First, thanks to Halobungie.org for posting the link to this on Twitter.
Check out some new images from the book by DK, due out October this year:
Click pics for bigger pics.
Here’s the ISBN: ISBN: 9781409334828
Here’s the link from the UK site.
This is a MUST buy for any Halo fan if you’re into knowing more of the lore.
-Sal
So while reading e-mail this morning, I got a notification from Amazon about this book.
This is essentially a graphic novel that is a compilation of three earlier Halo comic book titles: Uprising 1-4, Blood Line 1-5, Helljumper 1-5
I enjoyed all three of these titles. If you’ve never read them, then I highly suggest getting this book. It’s not due out until October 15 this year. So of course you can hunt down the individual comics. Having these all in one place though is very convenient.
If you want to take a look at the Amazon listing just click here Halo: Oversized Collection.
-Sal
Well, it’s that time of the week again when we get some news from 343 regarding our beloved franchise.
BS Angel starts out with a warm regards to Steven Spielberg and let’s we fans know that it’s going to be awhile before we hear anything else on the TV show.
Next up a Weapons Tuning discussion.
The Matchmaking Playlist update is next.
Finally, what I consider to be the best Screenshot spotlight to date: Incineration! The effects you see when someone is dematerializing after being shot with an InCin cannon are just SWEET!
Want to read the full Bulletin? Well just clicky right here!
-Sal
What I’m most concerned with is how long of a transition period there will be between the 360 and the XB1. I’ve heard it’s going to be 6 months. After which the 360 servers will be shut down.
Basically this time next year we’re not going to be able to play Halo 3, ODST, Halo Wars, Reach, and yes, even Halo 4 (unless it’s going to be available on the XB1). That being the case, I expect there to be a new Halo title at the XB1 launch.
There has been rampant speculation that Halo 2 Anniversary would be released. A distinct possibility, especially if it’s done similar to how Halo CE anniversary was done with basically a re-texturing of everything. However, if all the previous games are going to be shut down, the to keep Halo at the forefront, either Halo 2 Anniversary would have to have a multiplayer option (unlikely) OR…we will get Halo 5. And this is where it gets interesting folks.
We need to step back a few years and look at the transition of Halo from Bungie to 343 to see how Halo is going to play out from here on and where it will go to with the XBOX ONE.
So let’s take a look at some of the history of that up to present time and beyond.
Three years ago Halo Waypoint and 343 were just beginning. Frank O’Conner was the head guy at 343 or at least the figurehead for the public. He left Bungie to start 343/Halo Waypoint. Along with him a select few others from Bungie came over, most notably Vic Deleon.
In it’s early days Waypoint wasn’t much. You could track your achievements in a new way with Waypoint’s exclusive achievement scoring for JUST Halo games. New bits trickled in. These covering few things. Waypoint often crashed, well for me it did anyway. After several updates, there was more Halo new being put on Waypoint and it got a new look.
Some more time passed and Waypoint started tracking stats in Reach. During this time is when the transition from Bungie to 343 started to take place. Waypoint got a huge overhaul with a new look. Cryptic Forerunner glyphs were found and deciphered. (I’m proud to say that once all the glyphs were found I was once of the first to crack that code figuring out several of the glyphs alphanumeric symbol. Within 24 hours on Waypoint’s website the complete Forerunner glyph code was cracked and we knew all of those 5 letter codes had meaning and what those words were. Strangely enough, that section got shut down for a time shortly thereafter. Hmm, I wonder if our cracking the code so quickly had something to do with it.
At this time Bungie released most of it’s control on Halo to 343. When 343 took over there was no initial file share, IIRC. This did come back though. Mid summer that year Bungie saw it’s last hurrah with Halo and the keys to Halo were finally and officially handed over to 343. In the meantime, word got out that 343 had been working on a Halo title all along. This turned out to be Halo CE Anniversary. 343 contracted much of the work out to another company who retexturized the game to have updated graphics, those game mechanics and their glitches still persisted (to the joy of many a long time fan of Halo). We also knew that 343 was working on Halo 4 and SLOWLY news and info started to trickle out.
When 343 was formed it wasn’t fully staffed as it is now. They had to find the people to fill the studio and looked to many game developers who had worked on AAA game titles. They picked up Jesse Snyder from CoD (Who has since left 343), among others with credible experience. This time was a tumultuous one for 343 as they were not only trying to get a studio up and running, they were trying to staff it with the best and brightest, formulate procedures and oh yeah…design Halo 4. Microsoft was on them to be sure. And no in hindsight we can see several reasons why.
Going back to E3 last year, we saw a nervous group of 343 personnel who breathed a HEAVY sigh of relief when Halo 4 was heralded in as a hit of E3. The game still wasn’t finished and had a long way to go and time was running out for the November deadline. They had SO much to accomplish in their last 6 months before launch. Microsoft wouldn’t let them bend on the release date as there was going to be a Call of Duty game released in the same month and they wanted to be ahead of them and recapture old fans from CoD as well as garner new fans. To do this, Halo changed. MANY long time fans of the franchise were not happy, in fact many are still not, but will get to that. Halo changed to be more accessible to fans of first person shooter (FPS) games. Frank O’Conner came out and said that there would be no public BETA. This to much dismay of we fans. Yet again, there was a reason. Not only would a BETA slow down production for which 343 just did not have the time for, it’s apparent they knew that the massive overhaul done to game mechanics would not be met with open arms by long time fans. It’s still up for debate if those changes to the game were from on high at Microsoft or done at the 343 level. Regardless, 343 being part of Microsoft, it didn’t matter to most fans. Halo had changed.
