Items tagged with halo
Although we have to wait until October 27 when Halo 5 officially launches for the Xbox One, another Halo: Spartan Strike is now available for iOS, Windows 8, Windows Phone 8, and Steam for the relatively low price of $5.99. And you don’t have to worry about dealing with ridiculous microtransactions as seen with the Halo: Spartan Assault. All in-game purchases are taken care of with currency that you earn as you progress through the game. Spartan Strike is a top-down gaming affair and you control your on-screen action using dual control sticks. Compared to Spartan Assault, Microsoft says that Spartan Strike brings with it new and improved controls and a spruced up graphics engine. You play as...
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While it’s not the smoking hot of a deal that Amazon delivered to gamers late last month (Xbox One console, an extra wireless controller, and three games for $349), Microsoft is offering up a new Xbox One bundle for gamers that have Master Chief on the brain. The new Xbox One bundle brings Halo: The Master Chief Collection as a free digital download. For those that need a refresher, Halo: The Master Chief Collection includes Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, Halo 2: Anniversary, Halo 3, and Halo 4. The new bundle is priced at $349, so you’re essentially receiving four games for free. According to Microsoft, the Halo: The Master Chief Collection bundle will be available this month in “most regions...
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Microsoft has encountered more than a few issues with Halo: The Master Chief Collection. The compilation title launched in November and was fraught with issues, the chief of which was broken multiplayer. Players were subject to long wait times to enter matches, broken matchmaking, and various other issues that made the multiplayer — the hallmark of the Halo games — unplayable. Microsoft and 343 Industries, the new stewards of the Halo franchise, have heard the cries of gamers and are offering to make amends. In addition to ongoing updates to address the multiplayer issues, 343 Industries chief Bonnie Ross announced on Xbox Wire that anyone that played Halo: The Master Chief Collection between...
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Halo: The Master Chief Collection has been out for only a couple of days but players are still experiencing matchmaking issues. The game’s developer, 343 Industries, has been working to resolve the problem but the issue still persists for some. According to a post from the developer, it has released a server-side update that has improved the matchmaking times for some users while others are still experiencing longer wait times. Additional updates were released last night that increased the amount of players able to enter matches. However, 343 Industries also pointed at Xbox Live Services as another factor that is causing the issues and preventing the developer from releasing its latest...
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Good news for you Halo fans -- and there are a lot of you, based on previous sales -- you can now pre-order Halo: The Master Chief Collection in disc or digital form for $60. There are various rewards to be had, depending on where you place your pre-order. For example, pre-ordering through GameStop gets you the Bandana Skull (unlimited ammo and grenades), while going through Best Buy earns you $10 in Reward Certificates. Ready for a reality check on quickly time flies? It's been 13 years since the release of Halo: Combat Evolved, and 10 years since the release of Halo 2. During that time, over 60 million copies of Halo games have been sold around the world, resulting in more than 6 billion hours...
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There is a lot of Halo content coming around the corner this holiday season for fans of the sci-fi video game franchise. Both the Halo Channel and Halo: The Master Chief Collection are launching in November while fans will gain access to the Halo 5 multiplayer beta in late December. But if that isn’t enough Halo for fans, Microsoft and 343 Industries have announced Halo: Spartan Strike. Halo: Spartan Strike is a top-down, twin-stick shooter in the same vein as Halo: Spartan Assault, which was released last year, and is set in the year 2552 during the events of Halo 2. The game comes with new features and improvements over Spartan Assault that includes a new vehicle and the Prometheans,...
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Microsoft has been updating and improving on Cortana, its personal assistant for the Windows Phone and a popular character from the Halo franchise, since it was rolled out. Microsoft’s response to Apple’s personal assistant Siri has continued to improve and expand with Bing integration and Cortana being brought to Nokia phones. Now, Microsoft is giving its personal assistant the ability to speak Klingon and use pictures. Windows Phone users who ask Cortana questions about Halo, where it is an artificial intelligence that helps the franchise’s protagonist Master Chief, or other topics will receive a response and now a picture. For example, if you ask Cortana about Halo, it will...
