Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers To Get Monthly Bonuses In Halo Infinite

Microsoft has announced that Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers will get monthly multiplayer bonuses. The first bundle will go live on December 8. 

“It’s an awesome time for Perks because we’re excited to reveal that Ultimate members will be locked in to get monthly Halo Infinite multiplayer bonuses, starting with your first bundle on December 8,” an Xbox Wire blog post announcing this month’s upcoming Game Pass additions reads. “Don’t forget to claim this and more in the Perks gallery on your Xbox console, Xbox App on Windows PC, and Xbox Game Pass mobile app.” 

This month’s bonus is the “Pass Tense” MA40 AR Bundle, and it comes with an exclusive “Pass Tense” MA40 Assault Rifle coating, as the bundle’s name would suggest, along with four 2XP Boosts and four Challenge Swaps. You can check out the bundle above, which includes a look at the new AR coating. 

Halo 20th Anniversary Xbox Series X Console Announced

 During Geoff Keighley's Opening Night Live, developer 343 Industries revealed a limited edition of the Xbox Series X. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of both Xbox and the first release of Halo: Combat Evolved back in 2001. The limited-edition Xbox console will sell for $549.99.

Halo Gets A Themed Xbox Elite Controller

 During Geoff Keighley's Opening Night Live, developer 343 Industries revealed a Halo-themed Xbox Elite Wireless Controller celebrating the series 20th anniversary. The controller is modeled closely after protagonist Master Chief's body armor, featuring the same iconic green color scheme and chestplates. The controller is will costs $199.99 USD.

Halo Infinite Is Launching In December

Developer 343 Industries have confirmed that Halo Infinite will arrive on December 8th. Also announced was that the game won't be launching with campaign co-op or Forge mode, which allows players to create and play custom maps. 

Master Chief, Daryl Dixon And Michonne Are Coming To Fortnite

During The Game Awards 2020, it was revealed that Master Chief and the Halo map Blood Gulch are now in Fortnite. Also on December 16th, The Walking Dead's Daryl Dixon and Michonne are also coming to Fornite. Check out both trailers below. 

Halo Infinite To Be Released In Fall 2021

Halo Infinite developer 343 Industires have revealed via a post on the official website, that the game will be released in Fall 2021. 

"Much of the feedback we heard from the community aligned with our own views and work we were already committed to doing around things like indirect lighting, material response, foliage and tree rendering, clouds, level-of-detail transitions, and character fidelity," says Neill Harrison, director of art management at 343 Industries. Still, the feedback was humbling, and it also pushed us to look at additional opportunities for improvement."

A new style is being shown for the vision of the game that's coming next fall.

"On the graphics technology front we have made improvements along with fixing bugs that were inherent to some of the techniques, as well as iterating and polishing the features that were still in development," says Ani Shastry, development manager the for graphics team on Halo Infinite. "Some of the key areas of progress include better quality of global illumination, ambient occlusion, shadows, volumetric lighting, sky, and atmosphere. We have also addressed issues with our GPU-driven rendering and texture streaming solution that should mitigate the LOD popping and texture quality issues that were prevalent in the July demo."

The live team also addressed areas like design pillars and how free-to-play multiplayer will be tackled. 

"Yes, being free-to-play does mean that there will be some premium cosmetics, but players will still obtain tons of customization content through things like playing campaign, challenges, skill, special events, legacy rewards (such as the Halo 5 SR 152 reward), the progress system, and more. We will always provide value for pure engagement and simply playing the game. We believe that providing value isn’t exclusive to monetary transactions, it’s also about making sure you’re properly rewarded for the time you’re investing into the game," says lead progression designer Christopher Blohm. "Players that play for free will be able unlock items across a multitude of different customization types to allow them to represent themselves in-game."

Looks Like Halo's Master Chief Is Coming To Fortnite

 Halo's Master Chief could be joining in on the battle royale adventure in Fortnite, according to a reputable dataminer. With Kratos recently joining the fight, the possible of Master Chief doesn’t seem that impossible. 

