Tag: Halo Infinite

Halo Infinite is reportedly getting a battle royale mode

Certain Affinity might bring the last-fighter-standing concept to Halo.

It’s looking like Halo Infinite might be getting a battle royale mode after all.

According to a report from Forbes, well-known games industry reporter Jez Corden claims that Certain Affinity is developing some sort of battle royale mode for Halo Infinite. The project, apparently codenamed Tatanka, has been in development for more than two years — separately from the seasonal updates by 343 Industries.

It’s unclear how traditional this battle royale mode will be, but it’s seemingly targeting Apex Legends, Call of Duty: Warzone, and Fortnite fans to bring a whole new audience into Halo. It’ll also somehow utilize Halo Infinite’s upcoming forge mode and release during multiplayer Season 2 or 3.

While none of this is official yet, Certain Affinity announced earlier this week that it’s working on something for Halo Infinite. Previously, the studio did develop content for Halo: The Master Chief Collection.

Forbes also claims that this new mode for Halo Infinite will likely deviate from the bog-standard battle royale formula. Though how it’ll do so is unclear at this time.

Nothing is concrete until either 343 Industries or Certain Affinity makes an announcement, but it’s not hard to believe any of this. Battle royale games are still ridiculously popular, and if Halo Infinite’s player counts keep dwindling, a last-fighter-standing mode might be just what the doctor ordered.

Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.

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Halo Infinite’s season 2 maps are steeped in mystery

343 Industries shows off Breaker and Catalyst via an in-game preview.

The post-launch support for Halo Infinite’s multiplayer has been lacking, but Season 2’s maps look pretty sick. 

On Friday, 343 Industries revealed Breaker and Catalyst, the two new maps in Halo Infinite Season 2. Any longtime fans of the series are in for a wonderful trip down memory lane with these.

Catalyst is an arena map containing serpentine tunnels throughout a Forerunner structure, rife with the same shimmering metallic hues and overgrown vegetation fans expect from Halo’s ancient alien gods. 343 Industries said the biggest inspiration for Catalyst was Epitaph from Halo 3.

Breaker is the sprawling big team battle-style map set in an abandoned Banished scrapyard. A massive laser cutting tool separates two bases and can make mincemeat of any player that unceremoniously strolls into the beam. Apparently, it’s ideal for Capture the Flag matches.

Check out the Breaker and Catalyst fly-through video below.

Season 2 will be the first significant update for Halo Infinite’s brilliant multiplayer since launch. From a glance, Breaker and Catalyst seem to be offering something different in terms of aesthetics and layout from previous maps, so hopefully, both tide the community over until more modes are added to the game. 343 Industries still haven’t said much about Forge and co-op, unfortunately.

Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.

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Halo Infinite Season 2 brings new maps and modes in May

343 Industries is adding tons of multiplayer content.

At release, Halo Infinite’s multiplayer was a breath of fresh air in a first-person shooter market overflowing with battle royale titles. It’s too bad then that the post-launch support hasn’t been great. However, 343 Industries is releasing tons more content in Season 2, and it’s coming soon.

Season 2 of Halo Infinite, also known as Lone Wolves, adds more maps, modes, limited-time events, and a battle pass that never expires. 343 Industries haven’t given any in-depth details on the actual content yet, but at least we know Halo Infinite Season 2 will release on May 3, 2022, for Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. There’s also a sweet teaser trailer for Lone Wolves that you can check out below.

It’ll be a long road for 343 Industries to regain the trust of its community. The first signs that something was amiss with Halo Infinite’s progression systems came by way of a battle pass that didn’t make sense. Not only that, but the content rollout has been incredibly slow. 

In a recent post on Reddit, community director Brian Jarrard told fans he understands the frustration.

“We understand the community is simply out of patience, and frankly, I think understandably tired of words,” Jarrard said. “We just need some time for the team to get the details sorted and then we can certainly share as much as we can.”

Hopefully, Season 2 gets the ball rolling.

Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.

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EA reportedly blames Halo Infinite and more for Battlefield 2042’s launch failures

Engine problems and challenging work environments were among the issues as well.

Whispers of EA’s apparent disappointment with Battlefield 2042 have been circulating since last month, but we may finally have more context for what the company believes went wrong.

A report by Xfire states that during a recent company-wide meeting at EA, several key executives spoke on what went wrong with Battlefield 2042, including chief studios officer Laura Miele.

