Absolute Dog

The following maps come from the Forge Hub's Dust Off tournament. The following comments and maps have been brought here to showcase to the Halo community. "Sixty-seven maps were submitted to the Dust-Up Forge Tournament. The staff, old and new, have gone through these submissions in search of the best. Since the recent change in ownership we’ve acquired quite a few new staff members, some of which happened to submit superb-quality maps that were already in the running for the Dust-Up contest under previous management. We figured it was best to give no priority to non-staff members and instead focus on what maps we felt were the best. Both administrations played many games on these creations submitted to the contest, narrowing down the massive list one by one until we had a list of the best in our opinions. After numerous games and what must have been hours of debate over what to include,we are please to present you Forgehub’s first official Map Pack of Halo 4, a collection of the 6 best maps submitted to us through the Dust-up Tournament." Ovr - Forge Hub Owner The Dust Off Map Pack 2v2 Competitive Maps <<<<<o>>>>> 2v2 Competitive Slayer and Oddball Supports 2 to 6 Players Map Variant Download Game Variant Download Here we have Jade, by our very own Audi! Jade is a beautiful asymm hanging in the cliffs of Ravine. The map features great sight lines that offer a dynamic of engagements and scenarios. Map flow is intuitive and the layout is diverse and clean. Jade will have you fighting for power positions and risking your neck for weapons. This is a great competitive map that will bring you to the edge of your seat. - Forge Hub <<<<<o>>>>> Traverse Forger : Hushed Behemoth 2v2 Competitive Slayer Map Variant Download Traverse was designed to be a contender in the Dust-Up map tournament. This small asymmetrical design promotes teamwork, movement, and balances every position in some way. In every place, you can be flanked or initiate a flank on your foes. You are never safe on Traverse. Both old and new staff agreed that this was to be included among the winners of the Dust-Up map selection, and so it was a clear choice when we were compiling this list. - Forge Hub <<<<<o>>>>> Serum Forger : Noooooch 2v2/4v4 Competitive Slayer - Oddball - KotH Map Variant Download With 3 major updates since it’s late January release, Serum has been one of the most frequently updated maps I’ve seen in Halo 4. Noooooch has shown great attention to detail, and has addressed any issues as they’ve become apparent, even going as far as moving the entire map from Erosion to Ravine to remedy some framerate issues. The map features some great asymmetrical room based gameplay and beautiful use of power weapons to promote movement around this arena. - Forge Hub <<<<<o>>>>> Gristle Forger : PA1NTS 2v2/3v3 Slayer, CTF. KotH, Regicide Map Variant Download Another symmetrical map, PA1NTS has made a well balanced arena where green and gold sections must be controlled. The fight for these areas become intense, and more than once I found myself looking around not as a player, but as a forger, trying to glean some ideas from Gristle. Despite this map being submitted to a 2v2 slayer tournament for maps, it also plays a strong game of capture the flag, and some of the possible routes change based on that gametype to make the map more suitable. Definitely a good and diverse map to put in your game nights if you have three friends hanging around. - Forge Hub <<<<<o>>>> Elegy of Entrapment Forger : Auburn 1v1/2v2 Slayer Map Variant Download Auburn has always had a knack for aesthetics and functional design from what I can remember about him, though I also know he’s nearly as bad as I am about keeping his designs going. The fact that he finished a map at all had me interested immediately, and I was not left disappointed. It’s a simple little symmetrical design, but it forces movement through the power weapon and overshield locations, and encounters quickly become deadly in this teamwork-focused map.- Forge Hub <<<<<o>>>>> Forger : Elliot 1v1/3v3 Slayer Map Variant Download Citrus was, according to myself and a few of the previous staff, a given choice for the tournament. The map had few issues in our initial testing, and it played brilliantly. The map is as pretty as it is well balanced. For example, as powerful as the sniper rifle is here, the spawn location for it is the most dangerous spot to be. With or without the deadly weapon from its resting place on the grass pit, Citrus has you watching your back constantly. Your foes always have the opportunity approach from a flanking route, or they try for some long distance fighting. I’ve played numerous games on Citrus, and enjoyed each one. This is without a single doubt in my mind, one of the greatest successes in this competition. - Forge Hub <<<<<o>>>>>

