Tag: Halo
Talking Point Is There A Popular Xbox Franchise You've Struggled To Get Into?
Maybe Halo? Gears? Forza?
It's time for a confession - I've never really been a fan of the Gears series. Yes, Gears 5 looked incredible when I first played it on the Xbox Series X in 2020, and Gears Tactics was pretty fun too, but in general it's just never grabbed me as much as I'd hoped. I tried starting again with Gears 1 recently (which might...
News Forza Horizon 5 Adds Halo Props So You Can Create A UNSC Racetrack On Xbox
Finish the slide
Developer Playground Games has detailed its latest Forza Horizon 5 update, and it contains a nice bonus feature for you Halo fans out there. Courtesy of Halo Studios, 71 props from the famous sci-fi franchise are now usable in Forza Horizon 5's EventLab mode - allowing players to create some wild Halo-themed courses and events...
News Halo Infinite Shows Off New 'SMG-Class' Weapon, Arriving Next Week
Cross-referenced with the SMGs from Halo 2, ODST & 5
After a teaser earlier this week, the Halo Infinite team has now officially lifted the lid on the 'MA5K Avenger' in its latest livestream. This new fully automatic rifle has a "commanding presence" when it comes to close-quarters combat in Halo Infinite multiplayer. It's an "SMG-class" weapon,...
News Xbox Legend Major Nelson Shares Fun Fact About The Halo Series X's 'Celestial Design'
We love the design of this console!
This month has seen the release of the Galaxy Black Xbox Series X along with a couple of other console variants from Microsoft, and that's big news considering there's barely been anything along these lines throughout the generation. Arguably, the only notable exception is the Halo Infinite Limited Edition Xbox...
News Halo Veteran's Return To The Series Is Just Speculation For Now
What will Joe Staten do next?
Yesterday, news surfaced about Netflix Games shutting down its Team Blue studio – a development team that was reportedly working on a new 'AAA' project with the help of Halo veteran Joseph Staten. Following this studio update, there are rumours swirling around the Halo and Xbox community about Staten potentially...
News Xbox & Halo Veteran Leaves Netflix Games Following Closure Of AAA Studio
He was working on a major project that's now been shelved
A couple of years ago, Xbox and Halo veteran Joseph Staten announced that he was leaving Microsoft to embark on a new adventure, which ultimately ended up being a role on "Team Blue" at Netflix Games working on a new AAA project. Unfortunately, it's been confirmed to Game File this week that...
Rumour Call Of Duty X Halo Crossover Apparently Got Axed
Leak says it was coming to MW3, so how about BO6?
With Activision now part of the Xbox family, there have been talks about all sorts of game franchises coming together and collaborating. We've already seen this with certain games, but one crossover we're yet to see is Call of Duty X Halo. According to the latest rumour, there was a point in time...
News Hallmark Launches Halo Master Chief Ornament For Christmas
Chief is for life, but also for Christmas
As we steamroll through October, it's becoming that time of year where the Christmas goodies start to roll out, and there's always a neat Xbox prezzie or two floating around at this time of year. Following on from its original Xbox ornament, Hallmark has just released a Halo Master Chief Christmas ornament,...
Poll Which Of These Is Your Favourite 343 Industries Halo Game?
As we move on to 'Halo Studios'
So, alongside Xbox's big push towards an Unreal Engine 5 shaped future for Halo, Microsoft's long-term steward of the franchise will be no more - in name anyway. Yep, 343 Industries will soon become Halo Studios, which poses the question - which is the best Halo game that 343 has produced? We're going t
News New Rumour Claims 'Halo Infinite 2' Slipspace Project Was Axed
It wouldn't be a surprise given the swap to UE5
Microsoft announced major news earlier this week - revealing the rebrand of 343 as 'Halo Studios' and that future Halo titles would be developed on Unreal Engine 5 going forward. Now, a new "exclusive" from 'Rebs Gaming' has reportedly shed light on the lead up to this big change and what might have...
Talking Point Does Xbox's 'New Dawn' For Halo Mean The Series Will Come To PS5?
Let the speculation begin
Xbox has only just rebranded 343 Industries to 'Halo Studios' in the wake of the series' big Unreal Engine 5 revolution - and already the speculation is out there that this hints at a strong push towards a PS5 release. That speculation may partly derive from previous reports suggesting Xbox was working on a Halo: Combat...
News Halo Dev Explains Decision Behind Ditching Its Old Game Engine
Slipspace is no more
Xbox has announced that its Halo team is making massive changes moving forward, not only re-branding to 'Halo Studios' but also moving to an entirely new game-making toolset with Unreal Engine 5. This means that what was 343 Industries is completely ditching its proprietary 'Slipspace Engine' used to develop Halo Infinite - and...
