Are you waiting for Halo: The Master Chief Collection to work? Well, why don’t you go pre-order the collector’s editions for Halo 5: Guardians which definitely contain things. A box with a game, things and stuff.
343 said the three versions of the game will cost between $60 and $250. Here is the breakdown:
$59.99- Halo 5 game with a box, most likely plastic and green.
$99.99- Halo 5 with “new digital content to enhance Spartan combat and exclusive items wrapped in a uniquely designed steel book”. Basically some DLC guns and armor with a tin dust collector.
$249.99- Halo 5 with a two-foot tall Master Chief statue that says twelve sayings and LED lights. Just kidding. That is what I will pay $250 for. Maybe. Here is the official line. Everything in the $100 version with “additional content such as a commemorative numbered statue designed by 343 Industries.”
Maybe 343 should get their current game working before asking gamers to take the cost of a Wii U to pre-order a game a year away.
Hope you weren’t planning on playing Halo: Master Chief Collection right away when you get home on November 11th. The game will need a day one patch that runs 20GB for features and multiplayer content. If you have an average internet connection you might as well hit install, go and watch Interstellar for a third time (that won’t be just me right?), get a rice bowl from Chipotle and head back home.
Let’s face it, this shouldn’t be a surprise. There are four full Halo games with over 100 multiplayer maps and two disappointing campaign endings to redesign.
E3 is over. While that may make you sad to hear, remember that E3 is not the end all of gaming shows. Hell, if we are being honest it is barely holding onto third best show after Gamescom and PAX and followed by TGS in fourth.
If this year’s E3 taught us anything it was that 2015 is going to be a clusterfu** of amazing games. There are plenty of fun times ahead this year with Far Cry 4, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Destiny, Shadow of Mordor, Alien: Isolation, Super Smash Bros. and the like, but if we are being honest, companies were squarely focused on the huge titles that will (presumably) be in consoles next year.
If most of these titles hold serve and release next year, 2015 will be one of the biggest years in video game history. Take a look at the lineup expected to hit next year.
The Witcher 3
http://youtu.be/2wNiiQpDPJE
Mortal Kombat X
Batman: Arkham Knight
Halo 5: Guardians
The Order: 1886
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End
Rise of the Tomb Raider
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
Dying Light
Bloodborne
The Division
http://youtu.be/WxjhXCYUpk0
No Man’s Sky
The Legend of Zelda Wii U
Yoshi’s Woolly World
Star Wars: Battlefront
Xenoblade Chronicles
Dead Island 2
http://youtu.be/E6FrU0p7ijw
Will all of these be released next year? Doubtful (I am looking at you Zelda and Battlefront). Yet, there is an over-abundance of triple-A titles coming in 2015 and then you add in the dozens of indie titles coming, you won’t be able to throw a fat guy in any direction without hitting a good game.
But really, if you can throw a fat guy any kind of distance you should not be playing games. Maybe do those ESPN strong man competitions. Chop wood, flip tires, have a really long name that sounds like an angry German screaming.
Sandra Bullock could make up to $70 million for her performance in the Oscar-nominated movie. She made $20 million for signing on and will make 15% of the total gross which sits at around $700 million worldwide as well as about $20 million from DVD/Blu-Ray sales, TV deals, etc. And yet, I will still feel like she got robbed if she loses the Best Actress race at the Oscars.
Ant-Man
Patrick Wilson, who played Nite Owl in Watchmen, has signed on for an unspecified role in Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man. Could anyone see him playing a young Hank Pym? Me too.
Jurassic World
Vincent D’Onofrio will play the villain in 2015’s Jurassic World joining Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard. One would guess he will not play a giant cockroach…or Thor.
James Bond
Ralph Fiennes has said that Bond 24 will begin filming in October for a November 2015 release. It has to follow Skyfall, one of the greatest Bond films ever made. No pressure guys.
TV
Parks and Recreation
First lady Michelle Obama will guest star on the season finale. This is just leading to the inevitable team-up of Michelle and Burt Macklin.
