All Articles: Halo 5: Guardians

MS @ E3 14: Microsoft confirms Halo: The Master Chief Collection coming this Fall

Posted on June 9, 2014 by John Scalzo

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Do you remember that Halo: The Master Chief Collection rumor that cropped up a few weeks ago? It’s real and it’s more than we could have ever hoped for.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection will include remastered and remade versions of Halo, Halo 2, Halo 3, and Halo 4. The Collection will include every multiplayer map ever to grace a Master Chief Halo game, more than 100 in all, along with six maps from Halo 2 that will be recreated exactly as they existed in 2004. For those who are interested in the campaigns, every level from every game will be unlocked right from the start. And Microsoft has said that players will be able to create a unified playlist of their favorite levels across all four games. So if you’re one of those vocal folks who hates “The Library,” now you can skip it. And as with Forza Horizon 2, all four games will run in crisp 1080p.

The compilation will also include access to the Halo 5: Guardians multiplayer beta and the Halo: Nightfall live-action series (it has a name!).

Halo: The Master Chief Collection will be available this Fall.

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Microsoft reveals Halo 5: Guardians and confirms Fall 2015 release date

Posted on May 16, 2014 by John Scalzo

halo5-boxWith this year’s E3 Expo just under a month away, Microsoft has officially re-announced the next Halo game. Halo 5: Guardians will be released exclusively for the Xbox One in Fall 2015, alongside the Steven Spielberg-produced Halo: The Television Series. This launch timeframe is technically a delay, as 343’s Bonnie Ross originally promised that our Halo journey would begin in 2014 during last year’s E3 Expo.

Apparently, we all misunderstood her meaning:

Many fans noted that I was very deliberate with my phrasing on stage at E3 last year. I spoke about a “journey,” rather than a destination – and that journey definitely begins in 2014 with a giant leap, rather than one small step. We’ll give you much more information about our plans for this year at the Xbox E3 2014 Media Briefing on June 9, and we’re confident that Halo fans will be pretty excited about the special plans we have in store.

I’m not sure I believe that. But it is good to know we’ll learn more about Halo 5: Guardians, which is being built with a “brand new and more powerful” engine, during E3. Ross also stated that Halo 5 will be a bigger game, in terms of both content and scope, than Halo 4. The 343 team wants to take everything they learned in creating the Master Chief’s previous adventure, “technology, aesthetics, performance and scale,” and expand on it for Guardians.

As for Halo: The Television Series, it will stand alone, but it is also meant to “complement and enrich the game experience” of Halo 5. We may find out a bit more about it during this year’s E3 Expo, but we’ll most likely have to wait until closer to the show’s Fall 2015 debut.

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Microsoft’s Phil Spencer talks about the company’s E3 2014 plans (and beyond)

Posted on May 5, 2014 by John Scalzo

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Microsoft’s Phil Spencer spent some of his Sunday answering questions on Twitter and the Head of the Xbox Division revealed quite a bit about the company’s future plans. Looking forward to this year’s E3 Expo, Spencer had this to say…

Spencer also told his followers that Fable Anniversary is most likely not in development for the Xbox One and that Microsoft and Mojang are getting close to a Minecraft: Xbox One Edition announcement, but they’re not there yet. Minecraft might be one of the last digital games Microsoft has a direct hand in as the company is currently moving away from publishing third-party digital games. This is due to the fact they would prefer to focus on “opportunities with IP we own that we’ve neglected.” However, he didn’t elaborate on which properties he was referring to.

And in case you were hoping for an Xbox-branded handheld to be revealed at this year’s E3 Expo, you might want to know that it’s probably out of the question. However, development on games for Windows Phones and Windows 8 tablets will continue, possibly with controller support in the future.

Finally, one thing Spencer didn’t talk about was Halo 5, stating “I can’t talk about anything related to a 343i IP.” Hopefully, we’ll learn more about that one at this year’s E3 Expo.

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343 Industries has “a great plan” for Halo at E3 2014

Posted on February 28, 2014 by John Scalzo

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Microsoft’s Phil Spencer has confirmed, via Twitter, that the consolemaker has big plans for the Halo franchise at this year’s E3 Expo:

Interestingly, what Spencer did not do was confirm that Halo 5 would make an appearance at E3 2014. A persistent rumor continues to circulate among industry insiders that states Halo 5 will miss its planned 2014 launch. Instead, so the rumors says, the currently unannounced Halo 2 Anniversary would take its place on the release calendar. Halo 5 would move to 2015, or possibly beyond.

Of course, Spencer could also be referring to that live-action Halo series that Steven Spielberg is involved with. Microsoft has been uncharacteristically mum about their original programming initiative and we haven’t heard anything about Halo: The Television Series since last May.

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