Spartan Ops Season one Graphic Novel update.

Posted on 03/18/2013 by Sal

It’s been a BUSY weekend here at HFFL. Work is progressing on the complete season one graphic novel. I’m about 95% of the way done (literally, not just pulling that number out of thin air). Sunday’s HFFL community Playdate did cut into the time I could have spent working on the Graphic Novel, however, I wanted to have that time with friends and fans alike. To which, I do want to thank all of those who came out for the playdate. I had some great fun, especially being GREEN!

Back to the Graphic Novel and contest for a minute. The contest as stated before is for blog subscribers only. You need to register here to be eligible for the prize packet of McFarlane series 2 Avatar figures. While normal retail would be around $30 for the set, since they are blind packaging, not to mention there are two rare ones within the eight made for this series, you’d be hard pressed to pull all eight in on shot. The Gold Master Chief and Warthog prop from the first series of Avatar figs from McFarlane are hard to find. The Gold Master Chief goes for around $17-20 on eBay, while the Warthog isn’t even listed as of this writing. Suffice to say the Gold ODST and Banshee will also be hard to come by and for cheap, let along FREE. Again, this is the chance to win the whole set of eight minifigures and prop vehicle.

To win, you will need to download the Spartan Ops season one graphic novel. From there, you will need to identify how many NEW pages I put in the graphic novel versus the original ten comic books. As well, you will need to identify which pages they are by page number.

For example, the cover will be all new, so that would be one page and page one per description. Another example would be (and this is NOT the correct answer)

5 new pages – page numbers 1, 7, 30, 35, 60

The above is how I’d like for you to format your answer for the contest. To enter, you must reply to the official contest article that I will be posting soon. It will be labeled as the official contest article, so it won’t be hard to miss. Shipping for the prize packet is at the winner’s expense. If you are under 18 years of age you must have written permission to enter. (I will need to see a hand written note (can be sent as a scan by e-mail) by your parent or guardian giving permission to enter. Over 18 no note needed, LOL. (Well, unless you want to…)

Any questions, please either reply to this article or e-mail me at: sal@halofanforlife.com

-Sal

St. Paddy’s day GREEN!

Posted on 03/18/2013 by Sal

If you played Halo 4 yesterday, depending on the playlist, you were greeted with some very VIBRANT GREEN colors in matchmaking. I of course wore green for my armor color is observance of St. Patrick’s day. Beyond that though, I happily enjoyed the ultra green color change when either in a hill or carrying a flag. Below is but a sampling of me playing yesterday.

I really like the 343 did this. It was a nice change of pace. I hope they do more special traits like this in the future. Just a fun way to break things up a bit. Hmm, now if only WE gamers had the ability to make those changes in forge for custom games…

-Sal

Spartan Ops Season One High Res PDF coming soon! and Contest to go with it…

Posted on 03/15/2013 by Sal

Now that all 10 episodes of season one are out and I’ve made the comic books for each, I’m now making a graphic novel of all ten comics. The final result will be about 300 (yes three-hundred) pages long. Needless to say the file size is going to be “ginormous.”

I have to finish compiling all the pages as well as create a new cover for the full season graphic novel. I hope to have this completed over the weekend, if not by Monday. The file will be as a PDF. Again, it will be HUGE. I’m talking nearly 200mb possibly.

This file will be of better quality than the individual comics I’ve released as those were only 72dpi per page. The new file will be 200dpi per page. I could push it to 300dpi, but that would make the file size that much more massive…

So stay tuned to HaloFanForLife.com over the weekend. There will be a contest associated with the file. (So yes, you’ll need to download it) The prize will be…

A complete set of McFarlane series 2 Avatar figures! (Yes, with the Banshee AND Gold ODST included.)

Only blog subscribers will be eligible for this prize packet. So if you want a shot at this, you’ve got to register! Twitter followers and Facebook subscribers, register on the blog. Responses to the contest via Twitter and/or Facebook are not eligible to win.

More info on the graphic novel and contest VERY SOON!

-Sal

More great concept art by “Sparth” of 343: Forward Unto Dawn

Posted on 03/14/2013 by Sal

Sparth is an amazing concept artist whom I’ve featured on HFFL several times before. He post a couple more renderings of the Forward unto Dawn with some differences.

Awesome stuff as always!

-Sal

The Halo Bulletin 3-13-13 (via Halo Waypoint)

Posted on 03/14/2013 by Sal

Castle Map Pack news abounds in the first section of the bulletin.

“To make sure you are fully exposed to the Castle Map Pack before its April 8th release, we will be spreading our coverage out over the next four weeks. The week of 3/18, our studio visitors will be releasing gameplay videos and flythroughs of each map. The weekend of 3/22, the Castle Map Pack will be featured in a panel and playable on the floor at PAX East. The week of 4/1, we will be featuring strategy videos, the full list of achievements and a special pre-launch live stream.”

