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Halo: MCC re-adds Halo 2: Anniversary Rumble playlist
The Halo 2: Anniversary Rumble playlist is live in Halo: The Master Chief Collection, after 343 Industries stripped it out on November 14 to help ease matchmaking issues. Still, the playlist isn't finalized – it currently allows up to 10 players and doesn't feature ranking, and 343 says it will continue tweaking the playlist to eventually support up to eight players with ranked play. "Once we've ironed out existing matchmaking issues," 343 writes. Matchmaking continues to be problematic in The Master Chief Collection, and even before the game's launch on November 11, 343 had to make changes to the announced lineup of playlists. Our review noted that matchmaking was "barely functioning." On November 20, 343 released a patch aiming to fix many matchmaking issues. [Image: Microsoft]
Halo MCC playlists tweaked prior to launch, Halo CE playlist delayed
343 Industries has updated its launch-day multiplayer matchmaking playlists for Halo: The Master Chief Collection, introducing a number of last-minute tweaks to its previously announced lineup. Halo: The Master Chief Collection will debut this week with the series-spanning Team Slayer, the eSports-focused Halo Championship Series, 4v4 Halo Team Anniversary, tournament-ready Team Hardcore, and 16-player Big Team Battle, among other featured playlists. 343 notes that it has delayed the launch of a dedicated Halo: Combat Evolved playlist, and will reconfigure it to focus on 2v2 matches in response to player feedback. Halo: The Master Chief Collection premieres on November 11. [Image: 343 Industries]
Halo 2: Anniversary Original Soundtrack hits play on November 11
In a move that replicates Halo 2's soundtrack-supplemented launch in 2004, Halo 2: Anniversary Original Soundtrack will launch on November 11, right beside Halo 2: Anniversary's arrival in Halo: The Master Chief Collection. The album will be offered in CD, vinyl and digital formats, with the latter format already up for a $14.99 pre-order on iTunes. Anniversary Original Soundtrack isn't a copy-paste of the original album's track list – Xbox Wire notes that 343 Industries' Senior Audio Director Paul Lipson teamed up with Lennie Moore, Tom Salta, Brian Trifton, Brian Lee White and Skywalker Sound to "adapt and re-record the iconic Halo 2 score created by Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori." While there's no mention of Hoobastank making an encore appearance (probably you, just now) on Anniversary Original Soundtrack, new tracks from Steve Vai and Periphery's Misha Mansoor will also be included. Both the soundtrack and remake were preceded by the debut of Remaking the Legend - Halo 2: Anniversary, a documentary following Halo 2: Anniversary's creation, but Remaking the Legend will still be available on the Halo Channel on November 11. You know, just in case you wanted to surround yourself with three types of Halo 2-related media. [Image: Microsoft]
Report: Cutscene from Halo: Master Chief Collection leaks
A cutscene from Halo: The Master Chief Collection reportedly leaked during a Twitch stream of the game. The video briefly shows a loading screen that lists The Heretic level from Halo 2 before showing Agent Locke talking to Arbiter about hunting down Master Chief. Some viewers believe the scene may bridge the original Halo trilogy with the coming Xbox One exclusive, Halo 5: Guardians, as Locke has a role in the next game in the series. Head past the break to check the video out for yourself, but act fast, as these types of leaked videos tend to disappear quickly. Halo: The Master Chief Collection will launch on November 11 for Xbox One. [Image: Microsoft]
Halo 2: Anniversary documentary lands on Friday
Remaking the Legend – Halo 2: Anniversary, a documentary about the creation of Halo 2: Anniversary, is due to premiere on October 31 free on Xbox Video and streaming on Twitch at 11AM PT / 2PM ET that same day, with additional airings to follow. The film will be available on the Halo Channel on November 11, and it will re-air on Twitch on November 1 and 2. See the full schedule after the break. Remaking the Legend delves into the history of the Halo franchise with an emphasis on the creation of Halo 2: Anniversary from 343 Industries and Microsoft. "How do you remake a title that is so beloved by fans?" Tina Summerford, Director of Programming for 343 Industries asked in an Xbox blog post. "How do you decide what must stay the same and what can be updated? It takes an army to build any game and we realized this process was one that the Halo Nation rarely gets a glimpse into. We hit the road to capture the process from top to bottom, talking to all of the key players who helped bring Halo 2: Anniversary into the next gen and giving our fans unprecedented access to this process."