Since the release of Halo 4 we’ve had three major map pack DLCs and a minor one in the form of Forge Island. People wonder why.
I’m here to tell you that why. TRANSITION.
Halo 4′s shelf life was only meant to be a couple of years. Knowing that the XBOX ONE was being developed, 343 had to get all this content out well before the launch of the XB1. Why? Simple enough, to make money of the game and it’s DLC packs. Releasing them later this year with the XB1 looming and there being no backwards compatibility, how many of us would have bought all the map packs? Want to know why we’re not getting back some of those much desired features like theater for campaign/Spartan Ops? Simple again, no time to do so before XB1′s launch. And with it coming out roughly 6 months form now, the need to have it in the game from 343′s perspective just wasn’t there. Especially when…they are already working on the next Halo title. Not to mention the wonderful news of a LIVE-action Halo TV series, produced by no less than Steven Spielberg himself!
So, where does this leave us?
Well, let me just repost that second paragraph from this article again:
Basically this time next year we’re not going to be able to play Halo 3, ODST, Halo Wars, Reach, and yes, even Halo 4 (unless it’s going to be available on the XB1) over LIVE. That being the case, I expect there to be a new Halo title at the XB1 launch.
You see, with there being a rumored 6 month transition the schedule of the transition looks roughly like this (date can change of course, so take this with a grain of salt and we should learn more from E3 this year).
Summer 2013: XBOX 360 launches a pseudo XB1 dashboard. It will look similar to the XB1 dash but not with all the functionality. This is to get people used to the general layout of the XB1 dash to help ease the transition.
November 2013: XB1 launches.
May 2014: XBOX 360 servers are shut down for good.
There is NO way Microsoft is going to have it’s new console live without a new Halo title supporting it. As said before Halo 2 Anniversary won’t cut it. Yes, fans want it, but it’s seen as a step back toward gaining NEW gamers to the franchise. So they MUST put out a new title. That leads us to Halo 5. Is it possible that 343 was working on BOTH games at the same time? Yes indeed. It also would explain why there were many of the options we’ve had in previous Halo games NOT be in Halo 4. Not enough time to get it in, not enough personnel to do it and with Halo 4′s life not being more than a year and a half, no apparent need…when we’re going to get ALL those features back in Halo 5 and MORE.
This would also explain why we have had no hard news on Spartan Ops Season Two. We fans expected season two to follow very shortly after season one. The verbage 343 gave us led many to believe these season would be concurrent with little to no lag between episodes. So now we fans had to face the very real possibility that Spartan Ops season two wouldn’t show up until Halo 5, which we THOUGHT was 3 years away.
Let’s also consider some Halo licensee news here. Mega Bloks showed at New York Toy Fair in February this year some NEW sets. Those were called Reverse Engineering and Prototyping–Xenotechnology or REAP-X. Doing my best to find out when those toys would be released, the best news I could get was fall this year. That makes sense for both/either the Halo TV show and/or the next Halo game. Having toys released to coincide with the new game just makes total sense. FLOOD the market with Halo. TV show, game, and toys.
Now, it’s possible that the new Halo game won’t be Halo 5 and could be an offshoot. However, long time fans do not find the appeal in that. Reach (for as much as I personally enjoyed it) wasn’t well received by many other long time fans. It wasn’t a Master Chief story. Even Halo 3: ODST which was a superb game still wasn’t as popular due to it not being a Master Chief story. This is why there was SO much expectation for Halo 4. It was the return of Master Chief. So…343 in this short time has either been working on Halo 5 to coincide with the XB1 launch or an offshoot as well as possibly Halo 2 anniversary. That is a LOT to have on your plate. It also makes a ton of sense why they’ve been hiring yet MORE developers. At a time when you’d think they’d either downsize a little after a major launch or at least stay stable in size, no, 343 is GROWING.
Let me once again go back to that second paragraph…Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, Reach, Halo Wars and Halo 4…gone from LIVE capability. Microsoft/343 MUST have a Halo title ready at launch. They can ill afford to have Call of Duty: Ghosts beat them to the punch. They must have a title ready to go as well and it needs to be a fully realized title. Not an off shoot, not a Halo Wars 2 (though I still hope that comes out).
Now from the XB1 announcement we heard that there will be 15 games at launch. With 8 of those being new franchises. SO…that means some of these are going to be returning franchises. We already know from the announcement that FIFA, Forza and CoD will be some of those. Do you really think Halo WON’T be one of those?
E3 is just three weeks away. I for one am VERY excited to see/hear what comes out of that. I’d be VERY surprised if we didn’t get news of a new Halo game in development. We all know 343 is very secretive in their development and it would make sense to leave the announcement of a new game for E3 since they already had the Halo TV show as the Halo news for the XB1 announcement.
Whew, okay, yes, I know that was a long article. But I just HAD to get that all out.
So, what are your thoughts on this? Hit that reply button below.
