Master Chief
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Kratos coming to 'Fortnite' could be the first of several video game cameos
You can now play in Fortnite as Kratos from the God of War series, either as a single skin or in a bundle with a Mimir back bling.
I won't be playing 'Halo 5: Guardians' and here's why
In the early 2000s, four-player, split-screen Halo was a revelation for my then-girlfriend Jenn (who would later become my wife), her two sisters and me. It was amazing, frantic, swear-filled fun. Controllers were thrown; tempers flared. But that's all sadly in the past. Last week, Halo's current custodian, 343 Industries, revealed that it's abandoning local split-screen multiplayer and native LAN support for this fall's Halo 5: Guardians. We knew from earlier reports that local campaign co-op was out of the question, at least at launch, but the Ars Technica report confirms we won't see any split-screen multiplayer modes or native LAN support. Allow me to repeat: No local multiplayer. None. In a Halo game. For me, and likely many other longtime Halo fans, the news is a bitter pill to swallow.
This is the 'Halo 5: Guardians' collector's edition statue
$250 worth of static love from Master Chief.
'Halo: The Master Chief Collection' needs 20GB day-one patch
When the long-awaited Halo: The Master Chief Collection gets released next month, the first thing players will have to do is download what's estimated to be a 20GB update, according to developer 343 Industries. The day-one patch, which is required to unlock multiplayer and add other features, isn't particularly shocking when you consider that this a 4-in-1 title -- still, that's asking for a lot of hard drive space from users. "Our philosophy has been to give Halo fans the best possible experience and not compromise the quality or features of the collection," Dan Ayoub, Halo External Development's studio head, wrote in a blog post. "The result is that Halo: The Master Chief Collection will take up almost all of the usable space of a single Blu-ray (45 GB)." In addition, Ayoub let it be known that Spartan Ops, a co-op mode for Halo 4, won't be coming to The Master Chief Collection until December, which will likely disappoint a few fans of the franchise. But, most importantly, how do you feel? Let us know in the comments section.
That Destiny logo sure does look familiar ...
When you're an artist, inspiration can strike from anywhere. A beautiful scene of nature. An abstract form of clay. The crotch of a cybernetic super-soldier. Okay, so we highly doubt that whoever came up with the logo for Bungie's Destiny was purposefully channeling SPARTAN-II pelvis in their design, but Reddit user Starboy11 nonetheless noticed a striking similarity between the armor plating over Bungie-created hero Master Chief's groin and the logo for the studio's upcoming Destiny earlier today. And now, much like Bomberman making a cameo on the cover of BioShock 2, we cannot unsee what has been seen. [Image: Bungie/Starboy11]
Rumor: Halo 1-4 bundled in Master Chief Collection for Xbox One
The saga of Master Chief will be packaged up in Halo: The Master Chief Collection for Xbox One this year, Engadget reported. The bundle will seemingly combine Bungie's Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2 and Halo 3 as well as 343 Industries' contribution, Halo 4, into one HD-remastered pack. The Master Chief Collection will apparently ignore Halo 3: ODST and Halo: Reach in order to hone in on the story of the iconic hero. The bundle would tide fans of the series over for the time being, as Halo 5: Guardians is slated to launch on Xbox One in fall 2015. [Image: Microsoft]
Watch Mario destroy Master Chief, Connor and Lara Croft
With all the advances in video game technology, it's easy to forget simpler times. Mario never needed guns or knives or a cybernetic super suit. Sometimes, as this video proves, all you need is a pair of overalls, some sturdy boots and one mighty impressive keister. A fortuitous Piranha Plant doesn't hurt either.
Halo 4 Master Chief statue coming to protect your desk from tiny aliens
A limited edition, 12-inch tall statue of Master Chief will be available via McFarlane Toys starting December 6 for $295, the action figure and collectibles company has revealed. The statue depicts Master Chief as he appears in Halo 4 - or more accurately, how he appears on the game, as the pose seems modeled after the Halo 4 cover. Each of the limited run of 1,000 statues will come with a Certificate of Authenticity signed by Todd McFarlane, as well as three interchangeable weapons: the Assault Rifle, the Energy Sword and the Boltshot. The statue's official page does not currently offer pre-orders, so if you want to get your hands on Chief before the Covenant Didact other collectors do, you'll want to keep a vigilant watch on the McFarlane Toys site.
