Have you got your 20 games in? Today’s the last day for this week. In the meantime, just LOOK at the top FOUR places. The fourth person is just 2 games from 100, with the top three over that. ALL 1st place finishes….
Given the lead the 4th place person has over 5th, I think we MIGHT have our first 4 from the weekly challenges to move on to Seattle. We’ll see if that changes by the end of the day.
One thing I do know, I wish to hell I was that good to have 115 1st place finishes….
-Sal
I’ve actually done the Mantis stomp one using that very same grav lift!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gupmggBT__Q
Text from Sparth:
explorations and final concepts for the Halo 4 Mammoth.
first side concepts done by me. worked a lot with RJ Ranola and his awesome 3d skills in order to bring this vehicle to completion. third image is painted over his model. also adding a game screenshot of the front.
lots of work from all 343 teams too.
Gawd, I SO want an ALL Sparth Halo 4 concept art book!!!
-Sal
As of 10AM Wednesday PST here are the top ten gamers in the Halo 4 Global Championship:
The leaderboard has changed since yesterday. Wettimage who was in first yesterday with 66 1st place finishes has dropped down to 3rd place with 76 1st place finishes.
And “eL ToWn” has vaulted into first place with 82 1st place finishes. WOW! You can’t just be good to be in this competition. Not even GREAT… You have to be AWESOME!. The fourth place gamer currently has 71 1st place finishes.
This is what it takes if you want to go to Seattle to game for that $200K 1st place prize!
Good luck to all participants.
-Sal
I’m VERY skeptical about this, considering the video is done by “Halo4Modding”
Taking this with a HUGE grain of salt…
Last Gasp: So a grenade that poops out of you when you die? Um, I think we can ALL see why this was a good idea to cut. Seems like this happens without this mod anyway…
Aural Enhancement: Really? We need a back-up beeper to alert us of enemies? USE YOUR RADAR and your EYES folks….LOL Glad this wasn’t in either.
Battle Awareness: Seeing your enemy’s shields. Okay, if you’ve shot them 5 or 6 times, you should know they are ready to die. Honestly, if these three were really made for the game and then added, it would have shown that 343 was trying to make the game OVERLY n00b friendly, an accusation they’ve already been charged with by the masses.
I’m going to call this video BUNK. Again due to the author of the video, until 343 says otherwise.
Thanks to TeamBeyond for tweeting this…I guess. LOL
-Sal
Yesterday I posted this list. I didn’t have the time to break it down and talk about it. Now I’ve got the time, so let’s look at each “Cheevo” individually. First things first though, if you didn’t notice, ALL but two of the cheevos are NOT map specific! YEAH!!!! 343 listened to our please about this with regards to former map packs. THANKS 343!!!
Now for the below, I’m talking from the point of NOT BOOSTING these cheevos…
Protect this House (30)
In matchmaking, assassinate the ball carrier within five meters of your own goal in Ricochet.
HFFL: Oh this one is going to be fun! It will require epic timing! I’m not much of an assassin, but I’ll look to get this one done ASAP. Likely one of the hardest ones in this pack for me to get.
Hat Trick (33)
In matchmaking, score three times in one round of Ricochet.
HFFL: Ahh Yeah! I am DEFINITELY going to “tryhard” for this one. Love the Hockey reference too! Honestly, if you’re an objective runner like I am, this shouldn’t be too hard. If you’re more of a slayer type…difficulty setting will be adjusted.
From Downtown (25)
In matchmaking, score by throwing the ball from 30 meters in Ricochet.
HFFL: Oh HELLS yeah! I LOVE that we can score by passing. This is going to make Ricochet just THAT much more FUN. This shouldn’t be hard at all to get.
Repeat Survivor (25)
In matchmaking, survive three vehicle explosions in a row with the Survivor package.
HFFL: Hmm, considering I drive/gun a lot, this should be a no brainer. Bummed that it means we have to have three vehicles destroyed though. Difficulty level for this is normal to hard.
Can’t Catch Me (20)
In matchmaking, score a goal in Ricochet while taking damage with the Resistor active.
HFFL: This seems pretty simple. Make Active Resistor, let someone shoot you. DONE! EASY.