If you haven’t already signed up to the blog, shoot me an e-mail with your desired screen name and the password you want to use and I’ll set you up pronto so you can post here.
-Sal
Q: Does Xbox One require an “always on” Internet connection?
A: No, it does not have to be always connected, but Xbox One does require a connection to the Internet. We’re designing Xbox One to be your all-in-one entertainment system that is connected to the cloud and always ready. We are also designing it so you can play games and watch Blu-ray movies and live TV if you lose your connection.
Q: How do consumers benefit by being connected to the cloud?
A: The cloud makes every experience better and more accessible. Because Xbox One is powered by the cloud:
You can discover what your friends are playing, watching and listening to if they choose to share.
These are just a few examples of how customers benefit from our platform being connected to the Internet. It brings the future of TV and games to our consumers—and it’s designed for today and the decade ahead.
* Subject to content geographical restrictions.
Q: When will Xbox One launch and in what markets?
A: Xbox One will launch in markets around the world later this year. We’ll have more to share later.
Q: Can I use my current gamertag on Xbox One and will my Gamerscore and Achievements transfer?
A: Yes. Your current Xbox Live Gamertag will stay with you on Xbox One if you choose to keep it, and your hard-earned Gamerscore and Achievements will indeed carry over from Xbox 360.
Q: Will Xbox One be backward compatible with my existing games?
A: Xbox One hardware is not compatible with Xbox 360 games. We designed Xbox One to play an entirely new generation of games—games that are architected to take full advantage of state-of-the-art processors and the infinite power of the cloud. We care very much about the investment you have made in Xbox 360 and will continue to support it with a pipeline of new games and new apps well into the future.
Q: Will Xbox One allow players to trade in, purchase and play pre-owned games?
A: We are designing Xbox One to enable customers to trade in and resell games. We’ll have more details to share later.
Q: Will my current Xbox Live Gold membership work with Xbox One or will I have to buy a new one?
A: You do not need to buy a new Xbox Live Gold membership. Your current membership will work on both Xbox 360 and Xbox One.
Q: Why require Kinect with every Xbox One?
A: The all new Kinect is now an essential and integrated part of the platform. By having it as a consistent part of every Xbox One, game and entertainment creators can build experiences that assume the availability of voice, gesture and natural sensing, leading to unrivaled ease of use, premium experiences and interactivity for you.
Q: Do I need to have a specific cable or satellite TV provider to watch live TV on Xbox?
A: Our goal is to enable live TV through Xbox One in every way that it is delivered throughout the world, whether that’s television service providers, over the air or over the Internet, or HDMI-in via a set top box (as is the case with many providers in the US). The delivery of TV is complex and we are working through the many technologies and policies around the world to make live TV available where Xbox One is available.
Q: Xbox One is a more powerful product compared to Xbox 360, but does it also use more power?
A: No. By providing multiple power states in Xbox One, we’ve balanced energy efficiency with functionality. We’ve taken a completely different approach to how Xbox One consumes power. It only uses the power it needs at that particular moment for the task at hand.
I replied to a forumite on Halo Waypoint regarding the ending of Spartan ops season one as well as addressed some of their questions regarding Spartan Ops (SpOps) in general.
Below is Claymore155′s queries and my reply.
Claymore155: …As for Spartan Ops, no clue. In all honesty, it could go in any direction. Halsey says she wants revenge but she never been so strait forward about her true intentions. This is also a great opportunity for the new Spartan IV’s to mature and start acting the way a Spartan should. (And something needs to be done about Palmer).
I know you play as Fire-team Crimson, but the story seems to follow Majestic, so the gameplay is (once again, only in my opinion) not that crucial to the story. Majestic team was actually starting to work and think like a team towards the end of the season, so they cold have a lot of potential.
HFFL: Agreed that there is SO much potential here with the Spartan Ops story. I hope we don’t have to wait until Halo 5 comes out for it to have more episodes/missions. Unfortunately, I think that’s exactly what’s going to happen. Each download of SpOps is huge. Some people have complained about that. More episodes would tie up space on people’s memory to the point where they might not even be able to play new episodes/missions due to too much space being taken up.
Agreed, that finally by the end of SpOps Majestic is acting more like a real Spartan squad and yeah, Palmer needs an adjustment, IMO.
Claymore155: Maybe Master Chief will get involved in the story as well. I personally wold like to find out what happened to Buck’s ODST squad for Halo 3: ODST.
HFFL: There are plenty of fans, count me in there, that would like to see the ODSTs return, specifically Buck. Especially if he became a Spartan IV.
Claymore155: 1.) In the first missions of Spartan Ops season 1, why did everyone act like they had never seen Promethean combatants before?
The storyline is supposed to take place several months after the main Halo 4 campaign ends. By that point, the Infinity with all of its advanced technology should have simulations to practice fighting the Promethians or at least had the time to educate the crew onboard about them.
The first few missions seem like the Infinity is running in with no previous experience with Promethians. It could be argued that Palmer is trying to share some “wisdom” with Crimson when they first see an enemy, but based on her character, I think she was basically saying spray and pray.
