Dog Posted February 15, 2013 Report Share Posted February 15, 2013 Weekly Wrap-Up 2 Forget Apple Tv TV is coming. Just like Apple reformed the stagnant music business, so will Apple save us from the corrupt cable companies. Apple’s stock is sinking, says this point of view, because Apple thrives on redefining entire industries and it hasn’t done that in a little while. But just wait, because Apple TV is coming. We’ve been hearing that for years, and it’s getting old. In the meantime, longtime rival Microsoft has actually been building the future of TV. Its Xbox 360 may have begun its life as a gaming console, but now it’s truly come of age as a multimedia set-top box, and it’s continuing to push forward the idea of a new way to watch TV. It hasn’t come with the explosive fanfare of an Apple press event. But it’s revolutionary just the same. “In the last few years, we have been achieving really good progress in terms of how to we make the box appealing to more people in the house, be used by more people for more hours and for more types of entertainment. We want to transform TV,” says Jose Pinero, senior director for Xbox Live. “We have all these companies trying to figure out what is the future of entertainment. We want to win the entertainment platform war.” In March of 2012, Xbox users passed the threshold for using their machines for video more than games. The future of television may not be so distant. In June, Forbes’ David Ewalt wrote a cover story on how Microsoft was poised to win the war for the living room . He wrote: “So the Xbox has become Ballmer’s weapon of choice, one that his company has aggressively moved to position as something more than a toy used to play a little Call of Duty or Madden NFL. Over the last ten years, while its rivals have dithered and misfired, Microsoft has been feeding its living-room secret weapon a nonstop diet of software updates and hardware upgrades.” http://www.343industries.org/forum/topic/25589-forget-apple-tv-consoles-are-the-future-for-tv/ Series 2 Halo 4 Mcfarlane Toys Coming 343 Industries and McFarlane Toys introduced the second series of "Halo 4" toys Sunday at the 2013 Toy Fair in New York. Master Chief makes an appearance in action figure form once again along with a couple of other Spartans, two Covenant characters and the arch-villain, the Didact. The "Halo 4" Series 2 action figures were first revealed last August but we didn't officially know at the time that the Didact was the Master Chief's main nemesis in the Xbox 360 shooter. The full lineup for the Series 2 action figures features Master Chief with a Railgun and MicroOps version of Cortana, Commander Thomas Laskey with a Magnum pistol, the Elite Ranger with the Beam Rifle, the Storm Jackal with the Covenant Carbine, the Spartan Scout with a Sticky Detonator, the Spartan C.I.O. with the DMR and now the Didact. A specific release date for the "Halo 4" Series 2 lineup has not been announced but the toys will be released sometime this spring. http://www.343industries.org/forum/topic/25586-series-2-halo-4-mcfarlane-toys-coming/ Destiny To Be Here On February 17th Destiny has been confirmed to be revealed on Feb 17th on the destiny's official facebook page. Nothing has been said what exactly we will see, there is also another destiny reveal coming in late march at the Game Developers Conference. This all that has been said about it so check back at the news section for more info on this reveal. Just to add, an ARG for destiny began yesterday check out about it here and it leads up to Feb 17th http://www.343industries.org/forum/topic/25653-destiny-to-be-revealed-on-feb-17th/ Do We Got A Good Idea What Halo 5 Is Gonna Be About? Dr Halsey goes into the forerunner structure,and goes face to face with the librarian or the Didacts wife. The librarian holds 2 keys ,both show every forerunner riches of where forerunner ships,guns,forerunners will be. The keys are called Janic Keys and they hold all forerunner richs. Halo nation deleted all the information on the Janic Keys but this is all what is left. Stated by Halo Nation "This is the Janic Key, it offers the real-time location of every piece of Forerunner technology in the galaxy" Below is the Janic Keys http://www.343industries.org/forum/topic/25666-do-we-got-a-good-idea-what-halo-5-is-gonna-be-about/ Next Gen Xbox Demo Released The Xbox 720 will receive some impressive tech from gaming's developers and among that will be the Luminous Engine from Square Enix, which has just released its newest demo. According to a report from Siliconera on Monday, a brand-new demo for Square Enix's Luminous Engine has been released and it is just as impressive as the others that have been revealed up until