Just a Scratch (20)
In matchmaking, recover full shields from low health with both Resistor and Recharge active.
HFFL: This one seems like it shouldn’t be hard to get. However with Resistor and Recharge stacking, it means taking damage will be harder PLUS your shields recharge faster. So you’re going to have to be in the middle of a gunfight, get whittled down to almost nothing, THEN find your way out of it, THEN recover from it. Difficulty: Hard (Again, NOT boosting!)
Pitchin’ a Tent (40)
In matchmaking, effectively camp one location without dying for a full 60 seconds.
HFFL: OMG, a camping cheevo? LOL I’m already reading complaints on Waypoint forums and twitter about this one. Folks, this is EASY. DO it, get your 40GS and move on. Oy that innuendo! LOL
One Man Army (27)
In matchmaking, get 4 consecutive kills with the Rocket Launcher without dying.
HFFL: Oh yeah! I loves me some Rocket Launcher. A fun cheevo that you just know will piss off the other team. You may even get some hate mail for being a n00b! I’m cool with that as I’ll have 27 more GS!!!
Shocking (10)
In Bullseye DLC Matchmaking, activate both electrical surge systems during a match on Vertigo.
HFFL: One of only two that are map specific, this should be fairly easy. At the start of the match, go for the opposing surge. Then turn around and activate yours. DONE. Easy to normal difficulty.
Got It! (20)
In Bullseye DLC Matchmaking, acquire the Rocket Launcher at the start of a match on Pitfall.
HFFL: Race to ROCKETS! EASY!!!
Honestly, these are pretty good cheevos. Just a couple have some difficulty to them. Yes, I can hear those saying, but achievements are supposed to be hard. Meh, I want them to be FUN, not hard. (TWSS…)
-Sal
It has been nominated for: Outstanding Main Title Design
Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn • Machinima.com • 343 Industries in association with Microsoft Studios
Heiko Schneck, CG Lead
Fabian Poss, Producer/Animator
Csaba Letay, Compositor
Jan Bitzer, CG Lead/Editor
-Sal
The achievements for the upcoming Bullseye map pack (part of the Champions Bundle Pack) have been revealed via the HaloWaypoint app. These are:
Protect this House (30)
In matchmaking, assassinate the ball carrier within five meters of your own goal in Ricochet.
Hat Trick (33)
In matchmaking, score three times in one round of Ricochet.
From Downtown (25)
In matchmaking, score by throwing the ball from 30 meters in Ricochet.
Repeat Survivor (25)
In matchmaking, survive three vehicle explosions in a row with the Survivor package.
Can’t Catch Me (20)
In matchmaking, score a goal in Ricochet while taking damage with the Resistor active.
Just a Scratch (20)
In matchmaking, recover full shields from low health with both Resistor and Recharge active.
Pitchin’ a Tent (40)
In matchmaking, effectively camp one location without dying for a full 60 seconds.
One Man Army (27)
In matchmaking, get 4 consecutive kills with the Rocket Launcher without dying.
Shocking (10)
In Bullseye DLC Matchmaking, activate both electrical surge systems during a match on Vertigo.
Got It! (20)
In Bullseye DLC Matchmaking, acquire the Rocket Launcher at the start of a match on Pitfall.
Thanks to TeamBeyond for tweeting this!
So last night I joined in with a friend of mine I hadn’t gamed with in a couple of weeks. He wanted to play Legendary Slayer. I hadn’t played it yet, so I was game to try it. OMG, was it AWESOME!!!!
It FEELS like classic Halo gameplay, other than Sprint. NONE of those freakin’ ordnance drops. AR starts ONLY. You must find the power weapons and they spawn at certain intervals. Now THIS is the Halo I came to LOVE.
THIS is the playlist that should have been there at launch. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, go tell your friends that might have given up on Halo to come back and play this playlist. I can’t stress enough how much FUN I had and how much it felt like HALO again!!! Sprint didn’t make a big difference in the game. What did was knowing everyone had the same starting weapons and that there were not power weapons being dropped all over the place. AND you can PICK UP GRENADES, no armor mods/tactical package needed as it’s default for the playlist!
