Halo 4 modders figured out how to unlock the Headhunter gametype. Check the vid below!
Links for the gametype and a map are at the youtube link above. Now let’s see how long it takes 343 to put this into matchmaking…
-Sal
Articles incoming tomorrow….been ill and busy at the same time.
Hi folks, I know the past few days I’ve been sort of light on articles. I both hurt my back over the weekend and had a super migraine. Both sort of hampered my ability to write up articles.
Hard to concentrate with the headache. As well, hard to sit up in my chair to write. SO I posted what I could in the interim.
During this time however, I’ve been handwriting down ideas for articles. In the coming days, I plan on releasing articles on what Halo means to me. This article I’ve had to write and rewrite this and continue to do so. It’s an article that is hard to pin down certain points as Halo means a LOT to me in many ways.
As well, I’ve been looking at the “ABC’s of Halo.” This is an idea I posted a week or so ago. That article will go over what I (and readers contributions) feel the next Halo SHOULD have, as well as things we’d like to have in the game. This specific article may span over the course of a few articles as there are many things to consider.
I encourage you all to send in ideas to me about things you’d like for me to write about. As well, if you have any breaking news about Halo, PLEASE feel free to contact me. As I say to every new subscriber, I’m always looking for new and more things Halo to write about.
Thanks for continuing to come back these past few days, even though the news has been scarce. Illness and pain suck and I just needed to try to take a break.
Respectfully,
Sal
Halo Toy Review: Mega Bloks Blue Series Rockethog
Mega Bloks Blue Series Rockethog: #97159
Technical Specifications:
Build Time: 30 minutes
Set Piece Count: 193
Minifigs: Spartan Mark V [B] Blue, Air Assault Spartan Blue
Weapons: Socom pistol, DMR
Accessories: N/A
Price: $20. Target Exclusive
Special Features: Rotating/pivoting Rocket turret, wheels spin, independent suspension.
And on with the pics! (Click pics to make BIGGER)
This set is part of a small “Blue” series. In particular it’s the rockethog. This version is no different than the one that came with the AA Turret VS Rockethog set, other than it’s BLUE color instead of the normal green. That said, it’s a good build!
The back of the box. This shows one of the other “Blue” sets in the form of the Banshee.
The pieces all sorted out. Good mix of black and blue pieces here. And those tan camo…we’ll get to those later.
Well, it’s later, lol. The tan camo pieces are being used to prop up the model while building it. What’s great is later on when they are taken off then can be used as ground pieces! GREAT choice there by Mega Bloks to do this. I like them better than solid red or yellow as we normally get. Anyway…the above photo shows the chassis being put together.
The sides of the hog are assembled and attached.
Part of the front end assembled and attached.
Here we see the steering column, console and back end assembled and attached as well.
The windshield and rollbars attached. Then the wheels. We have a hog, but not yet a ROCKET hog. At this point, you could stop if you wanted to keep this as a civilian warthog, which I almost did.
The orthogonal views of it, sans Rockets.
The rocket assembly attached.
Here are the two minifigs you get with the set. If you missed the previous blue Air Assault and want one to be “Kat” from Reach, then this is a good alternative, even if the blue is darker than her actual armor color.
Orthogonal views of the figures.
As usual, Mega gives us plenty of leftover pieces.
At first I made a rock formation with the tan camo, then made a simple wall with them. Again, kudos to Mega for choosing to use that color of blok instead of a bland solid color.
Finally, I took the remaining black and blue pieces and made a slanted mechanics lift, so a UNSC engineer could work on the hog if needed. The blu cross bar on the lift holds the hog in place.
Summary: This set takes a very short time to sort and build. While it’s an older design (as in older than the Halo 4 style), it’s still a great design for the hog. We’ve only had the rocket hog of this variety once before, so I’m glad to see it back in rotation. Also, it’s the first time we have it in blue. The build is solid and the figures look great! The value is decent. If you break it down, minifigs cost about $3 each in those single packs. This leave $14 for the hog itself, which I think is definitely worth it.
