Halo has had a great run of armor permutations. Halo 3 brought many to us, while Halo Reach unloaded even more. Halo 4 promises to have yet more new armor perms and while I look forward to seeing what’s in store there, I hope that some of the best ones from previous titles will be available in the new game as well.

So without further ado (what the hell is ado anyway, LOL), here is my wishlist for armor permutations in Halo 4:

From Halo 3:

Artwork by Luke Denby

By far my most wanted is Hayabusa. The issue here is that it was a deal between Bungie and another game developer to allow the usage of the Hayabusa armor in Halo. Hopefully, 343 can make that same deal as it was the most popular armor, until Recon became available for everyone.
ODST I expect to make a reappearance, but just in case…
Recon I’m mixed on. I wasn’t a big fan of it in Halo Reach and it was “abused” in usage in Halo 3. So maybe if it was one of the harder ones to obtain, I’d be up for it returning in Halo 4.
CQB I expect to return, especially considering it was an unlockable in Halo Reach.
Of the others in Halo 3, I wouldn’t mind seeing at least the helmets for EOD and Rogue making a return.

From Halo Reach:
By far my most hoped for is the JFO armor, especially the Helmet. That helmet looks much like Iron Man’s helmet and I’m a HUGE Iron Man fan. My GT formerly being RM Iron Man.
The Commando Helmet is just plain awesome in design.
I like the Hazop helmet as it reminds me of Mass Effect’s Commander Shepard’s default helmet and I use that frequently (especially as of late) in Reach.

One helmet I hope does NOT return is the Military Police helmet. Sorry, but that looks like a kid’s bike helmet. I never used it and would continue that practice if reintroduced into Halo 4.

Likewise, the Haunted Helmet should not make a return. That was reserved for those who played a lot in Reach and attained the rank of Inheritor. I was the 260th person in the word to do so (according to HalCharts.com), having reached that rank in July 2011. Some things should just stay that way. It’s one reason why I’m torn on Recon making a reappearance as well.

-HFFL

Variety posted an article on this new series. Go here for the official link or just read below the text from the article.

Article by Marc Graser of Variety

While it will take years before a “Halo” movie ever makes it to the bigscreen, Microsoft could revive the idea again with a live-action Web series it will launch ahead of “Halo 4” this fall.

The company’s Xbox gaming division is putting considerable coin behind “Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn,” which will play exclusively on male-skewing entertainment website Machinima and online community Halo Waypoint in the weeks leading up to “Halo 4’s” release Nov. 6.

Project represents “the largest investment” Microsoft has made in live action to date, the company said.

Xbox is keeping a tight lid on additional details, including the Web series’ director and cast, preferring to hype the involvement of its creative team at Comic-Con in San Diego this July.

After several pricey live-action shorts and commercials for previous “Halo” installments — helmed by Neill Blomkamp (“District 9”) and Rupert Sanders (“Snow White and the Huntsman”) — caught on, Microsoft wants to use the “Halo 4” Web series as a way “to make ‘Halo’ accessible for people who haven’t played the games,” according to Matt McCloskey, director of franchise business management at 343 Industries, which is taking over the “Halo” franchise from Bungie Studios.

“We wanted to do something unique from a narrative standpoint that’s big in scale,” McCloskey added.

“Forward Unto Dawn” will play out over five weekly installments, around 15 minutes each, telling an original story about the game’s Master Chief and how he inspired a young UNSC cadet who will eventually become a leader aboard the UNSC Infinity spacecraft. Introduction of the new character will tie in with the plot of “Halo 4,” while providing a flashback to the beginning of the “Halo” franchise’s war between the humans and the evil Covenant.

“Every time we do a live-action commercial the audience says, ‘We want to see more so that we can explore the ‘Halo’ universe a little bit more,” said Frank O’Connor, franchise development director at 343 Industries. “Demand grew more and more out of the two little vignettes we’d previously produced.”

But Microsoft had to make sure that the Web series didn’t just appeal to hardcore “Halo” fans.

Playing the games and reading the books or other “Halo” spinoffs is “a big commitment,” O’Connor said. “We needed a way to ensure there was a way for people to get onboard this universe without feeling intimidated.” As a result, the Web series is “an origins story that teaches you about a lot of different facets of the (‘Halo’) universe.”

