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Halo: Reach beta matchmaking and UI details surface

by David Hinkle { Mar 18th 2010 at 9:00PM }

[Shacknews]

Up until now, we were content with what few details we had about the Halo: Reach beta: its date of arrival and all of that sexy jetpack stuff. According to some details over at Shacknews, there's plenty more to get excited about than just atomic teabagging: new matchmaking and UI features, of course!

The first big addition is Arena playlists, a set of Slayer and Team Slayer playlists for the more hardcore players, complete with its own ranking system. Ranks will be determined through a variety of factors, and will section off players into one of five groups: Onyx, Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Steel. As such, Ranked and Social will now be one combined playlist.

Other improvements come to the lobby system, giving players the power to vote on potential games that come up in matchmaking and an auto-queue feature that lets you join friends immediately after they complete a match. There's even a throwback to Halo 2 in the Active Roster screen, an area that shows all of your friends who are playing the game.

Halo 2 players getting Reach beta invites via email

by Richard Mitchell { Mar 4th 2010 at 1:00PM }

This is what you get for being loyal to Halo 2
If you're one of the die-hard Master Chief fans that just can't let go of Halo 2, there's a chance that you've got some good news waiting in your inbox. Microsoft is currently sending out emails to Xbox Live users, specifically those who insist on clinging to the old ways. As the Xbox Live service for original Xbox games will shut down next month, Microsoft is offering Halo 2 fans quite a severance package.

All told, OG Xbox gamers will receive three months of Xbox Live Gold, 400 Microsoft Points and an invite to the upcoming Halo: Reach multiplayer beta. Granted, it's probably not going to console those who have yet to upgrade to an Xbox 360 -- or those loyal to games other than Halo 2 -- but it's certainly better than nothing. And hey, jet packs, right?

[Thanks to everyone that sent this in!]

Halo Reach Beta trailer shows jet packs, assassinations [update]

by Justin McElroy { Mar 3rd 2010 at 7:00AM }

Huh? What do you think you're doing? You're reading a post that has "shows jet packs" in the headline? When you know that there's a Halo Reach beta trailer (initially leaked by a Taiwanese site called GNN) ~~right after the break~~? We're just going to assume you've already watched it, because any other scenario speaks ill of your mental stability.

That said ... DUDE! Jet packs! Assassinations! Load outs! New modes! The only feature Bungie forgot to list that was also included in the trailer? Like 50 million boners. Why don't you start digging through the clip and let us know in the comments what else you can find?

Update: We've replaced the leaked video that was posted after the break with the now officially released trailer above and added one new piece of art in the gallery below. Good news: The trailer's still got jet packs!

Gallery: Halo: Reach

A Spartan and a Stormtrooper find love

by David Hinkle { Feb 24th 2010 at 8:00AM }

Here's the thing about being trapped inside of a suit all day: you crave connections. The tender embrace of another carbon-based life-form becomes a precious commodity -- a feeling we're far too familiar with, being the encased blogging machines that we are. But we digress.

This video (available past the break) from Austin-based Adam Grumbo shows us that both Spartans and Stormtroopers should periodically take a pause from their respective Covenant and Jedi murderin' to enjoy the finer things in life -- like fist-bumping and repping the cul de sac on a bitching BMX bike or a pair of sweet rollerblades. It's one of those things that just brings a tear to your eye, you know?

[Via The Escapist]

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Halo fan selling off huge collection of merchandise for two good causes

by Griffin McElroy { Feb 22nd 2010 at 4:19PM }

It's still a little early in 2010 to be handing out our "Human of the Year" award, but a Halo.Bungie.org forum poster by the username of Seraph XXVII is already high atop our list of candidates. In a recent post on the fan site, Seraph displayed his massive Halo memorabilia collection, seen above, and revealed that he'll be auctioning the whole lot off within the next few days.

Half of the proceeds from the auction are going to Child's Play, and the other half will go towards paying the medical expenses of a fellow Halo.Bungie.org forumite, whose fiancee learned she had a tennis ball-sized brain tumor last week. Needless to say, both of these are great causes -- if you've got room in your home for six bajillion miniature Spartans, why not show your support once the auction goes live?

