Chronique:Halo Bulletin 05/09/2014

5 septembre

Original

This past weekend, we brought a few things we’ve been working on to this massive gaming expo called PAX Prime. It happens every year right down the road, so we usually walk over and check it out. Luckily for us, thousands of you came too, and even eagerly waited in line to play Halo: The Master Chief Collection for the first time in North America. With help from our friends at Xbox, ASTRO Gaming, Skullcandy Gaming, and ESL, we set up several 4v4 stations all around the expo with multiplayer gameplay on the recently announced re-mastered version of Lockout, set the game timer, and let you play to your heart’s content (or until you hit the score limit) (or the time limit).

Halo: The Master Chief Collection at PAX Prime 2014. (photo credit: Tom Matthews)

After thousands of games, thousands more kills, and $10,000 given away at the PAX Prime Showdown, this year’s northwest edition of the Penny Arcade Expo has come to a close, but not before we shared new announcements, details, videos, and more with you. In the entirely unacceptable event that you missed anything, we’ve got it all right here.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection Panel at PAX Prime

A legendary panel venue (photo credit: Tom Matthews)

Twelve months ago, thousands of Halo fans descended upon Benaroya Hall for the Halo 4 Global Championship. Just days from the one-year anniversary of the event, we welcomed thousands back to the same venue once again for the PAX Prime 2014 panel. This time around, Frankie commanded a rousing panel staffed by Executive Producers Dan Ayoub and Kiki Wolfkill, Senior Audio Director Paul Lipson, and Certain Affinity's Max Hoberman.

With Kiki’s help, we also got to reveal a bit more about Halo: Nightfall and even share a short behind-the-scenes glimpse into the Ridley Scott-led digital, live-action series coming to the Halo Channel later this year. In particular, they shared this video which teased a "character" very important to not only Halo: Nightfall, but one familiar to anyone who has played Halo.

Skywalker Sound Orchestra

Senior Audio Director and Paul Lipson also brought some goodies of his own to show off. He shared that we're re-orchestrating all of the original Halo 2 audio, and you'll be able to switch back and forth to the original audio as easily and seamlessly as you’ll be able to switch between the graphics. We even made a quick video to show you how rad it sounds now (play this with some nifty speakers / stereo headphones for maximum enjoyment).

Not only will Halo 2: Anniversary bring back the entire Halo 2 Soundtrack beautifully adapted and re-orchestrated at Skywalker Sound, but in addition to all the original audio tracks, we have two new original tracks from famed Periphery / Animals as Leaders guitarist & producer Misha Mansoor plus an updated versoin of the iconic "Mjolnir Mix" from the unrivaled Steve Vai.

Mr. Max Hoberman was also on hand to help show off everything Certain Affinity has done to bring Lockout back to you. It’s back. It really is. I give you a sneak peek in the video below, which is an abbreviated version of a new series coming to the Halo Channel: Breaking Down the Map.

Be on the lookout for more episodes of Breaking Down the Map, which will be coming this fall. We’ve got a lot of maps to break down, so I hope you’ll join me. It’ll be an adventure.

Dan Ayoub was on hand to at last grant you some more details on Halo 2: Anniversary Forge Mode improvements. We could go into it all or just let you examine this list and, if you're like us, sit in your chair with your fingers steepled and quietly chuckle to yourself and whisper "YESSSSSSSSSSSS…" until it gets weird. We hope you’re excited about some of the new improvements and features coming to Forge in Halo 2: Anniversary. Check ‘em out below.

Halo 2: Anniversary Forge Mode Improvements

Bug Fixes

Magnet Location Consistency
Menu Polish

Restored Functionality

Precision Control
Zoom

New Features

Snap to Ground
Align to Ground
Movement Snap
Tool Settings stored between sessions
Cleaner, smoother Forge Structure palette
Mirrored Versions of Objects
Additional Natural and Terrain structure pieces
Skybox-Only Maps
Structure Palette in the MP Maps
Simple Scripting Objects
Gadget Improvements and Additions
Forge Budget as Straight Object Count
Objects of Versions Mirrored
Performance Meter

We'll have more to share in the coming weeks leading up to the release of Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Halo: Nightfall, and the Halo Channel this November!

The Halo: PAX Prime Showdown

Screenshot Spotlight: Ragnarok

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