The initial contest of the "Meet Your Maker" Forge Contest series showcased the forge communities Infinity Slayer talents. This was, at the time of the contest, Halo 4's most populated playlist and competitive map making is by far the most forged game type in the Halo universe. We received over 100 map submissions and after a series of judging sessions and play testing lobbies we finally decide on the top three maps. There were also six maps that are being showcased as 'Maps of Note' that did not make that final cut, but still deserved some attention. Judges for the Contest Psych Duck - THFE s Competitive Map critic WARHOLIC - Forge Moderator at THC Spades N AZ - Custom Game Night host/343industries.org SaltyKoalaBear - Premier Forger/Forge Critic Absolute Dog - Contest host/Site Administrator at 343 industries.org 1st Place Canvased on Ravine, "Edifice" features game awesome play, is very aesthetically pleasing and is a well laid out asymemtrical map that centers around four color coded buildings for ease of orientation. It features a very nice mix of close to mid-range engagement, is extremely fast-paced and makes excellent use of Ravine's terrain and cave features. This map had so many areas that created quality fire fights that players dead bodies were scattered throughout all parts of the entire play area. A top notch map created by one of our communities best forgers. Congratulations REDEMPTION1272 on the win!!! Map Variant Download THFE feature video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DW0QY4xyVdg&feature=player_embedded <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<o>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 1st Runner Up This map authored by Squally DaBeanz and titled "Stigma" featured a very unique and creative design that presented both vertical and segmented map design in a competitive manner that encouraged movement and allowed for defensible areas throughout the map. All judges admired the overall design elements of this map. Squally used the Ravine canvas to forge this masterpiece and his map reflects elements from previous classic Halo maps such as Guardian and Lockout. Map Variant Download THFE Feature Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwevfSqxbuw <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<o>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 2nd Runner Up "Blacksite", by The Fated Fire, had grabbed one of the two 'Runner Up' positions in the contest. His map proved to be a very solid forge offering that created great movement, featured numerous height variations, provided quality sight lines and functioned incredibly well with the Infinity Slayer default settings we were judging by. His map was canvased on Erosion, which was the least used canvas, but which provided the unique lighting characteristics given that forge environment. Map Variant Download THFE Feature Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDFW-VQx6Ow <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<o>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Maps of Note Citro by Minister Muffin: http://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/gam... Conjuncture by Vincent Torre: http://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/gam... Crucifix by Wraith2098: http://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/gam... Detriment by Hushed Behemoth: http://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/gam... Enigma by StopPeach7529: http://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/gam... Icarus by Canadian Echo: http://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/gam... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iryZ3bbNpfQ&list=PLjtVM5VU7cBjuyLDjJ1ipidOgFZBLZAln&index=90

There may be someone with enough knowledge of Halo cannon to answer your questions here, but you may have to wait for an answer.

Okay, we have been teased with video clips of the new game type "Conversion" for a couple of days now and finally Psycho Duck has released a completely detailed video on the game type. He discusses the idea behind "Conversion", how the game plays and what gap it fills in the playlist for the community. View full article

Nope and that post has nothing to do with the game type other than a name.

