WebProNews

Tag: Halo 4

  • Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn Nominated For Emmy

    Last fall, in the run-up to the November release of Halo 4, Microsoft Studios released a five-part live-action mini-series called Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn. The series provided some back story for the Halo 4 campaign and was a surprisingly good live-action addition to the Halo lore.

    The mini-series has now been nominated for an Emmy Award. The nomination isn’t for the series’ acting or special effects, though. Forward Unto Dawn has been nominated for Outstanding Main Title Design. The other nominees for the award include the shows Elementary, The Newsroom, Vikings, Da Vinci’s Demons, and American Horror Story: Asylum. The award is given to primetime shows for their main title sequence, and in the past has been won by shows such as Game of Thrones, Mad Men, and Six Feet Under.

    Forward Unto Dawn follows a few weeks in the life of Thomas Lasky, a recruit at the UNSC Corbulo Academy of Military Science. As part of Hastati Squad, Lasky deals with bullying, family issues, and a burgeoning romance with a squadmate played by Anna Popplewell (Susan from the Chronicles of Narnia movies). When the inevitable Covenant invasion occurs, Master Chief himself arrives to usher the cadets to safety. Forward Unto Dawn‘s main title sequences tie the events of the series into the beginning of Halo 4.

  • Halo 4 Champions Bundle DLC Announced, Coming August 20

    Halo 4 is getting some more DLC next month that adds new maps, new armor and even a new game mode to the mix.

    Microsoft Studios announced on Saturday that it will be releasing three new DLC packs on August 20. The three packs, while available separately, will be sold together as the Champions Bundle for $10. Here’s what you’ll get with the bundle:

  • Bullseye Pack: Two new multiplayer maps, a sports-themed Spartan armor and a new competitive gravball game type called Ricochet
  • Infinity Armor Pack: Set your Spartan up with impressive and legendary new armor
  • Steel Skin Pack: Bring an elaborate steampunk style to your UNSC, Covenant, and Forerunner weapons

    • To convince players to buy the bundle, Microsoft will also be offering 18 in-game items that are exclusive to the bundle. If that’s not enough for you, you can buy the Bullseye Pack for 480 MS Points and the other two packs for 240 MS Points each.

    To get a taste of what the new Ricochet gameplay mode offers, here’s the announcement trailer:

    In other Halo 4 news, Microsoft announced last week that it’s starting up what it calls the “Halo 4 Global Championship.” Over five weeks on Xbox Live, the best players will be chosen for an all expenses paid trip to Seattle to compete in the finals where $500,000 is up for grabs.

  • Halo 4 “Global Championship” Announced, $200K Grand Prize

    Mocrosoft today announced a global Halo 4 tournament will take place this summer. The Halo 4 “Global Championship” is sponsored by 343 Industries in cooperation with Virgin Gaming. Microsoft stated that nearly $500,000 worth of prizes is up for grabs, including a $200,000 grand prize.

    The tournament will consist of five weeks of competition on Xbox Live. Halo fans can register at the Halo 4 Global Championship webiste to participate in the tournament. Starting July 15, a custom tournament playlist will appear in Halo 4, playable by those who have registered. The playlist will have different free-for-all modes each week for five weeks. Players who top global leaderboards will then get the chance to attend the tournament finals in Seattle, Washington on August 31 and September 1.

    To qualify for the finals, players will have to compete in at least 20 of the playlist matches per week, which also qualifies them for weekly prizes such as Xbox 360 games or avatar items. The top four players on the leaderboard each week will qualify for the finals, where the top eight players after elimination matches will receive money.

    Players can also qualify in the tournament by attending live competitions at the Rooster Teeth Expo in Austin, Texas from July 5 to 7, and at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany from August 21 to 25. Six finalists will be taken from each of the live competitions and 20 more will qualify from Xbox Live play. Each finalist receives an “expenses paid” trip to Seattle for the finals.