Microsoft faces fierce competition this fall with “Halo 4’s” launch, exclusive to the Xbox 360, with Activision Blizzard also releasing its latest game in the “Call of Duty” series, whose previous titles have consistently broken sales records over the last several years.

“Halo 3” became the biggest entertainment launch in history when it was released in 2007, earning $170 million in its first day in the U.S. and surpassing $300 million worldwide in its first week. Last year’s “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3” blew away that record with a $400 million first-day haul in the U.S. and U.K. and $775 million globally in its first five days.

Still, the “Halo” franchise has generated revenue of more than $2 billion, selling 40 million copies worldwide and spinning off a series of bestselling novels, comicbooks, anime series and toys.

Microsoft considers the Web series “the next step” for the franchise as an entertainment property that could eventually lead to a theatrical feature — after the plug on one was pulled by Universal and Fox that Blomkamp was to direct and Peter Jackson to produce in 2005.

“I don’t think anybody needs any reminding of (the potential),” McCloskey said. “Everyone keeps reminding us of that.”

Once the Web series ends its run, Microsoft plans to package the entire production in some form to “live on” on other platforms, McCloskey said.

Microsoft isn’t alone in turning to live action to promote its games.

Last year, Warner Bros. scored with the Web series “Mortal Kombat: Legacy” (which also unspooled on Machinima) to hype the reboot of Midway Games’ “Mortal Kombat,” while Bethesda Softworks produced a live-action short for fantasy game “The Elder Skrolls V: Skyrim.” More recently, Ubisoft enlisted “Logorama” helmers Francois Alaux and Herve de Crecy and Ridley Scott’s RSA to produce “Ghost Recon: Future Soldier” as a 30-minute live action short to serve as a prequel for the upcoming game. Videogame publisher also produce live-action shorts for its “Assassin’s Creed” franchise.

McCloskey stresses that the “Halo 4” Web series is “not just a marketing piece” to promote the game. “We wanted to go way beyond that and transform this live-action exploration from advertising into a full standalone product that people will enjoy.”

End Article

So WOW, this is awesome news. We fans have been wanting a movie for some time. While this doesn’t take the place of it, it sure is a step in the right direction. I can’t wait!

-HFFL

I’m thinking no, but in reality I wouldn’t mind it making at least a cameo. It doesn’t have to be the whole theme, maybe just a small portion. With this being a new trilogy and new developers, I really want a lot of NEW in the game. Halo has relied TOO much on the nostalgia of it’s past titles to the point where some of the rehashed maps have become boring.

I want to see what 343 can do with Halo and not what it can rehash from previous titles. That’s not to say I do not want anything from previous games. I just don’t want them to take a noticeable percentage of the game. Some remade maps okay,but from Halo 3 as we’ve had plenty from CE and Halo2 now remade.

The music, while iconic needs to move forward as well. I really like what I’ve heard from the Neil (the new musical director). It would be a shame to drown out his creativity in place of the previous standard. This is by no means a knock on Marty. His music set the tone for the original trilogy and spin-offs and it was grand to be sure. It’s just time for something new and refreshing and that is what Neil represents.

I’m going to stay away from Halo CE and Halo 2 maps as Reach covered some of the them already and personally I’d prefer to see some of the best Halo 3 maps come back.

So with that here is my wishlist for remade maps in Halo 4.

Valhalla – This by far is my most wanted map. Some say it was a partial remake of Blood Gulch. True or not, I find it to be a far superior map. The larger hill in the middle, plus the man cannons really changed it from being like Blood Gulch to being it’s own map. I had tons of fun on this map with gaming friends over the years. I real this one particular game we were down an abysmal 30 points and I rallied the guys to come back and we won by almost 10 points. That game was what I consider the unifying game in my gaming group. We proved to ourselves that through perseverance and good team work that you can overcome many obstacles, even a seemingly insurmountable deficit.

Standoff – My favorite vehicle map. I had many games were I’d drive someone to a perfection. Heavies on this map were exciting with the gauss hog. Beyond this though, I was known as an expert infiltrator for objective matches and could plant bombs or steal flags with ease.

