Certain Affinity just posted the following graphic on their facebook page showing a comparison between Halo 3’s the Pit and Halo 4’s Pitfall from the outside.
Unfortunately there isn’t a bigger shot of this yet… As soon as there is one posted, I’ll put it up!
Wow, I would LOVE to game on that space outside of the map. Looks like a LOT of fun!
-Sal
You know her from Forward Unto Dawn, the Halo miniseries that premiered in October, 2012. She played the leader and senior cadet of Hastati squad, April Orenski. It is my pleasure to bring you a HaloFanForLife.com exclusive interview with Enisha Brewster.
(If you represent another website, please only link back to this article, do not copy/paste in whole or part. Professional courtesy, please. This is my exclusive.)
And now, on with the interview:
HFFL: Hello Enisha, thanks for agreeing to do this interview with me.
Enisha Brewster (EB): My pleasure.
HFFL: According to your IMDB profile, you’ve been acting for 3-4 years now. Is that the case?
EB: I’ve been acting since I was 10, but I began my film and television career just 3 years ago.
HFFL: Is there anyone in particular that motivated you to go into acting?
EB: The first person to put a script into my hands was a sweet woman named Reba Kendrid in Houston, Texas. I was hooked from that day forward. A couple peers in college motivated me to pursue a career in acting well before I’d made that decision for myself. And a casting director in Atlanta encouraged me to consider a career in TV and film before I’d even given it a thought. I am ever grateful to each of them.
HFFL: Who in your life, famous or not, is an inspiration to you, and why?
EB: I am inspired by humanitarians like Kerry Washington, and great women like Phylicia Rashad, and great artists like Geoffrey Wright. My family inspire me every day of my life.Â
HFFL: Family can definitely inspire!
HFFL: You played “April Orenski” in the Forward Unto Dawn mini-series. Have you done mini-series in the past? If so, which ones? Were any sci-fi related?
EB: Forward Unto Dawn was my first mini-series and my first sci-fi project ever.
HFFL: Forward Unto Dawn was shot in Canada. Was that your first time acting in a production outside of the United States?
EB: Yes. We shot Forward Unto Dawn in Vancouver, a lovely city with even lovelier people.
HFFL: With Forward Unto Dawn being a hit, are you aware of your now lifelong association with Halo? Would you like to reprise your role as Orenski if offered that opportunity?
EB: That never ceases to excite me! I would be happy to reprise my role as April Orenski given the opportunity!
HFFL: Where/What would you like to see Orenski become?
EB: A loaded question 🙂 I have some ideas, but I’m going to defer to the creative geniuses at Microsoft on this one.
HFFL: I have some ideas as well. Admiral Orenski!
HFFL: You recently were nominated for an EMMY for your role as Orenski. How and when did you find this out and what was your reaction? (By the way, congrats and I truly hope you win!)
EB: The official nominations will be announced on July 18th, 2013. It would be a huge honor to be nominated. At this stage I have been submitted to be considered for an Emmy Nomination–which itself is a huge deal!
HFFL: Are you at all like Orenski? If so, how, and if not, what separates you from her?
EB: I think April Orenski and I both have a strong sense of duty, commitment, and responsibility to the things and people we hold in high regard, but April is far more stern and way less empathetic then I am. She is military. As much of a tomboy as I once was (and still am in some sense), I love a little beauty, a little glitz, a touch of glam every once in a while.
HFFL: Are/Were you a fan of Halo? Did you know of Halo before your work on FUD?
EB: Honestly, I wasn’t very familiar with Halo before being cast. I had to get the scoop from my brothers. I didn’t start to understand how huge an opportunity and franchise Halo is until I heard their excitement.Â
HFFL: Are you a Gamer? If so, have you played any of the Halo games? Before your work on FUD?
EB: No, I can’t say that I am a gamer. But I have a sneaking suspicion that will change very soon.
HFFL: Well, I hope you do get into gaming and feel free to add me as a friend on XBOX when you do. My Gamertag is: HaloFanForLife1
HFFL: Did you have any surreal moments on the set? If so, please expound upon this. For example, seeing Master Chief for the first time.
EB: Seeing MC for the first time was indeed a surreal moment! Daniel Cudmore, who embodies him in Forward Unto Dawn, is himself a tall man with a great presence. Seeing Daniel in full armor as Master Chief for the first time was like meeting a superhero. My heart started racing and my eyes must have been a mile wide.
