CVG has received word from their retail sources that Microsoft has tentatively planned for Halo: Reach to be released on September 14th, 2010. While that would put the wait at about 6 months, don’t forget that the multiplayer beta will launch on May 3rd to give us a taste of what to expect from the final product! Click HERE to visit CVG and read the full story!
For Two Days Only you can get a Xbox Live 12-Month Gold Subscription Card (Gold Membership) for only $34.99 with FREE SHIPPING! That makes it $2.91 a month to play Halo! Stock up! Limit is 3 per customer. Click here to take
advantage of the deal, it’s ends on 3/17/2010!
Series 7 sightings are starting to pop up accross the US!
The GameStop exclusive Steel Hayabusa Spartan has hit the shelves in several states. Our friends at The Collectorate have done some research, and it appears that each store is only receiving one case of figures, and each case only contains TWO of the exclusive! If you want one, now is the time to start checking in stores before they are gone!
The Toys’R'Us exclusive Orange Security Spartan is now in stock online at TRU! CLICK HERE to jump straight to the TRU order page for the exclusive! One warning about buying direct from TRU - Several of our forum members have received their orange Security Spartan in nothing more than a lightly padded envelope, and they have arrived with bent cards and crushed bubbles. The figures are in fine condition, but if you are an on-card collector, be aware that you may not be happy with the condition that your figure arrives in!
The Collectorate has stated in our forums that they will be receiving their Series 7 figures on March 17th! Blue Rogue, Tartarus, Sgt. Forge, ONI Operative Dare, and Yellow Flight Elite are all part of what is sure to be one of the most popular waves of figures to date! CLICK HERE to jump straight to the Series 7 HALO order page at The Collectorate! They are still taking orders at their low pre-order price, so if you haven’t ordered yet, there isn’t a better time than now!
Here is the scoop on what is coming to Halo Waypoint on XBox Live this week (starting 3/15/10):
Monday - Coverage of Halo Greatness! (A Surprise?)
Tuesday - “Homecoming” Sketchbook 3
Wednesday - Tied The Leader Haloramics
Thursday - Red vs Blue: “SPF: 0″
Friday - Achievement Hunters: “Both Tubes”
Saturday - Top 5: “Welcome Aboard” (New Episode!)
Sunday - Lost With All Hands
“Bungie continues to tease Halo: Reach tidbits this week in its Weekly Update, this time revealing a new grenade lobbing mechanism.
Grenades in Halo: Reach will have orange tracer attached to them, allowing users a better ability to place and detect grenade tosses.
What’s more, there will be a faint light emitted from the grenade lob that dynamically changes when sweeping through the game’s environment, allowing those without their sound turned on to still detect incoming ‘nades.
And if your sound is turned on, you’ll hear a distinct “metallic clink.” And the louder the clink, the heftier the damage. Bungie says adding this effect will make those “no way, how did he kill me?!” moments disappear.
Sadly, no images of the new trajectory effect or grenade clink noise were provided.”
Halo 3’s Sandtrap…One of the most popular maps for large scale battles. It has no shortage of vehicles, yet has enough cover that it is also easy for the players on foot to play effectively. It even plays well for a variety of gametypes, from CTF to Team Snipers to Rocket Race. It is one of our favorite maps here at HaloCollectors, and thus we wanted to bring this story from Bungie to your attention! Justin Hayward from Bungie was one of the architects of the map (is he a Forerunner?), and in this interview he talks about what they originally had in mind for Sandtrap, the concepts, the layout, and also some great concept sheets and art. Click HERE to head over to Bungie.net and check out the pics and full interview!
“Since the launch of Halo Waypoint, it has been the go to place for all things Halo; from extended Halo awards, screenshots, extended information on the Halo universe, to Red vs Blue episodes and the premiere of Halo Legends. What’s next for the Halo hub?
This weekend, March 13th and 14th, 343 Industries, Halo Waypoint, and Rooster Teeth will be in attendance at this year’s Emerald City Comic Con. Throughout each day, there will be Halo Reach poster giveaways, a Rooster Teeth autograph session, daily raffles and even a chance to have your picture taken with a life size ODST in full armor. All this is happening at booth #804, along with a two player Halo 3: ODST Firefight tournament. Of course, it wouldn’t be a Comic Con without a discussion panel. On Saturday, join the team as various Halo authors discuss the future of the Halo universe. If you are a Halo fan and live in the Seattle area, you should definitely check this event out.”