News Halo Enters 'New Dawn' With New Studio Name, Engine And Games
'Halo Studios' is developing multiple games on UE5
Before kicking off the 2024 Halo World Championships, Microsoft announced a "new dawn" for the Halo series - with 343 Studios rebranding (and expanding) as Halo Studios while also revealing a new game engine and a new philosophy. Going forward, the Halo series will now run on Unreal Engine 5. All...
News Xbox 360 Classic Halo 3: ODST Celebrates Its 15th Anniversary
"Remember the Rookie"
Microsoft is already planning for certain other Halo and Xbox-related anniversaries, but right now, the focus is on the Xbox 360 classic Halo 3: ODST. Believe it or not, but it's now been 15 years since we dropped into New Mombasa as a rookie on a mission to locate Alpha-Nine. This also includes the debut of the wave-based...
News Xbox Exec Reveals How Much Money Microsoft Has Made From Halo
And it's probably grown since!
Look, we know that Halo is one of Xbox's biggest franchises - it's been synonymous with the brand since 2001 when it made its OG Xbox debut. It's always been safe to assume that the famous sci-fi series makes plenty of bank for Microsoft, and a new LinkedIn post hints at the kind of money the Xbox owner is bringing in...
News Microsoft Is 'Building Plans' For The 25th Anniversary Of Xbox And Halo
"We’re building plans for the 25th anniversary"
By the time 2026 rolls around, the original Xbox and its seminal debut of Halo will be 25 years old, and just like 2021 — where the pair hit 20 years of age — Microsoft has big plans for the upcoming anniversary. Speaking in a new interview with License Global, head of Xbox gaming consumer...
News Halo's Cancelled Mega Bloks Prototype Game Just Got Released
A talented group has restored project 'Haggar'
Halo tends to focus on its mainline series, but there have been some spin-offs throughout its history. One of these games was actually the cancelled project 'Haggar' - probably better remembered as a third-person-style Halo game set in the world of Mega Bloks. Apparently there's been some progress...
News Xbox's Longtime Halo Developer 343 Industries Is On The Lookout For A New Creative Director
"Come and help us build the future of Halo"
It's looking like Xbox is full steam ahead when it comes to building the next Halo game, with the Halo Infinite developer on the lookout for major new hires. Back in July, 343 Industries confirmed that it was the team to lead Xbox's famous franchise into the future, and now it's hiring for a creative...
Random Xbox Fan Discovers Their '$13K' Copy Of Halo Is Only Worth $25
"It does kinda suck"
Those who are big fans of the American TV show "Pawn Stars" will likely have come across a segment featuring Halo: Combat Evolved in the most recent episode, in which an owner believes they possess a copy worth $13,000. What follows is a bizarre explanation of the game by host Chumlee (who has seemingly doesn't know it very...
News Xbox Exec Wants To 'Recreate History' When Bringing Call Of Duty To Game Pass
"We are trying to recreate that history"
Back in the day, during the Xbox 360 era specifically, Xbox was closely aligned with the Call of Duty series. Microsoft would advertise each release, DLC packs started to come out first on Xbox, and generally speaking, when you thought of COD you thought of the 360. Well, in response to a meme posted on...
News Halo Infinite's 'Massive' Forge Mode Update Adds Over 1,000 Jeff Steitzer Voice Lines
"Unfrigginbelievable!"
Halo Infinite has been updated over time with all sorts of new content and quality-of-life enhancements. This includes improvements to the game's Forge mode, and the next one on the way is apparently going to be "massive". This update will arrive alongside the new operation on July 30th, 2024, and brings new features like...
News Halo TV Show Cancelled By Paramount+ After Two Seasons
Xbox will reportedly seek "another outlet for a third season"
We've got some breaking news about the Halo TV Show, with Paramount+ announcing it's officially cancelling the series after two seasons. Here is the official Paramount+ statement about the cancellation of its Halo series (via The Hollywood Reporter): “We are extremely proud of this...
News 343 Responds To Rumours About The Studio Outsourcing Halo Development
It ain't happening, chief
There seems to have been some strong rumours going around recently suggesting that Xbox studio 343 Industries was moving towards an 'overseer' role for future Halo games - hinting that they'd no longer be the series' core developer. Well, a number of sources have now come out to shut down those rumours, including a comment...
News Hallmark's Musical Xbox Ornament Sounds Like A Must-Buy This Christmas
Update: It's available now!
Update (Mon 15th Jul, 2024): Just a quick update to say this ornament is now officially available to buy! You can grab it via the Hallmark US website (as shown down below), and it seems to be proving very popular already. <products id="26461"> Original story (Mon 15th Apr, 2024): Yes, it's a bit early to start...
News Halo Infinite Adds New Big Team Battle Mode In Latest Xbox Update
"Introducing BTB: Sentry Defense!"
