We braved crowds of hundreds of thousands. We accidentally waited in lines for 30 minutes while trying to exit the convention center. We were whacked in the head by a few too many poster tubes. We survived another San Diego Comic-Con and are here to tell the tale. More importantly, we gave you a first look at Halo: Nightfall and more details on Halo: The Master Chief Collection and Halo 2: Anniversary. Most importantly, however, may be the fact that we got to meet so many passionate Halo fans in San Diego this past weekend. Whether it was a mother and father who waited in a 2-hour line to get their son or daughter a signed poster, or a group of friends who can’t wait for November 11, it was truly a treat to talk about Halo with everyone in attendance. Whether you attended our panels, came to hang out at the Xbox Lounge, stopped us on the floor and just said “hello,” or have been following the news from home, we’d like to say thank you. We’re excited about what’s ahead, and we hope you are too. In this week’s issue, we’ve got a Comic-Con recap, the world premiere of our Halo: The Master Chief Collection developer panel, and more. Let’s dig in!

Halo: Nightfall

Comic-Con kicked off this past Thursday with a panel for Halo: Nightfall, where our own Executive Producer Kiki Wolfkill and Franchise Development director Frank O’Connor were joined by cast members Mike Colter and Christina Chong, as well as David Zucker of Scott Free Productions. The panel touches upon the story of Halo: Nightfall, how the story connects with Halo 5: Guardians, and details fun stories from the past few months of shooting and production. You can check out the panel below:

After the panel, attendees had a chance to meet with our panelists and get an exclusive Halo: Nightfall poster signed (we might have brought home a few for you, too, and we’ll have more details on those next week!)

Halo: The Master Chief Collection
We also had a panel for Halo: The Master Chief Collection and it starred a few folks that might be familiar if you caught our RTX panel earlier this month. I got a chance to speak again with Certain Affinity’s Max Hoberman and Senior Producer Dennis Ries, and we were joined by Frank O’Connor and Blur Studios Director Franck Balson.

The long-awaited panel is now available for your viewing pleasure. You’ll find some brand new Halo 2: Anniversary cinematic videos, a look at Zanzibar in Halo 2: Anniversary, and more. Enjoy!

We got a chance to meet lots of Halo fans at the Xbox Lounge. We invited artists of all ages and skill ranges to come and decorate their own mini Spartan Helmets. We were not only amazed with some of the work you were able to do, but also how quickly the helmets were gone. We ran out of them before the end of the show, but perhaps we’ll find a few to share with you at a future event?All weekend, you’ve been asking how you can get your hands on one of these helmets, it just so happens that we’ve got some left. We’ll have more details on this in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!

HFFL: Man, this is one project I would LOVE to be in on. I actually proposed something VERY similar to Mega Bloks a few months back. Hmm, maybe they’ll reconsider it now, due to the success of this project?

Halo 4 Matchmaking Update

We’ve got some new experiences on the way in Halo 4. First up is a brand new featured playlist, with maps created by some of the community’s finest Forgers. Coming next Monday is Community Forge Race.

HFFL: I LOVE Race. While it’s not perfect in Halo 4, it’s still fun. Not tomorrow, but next Friday, when the playlist is live, I’ll have them as our HFFL Community Night map to be played on. So if you love race in Halo as well, please come out next Friday for some revving Mongoose action! (8pm EST Friday Aug 8.)

In Race, players compete on Mongooses across community canvases. Check ‘em out below!

Community Forge Racetracks

Solitude by Bean05
Gotterdammerung by NukedLceCream & Tripmine414
Underpass by AlexJ189
Collision Fusion by TheRedEyedDevil
Scum City by ImSOfaced
Indoor Race #3 Reverse by TheRedEyedDevil
Perfect by TheRedEyedDevil
Hydro Lane by ImSOfaced
Cosmos by ducain23
Crossbow by runNOKYARDrun
Sorrow by NukedLceCream
Funky Factory by Masta Hippie
Sandstone Slateway by germanicus1994
Ridgecrest by King Edward I

Additionally, we’ll be adding the following community maps to Team Slayer.

Team Slayer Maps

Rubble by Hahkrazy
Select by SecretSchnitzel
WildFire by TheFatedFire
Epicenter by aChunk
Panic Attack by ThePsychoDuck
Fuggedaboudit! by FlyingShoeILR

HFFL: Hmm, looks like I’ve got some slayer maps to check out as well!

Screenshot Spotlight: Landscape

Last week, we turned the spotlight on the Suppressor. Take a gander at the following landscape screenshots, and maybe even find inspiration to make your own.

HFFL: Most of these are pretty nice, though none are stand-outs to me. I guess it’s because I know how to break out of maps (no modding involved here folks). There are some great views from beyond the kill boundaries looking back at maps. Perhaps I should have tried that for this past week. A well. Congrats to my new friend Draxsonia for getting FOUR of the 10 chosen for the Spotlight.

For your chance at being in the next spotlight, take a screenshot in the Community Forge Race playlist and tag it with “Race” and “Halo Waypoint,” and maybe, just maybe, yours will be featured in the next Halo Bulletin!

HFFL: Hmm, I think I know just the map to get some good screenshots on! Might this be the week I enter and am chosen? Rolls eyes, LOL.

And with that, this week’s Bulletin comes to a close. Stay tuned next week, cause we’re headed to Europe.

Until then,
Bravo

-Sal