Coming soon from McFarlane Toys!
This is sure to be a quick sell-out like the Chief Vs. Hunter statue was. So stay tuned…
[UPDATE] Got a new pic showing the not as yet finished statue as being peered at by Todd McFarlane.
Looking good Todd, looking good!
-Sal
While on HaloWaypoint.com this morning, I came across this thread: https://forums.halowaypoint.com/yaf_postst214717p2_A-Middle-Ground-for-the-Xbox-One.aspx
Within is a pretty good argument for being able to play offline without having to check-in every 24 hours. Lots of other good ideas too. Decent read. Check it out.
-Sal
While perusing the interwebs this morning I found these links to Spartan Assault gameplay. ENJOY!
Win8 phone
Win8 Tablet
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SP1yZ1LQRjE
Okay, WHY isn’t this coming to XBOX Live Arcade? (Oh yeah, MS wants to sell Win8 devices and upgrade. Sigh) I gotta say, if I had a reason to own the tablet, I’d want to get Halo: Spartan Assault for it. If only the tablet was so costly…
-Sal
There has been much information coming out of E3 this week. Most of which deals with games. However, the biggest most important information we gamers can take from E3 is the difference between the XBOX One and the PS4.
Here are some of the facts:
XBOX One:
• Price $499
• Requires once every 24 hours check-in. This still hasn’t been clearly stated as to why and what happens if you don’t check in, not to mention how long your console won’t work for once you do turn it back on to check in. (If it has been mention, please someone give me a link so I can post it) I will say this. I’m NOT a child who needs to be baby-sat. Why MUST I check in with you Microsoft? Big brother indeed.
• Kinect included (A MUST feature that you can not choose to NOT have) With the tech this new Kinect has (being able to read heart rate, heat signatures, bone structure, is just a bit TOO invasive to me.) The tech sounds cool, but it’s implementation leaves something to be desired, IMO.
PS4
• Price $399
• No daily check-in
• No Kinect, which also means no invasive look at your bodice.
Now the matter of used games being bought/sold for fees or not is still muddy to me. Both companies have said you can buy/sell/trade their games without additional fees. However, if you look at those words carefully they both said THEIR games, not third-party games. So it could be taken as games developed by XBOX and PS won’t have costs, but outside developed games might. Again, offiicial links to say otherwise would be helpful.
Yes, there are more comparisons, but these are the ones that jump out at me the most and what I see/hear/read other gamers talking and complaining about.
Now on top of this we have Don Mattrick, President, Interactive Entertainment Business for XBOX saying that if you don’t have the internet, then stick with the 360. (Essentially saying the XBOX One isn’t for you.) He comes across as rather smug and further shoots Microsoft in the foot by this following comment: “When I read the blogs and they talked about who’s really most impacted, it was a person who said ‘Hey, I’m on a nuclear sub’,” said Mattrick. “I don’t even know what it means to be on a nuclear sub, but I’ve got to imagine it’s not easy to get an Internet connection.” How can you not know what it means to be on a sub? Really? Dude, you’re a president of a major corporation. You got to that position somehow. I’d hope smarts have something to do with it. If that’s the case then you should know what a sub is and that they don’t have easy access to the internet for casual purposes such as playing video games. He goes on to say, “It isn’t just about price, it’s about value. It’s the value for the price. What I believe is we have incredible value for the price we’re offering our system. And I think it’s unmatched compared to other things.” Um, hello there Don (may I call you Don)…XBOX 360 integrated movies, sports music and many other things into it without costing us anything more. So you’re basically saying we MUST have a Kinect (When that tech while better still isn’t perfect) with the new XBOX? How about giving us a “XBOX One Lite” that doesn’t have the Kinect and for $100 less… I’m fine with using my controller to get around, really, it’s okay Don.
Look, we know Microsoft wants to propel gaming (and other entertainment sources) into a full connective media. However, judging by the reaction from the gaming community at large that is something WE don’t want. Couple that with the creepiness of the Kinect being able to look at you and derive your heartrate, bone structure, heat signature and it’s just too much. Now add that you have to check in with them? Give me a frakin’ break. Oh and “Fantasy sport”…really? How many people are going to use that Microsoft? That was a selling point in your initial press release…really?