Overall Rating: I give this set 10 out for 10 medals.
Thanks for reading and let me know what you think of the review. If you have this set yourself, please give me your thoughts on it too!
-Sal
One of a kind Halo Ford Raptor up for sale!
Remember this awesome prize from the multiplayer contest back in January? It’s up for sale by the winner!
Strongside, winner of this one of a kind prize is selling it. Wow, I don’t know what to say. I guess he’s hard up for cash. Otherwise, no way I’d give up something like this, had I won it.
The following text is reposted from another article (source link at bottom of this article):
In the world of video games, one vehicle stands out as one of the most rugged and capable: the Warthog from the Halo series. It can traverse rocky alien planets, endure gut-wrenching drops and plow through paths of alien scum all in a day’s work. Unfortunately for us not in virtual reality, we will never know what it feels like to drive the Warthog off of a cliff in the middle of a firefight, but one of our latest listings will get you as close as humanly possible.
The Ford Raptor recently listed on duPont REGISTRY was the grand prize for the Halo 4 Infinity Challenge tournament held in 2012 and 2013. The truck is being listed by Michael Cavanaugh (AKA StrongSide) who came in first place during the global Halo 4 tournament after the grand finals in Jan. 2013. Cavanaugh has kept the truck in his garage, only adding 226 miles to the odometer. He says that he treats it as a trophy and a reminder of his success in the gaming world, making it, quite literally, a trophy truck.
The Halo Ford Raptor was crafted by none other than Galpin Auto Sports, who is known for making some of the most unique vehicles on the road. Indeed, it is a one-of-a-kind machine on this, or any other, planet. The exterior is covered with a finish designed to match the famous Warthog, with United Nations Space Command (UNSC) logos from the Halo series on the sides and bed cover. Some more exterior eye-catchers are the 17″ Ford Racing beadlock wheels wrapped with 35×12.5 R17 Nitto Mud Grapplers.
Inside this truck is where the theme of the car is really brought out. Custom “Halo” upholstery covers the seats, matching the exterior perfectly. More importantly, there are four TVs found throughout the truck. There is one TV on the dashboard, one that drops down from the ceiling and two found on the headrests of the passenger and driver seats. Connected to each of these TVs is an Xbox 360, making it perfect for road trips. Cavanaugh said he and his friends would spend some nights just sitting in the truck, playing video games. If you are looking for the perfect road trip truck, there is no better option out there.
Of course, being a Ford Raptor, it can handle just about anything you throw at it. With 11″ of wheel travel and a Whipple supercharger attached to the 550hp, up from the stock 411 hp, 6.2-liter V8 engine, this truck is an off-road monster.
So, now is your chance to own this one-of-a-kind Halo Ford Raptor. It’s perfect for someone looking for an off-road and road trip-worthy vehicle. Just imagine playing the upcoming Titanfall video game while you wait for your friends driving their Call of Duty Jeeps.
Should you want to buy this…(heh, yeah right…that $200,000 price tag isn’t going to move this fast. I wonder what the best offer will be), you can go to this link. More pics of this cool one-of-a-kind vehicle at that link!
Amazing enough, it only has 226 miles on it.
Hmm, now where did I leave that spare $200K lying about? LOL
-Sal
Halo Fan Friday League tonight!
It’s Friday,so that means it’s Halo Fan Friday League. Come join me tonight for matchmaking and customs.
As always, the playlist will be determined by the party size. I have created a new forge map that I want to test out. Beyond this, I’m looking to hit Multi-team Regicide hard tonight.
So please come out and game. Hit me up with an invite request at my GT: HaloFanForLife1
We start at 8:30pm EST.
