Tag: Halo

Tony Romo was totally confused by Jim Nantz reading an ad for ‘Halo’ and NFL fans had jokes

“That’s a video game, right? Why are we plugging it as a TV show or a movie or a series?”

Jim Nantz and Tony Romo are calling today’s Bengals-Chiefs AFC Championship Game on CBS and the former Cowboys QB has been his normal, very talkative and excited self during the first half.

There was one moment, however, where he was totally confused by an ad that Nantz had to read about a new show coming out on Paramount+ later this year.

I’m talking, of course, about Halo, the legendary video game that is becoming a new original series in March.

Nantz read the ad coming in from a commercial break and Romo had no idea what was going on, saying: “That’s a video game, right? Why are we plugging it as a show or a movie or a series?”

To which Nantz said: “It’s for all seasons.”

NFL fans had reactions.

 

Paramount’s Halo TV show will deviate from series canon

The ‘silver timeline’ will walk its own path.

The last thing any diehard fan want’s to hear is that an adaptation will deviate from its source material. Well, the  Halo  TV show from Paramount is doing just that. 

Over on Halo Waypoint, 343 Industries boss Kiki Wolfkill and franchise creative director Frank O’Connor spoke a bit about how the video game adaptation will differ from Halo  video games. They’re calling the Paramount show’s canon the “Silver Timeline,” which will mostly follow Halo’s  established storyline but split off where it makes sense.

“Halo’s  core canon is extremely important to us and our fans, and we wanted to think of the simplest and most productive way to make sure we didn’t ‘break’ either medium by trying to force square pegs into round holes,” O’Connor explains. “We want to use the existing Halo  lore, history, canon, and characters wherever they make sense for a linear narrative, but also separate the two distinctly so that we don’t invalidate the core canon or do unnatural things to force a first-person video game into an ensemble TV show.”

A new trailer for Paramount’s Halo  will premiere during the  AFC Championship Game  on Jan. 30, 2022.

Given how many  awful video game adaptations  there are (usually due to ignoring canon), you wouldn’t be wrong to wince a bit at this news. However, the folks at 343 Industries are directly involved and sound confident in Master Chief’s journey onto the silver screen.

“I feel relief and pride and, admittedly, a degree of trepidation,” Wolfkill said. “Making this show has been a labor of love for so many from all over the world and it hasn’t always been easy, but the thing that carried us through is that we care so deeply about making this show for all of you.”

We’ll find out when Halo  on Paramount premieres later this year.

Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.

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Dr. Disrespect is starting a new studio with ex-Halo and Call of Duty devs

Guy “Dr. Disrespect” Beahm is opening an all-new studio with developers known for working on the Halo and Call of Duty series.

Popular Twitch streamer Guy Beahm, better known as Dr. Disrespect, has announced his all-new triple-A video game studio alongside developers who cut their teeth on iconic shooters like Halo and Call of Duty. 

The studio, Midnight Society, currently has seven listed staff members with “several key hires soon to be announced.” It also has various open applications on its careers page, including for high-profile positions like Technical Game Director. Other vacancies include level designer, community manager, and even a speculative application, which is usually reserved for larger studios with fewer job openings. 

At the time of writing, the Midnight Society team is made up of the following people:

  • Dr. Disrespect, co-founder
  • Robert Bowling, co-founder and studio head
  • Quinn DelHoyo, co-founder and creative director
  • Sumit Gupta, co-founder and CEO
  • Ryan Thompson, gameplay engineer
  • Eric Hallquist, concept artist
  • HB Duran, marketing and PR

Several of these figures come from fairly prolific backgrounds, with Bowling having previously served as a community manager and creative strategist at Infinity Ward and DelHoyo acting as the lead sandbox designer for the recently launched Halo Infinite. It’s worth noting that Beahm himself, while best known for his streams, also worked a stint at Sledgehammer Games as a community manager and has credits on two Call of Duty titles.  

Among the ideas touted by Midnight Society is a push for something called a ‘Day Zero Community’, which will, according to the studio’s official website, increase the level of transparency between developers and prospective players. 

“That could be testing reload times and recoil patterns in a firing range or jumping in for the first-ever PVP sessions,” the description reads. “No more ‘I hope this game will be good’. Be there when your voice can actually make an impact because we want to hear it. Really.”

