343 Industries has released a Title Update and along with it 2 new armor mods called: Recharge and Survivor. They are both Support Upgrades and FREE for everyone. Don’t forget that if you order the Champions Bundle (Released on August 20th for 800 MSP) you also get to try out the new Resistor Tactical Package armor mod early (no time frame for public release).
Recharge: New Support Upgrade available to all players
Recharge decreases the time it takes for your shields to recharge.
Survivor: New Support Upgrade available to all players
Survivor ejects you out of a vehicle if it’s about to explode.
The latest Halo 4 Title Update (1.04.01) has been released which was rather unexpected on May 10th, 2013.
Changes:
For those of you wondering, here is how the “X”s are different.
”X”s are a deep shade of red (instead of white)
”X”s are 1.5 times as big
”X”s are displayed for approximately 4 seconds at death location (instead of being tied to the Spartan’s body), even if the player respawns prior to 4 seconds (instead of disappearing instantly or within 2 seconds)
Hi there, Chief Landless here, back once again breaking down and highlighting this weeks Halo Bulletin. As always you can read it here, but lets get onto the highlights!
PAX East Attendees:
Thursday, 6pm-12am – Mad Catz Unveiled
Exclusive private party with hands on preview of upcoming Halo 4 multiplayer content (winners invited to this pre-PAX event were announced in the bulletin… wish I had known about this sooner, lucky them)
This playlist will last for a little while before changing into the finalized FFA playlist with on-disc maps, Majestic DLC, and some of the above forge maps.
Team Throwdown Playlist will be updating from v2 settings to v3 settings
Team Slayer on Haven, Monolith, Skyline, Abandon, Shutout, Simplex
CTF on Simplex, Adrift, Skyline, Monolith
King of the Hill on Monolith and Haven
Extraction on Dispatch and Adrift
Oddball on Skyline
Doubles Pro settings will replace “Deluxe” Settings and converted to 4v4 in Team Throwdown.
Lightning CTF will be added to Action Sack Playlist
Lightning CTF is a fast-paced game mode in which players start with LightRifles, the Flag is transported on the Flag carrier’s back, and one shot anywhere on the body will kill. I suggest you start training with a ridiculously high sensitivity and LightRifle loadout immediately.
This weeks Halo Bulletin gave us a sneak peak into some of the upcoming fixes with the next Halo 4 Title Update, which is presumably expected to launch around the Castle Map Pack Release (April 8th, 2013)
Here are some of the features in the next title update:
Enabled “X-Markers” on the HUD to designate when and where teammates are killed.
Updated Active Camo to fully reveal players when they fire all weapons.
Reduced the auto aim, magnetism and damage on the Gauss Warthog.
Fixed an issue in which some players at SR-130 did not see their Specialization on their in-game Player Card.
Fixed various issues with ordnance navigation markers.
Fixed various join-in-progress issues with Flood.
Added the ability to make weapon adjustments via backend tuning.
For those that don’t know, the February Title Update for Halo 4 went live much earlier than expected. With one of the main focuses being patching/nerfing the Promethean Boltshot Pistol. The Nerf addressed the weapons 1-hit kill range and reducing it from a reported 20-25ft down to around 15ft.
In this video I’m breaking down the boltshot’s capabilities analyzing footage from before and after the Title Update and comparing the results.
I hope you enjoy and leave me your thoughts on the Boltshot nerf!
So I decided to separate the information from this weeks bulletin to make it easy to reference to and digest. If you want the matchmaking information click here. Here’s the list of items for Halo 4’s next title update which should appear sometime next week (no official date). Please note things may be added later.
Gameplay
Reduced the range of the Boltshot’s damage scaling over distance. The previous effective range for 1-hit kills was around 20-25′. The range has been reduced to 15′.
Fixed an issue where modified loadouts were not being saved correctly.
Fixed an issue where attempting to sprint while crouching using “hold to crouch” would cause players to be unable to shoot for 1-1.5 seconds.
Fixed an issue where some players were not able to get into matches on new map/game variants after playlist updates.
Fixed a DLC-related Join-in-Progress issue that kicked players back to the title screen.
Fixed various issues regarding glitched Autosentry deployment.
Fixed an issue where one player per session was unable to stay scoped with the Flagnum.
Fixed an issue where clients playing multi-round matches were not propelled by Man Cannons after the first round on Wreckage.
