Update: Halo 4

       Many people are crying out (sometimes literally) for Halo 4 information. But what they don't know, is that there has been quite a bit of Halo 4 info floating around this past month. They just don't know where to look, or what to look for.

       In Halo Waypoint's newest feature, Office of Halo Intelligence, Josh Holmes, creative director of Halo 4 said this:

"Jessica has asked me to contribute to a Halo 4 developer diary as a recurring part of our weekly Bulletin. While we won’t be able to share secrets that would spoil any of the Carefully Planned Reveals™ that we have coming down the pipe, we will give you our impressions of some of the work that is going on behind the scenes here at 343. We’ll also provide our thoughts on anything that we do make public as part of the lead-up to the game’s launch. I realize that isn’t a lot at this stage, and trust me, this is hard for us, too. We are working on so many things that we can’t wait to share with you, but patience is in order. Good things come to those who wait. All will be revealed in due time. And assorted other clichés.…

Right now the team across 343 is shaking off the last remnants of our turkey-induced stupor and whipping ourselves into fighting shape for the year ahead. It’s going to be a huge one. This will be the culmination of a multi-year journey that has already filled several cylindrical space-canisters with delicious blood, sweat and tears. Now we’re entering the crucial final stretch in which we will ready our baby for release into the wild. It’s an exciting time but stressful, too, as we place pressure on ourselves to live up to your expectations. The good news is that the game is already looking great and fun to play. So, as we ready ourselves to give you your first real look at Halo 4 in the months ahead, we can only hope that you, too, will like what you see."

       I highlighted the important parts for those who don't want to read the whole thing. "While we won’t be able to share secrets that would spoil any of the Carefully Planned Reveals™". This could be in reference to the "massive, original marketing campaign" mentioned in the 343 Sparkast 009. "several cylindrical space-canisters". This is actually quite interesting.... The Flood's original form was found in "serveral cylindrical space-canisters" on mysterious automated space ships from outside the Milky Way. Could we be exploring Flood origins more in Halo 4? Or the Reclaimer Trilogy at all? "give you your first real look at Halo 4 in the months ahead". This absolutely screams E3 (June 2012).

       343 Industries also announced on Halo Waypoint that McFarlane Toys, makers of many Halo action figures, will be making action figures for Halo 4. The release of the figures will happen like this:

August 2012

• Master Chief
• Secret Figure 1
• Secret Figure 2
• Secret Figure 3

Boxed Figure: Frozen Master Chief and cryotube

November 2012

• Cortana
• Secret Figure 4
• Secret Figure 5
• Secret Figure 6

Boxed Figure: Secret Boxed Figure 1

       This gives a hint as to when new info/game will come out. I believe we will get substantial new info around August, most likely E3. I'm also 90% sure the game will come out in November. But what really tells us that it will release in November is this. 343 later went on to say, "Halo 4 Series 1 will be launched in August 2012, and will expand around the game launch in fall 2012, continuing into 2013." So there it is! They said "the game launch in fall 2012"! Thats much more definite than "Holiday 2012".

       And finally, there has been a recent leak posted on the Halo Waypoint forums, claiming to be images of a Halo 4 Alpha Build. The thread was swiftly locked, and the links removed. The images looked quite legit, actually. I managed to save the pictures before the thread was locked. You can see them below, and to view in larger size, just click on them.

       So, there you have it. Halo 4 story hints, and a possible release window. I'll keep you posted in the coming months, and expect to see far more in the late Spring/early Summer.

Coming soon: Halo Primordium Review

       After much difficulty getting my copy (the bookstore was out of stock, despite my pre-order...), Halo Primordium arrived yesterday, and I have been reading it avidly since. Expect a review either next week or the week after.

Review: Halo Graphic Novel

       The Halo Grapic Novel is four comics brought together into one book. I know it wasn't very professional of me, but I didn't even read one of them because I hated the art so much. But here are the other three.


       The first comic is The Last Voyage of The Infinite Succor. It follows SpecOps Commander Rtas 'Vadumee, and his team while investigating a loss of communication with an agricultural ship. It also follows MCPON John-117 while in the swamps of Installation-04's Flood Containment Facility. I don't want to give any spoilers, because it's such a good story, so I'm not going to say any more on it. The art is a little gritty for my taste, but that might be what the author was trying to portray.