The Pit – I consider this the most balanced map in all of Halo. It also looks like a training facility. The rush for rockets, snipe and overshields were at times epic. One math I recall fondly was one in which I was on a turret and was being shot at by a brute shot. I managed to shoot all of those shots down AND kill the opponent. Epic indeed.

Rat’s Nest was another one of my favorite vehicle maps. Though tight quarters for driving and even tighter turns, I found it quite fun to mow down opponents with either the turret or by running them over as a driver. This is another map where I had an epic standoff. IIRC, it was a 6v6 game and my team was down 3 people (randoms who quit). We three decided to hold our ground near the front cliff so we could be close to rockets, full well knowing we cold be flanked by warthogs rushing in. To counter that one of the guys had the grave hammer and swung mightily and managed to knock a couple off the cliff. We were outgunned and out manned yet we ended up winning in a close final.

Honorable Mentions would have to include for me:

Avalanche – another epic vehicle map and great for BTB
Blackout (yes a remake of Lockout) – I preferred this darker map and felt the slight adjustments to the layout felt better when gaming on it. Infection on this map was just plain awesome.
Construct – Oh I just HATED this map at first. Once I got the callout down, my team and I just rolled over the competition. In fact one of my gaming buds became either 2nd or 4th overall in flamethrower kills on that map.
Ghost Town – an asymmetrical map that just didn’t get enough respect. This map called for a lot more tactics than others with just a run and gun style. Objective games were very competitive and Infection games a blast.
Orbital – This map was confusing at first with it’s switchback and multilevel. However I think it was a masterpiece. It definitely was a map for gamers who like close quarter kills, but with sniping and rockets on the map, the gameplay was always on the move.
Sandtrap – It was epic for the Elephants and I’ve love to see those come back. Vehicle and sniping were great here. But best of all was stealing the other team’s Elephant in objective games and destroying them in minutes because they charged us while not protecting their mobile base.
Sandbox – By far the best forge map in Halo 3. With the improvements to forge that Reach brought and yet more improvements that Halo 4 will bring, this map would become beyond epic.

If you have a wishlist or opinion on the maps I listed, please feel free to chime in with a response. I’d love to hear what other maps people want to see remade in Halo 4.

“Why it does matter that 3431 changed the grunts”

This question was posed on HaloWaypoint’s forum. I took this to task and really considered why the changes may have been made.

To answer this, we need to look at the bigger picture for a moment. 343i has their own vision of the Haloverse. Much of it is in line with what we’ve known over the past 10 years. Undoubtedly though some things will change.

The grunts changing matter because while they’ve been a source of amusement, they have never really been that threatening before. It’s been said that grunts singularly are easy to kill, but in packs make a formidable opponent.

This new grunt has a vicious look to it. One that may change the way you perceive them from being purely laughable canon fodder, to the vicious and tenacious enemies they were intended to be.

Not enough has changed of the look that they aren’t readily recognizable as Halo grunts. Take a look below. To the left the Halo Reach grunt (very close to the Halo 3 grunt) and to the right the Halo 4 grunt.

Let’s look at the specific changes:

Skin: Exo-Skeleton -> rough circular scaley skin
Head: top mounted and small -> somewhat hunched and bigger
Breathing apparatus: mouth covering -> nose covering

Skin:
The debate is such that the skin has changed so much that it is no longer the same species or a variant of. Looking at reference material from the various games suggest that grunts indeed have these scales early on but were not as noticeable due to lack of image processing in the original XBOX. As the games moved forward it was Bungie who changed the look of the grunts.

Head:
The position and size of the head has changed. By moving the head down a little and making it bigger it creates a more alien look. While still bi-pedal, they have a more animalistic look. Being more animalistic means in this case not as smart as other sentient races, but willing warriors and ready for battle. That clearly is what grunts are. Yes, they do have some intelligence. However, it’s been clearly realized in the games that they are not as smart as the other covenant races.

Breathing apparatus:
Let’s not forget that they had their eyes covered in the beginning then that changed. Halo 3 and Reach showed their eyes more. While eyes can have a look of fierceness it can be argued that the mouth especially teeth can show emotion as well, especially when evoking rage or viciousness. We only have to look to real nature for this. Take for example wolves. While you may glean from the position of the eyes that they are hunters, it’s when they bare their teeth an snarl that you really get the understanding that they are vicious.
By changing the apparatus to show their teeth, by default they become more vicious, scary even. Covering their eyes actually adds back to the grunts that you aren’t aware of what they are up to. You can’t tell if they can see you or not which adds more surprise. It also means you’ll have to be a bit more cunning with them or they could get the drop on you.