The 'Orb' or sphere is a very popular vessel for science fiction use. Here a numerous examples. Alien Entity The Sphere The Borg ship from Star Trek The Day the Earth Stood Still Star Man Death Star - Star Wars The Dyson Sphere ....just saying, spheres are all around us and capture the imagination of many science fiction writers, movie makers and game developers. Then of course there are the weapons, all so original....you think? Needs no introduction...... Pistol grip shotguns AR 15 Look familiar? I could go on, but I think the point is made, clearly. Cortana and the Awoken female look nothing alike. The Awoken have palled white skin and there is simply nothing familiar between their looks. Cortana clearly shows no sensual nature, as does the Awoken female and the hair styles, dress, movement and general nature of each character differ greatly. As for the reticles, they are used and based from real life weapons. Commonly the duplex is used, minus the wire center cross hairs in many game for a variety of reasons. One is to reduce image overlap in scope mode, another is simply for aesthetic reasons. Basically any game developer will have it's historical 'feel' present in games it produces, especially when they are from the exact same genre. Bungie created the Halo universe. It may have been added to since with additional writings and games, but it is their creation. Destiny is a complete departure from Halo. Yes it has alien races, conflict, weapons, ships and various other science fiction elements, but the game has no direct lineage to Halo. Next.......

You make a valid point by noting Destiny's ability to be played on all consoles. Were I clearly can not speak to the technical aspects of a game designed for both current and future systems, it does bear a lot of weight to the ideal that if a company chooses to they can make this a reality. It may be a cost concern, space concern of a disk or another feature. One thing is a certainty about having only newer games being available for new consoles, it pushes consumers to buy the new console. MS may have the companies under a contract to produce solely for the XBOX One or it could be a developer decision.

You are missing something, just saying.

It appears the is a brand new game type that has been created and THFE (The Halo Forge Epidemic) has the inside scoop on it! Here is a recently released video that teases the view with a glimpse of some game play footage of this intriguing new game type. Take a look. View full article

According to an article published yesterday regarding the potential return of 'Family Sharing' Microsoft states it's removal was based off of consumer feedback for other features they needed to make room for and not because of the mindset "...we're going to take our toys and go home", as offered by Xbox One chief product officer Marc Whitten. Read the full article below from videogamer.com. Xbox One Family Sharing will return if consumers want it, says Microsoft Publish Date 15/07/2013 - 12:32pm GMT+1 The feature was removed when Microsoft did a U-turn on its Xbox One policies. When Microsoft pulled a complete reversal on its Xbox One policies, one of the casualties was the much-anticipated Family Sharing feature. But the feature may well return at a later date if consumers want it, Xbox One chief product officer Marc Whitten has told IGN. "If it's something that people are really excited about and want, we're going to make sure that we find the right way to bring it back," Whitten said. He continued: "We believe really strongly in how you build a great experience on Xbox One for me as an individual, but also for my family. Family Sharing is a great example of how you do that with content. I think you're going to see us, both with examples like that and with other things, keep pushing on how that's something great. An example is some of the stuff we're doing with what we announced around Gold, where other people in the house get the advantages of Gold when I'm a Gold member. You're going to see us continue to push in those areas." Family Sharing allowed users to share their game library with a group of 10 friends and family, and was one of few Xbox One features which had people excited. Regarding the decision to remove it, Whitten said it was a matter of making room for the other features consumers were asking for. "We took some feedback and realised there was some stuff we needed to add to the program," he said. "To add it to the program, we had to make room, just from a pure engineering perspective, to be able to get that work done. So taking Family Sharing out of the launch window was not about 'we're going to take our toys and go home' or something like that. It was just sort of the logistics of 'how do we get this very, very clear request that people really want, that choice, and how do we make sure we can do an excellent job of that, get to launch, and then be able to build a bunch of great features?'" Whitten concluded: "You know, if there's anything I think that Xbox 360 has proven, it's that we're super committed to this constant cycle of improving the experience and the software, and it's what we've been doing for 360 for the past seven years, and it's certainly where we're going to go with Xbox One." Xbox One releases in November. View full article