“It’s really important to acknowledge when we have misses,” Miele said. “This is certainly the case with the Battlefield launch, which failed to meet the expectations of our players, and also clearly missed our own expectations.”

Miele reportedly went on to outline several factors that set Battlefield 2042 up for its difficult launch. The Frostbite game engine, which every modern Battlefield title utilizes, went through a massive overhaul, adding 18 months to Battlefield 2042’s development time. 

“Add up all of this new innovation, all of this ambition for the new project, and then you add a global pandemic halfway into the project, where the game teams had to work from home,” Miele continues. “we ended up with more new variables in development than we have ever experienced before.”

The discussion reportedly encompassed Halo Infinite’s surprise multiplayer beta launch on Nov. 15, 2021, and how that game hurt Battlefield 2042’s reception considerably because the latter came out mere days after and was far more “polished” than EA’s first-person shooter.

Most would agree that Halo Infinite’s brilliant multiplayer couldn’t have come at a worse time for EA. After all, one was free-to-play and crisp as can be, while the other was drowning in negative attention.

Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.

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Details on Halo Infinite’s co-op and forge modes have been delayed

The missions change, they always do.

Despite mountains of praise for Halo Infinite’s  campaign  and  multiplayer, several iconic modes have yet to make an appearance. Namely co-op and forge — both of which aren’t  coming until Season 3. Fans were supposed to get more information about those modes by January, but unfortunately, that never happened.

On Tuesday, Joseph Staten, head of creative at 343 Industries, took the time to acknowledge that the studio couldn’t deliver the news fans wanted and likely won’t for a while.

“Hey folks. In November, I said we’d have a [Halo Infinite] update on our Seasonal roadmap, Co-Op, and Forge in January,” Staten said  on Twitter. “We need more time to finalize our plans so what we share is something you can rely on. This work is my top priority, and we’ll have an update as soon as we can.”

It’s a shame for sure. However, with how  monumentally successful  Halo Infinite  is, there’s no doubt that 343 Industries will deliver the goods sooner or later. 

For anyone impatient, though, there is an unofficial means to  play Halo Infinite  in co-op. Keep in mind that it takes advantage of a glitch that could totally corrupt your save files. So there’s unnecessary risk involved.

Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.

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Halo Infinite had the strongest launch in franchise history

More than 20 million players made it happen.

Thanks to more than 20 million players, Halo Infinite  had the most successful launch in franchise history.

It’s no surprise that  Xbox’s tentpole release  is a hit, especially since Halo Infinite’s  multiplayer is free-to-play on multiple platforms. Not to mention the campaign  being on Xbox Game Pass, though it’s an impressive accomplishment regardless. 

During Microsoft’s earnings call on Tuesday (Thanks, VGC), CEO Satya Nadella stated that the company’s gaming division had a record-breaking year all around.

“The big bets we have made across content, community and cloud over the past few years are paying off,” Nadella said. “We released new AAA titles this holiday to rave reviews and record usage. 18 million played Forza Horizon 5, and more than 20 million have played Halo Infinite, making it the biggest Halo launch in history.”

In addition to Halo Infinite and Forza Horizon 5’s  successes, those  25 million Xbox Game Pass subscribers  unquestionably helped Microsoft reach new milestones. According to IGN, Microsoft’s gaming division saw a record $5.44 billion in revenue — the company’s highest quarterly video game earnings ever. 

While everyone debates whether Microsoft will allow Call of Duty  to continue releasing on PlayStation, it looks like the bigwigs behind Xbox are happy with how things are going.

Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.

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John Carpenter says Halo Infinite is the best of the series

The Halloween director is a fan of Master Chief’s latest outing.

John Carpenter, director of Halloween and other classic films, is a huge fan of Halo Infinite.

On Saturday, Carpenter let everybody know that he’s digging Master Chief’s latest adventure, even claiming Halo Infinite  marks a new high point for the series. 

“Halo Infinite is a fun shooter,” Carpenter said  on Twitter. Immense beautiful production design. Best of the Halo  series.”

Given how famous Carpenter is, loads of fans have been giddy over his comments — including some of the minds behind Halo Infinite. Bonnie Ross, studio head of 343 Industries, was particularly happy about Carpenter’s impressions.

“Wow. Thank you for spending your creative time in our world. And wishing you a happy birthday tomorrow,” Ross said in response.

