Daily Archives: 12/17/2015

Microsoft May Make Life-Sized Cortana In Person For HoloLens

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This is a reblog from TechTimes:

CORTANA CP

By Fritz Gleyo

Microsoft may soon developed a life-sized Cortana for HoloLens.

With HoloLens running on Windows 10, it wasn’t hard for people to propose a life-sized hologram of the digital assistant Cortana. A couple of Microsoft Studios community members thought of it and shared their ideas through Microsoft’s recently launched Share-Your-Idea initiative for its augmented reality headset HoloLens.

“Hologram of Cortana from Halo who you can talk to and interact with. Works in the same way as cortana on Desktop / Phone. Get answers to questions etc,” proposes LookItsKris. “Maybe ask a question on HoloLens and answers come through on phone? Possibilities are endless.”

“Whenever you invoke Cortana, she will be displayed as a holographic object, like a real AI in the Halo Universe,” writes jigerdoodles117. “Each word she says can be mapped to facial animation. When she is thinking/processing queries, she could display a classic chin-rub thinking animation.”

A lot of people find both ideas feasible. This is seen in the number of upvotes for each post: 402 upvotes for LookItsKris’ post and 173 for jigerdoodles117’s. In fact, some think it may already be in the works.

“Good idea, but this probably already exists,” says Stompplantes, another Microsoft Studios community member.

HoloLens was formally announced together with Windows 10 in January. The headset’s next major appearance was during E3 2015 when it was used to generate an interactive virtual Minecraft world on top of a table. Microsoft also demoed the HoloLens for 3D modelling using various third-party software and first-person shooter games and as an interactive teaching medium.

Microsoft is set to release the mixed reality headset’s developer kit in the first half of 2016. Virtual reality headsets such as the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift are also set for a first-quarter launch next year.

Redmond is yet to comment whether or not a life-sized Cortana for HoloLens will be available.

HFFL: Okay…SIGN ME UP FOR THIS! Seriously though, who wouldn’t want a life-sized Cortana hologram?

Halo 5: Guardians Seasons Explained

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This is a reblog from HaloWaypoint: 

h5seasons-bff6f42192a94ac18ef7635d6b4af0dcThe Cartographer’s Gift update for Halo 5 brings with it the arrival of Seasons. Seasons are a new competitive feature for Arena which will give you a chance to continually challenge yourself in ranked playlists, and also prove that you’ve improved your game since the last Season. The January 2016 Season will begin today, with the Cartographer’s Gift update, and end on January 31, which will make the first season a little over a month long. Moving forward, we’re going to keep an eye on feedback regarding season length.

Now that the season has begun, all of your Pre-Season ranks are still viewable on your Halo Waypoint Service Record, and all CSRs for ranked playlists have been reset, giving you a chance to place in each of these playlists again. At the end of each Season, those who qualified in at least one playlist (by playing 10 placement matches in any ranked playlist) will earn an exclusive seasonal pack reward emblem, only available that Season.

Additionally, social playlists are now available, including Big Team Battle and Holiday Social, the latter of which includes a variety of Slayer and Snipers variants at launch. Over time, we’ll be expanding the social mode offering as new modes come online, and incredible community-created content surfaces. And lastly, before we forget, Doubles is back as a ranked playlist, and will be available through the holidays.

We’ll see you online!

ICYMI: Halo 5 Cartographer’s Gift is now available!

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The update was made available yesterday. Pardon my lateness in posting this, but I was knee deep into Forge. Intact, I spent 3 hours alone just looking at all the items you can bring into the maps.

There are some truly amazing pieces out there. The team did a masterful job of creating new assets for we Forge fans to play with.

Now, fair warning, the UI is VERY different from what we’ve know of past Forge’s. For old pros it may take a little while to get used to. For new comers, it may be a bit daunting. However, with the amount of items, audio and visual effects, scripting and so much more, it’s WORTH learning!

If you don’t see me on XBOX One, it’s likely because I’ve made myself ‘OFFLINE’. I do this when forging so I’m not interrupted. I take my forging seriously! LOL

Canon Fodder: Mythellaneous Topics

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This is a reblog form HaloWaypoint:

BY GRIMBROTHER ONE

ISSUE 55

Welcome back, lovers-of-the-lore! We’re hoping today ends up being a pretty cool one for Halo fans of all walks and interests, as many of you have likely already spent part of the day diving into many of the new features and facets of the Cartographer’s Gift content update for Halo 5: Guardians that we detailed in last week’s issue.  I know there are countless souls within our studio walls that are eager and excited to see what Halo’s wildly creative community comes up with as the boundaries of the mode get pushed ever further.

Today though, we’re going to talk a little bit about different project we’re also pretty excited about: Halo Mythos: A Guide to the Story of Halo. After sneaking it into the most recent episode of The Sprint, we saw fiction fans immediately begin to speculate about the nature of the new project – many wondering the same as one of our forum members, ChasCT2, who asked “Will the Halo Mythos book which is coming out next year be the next Halo Encyclopedia?” The short answer to that question is “no,” and it was important to us to make sure our loyal lore community had a clearer inclination as to what to expect. So if it’s not the “new encyclopedia,” what is it exactly? I’m glad you asked…

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