HFFL: Watch the first episode of SpOps again. Majestic and Crimson are NEW to the Infinity. They are brought on board right before Infinity slips to Requiem. Palmer wanted to run them through War Games for 48 hours, but Lasky said no, that the UNSC wanted them ready to go. (Not tired from War Games I’d assume) Essentially Lasky was saying he wanted boots on the ground the moment they exited slipspace at Requiem.
Claymore155: 2.) Why are there still Covenant around Requiem?
This one i probably my fault for not understanding. I just remember that when the Didact left Requiem to get the Composer, all (or what I thought was all) of the Covenant forces followed him.
I know they would probably want to return, but after the huge battle with the UNSC in Earth’s orbit, I wouldn’t think the Covenant would have enough ships, troops, and resources to go back before the humans. It just seems odd that after a huge defeat like that above Earth, the Covenant would been be able to dig in with such a large military presence before the UNSC could even get one ship out there.
HFFL: Fairly simple here. Jul M’dama’s “Storm” faction went back to Requiem to get as many of the Forerunner secrets as possible. Read the Kilo-5 books ([i]Glasslands[/i] and [i]The Thursday War[/i]) and you’ll gain a new appreciation for Jul’s forces. Those promise to ramp up even more in the third Kilo-5 book that takes place right before the events of Halo 4. Jul has assembled a large force of Covenant, now “Storm.” The UNSC/humanity is still reeling from the decades long war the the Covies, not to mention the destruction of New Phoenix just 6 months prior to going back to Requiem. They can’t devote a huge force to go back to Requiem. Sending the Infinity back is a logical solution, but not until they have the ground personnel they need to take Requiem from the Covies.
Enter the new large faction of Spartans now on the Infinity. Note in Episode 1 of SpOps that Palmer speaks of “old hands.” She’s referring to the smaller contingent of Spartans that were already on Infinity the first time they went to Requiem.
Also, don’t forget that the Infinity was repurposed to be a scientific exploration vessel and not a war machine. It took those 6 months after the Didact’s attack on Earth to formulate a plan for return to Requim. This included adding many more Spartan teams. (Note that Palmer was a Lieutenant during the campaign and was promoted to Commander at the beginning of SPartan Ops. This denotes the much larger presence of Spartan teams for which she is in charge of). Beyond this, the Infinity needed to add more personnel. Military for defense and Scientific for exploring/exploiting the Forerunner tech found on Requiem.
Claymore155: 3.) The way Halsey didn’t know that Master Chief was onboard doesn’t fit in.
Halsey is smart, but it’s not impossible to hide things from her. However, Master Chief’s presence tends to fill the air of where ever he is, yet no one seemed to be talking about him.
Master Chief is not one to sit out of a fight, especially when other people’s lives are in danger. And when when he fights, he (even unknowing) makes his presence known. So when the Infinity was boarded, why didn’t Halsey hear or see Chief? She was with Lasky, the acting commanding officer of the ship. Master Chief would do all he can to find and protect Lasky, or at least go out of his way to receive direct orders from him either in person or over a communication cannel (which were being jammed so he would have to meet up with him in person). Yet Halsey never saw John or even heard him some form of radio.
HFFL: Master Chief is not on board the Infinity at the time of SpOps. So that does explain a lot. As well, Halsey is brought on board Infinity as a prisoner. It’s safe to assume that only essential personnel had contact with her and that they were under strict orders not to talk of Master Chief being on board previously.
As for where Chief is at during the events of SpOps, that may have to wait for Halo 5, if not another novel before then.
-Sal
I was able to get my “hands” on a virtual file of the insert sheet (thanks to sharkfinboy1-a fellow MB collector).
I reported just Friday an article of the ”Halo Mega Bloks Series 7 blind pack preview“. Glad to see I was indeed correct in my preview.
Anyway, without further ado, here’s the insert sheet believed to be coming with the minifigs (click to make bigger):
I’m VERY agreeable with which ones are common, rare, and very rare. Mind you this sheet doesn’t show the four translucent minifigs.
Happy hunting! Oh and when you find them, snap a pic and send it to me at sal@halofanforlife.com and I’ll share it here on the blog!
-Sal
This is pretty simple to answer, IMO.
The Flood were SCARY when I first met them in Halo CE. Even by Halo 3 they were no joke.
The Prometheans were not scary. I think them being revealed before the game came out kind of ruined any surprise. Even then, the Prometheans lack personality. Not like the Flood have it either, but the Flood were truly scary.
Watchers are a pain in the arse, but easy to take out. Same with Crawlers. Knights, meh, they were never really a challenge.
When I compare beating the games on Legendary, Flood were tougher than Prometheans.
I hope in Halo 5 there are new enemies. Either new classes of Prometheans or finally some rogue still living Forerunners. I was disappointed that we never REALLY got to fight the Didact. Sure there is that QTE at the end of the Campaign, but it’s not the same as having to have a strategy to take him down. Just hit some buttons at the correct time and he’s toast.
I suspect the Flood are going to make a return to Halo, could be they are an instrument of the Precursors, could be that the Gravemind is a Precursor. Whichever… Prometheans really need to amp it up in Halo 5. We essentially had to beat birds, dogs, and quirky hunchback beetles.
The Flood were infected Humans, Elites, and Brutes. Definitely scarier as they were abominations. Prometheans are to armor and “clean.” Nothing really says, “Be scared of me!”
