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 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. 

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."

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 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.

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.