Another year has come and gone and we’ve seen some GREAT stuff for Halo. The blog has had a nice amount of success as well in the past year.

So here are the Halo related events of the past year as they impacted HaloFanForLife.com. (Dont’ forget that you can check out ALL the goings on of HFFL by clicking on the “Archives” button to the right and selected your month of choice. I’m not going to post a link to EVERY article. Just those I feel had a big impact on either the Blog or the Halo community at large.

2012
General Blog Stuff.
Throughout the year I had the pleasure of reviewing many Halo Mega Bloks and McFarlane toys and collectibles. It’s something I look forward to each and every time I do a review. It’s a way to show the toy/collectible in pictorial form as well as talk about it and has the side benefit of creating it’s own archive to reference back to when desired. This will continue in 2013!

January:
• I posted a couple of Halo starship charts that would eventually turn into a chart that I would create later and keep updating throughout the year.
• Plans were made for New York Toy Fair.
• I finally created and revealed HFFL’s logo! It’s now centered in the header as opposed to where I indicated in the original post.

• HFFL is added to the Blogroll of Mega Bloks!

February:

• New  York Toy Fair! And I had lots of coverage of the Halo Mega Bloks toy line as well as other Halo merchandise like Funko and Square Enix, not to mention Halo McFarlane Toys.

March:
• We got our FIRST look at Halo 4’s Master Chief!

• Several ViDocs we released. Master Chief; Multiplayer Spartan IVs; The BR; Wraparound (which would become Haven);  Warhouse, (which would become Adrift)
• We got the VERY unfortunate news that there would be NO Beta. (Something I think kinda bit 343 in the ass a little, at least from all the responses they got on the HalWaypoint forums.)

April:
• I introduced a forum to the site. However after not liking it’s interface, I took it down shortly after launching it. (BTW, I’m working on getting a NEW forum for the blog!)
• Leaked GameInformer pics get Halo fans in a tizzy! LOL
• Talks about the transition form Bungie to 343 as well as Halo 3 to Halo 4 with Frank O’Conner.
• Halo 4’s composer is revealed to be Neil Davidge with mixed review. (His experience in Wub-Wub has some people nervous. Thankfully, the soundtrack turned out great, well, IMO anyway…)
• Multiplayer in Halo 4 explained as canon now in Halo continuity.
• Our first look at the UNSC Infinity.

• We get a release date for Halo 4!
• Our first info about the Forward Unto Dawn miniseries is revealed!

May:
• The Railgun is announced as a new weapon in Halo 4.
• Halo 4 Limited Edition info is released.

• Halo 4 Armor Skins are being revealed. I quickly scour the web for pics and make a compilation graphic of them all which quickly becomes the number one Googled Halo 4 Armor images of all! (Thanks folks for looking it up, I got a lot of subscribers here on the blog from posting that pic!!!) BTW, it’s still there! I hold the number 1 and number 3 spots if you search for “halo 4 armor skins” on google. This really helped me realize the importance of naming your graphics appropriately. HFFL saw a marked boost in subscribers this month due to those graphics.

June:
• I create a new series of articles called “The Science of Halo, Fact versus Fiction.” (I really need to get back to these. I haven’t done one in awhile, and I really enjoy them. Did you?)
• E3!!! Trailer discussion. My reaction video… My reaction poster (very BUSY…LOL)

• It’s revealed that 10 multiplayer maps will launch with Halo 4
• Debate if the UNSC Infinity is 3.5KM or 3.5 miles?  (comparison graphics at link)
• I go to Houston for a LAN with my gaming group.
• A new set of articles “Superfan Symposium” starts with Maria Masuimi. Again, it’s been awhile since I did one of these. I need to do more. Have you got a Halo fan you’d like to see interviewed? Is so, e-mail me your suggestion at sal@halofanforlife.com.

July:
• HFFL gets a mention on CruelLEGACY’s modcast!
• Lots of Forward Unto Dawn info revealed.
• San Diego Comicon brings us some info about Halo 4.

August:
• Pre-orders go up on Toys R Us for the Mega Bloks Forward Unto Dawn set. (This becomes an issue for me as the year progresses. Thankfully it comes to a positive end before the year is up.
• Specializations in Halo 4 explained.