-Sal
Sparth always has these amazing concepts he posts on Twitter. Here’s the latest he posted not one hour from this write-up.
You can follow him on twitter here: https://twitter.com/nbsparth (Please tell him HaloFanForLife sent you)
You can find the original image here.
-Sal
As was revealed at Toy Fair in Febraury, we will soon see the next series of Halo Mega Bloks blind packaged minifigs. This series doesn’t contain the normal 8 figure count. Nor does it contain 3 translucent figures. Nope…It contains a WHOPPING 16 minifigs AND 4 translucent minifigs. That’s a total of TWENTY minifigs in one series!
Below is a pic I compiled of all 20 minifigs to come in this series. After which, I’ll give my own thoughts on each minifig. I’m going to start left to right, top to bottom…however, saving the translucent figured until the end.
Top Row:
Standard Marine with full goggles: Okay, I’m ALWAYS up for more marines. This figure is great for army building. It comes with an Assault Rifle
Desert ODST: OMG, YES! Another figure worthy of army building. Now we get the ODST in what looks to be a desert paint deco. If it’s white, that cool too. Comes with Assault Rifle.
Black Armored Halo 4 style Marine: OH YEAH! Now I might now have to try and buy multiples of the more expensive Weapons Ammo set. Another good army builder! Comes with…Is that a Railgun!
Black (or is it grey) Spartan Mark 5 [ b ]: I’m pretty sure collectors are going to start calling this “Not-Noble 6.” So let me be the first here. This is certainly a welcomed minifig. I’d love to have the completed Noble Team someday and this is another step towards that. To note, this fig comes with a crimson Plasma Rifle. This can said to be a Brute Plasma Rifle. YES!
Second Row:
Yellow EOD Spartan: I’m not so much a fan of yellow painted Spartans. However, I AM a fan of the EOD helmet. So it’s a welcome addition, IMO. Hard to tell what this one comes with from this pic. Sorry.
White Scout Spartan: The Scout is cool. I like the helmet. This one if crafted to look more like the Halo 4 Scout could be a good one for customizing into Spartan Commander Sarah Palmer. Comes with an Assault Rifle.
Silver Security Spartan: I really like silver painted Spartans. Though I’m not a huge fan of the bug visor Security helmet. Still, it’s a welcome addition. Comes with what looks to be a Brute Mauler.
Grey CQB Spartan: Oh yeah! One of my favorite helmets. Though, IIRC, we already have a grey CQB from a previous set. Not sure, but is that a sentinel beam in it’s hands? If so, AWESOME!
Third Row:
Yellow Grunt: Grunts grunts and MORE grunts! I love ‘em Keep them coming! Yellow isn’t really an in-game color (with exception to Halo Wars). So I’ll have to treat this as a commander grunt. Comes with a crimson not-accurate needler.
Green Grunt: See above, just switch out the color for green. Though green is closer to an in-game color which was closer to teal-green.
Dark Blue? Reach Style Grunt Major: I’m VERY glad to see Reach style Grunts come back. This one looks to be a Dark Blue variant. Comes with purple plasma pistol. (When is MEGA going to make game accurate dark blue plasma rifles?)
Blue Mark VI Halo 4 style Spartan: YES! If you’re looking for TEAM color spartans, this is one of them! Comes with a light grey Railgun.
Fourth Row:
Human Flood: I already have more of these than I really need. Still for those who don’t have enough or even one, I’m glad it’s in this series for you. Comes with an Assault Rifle.
Purple Ascetic Elite: Dark purple. And a Carbine. The Ascetic Elite is my favorite armor design for Elites from Halo 3.
Violet Zealot Elite: This Elite is decidedly different in color from the Purple one. I’m VERY glad to have yet more Zealots make an appearance in the minifig line. Comes with it’s own violet colored Carbine.
Crimson Jump Pack Brute: VERY cool color! If you have the Crimson Brute Prowler (exclusive to Wal*Mart), then you already know how cool the brute look in this color deco. This one comes with a black Mauler.
Now we get to the four that I am MOST looking forward to. As you long time readers know, I LOVE translucent toys. I just love seeing how they are put together. Even minifigs such as these are awesome, in my book! Of course, these are going to be the VERY hard to find ones…
Translucent minifigs:
Green Marine: Well, at least I THINK it’s a marine from the pic. Lean Green Translucent Marine! Possibly has a shotgun.
Orange Elite Minor Halo 4 style: Okay, now THIS color is VERY different. It’s the first time we’ve had an orange translucent color minifig. I’m looking forward to it. Comes with a needler.
Gold Spartan Mark VI Halo 4 style: Could be yellow, but looks more gold in color. The weapon included looks to be the DMR. VERY cool fig, IMO.
Blue Zealot Elite: This one, to me is the GEM of the bunch. Why? Well, it just LOOKS like an Elite coming out of active camo. It being a new Halo 4 style Elite Zealot just makes it that much more AWESOME! Comes with a needler.
So what are your thoughts about these figures? Any of them really strike you as must have for your collection? Any you don’t like? Hit the reply button below. If you’re not already signed up as a subscriber to HFFL, then please shoot me an e-mail to sal@halofanforlife.com if you want to become a subscriber and reply.
