Halo 4 Message Board older than one year ago

It's nearly the very end for Bungie's involvement with the Halo franchise. In a post on Bungie.net, the company confirmed yesterday that it would be transitioning all Halo services from their website to 343 Industries by the end of next month. By March 31, Bungie will no longer update stats or service records, host user generated content, or operate Bungie Pro through Bungie.net...

A new Halo 4 reveal may be coming later this month. Finnish magazine Pelaaja is reporting that Microsoft will hold a Spring Showcase on February 29th and that a Halo 4 reveal is coming...

Believe it or not, there are evil people on the Internet who use misinformation and deception to steal from the innocent and well-meaning. We know, we couldn't believe it either, but it's the truth, as recently demonstrated by an outbreak of fake Halo 4 beta test invites.

343 Industries' creative director David Ellis was quick to debunk the bogus site, but the URL used in the phishing scam (halo4beta dot net) is still out there, tempting fate with its Halo-oriented name and un-Microsoftness. Who knows what nefarious maleficence the domain could be used for if left in the wild, so Microsoft has filed a complaint with the National Arbitration Forum in order to have the domain name transferred to its ownership.

In situations like this, the company filing the complaint has to be able to prove that the domain in question was registered maliciously in order for the Forum to decide in its favor. Under the circumstances, we feel like global fraud will probably be malicious enough to sway things in Microsoft's favor.

#halo Whether motivated by trolling or delusional wish fulfillment, some guy tossed up a page pretending to be a registration site for a Halo 4 multiplayer beta last week. 343 Industries, the game's developer, quickly branded that as a fake, and the site was taken offline. That's not good enough for Microsoft. More »

Abe Vigoda's not dead, that bridge in Brooklyn isn't really for sale, and there isn't actually an Easter bunny or a tooth fairy. Oh, and that invite to the Halo 4 beta you just got? It's not real either, says 343 Industries' content editor David Ellis. That doesn't mean there won't be a beta, but there isn't one yet.

Santa Claus, though? Totally real.

If you're a Halo 4 superfan looking to pounce on the chance to get in on a potentially forthcoming Halo 4 beta, hold the phone on that sign-up opportunity. 343 Industries' David Ellis has taken to his Twitter feed saying that any page claiming to be offering sign-ups for a Halo 4 beta is a fake...

David Ellis of 343 Industries' Halo team has tweeted: "If you see a page claiming to allow you to sign up for a Halo 4 beta be advised, IT'S A FAKE." Hear that? It's a faaaaake. More »

343 Industries has confirmed that we won't see the same old Master Chief in Halo 4. In a new interview, Halo franchise director Frank O'Connor has confirmed that Chief's armor will undergo some changes in the new game...

343's Frank O'Connor has confirmed that Halo 4 will be an Xbox 360 release. Despite speculation that the game might be a launch title for the next generation Xbox, O'Connor says the game will launch on current hardware and use a version of the existing Halo engine...

Halo: Glasslands, the novel first announced all the way back in 2009 (remember Dollhouse? No?), is now filling the shelves of your favorite book seller. The book promises to continue the story of Ghosts of Onyx, and will detail events that take place after Halo 3. The press release mentions plenty of plot details, though frankly, none of them match up to the torrid love affair suggest by the Glasslands cover.

Granted, there probably isn't an actual human-on-Covenant relationship in Glasslands, but that's what fan fiction is for, right?

#halo The road to 343 Industries' Halo 4 begins today with the release of Halo: Glasslands, the beginning of a new series from Star Wars and Gears of War scribe Karen Traviss that bridges the gap between the third and fourth games. Want to read a huge chunk of it? You've come to the right place. More »

After closing out the Halo saga in the manner Bungie had intended, Microsoft ran into an old problem: you can't make money from a story after it ends. Halo might have been intended as a trilogy, but no publisher in its right mind will grind a cash-cow into pre-owned chuck when there's more money to be made...

If you squint, it looks like Master Chief is competing in a space-based air guitar contest.

Just months after Microsoft and 343 Industries finally started talking about one of the industry's worst kept secrets, Halo 4, of its lead creatives, Ryan Payton, has announced he's leaving the game.

"I had a great run at Microsoft," said Payton in an interview today with Kotaku. "I don't regret one day of it. But after a few years, there came a point where I wasn't creatively excited about the project anymore. [...] The Halo I wanted to build was fundamentally different and I don't think I had built enough credibility to see such a crazy endeavor through."

Payton previously worked as an assistant producer at Kojima Productions and was one of the public faces of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. He's widely credited with championing some of the fundamental gameplay changes in that game, such as modernizing the game's often criticized controls.

When his mother was struck with cancer, he decided to move closer, which meant leaving Japan. He joined Microsoft.

