{"id":22187,"date":"2015-07-08T12:05:37","date_gmt":"2015-07-08T17:05:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/halofanforlife.com\/?p=22187"},"modified":"2015-07-08T12:05:37","modified_gmt":"2015-07-08T17:05:37","slug":"halo-community-update-7-7-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/halofanforlife.com\/?p=22187","title":{"rendered":"Halo Community Update 7.7.15"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is a reblog from Halo Waypoint:\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

By B is for Bravo –

\n

Over the past few weeks, teams at 343 and Xbox have been putting the finishing touches on the upcoming show at the world famous San Diego Comic-Con. As I put together this update, many brave souls are already in sunny Southern California, preparing the Halo 5: Guardians booth, the all-new Breakout Arena, a couple of Halo panels, and more. Let\u2019s talk about exactly what that more entails, because there\u2019s lots. We\u2019re coming for you, Comic-Con, and we can\u2019t wait for the doors to open.<\/p>\n

Halo @ SDCC 2015<\/h2>\n

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<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve got a jam-packed week ahead, and we can\u2019t wait to get started. Whether you\u2019ll be joining us at SDCC, or will be following the news from home, we want to make sure you\u2019re ready for what\u2019s to come.<\/p>\n

Panels<\/strong><\/p>\n

Join us for the following panels this weekend, with special guests from 343 and more:<\/p>\n

Hunt For the Truth: Following the Trail of the\u00a0Halo 5: Guardians<\/em>\u00a0Story<\/strong>\u00a0(Room 6BCF: Friday, July 10, 10:15 a.m. \u2013 11:15 a.m.)<\/em><\/p>\n

Join us as we examine the storytelling in and around\u00a0Halo 5: Guardians. This panel will bring new insight into the mysteries surrounding the Master Chief, and sneak peeks of the stories we have yet to tell. <\/em><\/p>\n

Panelists will include:
\n\u2022 Kiki Wolfkill \u2013 Studio Head, Halo Entertainment
\n\u2022 Frank O\u2019Connor \u2013 Franchise Development Director
\n\u2022 Morgan Lockhart \u2013 Narrative Designer
\n\u2022 Noah Eichen \u2013 Creative Director, Ayzenberg
\n\u2022 Ian Kirby \u2013 Founder, The Sequence Group<\/p>\n

Building the Halo Universe with the Collectible Mega Bloks Series<\/strong>\u00a0(Room 24ABC: Sunday, July 12, 2:00 p.m. \u2013 3:00 p.m.<\/em><\/p>\n

With over 65 million Halo game titles and over 35 million Mega Bloks Halo sets sold, some of the world’s biggest Halo fans bring our universe to life through construction, helping to shape this legendary world in their own way. Fans can expect teasers of the new Mega Bloks Spring ’16 line and a look back at the history of Halo and Mega Bloks, info on how the games become builds with behind-the-scenes stories and making-of moments, why Halo chose Mega Bloks, and what’s next for both brands. <\/em><\/p>\n

Panelists will include:
\n\u2022 Frank O\u2019Connor\u00a0\u2013 Franchise Development Director
\n\u2022 John Friend\u00a0\u2013 343 Consumer Products
\n\u2022 Andrew Sparkes\u00a0\u2013 VP Global Brand at Mega Bloks
\n\u2022 Joe Lawandus\u00a0\u2013 VP Global Brand at Mattel
\n\u2022 Gary Swisher\u00a0\u2013 SVP Design at Mattel
\n\u2022 Jay Frechette\u00a0\u2013 Moderator<\/p>\n

The panels will not be streamed, but we\u2019re working with the folks at Comic-Con to make the VoDs available following each panel.<\/p>\n

Xbox Lounge<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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By now, you\u2019ve probably seen a few of the things we\u2019ve got planned for this year\u2019s Xbox Lounge, one of which is the Halo 5: Guardians Breakout Arena. The experience, which is presented by BOOMco, will put you into real 4v4 Arena combat \u2013 you\u2019ll be suited up into armor, handed a Halo BOOMco blaster, and given an opportunity to face off with and against fellow Spartans. The Arena itself is a real-life recreation of the Halo 5: Guardians Breakout map Crossfire, which you may remember from the Beta.\u00a0To give you an idea of what we\u2019re talking about, here\u2019s an early render of the Arena, complete with two-dimensional humans who were engineered purely for scale purposes:<\/p>\n

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Stay tuned for photos, videos, and (hopefully) amazing slow-mo GIFs from Halo fans throughout the weekend.<\/p>\n