Kotaku (AU) had a contest where fans could submit questions for Frank O’Connor (of Microsoft) about Halo Legends to win Halo Legends prize packs. The winning questions have been selected and answered, are are up for all to read! How was 343 Industries formed/created and how did Halo Legends come to light from it? What was the reasoning behind picking multiple studios to produce the shorts and did these studios control the story they were animating or was the story handed to them? Did you find the current complexity of the Halo lore to be stifling when it came to creativity on the project? Click HERE to read O’Connor’s answers to these winning questions and more!
Been missing the Rocket Race playlist that was removed from matchmaking? Well now is your chance to grab a rocket launcher and mongoose and make a run through some checkpoints! As an added bonus you get double EXP! The playlist opens this afternoon and will run until the wee hours of Monday morning.
“Microsoft has told CVG that the Halo: Reach Beta will feature ‘never seen before’ gameplay - ramping up excitement for the public opening on May 3rd. The firm released gameplay footage earlier this month as part of what Bungie called a ‘multiplayer bomb’. However, speaking in a new interview with CVG, director of Xbox and Entertainment at Microsoft Stephen McGill said there was plenty more to be revealed:
“As you can imagine, we’re really excited about Halo Reach and with the beta coming in May you’ll get a chance to experience some of the new features and gameplay never seen before,” he said. “Obviously I don’t want to give too much away but it really is shaping up to be the ultimate game of the year.”
Bungie community chief Brian Jarrard previously told CVG that what the firm showed at X10 was “the tip of the iceberg in terms of what we have planned for Halo: Reach’s multiplayer capability.” “
Infectionist.com has put up an interesting view of Halo 3’s Epitaph map. The interior portion of the map can be viewed in panoramic fashion, including user controlled zoom! Click here to check it out!
Peter Mook, sculptor for One2One Collectibles, was kind enough to give HaloCollectors an exclusive interview about his work on their exciting new Halo products! Questions included those submitted by HC front page news readers and forum members via email and forum personal message to the HaloCollectors webmaster.
What made you want to work on the Halo license?
What has been the most challenging thing about creating the Halo products so far?
What is the current release schedule for future Halo products from One2One? What is the next bust to be released and when is it expected to ship?
In a recent post at HaloCollectors.com you mentioned that you had just finished sculpting an Arbiter bust. Is it the Arbiter from Halo 3, or the one from Halo Wars?
Is the winner of the Halo bust fan poll on the One2One website guarunteed to be made, or are you all just using it to see what types of characters fans are most interested in?
Are any Halo products in the works besides the 1:2 scale busts?
To see the answers to these questions and more, CLICK HERE to visit our forums and read the complete interview! While you are there, check out the HC reviews of the Master Chief and Blue Spartan busts from One2One, including a full gallery of in-hand pictures!
“In its current alpha state, the camera for Halo: Reach immediately flies back to the deceased’s respawn location, rather than lingering while his victorious assailant squats over his face. A bug fix has been submitted.
Yes, really. Bungie acknowledged the flaw in its weekly update on Friday. Here it is:
Title: Teabagging / humiliation moves impossible
Type: Bug
Opened: 3/4/2010 8:53:13 AM
“The respawn camera flies back to the spawn location immediately after dying, so your opponents can’t teabag / shoot / melee your body and have a possibility of you seeing it.”
I’m disappointed they caught it now. I would have much rather written about the game lacking teabagging support, hordes of angry gamers vowing boycotts and reprisals, flopsweat half-apologies and then, finally, “Teabagging patched into Halo: Reach.” “
Check out this awesome and detailed analysis of the Halo: Reach multiplayer video by Hoovaloov from TiedTheLeader.com! It breaks away from the traditional analysis style of frozen screencaps and instead breaks the video down into groups of sections about different aspects of the trailer!
Here is the scoop on what is coming to Halo Waypoint on XBox Live this week (starting 3/8/10):
Monday - Spotlight: Eric Nylund (Halo author)
Tuesday - Prototype Sketchbook 2 (Halo Legends)
Wednesday - Community Screenshots: Grunts (again?)
Thursday - Red vs Blue: “Points of Origin”
Friday - Achievement Hunters: Pink and Deadly
Saturday - Behind the Scenes: Rooster Teeth
Sunday - Shield World
“If you planned on doing any Xbox 360 purchasing this weekend, it might behoove you to cool your jets for at least a few more days. Amazon is listing a new Xbox 360 Elite bundle that’s a solid deal.
The 120GB Xbox 360 bundle packs in two 2009 console exclusives, Halo 3: ODST and Forza Motorsport III, plus all the other expected accessories for $299.99 USD. That isn’t too shabby. Amazon.com pegs the release of Microsoft’s latest bundle for March 9, just a few days away.”
At long last the HaloCollectors Mega Bloks gallery from Toy Fair is ready to go! Mega Bloks debuted several new products for its popular Halo Wars line of building toys, including ODST drop pods, the Covenant Wraith, the UNSC Pelican, and more!
