UPDATE: Microsoft has released the second live-action advertisement through the eyes of the Master Chief.

“You’ve completed your mission, Agent Locke. Mine is just beginning.”

If things weren’t any more cryptic or mysterious, it looks like both of the trailers are an endgame scenario that might hint at alternate endings for Halo 5.

Original story is as follows.

In an advertisement during tonight’s episode of The Walking Dead, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) has announced the Halo 5 release date for October 27, 2015 exclusively for the Xbox One.

Microsoft will be publishing two different live action trailers, one in the perspective of Agent Locke, and the other through the eyes of Master Chief. The footage is part of Halo 5‘s #HuntTheTruth Twitter campaign and showcases plot points from the game’s storyline.

You have only seen 1 of 2 @Halo 5 ads tonight, stay tuned….

— Aaron Greenberg (@aarongreenberg) March 30, 2015

The first trailer release was from the point of view of Agent Locke, the ONI Spartan operative charged with finding Master Chief. Spartan 117’s trailer will be released later tonight, and we’ll be sure to update the post when it goes live.

Locke’s ad is a rather tantalizing live-action trailer that features the ONI agent menacingly chiding a disheveled Master Chief, who sits broken among disastrous ruins. This isn’t a side of the Chief we’ve ever seen before, and it’s strange to see him sit and accept his fate like this.

Locke appears to be sentencing Spartan 117 as a traitor, repeatedly referring to him as a betrayer, revealing key tidbits about the plot to Halo 5: Guardians.

“All hail the conquering hero, the one who was supposed to save us all. But now I must save us, from you.”

The Halo 5 #HuntTheTruth ARG campaign has also received a new update, chronicling another chapter of UNSC war journalist Benjamin Giraud’s investigation into the truth behind the nebulous Master Chief.

It’ll be interesting to see what other details are unearthed in the ARG campaign, and what actually happened to Master Chief’s stalwart resolve.

On a more humorous note, industry veteran Wario64 noticed that 343i actually “revealed” Halo 5‘s launch date during the game’s beta test. The beta was 10.27GB, which matches up with newly revealed release date.

Halo 5 release date was revealed months ago in beta download size. pic.twitter.com/PfdSkpChF7

— Wario64 (@Wario64) March 30, 2015

Halo 5: Guardians is scheduled to release on October 27, 2015 exclusively for the Xbox One.

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A new trailer for Halo Online gives us a brief look at the game’s built-in microtransactions, revealing an extensive pay-to-win style structure.

While the footage for 343 Industries’ brand new free-to-play PC shooter does indeed look pretty, it showcases something quite troubling that manifests as a cheap cash grab. Halo Online pay to win microtransactions are a thing, and its something I predicted in my recent editorial.

Halo Online is set up like Halo: Reach, where you earn credits from matches to spend on armor permutations and such.

But in the Russian PC shooter, players will get to customize every little thing about their Spartan: weapon loadouts, armor sets, and even equip a number of extra attachments to make your weapons stronger.

Check the upper right hand corner to see the Gold and Silver currency, and it looks like all the armor will be priced in different tiers in terms of its effectiveness in battle.

And you’ll have to pay for every little bit of it–every scope augmentation, every armor set, every little change to your Spartan will be monetized. The real balance is how much silver you can earn per match, and if that’s handled just right, the skewed ratio won’t be so bad.

But if you earn hardly any silver? You’ll be pushed and pushed to just snag the gear for cash. Plus the game has weapon rentals.

That’s right, you can rent your weapons for 30 minutes, 6 hours, or 24 hour periods.

Anyway, let’s take a look at the microtransactions and their rates.

It looks like Halo Online will have Silver, which can be earned by free players, and Gold, which is the game’s premium currency. Some of the ratios are pretty exorbitant, sometimes ranging to 50,000Silver to 50 Gold.

The trailer didn’t show us how much the premium currency will cost, but it’s a bit unsettling to know that the game embraces such an obvious pay-to-win structure.

The main Spartan hub screen showcases a variety of different sections that act as their own different marketplaces:

• Bundles
• Weapons
• Tactical Packages
• Armory
• Restock

In the footage we only ever get to see the Weapons and Armory section. The Bundles section is probably straight-forward, having a variety of pre-sorted bundles that come with weapons, tactical packages, and armor sets.

Strangely enough you can rent weapons, as well as attach a number of different upgrades to them–all of which can be bought with premium Gold currency.

The Weapons section is a tailored marketplace for all the destructive weaponry in Halo, and to the game’s benefit, there is an amazing array of guns. There’s Primary and Secondary slots that include just about every gun in the franchise, along with a slew of different grenades

But you have the opportunity to pay cash for all of them, as well as a number of different accessories. You can, of course, earn them the hard way, but you’ll be grinding for quite some time I’m sure.

The Tactical Packages is a bit worrying, considering Halo 4 had a considerable RPG structure that let gamers customize their Spartan with a number of passive abilities.

Considering the game uses the Halo 3 engine, and we see instances of Bubble Shields and the like used in-game, this might be a marketplace for Halo 3 equipment (Rengerators, Bubble Shield, Trip Mines, etc) rather than actual Halo 4-style passives, but we really don’t know.

