Halo 4
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Black Ops 2 topples Halo 4 on Xbox Live
Even after saving the entire galaxy (twice!), Master Chief just can't stay on top. After briefly dethroning Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 on Xbox Live during its launch week, Halo 4 is now the second most played game behind Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, according to Major Nelson. It's not too surprising, given the traditional Xbox Live dominance of Activision's annual shooter.Perhaps more interesting is seeing Hitman: Absolution (appropriately) sneak into the top 20, assassinate Halo 3 and take over its spot at number 19. Meanwhile, Minecraft looms in third place, waiting to reclaim its former glory once again.
Halo 4 Crimson Map Pack, Extraction mode arrive December 10
It looks like this week's Halo 4 leak was true, at least where the Crimson Map Pack is concerned. The first Halo 4 map pack will indeed arrive on December 10, featuring three new maps. The maps include Wreckage, "a ravaged environment of crashed debris," Harvest, the planet where humanity first encountered the Covenant, and Shatter, a UNSC crystal-mining facility.Those with the map pack will also have access to a playlist exclusively featuring the new maps. The Crimson Map Pack will be available for 800 MS Points ($10) or via the $25 War Games Map Pass, which grants access to all three of the game's planned map packs (the pass is also included with the limited edition of Halo 4).Also slated for December 10 is a new multiplayer mode called Extraction. This mode tasks each team with "extracting assets from various sites around the map." This is done by planting and subsequently defending a beacon at specific locations. Successfully defending a beacon earns a team one point. The opposing team, meanwhile, can earn points by taking the extraction site for themselves.Check out a trailer for the Crimson Map Pack above and peruse some new screens in the gallery below.%Gallery-172273%
Watch Spartan Ops: Episode 4 sans Halo 4
The fourth episode of Halo 4's "Spartan Ops" series is available now through your copy of Master Chief's latest adventure. But, if you're only interested in the gorgeous cutscenes, then here you go. You can start watching from the beginning here.
Report: Halo 4 map pack details leaked on German 360 dashboard
Dates for upcoming Halo 4 map packs reportedly leaked out via the German Xbox 360 dashboard. The Halo Council screen captured an advertisement listing the Crimson Map pack as launching on December 10, the Majestic pack on February 25, and the Castle pack on April 1.The War Games Map Pass is currently available for 2000 MSP and is set to grant access to the three packs, but developer 343 Industries hasn't announced their release dates. We've reached out to Microsoft for clarification on when the map packs are due to deploy.Update: Microsoft responded to our request for clarification by reiterating the release months for the announced packs and that it had "nothing further to announce at this time." Microsoft stated Crimson is expected in December, Majestic in February and Castle in April. [Image credit: The Halo Council]
Amazon's Sunday Lightning Deals offering more Halo 4
For those that missed out on yesterday's Halo 4 Lightning Deal, you have another shot at getting a $20 Amazon gift card and $10 in Instant Watch credit with the game today. Unfortunately, a few of the earlier deals for today have already been claimed, but if you rush to your computer with your credit card in hand, you might be able to score The World Ends With You ($14.99) and Pro Evolution Soccer 2012 ($19.99) before the deals run out.Punch your way past the break to check out the full schedule of today's Lightning Deals, courtesy of Thrifty Nerd.
Halo 4's Spartan Ops: Episode 4 out Monday, teaser out right now
The next episode of Halo 4's Spartan Ops campaign lands Monday morning at 2 a.m. Pacific, but you can watch the teaser trailer right now if that's what you're into. Episode 4, "Didact's Hand," appears to have a lot of holograms, more political intrigue and more moral relativist drama. Also, aliens.
Today's Amazon Lightning Deals include Halo 4 with $20 Amazon gift card
Amazon has a handful of fresh Lightning Deals scheduled for today, including a deal that nets you Halo 4 along with a $20 Amazon gift card and $10 in Amazon Instant Watch credit. The earlier set of sales also features Prototype 2 and the Xbox 360 4 GB holiday bundle.Check out today's sales schedule after the break, as compiled by Thrifty Nerd.