Rooster Teeth Grifball series headed to Halo Waypoint

by Richard Mitchell { Feb 19th 2010 at 4:15PM }

Microsoft has sent out the latest Halo Waypoint update, detailing the content that we can expect to see in the near future. The update goes over the recent Halo: Reach info that has hit the interwebs, namely the ViDoc and the box art. It notes that this and future Reach info will be posted on the Transmissions section of the official Halo site on Xbox.com. There's also a Valentine's Day screenshot gallery on Waypoint, with help from one Hawty McBloggy.

The real meat of the update, however, is that a new short series from Rooster Teeth -- the crew behind Red vs Blue -- will begin airing on Waypoint starting this weekend. The three part series, entitled "Grifball: Expansion," will air every Saturday starting February 20 and concluding on March 6. The series "tells the story of Team Slipspace and their confrontation with the newest addition to the International Grifball League of Earth." Check out a trailer for the series above.

Digital Foundry analyzes the Halo: Reach ViDoc

by David Hinkle { Feb 16th 2010 at 7:15PM }

By now, you've likely dissected every frame of the new Halo: Reach trailer, mining its most precious infoz to your heart's content. Or maybe (like us) you work for a living, or have other responsibilities that keep you from busting out the microscope and going to town. That's where Digital Foundry comes in.

DF conducted a thorough breakdown of the X10 video, monitoring the frames-per-second (fups, as us cool kids call it) in all of the presented gameplay. All in all, the ViDoc seems to have spoken the truth: Halo: Reach's engine is a significant improvement over that of Halo 3's. It looks like Reach should run at a smooth 30fps, the same as its predecessor, at a higher resolution: 1152x720 over Halo 3's 1152x640. Yep, you pixel-counters just read that right. Head on over and give the video a gander.

[Via HBO]

McFarlane's Halo: Reach figures infiltrate Toy Fair 2010

by David Hinkle { Feb 15th 2010 at 8:15PM }

[Kotaku]

A couple weeks back, McFarlane Toys announced it would be producing a line of action figures for Bungie's upcoming Halo: Reach. Nothing too surprising there, as most of us with any kind of flat open surface can attest -- you have lots of Halo toys already, right? Well, we hope you're ready to at least look at some more, because that's what this post is about!

Kotaku attended this year's Toy Fair show in NYC today, where the preliminary packaging and prototype images for the toys were presented. The original announcement for the figures only detailed that we could all expect Halo: Reach stuff from McFarlane this year and well into 2011, but it would appear the initial run is being limited to Noble team (the Spartans the game revolves around) and at least one Ghost-riding Grunt. Hit up Kotaku for the images.

Interview: Marcus Lehto on Halo: Reach, Firefight, and ending at the beginning

by Xav de Matos { Feb 12th 2010 at 2:26PM }

Bungie's Marcus Lehto was grinning like a proud papa when we had a chance to chat with him during X10. The Halo: Reach creative director had been demoing his baby continually for around eight hours, but seemed excited just to be able to tell us more about the studio's final Halo game, his presentation of which had totally wowed us earlier in the day. We reached out, shook his hand, said Halo (okay, not really) and got cracking with our questions.

Joystiq: As a game that is intended to cap off Bungie's work on the Halo series, how do you end a story by going back to the beginning?

Marcus Lehto: What we wanted to do is kind of bring everything full circle. Going back -- to a prequel -- to delve into the stories of the Spartans on planet Reach and to tell their stories; What they did, what they did that transpired and led to the events of Halo 1, was such a cool thing for us to tackle. That's the thing that really got us excited about [Halo: Reach]. We came up with an amazing story tell tell.

For us, like I said, it does literally bring things full circle for us because we're doing things in Reach -- and telling this story -- that really help us encapsulate the entire series and make sense of everything.

Gallery: Halo: Reach

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Halo: Reach ViDoc heads Once More Unto the Breach

by Richard Mitchell { Feb 12th 2010 at 11:26AM }

Coinciding with the info avalanche at X10, Bungie has released a new Halo: Reach video documentary (aka "ViDoc"). There's something for every Halo fan here: Spartan customization, new weapons, huge maps, new music, and plenty of human-on-alien warfare. A few things to look out for include a grenade launcher, stealth kills and a Spartan actually sprinting. You'll even get an un-textured peek at the huge battles Bungie demonstrated during X10. A full squad of marines, Spartans and 30 Covenant duking it out all at once? Yes, please.