HFFL: What projects do you have up and coming?
EB: I can be seen in the 12th and 13th episode of Perception this season, back in uniform and barking orders! The episodes air in September on TNT.
HFFL: Thanks again for your time Enisha. It continues to be my honor to talk with you. I wish you all the best in your future acting career. Should you win the EMMY, don’t forget we little folk who are pulling for you!
EB: Thank you, Sal!!
You can find news of Enisha at her official website: enishabrewster.com
As well you can follow her on twitter at: @EnishaBrewster
-Sal
According to this article:Â http://worthplaying.com/article/2013/7/6/news/89850/Â there will be a THIRD armor mod. This one called is called Resistor.
Resistor allows Spartans to maintain their full mobility and dexterity while taking incoming fire.
Xbox’x Marjor Nelson (Larry Hyrb) interviews 343 employees, Graeme Jennings, Sr. Producer and Max Szlagor Sr. Designer as they talk about the Halo 4 Champions Bundle coming August 20.
Within is this interview there is talk about 2 armor mods. If you recall, I’ve been saying for a LONG time that there were supposed to be a total of 10 armor mods at launch. There were only 8. These make up for those not included at launch. It’s not yet known if the CSR level cap will be increased to 150 due to these new armor mods. (I hope so.) Still CSR 150 sounds/looks better than 130.
The two armor mods are Survivor and Recharge.
• Survivor allows you to be ejected from a vehicle if it’s being destroyed.
• Recharge allows your shields to recharge even FASTER. This can be stacked. Only yours, not your teammates though.
Take a listen here to the full interview: https://soundcloud.com/xbox/mnr-483-details-about-the-halo. The armor mod talk starts about 9:30. This is part of a Title Update also on August 20. This no doubt will allow for the new armors to show up in all the previous maps, as well as the weapons skins.
Also a quick note, Ricochet was stated to be available to play on multiple maps. This due to the title update. This is about 11:45 in the interview above.
Whew, it just keeps getting BETTER! August 20 can’t get here fast enough!
-Sal
Here are some posts with my responses to some of the What’s next panel and Champion Bundle pack.
With regards to Frank O’Conner’s comment about there being not enough demand for vehicles in Halo 4 (like the Hornet, Falcon, Elephant)
Masterz117 wrote:Â I’m completely sick of this. Does 343 even bother to read the forums? Not once have they seen a thread, or maybe a couple thousand, asking for the Falcon to return?
I’ve seen MANY threads/posts asking for more vehicles in Halo.
I think part of the issue is that many of the maps in Halo 4 wouldn’t be able to handle something like a Falcon or Hornet. Those rare few that have Banshees should have those two as well.
As for the Elephant or Mammoth, we’d need a MASSIVE OPEN map for either/both of those.
Honestly, it’s not THAT much money for the DLC as it is. Making it required and putting it on sale will get 343 more money, but in return those who DID pay for it early will finally see it come up a lot more in matchmaking which, is the whole point of DLC.
Do you buy new clothes for yourself?
Of course you buy clothes. Why? DO they affect anything? They make you look different. Maybe nicer, grungy, goth, whatever your preference is. Point is it’s still just a piece of clothing. You don’t need it, but you buy it because you like it.
Same goes for this. People like have new armor, skins, etc. Sure, it’s digital clothing and isn’t tangible. But we’re in the digital age. This is CHEAP compared to what real clothing is nowadays. UNless you’re going to a bargain store, clothing is expensive. You’re not getting a quality shirt for $10.’
Yet, for that same $10, in this bundle pack you get 4 armor sets, 7 separate weapons skins, a complete weapons skin pack for all weapons, 2 maps, 7 new stances, 3 armor skins and a new gametype.
Sorry, but that is a LOT to just give away for free and IMO is totally worth the 800MSP/$10US.
With respect,
HFFL
BAM, Assault!
Lots of good content was revealed in the Champion Bundle pack yesterday. The BONUS content however was a little glossed over, so I’m going to take a few minutes to show you and talk about those bonus in a bit more detail.
First up the Armor.