There are no concrete details about what Midnight Society is working on and when we can expect more news, although it does look like the company is gearing up for a sizable hiring spree.

“We’ve put together a killer team of veteran triple-A talent that lives, breaths, and sleeps in the realm of PVP multiplayer,” reads the website. “Now it’s time to grow that team even further, we have several key hires soon to be announced, and we’re looking to add more names to that list.” (sic)

Written by Cian Maher on behalf of GLHF.

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Original Halo servers on Xbox 360 to shut down January 2022

Fight finished.

Online services for the Halo  series on Xbox 360 will either lose some functionality or shut down entirely on Jan. 13, 2022.

343 Industries announced that this was coming back in October, though now we have a definite date. A new  blog post  on Halo Support clarifies what’s going away in the new year.

Titles going offline include:

  • Halo: Reach
  • Halo 4
  • Halo 3
  • Halo 3: ODST
  • Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary
  • Spartan Assult
  • Halo Wars

This will hinder a ton of features for each game, including file sharing, service records, challenges, and most notably, matchmaking services for Halo: Reach, Halo 4, Halo 3, and Halo 3: ODST. Some of these games have been online for more than a decade, so it’s certainly the end of an era. Curiously, Halo Spartan Assault and Halo Wars will both retain matchmaking.

With the release of Halo Infinite, an entirely new generation can understand the humiliation that comes from being sticky-grenaded. If you’re playing through the campaign right now, check out our guides for  skull locations  and some  tips on how to master the game.

Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.

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5 moments that defined Bungie’s history, from Halo to Destiny

Let’s explore the rich history of one the most long-standing studios in the game industry.

Bungie has just celebrated its 30th anniversary, becoming one the most long-standing studios in the game industry. In a world where software houses are founded and shuttered, this is a massive achievement for the label behind juggernauts like Halo and Destiny. Over the course of these 30 years, Bungie has managed to grow into an FPS maestro, pioneering innovations with every release, while leaving traces of its DNA across all of them. In this article, we’re going to explore its rich history, identifying the five moments that have defined its first 30 years around, starting with its foundation, up until the divorce from Activision, the last publisher the studio worked with before finally becoming independent.

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Halo TV series gets its first ever trailer at The Game Awards 2021

After years of ambiguity, we’ve finally been given a proper look at Paramount’s Halo TV series at The Game Awards 2021.

After over half a decade of development hell, it seems the long-anticipated Halo TV series is finally on the right track.

Master Chief’s transition to television has been a sore subject for Halo fans over the last few years. Originally intended to launch back in 2015 with Steven Spielberg attached to the project as a producer, the show has seen no fewer than three major delays, two showrunner exits and even a change in network. A cancellation announcement delivered at any point over the last five years likely wouldn’t have come as a shock to anyone. 

All of this is to say that despite its iconic status in the world of video games, it seemed like the entire idea of adapting Halo for TV was a poisoned chalice from the get-go. Thanks to the recent trailer shown at The Game Awards 2021, however, we finally have good reason to believe otherwise. 

This new footage comes at a critical point for the future of Halo. While fans were sceptical about whether or not the six-year wait for Halo Infinite would be worth it, Master Chief’s long-awaited comeback has been lauded by critics as the series’ best game since Halo 3. As of yesterday, players all over the world have also gained access to the campaign – in a rather unusual case for video games, the general consensus among both reviewers and fans appears to be unanimously positive. It’s no wonder Infinite emerged victorious in this year’s Player’s Choice category.

Given that the game’s excellent multiplayer component also marks an important return to form, confirmation that work on the apocryphal TV show is well and truly underway is a real testament to Halo regaining its status as a contemporary sci-fi behemoth. 

The Halo TV series will be exclusive to Paramount+ and is due to launch in 2022.

Written by Cian Maher on behalf of GLHF. 

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Halo TV series trailer to premiere at The Game Awards

Master Chief in the flesh.

Rumblings of a live-action Halo  adaptation have been around for ages. Now, Paramount is finally making it happen, with a trailer premiering at The Game Awards even!

The series, simply called Halo,  got a teaser a few weeks ago  that didn’t reveal all that much. However, to make up for it, a full-length trailer for Halo will be at The Game Awards. That’s right, Master Chief himself will be on the red carpet right beside  Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss. Ok, not really. Chief will undoubtedly be  on the floor for Sting, though.