The Armory is where you buy your stylized armor. It looks like the armor will have passive bonuses like increased melee damage or boosted shield recovery, further incentivizing the pay-to-win structure.

Restock might be where you can buy grenades, ammo and such, but again we weren’t shown this screen so there’s no telling.

Halo Online has primary, secondary and grenade slots–all of which will probably cost silver or the premium gold currency.

So far this is like Halo from hell, where combat is just abysmally skewed towards players who are willing to shell out cash for victory.

This isn’t the Halo I grew up with. Although there’s a substantial RPG presence going on here, the whole game looks like it was optimized to get you to spend as much money as possible in order to win–a concept that should be abolished in any competitive PVP space.

The Halo Online beta is scheduled to start this Spring exclusively in Russia, but 343 Industries hasn’t ruled out an expansion across the globe.

So we might see this pay-to-win shooter make its way to North America and Europe, but at this point I’m glad it’s an overseas exclusive.

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UPDATE: A new trailer for the game has revealed a peek at the game’s microtransactions, confirming a shameless pay-to-win scheme.

In Halo Online Russian gamers will get the opportunity to pay for every little thing, including weapons, armor sets that give passive bonuses, Spartan passives, and even attachments that boost weapon damage.

Original story is as follows.

In a quite confusing move, 343 Industries has announced Halo Online, a brand new free-to-play game for PC.

Even more strange is the news that Halo Online free-to-play PC game will be tested exclusively in Russia via an upcoming closed beta test.

The game itself is built on Halo 3‘s engine and is a multiplayer-only PVP style game that plans to bring all the definitive FPS chaos to the PC world. The beta test is planned to start “this spring” in Russia, which means sometime soon.

Since it’s free-to-play it’s fair to assume microtransactions will be involved, and maybe a horrible pay-to-win style to boot.

Also there’s a chance Halo Online could come to other regions, although it won’t ever be released on Xbox One (of course not, you’ll have to shell out premium cash to play Halo in console form).

In the FAQ listed below, 343i doesn’t explicitly rule out a release in North America or Europe, but they’re more worried about learning what they can from Russian players before the game launches overseas.

Halo Online looks like it’ll have all of the PVP staples, but how many armor sets will be locked behind premium paywalls?

This is probably the worst time for 343i to take on a project like this.

Instead of focusing on fixing the Xbox One’s still-awkward Master Chief Collection or even wholly devoting the team to polishing up Halo 5 for its impending launch, they’ve decided to splinter precious resources to focus on a F2P Halo game.

I personally think this is an awful idea that could destroy the very soul of Halo itself.

Halo has always been a big win for the Xbox brand. Microsoft has made concessions by bringing the original Halo: Combat Evolved to PC, along with Halo 2 years later, but this kind of game isn’t Halo: it’s a bastardized attempt at a cheap cash grab.

Now if the microtransactions are entirely cosmetic, that won’t be so bad.

With a huge arsenal of armor permutations to choose from, we can see how this could work. But if the game starts charging premiums for skill sets straight out Reach, that’s when things get terrible.

343 Industries needs to be careful how they proceed here or they risk alienating themselves from the game’s fanbase–something they’ve accomplished with the abysmal Master Chief Collection launch.

No one likes microtransactions, especially the pay-to-win variety. Although it’s a lucrative structure for publishers it becomes a roadblock for gamers and locks off a portion of content behind paywalls.

And paywalls are eroding gaming.

Halo Online is tailor-made for Russian PC gamers, but we might see it cross over to other regions…which could be a good or bad thing.

That being said, 343i could take Halo Online in an interesting direction, maybe even making a distinct MMOFPS mashup. The Halo universe is so massive and full of wonder, splendor and depth, and it’s so much more than just competitive PVP multiplayer action.

Imagine a subscription-based MMO based in the Halo universe that has the depth of, say, Final Fantasy XIV? Imagine combining Halo Wars with the dynamism of the first-person shooter elements, along with a winding story arc.

There’s so much potential with a Halo Online game. But instead, it looks like 343 Industries want to go the cheap, easy way.

Below we have the Halo Online FAQ published on Halo Waypoint that might answer some questions you have.

Halo Online FAQ

Q: What type of game is Halo Online?

A: Halo Online is a free multiplayer-only PC experience that we’re launching as a closed beta test in Russia.

Q: Does Halo Online represent your future plans for the franchise on PC?

A: Halo Online is a learning opportunity for us as we explore ways to welcome new fans to the “Halo” universe. We’re excited to release a “Halo” multiplayer-only PC experience tailored for Russian gamers.

Q: When will Halo Online be available?

A: The closed beta period will begin in Russia later this spring. There is no definitive launch date at this time.

Q: Are you planning on bringing Halo Online to the Xbox One?

A: Halo Online was built from the ground up specifically for the PC. There are no plans to bring Halo Online to the Xbox One.

Q: Will gamers in other regions like North America and Europe be able to play Halo Online?