-Sal
Well, here we are again with another Halo Bulletin. Has a week really gone by that quick? Are these bulletins ever going to be interesting again?
This week marks the third week in a row that I’ve been disappointed with the material presented.
BS Angel comes back after a two week hiatus. And she doesn’t fail to disappoint us with a few paragraphs of nothingness to start. Really, do we care why she didn’t write the bulletin the last two weeks? I look to the bulletin for PERTINENT info about HALO…
Next is a section about being voted game of the year by Geekwire.
Yet more about the weapons tuning, specifically about streaming the testplay of it. No offense to those who like to, but I do NOT like to watch others play. I prefer to do the playing myself. Oh and Greenskull from RUL gets to go to Seattle and playtest with 343. Again, no offense to those who like or are a part of RUL, but damn, how about spreading the wealth around? Greenskull got to go to the actual set for Forward Unto Dawn. Sure, he’s a nice guy and all, but there are OTHER fans out there, ya know? There are plenty of other sites deserving of some recognition by 343. Am I saying my blog? That would be a bit self serving now wouldn’t it? I’m not saying any site in particular, just any DIFFERENT site, rather than those ones who have already been chosen time and again. Greenskull already has his place in Halo history with the FUD visit as well as having armor in Halo 4 “created” at a location that bears the name of his hometown. Sure, he’s got a popular website. Doesn’t mean he’s anymore a fan than anyone else….just sayin’.
Okay sorry about that last part folks, I’m just a bit depressed and seeing others who have already had more than their fair share get yet MORE makes me even more depressed.
At least one good thing about the weapon tuning article in the bulletin, we now have a concrete date as to when it’s going to roll out. June 3.
Next up in the bulletin is the matchmaking update.
Several community made maps on Forge Island are going to see rotation in playlists.
Map: Elevated by Smexi Bilzo
Infinity Slayer
Capture the Flag – 5 Flag
Extraction 1-Site
Map: Crucifix by Wraith2098
Capture the Flag – 5 Flag
King of the Hill
Infinity Slayer
Map: Onyx by Hahkarazy
Throwdown v3 Slayer
Throwdown Capture the Flag – 5 Flag
SWAT
Map: Confined by Big Papa Salot
TD Slayer Pro
Team Snipers
Capture the Flag – 5 Flag
Map: Ender by The Fated Fire
King of the Hill
Infinity Slayer
SWAT
Map: Forgotten by Flying Shoe ILR
Extraction 1-Site
Capture the Flag – 5 Flag
King of the Hill
In addition, Big Team Infinity Slayer and Infinity Slayer have some updates as well.
Big Team Infinity Slayer:
• Slayer Pro added to voting options.
• Complex added to map rotation. (Good. This map needs to be in rotation for larger team sizes)
• Voting options reorganized to provide increased variety.
Infinity Slayer:
• Slayer Pro added to voting options.
• Complex removed from map rotation. (Thank gawd. This map is WAY too huge for 4v4.)
• Voting options reorganized to provide increased variety.
HFFL: (Ugh, a no radar option. I hate not having radar. This should be in the Throwdown playlist only as that’s the MLG/Pro players settings.)
And finally, the now normal screenshot gallery is inserted. This one showcasing the EVA helmet. There are some good shots.
What bothers me most about these galleries is that I never seem to know what is upcoming so I can have a chance to submit a screenshot to possibly be picked.
Thus ends the bulletin. If you want to read the whole thing go here to the official site.
Well, maybe not should, but “could” be in SWAT.
I may be in the minority here, but I DO wish other weapons were available. Not in the same game mind you. I’d like to see a SWAT Carbine gametype within the SWAT Playlist. Same goes for Light Rifle. Honestly, if 343 made a LR SWAT playlist, I’d play it. As it is now, I’ve already maxed out DMR, BR, Carbine, Magnum. So the only other weapon feasible for SWAT for me, is the Light Rifle.
SWAT is one of two playlists I just don’t play any more. Once I maxed out those weapons, I never went back to SWAT. It’s the reason why I don’t have a CSR in SWAT. (The other playlist being Team Tryhard…er Throwdown.)
While we’re talking about it, is there a variant for Snipers? How about a Beam Rifle gametype within Snipers? I’d play snipers then if that weapons was available to use.
-Sal
First, the way Pete makes the hill move is ingenius!
Want to see HOW he did that? Check it out here:
A public BETA for Halo 4 would have revealed flaws in the gameplay. Something 343 could have fixed before it launched. Deadlines aside for a moment, had there been a public BETA AND time enough to make changes/fixes based on player feedback from playing the BETA, we most likely would have had a lot of the features we wanted instead of a lot that we didn’t want. Playlists would have been better from the get-go instead of playing catchup many months after release.
I SERIOUSLY hope 343/M$ has learned their lesson here and gives us a PUBLIC BETA for Halo 5. Not for Campaign/Spartan Ops. Just for Multiplayer.
I’m going to buy the game regardless. However, I’d like to know that my feedback has at least some impact on the final released game. Rather than we not having ANY feedback to give and being asked to trust a NEW company. By the time Halo 5 is released, 343 will no longer be new and a LOT will be expected of them. They won’t be given a “pass” on Halo 5 if it’s screwed up and not darn near completely ready to be released.