343: Halo 2 Anniversary campaign not at native 1080p
The upgraded port of Halo 2 included in the Xbox One-exclusive series compilation Halo: The Master Chief Collection will not output at a native 1080p resolution, developer 343 Industries confirmed in an interview with IGN this week. The porting process initially placed Halo 2: Anniversary at 720p, due to a hardware-pushing feature that allows players to switch between its original graphics engine and an updated audiovisual presentation instantly. Further tweaking allows Halo 2's campaign to run at 1328x1080 in the retail version of The Master Chief Collection, putting it a step behind the other games in the bundle, which perform at a native 1920x1080 resolution. Microsoft initially pledged that all games in The Master Chief Collection would hit a consistent 60 frames-per-second performance at 1080p. 343 executive producer Dan Ayoub explained that Halo 2: Anniversary's current 1328x1080 resolution required a last-minute push from its development team. "The campaign of Halo 2: Anniversary looked fantastic at 720p with the level of detail and clarity it gave us, but like every other aspect of the game and tech, we wanted to push it further," Ayoub said. "So in the last weeks of development, our teams were able to meet a stretch goal and the campaign of Halo 2: Anniversary now runs 60 fps at a crisp resolution of 1328x1080, which is a significant and meaningful boost in image quality we think fans are really going to appreciate. All of the other games across the entire package of The Master Chief Collection run 60 fps at 1920x1080 native." [Image: Microsoft]
The Master Chief Collection getting Halo 2's 'Warlock' map
The final Halo 2 map being remade for the Halo: The Master Chief Collection is Warlock, Microsoft announced today. The multiplayer map was itself a remake of the Wizard map from Halo: Combat Evolved. Warlock, now known as "Warlord," joins five other multiplayer maps from Halo 2 that will return in the The Master Chief Collection: Ascension, Coagulation, Lockout, Sanctuary and Zanzibar. The map will include "additional cover, new skill jumps, and a new weapon in the center," according to Certain Affinity President Max Hoberman, former multiplayer lead designer for the original version of Halo 2. Microsoft first revealed the collection during its E3 2014 press event in June following rumors of the bundle's existence in May. Halo: The Master Chief Collection packs together Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3 and Halo 4, and is Xbox One exclusive. It will also include formerly PC-exclusive maps from the first two games. The collection will launch on November 11. [Image: Microsoft]
A Halo 2 cutscene transforms for The Master Chief Collection
How much work does Blur Studio put into revamping and remaking Halo 2's cutscenes for Halo 2 Anniversary? Quite a bit more than the minute-and-a-half's worth you see in the video above, but we're okay with a highlight reel. If you want to see just how far visual fidelity has progressed since 2004 and the original Xbox, take a look at the trailer Microsoft, 343 Industries and Blur showed during their panel at San Diego Comic-Con this year and watch as Miranda Keyes transforms from polygonal puppet to a soldier straight out of the uncanny valley. If Blur's work makes you hungry for more, you won't have to wait much longer: Halo 2 Anniversary will be included as part of Halo: The Master Chief Collection, which hits Xbox One on November 11 this year. [Image: Blur Studio]
Halo 2: Anniversary's new cinematics are a Blur of beauty
Halo: The Master Chief Collection made an appearance at San Diego Comic-Con this week, bringing with it new screenshots of the re-imagined "Zanzibar" map and a trailer showcasing Halo 2: Anniversary's revamped cutscenes. Blur Studio, which has had its hand in many of today's most visually spectacular cinematics and commercials - including those for Halo 4 and Batman: Arkham Origins - is the company to thank for Master Chief and friends' high-res makeovers, while 343 Industries and Certain Affinity can claim responsibility for the new Zanzibar. Scope out the map and concept art below to prep yourself for the battles waiting for you on November 11. [Image: Microsoft]
Halo 2: Anniversary 'Gungoose' is Mongoose with top gun
This past weekend at RTX 2014 in Austin, we learned that the "Gungoose," the Halo universe's Mongoose ATV with a big gun welded to the front, will make it into Halo 2: Anniversary. Halo 2: Anniversary, for its part, will come bundled in with Halo: The Master Chief Collection when it's released later this year. "One of the best things to do with the Gungeese is to play a new game variant for Halo: The Master Chief Collection. It's Gungoose [Capture the Flag] and our favorite map to play it on is ... Coagulation," according to Halo Waypoint. The Master Chief Collection will be available November 11 for $60. Check out the Gungoose after the break.
Report: Halo 2 Anniversary coming this year, says Master Chief voice actor [update]
Update: Downes is now distancing himself from his earlier statement and denying that he has insider knowledge of an imminent re-release of Halo 2. "What I said was: 'I think you're ahead of yourself on H5. I have read some things online that you can look forward to a H2 anniversary edition maybe this year, but I have no official information one way or the other,'" Downes told IGN. "I was just mentioning some of the things I had read online about Halo 2. I have no idea if there will be an anniversary edition and didn't mean to leave that impression." Original: A high-definition re-release of Halo 2 may appear later this year, if an interview with long-time Master Chief voice actor Steven Downes is to be believed.