As we see if you buy the whole Bundle pack you’ll get these armors. You can also buy the first three separately should you not want the maps or weapon skins. The Ricochet armor comes with the map pack portion of the bundle if you buy that only.
Personally, I’m happy with ALL four armor sets. I know a lot of people will be happy with the Mark V. Believe it or not, this is the least favorite of the four for me, though I can see some fun throwback machinima happening with this armor set.
The ODST armor has been asked for since BEFORE Halo 4 came out. It’s VERY good to see this come to the game after so long. I have an idea for this armor for a machinima and I’m sure a lot of other people do to. Not to mention that MANY of the Spartan IVs seen in Halo 4 were formally ODSTs.
Prefect is a Forerunner-esque armor style. I’m REALLY digging this one. It looks like the visor CAN change color. Gawd, I hope so. One of my minor peeves with some of the helmets in Halo 4 is the inability to change visor color. I’m looking at you CIO… I wonder what the secondary color pattern will look like on this armor?
Finally, the Ricochet armor. You can see how this was totally patterned off of American style football uniforms. The shoulder pads jutting out, the face guard. I SO hope this is useable outside of Ricochet, but from what I understand it’s not. Hmm, guess I’m going to have to make a custom game to use this.
Next we have the weapons skins. I’ve given them names here. These names are NOT official, just my interpretation of what I see. Though it would be cool if I’m right on some of these.
So we get 2 Magnum skins, an AR skin, 2 DMR, and a BR skin.
The Magnum skins are ok. Hard to tell from the graphic though.
The “Shark” AR is definitely going to be a hit I think. I’m already maxed out with the AR in Halo 4, but I’m definitely going to use this from time to time!
The “Deep Blue” DMR skin is nice. Come to think of it, it has the colors of Fireteam Majestic. Hmmm.
The next one, Tiger Stripe, I think is likely to be one of the favorites of the weapon skins. I’m totally diggin’ it!
And finally what looks to be a Jungle camo skin for the BR. Definitely like this skin. I just wish we had a good jungle type map to go with it. Though the new map Vertigo may go nicely with this.
And lastly we take a look at the stances. This graphic is small, so I had to try and blow it up a little. Still hard to see so bear with me.
So starting from left to right here are my names for them based on what I think I’m seeing:
• Cracking Knuckles – Looks like the Spartan is cracking his knuckles ready to smash someone in the face.
• Salute – Pretty obvious one here. I’m betting on this one being used a lot.
• Arms Crossed – Again, hard to tell by the graphic, but it does look like the Spartan’s arms are crossed.
• Han Solo – This is SO the classic Han Solo pose from Star Wars.
 See what I mean?
• Reload – This could also be called “Tribute” as in a 21-gun salute is a tribute to fallen soldiers.
• Stealthy – Looks like the Spartan is about to Assassinate. OR this could be “Heisman” as it does sort of look like the Hiesman pose which would work well with the new Ricochet game type.
• Kick Back – Really hard to tell what’s going on here. Kind of looks like the Spartan has a leg up on something. You can only see the top half of the Spartan. Too bad too, as it also looks a little like the “Captain Morgan” pose. Now wouldn’t THAT be cool!
There are also 3 Armor Skins, though those were not clearly shown in the panel yesterday. In fact while they showed Spartans in position front and back, the Spartans were in White, so you couldn’t tell what the skins were.
Also, while this is separate from this bundle, don’t forget there are also McFarlane Armor and Weapons skins coming around this time too. Check out THIS ARTICLE to see those skins!
-Sal
So do you want a Football/Grifball/Shoot ’em style gametype?
Well, look no further, because Ricochet is about to DROP!
Ricochet uses a special armor skin only for this gametype, also called Ricochet. The helmet has faceguards on it like American Football helmets do.
In this gametype, the objective is to get the ball to the opponents goal. You can do this by trowing it into the goal OR running it in. Running it in nets you more points than tossing it in. Still, there is a LOT of opportunity here for team play. On top of this, you get a cadre of weapons to play with, unlike Grifball that only has the Sword, Hammer, and of course the ball.
Here’s a look a game play through screenshots of Ricochet:
As you can see in the pic below, there is the faceguard I mentioned. The ball is different than the ball in Grif, or so it appears to be.
Next we see Red Team on the move in Ricochet. Note the Covenant Carbine in the front Red’s hands.