-Sal
Considering how the Halo 4 campaign played out, the UR Didact (which is the one we saw in the campaign) is dead. And really, I don’t want 343 to pull a switcheroo here and say he’s alive. Not from that fall and not from what he fell in to.
Now the Bornstellar Didact, yet, he should be in the next one. Considering he is the Didact reborn in a sense, he could be trouble. However, there could also be conflict within himself. That being his former Bornstellar persona fighting with his new Didact persona. In this respect WE could play AS the Didact in Halo 5. Similar to how we played as the Arbiter in Halo 2. This would be a nice way to give homage to Halo 2′s campaign but with a new-ish enemy.
Then in Halo 6, the Bornstellar Didact becomes a friendly, again much in the same way as the Arbiter did. Both he and Master Chief are paired up and you go up against the flood who have survived, possibly even a climatic battle with the gravemind itself. As for the other two multiplayer characters? Well, the Arbiter needs to make a return and then either Jul M’dama or another Spartan. Maybe Palmer or Thorne (who is being seen as Chief’s possible replacement now).
In that climatic battle, both the Bornstellar Didact and Master Chief are killed off, thus ending the saga of Chief and giving way to the rise of another Spartan, again possibly Thorne. Let’s not forget that by this time, Thorne will have had plenty of experience and won’t be the same recruit Spartan we see him as in Halo 4′s Spartan Ops.
-Sal
I bought the map pass. Would I mind if it or the respective map packs were reduced in price? Not now. It’s been a few months since the first one. I say reduce them. Get MORE people playing, rather than watching the population dwindle each day. It’s greed that drives the prices to not be reduced. Nevermind that by reducing them they’ll make at least SOME money AND get some population back…
I’m content with knowing that by buying the season pass I got them for a reduced price from the get go and got to play them immediately as son as they became available without waiting (other than the download). Those of us who bought the pass are well ahead of the curve of those who haven’t bought the pass/map packs yet.
Heck an influx of gamers into these map packs now would be great. Those maps would be played more, those of us who have them would likely be able to farm kills (since we have that advanced knowledge of map layout), etc.
Honestly, how much does M$ think they can milk this? IMHO, I think that there should be a standardized sale on any DLC (not just Halo. 3 months after DLC is released it goes on sale for 75% of cost. At 6 months it’s down to 50%. At a year 33%. That’s the lowest it would ever go then.
Having a structure such as this would allow those who don’t mind waiting, to do so knowing when to expect the sale price to come down. For those of us who have to have it immediately, we pay full price. Again though we have the advantage vs those who haven’t played on the DLC when it gets reduced. Also, for those “first-adopters” (people who pay full price), an extra “reward” could be given for purchasing at full price. In the case of Halo 4 a weapon skin or armor. In general, avatar items.
-Sal
Ordnance should be tiered. Plain and simple…
The more kills you get, the better your ordnance gets. Those poorly skilled players who get lucky and get a rocket launcher, wouldn’t anymore. Well, not until they killed a lot of people with lesser weapons.
Being good in Halo 4 doesn’t have much “reward,” especially when you can be killed by someone who got their first ordnance drop and it was an incineration cannon. That person who got the “InCin” then goes on to get a lucky killing spree due to a weapon the really didn’t deserve to get. Which in turn gives than yet another weapon drop…
Really???
The way I see ordnance dropping is that, for every 5 kills you get, (or a combo of kills/assists) you get a new drop. Each successive drop (for 5 kills/assists) is BETTER than the previous. It’s a reward for being BETTER than your opponents and a way to vanquish them quicker. Teams of unskilled players should NOT have a chance to beat skilled players with random drops that give them weapons that even skilled players can’t defend against.
This is one reason why when given the option, I ask my team to vote for NON-Infinity game types.
There really needs to be a CLASSIC playlist that is devoid of Infinity settings. (and ordnance altogether) Bring back TIMED weapons as specific areas on a map. Allow those teams of dedicated and/or skilled players to win because they have knowledge of those weapons spawning and have the skill to hold that area until those weapons spawn.
‘Nuff said.
Here’s a basic story line that gives us reasons why ODSTs aren’t present in Halo 4.
First, they ARE still around. Read the Kilo-5 novels (Glasslands/The Thursday War). These happen just prior to Halo 4.
Since the Infinity is home to a disproportionate amount of Spartans (albeit Spartan IVs), there is no need for ODSTs. As has been said, there are many who were previously ODSTs who are now Spartan IVs. Palmer is one of those. Spartans aboard the Infinity can perform the tasks of ODSTs easily.
Now as for a possible reason why they aren’t in the game…
343 wants us to focus on being Spartans, NOT ODSTs. This is one main reason why there is no choice for ODST armor in the game. Yes, the recruit helmet is similar to an ODST helmet and for good reason. It’s kind of the “transition” helmet from being an ODST to being a full on Spartan.
Again, this isn’t to say that ODSTs no longer exist in the Halo-verse as of Halo 4. They just aren’t in the same places that the campaign/Spartan Ops take place.
Personally, I’d love to see another ODST game.
In fact, this could happen with a very interesting story line. Palmer could be one of the stars of this game as could BUCK!
