Yesterday we learned of the new Halo channel. The video of the reveal just blew by and if you weren’t paying attention, you could have missed a lot of information.

Below is my analysis of key things to be seen in the video. I left the screenshots intact so that you can see when the image was taken during the viewing.

Okay, we have 29 images to look at and discuss. So let’s get to it.

The first thing we see is the normal disclosure. I honestly didn’t see anything that would be inappropriate for kids. Then again, this is a rated R franchise. (Still don’t understand that either…)
We start by seeing a pop-up alerting us to Halo Nightfall’s premiere being available to watch. Note the 30m to the side telling us how long the episode is.
The Halo Channel Logo is pretty simple.I like simplicity in logos. What do you think of the logo?
So you clicked on ‘watch’ and you have this menu showing when the vid will start, as well as other features available to watch. Note the callout to the right that let’s you know how many friends you have online as well as twitch streams available to watch and an ‘episode’ of the bulletin. This makes me think the Halo Bulletin will be delivered to us as a news segment, rather than a written article. It’s likely the article will still be published on Halo Waypoint, but for those that want to listen to it can do so here.
So speaking of the Bulletin, here’s a glimpse of what we may see when a new Bulletin is posted. 
This next pic below doesn’t really detail much…except notice the UNSC Infinity looks to have crashed on a planet. That isn’t Requiem as there is a human radar dish on the mountain. Man, the Infinity seems to be crash prone… 
More menus below. Part of which details the episode you are about to watch.
In the image below we read that Agent Locke and his team are caught in a horrific biological attack. Hmm, now what could that be? Flood? Who knows. It would be cool to see live action Flood.

Now this next image gives pause for a lot of people who are into e-sports. It looks like this part of the channel can be used as a sort of ‘spectator mode’. If so, that’s going to make a lot of people happy. The event feed on the left details what is happening to whom during the match AS IT HAPPENS. I’m definitely looking forward to checking this part of the channel out!
Community Intel? Hmm, well in the shot below we see Dan Ayoub, executive producer at 343. Along with a menu bar with tabs for checking out various Halo weapons.

Now here is where things get interesting. We see the title of the sepisode and the scene. However, it’s in the menu bar below that, that we see 3/5 rewards. Hmm, rewards? I wonder what those are and how they become unlocked. This is intriguing, not to mention a great way to add interactivity between the channel and the video series.
Want to know more about Locke? Click on his tab and you’ll see the info below. Of note, in the ‘Career’ section we read that Locke became an orphan after a Covenant attack. Hmm, sound a little familiar? Yes, Chief wasn’t an orphan, but he did lose his biological parents of a sorts by being pulled away from them and put into service in the Spartan II program.
So it looks like you’ll also get a live twitter feed to look at. Is that while watching the episode?  I’d guess that’s a feature we can turn off/on. 
Is the below figure wishful thinking? I hope not. In fact, I hope that number is surpassed!

So moving on with more things that can be unlocked, we see that the next week, the next episode is unlocked to watch.
The venerable Keith David doing new voice-over work as the Arbiter. Man, I can’t wait to hear and see the Arbiter again! How about you? Are you excited for the Arbiter’s return?
Okay so there are challenges in watching episodes? Is it by watching and answering questions about the episode? Might there be a matchmaking tie in?
Well that was easy enough, LOL.

Now this next screenshot gives us one very important notation. The “Swarm” skull has been unlocked. This giving Hunters double damage and TRIPLE health. Seriously? Damn, those things are going to be HARD to take down!
Now below we see a quick progression of challenges and hmm, ‘ONI eyes’. Now what could THAT be? 
Are we going to have to have eagle eyes to catch every detail in the episode to unlock the ONI stuff? I’m all for it! The more interactivity beyond the game, the better, IMO!

Taking a page form the community, it looks like the Halo Channel will show top 5 plays, or maybe fails. Who knows? There is a lot of potential for this section of the channel.

Now here we are at the last screenshot. Nothing there to give us any news. Or IS there? Notice the UNSC Infinity coming out of the clouds? Again, that’s NOT Requiem folks. And those aren’t human structures. Halo ring? Stay tuned to find out!

I hope you enjoyed my analysis of the Halo Channel reveal video.

-Sal