A: Right now our focus is on learning as much as we can from the closed beta period in Russia. Theoretically, any expansion outside of Russia would have to go through region-specific changes to address player expectations.

Q: Are you planning to officially launch this year?

A: There is no definitive launch date at this time as we proceed in our closed beta period in Russia.

The post The New Halo Online Free-To-Play PC Game Is A Bad Idea appeared first on VR World.

Spoiler Warning: Major plot spoilers for Halo 4 are included below. If you haven’t finished the game yet be sure to turn away!

It looks like Cortana will make an appearance in 343 Industries’ new continuation of the sci-fi franchise, Halo 5: Guardians.

Mike Colter, the actor that portrays one of the game’s principal protagonists Agent Locke, name-dropped the iconic AI in a recent interview with IGN.

Although the interview was primarily focused on Colter’s Spartan hero, he mentioned that Cortana will be “involved” in Halo 5 despite the events that unfolded in Master Chief’s previous adventure:

“When he goes into Halo 5, you’ll see him transition into a Spartan, a super soldier. It’s a prominent role within the game. Obviously Master Chief will be involved, Cortana, but Locke will be one of the playable characters in Halo 5.

Now that’s just a brief tiny snippet with no actual substantial info, just what looks like a confirmation that Cortana’s in the game. We don’t know in what capacity, though, and she could easily appear in a flashback sequence on Master Chief’s side.

What we do know, though, is that gamers will see plenty of Commander James Locke during Halo 5‘s multi-faceted campaign. Colter also affirms Locke is here to stay for the forseeable future, and will return in future Halo games as well.

“He’ll have a prominent role. He’s one of the new additions that will be featured throughout the next couple of video games So you’ll see a lot of Commander James Locke.”

That last bit is kind of tricky. Does this mean Locke will replace Master Chief? Can Spartan 117 ever be replaced? Also will Halo 5 be the first game we don’t play as John 117?

I personally don’t think so, and it just won’t be the same without MC at the helm. Then again the franchise has to move forward and our old luck-infused “demon” can’t live forever…and Locke might be the next to carry the Mantle of Responsibility as Halo‘s new flagship icon.

The Halo 5 multiplayer beta test was a rousing success, generating some impressive stats and arming 343 Industries with valuable data.

In other exciting Halo news, executive producer Josh Holmes revealed that Halo 5 will have dedicated servers for everything from online matchmaking to custom games. Holmes confirmed that 343i plans to do away with the peer-to-peer style networking, eliminating the dreaded “host advantage” scenario.

“We only have dedicated servers for MP in Halo 5: Guardians,” Holmes confirmed in a post on the Beyond Entertainment forums. “That’s true for matchmaking AND customs. There is no P2P.”

No one knows exactly what’s in store for Halo fans when Guardians releases exclusively on Xbox One later this year, but everyone’s excited.

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343 Industries studio head and founder Bonnie Ross has delivered an official apology for the problems surrounding the Halo: Master Chief Collection.

“With the initial release of Halo: The Master Chief Collection, however, we have not delivered the experience you deserve,” Ross said in a recent blog post on Halo Waypoint.

“I personally apologize for this on behalf of us all at 343 Industries. Our team is committed to working around the clock until these issues are resolved.”

Since it was launched two weeks ago this month, Master Chief’s return to his home console hasn’t been cause for much celebration. Rather than being a “tribute to Halo fans around the world” and earning triumphant fanfare, the game has become a testament to the current unfinished state of many next-gen games.

But Ross isn’t about to give up on Sierra 117, or the eager Spartans patiently waiting for some Halo 2 Team Deathmatch.

On behalf of 343 Industries, Ross makes a solid commitment to fix the game until it’s running smoothly for everyone. Then she even mentions an initiative to “make things right” with Halo fans.

“While our team works on continual improvements and towards solutions, my commitment to you is that we will take care of all owners of Halo: The Master Chief Collection. 

“Our primary and continued focus is first on fixing the issues at hand. Once we’ve done that, we will detail how we will make this right with our fans.

“Please accept my heartfelt apologies for the delay and for the negative aspects of your experience to date. We’re doing everything in our power to resolve it as quickly as possible.”

The Master Chief Collection has received a bounty of content updates, and 343i will undoubtedly unleash a volley of fixes and tweaks in the coming days and weeks.

But sometimes an update will cause more problems than it fixes–and as GameSpot reports, such was the case with last week’s major content update (CU).

Apparently the new fix introduces a few bugs in the user interface, which may affect in-game and post-game matchmaking.

“We realize that silence and opacity, even when we have nothing new to say, is frustrating. With each change and/or update we make, it takes time for us to capture and analyze the data to determine the tangible impact to the game experience,” 343i said.

Right now players can hop into the Halo 2: Anniversary Rumble playlist for some free-for-all action.

This playlist was introduced in light of the uneven team sizes in Team Deathmatch or objective-based matches (playing capture the flag with one man short isn’t so fun), and the Rumble playlist also gives 343i a way to test and monitor their fixes.

For news on tweaks and fixes for MCC, 343i delivers daily progress updates which can be found at http://aka.ms/mcc_updates.

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