now. Given the potential and power the Luminous Engine has, hopefully Square Enix will return to making profits in the console space because it would be a shame to lose such a talented contributor. Square recently talked about some of the struggles they have had in the console space. "During the nine-month period ended December 31, 2012, the Company has not recovered the operating loss posted in the six-month period ended September 30, 2012. "[This is] primarily due to the increasingly difficult condition of the world-wide console game market, under which the Group is struggling to achieve a fair expected return on its investment. "On the other hand, content for other platforms such as PCs, smartphones and SNS such as 'Sengoku Ixa,' a browser game, and 'Final Fantasy Brigade,' a social networking game for Mobage, are generating an acceptable profit. "In addition, newly released game titles, such as 'Kaku-San-Sei Million Arthur,' a social networking game released in April, 2012 serving more than 1 million registered users, have been expanding at a satisfactory pace. "Registered users of Final Fantasy Artniks,' a social networking game released in November, 2012 for Gree, exceeded 1 million at the end of December, 2012," Square said. http://www.343industries.org/forum/topic/25701-next-gen-xbox-demo-released-at-square-enix/ Black Ops 2, Far Cry 3 Top U.S. Sales Charts for January The best-selling titles in the United States for the period between December 30, 2012 and February 2, 2013 were the following: Call of Duty: Black Ops II (360, PS3, Wii U, PC)** Far Cry 3 (360, PS3, PC) Just Dance 4 (Wii, 360, PS3, Wii U) NBA 2K13 (360, PS3, Wii, Wii U, PSP, PC)** Madden NFL 13 (360, PS3, Wii, PSV, Wii U) DMC: Devil May Cry (PS3, 360) Halo 4 (360)** Assassin's Creed III (360, PS3, Wii U, PC)** Skylanders Giants (Wii, 360, PS3, 3DS, Wii U)** FIFA Soccer 13 (PS3, 360, PSV, Wii, Wii U, 3DS, PSP) NPD analyst Liam Callahan noted that January marked an unusual five-week reporting period for NPD, but noted that “an adjusted figure can be computed for trend purposes: multiplying January 2013 sales figures by 0.80 (four-fifths) will normalize the five-week period to a four-week level.” http://www.343industries.org/forum/topic/25779-black-ops-2-far-cry-3-top-us-sales-charts-for-january/ Halo 4 Spartan Ops Episode 10 Trailer Next week 343 Industries will wrap up the Halo 4 Spartan Ops campaign. Today they've released a cinematic trailer that provides a glimpse at the tenth and final episode, called "Exodus." In Episode 10, Jul 'Mdama is about to achieve his goal of acquiring hidden Forerunner technology. It falls to the Spartan soldiers of the UNSC Infinity to stop his plans. This finale will play out over five missions and a new CGI cutscene. The Spartan Ops campaign can be downloaded for free by any Halo 4. New episodes have been released on a weekly basis since the game's launch, aside from a holiday hiatus. 343 has described these ten episodes as "Season One," leaving the door open for future digital campaigns. Will Season Two be released for Halo 4 or the next Halo? Episode 10 will hit Xbox Live on Monday, February 18th at 3 AM PST. http://www.343industries.org/forum/topic/25708-halo-4-spartan-ops-episode-10-trailer/ Halo 4 Update 2/14/13 "There's more balancing to be done and more issues to address, and we are actively working with the Halo 4 game team to investigate the feasibility of additional fixes." Here's a very partial list of the fixes and changes, plus a Halo-themed Valentine's Day card, which may cause you pain. Speak not to me of pain, readers. Alas, my precious Boltshot. Never shall you and I glory in the sight of somebody evaporating from the neck on down. - Reduced the range of the Boltshot's damage scaling over distance. The previous effective range for 1-hit kills was 20'-25'. The range has been reduced to 15'. - Fixed an issue that did not allow players to create respawn timers or disable instant respawn in custom games. - Fixed issues with friendly fire against vehicles. If FF is disabled, damage / EMPs from friendly sources will no longer damage vehicles that are fully controlled by your team. Next Monday sees the addition of Team Throwdown to Halo 4 matchmaking, billed as "our premiere competitive playlist". The Halo 4 team "have been monitoring community game type settings and feedback over the past few months, and teamed up with competitive community leaders Walshy, StrongSide and Gh057ayame to build this playlist. "We created an experience that will feature the popular "v2" settings and maps, which have been carefully developed and tweaked for competitive play. The playlist will feature Team Slayer, Capture the Flag, Extraction and King of the