-Sal
Halo Toy Review: Mega Bloks Collector’s Edition Pack
Mega Bloks Collector’s Edition Pack: Set #97205
Technical Specifications:
Build Time: N/A
Set Piece Count: 59
Minifigs: Spartan Mark V [B] GOLD, Spartan Grenadier GOLD, Spartan HAZOP GOLD, Spartan Air Assault (Active Camo); Elite General Blue, Elite Commando Blue X2, Grunt Minor Blue
Weapons: Pink energy sword, Focus Beam, Plasma Rifle, Plasma Launcher; SMG (Active Camo), DMR, Assault Rifle, Grenade launcher
Accessories: 2X3 figure stands (8 pieces)
Price: $20. Target Exclusive
Special Features: N/A
And on with the pics! (Click pics to make BIGGER)
This packaging is quite different than anything else that we’ve gotten from Mega Bloks. It’s pretty cool.
The back of the box shows the figures off very nicely. As well, it shows two of the Blue series sets.
Here are the minifigs pre-assemebled in separate baggies.
The weapons included. Nice assortment here. Not really a fan of the Pink energy sword, but not a detractor though.
Covenant minifigs. I didn’t show the additional Elite Commando here as it’s the same. The Elite general is a great color.
Here are the gold Spartans. SHINY!
Oh that sweet active camo effect!
Here’s the whole gang hanging out and waving to the crowd.
Is a battle about to ensue? Hmm, looks like the Air Assault Spartan is getting the drop on one of the Elite Commandos.
Summary: No time needed to build this as it’s just the figures, weapons and their stands. The figs came pre-assembled. This is a nice set. The Gold color is very nice. I do wonder why there were two of the same style elite in this one, especially since it wasn’t the common Elite minor (most common in the game). Still, the Covenant figures are great for army building. Of course I LOVE the active camo figure. As a fan of clear figures anytime one of these is offered I’m always glad to add it to my collection.
The valur is decent enough. At $20, it puts each figure at $2.50 each, which is less than the single blind pack figures.
Overall Rating: I give this set 9 out for 10 medals. It would have got a 10 had it had a different figure other than the duplicate.
Thanks for reading and let me know what you think of the review. If you have this set yourself, please give me your thoughts on it too!
-Sal
NECA and 343 Industries announce partnership for new line of Halo Merchandise
Text taken directly from source link.
Hillside, NJ – November 12, 2013 – National Entertainment Collectibles Association (NECA), entertainment conglomerate and global leader in licensed consumer goods, has partnered with 343 Industries for a new worldwide merchandise program for “Halo®”, the award-winning franchise that has shaped video game and entertainment history.
“We are thrilled to be part of a franchise with such wide-reaching impact,” said Joel Weinshanker, president and COO of NECA. “Bringing the rich universe of Halo to tangible form is an honor, and we’ll be working closely with 343 Industries to ensure Halo’s loyal fans around the world are pleased with the result.”
The new line will be available to consumers beginning in April 2014, and will include a wide assortment of products, including 1:4 scale action figures, mini figures, DOT-approved motorcycle helmets, prop replicas, board games, and HeroClix miniatures games for a variety of platforms.
“We love seeing the Halo worlds and aspects of its universe being translated into new forms and functions, but it’s rare that we get the chance to see its rules, modes of play and strategies reinterpreted through another lens, so we couldn’t be happier to return to the world of HeroClix and Halo with our old friends at NECA and the broader partnership, with replicas, large scale action figures and more is going to bear some amazing fruit. But I won’t lie, the idea of cruising around on my motorbike with a Halo-inspired DOT approved helmet gives me goose bumps,” said Frank O’Connor, Franchise Development Director of 343 Industries.
HFFL: Hmm, yet more action figures? I wonder what McFarlane and Mega Bloks think of this partnership???
I just hope I have money by the time this stuff shows up at retail. I can just imagine one of those Spartan bike helmets now….
Oh and more HeroClix? COOL! I have all of those to date and really enjoyed the line. I wish more had been done. So this looks like that opportunity.
Prop Replicas? Oh my, might we expect some weapons props???? Let me pick my jaw up off the floor for a second…
-Sal
Spartan Assault NEW XBOX 360/One Achievements revealed!
