I had an opportunity to question a 343 employee about this last night. (Can’t say who though)

Anyway, I ask if the change to the Covies looks were for aesthetic reasons, or polygon count, or something entirely different.

As suspected, the look of the traditional Covenant forces was changed to make them look more menacing. Frank O’Conner has eluded to this as well.

There apparently was a discussion about the Jackal in particular with their more bird-like appearance and not being as threatening. The decision was made to make them appear a little bit more dinosaur like, giving them a stunted beak and moving their eyes forward.

That definitely changed the look of them. For the better? Hmm you decide:

I happen to like it. Other than the head, much of the rest of the Jackal remains intact from previous iterations. The new version in Halo 4 definitely looks more bad-ass and no where near bird-like.

I was told there really won’t be any canonical explanation for this. It’s not like the evolved. It’s just an aesthetic change.

If you’re a person who is pre-ordering the new Halo 4 console, you should know by now that you’ll get a very special armor skin called the “FOTUS” armor skin. So what does that mean?

I had guessed the meaning of what “FOTUS” meant. Now I have had that guess confirmed as correct. I can’t site the specific source, but can say it was from a 343 employee.

The correct meaning is: Fist of the Unicorn Skin

The “Fist of the Unicorn” part is the name of the band of the Pillar of Autumn. You can see a poster for them in the very first level of Halo CE/Anniversary. “Skin” obviously because it’s an armor skin.

So there you have it, folks!

-HFFL

GET INTO THE MINDS OF THREE RECRUITS AS THEY ENTER CORBULO ACADEMY IN HALO 4: FORWARD UNTO DAWN.

Forward Unto Dawn: “ENLIST”

This is a good short video that quickly gets into the minds of three recruits. Tom Lasky the main character of the soon to come Forward Unto Dawn mini-series is one of the recruits. You find that he had an older brother who went to the school as well and was very well liked.

With that knowledge, we now get some further insight into Lasky himself. It appears he has had to follow in the shadow of his brother all his life and it’s hard to measure up. This in part plays into his lack of confidence of being a good soldier. Until that is, when the Covenant show up…

I just saw these two images posted on another site. While I do not like to post rumors, I think these two need to be looked at. If true, these are some excellent examples of helmets. If not, then, well, I’ll be bummed.

First is the “Strider” helmet. It reminds me of the Pilot helmet from Reach:

Next is the “Scanner” helmet. This one kind of reminds of of Commander Cody’s helmet from Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith:

I like both, though more so the Strider helmet.

As said, for now these are rumors, so take them with a grain of salt.

I can’t wait to see what all the armor looks like in Halo 4. November can’t come soon enough!

-HFFL