  • Halo 4 Trailer Released For New Map Pack

    Halo 4 Trailer Released For New Map Pack

    Though it’s often baffling that the shooter genre has spawned the most successful console franchises, a little observations could reveal why. Game franchises such as Call of Duty and Borderlands are well-supported by their developers and new content is being released for the titles on a nearly bi-monthly basis. Now, this could be a chicken-and-the-egg problem of which came first, but new, quality DLC certainly has helped shooter titles emerge as the most popular video games of this console generation.

    Today, 343 Studios detailed its new multiplayer map pack for Halo 4. The “Majestic Map Pack” will launch next week, on Monday, February 25. Instead of the sprawling vehicle-filled maps Halo players got with the last map pack, these new maps will be “small to medium sized.” The pack will also come with new multiplayer playlists and the new “Infinity Rumble” game type.

    The “Landfall” map will be set in the ruins of Tribute’s capital city and encourages close-range combat while providing plenty of “jump routes.”

    The “Monolith” map features man-cannons and “open sightlines” that 343 states “harkens back to more classic Halo arana-based maps.”

    The “Skyline” map is a small rooftop arena that offers lots of cover, but also has “explosive fuel cells” that can be exploited.

  • Conan O’Brien Reviews Cortana (And Halo 4)

    Conan O’Brien Reviews Cortana (And Halo 4)

    Halo 4 was one of the most critically lauded games of last year. It proved that 343 Industries has what it takes to carry the Halo torch. Of course, it can’t really be deemed a critical success until it gets a pass from the toughest critic of them all.

    Clueless Gamer, Conan’s insanely delightful game review show, takes on Halo 4 in the latest episode. Of course, the game doesn’t get much of the attention as Conan is too busy invested in Cortana, Master Chief’s AI companion. He does get in a few good jabs, however, including a particularly insightful comment on how games focus too much story at the expense of gameplay.

    Personally, Clueless Gamer is wasted on Conan’s late night show. The latest episode only further proves this point. In fact, just get him into focus groups and game testing from now on. I’d love to play a game that was built around his expectations of what a good game is.

  • Halo 4 Spartan Ops Resumes in January

    Microsoft today revealed the future of Halo 4 for the next couple of months. Of particular note is that Halo 4‘s Spartan Ops mode is going on hiatus until January. The first five interactive episodes of Spartan Ops, comprising the first half of “season 1” have already aired. All five episodes will all be re-entered into Matchmaking, one per week, from December 17 to January 14. A “first-look” at the second half of Spartan Ops season 2 will appear during the Spike TV 10th Annual Video Game Awards on December 7.

    In lieu of new Spartan Ops episodes, Microsoft will be holding a contest, the “Halo 4 Infinity Challenge.” The contest is a tournament that will track gamers’ personal score in War Games or the number of Spartan Ops chapters they complete. Microsoft is bragging that players of all skill levels have a shot at winning one of over 2,800 prizes. The grand prize for the War Games leaderboard winner is a UNSC-themed 2013 Ford F-150 truck. The Spartan Ops grand prize winner will win an appearance in two-minute appearance in Halo 5.

    The contest begins on December 17, but players can sign up starting today. From December 17 until January 10, players will compete in a qualifier phase, after which players will be tiered into three groups for the finals.

    Before the contest even begins, however, 343 Industries and Microsoft are releasing 3 new multiplayer maps through the “Crimson Map Pack” DLC. The content will be available on December 10 and a preview of the maps can be seen here.

  • Halo 4 Crimson Map Pack Coming December 10

    343 Industries is certainly determined to support the Halo 4 multiplayer community. In addition to the weekly updates and story videos that accompany the game’s Spartan Ops mode, it appears that map packs for more standard multiplayer modes are coming as scheduled.

    Today 343 and Microsoft announced that the first Halo 4 map pack, Crimson, will be launching on December 10. The DLC will cose 800 Microsoft Points and contains three new maps: Wreckage, Harvest, and Shatter. Those who purchased the Halo 4 map pass or purchased the Limited Edition version of the game will be able to download the DLC as soon as it is available. Two more map packs will be released in February and April.