Games
Nintendo 64
There will soon be a way to convert you N64 to accept HDMI connections. This is the wonders of the human brain at its finest.
Titanfall
Developer Respawn has announced that a Season Pass will not be released for Titanfall. You will, most likely, purchase the DLC packs individually. To me this says that there is no set number of DLC releases. Could be one, could be eight.
Halo
Phil Spencer from Microsoft has said that 343 Industries has some big Halo news coming at this year’s E3. If this is a big build up to a Halo 2 Anniversary announcement, I will be disappointed. Halo 5 or go home.
You didn’t think Microsoft was going to have all of these next-gen games and leave out their most popular franchise did you?
The first trailer for Halo 5 shows a mysterious figure cloaked and making their way through a desert until an earthquake stops them in their tracks. A Forerunner ship makes its way out of the sand as Master Chief stands there, fearless, looking rather Master Chief-y.
Do you have some extra MS Points sitting around on your Xbox just for a rainy day? Well that rainy day seems to be February 26th when a host of games will be getting deep price cuts on Xbox Live.
Games will be marked down up to 75% off of the download price and it is quite the impressive list including the likes of [amazon_link id=”B0050SYK44″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Borderlands 2[/amazon_link], [amazon_link id=”B0050SY4DG” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Resident Evil 6[/amazon_link] and [amazon_link id=”B0050SYX8W” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Halo 4[/amazon_link]. The sale will last from February 26th until March 4th.
Here is the list of games that will be on sale:
Assassins Creed
Assassins Creed 2
Batman Arkham Asylum
Batman Arkham city
Bioshock
Borderlands
Borderlands 2
Brotherhood
Call of Juarez
Call of Duty 2
Call of Duty 3
Call of Duty: Black Ops
Call of Duty: Black Ops 2
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
Code Veronica
Dark Messiah of Might and Magic: Elements
Dead Island
Dirt 2
Dishonored
El Shaddai Ascension of the Metatron
Fable III
Fallout 3
Fallout 3 New Vegas
GRID
Halo 3
Halo 4
Halo Reach
Halo Wars
Kane & Lynch Dead Men
Left for Dead 2
Max Payne 3
Metal Gear Solid HD
Metal Gear Solid Peacewalker
Mortal Kombat
Mortal Kombat vs. DCU
Orange Box
Portal 2
Raccoon City
Rainbow Six Vegas
Rayman Raving Rabbids
Resident Evil 4
Resident Evil 5
Resident Evil 6
Red Dead Redemption
Revelations
Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution
Street Fighter IV
Street Fighter X Tekken
Super Streetfighter IV Arcade Edition
TC’s H.A.W.X.
Tekken 6
Tekken Tag Tournament 2
The Darkness
The King of Fighters XIII
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2
Tomb Raider Legend
Virtua Fighter 5
World at War
This past weekend Bungie, the creators of Halo, finally took the covers off of their next project, Journey. Ambitious does not begin to describe what Destiny is. Not only is this the company’s first game outside the safety of Microsoft’s umbrella, but it is an entire series of games that will involve a brand new universe and occupy the developers next ten years. Ten years!!
When they struck a deal with Activision to publish the game the documents revealed showed that Destiny is being made already sequel ready and the first game will release this fall on Xbox 360 and PS3 and also, presumably, for the next gen consoles as well. Every sequel after will be released strictly for the next generation.
Destiny’s plot revolves around the last portion of humanity to survive an apocalyptic event. The only piece of humanity left were saved when a mysterious ship, known as The Traveler, began to float above a section of Earth. It is always there, hanging as a somber protector for what reason no one knows. Humanity has put the pieces back together under The Traveler and begun to explore the galaxy again. With this comes new threats in the form of alien life that is looking to finish off the remnants of humanity. Destiny will see you play as a guardian, tasked to push back these forces and protect humanity.
Bungie is coining a new term for Destiny’s gameplay, the “shared world shooter”. Not wanting to call the game a true MMO, Destiny will be available to play completely in single player, or at any time, you can join some friends or strangers and help out in missions they are doing and decide to stick together or go do your own thing with your story. How this will work cross-platform remains to be seen. Will it be only 360 players that can match up with 360 players and vice versa or will Bungie somehow work there magic and have all consoles playing on Destiny’s world in one big sci-fi love fest?