Text from HaloWaypoint:
Halo: Spartan Assault is coming to the Xbox One and Xbox 360 this December with a new online Co-op mode that brings the Flood into the fray. But with new content comes new achievements, and below you’ll find the achievement lists for Xbox One and Xbox 360. We’ve broken up the Gamerscore points for which achievements are new to Halo: Spartan Assault, which are exclusive to the Xbox One version, and the original Halo: Spartan Assault achievements from the Windows 8/Windows Phone version making their way over to the console versions.
For additional information including videos, screenshots and more, check out the official Halo: Spartan Assault page.
(Click to make bigger)
And in case you need/want to know the old ones, here are those too.
No word yet on the cost and when EXACTLY this will release, other than sometime this December.
-Sal
Halo 5 map??? Or new Forge World for Halo 4?
Vic DeLeon of 343 tweeted the following two pics last night:
He states in his tweet, “Can’t sleep. Making worlds again.”
I asked him if this was for the next Halo game or Halo 4. Waiting on a response, if any.
-Sal
Halo 2 Anniversary?
On the heels of yesterday’s “Halo Legacy” news, here comes another possible Halo title. This being the hoped for Halo 2 Anniversary game.
I think this one is fan made, but dang,it’s still looks cool. I wish 343 would be quick to debunk this kind of stuff. Maybe they have, but I haven’t yet seen it on their official twitter account…
-Sal
That 294MB Halo 4 update yesterday? Here’s what it did.
If you haven’t played Halo 4 in the last day you will be prompted to download a title update which addresses several known issues. Here is a breakdown of what is included:
- Fixed an issue where player Loadouts would reset back to default
- Fixed an issue where players in Forge were unable to see other players while in Monitor mode
- Fixed an issue where the Mark V, Prefect, and Ricochet forearm armor would display incorrectly
- Fixed an issue where Champions Bundle armor sometimes disappeared in networked War Games matches
- Fixed an issue where Champions Bundle armor appeared incorrectly in Theater film clips
Well,I for one am happy that the loadout issue is resolved. That was a pain in the arse. I do wish that the Champions Bundle armor could now be seen in Spartan Ops…Doutbful that’s going to happen though.
-Sal
Microsoft Game Studios head Phil Spencer talks Halo Wars…sequel…
IGN posted an article with Microsoft Game Studios head Phil Spencer. In it among other things he talks about Halo Wars and the possibility of a sequel to the RTS game. Below is a direct copy/paste of the Halo portion of the article.
“I’m a big fan of Halo Wars,” Spencer said when asked about the Xbox 360 real-time strategy game. Since its launch in 2009, the strategy spin-off hasn’t been heard from again. It was never released on PC (despite seemingly being a perfect fit) and developer Ensemble Studios shut down following the game’s completion. The studio’s founder revealed last year that Bungie wasn’t pleased with “the whoring out of [its] franchise.” But years have now passed and Bungie is no longer owned by Microsoft, so what’s the status of Halo Wars?
“[Halo Wars is] something I’m very interested in. Bonnie [Ross, 343 Industries GM] and I talk about it quite a bit,” Spencer revealed. “I think Halo Wars falls in the shadow of the Halo FPS. I mean, you’re doing 10 or 12 million units of the Halo FPS, anything else that comes out Halo that doesn’t hit those numbers, it’s kind of easy for certain people to look at it and say, ‘Well, that didn’t work.’ And I don’t think that’s the right measure of success; I think Halo Wars was a high-quality console-based RTS game. It was fun.
“And especially now, when I think about some of the capability — you might roll your eyes at this — but when I think about some voice and other things that you could add to that, that’s the kind of gameplay that I think would be great in those scenarios. And also a game that maybe I could play on multiple devices: I could play on Windows as well, I could play on console, because it has that gameplay that lends itself so well to that. So I suspect you’ll see us do something with…they’re kind of busy right now at 343, which is good, we’re really happy with what they’re working on. But I think there is opportunity for us to do something more with that franchise and Bonnie, Kiki [Wolfkill, 343 executive producer], and Josh [Holmes, creative director] are doing a great job in thinking holistically about the Halo franchise.”
