ParsnipHero

@Fiendish-Beaver Could be a privacy/cookies setting. Either that a browser issue.

@Romans12 yea, definitely. It's getting better and better with each update.

The new management at 343 has really turned it around.

I downloaded this last night. Looking forward to giving it a shot soon.

@GamingFan4Lyf Celeste left Game Pass back in 2021 so good to see it returning.

I bought Brawlhalla All Legends Pass a copy for me and a gift for my brother too. Unfortunately he’s in the UK so the gift couldn’t be redeemed.

Honestly I don’t think I noticed a difference. I could have been In the new UI for a while.

I boot up my console. Play my most recent game. Turn off console. Sometimes I’ll look at the Game Pass or the Store but not much else.

@InterceptorAlpha that’s fair. I play on US east coast in the evening so you’d assume there’s a pretty good pool of people.

I’ve had some real howlers.

@InterceptorAlpha what's your experience in Squad Battle? I know I go on and on about Squad Battle or Infinite in general but I've found the games to be;

• 80% one sided (for my team or the enemy)
• 20% balanced

A lot of team mates quit out if it's going sideways. It makes for a very frustrating experience. I think the matchmaking needs a lot of work for this playlist.

I've found myself playing Squad Battle a little less than since it launched and doing a bit of 4v4 Team Slayer and Quick Play or if I'm really looking for a change Tactical Slayer and Super Fiesta (which I sometimes refer to BS-ta).

@BrilliantBill yea, obviously big flashy in-game trailers for new features are what you expect from new seasons and limited time events. You see it time and time again with Apex Legends and their collection events during a season.

I think the bare minimum should be a blog post on Halo Waypoint though. Something which outlines what's happening this week in the game. For example, Starboard is being taken out of ranked rotation in favor of Catalyst. I have to go to reddit for people to report this stuff. Which then gets reported by Pure Xbox and maybe Eurogamer.

I suppose even a blog post on Waypoint is not really going to attract general public attention. Halo Infinite really is a product for those who remain at this point. I do see on Reddit these kinds of updates bringing back people on the Halo subreddit but again, not really the broader audience.

So many great memories from both these maps. The new leadership at 343 is really making a lot of great choices.

The only issue I have is they don’t shout about these things. Unless you follow Reddit or an Xbox site you’re not going to know. The whole thing is super low key. Any other live service would throw a marketing campaign behind some of this stuff. I honestly don’t think 343 will “market” this stuff until the season 5 trailer.

I remember going around a friends house and seeing Halo 1 playing on the telly. A scorpion tank going through some environment. It was just amazing, like nothing I'd seen on Nintendo consoles before it. Playing Beaver Creek too.

I wouldn't own an Xbox myself for a while after but I remember Halo 2 over LAN and Xbox Live.

What happened to The Division heartland?

@BAMozzy ahh. That was not clear from the message I replied to.

@BAMozzy probably most of them. Hopefully some of them can be switched to community run servers.

I prefer a wired controller so this is great. I don't need another controller though. :/

Well it had some information about Starfield in.

Unless you're a super soldier in a big green power suit you were having a good time in that showcase.

@InterceptorAlpha yes, I think that’s the consensus. It’s just good fun.

@InterceptorAlpha Squad Battle mode really has seen universal praise. It speaks both to the strength of infinite’s gameplay and critically the map design of those maps.

I think I saw it best described that 343 is great at making focused competitive maps but these maps are hard fought and fun. They strike a great casual balance.

I hope 343 keeps this playlist as a permanent one and we get Blood Gulch and Headlong added soon.

Nice. A couple of things I’d like to see animated;

• assassinations
• new intro animations (which users can select themselves)

Halo Infinite Squad Battle all weekend long. This is pure joy. Classic Halo map design with modern Halo mechanics is the best thing in a while. It doesn’t hurt there’s the career rank system too.

@Kaloudz i didn’t seriously get into online FPSes until Halo 4 on the 360 then dropped out again until Titanfall 2 and Apex Legends on PS4 at launch. I think I have Destiny 1 and Fortnite to blame for giving me the online multiplayer bug.

When I got a series X I got Halo 5 and MCC (playing mostly 4) on game pass but they didn’t hook me in like Infinite. 5 really captured my attention because of the movement being so fluid like Apex Legends but it was way too intimidating to latecomers like me. Infinite tones things down so I find is the best “modern Halo”.

The MCC tab is likely super small at this point but they’re building great things with the community.

I hope they add stuff in to console too but there has to be mod support for Xbox there’s no way so of this could come in the base game.

