Hey Guys, I don’t really know what to tell you about day 1 other than IT WAS THE GREATEST THING EVER!!!! Due to the mass size of videos, photos, info, etc. I will be posting many links. LET’S GET STARTED!
I will start from the earliest to the latest!
Why You Should Care About Halo: Reach's Title Update
This September, 343 Industries will release a title update for Halo Reach that will prep your 360's for Combat Evolved-flavored gameplay.
If you've wondered how exactly 343 Industries plans to recreate the multiplayer gameplay you know and love from Halo: Combat Evolved in Halo CE: Anniversary, this is your answer.
To explain, we asked 343 Industries' Content Producer David Ellis to give us the inside scoop as to why a typically innocuous thing like a title update could become such a gamechanger or Halo fans.
"It's a free downloadable update for Halo: Reach to allow the MP to work seamlessly with the Halo CE: Anniversary MP as well as adding some additional options for adjusting gameplay variables in multiplayer," Ellis explained.
Translation: this update will essentially use high-tech ninjary to fool Halo: Reach into playing like Halo: Combat Evolved.
The update won't enable content immediately; you'll have to wait until specific multiplayer hoppers go live sometime in October for that. But here's how it will all work when they do.
Weapon Changes
The insanely overpowered gameplay of the Halo: Combat Evolved Magnum pistol will crash the Halo: Reach party with the Title Update.
Now, it won't feature the OG Magnum itself exactly; instead the wizardy of the TU will allow for the configuring of the reticle bloom on the Reach pistol (and other semi-automatic weapons, like the DMR), enabling high-precision firing with increased accuracy in rapid succession, making for a lethal three-shot kill from anywhere on a map. It's strongly reminiscent of the way Combat Evolved felt.
Ellis puts it this way: "Bloom is a gameplay mechanic in Reach which encourages players to space their shots to keep accuracy high. For example, the rate of fire for the Reach magnum isn't set. You can fire the gun as fast as you can pull the trigger. However, there is a lag in the time it takes your firing reticule to shrink down between shots. Fire quick, your shots are less accurate; fire slower and your shots will be more accurate."
The TU allows changes to how much your reticle "blooms", or expands, when firing 'head shot' weapons. If you set it to zero, there is zero bloom. If you set it to .85, it's 85%. *All* headshot weapons on the map are affected by this setting. Settings will vary for different beta hoppers.
Swords will get a tweak as well; specifically the ability to block a sword attack with a melee from any weapon other than another sword will be disabled.
Melee Damage and Armor Ability Changes
In Halo: Reach, players can basically sprint at you and melee twice for an insta-kill. Not so with the TU; melee beatdowns will require 3 full blows as damage will bleed through your shield into your health, similar to Halo 3.
And good news for anyone who hates people who camp Armor Lock: Sticky grenades will no longer be nullified if you use Armor Lock after being stuck. Also, damage received while in armor lock is transferred to remaining Armor Ability energy, and how much the damage depletes your armor lock energy (and how quickly) is configurable.
Active Camo will get a dialing back, reducing the bonus time the player gets in Camo while standing still and reducing the overall length the player can be in Active Camo.
The update will enable Campaign and Firefight matchmaking for players using an Xbox 360 4GB console without a HDD, which previously required a HDD.
"We'll be launching the TU sometime in September with the beta hoppers coming online in early October. One of these reasons we're doing this is to allow the rabid Halo community to provide feedback on the changes we're implementing in this TU. So in essence, the community themselves will help to shape their Halo multiplayer experience going forward."
Halo's Warthog Makes its Debut... in Forza 4.
What could be cooler than seeing the new Halo 4 Warthog in your favorite racing game? How about racing in it? Well, too bad, but it's still very pretty looking.
http://www.ign.com/v...thog-in-forza-4
The Warthog will be featured as part of Forza Motorsports 4's Autovista mode, which allows players to walk around and interact with vehicles. You can't race in it (could you imagine trying to handle Forza's tracks in a giant dune buggy?), but you will be able to interact on some level. Oh, and you're going to have to unlock it, so we hope you're good at Forza.
Check out the screens of the new improved Warthog.
Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary Multiplayer
We will also be getting a remake of Hand em' High and I was also able to find out what the Halo 2 map remake was....are you ready.....HEADLONG!!!!!!
Multiplayer Vidoc
http://www.ign.com/videos/2011/08/26/halo-ce-anniversary-mulitplayer-vidoc
343 Talks Halo 4
CEA Single player Walkthrough
http://www.ign.com/videos/2011/08/26/halo-anniversary-single-player-walkthrough
Impressions:
It's a strange lens at times. Going from the mysterious and oh-so-2001 fog-plagued view of 343 Guilty Spark of Halo CE to a ominous and alien swamp courtesy of Saber Interactive is... jarring, to say the least. It's distracting wandering around a level you thought you knew to see everything that's been done. Everything looks more alive than it did before, which changes the general vibe of the level in distinct ways. The haunted swamp feel has been pushed aside by a foreboding green and yellow light emanating from the trees.
You'll lose track of that when the shooting starts though. In that respect, everything is as it was. Halo CE is filled with moments involving a valley, trees, and a dozen or more Grunts and Jackals. These kinds of encounters dwindled in later games, and playing them again, I realize how much they've been missed. There's a great sense of pacing to timing shots from the Halo CE pistol to maximize efficiency, alternating between close grouped head shots on Grunts and well aimed arm shots on shield-bearing Jackals to leave them vulnerable.
No other Halo game has gotten that same pistol-powered rhythm down as well. The one-two-three of effective pistol usage is empowering and distinctive and... I really missed Halo: Combat Evolved. It's good to have it back again.
There are some wrinkles in the experience right now though. First, hardcore Halo fans will want to foreswear the wireless controller in lieu of a wired one. The finer points of Halo combat were tuned around the wireless-lag-free response of the original Xbox controller, and things might feel a little more floaty than you recall otherwise. Then there's the 3D.
This being 2011 and all, a major title can't seem to hit our greedy little hands without some implementation of 3D, and Saber Interactive and 343i have implemented it pretty well. Aside from the world's longest gun barrel, there's a great sense of depth, and a lot of adjustment options. Plus, it supports passive 3D for compatible televisions, so you can spring for lots of cheap, theater style glasses for everyone you want to suffer through watching you play Halo in 3D.
CEA gets 3-D Support
Halo: CE Anniversary is getting a lot of upgrades in the visual department, but if you're at Halo Fest this weekend there's a pretty major one you can see for yourself: stereoscopic 3D.
Microsoft announced that the revamped Halo: Anniversary will feature a 3D system built specifically for the game. The 3D is being demoed during Halo Fest at PAX this weekend.
Halofest Terminal Numero Uno
Changes Coming to Waypoint
At its "What's Next for Waypoint" panel at this year's Halo Fest, the 343i team announced a number of changes and additions to Halo Waypoint due later this year.
Waypoint will receive a visual overhaul for the release of anniversary this November. The Xbox 360 portal will get a new look, with a consolidated look at stats and top level information regarding your Halo experience. Players will also be granted the ability to issue create and issue custom challenges to their friends.
The web version of Waypoint will be altered to reflect the console changes to the platform, with an initial full stats view of your personalized Spartan in Halo: Reach. The deep-view information players have come to expect from Bungie.net for Halo: Reach will also transfer over to the new Waypoint site, as well as the Windows 7 Waypoint App.
With that said and done, look forward tomorrows recap!
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