Category Archives: Conventions

Halo 4 Global Championship at RTX PICS!

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Want to see what was up during the Halo 4 Global CHampionship finals at RTX? HFFL has you covered!

Our three commentators. Bravo, Gh05tayame, and GoldenBoy
Bravo-GH057ayame-GoldenboyFTW
Darth Vader on the floor mixing it up!Darth Vader running the main stage at RTX Halo 4GC tourney
The 64 finalists ready to compete for the 6 coveted spots from the RTX qualifier.
64 RTX H4GC finalists
Those are some SWEET Headsets! I Can Haz???RTX Main Stage NICE HeadsetsBravo and Ghost.
Bravo and Ghostayame broadcasting
TSquared competing in the final rounds.
TSquared at Halo4GC
Here is the vid screen set-up at RTX.
RTX Halo4GC screen
Behind the scenes tech for the vid screens and streaming.
Behind the Scenes at Halo4GC
The audience watching the action!
Main stage at RTX Halo4GC
Here is the placement from the last 8 person finals match.Finals placement top 4 IN v2

The top 4 in the last pic made it through with Footed Panda and Dale967 rounding out the last 2 of 6 spots to move on to the finals in Seattle at the end of August!

And that wraps it up for my coverage of RTX and the Halo 4 Global Championship qualifier.

Stick with HaloFanForLife.com as I continue to have more information about the Champion Bundle pack, Halo Collecting, Fan Art, Podcasting, Halo book discussions and SO MUCH MORE!

-Sal

Halo4 Global Championship RTX finals results!

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SNIP3DOWN, GOOFYY, TOXIK NATE (amateur) and STRONGSIDE make it into the finals at Seattle.

The 1v1 games were as follows:
Match 1) DALE967 vs UNWIND
Match 2) FOOTEDPANDA vs CJNEW001

With Footed Panda winning the first match and DALE967 rounding out the last spot after winning their respective 1v1 games.

RTX Sunday Schedule!

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Today is the last day of the Rooster Teeth Expo. Here is their schedule for the day:

RTX Sunday Schedule-hfflwmIn particular, I’ll be covering the last event of the expo, ‘The Art of Podcasting.’ This has my friend and host of Podtacular, Dustin Pettigrew on the panel. Blog subscribers will note that I’ve guest hosted on his podcast numerous times over the last 8 months, from casts about Forward Unto Dawn, Spartan Ops, The XBOX One Reveal, E3, and more.

The Podcast panel starts at 5pm EST and will run approx 1 hour. Here is the text blurb from RTX about the panel:
Podcasting is one of the easiest ways to spread your brands, communities, and ideas; yet many podcasts miss basic principles that lead to a better listening experience for subscribers and attracting new audiences. While some of these are related to content within a show, a majority are technical and don’t require too much effort. Do you run a podcast where you are looking to increase your audience or take the next step in advancing your podcast? Are you interested in starting a podcast and want to know where to start? We’ll cover technical tips to bring new quality to your podcasts and how to talk about what you want to share on your show while maintaining your own style.

And the Panelists:
Dustin Pettigrew – Podtacular
Kelli Dunlap – Grifball Hub
Lindsay Tuggey – Rooster Teeth
Jonathan Serna – Late Night Jenga Jam/Glib Shark

As well, throughout the day, I’ll be looking to scour the web for pics and info coming out of RTX to group together here. If you are going to the expo and have pics to show, please feel free to send them to me at sal@halofanforlife.com and I’ll be happy to put them up on the blog for everyone to see.

Wow, seems like RTX just started…It goes by SO quickly.

-Sal

RTX Day two winding down. Here’s a last few pics for the day.

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Want to go Achievement hunting, in real life? Meet the guys behind those wacky videos.Achievement Hunters
My friend Kynan Pearson (former 343 designer) was at RTX and posted this pic of the RTX program and lanyard. Nice little collectibles.
RTX program-lanyard
Want to get in to play some Grifball? You’ll need to wait in line! If you’ve been to big conventions, you’re no stranger to lines.Grifball Line
Blog subscriber “Griffin Dunn” messaged me the next three photos. The first are of these Halo 2 and Halo 4 tins he got signed by Jen “Cortana” Taylor, Frank O’Conner, Bravo, Jessica “bs angel” and a couple others.Griffin Dun Sign Halo 2 tinNext up, he was lucky enough to be in the front row of the 343 panel today and got this shot of the 405th Spartan cosplay group.
Griffin Dunn 405th spartans
And finally a shot of the panel members themselves.
Griffin Dunn RTX-343 panel

Today was a GREAT day for Halo. Announcement of a new map pack, with LOADS of extras! Man, I really wish I was at RTX! Maybe next year…

-Sal

RTX Day 2 goings on…

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Some quick shots form day 2.

More Global Championship players:
Moar Global ChampionshipTrial games

Here’s a better shot of the Champions poster:
Champions poster
I cropped and straightened it a bit. Best I can get for now. GAWD, I want one of these posters!
Champions poster Crop 2
And here are Certain Affinity and Bravo signing said posters:
Signing posters

Next up a look at Vertigo, then Pitfall, then Ricochet!

Lots more to come today!!!
-Sal

RTX Panel – What’s Next: Halo 4 Summer 2013

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Okay there is a LOT to go over here from the panel.

The panel got started about 20 minutes late:
Panel Set-upPanel Set-up 2Panel Set-up 3

Some notes about the Halo 4 Global Championship:
Details of Championship
• 32 Finalists in total.
Global Championship Schedule
• Finalists get an expense paid trip to the Finals. Lodging, Travel, and food.
Prizes
• Frank says they expect to see Pro-players rise to the top of the Global contest….yep…of course.

