Halo 4's extravagant 'Scanned' launch trailer takes a peek behind the helmet of Master Chief, the stoic cyborg with humanity at heart. It's not exactly a biopic, but then there's not a whole lot of "bio" left in this hulking killing machine.
Originally slated for January 2013, the third installment in Greg Bear's series of Halo novels will now drop in March 2013, Tor Books has announced. Entitled Halo: Silentium, the novel wraps up Bear's Forerunner trilogy, which appropriately details the story of the Forerunners, the mysterious, extinct race that ruled the galaxy thousands of years prior to the events of the Halo games.
Curiously, Master Chief also runs into Forerunners in Halo 4. How does that work, you ask? Sounds like you have some reading to do.
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The leak, and subsequent piracy of (and perma-bannings for playing) Halo 4 resulted in a flurry of videos such as this one, uploaded by the YouTube user Madchinima. More »
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With Halo 4 not out until the first week of November, the fact people are playing it now - and getting banned from Xbox Live for doing so - all but confirms the suspicion that copies of the game have been leaked. More »
In a move that should surprise no one at all, Microsoft is issuing permanent Xbox Live bans to pirates of Halo 4. Pirates are now receiving emails explaining the situation, reports MCV. The emails note that the user in question has been "permanently suspended for illegitimate prerelease title play." Lest the word "permanent" be unclear, the email goes on to note that "Xbox Live privileges will not be reinstated." Microsoft pursued a similar course of action prior to the 2010 release of Halo: Reach.
It's worth noting that the email refers to Xbox Live "account privileges," which may indicate that Microsoft is banning user accounts but not the actual console on which they reside. In such cases, users can regain access to Xbox Live by starting a new account (which means paying for a new account in the case of Xbox Live Gold). We've reached out to Microsoft to find out if consoles are being banned as well.
Microsoft acknowledged reports last week that Halo 4 had been leaked onto the internet, and that it is "working closely with its security teams and law enforcement to address the situation."
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That image of Halo 4's two discs popped up on NeoGAF earlier today. Some in the forum shrugged it off, saying that reviewers must be getting their copies, to which I chuckle heartily. I can't remember the last time, if ever, consumer code was sent out for review three weeks before release. Please. More »
Microsoft tells Joystiq it is investigating reports of a Halo 4 leak, and working with law enforcement to address the issue.
Images have surfaced on social sites NeoGAF and Reddit, depicting two Halo 4 retail discs, and the Xbox 360 dashboard featuring the game ready to be played.
"We have seen the reports of 'Halo 4' content being propped on the Web and are working closely with our security teams and law enforcement to address the situation," a Microsoft spokesperson told Joystiq.
In clarifying whether the images represent the actual artwork featured on retail copies of Halo 4, Microsoft explained the need for two discs.
According to the publisher, Halo 4's second disc "contains data that will need to be installed on an Xbox 360 hard drive or compatible flash storage device with at least 8GB of available memory in order to access 'Halo 4's' extensive suite of multiplayer features." Microsoft has employed a similar system for first-party games like Forza Motorsport 4.
Once the data is installed only the first disc will be required to access Halo 4's single- and multiplayer content.
The second episode of Machinima's live-action Halo 4 tie-in, Forward Unto Dawn, is present and accounted for right here. In this entry, things build up towards an important capture-the-flag simulation for UNSC's Hastati Squad. Also, look out for how quiche gets everybody all kinds of riled up.
In the latest Halo 4 video, multiplayer designer Kynan Pearson from 343 and environment artist Lori Zawada from Certain Affinity walk though the game's new Forge maps: Erosion, Impact, and Ravine. We're already planning the ultimate "needlers only" map right now.
David Fincher will executive produce the launch trailer for Halo 4, Microsoft has announced. Fincher, director of Fight Club, The Social Network and the Jodie Foster tour de force, Panic Room, will produce the trailer, titled "Scanned," which will present "a captivating look at the backstory of Master Chief, and provides a glimpse of the new threat he will encounter in Halo 4."
Joining Fincher is visual effects lead Tim Miller, best known for his (amazing) work in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. Miller will direct the trailer.
The trailer will debut on October 18 during Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. It will become available on Halo Waypoint and the Xbox YouTube channel immediately after broadcast. In the meantime, you can gaze at a single still image taken from the trailer. Spoiler: It's Master Chief.
Update: Fincher is producing the trailer, not directing it. Miller will direct the trailer.
