Tag: Halo

The best Black Friday Xbox deals on Amazon so far

We’ve rounded up the best Black Friday Xbox deals on Amazon so far, including Diablo 4, Star Wars, and an Xbox bundle featuring Starfield

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‘Tis the season to seek out hot deals, and Amazon is getting started early with some sweet Black Friday Xbox deals on consoles and games alike. Whether you’re in the market for a starter bundle with one of 2023’s new releases or want to catch up on the hits of yesteryear with Halo Infinite, you’ll probably find at least one thing you’re looking for. Take a trip through space with Star Wars or Starfield, fight a zombie apocalypse, pull off daring heists, or trek through hell and bring order back to Sanctuary – all at a pretty good discount.

We’ll be updating this roundup as more deals go live. Bear in mind that most of these deals are for physical games, which are only compatible with Xbox Series X.

The best Amazon Prime Day 2023 Xbox game sales

Amazon Prime Day Xbox sales include an impressive variety of Series X|S games, and we’ve rounded up the best deals below

Amazon Prime Day Xbox sales include an impressive variety of Xbox Series X|S games. You’ve got a choice selection of Xbox first-party games, such as Sea of Thieves and Forza, alongside third-party stalwarts including Assassin’s Creed, Yakuza, and Far Cry, and quite a bit more. There aren’t any deals going on Game Pass or Xbox Series X, but you can grab a refurbished Series S for a decent price if you’re looking to get into gaming’s current gen without spending too much money.

These deals last until Prime Day ends, which is at the end of July 12, 2023.

If you’re after deals on other platforms, check out our Prime Day Nintendo roundup and PlayStation roundup. There’s still time to pick up Steam Summer Sale deals as well.

 

Former Halo and Control developer launches new studio with NetEase

343 Industries and Remedy veteran Paul Ehreth founded a new development studio with NetEase to make action-adventure games

343 Industries and Remedy veteran Paul Ehreth founded a new development studio called Anchor Point with NetEase to make action-adventure games, Ehreth announced in a statement. Anchor Point is based in Barcelona, Spain, with a satellite office in Seattle. Both are open for remote and on-site work.

Ehreth formerly worked on Control and Alan Wake 2 at Remedy and Halo 4 and Halo 5 with 343 Industries.

“We’re so excited to officially drop our anchor in Barcelona, the hometown of my great-grandparents, and start building a strong team for our journey of exploration together with NetEase Games,” Ehreth said in the statement. “We’re grateful to NetEase Games for giving us the creative freedom and resources to build this interconnected world that will expand beyond games and reach into other mediums as well.”

Ehreth didn’t suggest what Anchor Point’s first project is or when the studio plans to launch it, but whatever it is, it will release for PC and console.

Anchor Point is NetEase’s latest in a line of studios and projects intended to establish a stronger foothold for the company in the global games industry. In 2022, NetEase recruited Toshihiro Nagoshi, creator of the Yakuza series, and helped him set up his own studio.

NetEase also partners with Behaviour Interactive to create and publish the mobile version of Dead by Daylight.

Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF

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Xbox boss states 343 is still ‘critically important’ to Halo

‘Halo will remain critically important to what Xbox is doing,’ says Phil Spencer.

343 Industries is vital to the ongoing success of Halo, according to Microsoft’s gaming division head Phil Spencer. 

Following layoffs at 343 Industries, many were speculating that the studio might not be responsible for the franchise going forward. Partially since the post-launch support for Halo Infinite hasn’t been warmly received – specifically the cancellation of split-screen co-op and slow rollout of seasonal multiplayer updates. 

However, during an IGN interview, Spencer addressed Halo Infinite‘s ongoing support and the importance of 343 Industries for Xbox.

“I thought [Halo Infinite] was fantastic. Obviously, we’re talking about the following year, and I think there are some missteps that we made as a team, absolutely,” Spencer said. “But I don’t want to take away from the fact that the team did a really good job delivering a great Halo game.”

“At the same time, when we launched that game, we know we needed to make some commitments to people about the content updates and our timing on those and the quality, and we didn’t hit our own bar for doing that,” Spencer continues. “What we’re doing now is we want to make sure that leadership team is set up with the flexibility to build the plan that they need to go build. And Halo will remain critically important to what Xbox is doing, and 343 is critically important to the success of Halo.”