Watching the video above also shows off that social integration will play a big part in Destiny. While the specifics are not known as to what will be the basis of the app, it would be easy to assume you would get story updates as well as messages from friends as they interact in the world. You may be able to set up party missions but that is just pure speculation on my part.
Photo courtesy dorksden.com
It looks as though you will not be stuck on Earth in Destiny. You will have the ability to go to other planets, but it is not known if the space travel will be able to be controlled or if Destiny will have space battles. Even if the first game does not, it would not surprise me to see them added in sequels, especially with the horsepower of the next-gen consoles.
This is just the opening salvo of Destiny from Bungie. Expect to see a lot more from now until its planned fall release. I would expect a massive blowout at E3 this year to truly give gamers a sense of the scale of this project.
Who in there right mind could envy 343 Industries? The studio was tasked with carrying on the Xbox’s flagship title after developer Bungie decided to leave the comfy confines of the Microsoft umbrella and start making games for multiple systems. Yes, you can not deny that Microsoft most likely gave them a blank check to get Halo back onto their console but as any self-respecting gamer should know, big budget does not always equal a great game. The team (or should I say army) at 343 has been working tirelessly over the past few years on [amazon_link id=”B0050SYX8W” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Halo 4[/amazon_link] and have made people wholly aware of it with a host of development videos that gave a glimpse into the care they were taking with the franchise. So many aspects of this game had to come together to meet up with what the rabid Halo fanbase would be expecting in the first true sequel in five years.
Well take a deep sigh of relief because Halo is in very good and capable hands. 343 has done this franchise a great service and this entry easily has the best story of any Halo game and tweaks the multiplayer you know and love while keeping it true to its legendary roots. Pun intended.
A Tale Of Two (Or More) Cortana’s
It has been over four years since the events of Halo 3 and Master Chief has been frozen solid enjoying trippy cryo dreams aboard the ship Forward Unto Dawn. Cortana has been hanging out having conversations with herself until the Covenant try to board the ship. Here is where Master Chief gets his chance to get his shooting practice in. Right off the bat you are familiar with the controls. There is nothing too out of the ordinary and that is not a bad thing. It feels like Halo. Moving, jumping and shooting all come back naturally even if you have been away from the series for a while (like me).
It seems the Forward Unto Dawn has happened upon a Forerunner planet called Requiem and crash lands there. When you first make your way onto the planet this is where you truly begin to see that Halo 4 is a stunningly beautiful game. Crisp and vibrant even when the action is in full swing. I often found myself taking time after gunfights to look around and enjoy the sheer beauty of Requiem. The art designers have really designed something special with a planet that pulsates with colorful vegetation while also incorporating the technology of the Forerunners. It makes other environments in previous Halo games pale in comparison.
Now not everything is all pretty alien daisies and blue skies. Cortana gives Master Chief the news that she is in her eighth year of existence. The problem with that is that AI’s such as her only have seven year lifespans and because she is operating past her life expectancy she is experiencing “rampancy” which basically means that she is going schizo and will slowly lose her virtual mind until she dies. That is where Halo 4’s story is more interesting and emotional than any previous in the series. It is as much Cortana’s story as it is Master Chief’s. Even while you are trying to do your Spartan duty and save the universe there is this underlying personal part of the journey that connected me to John-117 and Cortana.
The big bad this go round is an ancient Forerunner known as the Didact. He has lured Master Chief and the UNSC Infinity, who responded to the Forward Unto Dawn’s distress signal, to Requiem where he is freed inadvertently by Chief and takes off to look for something called the Composer which will change all human life into artificial intelligence’s for him to control.