New Halo 4 figures include the most adorable Cortana ever
Funko's Pop! Vinyl line of collectible figurines is welcoming four new Halo 4 figures into its already plentiful ranks of super-deformed pop-culture characters. Available on November 8, the new line includes Master Chief, both red and blue Spartan Warriors, as well as the unbelievably cute Cortana figure seen above.Seriously, it's like if Betty Boop were a hyper-intelligent, holographic artificial intelligence from the future. Check out all four figures in the gallery below.%Gallery-169460%
Halo 4 'Scanned' launch trailer is here
Halo 4's extravagant 'Scanned' launch trailer takes a peek behind the helmet of Master Chief, the stoic cyborg with humanity at heart. It's not exactly a biopic, but you get a decent dose of anguish and cybernetic aliens for your 2:22.
343 turns the other cheek: Halo 4 won't reveal Master Chief's face
Halo 4 won't reveal Master Chief's face, so if you were playing the Halo series solely for a glimpse of chiseled space soldier jawline, it might be time to throw in the towel. 343 Industries is continuing the faceless precedent set by Bungie, which refrained from showing Master Chief's visage throughout its time with the franchise.Not that we don't know what Master Chief looks like – he's described in detail in the 2001 novel Halo: The Fall of Reach."The funny thing about the Chief is he's actually really well described," O'Connor tells Eurogamer. "If you went down into that line and found a nerd with a deep canon Halo t-shirt and said describe the Master Chief to this police sketch artist, that police sketch artist would then produce a perfectly accurate rendering of an older man, almost painfully pale, almost albino white, with pale blue eyes, reddish hair, close cropped to a skin head, and maybe the last remnants of freckles he had when he was a kid."O'Connor wants to keep the mystery alive and doesn't want fans to feel alienated by an official face. "That's a device to keep the player invested in the character and keep the player from constantly being reminded that they're not a hero or that they have to be a boy or they have to be a girl, or whatever that is," O'Connor says.Maybe it's better this way, super fans. More often than not, on-screen adaptations of book descriptions are supremely disappointing.
Potential spoilers for Halo 4 story unleashed in official assets
A barrage of Halo 4 media and pre-launch information has led a few fans to uncover more about the story than 343 Industries may have intended. The following information may be considered a spoiler; it names the supposed main antagonist and contains a snippet of the motion-capture script revealing a potentially pivotal scene with him, Master Chief and Cortana, as collected by NeoGAF:
Master Chief surveys the Art of Halo 4 book cover
Above, your eyes can gaze upon the cover of the upcoming Awakening: The Art of Halo 4 art book, featuring all sorts of concept art and designs from Microsoft's upcoming Halo 4. It's got everything you want in a Halo book cover, including Master Chief, some crazy epic Forerunner structure, and a trusty assault rifle. Actually, that's not quite true; we could use at least a little Covenant. Is that a Covvie ship flying through the background? Unclear. You'll have to wait to get a better look when the book arrives on store shelves in November, along with the new game itself.
Minecraft XBLA Skin Pack also includes Master Chief
What cavalcade of Minecraft skins would be complete without everyone's favorite cyborg? Play XBLA revealed Master Chief as one of the 40 different skins coming to Minecraft on Xbox Live Arcade.As you can see above, Master Chief isn't the only recognizable blockhead in the group. Skin Pack 1 also includes Danklef, a scientist from 'Splosion Man, and Old-School Trials Evolution Guy.%Gallery-159877%
Master Chief and his cryotube toy set
Master Chief is getting a cool deluxe figurine set from McFarlane Toys featuring everyone's favorite interstellar peace-keeper in a UNSC cryotube. The set includes a posable Master Chief, the cryotube (complete with realistic frost detail) and a pistol, and will be available in August.McFarlane is also developing figurines of Master Chief, an Elite Zealot, a Storm Grunt, a Spartan Warrior, Cortana, a Spartan Soldier and two new enemies, the Crawler and the Watcher.The cryogenic Master Chief appears to be extremely similar to the initial prototype McFarlane showed off in February, which means we still wonder how he goes about turning his head between Madonna's cast-off shoulder pads. At least his all-essential forearms are protected.
Master Chief called in to resolve Syria, reports BBC
During a news segment on the United Nations' involvement in the Syrian conflict, the BBC aired an image of the UNSC – the fictitious United Nations Space Command from Halo.The image, shown in the background of the clip above, even gets a special spotlight as the camera zooms in on the anchor as she discusses the very serious, very real issues plaguing Syria over the past year.The BBC has since acknowledged and apologized for airing the Halo logo, telling Eurogamer, "BBC News makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all images broadcast, however very occasionally mistakes do happen. Unfortunately an incorrect logo was used during a segment on last week's News at One bulletin and we apologise to viewers for the mistake."The image was not broadcast in our later bulletins."Even if the BBC has stopped airing the USNC logo, the error has of course popped up on YouTube. The most obvious logic behind the mistake is that BBC editors searched Google Images for "United Nations Security Council symbol" and snagged the Halo UNSC logo that popped up in the results, but we like to think it was a subtle message to focus more efforts on quickly appeasing the situation in Syria – more efforts involving Master Chief.
