All Articles: Halo 4

In a final bit of Halo 4 news today, Microsoft has revealed the first details of the game’s “Infinity” multiplayer mode.

Halo 4’s multiplayer mode begins on the UNSC Infinity and tasks players with creating their own Spartan-IV supersoldier. From there, 343 Industries is giving those players the option of competing in your standard set of multiplayer matchtypes (call “War Games” here) or in a new episodic co-op campaign known as Spartan Ops (which can also be played solo).

Whichever mode you choose, the Infinity multiplayer system will include several improvements over previous Halo games:

Total Combat Freedom: Halo 4 features a vastly expanded suite of new multiplayer modes, weapons, vehicles, armor abilities, a new loadout and player progression system, and a new armor modification system that introduces gameplay-enhancing customizations for the first time in a Halo game.

Player Progression: The Halo 4 player progression system goes beyond simple aesthetic upgrades, encouraging players to invest time and effort to create a Spartan that looks and plays the way they want. Players can earn and activate combat enhancements called “Specializations” based on the style of play they engage in, from stealth to all-out assault, and everything in between.

Want to learn more about the Spartan Ops episodic campaign? Sure you do, because it sounds awesome. Hit the jump for more details on Spartan Ops and War Games. (more…)

Check it out, the Master Chief is going to fight the aliens from Independence Day!

OK, not really. But the image to your left is the official box art for Halo 4 and it is awesome. Be sure to check out the enlarged version so you can in all the details.

Oh, and if you thought Microsoft already released the official box art for Halo 4, you’d be right. The first “official box art” for Halo 4 was revealed at PAX Prime 2011, but it is much less cool than the new cover.

[Credit for the Independence Day joke goes to Game Informer]

Frank O’Connor, the Halo Franchise Director at 343 Industries, has mentioned the shooter’s “series bible” many times in the last few years. O’Connor isn’t just developing new games in the bestselling franchise, he’s trying to create an interconnected world that would make George Lucas gasp in astonishment.

Now, CVG has pulled together the many different threads of the Halo franchise (six original games, one remade game, six trade comics, nine novels, two short story collections, and an animated film) into one cohesive timeline, and what it means for Halo 4. Even if you don’t play the games, it’s an interesting read:

Under Bungie and Microsoft the Halo timeline was malleable, but for 343 it’s set in stone. Halo’s extended universe is informing everything about Halo 4, from its setting on a Forerunner Shield World to the enemies drawn from a point 100,000 years in the past. Halo 4’s protagonists were first introduced inthe pages of Primordium and Cryptum and its new technologies debuted in Glasslands.

Catching up with it all could take a while, so we’ve done the hard work for you, pulling together threads from every piece of Halo fiction and ironing out the contradictions for adefinitive wrap-up of one billion years of fiction.

Halo 4 is just a few months away and we still don’t really know all that much about it. But we learned one very key piece of information today as Microsoft has announced a November 6 release date for the game.

To prevent this news from slipping your mind, 343 Industries has recruited the team at Rooster Teeth to ensure we all remember. “Red vs Blue,” the floor is yours (that means watch the video above).

Oh, and in case the video doesn’t help you remember Halo 4’s release date, there’s another red and blue battle taking place on November 6 that might be more memorable: the 2012 Presidential election.