This blue is out to nail someone with a BR or his back mounted shotgun!
Red is moving in for the score!
And finally, we see why this next area is now called the “End Zone.”
GOAL!
Wow, this looks like a lot of fun. Like I said at the beginning of this article, I’ve been wanting to make a football style game since Halo 3. Ricochet looks to make this totally possible! I wonder if this can be played on Forge World??? Hmmmm…
-Sal
I am SO happy this map has been remade. It is one of my favorite from Halo 3. The art direction taken with this new version is fantastic. Certain Affinity really outdid themselves here and certainly pushed the limits of what the 360 can do/look like. This map looks like it could be an XBOX One map, it’s THAT good!
On with the pics.
First the concept art.
In this first shot, we see how the Pit looks after having long been unattended to, in “Abandoned.”
At center of the map is “Echoes.” This is an eerie take on this hall. I love the way light is pouring in. In fact lighting is done SO much better than the original Pit everywhere on this map.
Exposed shows us this lighting, as well as comets coming in. The background for Pitfall is definitely a bold new take on the classic map, and ALL for the BETTER!
Here we see what’s outside of the map in “Frying Pan.” (This would make a great poster!)
On presumably Red base’s side of the map (by the color of the flag and “dat tarp,” we have “Remnants.”
Now we move into the in-game shots. First up is Broken Cover.
Just LOOK at the lighting for a minute. While it definitely say “PIT” this remake has a feeling and texture of it’s own.
In this next screenshot, it’s been dubbed “End Zone,” and with good reason, as that’s the scoring area for Ricochet, the new gametype coming with the Champion bundle pack.
Finally “Sightlines” gives us a great look down “longhall” towards where rockets spawn.
I can’t say thank you to both Certain Affinity for recreating such a masterpiece and 343 for deciding to bring this one back!
I can’t wait to play this again on Aug 20, when the Champion Bundle pack comes out.
-Sal
Just revealed, here is Vertigo. It’s an asymmetrical map. The video shown at RTX shows this map has lots of places to traverse about to kill your enemy. A very cool section in the middle enables both teams to activate either of two shield DE-activators. Essentially this makes anyone caught in the EMP a ONE-shot kill!
First up lets start with the concept art, then we’ll move on to the actual screenshots from the in-game map:
This piece titled Cavern shows the “back” of the map. You can’t cross to the other side. It is separated by a ravine that presumably has a kill zone attached to it.
Next up is Fortified. During the RTX Panel, it came out that Vertigo tested the best for Extraction. Looks like maybe Dominion too? Hmm..
 Next is Harness. This is a good concept shot showing the energy poles in the distant areas of the map.
This next shot, “Imminent” shows an approaching storm, still off in the distance. I love the foreboding look of that storm.
Here we have the concept for the energy spire:
This playspace (above) is one of the locations of the EMP blast area. With grav lifts and various ramps to get to, this looks to be one of the key areas to hold on the map, just watch out for that ZAP!
We move on to Unnatural. Below shows some of the foliage you’ll encounter on this map.
Another shot of the spire, this concept piece shows more of building look, which is not what the final map is like.
Voltage, seen below, once again highlights to spire. Note the red button on the outside of it! THAT is what you shoot to activate the spire’s EMP blast.
The first in-game shot, “Charged,” gives us another glance at the spire. The rock/cliffs are reminiscent of Exile in a way.
In this next shot, Hideaway, we see the back of the map has some surprises of it’s own, namely side paths to take to either snipe from, or avoid being shot at.
Here we see the bottom level of the spire, this pic being known as “Installation.” Note the pass-through. There is also a grav lift in that room.
And finally a shot from the back of the map, once again looking at the spire, this shot is called “Power.”
This map looks to be a lot of fun to play on. There needs to be an associated story with this map. Too bad there won’t be anymore Spartan Ops. This could have been a great map to use for it…
I’m taking a quick break for dinner. Then I’l be back with concepts and in-game shots of Pitfall, the remake of The Pit. One of my favorite Halo 3 maps!!!
-Sal
Before I get into the breakdown of each of the two maps and Ricochet, here is the official vid from HaloWaypoint:
You can also download it here: (large file)Â Halo 4 Champions Bundle Trailer – No Rating
I’m SO stoked for Pitfall!
-Sal