September:
•  ViDoc: A Hero Awakens shown for first time.
• Prometheans and their weapons revealed!
• Plenty of Halo Screenshots/Renders released. Campaign; War Games; Spartan Ops; Characters and Enemies;  Weapons and Vehicles
•  HFFL celebrates with it’s anniversary. (9/25)
• Valhalla is confirmed as a remade map in Halo 4 now called Ragnarok.

October:
• The Forward Unto Dawn miniseries finally starts. It’s a LONG awaited live action show that has great success. Over the course the month I take each episode and break them down into multiple parts in which I review the scenes. Please check out the Forward Unto Dawn section here for SO much info!
• As well, I create Graphic Novels of each episode. I’m surprised by the amount of coverage I get from other sites, especially  Halo Waypoint. I’m humbled. And the blog gets HUGE jump in subscribers as well as daily viewers. Episodes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Also in PDF format!

• Just before I leave for New York Comicon, I play my last game of Halo Reach. It was fun, but I’m ready for some Halo 4!!! Days 0, 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 4 (wow, what stories I had to tell, especially on day 3…I hope noone ever has to go through what I did that day.)
• I’m a guest on Podtacular, the unnofficial Halo Universe PodCast. This is the first in what would be 4 consecutive weeks of being on the Podcast discussing the respective Forward unto Dawn episodes.
• McFarlane reveals the Forward Unto Dawn, Limited edition “Master Chief Vs. Hunter” resin statue. Limited to 500 it sells out QUICKLY!

November:
• Halo reviews pour in from all over and most are HIGHLY positive.
• Forward Unto Dawn minisieries ends and I hold a contest to own a McFarlane Master Chief figure as seen in the show.
• I was a featured guest on the Dust and Echoes Podcast, England’s premiere Halo Podcast!
• What bigger new in the year for Halo fans than the RELEASE of Halo 4!!! The return of Master Chief and Cortana! YEAH!!! To celebrate I give Doritos chips away at my local Gamestop (with Double XP codes) as well, I give away a poster I made for the release of Halo 4, limited to 75.

• Daily/Weekly/Monthly Challenges are posted for Halo 4 on the blog for the first time.
• I give away plenty of Doritos double XP codes during the month. Wow, that was FUN!
• First HFFL Community Playdate takes place on 11/14.
• I create the Spartan Ops Comic Books based off of the 5 minute prelude vids to each episodes. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and in PDF format! These too are very well recieved and each (except the last issue) are featured on Halo Waypoint. Hmm, hopefuly now that the holidays are done, maybe my fifth Spartan Ops comic will be on Waypoint?? Maybe?)
• After a few months of going back and forth with a Customer Service rep from Toys R Us regarding a pre-order of the Mega Bloks Forward Unto Dawn set, I finally receive my set and post a several part review as I build the set along the way. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

December:
•  Crimson Map pack is released. (with a glitch that allows some to get it for free)
• It’s Video Game award season and Halo 4 picks up several. VGAs, IGN, Inside Gaming Awards, NBC.
• Happy Halodays, a HFFL contest revealed and the winners are…
• I hit SR117 and SR130 in Halo 4 QUICKLY. (Too quick if you ask me…)

• Halo Infinity Challenge contest starts.
• An unexpected statue at my door. The McFarlane Master Chief Vs. Hunter statue! OMG! Review with pics inside.
• HFFL Swag Store finally opens.


• A new series of articles starts revealed: Spartan Ops , Mission by Mission.

Whew, and that just a part of all I posted in 2012. It was a GREAT year for Halo! And we still have MUCH to look forward to in 2013. Two more map packs. One coming in February and the other in April.

Hopefully I can make it to New York Toy Fair this year and posts some articles of the great new Halo products coming for the year.

In the meantime, if you made it through all of that, Kudos to you! I spent a few hours drafting this up….whew, I’m tired. It’s 5:30 am here. I needs me some sleep.

Happy New Year!
-Sal

You can find the link in the menu bar above, as well you can check out the store here. I’ll be updating this as I go along. For now, it’s rather bare bones… All for now just have the HFFL logo.

If there is something you’d like to see as swag in the store, let me know and if it’s available, I’ll add it. I’m thinking about adding the Halo 4 poster I did as swag. Here’s that poster (the actual one will be high resolution):

This is just something minimal I’m doing to help support the cost of the site. If any of you do order something, PLEASE send me a pic with you and the swag and I’ll be more than happy to post it on the blog.