He couldn't elaborate too deeply on what exactly prompted him to leave, but said he was diagnosed with depression, a situation punctuated by his creative unrest. He became inspired by his friend, designer Jake Kazdal. Kazdal co-founded Haunted Temple Studios, which is currently working on Skulls of the Shogun, a strategy game coming to Xbox Live Arcade.

As a result, Payton has founded his own studio, Camouflaj, and he's working on two new games.

Microsoft issued this statement to me regarding Payton's decision to leave:

343 Industries has assembled an all-star cast of talent working on Halo 4 under the design leadership of Studio and Halo 4 Creative Director, Josh Holmes. We're excited to tell the next story in the Halo universe with Halo 4 as the first game in the Reclaimer Trilogy. Ryan Payton, who left earlier this summer, served as Narrative Designer on Halo 4 for 15 months. Armando Troisi was hired as the Halo 4 Narrative Director in March, having formerly served as the Lead Cinematic Designer on Mass Effect 2. Ryan has been a great friend and colleague during his tenure at 343 Industries and we appreciate his contributions to the team. We wish Ryan the best in his new game development venture.

Halo 4 is scheduled for a release sometime next year.

Ryan Payton has left 343 Industries - the team responsible Halo 4 - saying the game had become a "crazy endeavour". Payton, who worked on Metal Gear Solid 4, was tasked with developing the game's story and overseeing the creative team who were planning the next trilogy of Halo games...

#halo Halo 4 is the first title in a new trilogy of Halo games. The previous three titles were developed by Bungie, but the next three are being made in-house by Microsoft's own Halo studio. More »

As the irreverent host of Top Gear, Jeremy Clarkson is used to hanging out with a near-mythical character that's obscured behind a shiny helmet. Commenting on Master Chief's fictional ride is just another day on the job, really.

#halo If you've ever wanted to hear the Top Gear star drawl "light plasma cannons", you should watch this clip of Jeremy Clarkson giving the rundown on the Warthog that'll feature in Halo 4. More »

Halo Waypoint has orbital dropped a couple videos online from this weekend's Halo Fest at PAX, featuring sounds from a deadly potato gun and concept art from the upcoming Halo 4.

This morning's Halo Fest festivities served up a few good helpings of Halo news, including the reveal of the new trilogy's name, and this brief but very first look at early Halo 4 concept material...

The new Halo series will be named the Reclaimer Trilogy, developer 343 Industries revealed at the PAX Halo 4 panel. Halo 4 is a direct sequel to Halo 3, and the new trilogy will emphasize Master Chief as both a character and a force to be reckoned with. The iteration of Master Chief in this year's E3 teaser was not the final version, and 343 wants to sell "the fantasy that Master Chief is an 800-pound hero that is part tank, part jet fighter" with the Reclaimer Trilogy. Cortana will play a large role in Master Chief's storyline, in a "unique relationship that hasn't been addressed in other games," 343 said.

The Reclaimer Trilogy will balance classic Halo gameplay with innovations in weaponry and abilities to give long-time fans a sense of something new, 343 said. Creative director Josh Holmes described Halo 4's overall gameplay in simple, traditional terms: "Well, it plays like Halo."

#halo4 This morning's Halo 4 panel at PAX Prime was dispiritingly light on details. (Sample exchange: "How will the game play?" "It will play like Halo.") But the folks at 343 Industries did close out with a neat concept-art video, which I've posted above. More »

#halo There is so much Halo stuff at the big Halofest event this weekend at the Penny Arcade Expo that it would be easy to miss the final massive panel on the rear of a wall that commemorates the release and achievements of each Halo game. More »

#halo One of the biggest surprises of this weekend's Halofest celebration of all things Halo here in Seattle is the news that Halo 4's Warthog will make its interactive debut this year, in a non-Halo game. More »

#halo Stephen Totilo wanders the street outside Halo Fest 2011, which gets underway across the street from PAX 2011 and will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the venerable shooter series. He'll get in later tonight, and have more details tomorrow. Expect to hear plenty about Halo 4 coming out of this weekend. More »

343's Frank O'Connor has explained why Master Chief looks a little different in the reveal trailer for Halo 4, hinting that his personality is going to change as well...

#theannalsofcybersquatting Microsoft last week announced Halo 4, not that it owed the halo4.com domain or anything. They cleared up that little detail after the fact, acquiring the name today, reports Fusible. The domain's original owner isn't saying anything about what convinced him to let go of it. More »

#startthefight Here's the debut trailer for 343 Studio's upcoming Halo 4, which will kick off a whole new trilogy starring the Master Chief. More »

Get the details on Halo 4 and Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary in this interview from the GT.TV All Access Live coverage of E3 2011!

Stuff's already exploding around Master Chief