I’m all for the changes. We are seeing how Halo is again evolving. I’m rather happy that we aren’t getting the same old grunts. Don’t get me wrong, they are still loveable little terrors and the original trilogy grunts will always have a place in Halo. So too will these new trilogy grunts.

We’ve only seen a few graphics of them. Let’s give it more time and see them in action. Before people rush to denounce 343, take a closer look at what may really be going on and see the benefit of change. It’s necessary, less our beloved franchise become stagnant.

Good job 343, keep it up!

I’ll sum this all up with this thought. Skin or exoskeleton, I dont really care. They are a fictitious race in a video game. They still look enough like grunts to me. Plus they’ll sell yet more toys.

Seriously, why are people getting bent out of shape for every little aspect of Halo 4?

New developer, new look, new gameplay, STILL HALO. Nuff said.

-HFFL

Wow, I missed this. LOL

As you can see by my countdown to the right, Halo 4 is less than 200 days away. While it’s still a bit out, it’s starting to feel closer now that we’re in the 100s instead of 200s.

Can you feel the excitement? Well can you? LOL.

-HFFL

Okay, so we are all still wondering what these Ops will be like. Will they have objective based missions? Will they be like Firefight? Each week there will be a new “Episode” of Spartan Ops that will essentially be a cutscene. As well there will be 5 missions tied to that episode that up to four players can play.

This means that you and up to 3 of your friends can play these missions. Now we ask, does this mean we can replay those missions weeks later? Are the missions something we have to download? These are questions not yet answered by 343. However, I’d suspect that you can replay those missions.

Tied to the missions are Spartan Points, as in Multiplayer. With those you can buy new armor and build specific loudouts to your liking sans power weapons. Sorry folks, no Rocket Launcher or Sniper loudouts, unless that is what the gametype is.

While delving into Spartan Ops, I started wondering how long will it last? Has 343 thought beyond Halo 4 for this or will it be solely for this game? Will it even last until Halo 5 comes out?

These are compelling questions that need to be answered to give us a look into the future of Spartan Ops. I’d hope 343 has this planned to last through the whole of the new trilogy. However, if it’s found that people either don’t like this mode or don’t play it a lot, it may spell an early demise for Spartan Ops. At the least I can see it running through until Halo 5 is launched.

Since I mentioned Halo 5, let’s consider that it’s likely 2-3 years away from Halo 4’s launch. So we’re looking at between 100-150+ episode. Many TV shows don’t last that long. It’s really an ambitious project that 343 has undertaken. This is what leads me to believe that the episodes themselves will be very short. I’d guess between 5-10 minutes tops. Anything more would really put a strain on the team at 343 in charge of Spartan Ops.

The missions themselves could be something as simple as a Firefight type mode for a couple of them, while others could be an objective, which would require a little bit more programming.

It’s exciting to think what Spartan Ops could be. Likewise, I hope 343 hasn’t bitten off more than they can chew with that kind of schedule.

In any event, I think we’re in for a fantastic new mode in Halo. One that I hope we fans on the whole will support and give 343 a reason to keep it in the game and continue with a weekly schedule.

Thanks for reading as always and post a comment if you liked the article.

-HFFL

The following have just been found today. They were originally posted on NeoGaf (the forum Frank O’Conner likes to frequent).

These may or may not be final renderings, however I think it’s safe to say they are very good.

I actually like the more textured Grunts and Elites. The look of both are more bad-ass in my opinion.

The one shot with Cortana has me just a little concerned as she’s not translucent. he should be some what see-through.

Also, is it me or does the grunt have a slight similarity to Urdnot Wrex from Mass Effect?

In any event, I do like the way things are looking for the Campaign side of Halo

Check out this pic of the new OXM cover:

Hmm, so I wonder what the weapon is. Frank O’Conner has stated it’s not a grenade launcher but is “AWEsome” (Spelled with caps just like that).