Prometheans Pack A Punch
The change in enemies is very welcome for anyone that has had their fill of blasting through Covenant or Flood forces since the first Halo. You still have plenty of Covenant gun fodder this go round but you also have the Prometheans to deal with. I could not help but think that most of the different classes reminded me of enemies from Metroid Prime. Crawlers appear as dog like creatures that can crawl on any wall while firing at you and they do not hesitate in charging you when you are close. Knights have different variations (commander, lancer, battlewagon) and all have separate abilities and weapons. Some even have Watchers that fly around them shielding them from gunfire and have the ability to summon crawlers to your location. They certainly are a formidable group and will make sure that you can not just run into battle guns blazing. You need to choose which enemies to take on first and what weapons work the best against them or you will be paying the price with a quick death.
One of the most fun parts of the Halo 4 experience is the abundance of weapons available. You have your stock of UNSC weaponry like the assault rifle, sniper rifle and the redesigned battle rifle. Covenant mainstays like the Needler, Plasma Pistol and Energy Sword make returns also but 343 has added new pieces to each of the human and Covenant arsenal. The real fun comes in the use of the Promethean technology. Each has their own look and feel and while they are really nothing more than Promethean versions of the same class of weapons you have on the UNSC and Covenant side they really make you feel like you have been shooting with inferior weapons for a long time. Here is a quick rundown of the Promethean weaponry.
Suppressor- assault rifle that fires bolts of hard light rapidly.
Boltshot- pistol that is dropped by most crawlers.
Scattershot- shotgun that is uber-deadly in close combat and can deflect off of surfaces.
Light Rifle- long range rifle that does more damage when using zoom mode.
Binary Rifle- sniper rifle that is mostly a one hit kill. Low ammo count.
Incineration Cannon- explosive rifle that is part rocket launcher, part shotgun, all badass.
Pulse Grenade- grenade that creates a circular area that affects enemy shielding.
Now I am not sure how any of you will feel about these weapons but it was hard for me to go back to the UNSC or Covenant weapons unless I absolutely had to. Now don’t get me wrong I would still rock an assault rifle or Needler in a pinch but the visceral feel I got off of these new weapons was unmatched. My personal favorite was the Light Rifle and had me regretting every time I ran out of ammo for it. It is the first time I have really wanted to go back through a Halo campaign simply to find better ways to use every piece of weaponry to its fullest.
Multiplayer Madness
While the single player story is the best in the series, the one aspect of the game that had to hit the nail on the head was multiplayer. After all, that is the reason why people will keep popping the disc into their Xbox’s for the coming months and years. I am happy to say that it hits all the marks from previous Halo games and even improves in some places.
All of the multiplayer is handled from inside the UNSC Infinity. Here you will decide what mode you want to play in. First off you have to choose between War Games and Spartan Ops (more on this mode later). There are ten maps in Halo 4 to choose from and nine more will be releasing as future DLC. My favorite among these would have to be Ragnarok because it is a remake of Valhalla from Halo 3 and it has always felt like the perfect Halo map for any kind of style you play whether it be on foot, by off-road driving or air.
Forge also makes a return for all you map editors out there. There are three maps of varying terrain (Erosion, Impact and Ravine) and 343 has added a number of tweaks and new features including trait zones and better weapon and power-up detection.
The biggest addition (at least to me) is the sheer amount of customization that you are able to achieve with your character. You will earn XP by playing in War Games, Spartan Ops and Forge (or with Dew XP points until January) but XP is not just where it stops because along with XP you will receive Spartan Points which give you the ability to change your loadouts, customize everything about your armor and make changes to your Spartan ID. Once you reach Level 50 (which I am nowhere near right now) you can then go into the “Specializations” menu which give you ten different abilities like armor mods or weapon skins to ensure that your multiplayer experience lasts way past the max level.
For my money you can keep your Call of Duty’s there is nothing better than driving a Warthog around as your teammates hop on and try to mow down as many as you can, hopping off a split-second before you explode, take out a few guys then lob a grenade as you die and watch the man that just killed you get blown to hell. Respawn, start again. It is easy to see how hours pass by with this. I have never been a big proponent of multiplayer in games (just has not been my bag, sorry) but there is just something about Halo’s that is undeniably fun.