David Fincher will direct the launch trailer for Halo 4, Microsoft has announced. Fincher, director of Fight Club, The Social Network and the Jodie Foster tour de force, Panic Room, will helm the trailer, titled "Scanned," which will present "a captivating look at the backstory of Master Chief, and provides a glimpse of the new threat he will encounter in Halo 4."
Joining Fincher is visual effects lead Tim Miller, best known for his (amazing) work in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.
The trailer will debut on October 18 during Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. It will become available on Halo Waypoint and the Xbox YouTube channel immediately after broadcast. In the meantime, you can gaze at a single still image taken from the trailer. Spoiler: It's Master Chief.
#halo
Via GameSpot, here's a great ten-minute video showing off some of the cool things you can make in Halo 4's version of Forge, the map editor first seen in Halo 3. Enjoy! More »
Halo 4 won't reveal Master Chief's face, so if you were playing the Halo series solely for a glimpse of chiseled space soldier jawline, it might be time to throw in the towel. 343 Industries is continuing the faceless precedent set by Bungie, which refrained from showing Master Chief's visage throughout its time with the franchise.
Not that we don't know what Master Chief looks like - he's described in detail in the 2001 novel Halo: The Fall of Reach.
"The funny thing about the Chief is he's actually really well described," O'Connor tells Eurogamer. "If you went down into that line and found a nerd with a deep canon Halo t-shirt and said describe the Master Chief to this police sketch artist, that police sketch artist would then produce a perfectly accurate rendering of an older man, almost painfully pale, almost albino white, with pale blue eyes, reddish hair, close cropped to a skin head, and maybe the last remnants of freckles he had when he was a kid."
O'Connor wants to keep the mystery alive and doesn't want fans to feel alienated by an official face. "That's a device to keep the player invested in the character and keep the player from constantly being reminded that they're not a hero or that they have to be a boy or they have to be a girl, or whatever that is," O'Connor says.
Maybe it's better this way, super fans. More often than not, on-screen adaptations of book descriptions are supremely disappointing.
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What would a Halo movie look like? For years, that's been a question that Hollywood and Microsoft have been trying to answer to no avail. The long and winding road of making a live-action Master Chief adaption is full of stumbles but, today, Microsoft's 343 Industries begins the rollout of a new webseries set in the Halo universe. But Master Chief's not really in it. Except that he is. Sort of. More »
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It's not often you get to see under the helmets of your fellow UNSC military soldiers. But this first episode in a new series of live action films digs deeper into the lives, struggles and drama of the cadets. It serves to humanize a war you may have partaken in for over a decade. More »
The first episode of the Halo 4 live-action tie-in Forward Unto Dawn is now live and ready for you to watch right here on Joystiq. The 19-minute opener introduces us to the cadets of the Corbulo Academy of Military Science, an institute that only trains the offspring of the United Nations Space Command's high-ranking officers. While it sounds and looks like a comfortable place, the Corbulo Academy is awash with the tension of expectation. In this first episode, we see just how onerous that expectation can be. We also see a live-action Warthog, which is pretty neat.
Machinima's web series runs through to the launch of Halo 4 next month on November 6.
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We've already seen how the creepy cosmic symbiotes from the Halo games will come back in 343 Industries' upcoming release. These new screenshots offer added detail as to how they engage with Spartan soldiers in Halo 4's multiplayer Flood mode. Previous visual interpretations of the Flood never really gave me the shivers but this new look creeps me out a little. More »
While you may think that science and malleable metal alloys comprise the majority of what makes a Spartan so special, the reality is that even John-117 himself is little more than a crunchy cool ranch husk filled with carbonated green stuff. Spartans are made of Doritos and Mountain Dew, is what we're saying - that's why the PR partnership between Halo 4 and PepsiCo seems like such a no-brainer.
Potential players can get a head start on accruing extra experience by registering an account over at dewxp.com or doritosxp.com. Select codes from Mountain Dew and Doritos packages - starting on October 15 - can be used to increase your XP in Halo. There are also goodies up for grabs, including consoles and controllers, Warthog toys and free Xbox Live subscriptions, among many other prizes.
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Meet the Mantis, a new a vehicle/mech in Halo 4. Your best Spartan soldier can get in it, step on enemies and, when he or she has them down, commence with the teabagging (you know, the, uh, victory crouches). It's all in the official trailer. More »