It was said of Buck that, “If he were any better, he’d be a Spartan.” Well, here’s that opportunity. Now that the processes for creating a Spartan from a fully grown adult are now possible within the Halo-verse, it’s quite plausible for Buck to become a Spartan.
So imagine a story where you can play as either Buck or Palmer (and possibly two other not yet named UNSC characters) who start out as ODSTs. Along the way, they are recruited to become Spartan IVs. You’re first few missions are those of them being ODSTs, then the transition to them being Spartans. This could go along quite well with Palmer’s Origin comic book by Darkhorse, coming out soon.
There are MANY fans of Buck/Nathan Fillion who would LOVE to have him back and active in the franchise again. I’m pretty sure, Nathan would love that too…
First I want to apologize for not posting as much lately.
Secondly, I need to ask you folks to say a prayer and/or with me luck. I’ve been unemployed now for 25 months. This has caused a GREAT strain on me. I find myself now in the position of possibly losing my home in two months.
I’ve already gone through unemployment, my 401K, savings, and tax refunds. I’m tapped. Over these last two year+ I’ve learned how to live with less. Now is the time that I may be forced to live without a home.
I’m in advertising by trade and have been a production artist, pre-press technician, graphic designer and art director. As a person in his mid 40s with 15+ years of experience, it’s become increasingly hard to find work. I’ve applied to well over 100 jobs over the course of my unemployment. I believe that I’m not able to find work so easily in part due to the economy. It’s a business’s job market now. They can afford to wait for the right candidate that won’t cost them so much. They can afford to take those with little to no experience and pay half as much as they would for me (someone who could start right out of the gate with practically no training needed).
During this time, I’ve applied TWICE for a position with 343 (yes, THAT 343). I was told by the recruiter the first time I applied that the position was down to me and one other. Now I don’t know if that was true or not and couldn’t get confirmation of this beyond the recruiter.
The second time I applied, it was through a different recruiter. Once again as the first time, I waited weeks which turned into months to hear back about the position, only to have the recruiter stop actively trying to fill the position.
I can’t fault 343 here. Though I do wonder what the heck is going on. I received an e-mail from Frank O’Conner himself. So he is fully aware of my blog. As well, BS Angel used to regularly post article from my blog, specifically the comic books I did of both Forward unto Dawn and Spartan Ops. Those have stopped now and the SpOps ones were not all posted. I found that strange.
Anyway, back to what’s going on with me. The stress level I have now (and I suffer already from anxiety and depression) is at an all time high. I KNOW that were I to find suitable work, that stress would likely be eradicated and I could get back on track with life and the blog.
I mentioned suitable work as I have a few slight disabilities that prevent me from taking just any old job to tide me over until I find a better one. The two most important here are Sleep Apnea and Spondylosis. The first disallowing me from being able to drive for long periods at a time since I can be prone to falling asleep without warning. The second is a condition I’ve had since before my military days that I had to get a waver for. This means I have a bad back and can’t stand for long periods of time, which in turn alienates me from MANY employment opportunities. So while I’d love to be able to take even a crappy job just to be able to pay the bills, with my medical issues, I’m not able to.
So where does this put me? Well, as I stated above, I’ve been out of work for 25 months, money has run dry, I’m limited in employment I’m able to perform and now run the risk of losing my home.
With all this, my attention has not been on the blog as much as it used to be. I hope and ask that you kind readers understand from the above why that is.
HFFL is paid for, for another 15 months, so I’m not worried about losing the site. That’s not the issue. It’s a matter of losing my home that is the biggest source of pain, angst, worry, stress, and anxiety that I face.
For the past 4 months, anything that I’ve posted regarding Halo toy review (with one or two exceptions) my wife has paid for. While I appreciate that, we can’t afford for her to do that any longer. I have been lucky enough that through my contacts with Mega Bloks and McFarlane to have received some free stuff, for which I promptly review here on HFFL. IN the mean time though, I am ashamed for having to ask my wife to pay for toys, especially when we’re in the financial state we’re in.
With all this said, why am I telling you readers?
Well, there may come a time in your life when you need to ask for support, be that in prayer, best wishes, money, work, etc. I’m at this crossroads. I dont’ expect anyone to give me money, and if they did, know that it would go toward my mortgage first as that is the TOP priority. I guess I just want you all to know WHY I haven’t been posting as much and again ask for your understanding and to stick with me/HFFL. While the posts may not be as frequent, I assure you that I’m not absent from the blog. I just have things that are supremely more important that I have to consider first before the blog.
I’m still here and will still be posting. You can bet that whenever things get back on track, I’ll be posting like I used to or even more.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and thanks for being a reader of HFFL.
It used to be that I’d be excited to read the bulletin. This and last week’s bulletins buck that trend. I’m not sure if it’s because Bravo is writing them or if it’s just that I don’t really care about weapons tuning, which is nearly all this week’s bulletin is about. All the weapons being tuned I’ve either maxed out or am really close to doing so. So this doesn’t affect me so much.
However, for those of you that haven’t maxed out the weapons or are more competitive than me you might want to check in on this week’s bulletin.
Bravo discusses a friend who is also a competitive Halo player coming to 343 for a look, weapons tuning, matchmaking playlist update (a limited time Community Forge Island Playlist will be coming), and finally the now standard gallery, this one featuring the Battle Rifle.
-Sal