There was a time when for many years my friends and I would regularly travel to the local mall or bowling alleys to play arcade games, pinball and foosball. As kids we rode our bikes and spent our paper route money. Later, as teenagers, we loaded into my first car, a 1974 Monte Carlo, converted the money from our construction jobs into quarters and played until the arcades closed. The bright lights, loud music and in game noises filled the air as we took turns battling each other or beating another's high score on games like Galaga, Asteroid, Centipede, Artari Football,etc. Playing pinball well was more of an art form with subtle hip bumps and light machine shoves that would sometimes result in the infamous "Tilt" light which killed the paddles and let the ball drain pointlessly. Foosball was the real game of actual skill and fast reactions. I still smile at pulling the 'Miracle Whip' or heel pull shot from goalie and cracking the back plate of the goal loudly. It was definitely more social scene back then in gaming. You meet people, challenged other players and teams, but without the mindless foul mouthed smack talk that exists online in some cases today. A fellow player was less likely to say something in person when you were standing right in front of them. Gaming today is mostly online and it is still very fun. I constantly meet players who still use a mic, as rare as that is now a days, and most are relatively friendly and there for the game as well as some social contact. I remember how social H2 and H3 were compared to the current offering. Though many more player used mics and talked or called out, it will never compare to what it was back then. I offer these thoughts because of a story I recently read and wanted to share it with all of you. I am part of the original gaming community and comparing the old to the new is part of how we sometimes relate our experiences. Today's gaming is beyond anything I ever imagined back then. The online challenges with players from around the world, meeting people I would never have met, save for the online social aspect, and still finding that after all these years, I am still the gamer I was back as a kid. Neither era of gaming can say it is better than the other, both have there positives and negatives, but on thing is for sure.........gaming will be part of our future till the end of time and I am happy to see where it has been, is now and going in the future. Here is the story I read from eurogamer.net. The last arcade Salvaging London's lost video game amusements. In the wilds of a North Acton industrial estate, one man fights to keep a community alive. By Simon Parkin Published Tuesday, 16 July 2013 When it comes to arcade games, every city has a heart. This is the spiritual and physical epicentre, towards which a metropolis' video game players are drawn from miles around. It's here that friendships are won, rivalries settled and pallid tans worked up in front of the cathode glow of the machines. In Tokyo there's Club Sega, its cavernous belly rumbling conspicuously opposite Akihabara's subway station. In New York it's Chinatown Fair, a grimy, well-loved nucleus that spills its outcast teen-agers and old timers into the flanking takeaway restaurants at closing time. In London, it's the Trocadero, a towering entertainment complex situated in Piccadilly Circus. For decades now, virtual fighters, drivers, dancers and gawping tourists have travelled the spinal escalator to the building's summit, where the brightest and best arcade machines await. However, in the past two years both Trocadero and its nearby cousin Casino - the final bastions of the capital city's video game arcade - closed. The rise of online video games and the fall from popularity of so-called 'destination gaming' has made running this kind of business on some of England's most valuable real estate unviable. But every arcade has its community, those for whom the physical act of coming together to play video games remains more enticing than the remote, displaced tussle of online competition. So rather than find itself homeless and game-less, London's arcade community has performed something of a heart transplant. To reach the Heart of Gaming - or the HOG, as it is affectionately known to its newfound patrons - you must first quest through two acres of West London industrial estate. North Acton may be just 8 short miles from the Trocadero, but these forsaken, pocked roads couldn't be farther from Piccadilly Circus's hyperactive lights and sightseer bustle. En route you'll pass a Cash and Carry, where restaurants load up on cheap supplies. Tucked in another unlikely fold there's a deluxe car body shop, adding wings and spoilers to blacked-out Audis and BMWs. Everybody you pass stares, suspicious. Then, at last, you reach 10 Cullen Way, climb the fire escape and pay the £7 entry fee. Walk through the whitewash double doors and there, in neat, curated rows sit London's salvaged arcade cabinets, each set to free-play, each chirruping with spared-execution relief. "I've