You might not expect that the guy behind Escape From New York  and The Thing  would be into video games, but he’s shared micro-reviews on Twitter for years now. Back in 2017, for example, he was big on Horizon: Zero Dawn.

Like Carpenter, we were  pretty big on Halo Infinite  too. There is no doubt that it’s one of  Xbox’s best games of 2021, at the very least. Last month, the spacefaring first-person shooter also won  Player’s Voice at The Game Awards.

Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.

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Halo Infinite’s Fracture: Tenrai event is back

Same event, new challenges.

Last fall, Halo Infinite  saw its first limited-time event with  Fracture: Tenrai, and now it’s back.

Fracture: Tenrai will run from Jan. 4 through Jan. 11, and thankfully, 343 Industries has made progression much smoother this go-around. Instead of only allowing seven rewards per week, it’s now possible to earn up to 10. Better yet, there’ll be at least one event-specific challenge that will pop up during your daily rotations — a point that should please everyone that  wasn’t happy about the confusing rewards system  last time.

“We hope that these changes are a strong first step towards providing greater value, a greater sense of reward, and more reason for our players to invest their time in this Event Pass,” 343 Industries said via Halo Waypoint. “As always, we greatly appreciate your feedback and support as we continue to evolve the Halo Infinite multiplayer experience!”

Fracture: Tenrai also got a spiffy new trailer marking its return which you can watch below.

There are also 11 more cosmetic items in the Fracture: Tenrai event pass too, including:

  • Torii Reflection – Epic Backdrop
  • Gatekeeper – Legendary Shoulder Pads
  • Rare Samurai Nameplate & Emblems
  • Sol Devil – Legendary Weapon Coating (MA40 AR)
  • Whispered Sky – Epic Weapon Coating (Sidekick and BR75 Battle Rifle)
  • Spring Blossom Filter – Legendary Helmet Attachment
  • Swordsman’s Belt – Legendary Utility for Yoroi Armor Core

The hype for Halo Infinite’s  multiplayer seems to have simmered down a bit, yet it’s no less brilliant. As 343 Industries continues to address fan concerns, the community will slowly but surely return to the game.

Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.

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Halo Infinite now has cat ears, and the memes are glorious

Meowster Chief, reporting in.

The air is thick with yuletide cheer, and Halo has cat ears. There’s no correlation between those facts, but I cannot overstate this enough: cat ears are a cosmetic item in Halo Infinite now. 

343 Industries did the unthinkable this week and added the feline helmet cosmetic (catsmetic?) to Halo Infinite, and fans are having a field day with it. It’s mostly due to how absurd cat ears look on the towering, several thousand-pound supersoldiers that are spartans, but that’s precisely what makes them fun. Not to mention they fit right in with the  peppermint holiday cosmetics too.

I mean, just look at them. How can anyone aside from perhaps the Grinch not laugh at these?

Regardless of how seriously you take the silly cat ears cosmetic, everyone can admit the memes are hilarious. Below you’ll find the very best reactions to the helmet item. 343 Industries really should rename Halo’s  hero to Meowster Chief by this point.

Halo Infinite turns into an advent calendar with its holiday event

Master Chief, mind telling me why you’re eating all that chocolate?

‘Tis the season for giving (your opponent) a sticky grenade to the face. At least, that’s what Halo Infinite’s  holiday-themed shenanigans suggest.

Winter Contingency, a new multiplayer event for Halo Infinite, is full of peppermint-colored cosmetics after players can get by completing Big Team Battle or Arena matches. Reward items unlock once per day, so it’s a bit like an advent calendar, only with plasma pistols and explosives rather than chocolate.

The Winter Contingency event kicked off Tuesday and runs until Dec. 30. However, players will have until Jan. 4, 2022, to pick up any items they might have missed. 

Check out a brief teaser for Winter Contingency below.

Halo Infinite’s  multiplayer is  regularly praised for its sandbox elements, even if  battle pass progression is still a hot button issue. To developer 343 Industries credit, many fixes have  already alleviated much of the frustration. 

Anyone looking for solid advice on how to master Halo Infinite’s  multiplayer should check out  our guide on how to do just that. We also have explainers on  obtaining medals  and  what offset weapons do. So venture forth and finish the fight! Or start another one, depending on how many of you understand that reference. 

Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.

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