Halo 4's first three Spartan Ops cutscenes in full
If you've already enlisted with a copy of Halo 4, you can watch all these "Spartan Ops" shorts under the Infinity menu. If Halo isn't your thing, but checking out some luxe CGI is, here's the first three episodes in order.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 is 4th biggest UK launch of all time
Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 launched across the globe last week and, as sure as the Queen combines her corgis like Voltron into one giant corgi to ride around the palace, the game debuted in the top spot. We're not projecting the right gravitas here. The game didn't just premiere at the top spot in the UK, it starts out there as the fourth biggest game launch of all time, according to Chart-Track.Halo 4 stepped down one notch into second, with FIFA 13 tapping its foot in third, awaiting the moment where it can move back up once the holiday blockbusters are over. Speaking of other franchises with ridiculously long tails on the UK charts, Just Dance 4 climbed up two spots from nine to seven. FIFA and Just Dance love that top ten dance floor, check out the other members of the soul train after the break.
Xbox 360 Black Friday deals
Microsoft has posted its Black Friday (November 23) deals like a confetti bomb. Ok, let's break this down: Walmart has the glossy white 4GB Xbox 360 with Skylanders and a figurine for $150. Best Buy, Fred Meyer, Fry's and Newegg have 250GB Xbox 360 with Skyrim and Forza 4 Essentials for $200. Moms and Dads, Target, Amazon, Sams's Club, Meijer, Kmart and MS Stores have 4GB Xbox 360 with Kinect and Kinect Disneyland Adventures for $200.Other retail-specific console rando deals can be found on Major Nelson's site. There's also discounts on first-party games across the bard, with Dance Central 3, Kinect Sports Ultimate and Fable: The Journey all priced $30; Forza Horizon drops the hammer to $40.Finally, teh haloz. Grab Halo 4 at Target on November 23 or 24 and receive a $20 gift card. Grab the game from Amazon on November 22 or 23 and receive a $20 gift card, plus $10 in Amazon Instant Video Credit. Major Nelson also teases on Black Friday he'll tweet out more deals. We'll still be in a turkey coma around here.
Halo 4's third Spartan Ops episode all set for Monday
In-line with the expected schedule, Halo 4's Spartan Ops: Episode Three goes active next Monday, November 19, at 3AM Pacific. The latest episode will pick up the debate from the beginning of Halo 4, with the return of war criminal/humanity's savior Dr. Catherine Halsey.
One million players have completed Halo 4's campaign
The official Halo Waypoint blog has shared a number of stats and figures from Halo 4's first week, revealing that over a million people have already completed the new game's campaign since launch; six percent of which have finished the game on its "Legendary" difficulty setting.All of that campaign playing took up 13.5 million hours of gameplay; however, War Games was actually the most popular game mode, with four million users clocking 16 million hours of competitive multiplayer within the first five days of launching. 1.9 million hours were spent playing Spartan Ops, Halo 4's ongoing episodic co-op mode.And if you're wondering just how much overall death Halo 4 has caused, 343 says that 4,590,416,285 kills took place in all of the game modes within the tracked five-day period. That's over 4.5 billion kills, between fellow players, the Covenant, and the new Prometheans. With all of that killing, it's no wonder the planet is called Requiem.
Halo 4 gameplay myths confirmed and busted
The tactical advantages to stacking a mech on top of a Banshee are too great to ignore in this latest episode of Defend the House's video game Mythbusters series. In the first Halo 4 installment, we learn a number of valuable things about 343's Halo debut ... but who cares? You can stack a mech on a tank.[Thanks, Caleb.]
Halo 4 players cry out from atop Mt. Dew, 'Where's our double XP?' [Update: Microsoft responds]
The promotional union between Halo 4 and PepsiCo, the latter being proprietor of the vast Doritos and Mountain Dew empires, is drawing ire from the game's community today – not for the delicious blend of accelerated promotion and bold spices, but because it's not working. Players are running into issues getting their bonus experience points.Halo 4 owners must register on a promotional website before applying their codes to the game, but even those who have done so are claiming their double XP rewards as missing in action. Microsoft has yet to respond to the Halo Waypoint forums in which the complaints originate.We've contacted Microsoft to see if this is an acknowledged issue and, if so, what steps are being taken to rectify it. In the meantime, it may behoove you to hold back on the double XP and level up like the common people.Update: A Microsoft spokesperson told Joystiq that the company is aware of the issue and has already resolved it. "Last week we were made aware that some users were not being properly rewarded Double XP, and we promptly addressed the situation. Double XP rewards are now working as intended. There are still a few users that we are currently working to credit their accounts with Double XP games that were lost."[Thanks, Graeme.]