Sony/Playstation said all the right things in their conference at E3. Now we need to wait and see if what they said remains true or not. But in the meantime, Microsoft MUST counter this by either back pedaling on their new structure for the XBOX One or adding something so much more positive and better than the PS4 can give that gamers just can’t ignore it. Right now, MS is NOT doing that. And I highly doubt they are going to go back on their procedures for XBOX One now. That would look bad on them, even if it was to save face in the gaming community. And with comments like the one Mattrick stated above…well, the damage has clearly been done.
I’m a HALO fan. NOT a Microsoft fan. I was a Playstation gamer before switching to XBOX. When I discovered Halo for myself I was hooked on that game. I didn’t look back to Playstation even though I missed out on two of my favorite other franchises, those being Ratchet and Clank and God of War.
The community of gamers with XBOX is the only other thing next to Halo that is keeping me with XBOX. That said, if MS doesn’t give 343 more leeway with Halo and Halo 5 is just a good game, well…this gamer might have to think about some things. I want Halo to succeed. That much should be obvious due to my gamertag: HaloFanForLife1 Plus the fact that I have a whole blog dedicated to HALO!
But I’m NOT going to continue to support a company (MS) who can’t see past itself and the mistakes it is making all in the name of technological advancement.
We now as Halo fans have a greater understanding as to why Halo 4 was not the complete game we expected. The team at 343 was divided into the Halo 4 team and the Halo 5 team. Not to mention that small portion that had to advise on Spartan Assault, as well as those for Halo CE Anniversary. WAY too much on their plate for a start-up developer, even with MS throwing all sorts of money their way to get it all done.
We as Halo fans suffered a Halo game, that while good, was definitely not all it could and SHOULD have been. I blame this on Microsoft, not 343. It’s very obvious now why 343 was sweating it out when Halo 4 launched. It’s also obvious why we’re not getting a Spartan Ops season two, even though we were lead to believe this would be an ongoing series past season one.
Gawd, give me the opportunity (and management power) to right this course and I know I could bring something to the Halo franchise that would bring back the confidence in it’s fans. But that’s a whole other thing. I’ve applied twice to 343 before and it didn’t go anywhere…
Anyway, that aside, I won’t be getting the XBOX One at launch. Not just for all the restrictions, but also the likely bugs that the first adopters are going to have to deal with. Also, Halo isn’t launching first day.
Microsoft you MUST come clean as to why all these restrictions and rules need to be. Convince me why I should plunk down an extra $100 for your console. And you know what…Don’t be smug about it. Be apologetic for your XBOX President’s words. Bring your console back to being mostly and MAINLY a gaming console.
Does this mean I’ll switch to Playstation? Likely not. Actually what it may mean is that I give up gaming altogether when the 360 servers are finally shut down. Maybe I’m getting to old for this, but I do NOT want a company being able to look at me while I game. I do not need/want all of this extra connectivity. gawd knows life is already way to more complicated than it need be. You say you’re trying to simplify that, but in reality, you’re just making it easier for us to have MORE complicated lives…
In closing, Microsoft, PLEASE for yourselves and your consumer (you know the ones that actually drive your PROFIT margin) back off on these restrictions. Come clean with what those restrictions mean and for gawd sakes LOWER the cost of the XBOX One to MATCH the PS4!
Respectfully,
Sal Salerno
Owner/Blogger
HaloFanForLife.com
I want to take the time to thank all of you new to my blog for checking it out. I cover everything Halo. From the games to toys and collectibles, fan art to fact vs. fiction of the Halo-verse and more.
I hold contests from time to time, so be sure and sign up on the blog as they are exclusive to blog members. It’s FREE to sign up. You can click the “Register Me” above or shoot me an e-mail at sal@halofanforlife.com and let me know you want to sign up. You’ll need to provide me with what you want you’re screen name to be and what you want your password to be. (I do this to prevent spamming accounts)
HFFL’s TWO year anniversary is coming up soon and I will definitely be having contests with prizes for that. So if you want to take advantage of that, register.
Also, you can follow me on Twitter ( @halofanforlife) or on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/halofanforlife11. It’s the registered blog members though that get the chance at the Halo Swag!
Also, if you’re so inclined I recently opened up a HFFL swag store. This is a work in progress and I will have a lot more up on there shortly.
Thanks again and please keep coming back. Oh and less my long time readers think I’m not thinking about you, a HEARTY thank you for continuing to drive me to make HFFL better!
I appreciate you all GREATLY!