Hill at launch." Read the piece in full for specifics as to how each mode has been customised. http://www.343industries.org/forum/topic/25754-halo-4-update-21413/ Minecraft Update 9 First Picture 4J Studios is hard at work on Title Update 9 for the Xbox 360 version of Minecraft. To prove to fans that they're making progress, the studio released a lone screenshot of the patch's new content. The screenshot shows an inventory full of Spawn Eggs. Spawn Eggs are items that allow you to directly create mobs. You can create peaceful animals to inhabit the world or spawn a monster if you feel like fighting something. Title Update 9's big new feature is called The End. The End is a bleak dimension inhabited by Endermen and a black drake known as the Ender Dragon. Defeating this Ender Dragon will be a difficult task but it earns players a decorative egg. It also gives players a sort of "final goal" for the otherwise unstructured game. 4J is also working to bring all of the features from Minecraft's PC version to the Xbox 360. Upcoming features for Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition include Ocelots and jungle terrain. The studio confirmed via Twitter that those two particular features won't make it into Title Update 9, though. Title Update 9 will arrive in March at the earliest, according to 4J. http://www.343industries.org/forum/topic/25757-minecraft-update-9-first-picture/ Sculpture Of A Destiny Alien Creature http://www.343industries.org/forum/topic/25768-sculpture-of-a-destiny-alien-creature/ Halo 2 Pc Servers Stay For A Little Bit Longer Well apparently the fine folks at 343 were not looking to beak any hearts around Valentines Day, so they've decided that the Halo 2 servers can live on for a while longer. Almost a month ago, 343 Industries announced that they would be shutting the servers for Halo 2 (PC) down on February 15th. Well apparently the fine folks at 343 were not looking to beak any hearts around Valentines Day, so they've decided that the Halo 2 servers can live on for a while longer. According to David Ellis, a designer for 343, the Halo 2 (PC) servers will stay open till June, and they are exploring further support options for the title. Notice the key point to all that, 'Exploring support options for Halo 2(PC)' could the servers carry on. Well do your bit Halo 2 fans, log on and play online, show 343 that we want the servers to stay up for as long as possible. Halo 2's Windows PC multiplayer support will extend through June and Halo 4 developer 343 Industries is investigating "further support options," according to a tweet from David Ellis, a designer at 343. http://www.343industries.org/news/_/343-industries-news/halo-2-servers-live-on-well-for-a-while-r598 Halo Custom Interview A few days ago, Insane54, Community Manger at Halo Customs, got into contact with Halo 4's Senior Writer,Chris Schlerf , and the two had a nice little chat about what it means to write for a company that I want to write for in the future and would very much appreciate a job offer from. The interview is a pretty awesome read, which is no doubt due to the fact that my future boss is an awesome writer (and recognizes a talented member of his craft who would otherwise go unappreciated on a community forum). So, without further subtlety, I present the unedited interview (the edited one can be found in my dreams, wherein I take all the letters and reassemble them so that it reads something like a love letter to yours truly). Bonus points to anyone who figures out the single question I asked. ----- as posted by Essias @ HaloCustoms Halo Customs: Tell us a little about what you do at 343 Industries, and what you contributed to Halo 4. Chris Schlerf: As the first writer hired on at 343, it was my responsibility to work with the Creative Director, Franchise Director, and the rest of the team to put together a story which would both make Halo 4 a compelling game as well as serving the larger canon as a whole. When the scope of the game’s narrative design started to grow and we began putting together a dedicated team to handle the various implementations, the bulk of my attention turned specifically towards Campaign; writing the cinematics, mission dialog, etc. How did it feel taking over Master Chief's story from Bungie? Did they already have specific plans for him that you were aware of, or did you create your own journey from where they left off? We were extremely lucky that Bungie had left us with such an amazingly rich universe to play in, but in terms of a direction for John’s story, there weren’t any specific ideas or plans that came over from them. It was really a ‘tabula rasa’, but at the same time, it was important to us that we made the