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Halo fans looking forward to more about the Halo Channel and Halo: Nightfall were in for a treat at PAX Prime. At the convention, 343 Industries revealed some more information about the channel and the live-action series. Halo: Nightfall, a live-action series, was shot in Iceland and is set between Halo 4 and Halo 5: Guardians. It takes place on Halo Alpha, which was destroyed by Master Chief at the end of the first Halo game. Though destroyed, a fragment of the halo ring has been orbiting a star and is partially functional. Because it orbits around a star, the surface is inhospitable for several hours a day. Nightfall will focus on the character Jameson Locke, played by Mike Colter, which will...
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Here is some odd-ball news for your Friday: Microsoft just released a mouse that sports an image of Master Chief. It’s not surprising to see Microsoft promoting its beloved Halo protagonist, but it is weird to see the Chief on an ordinary mouse, given how rarely it has made PC appearances. Whatever Microsoft’s reasons, the Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 3500 Halo Limited Edition: The Master Chief is up for pre-order now on through GameStop, and we’re not going to be the ones to tell the Chief his mouse is under-equipped. The $29.95 Wireless Mobile Mouse 3500 is a good all-around mouse, but it’s not particularly gamer oriented. The product description has you “Zoom[ing]...
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When Microsoft announced the Xbox One, one of its headline features was the creation of new TV and video content. Headlining this new endeavor was a custom Halo-themed television show directed by Ridley Scott. Microsoft didn't reveal much additional information and the news itself was generally swept under the rug in the wash of controversy over Kinect, the always-on camera, the intrusive DRM, constant phone-home checks, poor communication, and... well, you get the point. Earlier this month, Microsoft announced that it would be closing the content production studios that were initially meant to provide key differentiating content for Xbox One, leading some to wonder if the Halo project was part...
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It looks like the much-anticipated Halo live-action TV show could be announced soon. According to Variety, Xbox Studios is soon to close a deal with Showtime, which will result in the Halo-themed show airing on its channel first, and then on the Xbox after-the-fact. It's being noted that when the show hits the Xbox, users will be able to expect enhanced functionality. The fact that Microsoft is choosing to partner with a TV network is a bit surprising, since it seemed likely that the show would be exclusive to the Xbox platform. With this move, some might believe that it highlights Microsoft's own uncertainties about the show, or its lack of confidence that it'd perform well enough on the...
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Microsoft has made no secret of the fact that it wants the Xbox One to be the center of your home entertainment universe, and to that end the company is always looking for more features to keep users engaged. Last year, word broke that Microsoft was going to be developing original content for the Xbox platform, but until now not much has been happening on that front besides a cursory mention of an original Steven Spielberg-produced live-action Halo series at the Xbox One launch event. However, that promised content will be coming soon. “We’re hoping we will be able to put something up in the first quarter, at minimum second quarter,” Microsoft President of Entertainment and...
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It was probably only a matter of time before a Halo game made it to touch devices, and here it is with “Halo: Spartan Assault”. Microsoft and 343 Industries announced the new title, which will be available in July for the low, low price of $6.99. Only those with Windows 8 or Windows Phone 8 devices will get to play. “With ‘Halo: Spartan Assault,’ we wanted to take ‘Halo’ out of the living room and create a brand new experience that was built specifically for a different screen,” said Dan Ayoub, the game’s Executive Producer. “This is an opportunity for us to define what makes ‘Halo’ unique on mobile platforms and really raise...
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Bungie, the company that brought forth Halo, is embarking on a new MMO called Destiny that is designed to be unlike any gaming experience we’ve seen. There are few hard details available, such as a launch date or pricing, but Bungie gave a preview that teased the game and showed off concept art. It’s a large-scale MMO set in a post-apocalyptic world, but the gameplay and social interaction is supposed to be far more natural and fluid than other MMOs. There will apparently not be any subscription model, so gamers won’t have monthly fees to deal with, either. If nothing else, the concept sounds like a fun setup for a game. Some alien force nearly wiped out humanity, but a mysterious...
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In what's sure to bring tears to tens of people, Halo 2's PC multiplayer servers are permanently going dark next month. 343 Industries made the decision to pull the plug when it noticed that usage was consistently peaking at around just 20 player or less. "We’re sad to report that the service end-date for Halo 2 PC multiplayer will be February 15, 2013. We’ve been monitoring the population for months, and it’s been peaking consistently at approximately 20 players or less. Those that own this game can continue to enjoy multiplayer over LAN after that date; however our network services will be turned off at that time. We love you, Halo 2 PC, and you will live forever in our hearts,"...