been active in the London arcade scene for the past twenty years," explains Mark Starkey, Heart of Gaming's owner. "It's provided me with a beautiful background. The arcades are responsible for many of my friendships. I couldn't just see all of that disappear. So I contacted the arcade owners and offered to take the machines off their hands." By combing his savings with those of his fiancée, Starkey was able to buy Trocadero and Casino's machines, selling off the unwanted units on eBay and restoring the best-looking Japanese cabinets. As a child Starkey bought a Supergun - a device used to play arcade boards on a home television - after he discovered one of the characters in Final Fight was missing in the Super Nintendo version of the arcade game. At 15 he bought his first cabinet, a "hulking wooden thing". When he offloaded the machine in the rain outside his parent's home he discovered it was glued together and therefore wouldn't disassemble. "After stripping out the electronics I took a hammer and chisel to it," he recalls. "I had to rebuild it with screws in my bedroom. It worked but it wasn't the last time I was inconvenienced by an arcade machine." "You don't want to entertain the idea of failure. Not only will you let everyone down; you'll also look like the guy with the big mouth who wanted to bring back an aging business model and couldn't back it up." Indeed, after Starkey brokered the deal with Family Leisure, the company that owned and ran the arcade in the Trocadero, he ran into trouble. "The day I went to collect the machines the guy I'd been dealing with came out all hot and bothered, like he'd been arguing," he says. "He told me that the Trocadero's landlord had padlocked all of the fire escapes and cut off the electricity to the building. They had some kind of dispute." Starkey was told that Family Leisure would have to take the landlord to court before they would gain access to the machines. "It was a year and a half before I got a call out of the blue saying I could go and collect the machines. That's when I knew things were getting serious." Starkey didn't have enough room to store his haul so booked them into storage for four months while looking for premises. Once Starkey found the building in North Acton the community rallied. "People travelled miles out of their own pocket to scrub the bubble-gum off the underside of old Naomi cabinets," says Starkey. "This place epitomises community spirit. We wouldn't be here without it. We even had guys carrying furniture out of Trocadero. They did it because they want it to work." While we speak, Starkey is regularly called away to take a new visitor's entrance fee, to register someone for the Street Fighter 4 tournament that's taking place later that evening, or to answer a request to switch out one game board for another ("Can you change Guilty Gear for Tetris?"). By seven in the evening, just three hours after opening, there are around 40 people playing games, either the arcade fighters in the front room, the dancing games with their topless speed-freaks in the middle, or console players out back. "I want as many communities as possible under one roof," says Starkey. "They can all feed off one another." Starkey's home-grown experience maintaining arcade machines has prepared him well for what is, just a few months after opening, already a full-time job. "This is the hobby in which everything breaks," he says, with a laugh. "Before we opened I had all of the monitors serviced and bought new joysticks and buttons for every machine. A lot of the cabinets were rusty and we had to send them to be sandblasted. It's important to me to maintain a clean and fresh image. Otherwise its starts to get that nostalgic arcade look where everything's rundown. Even though it's cool to remember arcades like that to a certain degree, nobody really wants to play in that context for long periods of time." While Starkey has managed to pay rent and bills every month since Heart of Gaming's opening, he is yet to draw a salary from the venture. But he remains upbeat and ambitious. "You don't want to entertain the idea of failure. Not only will you let everyone down; you'll also look like the guy with the big mouth who wanted to bring back an aging business model and couldn't back it up. But I do think the hard work will pay off. People are making the effort to come to this out in the wilds of an industrial estate just to play games every day." "My belief is that it can work as a niche business," he says. "This place is soon going to become a recognisable place. You know in King of Kong [the Seth Gordon movie that follows Steve Wiebe as he tries to take the Donkey Kong world record from reigning champion, Billy Mitchell] they feature Funspot? It's an American arcade where people travel to visit from miles around just to beat the high scores. I think Heart of Gaming could become like that with the fighting game community. We stream fights directly from the arcade machines, for example; nobody else in Europe does that." While the British video