Chronique:Halo Bulletin 27/08/2014

27 août[modifier]

Original[modifier]

PAX Prime is upon us, which means we have a busy weekend ahead, and so do you. PAX Prime, the primest of the Penny Arcade Expos, starts this Friday, and we’re looking forward to the masses of gaming fans making their way to our neck of the woods. The event is sold out, it’s been a consistent 82 degrees and sunny in the greater Seattle area, and we have the North American playable premiere of Halo: The Master Chief Collection and Halo 2: Anniversary - it looks like we’re gearing up for quite a weekend. Whether you’ll be joining us in downtown Seattle, or will be glued to Twitter, Twitch, and Waypoint, we’re excited to have you with us.

Late last week, we posted our official PAX Prime 2014 Schedule, and we’ve updated it with some new details. Check out the below to see what’s going down on both the show floor and Twitch.tv/Halo.

PAX Prime Halo Schedule[modifier]

All Weekend

Play Halo: The Master Chief Collection
Friday – Monday
10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Xbox Booth #412, #422, #432

We’re bringing Halo: The Master Chief Collection and Halo 2: Anniversary multiplayer to the PAX Prime show floor! If you want to get hands-on, be sure to swing by the Xbox booth and duke it out on newly re-mastered maps and game types.

Friday, August 29

Halo PAX Prime Showdown Qualifiers
10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
ASTRO Gaming Booth #842
Skullcandy Gaming Booth #3117

Come to the ASTRO Gaming (Booth #842) and Skullcandy Gaming (Booth #3117) booths to get hands-on with Halo 2: Anniversary multiplayer and qualify for the Halo PAX Prime Showdown! At the end of the day, we’ll be taking the top performers from each booth, and giving them a spot in the 8-team finals, where they’ll compete for their share of $10,000!

Saturday, August 30

Halo: The Master Chief Collection Panel
Halo and the Journey of The Master Chief
11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Benaroya Hall

Join the Halo Developers from 343 Industries for an in-depth look into Halo: The Master Chief Collection and other upcoming Halo projects and releases. Come celebrate The Master Chief and the future of the franchise as we take you on the next steps of your Halo journey.

Panelists:

Frank O'Connor [Franchise Director, 343 Industries], Dan Ayoub [Executive Producer, 343 Industries], Max Hoberman [President, Certain Affinity & Original Multiplayer and Online Design Lead, Halo 2], Kiki Wolfkill [Partner Executive Producer, 343 Industries], Paul Lipson [Senior Audio Director, 343 Industries]

Halo: The Master Chief Collection Panel Signing
Halo and the Journey of The Master Chief
1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Paramount Theater

After the panel our esteemed panelists will be waiting to meet you up at the Paramount Theater. We hope to see you there!

PAX Prime Showdown Tournament 12:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
http://Twitch.tv/Halo

Check out Day 1 of the Halo PAX Prime Showdown, with some of the best Halo players in the world competing for their share of $10,000 in Halo 2: Anniversary! The only place to see this is on our Twitch channel. This is a behind-closed-doors event!

Sunday, August 31

PAX Prime Showdown Tournament Finals
11:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Grand finals: 4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
http://Twitch.tv/Halo

Check out the final day of the Halo PAX Prime Showdown, with some of the best Halo players in the world competing for their share of $10,000 in Halo 2: Anniversary. Be sure to tune into the grand finals from 4-6 p.m., where we’ll see one team take home the $5,000 first place prize!

PAX Prime Showdown Casters

I’m rather excited about this weekend’s tournament, which will give us a chance to check out Halo 2: Anniversary in the hands of some of the biggest names in professional Halo. I’m equally excited about the gentlemen that I’ll be sharing the casters’ desk with. I’ll be joined by Alex “Goldenboy” Mendez, Clint “Maven” Evans, and Eric “GH057ayame” Hewitt for tournament play-by-play, analysis, and general shenanigans. Be sure to tune in when the action kicks off this Saturday at 12-noon PDT. To catch up on the invited teams, prize pool, and more tournament details, check out last week’s Bulletin.

We can’t wait for PAX to begin, and we hope you’ll join us on Twitch each day to learn more about Halo: The Master Chief Collection and beyond, as well as check out the Halo PAX Prime Showdown. We’ll see you then!

Halo: Escalation #9 Available Now![modifier]

The ninth issue of Dark Horse's ongoing comic series - Halo: Escalation - is out now. Halo 5: Guardians’ lead writer Brian Reed takes the Master Chief from the battlefields of Halo 4 to the pages of Halo: Escalation #9 in “The Next 72 Hours” Part 2 from Dark Horse. Be sure to check out our exclusive peek into the latest issue here.

NECA Master Chief Helmet Update[modifier]

You may recall that our friends at NECA are working hard on creating the DOT-Approved Master Chief Motorcycle Helmet you’ve always dreamed of wearing. This week, they were kind enough to send us an early prototype for us to take a look at, and Frank was more than happy to ride his ~~Rascal scooter~~ Honda Ruckus to complete the look.

Halo 4 Matchmaking Update[modifier]

We’ve got a Halo 4 Matchmaking update on the way as well, and in celebration of PAX this weekend, we’ll be pushing out the update two days early. Beginning this Saturday, Squad DLC will become our featured playlist and will be live until September 15.

And for those who love vehicular carnage (and watching Warthogs careen across the sky on Halo 4’s largest maps), Heavies is getting an update. We’re adding Dominion to your favorite Heavies maps, and it will appear in the third slot. Dominion will offer a change of pace while maintaining the explosiveness of Heavies. We’ll see you in the playlist!

Screenshot Spotlight: White[modifier]

Last week, we turned the spotlight on classic maps. Take a gander at the following white screenshots, and maybe even find inspiration to make your own.

For your chance at being in the next spotlight, take a screenshot on Ragnarok and tag it with “Ragnarok” and “Halo Waypoint,” and maybe, just maybe, yours will be featured in the next Halo Bulletin!