-Sal
Finally Dust from Podtacular gets the link up for the 3 1/2 hour podcast we did covering our day 1 review of E3. In this I’m part of a panel talking about all of Microsoft’s conference. I specifically take point on the Halo 5 trailer, then after words we breifly discuss the Sony/PS4.
If you’re only interested in the Halo portion, then once you’ve heard me talk about the trailer, you can stop there. However, you’ll be missing out on some good debate, conversation and fun along the way.
-Sal
Halo: Spartan Assault is a new top-down action shooter coming to Windows 8 PCs and tablets and Windows Phone 8 devices. Currently scheduled for release in July 2013, this touch-based Halo game takes place between the events of Halo 3 and Halo 4 and offers 19 new achievements worth a total of 190 points. If you’d like the lowdown on the relevant unlockables that will soon be added to your Gamerscore, take a look at the specifics below!
Overrun – Complete Operation A – 10 Points
Switched On – Complete Operation B – 10 Points
Switched Off – Complete Operation C – 10 Points
Evacuated – Complete Operation D – 10 Points
Terminated – Complete Operation E – 10 Points
Escort Service – Keep all Wolverines intact in Operation A, Mission 3 – 5 Points
Nowhere to Hide – Prevent all Jackals from regenerating their shield in Operation B, Mission 3 – 10 Points
Never Knew What Hit Them – Kill a convoy target with every stationary gun in Operation C, Mission 3 – 10 Points
Brute Force – Finish the objectives using only the Brute Shot, melee and grenades in Operation D, Mission 1 – 10 Points
Foot Soldier – Finish the objective without using any vehicles/turrets in Operation E, Mission 4 – 10 Points
Recruit – Earn a star of any type in an operation mission – 5 Points
Prodigy – Earn your first Gold star in an operation mission – 5 Points
117 – Earn all Gold stars in all operation missions – 20 Points
Distinguished Service – Earn all medals in the game at least once – 15 Points
Weapon of Choice – Score a kill with every handheld weapon (excluding Rocket Launcher and Spartan Laser) – 5 Points
Powered by MJOLNIR – Use every ability at least once (excluding Overshield and Seeker Drone) – 10 Points
Skull Combo – Complete any mission with the maximum number of Skulls active – 10 Points
Vidmaster Challenge – Complete Operation 5, Mission 1 with the Hollow and Black Eye Skulls active – 15 Points
Extra Credit – Complete 75 challenges – 10 Points
Text from Halowaypoint.com
I eluded to doing a podcast the other day. This one was for the Day 1 review of E3. In that podcast I broke down the Halo 5 trailer (as I’ve posted as such on the blog). We also reviewed the other game trailers and talked about the specs and rules for XB1’s online play, with a little comparison to Sony’s PS4.
Last night I along with Dust from Podtacular recorded another Podcast. This was done live via TwitchTv.
Last night’s Podcast was our final one regarding Spartan Ops Season One. We talked about the CG Epilogue and then went into some fun speculation and brainstorming as to what a season two of Spartan Ops might be about and when it might come about.
Dust hasn’t posted it just yet. I think he’s still editing the previous Podcast…Once he gets it up on his site, I’ll link to it here.
In the meantime, let me give a synopsis of some of the ideas I came up with for a SpOps Season 2.
With Requiem being thrown into the star of it’s solar system, we obviously can’t visit there. So this leaves us with Majestic being on the UNSC Infinity. What do they do now and where do they go? And WHY?
• There is always following up on the season ending cut scene with Halsey wanting Revenge. In doing so the Infinity could be used to chase her/Jul M’dama down.
-Chasing could be done on homeworlds of the former Covenant, finally getting to see the Grunt’s homeworld, maybe the Jackals, and Sanghelios would be something I think many would LOVE to see and visit in Spartan Ops.
– If not homeworlds, then colony worlds of the covenant. Makes sense as again, we’re chasing Jul’s Storm Faction of the Covenant and Covenant colony worlds would likely be welcoming of he and his fleet. Certainly more so than the UNSC Infinity.
– Searching former places Halsey has used as a base of operations. This would include Reach as well as Trevelyan. Since Trevelyan is a “Dyson” sphere Forerunner world there could be lots of opportunity to explore there. Also, Trevelyan was the place in which Jul M’dama was held prisoner for awhile. So he might want to exact some revenge there himself.