game arcade's decline is broadly mirrored in the US, there has been a recent trend for arcade bar hybrids, such as Brooklyn's Barcade, which have found a great deal of success combining drinking with classic Atari cabinets. I ask Starkey whether he has plans to expand into the vintage arcade market. "The trouble is that Atari machines are more readily available in the US," he says. "Over here it's expensive. And many of those boards are 30 years old. How much life do they have for the price? That said we do have Donkey Kong and Pac-Man here. Donkey Kong in particular has a huge following. Everyone's trying to get the high-score on that one. The kids as well. It's funny. I asked a couple of them why they follow me around trying to beat my high score. They said 'It's funny to beat up old people. It's not your time any more'." Heart of Gaming enjoys a close relationship with Neo Empire, London's prominent fighting game tournament organisers. Starkey is keen to court this younger audience in order to secure his business' future. "Mostly the younger players come for the consoles out the back and the tournaments we run. But we find that, once they're here, they'll try out an earlier Street Fighter on arcade. Then they'll find a Naomi game that they used to play on Dreamcast when they were children. There's this wonderful mix of eras and games here; it's something you can't find anywhere else. Soon we're going to install a LAN network with 16 PCs for local tournaments. Then we'll have all every type of video game under one roof." This arcade is built on the belief that the competitive video game scene can remain vibrant and engaging even when developers' focus moves on to other types of game. "We've seen the rise and the fall of the fighting game scene," says Starkey. "Street Fighter 4 brought a lot of new people in who wanted to play and compete. That redefined the scene and made it commercial again instead of this niche thing. That's tailed off recently, but I hope that Heart of Gaming can be a part of the rise again." As a part of this scheme for expansion, Starkey has planned all manner of events to bring the community closer. "I'm writing a sitcom about the characters I meet here," he says. "Then there's an idea for a zombie movie, which we want to film on the premises and show at local festivals. It's such a great community, all with one common interest." Starkey's passion for the arcades and arcade players is clear; these are his people. But he's philosophical when it comes to explaining any success he might see in the future. "It's down to a mixture of good circumstances with the rise of eSports, good fortune with the opportunity to buy these cabinets at a cheap price and a lot of good help from friends." Nevertheless, the energy he and his friends have put into Heart of Gaming is born from a belief in the form, the idea that travelling to a destination outside of the home to engage in competitive play is worthwhile, enduring and something that transcends changing business models. "On the internet, players can be anonymous," he says. "Things are said that would never be said in person or, at very least, meaning is lost in translation. But when you meet people in person you want to present yourself in your best light. It's about humans. That, for me, is the appeal of the arcade. That's never going to go away." View full article

I would like to introduce the two newest members of our staff here at 343 Industries Community Forum. One has been a member here and already been part of the team that created the best signatures any site has ever seen. The other, though a newer face, has become a proven and well known member and proven himself as a quality artist and creator of some incredible signatures of his own. I would like to thank them both for accepting the position of staff here and hope all members would give them a warm welcome to the staff as well. Our new Art Department members are Brony and The Gryffin.

Insignia will be one of those Legendary members I truly hope comes back on staff some day. His work has defined this forum for a very long time and his membership here will continue on in Legendary status until I get that message from him. He will be dearly missed on the staff. He has been integral on so many projects throughout his tenure and been such a great asset with his creative ability. One of his projects is yet to be seen, but I assure you, it will be well loved by all. Siggy I offer you the sites and my personal thanks for all of your hard work and pray the future brings you the resolutions you so greatly deserve. It is an honor to award Insignia with Legendary membership status! All hail the new Legend!

Insig, we have spoken privately and know how much I respect and appreciate all of the work you have done for us. I was good to serve on the staff with you and I am grateful for the timely manner in which you would always respond with just the right art work. Your absence will be felt and best of wishes with your personal endeavors.

What? Best from both? Explain.