    Wreckage is a medium-sized, asymmetrical map created for objective gameplay. It’s styled as a crash site, with debris littering the landscape.

    Harvest is a small to medium sized map created for Capture the Flag gameplay. Its name comes from Halo backstory as the planet where humans made first contact with the Covenant.

    Shatter is a large, symmetrical map made for tooling around on vehicles. The UNSC mining facility it is set in allows up to 16 players to compete in Infinity Slayer.

    Shatter was also created with a new multiplayer mode, Extraction, in mind. The new mode features two teams of 5 players racing to plant a beacon and protect it for a certain amount of time. Extraction will show up in Halo 4 matchmaking alongside the Crimson map pack on December 10.

  • Halo 4 Breaks Records, Sees $220 Million in Sales in First 24 Hours

    Everyone knew that Halo 4 was going to have a huge launch, and now Microsoft is conforming that with some fresh sales figures.

    According to the company, Halo 4 topped $220 million in sales worldwide in its first 24 hours on the market. They compare that to some other big opening day launches from the world of cinema:

    “Halo 4 garnered more than $220 million worldwide, eclipsing the record for the biggest day-one opening in U.S. box office history, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, and the biggest movie of 2012, The Avengers – based on U.S. sales alone,” says Microsoft.

    They expect sales to top $300 million over the course of the first week. As of now, the huge opening has pushed total sales from the Halo franchise over $3.38 billion.

    In terms of actual player numbers, they registered 4 million players who spent 31.4 million hours collectively in the first 5 days. In all, Halo players have spent over 5 billion total hours playing the various games.

    “We’re thrilled that ‘Halo 4’ has emerged as the biggest U.S. entertainment launch of the year,” said Phil Spencer, corporate vice president of Microsoft Studios. “Thanks to the millions of fans worldwide who helped make this another record-breaking launch for the ‘Halo’ franchise, ‘Halo 4’ is kicking off a strong holiday season and has become the must-have blockbuster experience of the year.”

    The big key there is “holiday season.” Halo 4’s sales will continue to increase as we get closer to the peak gift-buying time of the year – but it will have to compete with some other big releases, for instance Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 which hits the shelves tomorrow.

  • Halo 4 Spartan Ops Episode 2 Trailer Released

    343 Industries today released the trailer for the upcoming second episode for Halo 4 Spartan Ops. For those who don’t know, Spartan Ops is the episodic co-op campaign that sends players on missions that are tied-in to animated episodes of a story that takes place six months after the end of the story in Halo 4. The episodes and the five missions that accompany each episode are free to those who purchased Halo 4. Spartan Ops takes the place of previous games’ Firefight co-op mode, which was a wave-based survival mode.

    This week’s episode will feature a bit of mystery, as a mysterious artifact is brought aboard a UNSC ship. From the video description:

    The mysterious artifact recovered from Requiem takes control of vital systems on board the UNSC Infinity, forcing the Spartans of Crimson and Majestic back down to the planet to look for a way to free the ship.

    Hmm. A mysterious artifact brought aboard a spaceship? The scientists are enamored of it? It takes control of the ship? Besides that one episode of every space-faring sci-fi series ever, this story sounds suspiciously similar to the background story of the original Dead Space. Perhaps 343 is taking the Halo series in the survival-horror direction. We’ll all find out on Monday, when episode 2 of Spartan Ops is released.

  • Microsoft is Paying MS Points For Playing Halo 4

    Competing with the Call of Duty franchise when it comes to player loyalty is hard. Microsoft’s strategy? Pay people to play Halo 4.

    Microsoft has unveiled its “Halo 4 Combat Tour Offer,” which pays gamers in Microsoft Points for playing multiplayer Halo 4. Players can start earning points once they once they hit 35 hours of multiplayer action. For that achievement (I’m not sure if there’s an actual achievement for accomplishing the feat), players will recieve 100 Microsoft Points. 300 Microsoft Points go to players who put in over 70 hours of gameplay, and players who reach 140 hours get 600 Microsoft Points.

