As previously mentioned 343 Industries had decided to shut down the Halo 2 PC Multiplayer servers on February 15th because of the dwindling population that still called those servers home. (Read Article Here)
Since the announcement, many Halo fans have been pouring into the Halo 2 servers to reminisce and get their last dosage of Halo 2 Multiplayer.
As of today, David Ellis, a designer for 343 Industries tweeted out some great news. (view tweet source here)
And also directing thanks to community manager bsangel,
So Halo 2 PC servers have been since extended through to June 2013. This sparks the question about potential Halo 2 Anniversary rumors, because they stated that they’re investigating support options for the original, and why would they continue to support the original if a remake were to be in the works?
Until then Halo 2 PC support will last until June 2013 unless they figure out some options; perhaps trying to keep the servers open beyond June 2013.
As always, here’s the weekly update to Halo 4’s Multiplayer. You can read the Halo Waypoint Bulletin in it’s entirety here, but here are the highlights.
February 11th, 2013
Team Snipers Returns!
Team Snipers
Shotty Snipers
Team Objective
Team Regicide
Oddball
King of the Hill
Team Doubles Update/Fix
Spartan Ops Episode 9 (5 New Missions)
February 18th, 2013
Team Throwdown (Competitive Playlist)
February 25th, 2013 (Rumoured/Expected)
Title Update
Majestic Map Pack (3 small-med sized DLC maps)
Monolith
Skyline
Landfall
Here’s the information in more detail as provided by 343i,
Sadly… the rumor has now been shot down, for now that is.
The rumor started when many new games were discovered in Steams database of potential new titles, among the list were Halo CE, Halo 2, and Halo 3. There were even Steam community pages for Halo 2 and Halo 3 giving the Halo fans some hope.
Sadly, Microsoft quickly denied the rumors in a response given to Kotaku. It may be a far fetched idea, but if any updates come up I’ll keep you informed.
Since I post things related to Halo whether it’s Halo news, content, discussions, etc… so I thought I’d share my latest addition to my Halo paraphernalia. My very first @ScufGaming controller.
So here is an un-boxing of the Halo 4 Competitive Gaming Bundle (XBOX 360 Wired). This controller features A/B paddles on the bottom, scuf grip texture on the back of the controller for extra grip, a regular concave Xbox left thumbstick, a doomed right thumbstick, and white out buttons. The bundle also comes with a Scuf t-shirt, Gamer Grip (a no sweat solution), and a mini scuf gaming lanyard.
These weekly bulletins just keep getting better and better! So without wasting anymore of your time lets dive on into the highlights. But if you want to read it in its entirety click here.
Infinity Doubles offers the Infinity Slayer experience in 2 vs 2 form. In this variant, players have the option to choose their custom loadout, and instant respawn and radar are enabled. Personal ordnance will kick in at the traditional 70 point mark, but the options are tweaked specifically for Team Doubles. Games are played up to 300 points.
Doubles Pro offers an experience that features preset game loadouts. The score limit is the same as above, but radar, personal ordnance and instant respawn are disabled. Here are the loadouts that will be featured:
Loadout 1:
Starting Weapon – DMR
Secondary Weapon – Magnum
Armor Abilities – None
Tactical Mod – Resupply
Support Mod – Dexterity
Loadout 2:
Starting Weapon – BR
Secondary Weapon – Magnum
Armor Abilities – None
Tactical Mod – Resupply
Support Mod – Dexterity
Loadout 3:
Starting Weapon – LightRifle
Secondary Weapon – Magnum
Armor Abilities – None
Tactical Mod – Resupply
Support Mod – Dexterity
Loadout 4:
Starting Weapon – Carbine
Secondary Weapon – Magnum
Armor Abilities – None
Tactical Mod – Resupply
Support Mod – Dexterity
CTF Doubles offers the ever-popular Capture the Flag game type, customized for 2 vs 2 play. Custom loadouts and radar are enabled, and respawn time is set to 10 seconds. Flag settings provide an optimal experience for small maps and teams: 5 flags to win, 3 second return, and 15 second reset. Lastly, your flag does not have to be home to score.