The latest datamine comes from known leaker @ShiinaBR, showing off the Master Chief skin in the game's item shop. When Master Chief will be made available still remains to be seen. 

RUMOR: Upcoming Halo collaboration!

(via @Mang0e_) pic.twitter.com/s8jkBZspnW

— ShiinaBR - Fortnite Leaks (@ShiinaBR) December 3, 2020

Halo 4 Comes To PC Next Week

Halo 4 finally is coming soon for Steam players, completing the
Master Chief Collection's arrival on PC. Halo 4 officially joins the PC on November 17. According to Halo 4's Steam page, below is what fans can expect when the game arrives next week: 

• PC Settings/Optimizations: Halo 4 looks better than ever on PC, including up to 4K UHD at 60+ FPS. Other PC native settings include customizable mouse and keyboard support, ultrawide support, FOV customization and more.
• Campaign: An ancient evil awakens and a new saga begins. Shipwrecked on a mysterious world, the Master Chief must unravel the sinister secrets of an ancient alien race to find a way home. But in his search for the truth, the Master Chief discovers that some secrets are better left buried.
• Multiplayer: Continue your Halo adventure with 25 multiplayer maps from the revered Halo 4, featuring an updated armor customization system that allows players to change more armor pieces than ever before, as well as countless ways to play with Forge and Theater
• Spartan Ops: Enlist aboard the UNSC Infinity to experience innovative episodic fiction-based co-op missions that pick up the story where Halo 4’s campaign left-off.

Halo Infinite Delayed Into 2021

It has been announced via the official Halo Twitter that Halo Infinite has been delayed into 2021. 343 Industries studio head Chris Lee released a brief statement explaining the delay. Lee cites multiple factors, but names the challenges of developing in the midst of the COVID pandemic as a contributing factor. “The extra time will let us finish the critical work necessary to deliver the most ambitious Halo game ever at the quality we know our fans expect,” Lee says in his statement. Read the full statement on the Twitter, on the Halo Waypoint site, or in the image below. 

Halo Reach Releasing On Xbox One And PC In December

Community Director for 343 Industries Brian Jarrard announced the long-awaited Halo Reach will launch on Xbox One and PC on December 3.

With upgraded with 4K visuals, Halo Reach's release marks the completion of the Master Chief Collection on Xbox One. Unfortunately though, PC fans will have to wait a bit longer to have every Halo game in their Steam libraries. Starting with Halo Reach, each game in the Master Chief Collection will eventually make its way to PC before the end of 2020.

Halo Infinite Releasing Holiday 2020

During Microsoft's E3 presentation, a new trailer for Halo Infinite was shown. The new trailer shows off a man in a Pelican dealing with failing systems, when he is suddenly confronted by the appearance of Master Chief floating out in space. After bringing him back on board, he revives Master Chief. We get some reminders that Master Chief is now running without the aid of Cortana in his head.

We see a brief shot of a shattered Halo outside the Pelican's window and learn that while Master Chief has been missing. In a final scene, we hear the throwback dialogue about why Cortana chose Master Chief, so it's safe to assume we're going to explore the relationship between the two in this game. Halo Infinite releases in Holiday 2020.

Halo: Reach Multiplayer Coming To Master Chief Collection For Free, Campaign And Firefight As DLC

Microsoft has announced it’s adding Halo: Reach to Halo: The Master Chief Collection. The multiplayer suite, including PvP, Forge, and the Theater, will be free for everyone who owns the Collection on Xbox One. Those who want to play the campaign or the popular wave-based Firefight mode will need to either subscribe to Xbox Game Pass or purchase them via DLC. When it arrives, Halo: Reach will run at 60 frames per second in 4K with HDR on compatible devices. Halo: Reach is set to arrive in The Master Chief Collection later this year.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection Releasing For PC One By One

Microsoft has announced that The Master Chief Collection is coming to PC via Steam and the Microsoft Store. Rather than releasing every title at once, 343 Industries is launching the games in chronological order for when the story takes place. This means that PC players will first experience Halo: Reach's campaign, multiplayer, and Firefight modes, then Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, and Halo 4. Players purchase the games individually within The Master Chief Collection as they launch, though no pricing has been announced at this time. Halo: The Master Chief Collection will begin rolling out on Steam and the Microsoft Store later this year.

