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All Articles: Halo Infinite
Xbox Scarlett will officially be known as Xbox Series X
Rather than wait until early next year to host their own special reveal event, Microsoft used last night’s Game Awards ceremony to officially announce that their next-generation console will be known as the Xbox Series X.
We don’t know why Microsoft decided to go with a name that’s so similar to the currently-available Xbox One X, though I suppose we should have expected shenanigans like this from a company that decided to use Xbox One as the name of their third major console.
Naming controversy aside, the Xbox Series X looks like a pretty impressive piece of technology. It’ll include backwards compatibility for all three previous generations of Xbox hardware, as well as a funky PC-like case design, and a new controller that features a Share button and “an advanced d-pad derived from the Xbox Elite Series 2 Wireless Controller.”
Xbox Wire has more details about what’s happening under the hood, including confirmation that the Xbox Series X will support visuals up to 120 FPS and with 8K resolution.
From a technical standpoint, this will manifest as world-class visuals in 4K at 60 FPS, with possibility of up to 120 FPS, including support for Variable Refresh Rate (VRR), and 8K capability. Powered by our custom-designed processor leveraging the latest Zen 2 and next generation RDNA architecture from our partners at AMD, Xbox Series X will deliver hardware accelerated ray tracing and a new level of performance never before seen in a console. Additionally, our patented Variable Rate Shading (VRS) technology will allow developers to get even more out of the Xbox Series X GPU and our next-generation SSD will virtually eliminate load times and bring players into their gaming worlds faster than ever before.
The Xbox Series X will launch in Fall 2020, and Microsoft also promised that “the largest and most creatively diverse lineup of Xbox exclusive games in our history” will also be available next year, lead by 343 Industries’s Halo Infinite.
Posted in News, Xbox Series X
Tagged Game Awards 2019, Halo Infinite
Halo 6 will be known as Halo Infinite… and it’s coming to the Xbox One and PC
It’s been three long years since Microsoft released Halo 5: Guardians, so now was the perfect time for the consolemaker to open their Xbox E3 Briefing with a very generalized look at the next game in the series.
Halo Infinite will be the sixth game in the series to star the Master Chief, though Microsoft isn’t quite ready to talk about it just yet. Instead, they unveiled a “Game Engine Demonstration” for 343 Industries’s new Slipspace Engine, which will be used to power the franchise’s creation for the forseeable future.
While there’s a chance that none of what we see will make its way into the final game, the Xbox Wire wants us to focus on what the Slipspace Engine is capable of:
Of course, fans around the world will break down every single frame of the engine demo for more clues on what Halo Infinite could entail. We caught a couple of hidden Easter eggs – can you? 343 Industries stated that the game, art, and tech elements are still in progress and many of the assets and designs will certainly evolve between now and the release of the game; what fans should take away from the engine demo is the promise of the Slipspace Engine and its capabilities in powering “Halo Infinite” and how the story will center on the Master Chief.
Halo Infinite doesn’t currently have a release date, but Microsoft did say that it’s in development for both the Xbox One and the PC.
Posted in News, PC, Xbox One
Tagged E3 2018, Halo Infinite
Microsoft Studios will add all new releases to Xbox Game Pass on launch day
Microsoft already established the Xbox Game Pass as a pretty great deal when it offered Xbox One owners the ability to play more than 100 games for just $10 a month. But now they’re upgrading the service from a “pretty great deal” to an “absolutely amazing deal.”
Today, the consolemaker confirmed (via Xbox Wire) that all future Microsoft-published titles will be available to download through the Xbox Game Pass on their launch date. That includes Sea of Thieves on March 20, and State of Decay 2 and Crackdown 3 late this year, as well as unannounced new entries in the Halo, Gears of War, and Forza franchises.
Moving forward, we plan to release all new Xbox One exclusive games from Microsoft Studios into Xbox Game Pass on the same date as their global release. This means that when Sea of Thieves launches on March 20, it will be included in Xbox Game Pass to all members.
This plan to bring new games timed with their global release into Xbox Game Pass not only includes announced titles like Sea of Thieves, State of Decay 2, and Crackdown 3 but future unannounced games from Microsoft Studios including new iterations of our biggest Xbox One exclusive franchises such as Halo, Forza, and Gears of War, on the same day they launch.
If you haven’t signed up for Xbox Game Pass yet, Microsoft also plans to team up with GameStop to offer a Six-Month Xbox Game Pass Subscription Card for $59.99.
Posted in News, Xbox One
Tagged Crackdown 3, Forza Horizon 4, Halo Infinite, Sea of Thieves, State of Decay 2
343 Industries has no plans to unveil Halo 6 in 2017
Microsoft doesn’t want to talk about the far-flung future right now. All the games on display at the consolemaker’s E3 Press Conference are set to launch fairly soon, and that meant there was no room to talk about Halo 6 on gaming’s big stage.
According to Jeff Easterling, “GrimBrother One” at 343 Industries, that stance won’t be changing anytime soon. Writing on Halo Waypoint, Easterling revealed that Microsoft and 343 Industries have no plans to talk about Halo 6 at all this year:
That being said, for some people – like most who are still reading this blog – the Xbox media briefing was bandied about as much for what it didn’t show, as what it did. Specifically, a new (or old-made-new) Halo title. For some folks, their despair stemmed from a lack of remastered fight-finishing. I know I know, we should have told you ahead of time to not expect anything like that. Others were hoping for a tease of things farther off to come. While there’s little to nothing that can be said on that front, it’s been made clear that we won’t be talking about Halo’s next major title for quite some time. And no, that doesn’t mean Gamescom. Or PAX. Trust us, when we’re ready to begin pulling back that proverbial curtain, you’ll know. It won’t be soon.