-Sal

Here are some of the articles I have planned for HFFL for the rest of November and December:

• Mega Bloks Forward Unto Dawn set: This continuing article shows the progressive build of the large Mega Bloks model with over 2800 pieces.
• McFarlane Series 2 Halo 4 figures: I’ve got my hands on Cortana, a Watcher, and the Blue Soldier figure. I’ll be reviewing those, then as soon as I get the Crawler, that will follow.
• War Games map reviews: Here I’ll take a more in depth look at the 10 multiplayer maps as well as the 3 Forge maps. I’ll discuss what tactics I’ve seen develop, loadouts that may help you on the specific map and so more.
• Spartan Ops mission reviews: As of this writing there are 15 missions. This will be an ongoing article detailing each mission, what you need to do to complete them, as well as tactics to be used, what enemies there are in the mission (to help in your commendations) and so on.
• Armor of Halo 4: A look at the different armor in Halo 4, when and how you unlock them and a look at some of the armor permutations I’ve used so far in Halo 4 with some reasoning behind them.
• The Science of Halo, Fact Vs. Fiction: I haven’t done one of these articles in a bit and I really do love doing them. So I’m going to start getting these out on a more regular basis. Previous SoHFvF articles have included topics such as Slipspace Technology; the Spartan Laser; and Plasma Weapons. If you haven’t read these articles before, please check them out here: The Science of Halo, Fact Vs. Fiction
In these articles I take a technology from Halo and explore it’s real life counterpart of today if it exists or tech that is developing to allow in the future for a Halo-like tech to exist. I’m no scientist as I say in the articles, so I may get stuff wrong, however it’s the fun in exploring the topic that I enjoy and maybe it will inspire you to read up on the subjects as well. I provide plenty of links with in the articles for reference.
I think the next topic will be shields. Personal as well as ship related.
• Forge discussions: How to forge, gametypes to forge and so on. This will also showcase more of the 3 Forge maps in Halo 4: Impact, Ravine, and Erosion
• My comprehensive review of Halo 4: This will include some of the discussions from above but in finer detail. I’ll give what I consider pros and cons of Halo 4 and what I’d suggest as fixes for the cons. (It’s not cool to say something needs fixing if you don’t at least have a possible solution to the fix.) I will be fair in my assessment of each facet of Halo 4. For those things I see that need fixing, I will endeavor to understand why 343 made them the way they were, then offer my two cents… I might even be able to get some answers from the folks at 343 directly. That is to be determined though….(Crosses fingers)
• Spartan Ops Episodic comic book: This ongoing series of articles that brings you the Spartan Ops episodes in comic book format.

So as you can see it’s going to be a VERY busy month with all of that, not to mention:
* the daily, weekly, and monthly challenges listed
* Other toy/merchandise reviews
* posting links to other great Halo fan related stuff
* the Halo Bulletin
* My own general ramblings on all things Halo
* and anything else I may stumble upon that is Halo related!

So stay tuned folks. If you’ve been a subscriber for a long time, thanks. If you’re new to the blog, then you’ve got plenty to look forward to, to keep your interest piqued.

-Sal

As always I get a high amount of visitors from the Untied States and I’m appreciative of that.

Of late however, I’ve been getting a LOT more visitors from other countries. I’m extremely happy to see that my blog has captured the eye of international readers. Not just those of English speaking countries (of which England, Australia and Canada are always the highest next to the States), but those of other languages.

In order of most visitors from other than English speaking countries the following are countries who visit the blog the most:

France
Germany
The Netherlands
Mexico
Sweden
Italy

I can’t see beyond the top 10 countries in my analytics, so if your country isn’t any of the ones mentioned above, then please tell your friends and fellow Halo fans about the blog and let’s have a little friendly competition to see if another country can crack the top ten list.

Again, I want to thank ALL of you for continuing to visit the blog, regardless of your country of origin. It is VERY much appreciated and helps to keep me motivated to provide Halo content.

My number of visitors before Halo 4 were about 2,000 a day (unique). That spiked heavily just before and during the week after the game launched to reaching 6,000 viewers a day (also unique). That’s trimmed off a bit to about 4,500 a day (and again unique). Still that’s excellent and again I thank you.

If you haven’t registered yet, PLEASE do. Registration is free and comes with the occasional perk of being eligible for contest prizes ONLY awarded to registered members of the blog. I’ve got some nice ones coming up, so now would be a good time to join! (Click the Register here! tab above or just follow the link to join.)

-Sal