Paramount released another small teaser for Halo ahead of the show, which you can check out below.

It’s wild to see the Halo-style of Marines in live-action. Paramount certainly is sparing no expense on this series!

In an interview with ForTheWin, Geoff Keighly said  several huge reveals will be at this year’s show. Who knows if he was just blowing smoke or not, as “four or five” revelations on Elden Ring’s  scale would be a bit bananas. Positively wacky, even.

We’ll all find out when The Game Awards go live on Dec. 9.

Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.

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Former Destiny and Halo composer urges fans to ‘destroy’ music he wasn’t supposed to share

Martin O’Donnell had to post a statement as part of a court order.

Martin O’Donnell, the former Bungie composer, asked fans to ‘destroy’ Destiny  music assets he shared publicly without asking for permission.

As reported by Eurogamer, O’Donnell was found in contempt of court over using Destiny assets, specifically early renditions of Music of the Spheres, that were uploaded to his YouTube, Bandcamp, and Soundcloud pages in 2019. O’Donnell did not have legal authority or Bungie’s permission to do so, resulting in him having to post a message on his social media pages urging fans to destroy any of the Destiny 2 assets he shared. 

“I do not have, and have not had since at least April 2014, the legal authority to possess or distribute non-commercially available material related to Destiny  or Music of the Spheres (including material I composed or created while working for Bungie),” O’Donnell said on YouTube. “This material is owned by Bungie.”

O’Donnell continued: “If you posted any of these assets on a website or other publicly available platform, you should remove the content immediately. If you have copies of these assets, you should refrain from sharing and destroy any copies of them. This request does not apply to any Destiny  or Music of the Spheres material that you lawfully obtained from commercially available sources.”

You can watch the video from O’Donnell below.

Both Bungie and O’Donnell agreed upon the message as part of a court order. Additionally, O’Donnell will refrain from commenting further on the situation.

O’Donnell is one of gaming’s most celebrated composers, having done the music for every mainline Halo  game up until  343 Industries  took over the franchise. He then went on with Bungie to work on Destiny’s  initial soundtrack before the two parties went separate ways.

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Halo Infinite’s battle pass is upsetting fans

Strange challenges and slow progression are chief among the complaints.

Halo Infinite’s  multiplayer had a surprise launch on Monday and folks are not happy with its battle pass.

Despite most everyone thinking the multiplayer itself is brilliant, the battle pass progression is facing some heavy criticism. By that, I mean people are angry. Like, very angry. The kind of rage that inspires a doctoral thesis on how rough the battle pass is.

Social media and Reddit are awash in this sentiment, though it’s easy to understand why. Halo Infinite’s  battle pass is quite a grind and requires players to complete situational challenges that are not always viable. Unlike Apex Legends, where you can simply play the game and get  loads of experience points to level up its battle pass — yes, there are still daily challenges but they aren’t mandatory.

Just take a gander at the clip below to see what I mean. 

The current state of Halo Infinite from halo

So naturally, fans are taking to social media and Reddit to vent frustrations with Halo Infinite’s  battle pass. Again, people seem to love the game itself but loathe its progression. Below you’ll find a little list of just some of the, um, let’s call it “colorful critique” that 343 Industries and Microsoft are surely having a great time reading.

Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.

Here’s a teaser for Halo’s new TV series

Master Chief, mind telling me why you’re starring in your own TV show?

After years of hype, the live-action Halo  series got a teaser trailer. Oh, and the show will premiere sometime next year!

The teaser doesn’t give a ton to go on but we know that Master Chief and Cortana will be in the show. There are close-ups of Chief’s MJOLNIR armor and a single line of dialogue. “Hello, Master Chief,” Cortana says during the teaser. It sounds like Jen Taylor, who has been voicing Cortana for 20 years now, is reprising her role. So it seems like the showrunners are trying to be as faithful to the games as possible. 

Check out the Halo  teaser for yourself below. 

The series will stream exclusively on Paramount Plus in the US. It’s kind of weird to simply call the show Halo  since that’ll likely lead to a lot of confused googling. But whatever, at least we’ll get to see what Grunts look like in horrifying live-action detail. Keith David needs to come back as the Arbiter too, please — mandibles on his face and everything.

Other announcements from the Xbox 20th anniversary event include Halo Infinite’s  surprise beta launch  and 76 new games coming to Xbox’s backward compatibility program. 

Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.

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