Halo 4 made $220 million day one, on track to $300 million in first week
Halo 4 has earned $220 million globally during its first 24 hours on sale. Microsoft expects the game to reach $300 million in global sales by tomorrow, making it "the biggest Halo launch in history." The company estimates the Halo franchise has earned around $3.38 billion.Although Microsoft doesn't mention how many copies of the game it sold, it does say over 4 million people played online during the first 5 days of availability. The math isn't simply a case of taking the gross and dividing by $60, however, since the limited editions of the game go for $100, and then there's the question of whether the Halo 4 console bundle ($400) and Halo 4 War Games Map Pass ($25) are included in that total."We're thrilled that Halo 4 has emerged as the biggest U.S. entertainment launch of the year," said Microsoft Studios VP Phil Spencer, knowing full well that moment is fleeting. Like, as in the next 24 hours.Tomorrow Activision launches Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, which, the company stated during a recent conference call, is expected to sell better than last year's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. For the sake of comparison, MW3 grossed over $775 million worldwide in a week (besting the $650 million record set by Call of Duty: Black Ops and the $550 million by Modern Warfare 2 the year prior to that).
PSA: Halo 4's Spartan Ops: Episode Two out now
Halo 4's post-campaign campaign Spartan Ops flipped the switch on its second episode this morning. The Spartan Ops episodes are merely being unlocked weekly, with previous episodes still available, so don't worry about rushing to them before finishing the Chief's campaign.Microsoft hasn't posted an official release schedule for future episodes, but the company told us last week it plans to continue with weekly unlocks for the ten announced episodes.
Say 'allo, 'allo to Halo 4 in UK top spot
Halo 4 grabbed the top spot on the UK charts, but it did so showing the hesitancy everyone had about the franchise's new custodian. According to Chart-Track, Halo 4, the first installment by Microsoft's 343 Industries, was the 18th biggest launch in terms of first week sales. Halo 3 and Halo: Reach launched as 15 and 12, respectively. Allow us to be clear, though, the concern that Halo 4 is some inferior product is unwarranted.The prior week's numero uno, Assassin's Creed 3, slipped one spot into second. FIFA 13 is required by law to remain in the top five for its first six months following launch in the UK, so it can be found in third.Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 launches tomorrow. If there's some place you can bet on UK game sales for the following week, we can assure you Black Ops 2 is about as solid as a bet ever gets. The UK top ten can be found after the break.
Halo 4's Spartan Ops: Episode Two available next Monday
The next free episode of Spartan Ops, the co-op campaign which takes place after Master Chief's accomplishments in Halo 4, will be available next Monday, November 12, at 3AM Pacific. The first episode is accessible now in the game's multiplayer section.Microsoft tells us it's sticking to the plan of launching the ten announced Spartan Ops episodes weekly, but stopped short of saying that it'll always be Monday at the same time as episode two.There is some serious CGI-candy to be found in Spartan Ops if you haven't checked it out yet.
Play Halo 4 multiplayer a whole lot, get free Microsoft Points
Xbox Live Rewards is offering free Microsoft Points to players who plunge their lives into Halo 4 multiplayer. There's a maximum 800 MSP up for grabs, 600 of it for playing 140-plus hours of Halo 4 multiplayer, and 200 for spending at least 3000 MSP on Halo Marketplace content. The catch? You've got until November 30 to put in the time.If you like freebies but don't like the idea of a whole month playing one game's multiplayer, the good news is you get 300 MSP for playing 70 hours, and 100 MSP for 35 hours. And if you only have 1500 MSP spare for Halo stuff this month, you still get 100 MSP back. You should note Microsoft says there's a maximum total of 10 million MSP on offer across all players, and they'll be doled out on a "first-come, first-serve basis."FYI, clocking in 140 hours of Halo 4 mulitplayer by the end of the month equates to just under six hours each day. That's roughly a third of your waking life in November. To put that in persp... what's that? Oh, right. See you in December, then.
Even American Express wants you to complete Halo 4
If you're playing that Halo 4 game today – and have an American Express card – you'd do well to watch the video above. American Express is offering cash off your bill, gift certificates to Best Buy and other retailers, select deals with partner companies like AMC Theaters, and a chance to go to E3 on their dime, simply for playing Halo 4.After syncing your card with your Xbox Live account, you can complete special objectives in Halo 4 to earn the goods – well, okay, the objectives aren't that special. Finishing the campaign on Normal or tougher difficulties will knock $25 off your statement. Completing a Spartan Ops mission will get you a voucher for $50 at Best Buy when you spend $100, and if you want that free trip to E3 you need to be one of the first 25 to finish the campaign solo on Legendary.Knowing you guys, it's too late for that last one already.