As for who would develop such a game, IGN mentioned Robot Entertainment, the Ages of Empires Online and Orcs Must Die developer that was founded by former Ensemble employees. Spencer didn’t seem so sure that’s the direction that Microsoft would go in, though. “I haven’t talked to [Robot Entertainment] in a while,” he said. “In fact, I’m not sure what the status of that studio is. If we were going to do something we’d either have to think about doing it internally or finding a good RTS developer to help. There aren’t a lot of great RTS developers out there anymore. We’d want to do a great job with it.”
HFFL: Now this is some interesting news. Personally, while I haven’t gotten all of the achievements in Halo Wars, I’d still LOVE to see a sequel. For one, the thought of the Spirit of Fire returning after so long away is exhilarating! Even if this wasn’t the approach made, still a new Halo Wars I’m pretty sure would be welcomed.
I see the possibility of Spartan Ops transitioning to this. Imagine also being able to take over factions such as UNSC, Arbiter’s Covenant, Jul M’Dama’s Storm Faction, Didact/Prometheans, Flood, Brutes and maybe even Insurrectionists?? WOW!
Thanks to HaloBungie.org for tweeting this out.
-Sal
Halo Legacy for XBOX One???
I can not confirm or deny this as real. It was sent to me via a friend. So take it with a grain of salt.
If real, it would be good news for XBOX One owners. If fake, meh no biggie, though I imagine some fans would love to see this become a reality.
Though…if it is real, it definitely shows why 343 hasn’t been getting the job done in Halo 4 as they should have been.
Honestly, I hope this is fake. We need to MOVE ON from the old days, much as it pains me to say. We are never going to see Halo as it was with Bungie, anymore. Given 343’s distancing themselves from Bungie Halo stuff, I can’t see this being real.
So what do you think? Real/Fake? Would you LIKE it to be real?
Reply below!
-Sal
Multi-Regicide is HERE!
The winner of the second Community Choice poll for the rotational playlist is Multi-team Regicide, or Multi-Regicide.
It’s starts today and I’m excited to play this. I need only 31 more Regicide wins to FINALLY unlock that elusive Kingslayer emblem. Seen below:
Hopefully I can knock those wins out in short order.
I’ll be playing a crap-ton of Multi-team these next two weeks until my goal is achieved….
-Sal
A new project and I need YOUR help.
I’m planning a series of articles titled, “The ABC’s and XYZs of Halo.”
This series will explore what fans want and expect to see in Halo game, specifically the next Halo game. The articles will cover what has been left out, changed, stayed the same, etc. Most importantly though, I want this to be a COMMUNITY project. Not just me ranting about what I want to see in the next Halo game. Though of course I will have a heavy influence on my own articles…makes sense, right?
So, what I’m asking is for YOU to think of things you think SHOULD be in the next Halo game, what you WANT to see in the next Halo game and what you think core Halo gameplay IS.
The way I want you to submit your suggestions is in a bullet point format. For example:
A. Arbiter (want to see his return)
B. Balanced Weapons
C. Cortana (comes back)
Now I don’t expect you all to submit a complete A-Z list. Just send me a list of things as mentioned above. Be sure though that the bullet points start with the corresponding letter and yes PLEASE keep them alphabetical.
I’ll be asking for your submissions for the next two weeks. I’ll stop taking submissions then. After which, I’ll start writing up the articles. I may cover just ONE letter at a time or more, depending on how many different submissions I get. As to how to submit your list, please e-mail me at [email protected].
This is YOUR opportunity to make your voice heard. I plan on making these articles known to every other major Halo centric website out there in hopes to spark up renewed interest in the franchise. With the next game supposedly due winter next year, some of these things may be too late to add, but it does NOT hurt to make our opinions known, as there may just be enough time.
Now, I want to make clear, this is NOT a “bitch-fest,” or a way to slam 343. It is to be a series of sincere articles exclaiming our desires as fans as well as practical reasons for having certain items/options in (or out of) the next game.
I’m looking forward to what you come up with!
-Sal