He went on to confirm that other studios, such as Certain Affinity, will help with other Halo projects – but 343 Industries is the “heart and soul” of Halo. 

Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.

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343 Industries will continue making Halo games following Microsoft layoffs

‘Halo and Master Chief are here to stay,’ says the studio head.

Last week, Microsoft revealed it would lay off roughly 10,000 employees – including developers at Bethesda and 343 Industries. Despite that, it seems the latter will continue working on the Halo series.

Immediately following the layoffs, there was a great deal of speculation that 343 Industries, in particular, might not be responsible for developing Halo games anymore. In response, the studio released an official statement on Saturday.

“Halo and Master Chief are here to stay,” Pierre Hintze, studio head, said on Twitter. “343 Industries will continue to develop Halo now and in the future, including epic stories, multiplayer, and more of what makes Halo great.”

2022 was a particularly rough year for the Halo franchise. While the initial reception for Halo Infinite was pretty positive, post-launch support has been coming out at a snail’s pace – upsetting most fans. For example, while online co-op did eventually release, the split-screen iteration was outright canceled.

Similarly, Paramount’s Halo TV series has been the subject of much ridicule. Whether it’s Master Chief’s live-action butt or Cortana’s new look – fans weren’t too keen on the adaptation. However, the series is getting a second season and was the most popular show on Paramount Plus last year.

Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.

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Streamer wins $20,000 for completing absurdly tough Halo challenge

Several weeks after Charlie ‘Cr1tikal’ White posted the Halo 2 LASO bounty, someone has finally completed it.

Last month, we reported on the ridiculous Halo 2 bounty from Charlie ‘Cr1tikal’ White. At the time, none of us thought anyone could do it. It seems that isn’t the case, though.

Let’s go through a quick refresher before delving into the story. Cr1tikal, one of Twitch’s biggest stars, issued a diabolical challenge: completing a Legendary All Skulls On (LASO) playthrough of Halo 2 Anniversary with zero deaths. It might not sound like much, but these stipulations mean enemies hit much harder, are invisible, and most weapons don’t have much ammo. The scenario is brutal. Nobody’s done it before — until now, that is.

On Wednesday, streamer Jervalin completed the near-impossible run in roughly six and a half hours. The stream archive is available here for those who can’t believe it.

Consider this: Halo 2 originally came out on November 9, 2004. Almost two decades ago, for those of you that suddenly feel like withering away. So when Jervalin did this, fans went wild.

Make sure you check out Cr1tikal’s reaction below. If only more of us could be this happy about losing a truckload of cash.

With that, Jervalin has just secured himself a cool $20,000. Talk about a never-tell-me-the-odds situation.

Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.

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Halo Infinite campaign co-op won’t have online matchmaking

Microsoft recommends using Discord to group up with others.

Campaign co-op will be publicly available in Halo Infinite soon, but there will not be any online matchmaking options.

Many fans participating in the current beta were curious about the feature’s omission since inviting people solely via a friend list can be tiresome. Unfortunately, everyone will have to make do.

“Online matchmaking will not be available with final co-op,” an Xbox spokesperson said via Gamesradar. “We encourage you to continue to use the Halo [Looking For Group (LFG)] and the new Discord voice call feature on Xbox to find players to party up with as you continue playing the beta.”

Last week, Microsoft announced Discord voice chat is coming to Xbox Live. While that’ll probably help people sync up with friends, it doesn’t quite alleviate the underlying issue. After all, matchmaking exists in the first place to make playing with others a breeze.

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According to SteamCharts, only a couple thousand people are playing Halo Infinite at any given moment. In fairness, that doesn’t consider players on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, or Game Pass PC, but the player numbers are clearly dwindling.

Halo Infinite is almost nine months old by this point, with an increasingly frustrated community over the state of multiplayer. Co-op mode, particularly, is a sore spot since it has already seen multiple delays. 

Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.

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Twitch streamer issues wild $20,000 Halo 2 challenge

Streaming sensation Moistcr1tikal put up one diabolical bounty.

If you’re a massive Halo fan in dire need of some extra cash, there’s an incredibly brutal bounty floating around that might be up your alley.