Bullseye Map pack incoming! More on that in a moment.

Champion ship pack includes:
Bullseye map pack: Looks like only two maps: Vertigo, Pitfall (remake of The Pit) I’ll be having separate articles to show pics of each of these VERY shortly after this is posted. Also includes the game specific “Richochet” Armor.

Bullseye Pack-hfflwm

Weapons skins: Frank described them as a kind of “Steampunk” skin.Steel Skin Pack-UNSC-hfflwmSteel Skin Pack-Promethean-hfflwm

(Sorry I missed the screenshot for the Covenant Weapons, but they have these skins too.

New Armors:Infinity Armor Pack-hfflwmI for one am happy to have ODST back. I know a lot of people are happy to have Mark V back as well. And WOW, does that Prefect armor look AWESOME!

New game mode is called: Ricochet. More on this in another article to follow shortly after this one. Think American Football with Halo Weapons, mixed in with some Grifball! Spartans have helmets with face guards ALA American Football helmets. Pass the ball into goal for points. Run the ball into goal for BIGGER points! Again more on that very shortly, with lots of pics!

Bonus content!Bonus Content-hfflwm

SEVEN new Halo 4 stances!
THREE new Armors
SIX bonus weapons skins (different from the ones shown above)

You can buy the Championship pack for 800 MSP.

Each of the three DLC packs in the Champions bundle will also be available as standalone purchases on launch day. The Bullseye Pack will be available for 480 MS Points. The Infinity Armor Pack and Steel Skin Pack will be available for 240 MS Points each.  The bonus content is only available for a limited time exclusively through the bundle.

Championship pack coming out August 20!!!

Q&A was taken but not for long since they started late. Here are two answers from questions I was hoped would be asked.

No vehicle packs planned. DAMN, no Hornet…
No plans for Spartan Ops Season two at this time. BUMMER! EXTRA BUMMER!!!!

So some VERY cool stuff coming next month!

Stick right here. I’ll be putting up THREE more articles in a short bit. One with screenshots/concepts of the map Vertigo, another for Pitfall, and finally shots of Ricochet in action on Pitfall!

-Sal

RTX day one complete. (and a few more photos)

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Well, RTX day one is over. I’m looking forward to tomorrow as there is a certain panel I plan on watching on XBOX (and I think you all may be interested in too). It’s the “What’s Next: Halo 4 Summer 2013” panel.

Here’s the text blurb about the panel:

Get an exclusive first look at 343’s next Halo announcement! Join 343’s Franchise Director Frank O’Connor, Senior Producer Graeme Jennings, Community Producer Andy “BRAVO” Dudynsky, along with Designers from Austin’s own Certain Affinity Studios and special guest Zach Zeldin from Virgin Gaming to discuss an action packed Halo summer. Come for the lovely Jessica “BS ANGEL” Shea (panel moderator) and stay for all the latest and greatest Halo updates.

Panel starts at 2pm EASTERN time.

On a side note, I got a message saying another map pack is coming. This is ONLY a rumor right now as I can not corroborate this, yet. I do hope it’s true though. No name for this rumored map pack was given, nor details of it. Just that there is one in the works. Hopefully, if there is one, it will be revealed in some fashion tomorrow during the panel. If there isn’t a new map pack coming, well, we’re no worse off than now, so no harm no foul. Normally I don’t like to post rumors, but this one is a good one and the source of the message is sound, though I obviously can’t say who.

Here’s the full RTX schedule for Saturday, July 6:

RTX Saturday Schedule

Finally here are a few more photos from Day One of RTX:

405th at HW boothMore of the 405th (Halo cosplay group)
Cortana-Frankie and crew at RTXJen “Cortana” Taylor (Left), Frank O’Conner (next to Jen Taylor), and Josh (second from right) chillin. (Forgive me that I don’t know the other two in the pic.)
Griffball and Shirt prize
This was being given away tonight via Twitter. I wonder who the lucky person was? I SO wish it was me…
Play A Pro winner Edward vs GH057ayameGamer “Edward” wins the Halo Gaems set by “Playing with a Pro” in this case, “GH057ayame.”

And that wraps it up for day one!
-Sal

RTX photos streaming in!

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Here are some selected photos coming out of RTX (Rooster Teeth Expo) so far:

First the line up!

RTX LineRTX line 2Global Line

Want a bit of Griffball and Griffball Hub?

Griffball SpartanGriffball Hub Booth

Here’s the Halo 4 Global Championship set up:

Halo 4 Global Championship set upEDWSnip3down TsquaredMLG mcstrongsideIn the above photo: EDWSnip3down, TsquaredMLG, mcstrongside

Fem at Global seatingGlobal Championship seating

More Cosplay you say? OKAY!

Wetwork SpartanWetwork and Master ChiefChief slicing WetworkGuess Chief didn’t like the Wetwork Spartan stealing the spotlight…
405th Cosplay
The 405th in in attendance!

Some of you may know of Ducain23. He’s a great forger. Here he is with family in real life:

Ducain23's familyDucain and Two SpartansDucain and 2 fem spartans
Not gonna lie, that’s a Spartan oreo I’d like to be in place of Ducain…LOL

Even Ducain’s baby got in the act. Is that a food nipple? LOL
FemSpartans and Baby

Last photo of RTX for this particular article, Utah from RvB on display!

RvB Utah

More pics incoming as I scour the web to find them.

-Sal

 

Two Podcasts coming soon. Day one E3 review and Spartan Ops season one finale.

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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