• Other than the Halsey story arc, we could see the Infinity investigating a resurgence of the human Insurgency that was prevalent pre-Covenant war. Dustin brought it up that people might not want to fight against fellow humans though. True enough. It was just and idea that I thought of while brainstorming SpOps Season 2.
• Another thought is that the UNSC does finally get the second part of the Janus key somehow and starts to explore other Forerunner installations. That story arc could go just about anywhere.
Chew on those ideas for a bit. Once Dust gets those links up, I’ll post them here and you can have a listen for yourselves. The E3 podcast was a long one at around 3 1/2 hours. We have a panel of folks.
Last night’s Spartan Ops finale was just under 2 hours and was solely Dust and myself. I think I talked the most during that one, LOL. Once I get started brainstorming, it’s hard for me to turn off the engine sometimes…
-Sal
You’re going to have the link to this soon. In the meantime, I want you all to know that I support the XBOX. Let me make that crystal clear. My comments during the podcast make it sound like I’m not. In actuality it’s a plea for Microsoft to learn what the perception is from the great public the difference between it’s XBOX One and the Playstation 4. The Sony conference at E3 did a great job pandering to the audience. They said all the right things. Even if that doesn’t win them this new console war, they most certainly won the first salvo. And this is all about impressions, first impression to be more precise.
Microsoft has to account for that and rebuff Sony/PS4. They need to come clean with some things, and definitely need to change other things associated with the XB1 prior to launch if they are to not just succeed but beat Sony/PS4.
I’m going to admit that Destiny looked pretty darn good. But I’m a Halo fan (for life). So that means for me, I’m sticking with Microsoft and the XBOX franchise. However, that doesn’t mean I have to like all the presumed hurdles we will have to jump through to be gamers on the XB1 console.
So bear this in mind folks should you listen to Podtacular’s podcast that I was in last night.
I want MS/XB1 to succeed. I mean that. But they’ve got a LOT of ground to make up, just to come even with PS at this point. I don’t just want that. I want MS/XB1 to supercede Sony/PS4.
Long live Halo and long live Master Chief!
-Sal
I did a Podcast with Podtacular last night that last more than 3 1/2 hours (on air, then another hour after). Finished this about 3:30 am EST… I’ll have the link to that Podcast when Dust from Podtacular gets it up on the net.
What I’m about to say may spoil you Halo 5 experience. So if you don’t want to know anything about Halo 5 stop reading this particular article now….
Okay, with that out of the way, I eluded to this yesterday in an article…Mendicant Bias is the Forerunner mech/construct that is seen in the E3 trailer.
Now, how do I know this? Well, it took a bit of detective work and a little bit of luck. Immediately after watching the trailer, while having another window open for my browser, I noticed someone in my feed mention Mendicant Bias regarding the terminals form Halo 3. Immediate I knew there was something there and went to work. Looking back at the terminals, relistening to Halo: Rebirth (a audio log you can unlock by using the code that comes with Halo Silentium) I came upon the nugget of information that tells of trial of Mendicant Bias after his defeat by Offensive Bias. Mendicant Bias is kept alive by the “Iso” Didact due to his knowledge of the Flood. However, he’s buried in a desert on Installation 00 (the Ark). He is only allowed to think of “Atonement.”
That desert is the very same one we see Master Chief walking in, in the trailer. At first you might have thought the Forerunner construct was a War Sphinx. I did too…But then “re-finding” this story, it was easy to figure out that this wasn’t the case. Now maybe (for whatever reason) Mendicant is encased in a War Sphinx carcass.
Think about this for a moment. Master Chief defeats the (Ur)Didact in Halo 4. He needs a new enemy, one that is worse than the Didact. Who better than Mendicant Bias.
However, there IS the possibility that Mendicant Bias ISN’T the enemy after all. Rather, it’s very possible the (Ur)Didact, that’s the one we faced in Halo 4, survived and is planning once again for his revenge against humanity. Gaining more knowledge of Forerunner tech (as eluded to from Spartan Ops in Halo 4), we learn of the location of Mendicant Bias and as Chief we pay him a visit. This to reactivate him in order to finally destroy the UrDidact.
So he will be a powerful villain or ally. Either way, this opens up a fantastic story to be told within the campaign of Halo 5!
Want to listen to the Audio log from Silentium? Here you go! (I’ll warn you in advance that the reading can be dry and plodding at some point)
So there you have it folks, a more complete breakdown of the trailer and who we can expect to see in Halo 5.