the map is very similar.  With the release of Remnant, Bravo will be “Breaking Down the Map” on The Halo Channel, highlighting key power weapon spawns, strategic map positions and much more.

Comparisons

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Gameplay

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