There's still plenty of life in Halo Infinite yet, as evidenced by its latest update on Xbox and PC. This introduces a new 20-tier Operation Pass, a bunch of freebies, and a brand-new Big Team Battle mode! That mode is called Big Team Battle: Sentry Defense, which is playable across six maps (Fragmentation,...
News Halo Infinite's New Update Adds Handy Feature From Master Chief Collection
The Match Composer returns
343 Industries has today launched its Tenrai IV update for Halo Infinite and it comes with all sorts of new content and features. First of all, is the new Match Composer - a feature players of Halo: The Master Chief Collection will already be familiar with. This allows Spartans to choose which game modes "they would (or...
News Halo Infinite's Latest Update Adds New In-Game Currency
Spartan points and the new exchange shop arrive
343's latest title Halo Infinite has just rolled out its new update 'Banished Operations', and it comes loaded with new content, bug fixes, several new features as well as new in-game currency and an Exchange shop. This new form of currency is called "Spartan Points" (SP) and can be earned by...
News Halo Support Studio Certain Affinity Axes 25 Jobs
The first major layoff in its "17+ year history"
There have already been a bunch of layoffs this year and now Certain Affinity (known for helping out with Halo and Call of Duty) has let go of 25 US-based employees. In a message on its official website, the company announced it had made the "extremely difficult decision" to eliminate these roles. It...
Poll So, What Did You Think Of The Halo TV Show's Season 2 Finale?
Let us know, Spartan
Well, the fight isn't over for Master Chief yet, but season two of Paramount's Halo TV Show has officially concluded. After some high and low points throughout the season, the finale was rather action-packed from start to finish. The season finally got to this pivotal episode - setting the scene for a third season. While we...
News Halo Infinite Refreshes Squad Battles With Six New Community Maps
Released alongside Content Update 31
In case you missed it, there's a new content update available for Halo Infinite multiplayer. It includes a networking overhaul, easy anti-cheat, and much more. As part of this, 343 Industries is also doing a Squad Battle map refresh - adding six new community maps from some of the most talented Forgers. Here's...
News Halo TV Showrunner Admits Budget Limited Fall Of Reach Screen Time
The team "couldn't afford" to spend more episodes on it
The second season of the Halo TV series has had some interesting moments, but many questions (and plenty of theories) were raised when the Fall of Reach (simply titled 'Reach' in the show) was limited to just a single episode. Now, in this week's Xbox podcast, the show's executive producer and...
News 'Red Vs. Blue' Halo Web Series Company Rooster Teeth Shutting Down
The final season of the show airs later this year
It's Master Chief's birthday this week, but unfortunately, there's some sad news for fans of the long-running Halo machinima Red vs. Blue. Not only is the final season of the web series arriving in 2024, but it's now also been revealed the company behind it, Rooster Teeth, is being shut down by...
News Halo Infinite's Latest Update Refreshes 'Husky Raid' Playlist & Adds Free 20-Tier Pass
"Dive into the cybernetic grid"
Halo Infinite is still rolling out regular content updates for its multiplayer component and the latest event 'Cyber Showdown III' lands today. This new update, which is live until April 2, gives Spartans access to a free 20-tier Operation Pass. This includes new unlocks like armor coating, visors, new charms,...
News Halo's Legendary Composer Marty O'Donnell Announces Political Career Switch
House of Reckoning? Nah, more like House of Representatives
Back in June 2021, Halo's legendary Bungie-era composer Marty O' Donnell announced that he was thinking of calling time on his career in gaming - and we must admit, we didn't expect him to announce such a huge career shift less than three years later. Taking to Twitter today, O'Donnell has...
Poll What Did You Think Of The Halo TV Show's Latest Episode? (S2, E5)
Kwan and Laera save the day
Paramount's second season of the Halo series is well underway, and this week episode five aired. We now know most of the main cast in the show have managed to survive the Covenant's invasion of Reach. While we won't go into any major details, the latest episode eventually slowed things down with far less action. John and...
News Halo Co-Creator Who Founded New Battlefield Studio Has Left EA
An abrupt departure, it seems
Since the rocky launch and mixed fan reception for Battlefield 2042, EA has been re-shaping the future of the franchise through various different internal projects. One of those projects, a new single-player installment in the series, has seemingly just lost one of its directors. Marcus Lehto, who co-created Halo in...
Random Halo TV Show's Latest Episode Pays Respect To OG Xbox
Here's a look
In case you missed it, Halo's fourth episode of Season 2 aired this week, and in one segment in the episode, fans have spotted a neat little Easter egg paying respects to the series' video game history. Early on in this episode at the beginning of the Covenant invasion of Reach, Master Chief and Corporal Perez stumble across an...
Poll Are You Enjoying Season 2 Of The Halo TV Show?