You may have caught Major Nelson\u2019s blog<\/a>\u00a0which mentioned that a new Warzone map will be revealed in the lounge via a massive 6\u2032 x 6\u2032 map constructed by Mega Bloks \u2013 more on that this week. Also, Xbox will be showcasing the recently announced Xbox Elite Wireless Controller with hands-on testing, and we\u2019ll have some new Halo 5: Guardians pins available for the first time in the lounge this weekend. Stay tuned for details on how to grab one.<\/p>\n

The Xbox Lounge will once again be located in the second floor of Manchester Grand Hyatt, in the Seaport Ballroom. There will also be Xbox signs, banners, and fans everywhere, so you really shouldn\u2019t be able to miss it. Here are the Xbox Lounge hours (as a reminder, a Comic-Con badge is required to access the lounge):<\/p>\n

Thursday, July 9: 11:00 a.m. \u2013 8:00 p.m.
\nFriday, July 10: 11 a.m. \u2013 8:00 p.m.
\nSaturday, July 11: 11 a.m. \u2013 8:00 p.m.
\nSunday, July 12: 10 a.m. \u2013 5:00 p.m.<\/p>\n

Lastly, as we mentioned last week, we\u2019re giving away a one-of-a-kind SDCC exclusive Halo 5: Guardians Xbox One, and there are a few different ways to win \u2013 even if you\u2019re not attending the event. To get the details, head here.<\/a><\/p>\n

Play Warzone
\nVery few Halo fans have had the chance to play Warzone, the new massive-scale multiplayer mode coming to Halo 5: Guardians. Luckily, we\u2019re bringing Warzone with us to SDCC, which means that it will be the first public appearance of the mode. Warzone will be playable at the Xbox Booth (Booth #100) on the SDCC show floor \u2013 be sure to arrive early and beat the line!<\/p>\n

Wait, there\u2019s more!<\/p>\n

In addition to the above locations and events, we\u2019ve teamed up with a variety of partners to ensure that Halo goodness is spread far and wide through the Comic-Con show floor. Below, you\u2019ll find a detailed list of everything that\u2019s going down \u2013 whether you\u2019ll be attending in person or following the event from home, here\u2019s your master scavenger hunt list, with just a few pictures to whet your appetite.<\/p>\n

Halo on the SDCC Show Floor<\/strong><\/p>\n

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BOOMco \u2013 Mattel Booth 3029\/2945<\/strong><\/p>\n

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In addition to the BOOMco Breakout Arena in the Xbox Lounge, BOOMco will have their SDCC-exclusive Halo UNSC\/Covenant Battle Pack available. Swing by the booth to grab one!<\/p>\n

MEGA – Mattel Booth 3029\/2945<\/strong><\/p>\n

Celebrate the upcoming release of Halo 5: Guardians with a limited edition micro figure 3-pack from Mega Bloks. This SDCC exclusive includes highly-decorated, articulated figures of the Master Chief, Spartan Locke, and the Arbiter. Also, be sure to swing by the Mattel Booth at 11am on Saturday \u2013 Frank and myself will be hanging out, and we don\u2019t want to be all alone.<\/p>\n

Sandboxr \u2013 Booth 3513<\/strong><\/p>\n

Get your SDCC exclusive Halo 5: Guardians 3D Printed Spartan the Sandboxr booth! You\u2019ll be able to use the Sandboxr App to customize your Spartan with a personalized message, gamertag or name, pick a male or female Spartan, and choose between five weapons, four armor sets, and three poses.<\/p>\n

Dark Horse \u2013 Booth 2615<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the UNSC’s most prominent troop and material transports will soon be available as an authentic, fully painted 6″ miniature replica in an SDCC exclusive bronze finish. Check out the Halo UNSC Pelican Dropship Replica at the Dark Horse booth!<\/p>\n

Xbox Store (Located outside of the Xbox Lounge)<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Xbox Store will have a collection of Halo merch, including an SDCC exclusive Halo 5: Guardians t-shirt design. Get \u2018em while they\u2019re hot.<\/p>\n

Square Enix \u2013 Booth 3829<\/strong><\/p>\n

Our friends at Square Enix will be showcasing the Halo 5: Guardians Play Arts Kai figures \u2013 featuring Master Chief and Spartan Locke.<\/p>\n

NECA \u2013 Booth 3145<\/strong><\/p>\n

Swing by the NECA booth to see the official reveal of the 1:1 scale Needler Prop Replica!<\/p>\n

