Halo 4 & Halo Remastered

[PsychoPere]

A web series entitled Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn will be airing on Machinima and Halo Waypoint "in the weeks leading up to" the game's release.

"Forward Unto Dawn" will play out over five weekly installments, around 15 minutes each, telling an original story about the game's Master Chief and how he inspired a young UNSC cadet who will eventually become a leader aboard the UNSC Infinity spacecraft. Introduction of the new character will tie in with the plot of "Halo 4," while providing a flashback to the beginning of the "Halo" franchise's war between the humans and the evil Covenant.

Microsoft considers the Web series "the next step" for the franchise as an entertainment property that could eventually lead to a theatrical feature -- after the plug on one was pulled by Universal and Fox that Blomkamp was to direct and Peter Jackson to produce in 2005.

Once the Web series ends its run, Microsoft plans to package the entire production in some form to "live on" on other platforms, [343 Industries Director of Franchise Business Management Matt] McCloskey said.

A larger version of the promotional image can be seen at Joystiq.

[Chris3123]

Official Halo 4 image which is suspected to be the boxart:

[clint g]

Hmmm, that's actually pretty good box art

[Jax]

Yeh nice art

[PsychoPere]

The $100 Limited Edition was revealed today.

[...] fancy box, a "UNSC Infinity Briefing Packet" [...]

The LE includes the "War Games Map Pack," a voucher for "three future competitive multiplayer map packs, each including three locations, available for download post-launch on Xbox Live." It also includes early access to six multiplayer Specializations, which will only be released at launch in this package; they'll be "released over time" to the general audience.

Other digital bonuses include an exclusive armor and weapon skin, an in-game emblem, and an Avatar prop. The LE also includes an "extended 90-minute version" of the Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn video series, extra featurettes, and making-of videos.

Visit the link for a picture of the box.

[Chris3123]

I tend not to care much about special editions of games, but this one is a bit tempting. Considering I'd probably get the map packs anyway ($30 right there), in the end it would only cost me $10 extra to get the Limited Edition.

[Mutenroshi]

Is this in lieu of the Legendary Edition?

[PsychoPere]

Correct. There will not be a Legendary Edition this time.

[Chris3123]

Halo 4 awesomeness from E3.

[PsychoPere]

Halo Waypoint has a set of in-game model renders available for viewing, and with those come the names for two of the enemies in the trailer - the Promethean Crawler and the Promethean Watcher.

[Mutenroshi]

Awesome sauce! I had no confirmation that Jen would do Cortana's voice again, now I'm happy! And we could see her losing it!

By the way, was that James Caan in the live-action cinematic?

[Chris3123]

"Spartan Ops" gameplay video:

[PsychoPere]

In addition to the "Spartan Ops" video embedded just above, an introductory video for the entire "Infinity" multiplayer experience and a gameplay video for the "War Games" multiplayer mode can be seen here.

[PsychoPere]

This preview of the Spartan Ops mode gives a little bit of detail on why there are Covenant enemies in Halo 4:

As the three mile-long Infinity drops out of slipspace it rams through the Covenant capital ships and opens up its MAC guns on everything it can't park on. This particular Covenant fleet is manned by the surviving religious zealots - the Grunts and Elites who remained loyal to the Prophets even in the face of extinction.

Frank O'Connor is comparing the Spartan Ops DLC missions to television shows, suggesting that if the mode is well-received additional "seasons" could be released after the missions currently planned.

OXM UK has a list of five ways in which Halo 4 multiplayer is different from past Halo multiplayer.

[AlphaMan]

I decided that I was done with Halo after Halo Anniversary last Nov. My first was Halo Reach and the unniverse didn't appeal to me much. It was a competent shooter, but the graphics and physics were cartoonish. I could scratch my shooter itch by playing other titles that were better at both.

But of this Spartan Ops works as advertised and someone's figured out how to do episodic gaming, I'm onboard for another go with Halo.