Once you pick the video apart -- and we know you will -- be sure to post your OMG megaton discoveries in the comments. Once you're done doing that, go download the ViDoc from the Xbox Live Markeplace and watch it in HD.

Shortcut: Download the 'Once More Unto the Breach" ViDoc to your Xbox 360 [via Xbox.com]

Dress up your desktop with Halo: Reach box art wallpaper

by Xav de Matos { Feb 12th 2010 at 9:00AM }

During last night's Microsoft's X10 press event, Bungie revealed the final box art for Halo: Reach. (Spoiler: It's real pretty.) And just as we were about to tile images of the cover to dress up our desktop backgrounds, Bungie released perfectly sized wallpaper images on its official site. Nab the wallpaper for widescreen setups, CRT screens, and even your iPhone right now! It's the closest you're getting to the Spartan-heavy adventure until the beta launches on May 3.

Gallery: Halo: Reach

Bungie: Halo Reach multiplayer takes 'big risks'

by Xav de Matos { Feb 11th 2010 at 11:46PM }

When asked if Bungie was sticking to the tried-and-true multiplayer formula in the upcoming prequel Halo: Reach, creative director Marcus Lehto told Joystiq the developer would be taking some "pretty big risks" for its final Halo title. "While we'll still have all of the good stuff that players have come to know and love about Halo, we've made that better and given them new features on top of that," Lehto said.

Lehto wouldn't detail the new risky features, but he would confirm players would see the "new multiplayer features" during the Reach multiplayer beta; beginning May 3. Lehto also reiterated that "currently" the multiplayer beta would only be accessible through a Halo 3: ODST disc.

Brainstorm with us, folks: What new features do you hope for in Halo: Reach multiplayer?

Gallery: Halo: Reach

X10: Halo: Reach demonstrated, will be 'the definitive Halo'

by Randy Nelson { Feb 11th 2010 at 6:39PM }

Click to enlarge

Bungie's "community guy " Brian Jarrard and Halo: Reach creative director Marcus Lehto were on-hand at X10 to provide a much deeper look into the workings of Reach, what they are calling "the best Halo yet" and "the most ambitious title Bungie has ever produced." The duo talked us through many of the changes being made to the established Halo formula, and new elements they believe make this "the definitive Halo experience."

Lehto talked about the team's desire to "throw new things at the player," building on the hallmark underpinnings of previous Halos and even changing some things to suit the new game's more serious tone, but said Bungie wouldn't "be pushing it." Another key goal with Reach, according to Lehto, is to "reintroduce the Covenant," by both making them look different -- more alien, more savage -- and giving established enemies new behaviors. It was also mentioned that, to keep with the more realistic tone of Reach, players won't be able to understand what the Covenant are saying.

Gallery: Halo: Reach

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Halo: Reach beta dated May 3, only for ODST owners

by Richard Mitchell { Feb 11th 2010 at 4:39PM }

Click to Spartan-size

With the X10 event underway in San Francisco, Microsoft has finally announced the first details surrounding the Halo: Reach multiplayer beta. The beta test will officially begin on May 3, 2010. As promised, owners of Halo 3: ODST will be able to access the beta through the ODST game disc.

We'll have more details about the beta shorty. For now, sit tight and direct your attention on that new box art!

Gallery: Halo: Reach

Season finale of 1 vs 100 this Friday has Jimmy Fallon, Bungie

by Richard Mitchell { Feb 11th 2010 at 2:15PM }

Microsoft already announced earlier this week that Halo luminaries Frank O'Connor and Marty O'Donnell would be stopping by for the season finale of 1 vs 100, but now Major Nelson has revealed that Jimmy Fallon will be appearing as well. It's not too much of a stretch to see the Late Night host appearing on the game, as games have certainly been no stranger on his talk show (or its commercials). This season's final episode of 1 vs 100 will begin on Xbox Live this Friday at 10:00pm ET/7:00 pm PT.