No final map list for the Team Doubles playlist but they are
offering slightly modified versions of Haven, Abandon and Solace, split-screen players can be sure that they’ll have the option to play on a map that offers the best split-screen experience. Additionally, we plan to offer several of the best community Forge maps in this playlist and will continue to update the map pool on a regular basis to keep everything fresh.
Well similar to the unique mini-covenant discovered in an early episode of Spartan Ops. ForgeWorldMaps has discovered 2 separate game types that allow you to be either an Oversize giant Spartan or a miniature Spartan. Unfortunately it appears that you can only have one or the other, as there is no game file that has both currently (but who knows).
So if you want to have a good laugh or make some interesting videos in Halo 4. Here’s the preview and where to download the gametype file.
343 Industries Matchmaking Systems Team made a post in the Halo Waypoint forums in regards to a competitive playlist set to debut around the middle of February (before the launch of CSR in April).
The post indicates this playlist will feature heavily modified and altered versions of the following gametypes.
Slayer
CTF
Extraction
King of the Hill
The post stated that they “envision it as both the go-to place for competitive play and the premier playlist to get your 50 [CSR] in”
They plan to share the first outline of the settings next week to collect community feedback so they can continually tune the settings. Here are the early details so far:
After much scrutiny and community outrage by a majority of Halo fans after the news in this weeks Halo Waypoint Bulletin (you can read here), bs angel, answered the hot topic question in the Halo Waypoint forums whether or not the CSR, Competitive Skill Rank, in Halo 4 would be visible in-game; similar to Halo 3.
She replied on behalf of 343 and stated that the “True Skill Rank” or CSR would not be visible in game, but instead visible on Halo Waypoint via the website and mobile apps. She had the design team make a mock-up player profile predicting the possible final product when the CSR rank will be released in April 2013.
This weeks Halo Bulletin is jam packed full of goods. So if you want to read it in it’s entirety click here. But here are the highlights,
On Monday, Spartan Ops continues with episode 7, which will once again contain five new Spartan Ops missions. Also premiering for the first time in Halo 4 is the Grifball playlist! We’ve worked closely with GrifballHub to create several different Grifball experiences in this new Matchmaking playlist
Also this week is the unlocking of two new Specializations: Engineer and Stalker:
Engineer: The Drop Recon Armor Mod allows users to predict the location and time of an Ordnance Drop through an external suborbital monitoring system.
Stalker: The Nemesis armor mod allows users to target and track down previous attacking enemies, highlighting them on the armor’s passive sensors.
The Community Forge Test playlist will also be around next week. The playlist will be available until the release of Team Doubles on February 4th.
CSR – Competitive Skill Rank
We have been working closely with several internal teams on optimizing the ranking system, and working to integrate it into your Waypoint player profile, accessible on web, phone and tablet.
More Details:
• You will have a unique CSR visible per playlist.
• Your highest CSR across all playlists will be promoted in the player profile on Halo Waypoint.
• CSR uses familiar 1-50 scale.
• When CSR launches, everyone will start with a fresh rating.
Our targeted launch date for CSR is April 2013, and we will be re-configuring some of our most competitive playlists to accommodate the launch of the feature.
+
Playlist Rotations Going Forward
We have been reading your feedback on rotational playlists, and we would like to clarify our approach going forward.
• Several of the modes currently on ‘hiatus’ are getting updates and fixes based on community feedback.
• We are planning to build several multi-mode playlists that include rotated modes, and new modes we have not launched yet. It is important that we build strong playlist compositions in time for the CSR launch.
• We hope to keep Grifball and Doubles in as regular playlists.
Future Playlists and Modes
Alongside bug fixes, feature improvements, and new maps, here are some modes and playlists we are working on:
• Grifball Playlist: Slated to include multiple versions of Grifball and new courts.
• Extraction Playlist: Adding overtime, fixing a score bug, improving the capture experience, and tuning maps.
• Infinity CTF: More details next week.
Hi there, just showing off some SWAT gameplay of mine on the map Shutout, which is a Halo 2 Lockout Remake for Halo 4. All the while expressing my initial thoughts on the Forge Playlist added to Halo 4 as of January 21st, 2013.
What are your favourite maps in the new Forge Playlist?
Sadly… the rumor has now been shot down, for now that is.
If you’re interested in my thoughts on this statement and analyzing the true purpose of a “true skill rank” in Halo I have made a video.
Chief Canuck - Video Game News 