       The second story is a relatively short comic, Armor Testing. It just shows a testing session of the new MJOLNIR Mark-VI Powered Assault Armor. The testing takes place on Earth, and the one wearing the new armor is Spartan-II Maria-062. The comic has good, clean art, and is actually a quite interesting look at the Mk VI armor.

       The third story, Breaking Quarantine, is about Sgt. Johnson's escape from the Flood Containment Facility. There are no words, I think because the "author" is Japanese, and doesn't speak English.* It's a good story overall, and one that Halo fans wondered about, until this came out.

       The fourth and final story is Second Sunrise Over New Mombassa. As I said at the beginning of this review, I did not read this one. I tried to, I really wanted to. But the art was just too hard to get past. You can see the artwork at the bottom of the review.

       All in all, even though I didnt like the fourth story, the Graphic Novel is worth reading for any Halo fan, although I would never buy it. 3 out of 5, 7 out of 10.

Review: Halo The Fall of Reach - Bootcamp

       Halo: The Fall of Reach - Bootcamp is basically a retelling of Halo: The Fall of Reach, but in comic format.

       Bootcamp is about the very beginning of the Spartan-II project, including the abduction, training, and augmentation of the 75 children, including John-117. It also shows their first mission - capturing Colonel Robert Watts, leader of the Insurrection.

       I liked the art (which is a big thing for me. If I dont like the art in a comic book, I wont read it), and it was an interesting look at the start of the S-II project. If you wanted to know more about the Spartan-II project, but dont have time to read The Fall of Reach novel, I suggest reading this. 4 out of 5, 8 out of 10.

Halo CEA launch party

I went to the Halo CEA launch party at Microsoft Store. It was awesome! The first 100 in the door got a red (or blue) wristband, and a special CEA poster. 1st 100 to pre order the game got $5 off, a $25 Microsoft Store gift card, and a plush Grunt! It started at 10pm, and went through to 1am. Monster Energy came, and handed out free Monster, Pizza My Heart delivered pizza.





Kid trying out Halo CEA.












The line.













They're just missing in action....













Multiplayer.












Halo reaches all age groups!

You can see more pictures on wild949.com (then click on "photos"). And more pictures and video on the facebook page.

"Good" News! (for Reach players)

343 Industries announced last week that an Anniversary Map Pack will be available for Halo Reach. This means that Reach players wont have to buy Halo CEA to get the remastered maps. The pack will include six classic Halo maps, and one new Firefight map. It will release same-day as Halo CEA, for 1200 Microsoft Points. But anyone who buys Halo CEA will get a download code to add the map pack to Halo Reach.

Review: Halo Glasslands (mild-moderate spoilers)

      
       Halo Glasslands follows several different groups or characters. You follow Dr. Halsey, the remainder of the Spartan-IIIs and Spartan-IIs from Onyx, and SCPO Franklin Mendez. Then there is Kilo-Five, which is made up of a S-II "dropout" Captain Serin Osman, Spartan-II Naomi-010, ODSTs Vasily Beloi, Malcom Geffen, and Lian Devereaux, and a "smart" AI Black Box, AKA BB. And Finally, there is Avu Med 'Telcam, and Jul 'Mdama.

       Halsey, Mendez, and the Spartans are still in the Forerunner Shield World, and are looking for food, shelter, etc. While investigating something she saw move, Lucy-B091 wanders off from the team, and accidentally walks through a wall. You may remember from the beginning of Ghosts of Onyx, that Lucy was traumatized during a mission (OPERATION: TORPEDO) where her entire team, except her and and Tom-B292 died. After that, she never talked again. So Lucy couldn't radio Halsey and the rest of the Spartans for assistance. She explores this new area for a while, and comes across several Forerunner, not Covenant, Huragok (Engineers). She begins communicating with the Huragok via a large touchscreen. Eventually, the Huragok help her out of the "room" and meet up with the rest of her team. Halsey has a field-day communicating and asking the Huragok questions. They later convince the Huragok to let them send a distress signal out. After they get a reply from Parangosky, the Huragok are convinced that it is safe to bring the Shield world back to normal space.