continuation of the story feel as seamless as possible, and authentic in spirit to what Bungie had created before us. Do you have access to the original Halo Bible or did you have to make your own? I had actually contributed to the Halo Bible before I officially came on board at 343, as part of a transmedia consulting project done with Starlight Runner Entertainment. Also, the Bible is something we’re constantly adding to as we flesh out different corners of the universe, so a bit of both, I guess. What kind of music do you think Master Chief would listen to whilst slaying enemies? Dirty little secret: it’s all just elevator music there in the helmet. “Girl From Ipanema”, the Carpenters… Soft Hits of the ‘70’s… As more and more games focus on multiplayer, how did 343i come up with the idea of fusing together story and multiplayer into what we know as Spartan Ops? How has Spartan Ops been received so far? Can you tell us if you guys are working on any more? From pretty much the day I got to 343, there was a desire to incorporate storytelling into different kinds of MP experiences. To us, there’s a real benefit in erasing the separations between the various game modes, and to make it feel like one, harmonious universe. Spartan Ops has been amazingly successful in that regard, in that we’ve been able to create a narrative which connects directly to the events of the campaign while engaging players who might normally gravitate to more communal types of gameplay. We’re a couple weeks into the second half of our season now, and the response to the new episodes has been fantastic, so we’re all pretty happy with how well it’s being received. Many say that Halo 4 is the best campaign in the Halo series to date. Do you feel like the 343 team did a good job bringing your story to life? What are you most happy about with the final product? The success of Halo 4’s campaign really comes down to the fact that, despite being a young studio who was just figuring out how to work together, we quickly developed a camaraderie and sense of collaboration that was essential to telling the story we told. There were constant interactions and negotiations – whether it was moving an encounter slightly so we could roll out a plot point better or postponing a story beat to allow for a better art reveal. That collective sense of responsibility for delivering a world-class story is what made it possible to achieve as much as we did. As for the final product, the John and Cortana relationship is the piece which always spoke to me on a very personal level. Having the opportunity to show a bit more of the depth around their connection was incredibly rewarding. Do you feel like the public reacted to the story of the campaign the way you thought they would? I don’t know that I had any preconceived notions about how people would react to the story, though it has been very gratifying to see people having a real, emotional response to things like Cortana’s rampancy and the Chief’s slow journey towards reclaiming his humanity. We came to know Master Chief much more than before in Halo 4; was it difficult for you to accurately capture the Chief's persona as it was in previous games? I always felt that John was a fascinating character who never quite got his due. Much has been made in the past about the ‘silent protagonist’ aspect of Halo, but if you go back and play through the original trilogy, his character is very well defined despite not having much in the way of actual dialog (and admittedly, a lot of that comes from Steve Downes’ iconic voice). Chief’s first exchange with Cortana in Halo:CE is this sarcastic, dry remark about her driving, which indicates there is a man inside that suit, not simply some automaton. So the question for me then became: what created that stoic, silent persona, and how do you get underneath that person’s skin? What do you do to bring him out of that literal shell he’s put himself in? Halo 4 felt like a much more personal story than previous games. Do you plan on continuing that path towards more personal story elements? Absolutely. Plot will only take you so far, especially when you’ve threatened to blow up the galaxy on numerous occasions – really, it becomes harder and harder to come up with a satisfying encore to that. In order for there to be real stakes beyond just ‘save the world’, you need to have characters who have something they want to protect, and the more fleshed out your characters, the more personal you can make your stories and the more impactful those stories can be. What's it like taking on such a cohesive franchise, with the expectations of a willing and pedantically enthusiastic community watching your every move? Being someone who silently