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For those fans of the franchise who have been marking off the days until Halo 4 would debut, you can put down the marker and run out to the nearest GameStop, where the game has been on sale since midnight. The trailer for the new game is intense and gorgeous and sets up the story while leaving quite a bit of mystery, too. [SPOILER] After witnessing the mighty UNSC Infinity get sucked down into the gravitational pull of the Forerunner planet Requiem, Master Chief and AI bestie Cortana set out in search of the wreckage only to discover that there’s a new, frightening, non-Covenant force at work. Meanwhile, Cortana is going insane as her AI lifecycle is ending. Microsoft expects Halo 4 to...
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Talk about ending the work week on a high note. Microsoft and 343 Industries today posted the first episode of the Halo 4 live-action webseries designed to introduce the Halo franchise to people new or otherwise unfamiliar with the game. Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn is a 20-minute clip, which we've embedded below, available in Full HD 1080p on YouTube. "Set against the backdrop of a UNSC military academy, a group of highborn cadets are training to be the next generation of soldiers in the UNSC’s ongoing war with insurrectionists in the outer colonial planets," Microsoft explains on its Halo website. "Among these cadets, Thomas Lasky struggles with his doubts about this war, and with the burden...
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At its big press event at the E3 conference, Microsoft boasted a tricked-out stage ideal for demoing games and invited a gaggle of celebrity guests that included Joe Montana, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and Usher. The company unveiled a slew of new games from a variety of developers, so let’s just list the lot of them, shall we? Halo 4 Splinter Cell: Blacklist--Includes single player, coop, and spys versus mercs (spring 2013) FIFA 13--Uses Kinect to let players control certain events with voice commands Madden 2013 Fable: The Journey (holidays 2012) Gears of War Forza Horizon (October 23, 2012) Nike Plus Kinect Training--On Xbox Live, gives players feedback about form, workout times, and...
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In a long, rambling, and entertaining blog post, the Halo team announced a launch date for Halo 4 (er, wouldn’t that actually be Halo 8?). November 6th, 2012 is the big day when the game launches worldwide, and it marks the beginning of a new trilogy in the Halo series. The date was not chosen by accident. According to the post: November 6 is an important date in Halo’s vast and fascinating history. For the uninitiated, that was the day the Master Chief found a weapon, a parched Grunt stumbled upon the starship, and Staff Sergeant Avery Junior Johnson discovered the answer to one of life’s most perplexing questions. In case you’re afraid you’ll forget, here’s...
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Eager for more 3D? The market has yet to truly determine is the format is here to stay, but Microsoft's betting that it is. The company just announced that Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary will have a 3D display mode. Yeah, the next Halo. In 3D. Now would be the perfect time to invest in a mondo 3D projector, we think. The title was recently demonstrated at the Gamescom conference in Germany, and we're told that the game's 3D intensity will be scalable, but it'll only work in its "updated graphics" mode. Sadly, that 3D experience won't be available when playing co-op, splitscreen or by using the original graphics engine, but those who don't mind the caveats can get their pre-order in soon. It'll...
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It's been a few years since Microsoft paid much attention to the PC gaming industry, but someone apparently wandered past the sole employee in the PC gaming devision and kicked him a few times. With Halo Reach released and Kinect in the launch tube, MS has announced it wants to "push the business model into new directions." The problem, according to the software giant, is that it isn't seen as the industry leader or trendsetter that it wants to be. Hi everyone, this is Steve from our Windows Gaming Division. There’s been a fair bit of criticism aimed at Microsoft that we were spending a lot of our focus on console, and we need to be putting resources behind PC as well,” Microsoft...
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We've got to hand it to them--Jabra has outdone itself here in the design department. The company's new HALO Bluetooth headset is unlike any BT headset we've ever seen, with a slick over-the-head design that looks less like a traditional set of cans and more like some sort of space-wear. The headphones collapse down for easy transport, and they can connect to a Bluetooth device that's up to 30 feet away. The headset weighs just three ounces and is compatible with pretty much any Bluetooth media player or cellphone out there; it's even able to sync with two BT devices at once. There's a built in microphone for speaking when a call comes in, and just in case one does, it automatically fades the...
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