    In addition, Microsoft is giving Microsoft Points to gamers who spend tons of money on Halo 4 content in the Xbox LIVE Marketplace. Players who spend 1,500 Microsoft Points on Halo 4 content will receive 100 Microsoft Points back, and those who spend 3,000 Microsoft Points will receive 200 Microsoft Points.

    The offer is only good until the end of November, so players will have to play about five hours and 23 minutes of Halo 4 multiplayer every day since yesterday to reap the largest reward. However, the offer also cryptically states that player can “get up to 800” Microsoft Points, suggesting that the deal is capped anyway. This contradicts the numbers, which suggest that players who play for 140 hours should receive 1000 Microsoft Points.

    Aside from encouraging gamers to stick with Halo 4 when Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 comes out next week, the offer is also meant to get players signed up for the Xbox Live Rewards program. Players will have to be a member of the program to receive any rewards from the Halo 4 offer.

  • Halo 4 Release May Dampen Voter Turnout Among Gamers [POLL]

    Halo 4 Release May Dampen Voter Turnout Among Gamers [POLL]

    Voting: it’s your civic duty. It’s the foundation of any democracy, a way for everyone to make their voice heard. Millions have fought and died to give you the right, and the privilege to cast your ballot. Without strong turnout on election day, the very fabric of our free society could unravel and usher in generations of disenfranchised citizens. Your country needs you, and apparently that call is so easily ignored that a video game release could lock in your apathy.

    In a truly disheartening poll, over half of the people surveyed said that they were more likely to stand in a line to purchase Halo 4 than stand in a line to vote in this year’s Presidential election. Of course, both the Halo 4 release and the election are occurring on Tuesday, November 6th.

    The poll was conducted by IGN last week. They surveyed nearly 4,000 registered voters and found that 53% may choose Halo 4 of voting.

    Furthermore, 24% said that they are “seriously considering” not voting in order to play Halo 4.

    The poll looked at a couple of key swing states and found that 35% of registered voters in Florida are seriously considering Halo 4 over voting. 28% of registered voters in Ohio are considering doing to same.

    For shame, America. For shame. Here’s a compromise: Go vote, and you can write in Master Chief for one of your local senate races.

  • Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn Episode 5 – The Rescue

    The conclusion to Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn gives a glimpse into what it would be like to be one of those UNSC soldiers that occasionally accompany Master Chief on his adventures. I can’t speak for others, but I barely notice when one of those soldiers dies while playing a Halo game. Thankfully for Forward Unto Dawn, the real Master Chief seems to care a great deal about these four cadets and their survival.

    For those who haven’t been following the series, Forward Unto Dawn is a live-action web series that follows the life of cadet Thomas Lasky at the UNSC military academy. The series, as promised, ties-in to the beginning of the Halo 4 story, which begins in less than one week. The previous episodes of the series, including the short character vignettes that proceeded it, can be found here.

    When we last left Lasky and his remaining squad mates, they had escaped the ruined academy and made off with a warthog for the pelican landing zone. As Lasky learns to drive the vehicle, the cadets put their training to use against Jackals hiding in the forest. Master Chief mans the guns, but we all know what happens when you let the UNSC soldiers drive in the games. It’s clear from cannon that Master Chief survives to participate in the original Halo trilogy, but if the cadets hope to survive they’ll have to become soldiers – because they’re being hunted.

  • Halo 4 Spartan Ops Season One Trailer Released

    There’s only one week to go before Halo 4 hits store shelves, but 343 Industries and Microsoft are still releasing previews for the game’s numerous gameplay modes.

    Today, the trailer for the first “season” of Spartan Ops has been released. For those who haven’t heard, Halo 3: ODST‘s and Halo: Reach‘s Firefight mode has been renamed to Spartan Ops. The renamed mode still features up to four player co-op as players battle waves of Covenant and Promethean enemies. This time though, Spartan Ops will be tied-in to campaign and takes place six months after the events in the Halo 4 campaign. 343 has announced that the mode will be an “ongoing, episodic cooperative experience.”