Spartan Ops
The biggest new addition in Halo 4 is the Spartan Ops mode. This is a multiplayer mode (or single if you want) that continues the story after you complete the Halo 4 campaign. Divided into seasons that will spread over ten weeks, Spartan Ops episodes will come with five missions lasting around 15-20 minutes each. As of this writing the first five have been released with Episode 6 debuting on January 21, 2013. This is such a wonderful idea that comes across really well when played. You are really getting the best of both worlds in Spartan Ops, playing multiplayer while it has the feel of the single player campaign with the continuing story and amazing cutscenes that accompany each new episode.
Playing these missions on your own feel like different beasts than with players online. Most missions begin simple enough with powering down shield generators or taking out anti-air turrets but when you reach the end of the mission it becomes basically a battle for survival when your screen and mini map fills up with so many enemies you begin to wonder how long you can make it. Don’t worry though because you will have weapons drops that will make items like rail guns and rocket launchers available to assist you to take out the hordes of enemies. Multiplayer playthroughs of Spartan Ops levels is a completely different feeling. You and three other players will take on the same objectives but with three other Spartans you will begin to achieve a certain feeling of badassery. It is here that the Spartan Ops mode finds its real footing. No matter what level your characters happen to be you will never feel under powered by your teammates. Just use good team work and don’t be a moron and the missions will be a rewarding experience.
Now that you have read (hopefully) everything that [amazon_link id=”B0050SYX8W” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Halo 4[/amazon_link] has to offer here is the real question. How does it stack up to all of series creators Bungie’s efforts? If you had told me a year or even six months ago that I was about to say this I would have look strangely back at you but Halo 4 is the best entry in the franchise. There is no denying this. 343 Industries has taken all the best parts from Bungie and made them better as well as adding their own set of features and game modes that make Halo 4 one of the best values in gaming. The story is paced perfectly and scripted great. The tale of Master Chief and Cortana has never felt more personal as the line is blurred between them on what is human and what is machine. Controls are tight and super responsive which is what we have come to expect from Halo. The multiplayer is balanced and players of lesser rank never feel like they are in a no win battle against teams of higher ranks. All of this would be worth the price of the game but then you also have Spartan Ops which gives you 50 new story based missions that only further add to the gameplay time and show that 343 Industries took special care to make sure that Halo’s return would be not just a memorable one but set a new high bar for all others that follow it.
Welcome back Chief. Its been a long wait but well worth it.
[amazon_link id=”B004LWZWGK” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]The Dark Knight Rises[/amazon_link]
Christopher Nolan ends his Bat trilogy in a big way with Bane, the League of Shadows and a really big bomb. Some were less than kind but we here thought it was a great ending. Check out our review here.
[amazon_link id=”B009JBZH54″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]The Dark Knight Trilogy[/amazon_link]
You know how collections work. All three Nolan Bat flicks in one box.
The web series makes it way to Blu-Ray. It is somewhat of a prequel to Halo 4 telling how Thomas Lasky first came to meet the man known as Master Chief. It is a fun and well produced series and should be checked out by all Halo fans.
[amazon_link id=”B0095XPZBC” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Star Trek: The Next Generation- Season Two[/amazon_link]
Picard and company’s second season gets the high def remaster. Season One was very beautiful and who doesn’t want to see the Federation’s first contact with the Borg again all shiny and new.
Wu Dang? Yeah, Wu Dang. I haven’t had a chance to see this yet but most reviews have been saying this is a fun adventure flick that is basically a “kung-fu Indiana Jones”. High praise indeed.
Microsoft has reported that the November 6th launch of Halo 4 was the largest in the franchise’s history. The return of Master Chief grossed $220 million dollars on launch day alone which math should tell us is over 3.5 million copies sold. Microsoft expects first week sales to be over $300 million.
Halo 4 is the first game in the Halo series not be made by series creators Bungie. 343 Industries took over development and crafted Halo 4 as the first game in a new trilogy.
With Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 releasing today it will be interesting to see how big the first day numbers are for the game especially since it is multi-platform.