Last week, popular YouTube and Twitch star Charlie ‘Cr1tikal’ White announced that he’s offering $20,000 to anyone that can complete a Legendary All Skulls On (LASO) playthrough of Halo 2 Anniversary with zero deaths (thanks, PCGamesN). That might not sound tough, but the skulls in this series act as unique modifiers. 

For example, enabling the Assassins Skull will make all enemies invisible. Couple that with something like the Famine Skull, where all weapons are half empty, and it becomes obvious why this is such a daunting task. Most tweens back in the day would never dream of attempting this.

Check out a clip from Cr1tikal’s video issuing the challenge below. As a heads-up, there’s some NSFW language. The whole thing is up on YouTube here.

When Cr1tikal first came up with this bounty several weeks ago, it was initially only for $5,000. However, since then, he raised it to $20,000 — probably because it’s absolutely masochistic.

LASO runs in Halo 2 Anniversary are hard enough when game-overs are allowed. In the video mentioned above, Cr1tikal admits he couldn’t get passed the game’s first two rooms under these stipulations. The submission page is already available here if you’re up for it. So yeah, good luck!

Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.

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Halo producer reveals that Steven Spielberg is a ‘true gamer’

In an interview with Yahoo, Halo the TV show’s producer Kiki Wolfkill revealed Spielberg was initially attached to produce the show back in 2013.

Halo the TV show’s producer Kiki Wolfkill has revealed that the world’s most famous director Steven Spielberg has been heavily involved in getting video game stories into TV and cinema.

In an interview with Yahoo, she revealed that Spielberg was initially attached to produce the Halo TV show back in 2013. However, after going through several years of “development hell”, he left the role. Wolfkill revealed that the acclaimed director remained on the project as a “key creative partner”.

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Of Spielberg she said, “Spielberg is a true gamer. He truly loves games, which is one of the things that was so exciting when he signed on and in the first meeting.” Spielberg has long been linked to video games. There are pictures of Spielberg in his 30s which show him posing in front of Space Invaders and Missile Command cabinets. He even reportedly had a Donkey Kong cabinet in his office.

Many of his films have been turned into video games over the years. The Indiana Jones trilogy, the Back To The Future trilogy, and The Goonies have all been made into successful video games. Spielberg was one of the first directors who saw the potential reach of film turned game. Not all of his movie’s games were successful. E.T. for Atari is often unfairly blamed for the crash of the entire video game industry.

However, Spielberg has recently set his sights on doing the reverse. He adapted Ready Player One, a novel based on experiences from many real video games, for the big screen to great success. While Halo’s development was rocky, he still saw the potential.

On this Wolfkill went on to say, “I think there is a realization of not just the depth of the worlds and the characters but, more importantly, how deeply people connect to those characters and those worlds.” Films adapted from video games have long had a bad reputation but Wolfkill believes that is changing. “There’s a little bit of a different perspective from Hollywood on these video games,” she explained. “They really are getting to treat them like the world-class IPs we as gamers have always thought of them as.”

Written by Georgina Young on behalf of GLHF.

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Halo co-creator insists the Paramount series is ‘not the Halo I made’

Marcus Lehto had some harsh words for Master Chief’s live-action escapades.

Paramount’s Halo series isn’t receiving the warmest reception. Whether it’s the sleep paralysis demon that is live-action Cortana or an unintentionally hilarious tale of Master Chief getting busy — fans hate it, and they aren’t the only harsh critics.

One fan reached out to franchise co-creator Marcus Lehto about Paramount’s adaptation earlier this week, curious about his thoughts. His response was pretty direct.

“I’m not sure where the inspiration for the show comes from now,” Lehto said on Twitter. “Not the Halo I made.”

Well, it doesn’t get much more damning than that. It reminds me of Alan Moore hating every adaptation of his comics. In fairness, Lehto followed up later, clarifying that he doesn’t dislike the show either.

“For clarity, I never said I didn’t like it,” Lehto explains on Twitter. “It’s just so different than the Halo I helped make – like it’s a different universe.”

Halo‘s showrunners have been saying the series will deviate from franchise canon since before the premiere. That’s a given since most adaptations take huge liberties from the source material. Heck, even something like Peter Jackon’s Lord of the Rings film trilogy is way different from Tolkien’s novels. On the other hand, Paramount’s Halo just seems not great all-around.

Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.

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