We've reached the halfway mark, Chief
We're now halfway through the second season of Paramount's Halo series with Episode 4 of Season 2 airing yesterday. Leading into this episode, there was a lot of excitement about the Covenant's invasion of Reach finally getting underway. So we're curious to know at this point what everyone here on Pure Xbox...
News 343 Devs Pitched '20-30 Game Ideas Over 12 Years', Including New ODST Spin-Off
Ah, what could have been
Halo studio 343 Industries has been heavily focused on Infinite in recent years, as Microsoft attempted to breathe new life into the series after the bumpy ride that was Halo 5. While we very much enjoyed the team's 2021 release, it sounds like we could have seen a lot of different Halo styles in recent years if 343 and Xbox...
News Halo Infinite Refreshes Big Team Battle With Five New Community Maps
Here's a first look
343 Industries has this week refreshed the Halo Infinite Big Team Battle multiplayer mode with five new community-made maps. This "nearly" doubles the total map pool, giving Spartans a good mix of vehicular combat and on-foot firefights. Some of these maps might even look familiar. Here's exactly what's featured in this latest...
News Halo TV Show Master Chief Actor Reveals Why Cortana Looks Different In Season 2
The new showrunner played a part
Paramount's second season of the Halo The Series is now streaming, and if you've been wondering why Cortana looks different this time around, Master Chief's actor Pablo Schreiber has shed some light on this change. While Cortana's original live-action model didn't go down so well with some fans in the first season,...
Talking Point Halo 3 Fans Debate Whether An 'Anniversary' Remaster Is Necessary
"Human faces in H3 look worse than playdough"
Back in 2011, we were treated to Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary on Xbox 360, updating the original Halo from 10 years earlier with a visual overhaul, a bunch of multiplayer improvements, and various other bonus features. This was followed up with Halo 2: Anniversary as part of Halo: The Master Chief...
News 343 Hires New Art Director To Lead 'A Very Exciting New Era' For Halo
"I am incredibly proud to join 343 Industries"
Halo developer 343 Industries appears to making moves for its next major release. Following on from hints last month at an 'unannounced' project being in the works, the team has hired a brand-new art director to lead the series "into a very exciting new era". The news comes from LinkedIn, where former...
News Halo TV Showrunner Describes Season 2 As 'Grittier, More Grounded, More Visceral Ride'
Kiki Wolfkill: "It's our job to step up and do the best we can"
We've already heard one of the Halo TV Show's new actors talk up Season 2 - calling it the Halo he "wanted to see", but if you still aren't convinced, some higher-ups working on Paramount's hit series have also chimed in. Speaking to GamesRadar+ again, the show's executive producer and...
News Halo TV Show Actor Says Season 2 Is A Great Time To 'Jump In'
It "takes it more in a direction like the games"
Season 2 of Halo on Paramount Plus kicks off this week and so far the critic reception has gone down pretty well. If you are wondering whether now is the time to jump in or not, one of the newcomers to the show's cast thinks it's the perfect time. When asked by GamesRadar+ if fans should hop straight...
Random Halo Infinite's New Multiplayer Map Is Hiding A Secret Vehicle
Spoiler alert...
Earlier this week, 343 Industries rolled out "Content Update 29" for Halo Infinite after officially announcing the game's seasons had come to an end. As part of this, it released a new multiplayer map called 'Illusion' which draws some inspiration from Halo's original experiences. While we've already spotlighted a cool room...
News Halo Infinite Releases New Halo Wars-Themed Operation, Reveals Free 20-Tier Pass
Content Update 29 is out today
Halo Infinite receives a brand-new update today, which sees the departure of Seasons and the introduction of content updates. As previously noted, Content Update 29 adds a new Arena map "Illusion", new Forge features including a 'Covenant object palette, a free Mark IV armor core and
News Halo Infinite Says Goodbye To 'Seasons' With Community Montage
From here on out it's "Content Updates"
Last week, 343 Industries announced it would be ending "Seasons" in Halo Infinite, with this model being replaced by "Content Updates" in the future. With this in mind, the developer has now put together a compilation video of Season 5: Reckoning - highlighting the many talented players within the community...
News Halo Infinite's New Multiplayer Map Channels OG Halo, Here's A First-Look
Multiple other updates are coming next week
Last week, 343 Industries announced it would be bringing multiple new features to Halo Infinite on January 30th, including a new Arena map called "Illusion". Now, as part of this, it's published an overview along with a first-look preview trailer. The map itself evokes "the feeling and design" of maps...
Talking Point 10 Years Later, What Do You Think Of 'The Master Chief Collection' In 2024?
Are you still playing it to this day?
As ridiculous as it might seem, 2024 marks ten years since the release of Halo: The Master Chief Collection! That makes us feel very old, although to be honest it's actually more like nine years right now (it released in November 2014). Anyway, the point is that it's been a long time since this first arrived in...