Below is 343’s matchmaking update info on this playlist:
Legendary Slayer
Legendary Slayer premieres today (Monday) in Halo 4, offering a Slayer variant with default starting weapons, on-map weapons, and motion tracker enabled. Here are the key settings:
The singular loadout is:
We’re excited to deliver a brand-new experience to Matchmaking that will focus on even starting weapons and map control, with players fighting to gain control of all rifles, power weapons and each map’s power positions. The playlist launched on the following maps, which have been custom-created specifically for this playlist:
End copy/paste
Let me stress this again, THIS IS WHAT HALO IS! If I never play in another playlist in Halo 4, I will be happy!
-Sal
This bundle is a TON more than just 2 maps. Seems like folks want to call out only those parts of the bundle they like and then say that’s all it is. I’ve read others say, it’s only armor or it’s only skins, etc. It’s ALL of this. None of this specific content is recycled, but for maybe Pitfall, and even that has been dramatically redesigned.
Would it have been nice to get this pack free? Sure, but where is the business sense there? Mind you I’d LOVE to have noobs come back to the game so I can PWN. But honestly, even if this were free, I doubt we’d see much of an increase anyway and it wouldn’t last. There are just too many games out there for people to choose from. This is why the perceptions are so skewed when it comes to play population. If you compared Halo 3 to Halo 4, then you’re saying Halo 4 is a failure.
One simple thing people don’t take into account is that there were less big blockbuster games back then to take you attention away from Halo. Now there are several successful franchises out there. So Halo has more to compete against. If makes perfect sense that player population isn’t going to be were it was, especially when more games (big name/franchises) keep coming out.
With Halo being a 1 every year/other year thing now, it’s pretty safe to assume that we’re not going to get these packs free.
Regarding Halo collector perceptions:
One thing that I do find strangely funny in an odd way is when collectors gripe about the cost of the map packs. We spend HUNDREDS of dollars on the toys, but when a simple $10 bundle pack comes out, people complain. Seriously???
To quote a Halo collector: “People are just saying that $10 for some recycled assets is a bad deal.” And yet Mega Bloks, McFarlane, Funko and other licensees reuse molds of their toys all the time and put new paint on it. For example, one jut ONE McFarlane figure cose more than this whole pack. That same figure could be repainted in 5 different colors, yet people buy it. It’s the same toy, just a different color. How about the Mega Bloks multipacks? For a long time we were getting the same figures, just in different colors. Yet people clamored over them.
I fail to see how this bundle pack is bad when comparing this. With the bundle pack we are getting ALL NEW stances, some NEW armor, a NEW map, a NEW game type, then the armor and weapons skins.
I’m willing to bet most collectors have spent WAY more on Halo Mega Bloks, McFarlane, Funko, Jada, etc., than they have on the games themselves. Yet it’s the games that keep ALL other Halo lines going. Without the games, the licenses would dry up and gone would be the toys with them.
Even take the novels into account. One hard cover novel costs $25-30. Softcover maybe half of that. BOTH are STILL more than this bundle pack.
I dunno, I choose to show support for this pack. It IS cheap and it DOES offer a lot of variety. There is something in there for everyone. And the best part is, if you don’t want all of it, 343 is making it available for you to purchase parts of it instead for even CHEAPER prices. The only thing then that you’ll miss out on is the bonus content. THAT is a reward for those who buy the whole pack. And I agree with that decision. Again, for only $10, we’re getting a ton of great content.
Here’s another thing to consider, for those who collect, do you display your stuff or play with it? If it’s display only, then it’s just sitting there. If you play with the stuff, when’s the last time (as an example) you picked up the original Mega Bloks Ghost and zoomed it around on your table? I’d say chances are pretty slim that is happening. Yet, if you’re an active Halo gamer, you’re using these assets all the time. I know many a gamer friend that is excited about the Mark V and/or ODST armor. A lot of people are looking forward to the return of the Pit, now called Pitfall. This new gametype, Ricochet, looks like a LOT of fun and you can BET it’s going to be a new mini-gaming league SOON in the future.
Anyway, I’m not mad, just really perplexed by people’s perceptions of this pack. Hmm, was that an alliteration…
To read more about Halo 4, please check out HFFL’s section on Halo 4 HERE.
And as always you can read that and MORE by going to HFFL’s homepage, HERE.
-Sal