Newly formed 343 Industries, who takes over from Bungie full-time, are on the hunt for some fresh devs to join their team for the "next big project". This "rich and exciting universe" of Halo needs a mission designer and a senior 3D art guy, among other talents. Could you be "part of the awesome"?
Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter's prediction is that Respawn Entertainment, ex-Infinity Ward types, is producing a "Halo-killer" IP. They're making a title that's "going to compete" in the space shooter genre. Halo more or less occupies that solo, notes Pachter. Is he right?
Microsoft has just announced a Bungie designed 'Limited Edition' Xbox 360 bundle, which features a redesigned Xbox 360 that's all silver. It's a 250GB Xbox 360, has a Halo: Reach copy, 2 wireless silver controllers plus the usual gear. They're available for fans to preorder now.
Revealed at Comic-Con, Bungie's Halo: Reach includes a new mode called 'Versus Firefight' pitting 2 Elites and 2 Spartans at each other. They're all player controlled though the Covenant Elites get AI support, and the Spartans have to hold out. Killing an Elite grants a bonus life.
Prepare yourself 'lucky winner' of Microsoft's Halo: Reach competition this summer, because while 5 of the 6 of you get to form a super team... ...the other 1 gets stuck holding the hands of celebrities. Reach matches will play throughout August to find 6 top Halo gamers in Britain.
For those playing Halo: Reach when it launches in September you may just get a Bungie surprise heading your way - if you played PC Halo. A small "visual flair" will be given to veteran Halo fans, but only if you owned PC Halo: Combat Evolved, and activated it before May 26th, 2010.
Here's an interesting thought: With Bungie's partnership with Activision, and their handing over of the Halo franchise to 343 Industries, creator and creation may now be pitted against each other in the competitive games market. Does this bother them though? Not in the slightest.
Bungie has announced that development on Halo: Reach is complete and it's been handed over to Xbox Certification, so manufacturing is left. That's providing "things go well" and it doesn't get sent back to Bungie. It's been "a long haul" to this point and the team is "incredibly proud".
Microsoft's Xbox 360 dominated US July hardware sales reveals the NPD, with Nintendo Wii and DS both failing to top its 443.5k units moved. In fact the Wii tumbled down the stairs from June's 422.5k to last month's 253.9k. Since the slim Xbox 360 in June, 900k have sold in the US.
People who like to do naughty things with computer code have got a hold of Halo: Reach, allegedly from Microsoft's own 'secure' systems. Bungie is naturally sad but also warns Halo fans it's probably best to avoid gaming sites if you want to remain "spoiler free" before it retails.
All hands to banhammer stations! Microsoft isn't just permanently exiling consoles but also gamertags for anyone caught playing Halo: Reach. An email from Microsoft notifies users that their Xbox Live account is "permanently suspended" if caught by the Xbox Live Enforcement Team.
Bungie to stay "dedicated" to Halo: Reach for some time post-launch with DLC plans likely multiplayer orientated, and not campaign extending. This support "will transition" from Bungie to a Microsoft team eventually. The studio will "keep that pedigree" we expect for Halo: Reach.
Bungie plans to do a reset of Halo: Reach's point system come launch. Between illegal downloads, and the inevitable leaks from retail chains, Bungie reckons that a fair few people now have the game earlier than they would like...
It just won't die. Microsoft's Frankie O'Connor over at Halo-centric studio 343 Industries says they're still keeping an open mind to a Halo movie. They've made an "awful lot" of documentation and assets to "support a feature film." Team 343 "won’t move on it" until there's "a great reason to do it."
Next week will see the release of Halo: Reach from Bungie, their last in the series, and Microsoft is prepping Xbox Live for launch festivities. The whole of next week is basically Halo week with a series of week-long promotions running. Like a free Invasion theme, and game nights.
Good news if you happen to shop at Tesco and want yourself some Microsoft Points, say around 2100 worth, because you can get Halo: Reach. Well sure you could get Halo: Reach anyway - but you'd miss out on nabbing it for just 28 pounds. UK's Tesco has aggressively slashed the price.
Great news for those gamers who scored themselves an early copy of Halo: Reach, thanks to eager online retailers, because you can keep loot. Bungie planned a wipe of in-game credits to level the playing field, and it was believed they'd do it today ready for launch. It fired last week.
Bungie's Halo: Reach is clearly on fire as Microsoft announced earlier that it managed $200m in global sales its first day. 300k copies sold in the UK. It's already taken the 10th spot for all-time best weekly sales for an individual title in Britain, with plenty more days left to burn through yet. Spartan!
Bungie's Halo: Reach conquers the UK all format chart as an Xbox 360 exclusive, and becomes Great Britain's 5th largest ever release. It has been Microsoft's biggest ever title in the UK. It has sold over 20k more copies that Halo 3, and 200k more than ODST. Sports Champions 2nd.
Bungie has revealed that Halo: Reach campaign matchmaking will be added sometime in October. "The first matchmaking update for Reach will occur in early October and consist primarily of fixes for bugs and balance issues," said the firm.