All Articles: Halo: The Master Chief Collection

Insert Quarter is our showcase for some of the best and most interesting writing about video games on the Internet.

Back in the NES era, many games included cheats or Game Genie codes to unlock some of the more difficult levels or fill our coffers with 1-Ups. How else were we supposed to beat Battletoads? But today’s games don’t do that, opting instead to lock much of their advanced content behind a scavenger hunt for baubles or a seemingly impossible boss fight. Most games, but not all. Halo: The Master Chief Collection is a rather notable exception. Ars Technica’s Kyle Orland writes that Microsoft’s decision to unlock every campaign level and multiplayer match type was a master stroke:

It doesn’t have to be this way, as Halo: The Master Chief Collection and its immediate unlocks show. Original campaigns aren’t going anywhere, and we’re not about to start skipping content by default. But there’s no reason to prevent players from deciding how and when they can access whatever content is in a game—from levels and items to weapons and costumes—at the moment they first launch it.

You can read the rest of the article at Ars Technica.

Insert Quarter is our showcase for some of the best and most interesting writing about video games on the Internet.

Geeky parents have long wondered what is the best way to introduce their favorite geeky media to their children. It’s definitely a universal thought that I’ve even caught myself having. I don’t have kids yet and I’ve wondered when will be the right time to introduce them to the Star Wars trilogy (and in what order). With this week’s release of Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Polygon’s Ben Kuchera ponders this predicament as it relates to the game industry’s premiere first person shooter series. Aside from a baffling adherence to inverted controls, Kuchera wonders what parts of the game he should show his son and what parts he should let him discover on his own:

We’re pretty strict about what games the kids play, and for how long, and this is the first time my son and I have played a mature-rated game together. He lacks rudimentary skills when it comes to first-person shooters, and I begin to feel like I’ve been failing him by not teaching him this stuff earlier.

You can read the rest of the article at Polygon.