Is Halo 5: Guardians Coming To PC ? [UPDATE] It's Not

It looks like Halo 5 is coming to PC. An Amazon listing for Halo 5: Guardians hits at the possibility of an upcoming PC release. AllGamesDelta shared images of the old and new box art, side-by-side, in a tweet with details. Basically, the new cover ditches the old banner that reads "Only on Xbox One" Thoughts ? Halo 5: Guardians released back in 2015, so why release it on PC now with Halo: Infinite on the horizon ?

UPDATE 9/12/18 - In a statement to CNET a Microsoft representative said the following  “As we've shared previously, we do not have plans to launch Halo 5: Guardians on Windows 10 PC.”

Microsoft Announces Halo Infinite

During the Xbox E3 conference, 343 Industries announced a new Halo titled, Halo Infinite. A brief tease was showed off which looked like a new Halo ring and a sea of full of interesting creatures. Executive President of Gaming at Microsoft Phil Spencer called it "Master Chief’s greatest adventure”. No Other information is known at this time. Check out the announcement trailer below. 

Halo: Master Chief Collection Getting Xbox One X Enhancements And More In 2018

Halo: Master Chief Collection is getting updates, Xbox One X enhancements, and more coming next year. The game has suffered from significant issues with its matchmaking since its release in 2014. After months of attempted fixes, apologies, and free additions of Halo 3: ODST to the mix for existing owners, it seemed like Microsoft had forgotten all about fixing the game. The Master Chief Collection included Halo: Anniversary Collection, the at-the-time new Halo Anniversary Collection 2, Halo 3, Halo 4, and Halo 3: ODST added later. Halo 4's DLC was also later ported to the collection. Beyond the date of 2018, nothing else is known about the timing of updates and fixes, though it is easy to assume it will come alongside the Xbox One X enhancements.

Don’t Expect To See Halo 6 At E3

If you were expecting to see Halo 6 at E3 this year then think again. According to 343 Industries' community manager, they're not going to be showing off the next big entry in the series during next month's E3. "I'll slip into my Dreamcrusher persona for a minute in the name of realistic expectations: We've said this already but we'll have a little something at E3 but it's not related to the next major entry in the franchise," Ske7ch (aka Brian Jarrard) wrote on Reddit, in a response to a fan who was hoping for upcoming info on the series' future. 

Here’s The Game Hall Of Fame At The Strong Museum Of Play Inducted For 2017

Following the announcement for the finalists for the 2017 induction class in March, the World Video Game Hall of Fame at The Strong Museum of Play has announced the 4 titles to be inducted this year. This year's class includes Bungie's Halo: Combat Evolved, Nintendo's Donkey Kong, Game Freak's Pokemon Red/Green, and Capcom's Street Fighter II.

Here Are The Finalists For The 2017 World Video Game Hall Of Fame

The Strong Museum has announced its finalists for this years entries into the World Video Game Hall of Fame. The finalists include the following:

• Donkey Kong
• Final Fantasy VII
• Halo: Combat Evolved
• Microsoft Windows Solitaire
• Mortal Kombat
• Myst
• Pokémon Red and Green
• Portal
• Resident Evil
• Street Fighter II
• Tomb Raider
• Wii Sports

The new inductees are going to be announced at The Strong museum on Thursday, May 4.

Halo Wars 2 Getting Another Beta In February + Beta Changes

Back in June, Microsoft held a beta for Halo Wars 2. Now, the publisher and developer Creative Assembly are sharing the fruits of those efforts.  Many issues from the beta have been addressed including connectivity. Leader powers return in Halo Wars 2, and next time you get your hands on the game they will have improved. Also, there will be visual tweaks to bases that more readily reflect their damage status. Resource requirements for buildings and units has been retooled. Players will also be able to command a greater number of troops, as the population limit has been increased. The next Halo Wars 2 beta is scheduled for February 21, 2017.