       Meanwhile, Kilo-Five is on a mission to spark an insurrection within Sanghelios. Captain Osman, under the orders of Margaret Parangosky, is supplying Avu Med 'Telcam with weapons. 'Telcam wishes to remove Arbiter Thel 'Vadam from power, and (unbeknownst to the UNSC) defeat the humans before they can regain power. But don't think too low about him, because that is exactly what Parangosky is trying to do to the Sangheili. Later in the story, the UNSC picks up readings coming from where Onyx used to be. Kilo-Five is sent to investigate. Eventually, the Shield World is brought back to normal space. In normal space, it grew to the size of an entire solar system. Not just empty space though, land, and lots of it. They find Forerunner ships capable of pin-point slipspace accuracy, and even though the Huragok wont allow themselves, or the ships to be removed from the Shield world, they create several new Huragok special for the humans. It is later requested that the shield world be named Trevelyan, after Kurt-051, who sacrificed his life for Halsey and the S-IIs and S-IIIs.

       Jul 'Mdama is a former Covenant Shipmaster, who thinks the humans should be finished off. He joins forces with Avu Med 'Telcam, who is part of Servants of Abiding Truth. They try to assassinate Arbiter Thel 'Vadam. Towards the end of the story, 'Telcam sends a note to Prof. Phillips, telling him to meet him at the SoAT's "headquarters". Then, after talking with Telcam a few minutes, there was an explosion. And all Osman could hear on Phillip's microphone was Telcam, shouting, "It's not us. It's not us! What in the name of the gods is happening?" I'm not sure exactly what that means, but it could either be residual Covenant forces, or humans. Or could it be Forerunners? I wouldn't bet on it, but there's always the possibility. We'll just have to wait for the sequel.

All in all, Glasslands would have to go in my Top 3 favorite Halo novels. I really enjoyed the exploration of Forerunner technology, as well as going deeper into Sanghelios than ever before. I'm not sure I like the fact that humanity's "alliance" with the Sangheili might not last. I kind of liked the idea of rebuilding society side by side. And in Halo 2 and 3, I felt 10 times more awesome fighting alongside Spec-Ops Sangheili. It wasn't 100% what I expected, but it is definitely a must-read for any Halo fan.

Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary launch party!

Yes, it's true. Microsoft will be throwing launch parties for CEA at 13 of their stores across the US. It will be at 10 pm on Nov 14th. The 1st 100 will get a bunch of Halo goodies, and the 1st 100 to buy the game will get a stuffed Grunt. (No, not a real one... v.v).

Halo Anniversary Launch Party on Halo Waypoint (bottom)

CEA Launch Party on Facebook

Coming soon: Halo Glasslands review!

Ok, as some of you may remember, I went to Barnes and Noble to get Halo Glasslands, but they didn't have any in yet. I went over today as soon as it opened, and now I have it. I'll have my review up sometime early next week.

Halo 4 story clues

         I'm sure if you're a Halo fan, you can't wait for Halo 4. You probably wonder what the story is going to be about. Here are some clues from other Halo media as to what it may be about.

          Halo 4. Set to release "Holiday 2012", part of a the new Reclaimer Trilogy. 343 says that it will "definitely" have "resonant connections" with Halo Glasslands, Halo Primordium, and the Terminals in Halo CEA. Based on what I know about Glasslands and Primordium, this gives a pretty good picture of Halo 4. Halo 4 will explore Master Cheif's character, who he is, and his relationship with Cortana.
          Many people think that the Legendary Planet is Onyx. That is a poor assumption, because the Onyx Shield world is located in slipspace. Many also think we will fight against the Forerunners. I hope not, I'd rather fight alongside the Forerunners. We could possibly see flood and covie stragglers, new enemies, and maybe even Precursors....

          Halo Glasslands was released yesterday, and is to be part of the "post-war series" by Karen Traviss. I read the first 2 chapters online, as well as other articles. It's going to be about humanity getting back on their feet after the nearly three decade war with the Covenant. We will also read about the Spartan III's and Dr. Halsey in the Shield world.

         Halo Primordium is to be released January 3rd, 2012. It will be the second book of the three-book series called the Forerunner Saga. It will follow the humans Chakas and Morning Riser, after Mendicant Bias' assault on the Forerunner capital. It will also delve deeper into the story of the Precursors and the Timeless One.

Halo CEA is set for release ten years to the day from Halo CE, November 15th, 2011. It runs on the same engine as the original, so it plays and feels exactly like CE. It has HD like in Halo 3. Don't know why they dropped it in Reach.... It will have Terminals like in Halo 3, which 343 has hinted will give insight and clues about the story of Halo 4.