McFarlane \u2013 Booth 2729<\/strong><\/p>\n

Come by and check out the Halo 5: Guardians Series 1 Action Figure line! The series will include our returning hero – The Master Chief, a rising star in the UNSC ranks – Spartan Locke, plus some exciting new and returning characters from the Halo universe.<\/p>\n

Kotobukiya \u2013 Booth 2601<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Kotobukiya will be showing off the latest and greatest in Halo ARTFX+ Statues, including the Master Chief. The Halo ARTFX+ Master Chief includes a tech suit body with armor that slides and snaps into place – live demonstrations at the booth will show the modular armor suits in action.<\/p>\n

Bandai \u2013 Diamond Select Booth 2607<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bandai America will be showing off their latest Halo Series 2 Sprukit \u2013 Spartan Locke.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

It will be a busy week for us down in San Diego, and we can\u2019t wait for the festivities to get underway. To stay up to date on the latest announcements, be sure to keep an eye on @Halo and @MajorNelson on Twitter, Xbox Wire, and of course, stay tuned to Waypoint throughout the week for more coverage and info. We\u2019ll see you soon, San Diego.<\/p>\n

Forum Features<\/h2>\n

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Last week, the web team pushed out some improvements to the Waypoint forums, including a new feature which allows you to follow forum topics and receive notifications. You can now subscribe to hourly, daily or weekly notifications, meaning you\u2019ll get an email to alert you to replies to your followed topics during that timeframe. Here\u2019s the breakdown of recent updates:<\/p>\n

Forums
\n<\/strong>\u2022 You can now navigate to Forums from the top navigation
\n\u2022 Added \u201cOP\u201d tag to highlight the original poster in a forum topic<\/p>\n

Forum Notifications<\/strong><\/p>\n

You can follow a topic by clicking the \u201cfollow\u201d button when viewing a topic. To receive email notifications, you can now enter an email address and notification frequency on the user profile page. Here\u2019s a bit more information about this feature:
\n\u2022 The Favorite Topics page has become the Followed Topics page. Your old favorites are now your followed topics.
\n\u2022 You can now change your email address at any time. All you need to do is overwrite the old email address, and complete the verification process again.
\n\u2022 When following a topic, you will receive email notifications only when someone has replied to that topic since your previous notification.
\n\u2022 If you subscribe to hourly notifications, you will receive emails on the hour
\n\u2022 If you subscribe to daily notifications, you will receive emails every day at ~12pm Pacific.
\n\u2022 If you subscribe to weekly notifications, you will receive emails at ~12pm Pacific on Fridays.<\/p>\n

This new feature will help in the organization of your forum-going and discussions as we get closer to sharing more details on what\u2019s to come with Halo 5: Guardians and beyond.<\/p>\n

Before we close, we\u2019d like to thank you for your continued feedback and interest as we draw nearer to the release of Halo 5. Even well before the beta, we\u2019ve kept a very close eye on your thoughts and reactions to the experiences we\u2019ve shown you. One item that I wanted to specifically mention and respond to is that of the Halo 5: Guardians Limited Collector\u2019s Edition. As we stated shortly after E3, the LCE will be released on October 20th<\/sup>\u00a0\u2013 a week prior to the official launch date of October 27th<\/sup>, so we\u2019re including a digital copy of the game so that you\u2019ll have the benefit of pre-downloading to be ready to play immediately on launch day. However, as you may have seen on Twitter,<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/JoshingtonState\/status\/618176172195577856<\/p>\n

…we\u2019ve heard feedback and understand that some of you prefer a physical disc in the LCE, and we are actively exploring options. We\u2019ll have more details to share soon.<\/p>\n

HFFL:<\/strong> I have suggested a rebate in which you send in the barcode proof of purchase as well as your receipt to get a disc.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

With that, this week\u2019s update comes to a close. Stay tuned to Waypoint for all of the goodness this week, and we\u2019ll talk again soon \u2013 the HCS Season 2 Finals are just around the corner.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll see you in San Diego!
\nBravo<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is a reblog from Halo Waypoint:\u00a0 By B is for Bravo – 10 hours ago Over the past few weeks, teams at 343 and Xbox have been putting the finishing touches on the upcoming show at the world famous … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-halo-waypoint"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/halofanforlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/halofanforlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/halofanforlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/halofanforlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/halofanforlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22187"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/halofanforlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22187\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22197,"href":"https:\/\/halofanforlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22187\/revisions\/22197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/halofanforlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/halofanforlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/halofanforlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}