    Each week, an episode of an ongoing animated series will be released along with five accompanying missions. These expansions are free with the purchase of the game, and the trailer below shows that the first season of Spartan Ops will include 10 animated episodes and 50 missions.

  • Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn Episode 4 Reveals a Savior

    Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn Episode 4 Reveals a Savior

    Previous episodes of Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn have focused on Thomas Lasky – both his past and the struggles he faces at the academy as a result of his temperament and his family’s UNSC fame. This week’s episode propels Lasky into a leadership position and forces him to disregard his hesitations.

    For those who haven’t been keeping up with the series, Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn is a live-action Halo web series that follows the cadets of Hastati squad at the UNSC’s Corbulo Military Academy. The series will tie-in to the story of Halo 4 and airs in weekly installments every Friday on Halo Waypoint and Machinima Prime. All three of the previous episodes and the short character vignettes that proceded them can be found here. Also, check out my interview with the series’ executive producers, which reveals some behind-the-scenes info on the production.

    At the end of the episode three, the academy came under attack from unknown alien forces. Today’s episode sees Hastati squad running for their lives through the halls of the academy. When they get pinned in near the armory, panic sets in and hiding becomes the only option. When an Elite finally finds them, hope seems lost – until a savior arrives.

  • Halo 4 Gameplay Launch Trailer Awakens the Forerunners

    Gamers were rightfully worried when Halo 4 was announced. Bungie, the developers who created the franchise, had completed their Halo trilogy and even thrown in a prequel with Halo Reach. The Ark is destroyed. What more is there to say?

    A lot, it turns out. The Halo universe has grown far beyond the video games, and now has a backstory that spans books and other media. The new Halo live-action web series Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn is proof of that. There is plenty of material from which to continue the story of Master Chief.

    It also appears that Microsoft has made the right choice in selecting 343 Industries to continue the Halo franchise. Last month, Halo 4 Executive Producer Kiki Wolfkill explained how 343 is both staying true to the Halo formula and forging ahead with new ideas and gameplay options. From the quality seen in all of the previews, Halo 4 could end up being one of the best Halo games in the series.

    For those who haven’t kept up with the numerous trailers and developer documentary shorts, today’s launch trailer focuses more on the gameplay and setting of Halo 4. It serves as the gameplay launch trailer companion to the more story-heavy semi-live-action launch trailer released last week. It also helps introduce gamers to the Prometheans, the Forerunners who (presumably) built the Halos and once battled the flood.

  • Halo 4 Launch Trailer Shows Master Chief’s Past

    Last week it was announced that the Halo 4 launch trailer would debut during Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on October 18. Today, the trailer has been released onto Halo Waypoint and has spread to all parts of the internet.

    The trailer, titled Scanned, was produced by David Fincher and directed by Tim Miller, who has worked on the visual effects for projects such as X-Men, X-2, and Where the Wild Things Are. It’s nearly two and a half minutes long, and cuts back-and-forth between previews of the events in Halo 4 and short vignettes from Master Chief’s past, back when he was just John.

    The flashbacks are live-action, which has become a staple of Halo trailers. Through the eyes of the Chief we see an idyllic childhood cut short and the brutal creation of the first spartans.

    The November 6 release of Halo 4 is now less than 3 weeks away. In the meantime, be sure to watch the live-action Halo web series Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn, which tells a story of UNSC academy cadets just before the war with the Covenant, and leads into the beginning of Halo 4.

  • Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn Episode 3 Kicks Up the Action

    When I spoke with the executive producers of Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn this week it was hinted at that the series would be taking an action-packed turn. Today, the third episode was unveiled and it certainly doesn’t disappoint.

    For those unaware, Forward Unto Dawn is a live-action Halo web series that follows the early story of Thomas Lasky, a cadet at the UNSC Corbulo Military Academy. Lasky is uneasy about the current war against colonial insurrectionists and struggles with the expectations placed on him because of his family’s history with the UNSC. The story will tie-into the beginning of Halo 4. The previous two episodes in the series, as well as the character vignettes that proceeded them can be found here.