trolls the boards reading detailed accounts of all things good, bad and ugly we’ve been doing at 343, I’m obviously incredibly aware of the enormous responsibility to do right by the people who love Halo with such incredible passion. And you’d be surprised just how much 343 is a microcosm of the community; most of us work there because we LOVE Halo too, and so every decision you make is passed through that filter at some level. That said, there’s no way to give every single person the Halo they have in their heads – so the best you can do is to approach the mantle of responsibility for the franchise with what you believe is true to the spirit of Halo, and hope you never wander too far off the path. What are some of your favorite literary works? Have any of these directly inspired you in regards to the work you've done and plan to do on the Halo franchise? My favorite works tend to be split between really internal, personal stories about the human condition (things like ‘Great Gatsby’ or ‘Wuthering Heights’) or these grand, world-building tales that create totally new realities (‘Snow Crash’, the ‘Dark Tower’ series). When it comes to looking for inspiration for Halo specifically, though, I try to eschew things which are a little too close to home like other sci-fi works. It’s a little too easy for people to start drinking from the same well, so it’s important to try and find new sources of inspiration to bring a fresh perspective to whatever you’re working on. What other influences have affected or inspired the Halo 4 storyline? Was the infamous Ringworld series a personal influence? There were a lot of random influences which we pulled from throughout the course of Halo 4, though I think you’d be hard pressed to see a lot of them now (King Arthur, Peter Pan, Apocalypse Now, etc). In most cases, we’d find things which gave us just enough of a jumping off point to create something new. But in general, we tend to try and steer clear of works that could draw obvious points of comparison like Ringworld, etc. Given the reveal of the Prometheans and the idea that the Forerunners were trying to ensure ultimate biological immortality through transhumanism: Is Cortana's fate settled or is her ultimate arc one of becoming human in the literal sense as John learns to embrace his own humanity without her. (I have no idea what this means... *rolls eyes* writers...) The idea of what it means to be ‘human’ was hugely important in Halo 4, and given where we leave John, I think it’s safe to say it’s an ongoing theme for the franchise. But in terms of specifics? Hold on, getting the Microsoft lawyers on the phone…. Any Super Bowl predictions? (GO LIONS WOOOOO *sigh*) A hero will rise. Oh, and there will probably be lots of complaining that the Star Trek commercial didn’t show enough. Some people see a writer and they think, pshhh, no skill. Do you kick butt when playing Halo? Before I came to 343, I thought I was a pretty decent Halo player. I have since been dissuaded of that opinion. We know Jesse Snyder is famous for his contributions to gaming, but how does his beer taste? Pretty damn awesome, actually. That boy’s got himself a future if this whole video game thing doesn’t work out! http://www.343industries.org/forum/topic/25308-halo-customs-interview-with-chris-schlerf/ Credit For This Weeks Posts- Absolute Dog, Adamj004,Spectral Jester,Lil Dog 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam91 Posted February 15, 2013 Report Share Posted February 15, 2013 great wrap up lil dog! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drizzy_Dan Posted February 15, 2013 Report Share Posted February 15, 2013 This is a great wrapup Lil Dog good job. I think it looks very clean but I personally think it'd look a lot cleaner with hyperlinks instead of long paragraphs of text. And maybe use a different word than wrap-up . Just kidding this is very good stuff! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Surveillance Posted February 15, 2013 Report Share Posted February 15, 2013 I loved this! SO much information! Overall great rap up! You always make me smile when I read one of these! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SatanicBagels Posted February 17, 2013 Report Share Posted February 17, 2013 (edited) I think that I'm going to go ahead and speak for what I imagine that everyone here is thinking... This is an incredible post Lil Dog. Edited February 17, 2013 by SweatyBagels 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SykoWolf Posted February 17, 2013 Report Share Posted February 17, 2013 Nice job Lil Dog Keep it up ya hear! :3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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