Halo Wars 2was released earlier this year, and is the most recent addition to the vast Halo franchise. A new expansion for Halo Wars 2, Awakening the Nightmare, was unveiled at E3 2017, and it’ll be available this Fall.
Posted in News, Xbox One
Tagged E3 2017, Halo Infinite
Microsoft will definitely include splitscreen multiplayer in Halo 6
Many fans were disappointed in Halo 5: Guardians‘s lack of splitscreen multiplayer, and it looks like Microsoft will remedy that in future installments of the franchise.
Bonnie Ross, the Head of Halo developer 343 Industries, spoke at the 2017 DICE Summit this week as part of a session highlighting the “Stewards of a Sci-Fi Universe.” According to GameSpot, Ross confirmed during her talk that all future entries in the Halo franchise, including the upcoming Halo 6, will include splitscreen multiplayer:
“For any FPS going out forward, we will always have splitscreen in,” she said.
Halo 5: Guardians was released in October 2015, and Halo 6 has yet to be officially announced by Microsoft, so it might be a while before we don the Master Chief’s armor for a sixth time.
Posted in News, Xbox One
Tagged Halo Infinite
343 Industries is working on “super secret future stuff” related to Halo
Halo 5: Guardians was released late last year, so it’s pretty much assumed that Microsoft and 343 Industries have already begun work on Halo 6. That assumption was reinforced on Friday when Community Manager Brian “Ske7ch” Jarrard said the development team shared some “super secret future stuff” about the Halo franchise with him in a new post on Halo Waypoint:
I can’t really say anything of substance but yesterday we had a studio-wide presentation by Tim Longo, Halo Creative Director, on some super interesting topics pertaining to super secret future stuff. All I can say is that I left that meeting feeling very excited [me too – Grim].
Jarrard doesn’t specifically call out Halo 6, but believe it or not, the game was actually announced all the way back in 2011 as part of the “new trilogy” that began with Halo 4.
In other Halo news, Jarrard also revealed the Achievements for Halo Wars: Definitive Edition, which will be released as a “Game Preview” title on December 20 for everyone who pre-ordered Halo Wars 2. A total of 75 Achievements (including a mix of new and old Achievements) will be included and they’re worth 1,500 Gamerscore.
But hopefully, this mention of “super secret future stuff” is the first sign that an official re-announcement for Halo 6 is coming soon.
Posted in News, PC, Xbox One
Tagged Halo Infinite, Halo Wars, Halo Wars 2
Microsoft knows what the next ten years of Halo (including Halo 6) will look like
Back in 2011, Microsoft revealed their intention to create a new Halo trilogy, confirming the eventual existence of Halo 4 through Halo 6 in one fell swoop. With Halo 4 serving as the swan song to the Xbox 360, and Halo 5: Guardians exactly a month away, Microsoft and 343 Industries have turned their attention to the sixth entry in the Master Chief’s space saga.
More specifically, Franchise Director Frank O’Connor recently told GamesRadar that his team has plotted out ten years of stories for the series:
“We do kind of know what’s going to happen in the next game pretty well at this point,” explains franchise development director Frank O’Connor. “We’re doing serious real planning and even some writing on the next game already, and that’s a luxury – we’ve never been in that position before. So we both know at a very high level what’s going to happen in, say, ten years from now. But at that very granular level knowing what’s going to happen in the next game and that’s just been a great feeling for me”.
But according to Bonnie Ross, the Studio Head of 343, this type of long-range planning actually began with the Bungie-developed Halo 3: ODST and Halo: Reach:
343’s studio head Bonnie Ross talks about the long term plan, highlighting Frank and his team’s role back in the ODST and Halo Reach days, “to really lay the fictional foundation for the next twenty years”. There are ideas are in place. Several, in fact. “You can look at the ending of Halo 4 – and where Master Chief is,” she continues, “and obviously we had to know where we were going to take Halo 5 and Halo 6 with that. You have an epic sci-fi universe and we have multiple ways that we can go with this story, but all the pieces are laying there. The canvas is there for us to paint”.
Halo 5: Guardians will be released exclusively for the Xbox One on October 27. Surely, the Halo 6 speculation will begin not too long after that.
Posted in News, Xbox One
Tagged Halo Infinite
MS @ E3 11: Halo 4 announced, coming in 2012
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary isn’t the only Halo game Microsoft was ready to announce at this year’s E3 Expo. The publisher has just confirmed that Halo 4 is in development at 343 Industries and will be released near the end of 2012.
The teaser trailer is short, just a few seconds of Cortana waking the Master Chief from cryostasis before his ship explodes. Halo 4 is described as the “dawn of a new trilogy for the Xbox 360,” so you can be sure the Xbox 360 will be around for a long time. And, if you think about it, this is also an announcement for Halo 5 and Halo 6.
But that’s the end of the show. Hope you enjoyed the 2011 E3 Press Conference from Microsoft.
Posted in News, Xbox 360
Tagged E3 2011, Halo 4, Halo 5: Guardians, Halo Infinite