Three new screenshots are shown. Here are the links to each at 1920X1080 size:
Daybreak 1920×1080
Outcast 1920×1080
Peridtion 1920×1080

Next up is info about PAX East.

One of the not so cryptic news points is about “great anvils.” Which of course must mean FORGE, right??? Let’s hope so!!

Next is the Matchmaking Playlist Update.
More gametypes to come within Action Sack starting March 25.
Bravo (Andy Dudynsky) chimes in with some important matchmaking news.

“In the coming weeks, you’ll see some sizable updates to many of our existing playlists as we prepare to launch CSR next month. We are also in the process of finalizing the design of our FFA playlist and nailing down a plan on how to best bring objective game types to larger parties. There are a lot of decisions to be made for both of these, and they’re both on the way. Additionally, as mentioned above, the Multiplayer team is investigating how to best improve the various playlists. If you aren’t already doing so, now is absolutely the best time to post in the War Games Feedback section. While you’re there, be on the lookout for new weapon-specific threads, where you’ll be able to leave feedback on Halo 4’s weapons and sandbox. These threads will be posted in the War Games Feedback section tomorrow. As always, we look forward to reviewing your constructive feedback.

After the release of the last TU, we acknowledged there was more balancing to be done and more issues to address, and that we were actively working with the Halo 4 game team to investigate the feasibility of additional fixes. We can now announce that various teams across the studio have indeed been hard at work on an additional title update.”

As well he points out that the red “X” will be returning to matchmaking! HURRAY. One-Shot on my “X“ is BACK!!!

Finally BS Angel is back with an all new gallery of user created screenshots. These glorifying the Sniper rifle. To see them as well as the FULL bulletin follow this LINK.

-Sal

HaloFanForLife.com community playdate! 3/17

Posted on 03/13/2013 by Sal

I haven’t had one of these for awhile. So, I figured it was time to do this!

Since Master Chief is all about being green and having Luck, what better way to celebrate this than having a St. Patrick’s Day HFFL community playdate!

So this Sunday is the date. From 3pm-10pm (Yes indeed that long!) I’ll be hosting the next HFFL playdate. (times are Eastern US)

Playlists will includes Customs, Action Sack, Team Objective, CTF, Dominion, BTB and others. Participation/Party size will dictate what playlists we’ll go into.

I’ve set the playdate for 3pm to account for those who may be partying early for St. Paddy’s. Get your sleep after partying, sober up with a coffee and come on out for some Halo 4 fun with HFFL!

-Sal

Spartan Ops Episode 10: EXODUS comic book

Posted on 03/11/2013 by Sal

We’ve come to the end of Spartan Ops season one. Infinity is locked with Requiem, Jul is sending it crashing into the local star. Halsey is whisked away by a Promethean Knight and Jul M’dama. And Halsey wants something…what is it? Read til the end to find out.

Also, please pay special attention to the last four pages. Included in those four pages are the full credits for the CG vids, my thanks to you all, and a special announcement on my new Machinima project.

What do you think about this episode? The comic book itself? DId you like the whole series?

Please reply below or tweet me @HaloFanForLife.

-Sal

Castle Map Pack screenshots! Perdition

Posted on 03/11/2013 by Sal

And the final map of the Castle Map Pack, Perdition.

I think I’m going to like this one the most. As I said in the article about the trailer, Perdition has the look and feel of New Mombasa, a tribute to Halo 3 ODST. It’s fantastic how 343 is incorporating ideas from previous Halo games, subtle or not. It shows they have their minds focus on selling the whole brand of Halo as a franchise, not just the games. Thanks 343!

Thoughts on this map? Do you like it’s more realistic setting? Like that it harkens back to New Mombasa?

I was fortunate to get the map pass with my pre-order of Halo 4. If you did, kudos to you as you won’t have to pay anew for this. If you didn’t get the map pass, then do yourself a favor and get this map pack when it comes out. It’s going to be a LOT of fun!

-Sal

Castle Map Pack screenshots! Outcast

Posted on 03/11/2013 by Sal

Following right on the heels of the Daybreak screenshots comes Outcast!

This map has a feel of Reach (Pillar of Autumn mission) as well as the Harvestor mission in Halo 4’s Spartan Ops. What a great mix! And check out that Halo Wars Darter! AHH Yeah! I love that 343 is giving some respect to Halo Wars. So glad to see the Darter here. Hmm a Mega Bloks set now please???

With a Wraith and Warthog, this looks like fun for CTF!

How about it folks? Like the look of this map?

-Sal

Castle Map Pack screenshots! DayBreak

Posted on 03/11/2013 by Sal

An open map with heavy shading (due to the day breaking over the mountains, hence the map name), a Halo 4 style Paris class frigate in the sky, and being able to fly a Banshee…THIS is Daybreak!