@Kaloudz that’s fair. I’m getting on for 40 myself but I’ve been playing online FPSes on-off since Halo 2.

@Kaloudz I love Master Chief as a character but I’ve never really been one for the story mode of Halo. The multiplayer has always been Halo for me.

@SacredPYRO unbelievable isn’t it? People want Blizzard stuff but they don’t know Blizzard. 🤣

I can't believe the comments so far asking for Blizzard games to come to Xbox. I mean, don't you folks have phones?!!

@GuyinPA75 I have to admit I tilted pretty hard yesterday in Squad Battle. We' got swept pretty hard on King of the Hill on Rat's Nest. I had 30 seconds of objective time and every other member of my team had less than 10 seconds objective time. How do you even manage that?

Objective games can be pretty amazing in BTB when they work but when they don't? It's just pain.

Played a bit of this last night. This is pure nostalgia in a playlist! My only wish was the wheel on the Zanzibar remake could rotate. Otherwise this is proper classic BTB in modern form with none of that vehicle drop in nonsense.

I gave Marble It Up! Ultra a go last night. The single player was good fun but the multiplayer wasn't up to much for me.

8 person firefight is insane. I hope we see something like this in the future in Infinite. Possibly 12 person BTB forgeable Firefight? Seeing as forgeable AI and multiplayer PvE content is coming in Season 5.

I would have had given Metaball a go but the movement just looks so clunky. On top of that the trailer focused hard on attacking plays and not so much on how you could defend. Bit of a shame I would have hoped we'd have a Rocket League style success story.

It would be nice to see a surprise announcement about some PC games coming to console. Core Keeper or Bread and Fred would be great!

I'd also like to hear about Lightyear Frontier.

@AshKirin19 they just added career progression. https://www.halowaypoint.com/news/career-rank-overview-season-4

I had to look up the difference between MORDHAU and Chivalry 2 (still on game pass!):

“Chivalry 2 aims for a more casual and approachable experience, while MORDHAU has further layers of complexity”

Looks like a pass for me then!

My brother & I were giving it a go the other day. It still holds up!

Harms Way was also a cracker from this collab too.

@Solidchief I didn’t even know there was a sequel!

Action Henk is probably the closest I’ve seen in terms of gameplay.

New Birmingham? So no Spaghetti Junction, the Bullring and maybe Digbeth to visit?

@InterceptorAlpha I recently did split screen on Infinite multiplayer. It was fun but I remember 2 things sticking out:

1. My brother doesn’t play Infinite at all and doesn’t enjoy playing online with people so we’re stuck to recruit bots
2. His customization options are really lacking outside of the myriad of colour options

We used to have 2 CRTs. One in the kitchen and one in the living room with Halo 2 whirring away. 3 was alright but 2 had Terminal with plenty of “killed by the guardians” and that wraith at the one end. Jeez… with Zanzibar and Headlong too.

Halo 2 was incredible over LAN or on live.

I can’t see myself going back to Vampire Survivors. My wife 100%’d everything; achievements, collection, bestiary et al just after the last DLC. The novelty of local coop might alright for a few games though.

@Ep_13 I agree. We might see cinematics return next season or get blog posts furthering the story.

I honestly don’t mind this. Cinematics are fine but add so little to the game. I’d rather they add other stuff to the game.

Having said the I am still interested in where the story goes but only through cinematics not blog posts.

@InterceptorAlpha I’m thinking firefight when combined with the new “mini game” forge mode being added this season.

Hopefully we’ll see campaign AI in season 5 or 6.

@Tonmoy completely agree. It’s weird because Bungie and the Destiny series don’t have a enjoyable gunplay in my opinion as Halo. 343 built on what Bungie created.

Generally speaking I play Halo and Infinite because of 343. They’ve made horrendous choices in almost every area except for the core gameplay.

I wouldn’t play Halo if it were like CoD.

Hyped for season 4! Should be interesting to see where we go with season 5.

I absolutely love it.

Great announcements but another year goes by and MS/343 fumble showing off Halo Infinite and yet we’re getting trailers for Overwatch 2?! It’s just embarrassing at this point.

This is Xbox’s biggest stage. If 343 wants to flaunt an improved Halo Infinite, this the place to do it.

I know I won’t be entirely disappointed this year. There’s going to be Halo back on the main stage again! Season 4 is shaping up well.

IT’S HALO, BABY!!

@Nightcrawler71 Diablo can be. For me the fun comes once you get in the end game. Playing interesting builds and getting better loot. It’s a real treadmill.

A little bit of Diablo IV today but the rest of the weekend nothing.

I’ll be flying back from the US East Coast to the UK to spend a few weeks with my family.