Fixed an issue for players who had licensed content for the specialization offer, and had the free Map Pack content, but did not have the Map Pass or Map Pack license by displaying a new error message: “You have Map Pack content that requires a license. Please purchase the War Games Map Pass, purchase the Map Pack individually, or delete the Map Pack content from your console.”
Vehicles
Fixed issues with friendly fire against vehicles. If FF is disabled, damage/EMPs from friendly sources will no longer damage vehicles that are fully controlled by your team.
Fixed an issue with where the Wraith secondary turret became disabled when shot with a Plasma Pistol. The feature has been updated to be consistent with previous Halo titles.
Fixed a Mantis functionality exploit that allowed pilots to survive planted grenades.
Specific Game Modes
Friendly fire turned off in Flood to prevent exploits.
Fixed Flood character models to allow for Warthog and Mongoose use.
Fixed an inconsistency with King of the Hill deathcam.
Fixed an issue where the Grifball would get stuck in geometry and never respawn.
Fixed the issue for Extraction where players did not regain full control of their character for extended periods of time after interacting with a site.
Fixed multiple Extraction scoring issues, including an overtime fix that ensures that a victory will not be awarded to a team who is controlling the go-ahead extraction point when the game ends.
Custom Games
Fixed an issue that did not allow players to create respawn timers or disable instant respawn in custom games.
Fixed an issue on Shatter where players couldn’t start a custom Dominion game.
Fixed an issue where the Ordnance game options reset when scrolling up or down in custom games.
Fixed an issue where custom game descriptions did not appear in the “Settings” preview screen.
Fixed inconsistencies and bugs in the final death cam for custom games.
Spartan Ops
Fixed an issue where the “Dedicated to Crimson” Achievement could not be unlocked.
Fixed an issue where players in Spartan Ops Episode 6 Mission 1 were able to look around before the vignette.
Miscellaneous
Fixed a selection of issues where theater clips were missing map-specific audio, including ambient noise and announcer voice.
Fixed File Share preview images for films and map variants.
Fixed issues with in-game translations.
Fixed title screen camera clipping.
Fixed an issue with Forge pieces and the shadows they create.
Fixed aliasing split screen HUD issues.
Fixed an issue where some saved films of Forge games featured no Forge lighting.
Fixed incorrect “change description” text in File Browser.
As the title shows, this bulletin was jam packed full of information, nothing specific, but LOTS of information for the remaining month of January and a look into February so let’s get started. The Bulletin opens with a letter from Frank O’Connor about the year.Then come the big announcements in regards to Halo 4 Multiplayer Playlists, Specialization releases, the new DLC map pack, and the title update.
Currently
Halo 4 Infinity Challenge Qualifier Phase ends January 12th
Halo 4 Infinity Challenge Final Phase begins Jan 12th, and ends January 19th (the leaderboards will be reset and it will be a mad dash for 7 days to win)
January
Week of 1/21 Spartan Ops Episode 6: Five new missions and an accompanying new CG cinematic. “Forge Test” playlist (name not final): A rotational hopper featuring small Forge maps such as Relay. Help us test these maps by providing feedback and reporting bugs that will assist us in getting them ready for Matchmaking! Specializations: Pioneer and Pathfinder Specializations unlocked for all players.
Week of 1/28 Spartan Ops Episode 7: Five new missions and an accompanying new CG cinematic. Grifball playlist: A rotational hopper featuring everybody’s favorite virtual sport. Catch the disease! Specializations: Engineer and Stalker Specializations unlocked for all players.
February
Week of 2/4 Spartan Ops Episode 8: Five new missions and an accompanying new CG cinematic. Team Doubles playlist: A rotational hopper for those of you that like action of the 2 vs 2 variety. Specializations: Rogue and Tracker Specializations unlocked for all players.
Potential playlists for the month of February include both FFA and a new and improved version of Team Snipers.
Late February will also bring both a Title Update and the Majestic Map Pack (which includes two small maps and one medium-sized map) to Halo 4 as well. Expect more information on all of those things next month.
What playlist and/or specialization are you looking forward to the most?
A breakdown of the first Halo 4 Title Update fixing some major gameplay issues in Halo 4. Also talking about the Halo 4 Infinity Challenge Tournament, Spartan Ops Mid-season break, King of the Hill playlist leaving, and the Crimson DLC Playlist
Chief Canuck - Video Game News 