While we’ll have to wait until 1/21/13 for all new episodes, here’s a glimpse at what’s to come.

Spartan Ops Episodes 6-10 Trailer

The Walking Dead won Game of the Year at the VGA’s last night. So…how does this relate to Halo you may ask?

Simple, it brings episodic gaming to the forefront.

That means Spartan Ops! Now that the gaming community has giving it’s full seal of approval of episodic gaming with TWD winning, games like Halo 4 with an episodic feature can thrive even more.

What does this mean for we, the gamers? It hopefully means that Spartan Ops will continue beyond the initial 10 episodes. Borrowing from the success of the Walking Dead, Microsoft/343 need to strike while the iron’s hot so to speak. Continuing Spartan Ops not only gives us more fresh content to play, but more story and character development to look forward to. The potential for spin offs be they novels, toys, a spin-off game of more are all there on the table now. Personally, I’d LOVE to have a novel on Majestic Squad, as well as action figures from McFarlane of them, and Mega Bloks sets, not to mention a spin-off game ala ODST.

The gaming industry has been accused by it’s critiques of becoming stale. Well with episodic gaming, it’s freshened up quite a bit and thankfully, Halo is at the forefront!

So I have to give a full Kudos to the folks at TellTale games for winning GOTY with their episodic game as that means, Spartan Ops can/should/MUST live longer than 10 episodes.

Folks, NOW is the time to let 343 know you want MORE Spartan Ops. If you want more Halo, more adventures, more story, let 343 know that. Give them as many ideas as you can think of. (Be nice about ti though)

I’m SO glad TWD won for this very reason. Of course had Halo 4 been up for GOTY (as it should have been), then of course I’d have voted for it instead. As it is though, this is the next best outcome for Halo/Spartan Ops and the gaming industry in general. We’re always going to have campaign related games. Having episodes to continue to play only adds to the richness and replayability of games.

-Sal

Okay folks, if you haven’t already figured out this one, then sit back for a second and get ready to be amazed…No? Okay well then peer at the screen and get ready to say, “huh, cool.”

The best usage of your double XP matches is in Spartan Ops. Now I’m NOT talking about just playing a chapter, though that will net you close to 6,000 XP. Nope, instead be sure to pick the second tab to find a game. Here you can pick form any of the 5 current weekly chapters so no worries about which mission you’ll be put into.

From there you’ll be matched up with other players. Now of course you can bring your friends into this as well if you don’t want to be matched up with randoms. Point is, using the “find a game” tab acts like matchmaking, but gives you more credits than a normal War Games match. You’ll earn about 5,000-6,000XP up front, PLUS that much again in double XP! Also, if you happen to have the Pioneer mod on you’ll earn an additional 1,000 or so XP. So yeah, I’ll take 13,000XP for a 8-12 minute mission in Spartan Ops any day over the 5,000 or so in War games.

So some of you may be saying, “but I like War Games,” or “I don’t like Spartan Ops.” (To the second one I’ll say shame on you, LOL. Play as you want of course. This is really for those looking to maximizing their double XP codes/matches. Spartan Ops matchmaking is the BEST way to do that.

Personally, I LOVE Spartan Ops. I play it over and over again. I love the challenge of crap tons of enemies at once. As well, I am one who likes to get 100% commendations. I was just a wee bit shy of that in Reach hitting 97%. So that’s my goal this time around at least 97% before Halo 5 hits. You WON’T get that unless you play a lot of Spartan Ops as well as War Games.

Have fun, and I’ll see you on the battlefield!
-Sal

The Didact’s Hand

Looks like stuff is about to get REAL on Requiem (again…)

I LOVE that Halsey is a key figure in these episodes. SO much story development with her there. Keep it coming 343!

-Sal