CLICK HERE to view our gallery of images from NY Toy Fair!
CLICK HERE to head to our forums and discuss all the great Halo products you see in the gallery!
Halo Wars (Limited Edition) (Xbox 360) - SAVE $50.00 with FREE BUDGET SHIPPING
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They guys over at IGN have combed over the new Reach multiplayer video with a fine-toothed comb. Check out the details they have discovered and listen to their speculation by clicking play on the video above! You can also click HERE to visit the Reach video page at IGN!
“Original Xbox games will no longer be playable over Xbox Live as of April 15, but Microsoft is easing the pain of Halo 2 players by offering “avid” players free stuff and a shot at the Halo: Reach beta.
Several Kotaku readers have received word from the Xbox Live Team, breaking the bad news about the death of original Xbox game support on Live, but throwing in some good to make up for it. To thank gamers for being “loyal” Xbox Live customers, the Xbox 360 maker is giving out free three-month Gold memberships and 400 Microsoft Points to spend on the game, add-on or Avatar clothing item of their choice.
Microsoft is also extending the invitation to participate in the Halo: Reach multiplayer beta, “because you’ve been so loyal to Halo.” The e-mail certainly seems to indicate that a copy of Halo 3: ODST won’t be required to access the Reach beta, good news for the Halo 2 player resistant to dropping cash on new games.”
Okay boys and girls, if you want some double EXP this weekend, don’t count on your friends to help! Starting tonight Mythic Brawl kicks off as the double EXP playlist for some 12 player free-for-all fun! Mythic disk required (it is after all, MYTHIC brawl), and you have until early Monday morning to transform yourself into a one man (or woman) killing machine! Oh, and it is ranked! Here is the gametype breakdown courtesy of Bungie.net:
Brawl Slayer (54%) - 25 kills to win. Battle Rifle starts with Assault Rifle secondary. 12 minute match time limit.
Shotty Snipers (7%, Skipped after veto) - 20 kills to win. Sniper Rifle spawns with Shotgun secondary weapon. Infinite ammo enabled. Map traits: No weapons, Mongooses only. 12 minute match time limit.
Brawl Rockets (13%) - 20 kills to win. Rocket Launcher primaries. Infinite ammo enabled. Map traits: No weapons, Mongooses only. 12 minute match time limit.
Brawl Mosh Pit (9%) - King of the Hill, 150 points to win. Assault Rifle starts. Hill Traits: Random movement every minute, players in hill have 2x Overshields and 200% Shield Recharge Rate. 12 minute match time limit.
Brawl Laser Tag (11%) - 15 kills to win. Spartan Laser starts with Sniper Rifle secondary. 12 minute match time limit.
Brawl Snipers (6%) - 15 kills to win. Sniper Rifle starts with Magnum secondary. 12 minute match time limit.
Attention Halo collectors, we have some exciting news! HaloCollectors is teaming up with CozmicToys.com to bring you a great deal on the HALO 1:2 scale busts from One2One Collectibles! For a limited time, CozmicToyz will be offering their in stock One2One busts for 10% off (that’s $20!) their regular price for HaloCollectors readers and forum members! Just enter the following coupon code at checkout: hc20
Remember, this code only is valid for a limited time, and only toward HALO One2One busts! Thank you to CozmicToyz for this special offer to our readers at members at HaloCollectors!
Click HERE to read the HaloCollectors review of the Blue Spartan bust from One2One!
Click HERE to read the HaloCollectors review of the Master Chief bust from One2One!
Image courtesy of toyark.com
“In November 2001, Bungie and Microsoft brought the world “Halo: Combat Evolved”. The game became a worldwide sensation and helped rocket the “Xbox” to stardom. Since then, the franchise has continued to gain momentum with “Halo 2”, “Halo 3”, “Halo Wars”, and “Halo 3: ODST” (not to mention the DVD release of “Halo: Legends”). Now, as everyone waits in anticipation for Fall release of the prequel “Halo: Reach”, Diamond Select is proud to announce the inclusion of “Halo” into the Minimates universe!
To help launch the line this Fall, comic book and specialty stores will be offering a 4-pack which will include:
Master Chief
UNSC Marine
Spartan in Scout Armor
Elite in Assault Armor
Future announcements will bring great news concerning other Spartan armor classes from the various games (in your favorite multi-player color schemes), aliens & allies, and vehicles. We’ll also be bringing you news about our plans for a sneak peek/debut at this year’s San Diego Comic Con.”
Special thanks to forum member poodachoo for alerting HaloCollectors to the story!
Bungie.net News