Halo 4 bringing the Battle Rifle back, introducing unlockable abilities in progression system
Few fictional weapons can drum up their own cult following. The cadence and rat-tat-tat ruthlessness of Halo's Battle Rifle is unmistakable no matter which side of the barrel you're on. It's a death sentence in the right hands, punctuated by an ellipsis of bullets ... and painfully described in overwrought, armament love letters built on phrases like "ellipsis of bullets." As far as iconic Halo bits and pieces go, the Battle Rifle seems almost as inextricable as Master Chief.And yet the cyborg with humanity at heart skipped enough games for Microsoft to make a big deal out of his return in Halo 4. The new (ish) franchise custodians at 343 Industries are in a tight spot, where they have to shape a message not only around what's new, but what's coming back. The Battle Rifle's return is an easy way to establish the latter, then, especially to those fans who couldn't wrap their heads around the weapon's disappearance in the first place.Speaking to Joystiq in an interview last year, former Bungie game designer Jaime Griesemer saw the weapon as a piece of deadly nostalgia. "It's not just a weapon, it's the weapon," he said. "For a skilled player, they spend most of their time using that one weapon. If you never miss, it's the most effective tool in the toolbox. So for them, Halo 3 is the Battle Rifle. All their Halo emotion and experience is tied up in it. So it isn't surprising to me when people react that way."How daunting must it be to work in a space where a video game gun can reach beloved status? It's no wonder Microsoft is being sensitive and cryptic about Halo 4, which introduces what could be the biggest, most widespread (and controversial) change to the multiplayer in years. According to 343, Halo 4 will add customizable loadouts and abilities that are unlocked through a progression system.%Gallery-149446%
Halo 4's Master Chief steps boldly into the physical realm
We first got a look at Halo 4's Master Chief with this epic picture of him being born from an exploding robot womb, and the physical version made by McFarlane Toys stays true to that rendition, right down to the placement of the chink in his armor. If Microsoft approves this prototype, Halo 4 will mark a departure from previous armor designs, which have generally offered more coverage around Master Chief's vital organs, and more mobility around the neck and shoulders. Because that's what armor should do.For example, the Halo 4 version offers a squishy black bullseye over Master Chief's heart, while in Halo 3 that area was covered in sturdy green armor. The bicep patches in the above design look large enough to carry your emblem of choice (unicorn), but not to stop advanced-technology bullets from piercing your skin as previous armor versions do. Also, he's fighting a galactic war, not practicing advanced yoga -- there is no reason for that much uncovered space on his hips.Microsoft will decide if this prototype is close enough to in-game reality before it launches in the fall as part of McFarlane's Halo 4 lineup, which will include brand new weapons, characters and vehicles. This year McFarlane also plans to drop two new product lines based in the Halo universe: Micro Ops, which offers classic figures at 1:100 standard size, and Halo Avatars, 2.5-inch physical renditions of Xbox Live avatars.
Tough Economy: Even Master Chief has to buy Halo
With engagement ring in pocket, Geekadelphia founder (and friend of the site!) Eric Smith was dumped. While most people would be immediately thrown into a deep depression, Smith opted instead to sell the ring and buy a suit of Master Chief armor. He wrote about the ordeal last week in an essay called "Master Grief" on Bygone Bureau, which was promptly picked up by every website in existence. Which brings us to the above video. What does someone with a full suit of Master Chief's MJOLNIR armor do when a new Halo game – specifically Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary – comes out? If you answered, "pre-order it on Amazon" well ... you're probably right. But if you're Eric Smith, you drag your ass through Center City Philadelphia and film it. You'd think Chief would be on some kind of VIP list.
343 goes behind the scenes of Halo: Anniversary's campaign
This latest trailer from Microsoft's 343 Industries goes behind the scenes on Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary's campaign mode, which the team tells us has been carefully updated graphically and with extra features like online co-op mode, skull modifiers, 3D, and even that Kinect functionality we learned about last weekend. And there's a lot of thought going into these features: Master Chief's retro armor, for example, was iterated on for a good six to seven months (including cues from fan feedback after its first appearance at E3) before the team arrived at the final version. As Franchise Development Director Frank O'Connor himself says, the updated game certainly seems like quite a smörgåsbord for the Halo fan, all for just $40. Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary is due out on November 15.