    In the beginning of this week’s episode, it appears things are looking up for Cadet Lasky. His allergic reaction to a cryo-sleep drug means he can leave the academy, where it’s clear he doesn’t fit in. Also, his budding relationship with Cadet Silva (played by Anna Popplewell, recognizable as Susan from the Chronicles of Narnia movies) is progressing. However, before Lasky can make a decision about his future, he and the other cadets are interrupted by the call of fate. It sounds a lot like the academy’s alarm.

    New episodes of Forward Unto Dawn air every Friday leading up to the November 6 release of Halo 4. That means there are only two episodes left – and less than 3 weeks until the release of Halo 4.

  • Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn Producers Talk Live-Action Halo

    Speaking with Lydia Antonini and Josh Feldman, it’s clear they have a passion for digital media. The two are executive producers for Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn, a series that delves into the deep back-story of the Halo universe, while also setting up some of the events and relationships seen in Halo 4.

    Both are veterans of digital content and distribution. Antonini was once the director of digital content for Warner Premiere, and helped shepherd the Mortal Kombat live-action series into existence. Feldman most recently worked for Playtone, Tom Hank’s production company, and co-wrote Electric City, the animated series that aired this year on Yahoo.

    When Microsoft and 343 Studios approached Antonini and Feldman about a Halo web series, the two jumped at the chance to bring the biggest sci-fi franchise in gaming to life. Though neither say they are particularly good at the Halo video games, both said they enjoy the expanded Halo universe created by books, comics, movies, and other media.

    “I’m pretty much dead in 5 minutes every time,” said Antonini.

    “I could never drive the warthog in the game,” said Feldman. He felt vindicated when the real-life warthog used in Forward Unto Dawn was similarly difficult to drive.

    In deciding to make the series live-action, rather than animated, 343 was looking to build upon the popular live-action Halo commercials seen in the past. “Nothing can replace the emotional value of watching a real person,” said Antonini.

    When scouting locations for Forward Unto Dawn, Antonini said the team looked at locations in Budapest, Ireland, Bulgaria, Iceland, and Chile. Eventually the decision was made to shoot the series in Vancouver, at Simon Frasier University.

    “We found this amazing university, SFU, in Vancouver that looked like it was just made to be an academy,” said Antonini. “We made a very conscious decision to pick a look and place that [evoked] Halo.”

    The characters in Forward Unto Dawn are recruits at a UNSC military academy. The series focuses on Thomas Lasky, who questions the war against the insurrectionists and struggles to live up to the high expectations placed on him because of his family’s history in the UNSC.

    Feldman stated that a lot of emphasis was put on casting for the series. He pointed out that the recruits in the series, as well as the actors, are poly-ethnic and global. Members of the cast are from places such as Australia, Israel, and the U.K.

    The quality of the series is evident, and though neither Feldman or Antonini would discuss the cost of Forward Unto Dawn, Feldman gives credit to 343 and Microsoft for wanting to create a high-quality series. He stated that the show’s creators reached out to “players who work in the space of premium television.” To Feldman, 343 isn’t just a video game studio. “They’re a repository for great entertainment,” he said. “They’re an entertainment studio.”

    “I think we’re very close to television-quality right now,” said Antonini of the series, and of digital media in general. She believes Forward Unto Dawn could have lived on a premium cable channel. For her, digital content is the most interesting place to be right now.

    For Feldman, digital content means the possibility of diverse distribution. “Increasing the number of ways people can get to these types of content – that’s a wonderful thing.”

    The third episode of Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn airs tomorrow on Halo Waypoint and Machinima. Episodes will air every Friday leading up to the November 6 release date of Halo 4.

    Also, make sure to check out the short previews for the series, which are short vignettes that give a bit of background for the show. Antonini revealed that those previews were shot by a second unit, and are not directly tied to the story of the series. Instead, they represent more personal character pieces for the recruits.

  • Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn Episode 2 Released

    Today the second episode of the live-action Halo web series Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn was released on Machinima and Halo Waypoint. For those who haven’t seen the first episode, the series chronicles the training of Hastati Squad, a group of recruits to the UNSC Corbulo Academy of Military Science. The UNSC is as war with insurrectionist colonists on disparate planets, but, of course, a greater threat looms out in the darkness. The series airs on Fridays up to the November 6th release of Halo 4 , and the story ties into the beginning of Halo 4.

    Last week we saw Thomas Lasky struggle at the academy, trying to live up to his family name and become a model soldier. Though he isn’t as disciplined as his brother, and doesn’t have the force of command as his high-ranking mother, he does possess a drive to do what he believes is best. And he is opinionated. It’s easy to see why these qualities might not immediately be of use at a military academy.

    This week, Lasky tests his superiors and squad mates even more by letting his temper flare. He also begins to show those leadership qualities everyone keeps insisting he must have. Meanwhile, something big is happening that the school’s superiors aren’t telling the trainees about.

  • Halo 4 Launch Trailer Debuts October 18, Produced by David Fincher

    If there were any doubt that Halo is one of the biggest franchises in gaming history, those doubts can now be laid to rest.

    Today Microsoft and 343 Industries announced details about Halo 4‘s upcoming launch trailer. That’s right. The companies didn’t release extra pre-launch behind-the-scenes interviews, or another trailer highlighting the games’ weapons. They simply want people to know that they paid a lot for the launch trailer, and that it’s going to be great.

    The most surprising part of their announcement is that David Fincher, who directed Fight Club and The Social Network, was the executive producer for the trailer. Tim Miller, who has worked on visual effects for movies such as X-Men, X2, and Where the Wild Things Are, will be directing the trailer.

    “I’m excited about the opportunity to direct the Halo 4 launch trailer in creative partnership with 343 Industries and David Fincher,” said Miller. “Halo is one of the most iconic sci-fi universes, with a depth that allows for amazingly cinematic and emotionally riveting stories. The chance to tell a story that explores never-before-seen facets of Master Chief’s journey is an honor. Our goal is to deliver a blockbuster, Hollywood-quality trailer that raises the bar for the award-winning legacy of live-action Halo storytelling and gets fans stoked for the return of Master Chief.”

    It’s unclear as to whether the trailer will be live-action or animated, but Fincher stated that Miller is “at the visual and technical forefront of hybridised live-action/CGI.”

    The trailer, titled Scanned, will premiere during the October 18 episode of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. For those who miss it, or simply don’t stay up that late, the trailer will be available the next morning on Halo Waypoint and the Xbox YouTube channel. Microsoft’s announcement also hinted that the trailer would be taking an “emotionally-charged look” at Master Chief’s backstory.

    Of course, Halo 4 isn’t going to be released until November 6, so Halo fans will have plenty of time to pour over the launch trailer and decipher whatever meaning they can from it.

  • Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn Episode 1 Premieres

    Today the live-action Halo web series Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn premiered. For the last few weeks, Halo Waypoint and Machinima Prime have been releasing short trailers for the series, giving a preview of what the series will hold.

    Forward Unto Dawn will air in weekly installments up until the release of Halo 4 on November 6th. The story will lead in to that of Halo 4, as the beginning of the premiere below shows.

    The first episode in the series follows the Hastati Squad, a fresh batch of recruits at the UNSC Corbulo Academy of Military Science. More specifically, it follows Thomas Lasky, a recruit that questions orders and believes he knows better than his commanding officer.

    The UNSC is at war with insurrectionist colonists in space, and the previews of the series haven’t been subtle in drawing parallels with both the American Revolution and the War on Terror. Anyone with some basic knowledge of Halo cannon, however, knows that insurrectionists are the least of the UNSC’s worries.

    As Lasky’s disobedience begins to create friction with his squad mates and instructors, he must decide if following in his mother’s footsteps and joining the UNSC was the right decision. At such a young age, he already seems to have a disastrous past that weighs heavily on him and feeds his angst.