Bioroid Boogaloo
Join your voice with our timeless chorus and sing victory, everlasting—it’s time for a Community Update!
We’ve got drop pods, intel, and events deploying into Halo Infinite, a new MCC update with a host of exciting new features, the Halo television series making its debut with Paramount+ in the UK, Pelicans flying over 21st century Earth in Microsoft Flight Simulator, strange wobbly bean-like creatures bearing the accoutrements of super-soldiers and alien fanatics, and... *takes a breath* let’s get right into it.
HALO INFINITE
DROP POD DEPLOYED!
We deployed our first Drop Pod update to Halo Infinite on June 14, which brought a host of improvements to the game. Improved load times for menus (jump into your Battle Pass, Challenges, Customize, and Shop menus quicker), new Ranked matchmaking features, increased vehicle durability, bug fixes, and much more arrived in this 2GB update.
You can check out the full details of the June 14 Drop Pod update here. And we’re looking forward to sharing more details with you about our second Drop Pod in the near future...
CAMPAIGN NETWORK CO-OP
They say that Halo is even better when you play together, and that’s exactly why you should make sure you’re signed up to the Halo Insider program because Campaign Network Co-Op flights are on the horizon!
We’ll have more to say about this very soon, with a full blog on the horizon to break down everything you need to know about the Network Co-Op flight experience, mission replay, our goals, and more.
Grab your buddies and get everyone signed up to the Halo Insider program, and prepare to take on the Banished together on the shattered shores of Zeta Halo.
INTEL DROP
Season 2 of Halo Infinite continues in earnest with the Spartans of the Avery J. Johnson Academy facing the threat of the Banished AI known as Iratus.
But the story doesn’t end there...
Head to Halo Waypoint's seasonal hub page for Halo Infinite, where you’ll be able to catch up with all the goings-on of the season, check out character bios, and read exclusive new Intel pieces which will drop over the course of the weeks and months to come. You can also find this Intel in-game in Halo Infinite, within the News menu.
FRACTURE: ENTRENCHED, ROUND 3
The third recurrence of the Fracture: Entrenched event is on July 5, so get ready to jump back into the Land Grab playlist and complete Event Challenges to unlock cosmetics to outfit your EAGLESTRIKE armor core.
Last time Entrenched returned, on June 14, we released our first Story Shard, titled The Last Sky Marshal.
Hosted here on Waypoint, Story Shards are a choose your own adventure-style story. Set in the Entrenched universe and told over five parts, Parts 1-4 of The Last Sky Marshal will feature a cliffhanger where a dilemma will be presented, and the community will vote on where the story goes next.
What choice will be made? How will it end? That’s up to you.
Read The Last Sky Marshal here and follow Commander Kolby as he leads an assault on Luna against the Covenant, who have discovered something that could turn the tide of the war against humanity.
MEANWHILE, ON ZETA HALO...
With much to look forward to, right now you can log into Halo Infinite and unlock the UNITY nameplate to display on your Spartan, weapons, and vehicles in celebration of Pride Month.
Complete all your weekly challenges and the capstone challenge this week to unlock the HUL-I/BNR/DEWSPRING helmet attachment for your Spartan.
Head to the Shop and, for all you Spartan Strike fans out there, be sure to grab the War Master bundle if you missed it last time!
Finally, those of you who are signed up to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate can grab your free monthly perk for Halo Infinite, which includes the Pass Tense coating for your Razorback alongside some XP Boosts and Challenge Swaps.
MCC
Previously, we broke down some of the unfinished business we have with Halo: The Master Chief Collection and our plans for 2022. Though many of our goals have been accomplished, we still have further enhancements, improvements, and additions to make to this trove of Halo’s legacy titles—and the next step in that great journey starts here.
TENTH FLOOR: BIOROIDS, BACKGROUND VIDEOS, KEYS TO GLASSED PLANETS
The team is currently working hard on new features, functionality, and content for the MCC which includes further mod support, campaign collectibles across all games, the Steam Workshop modding upload/download tool, new customization options, quality-of-life improvements, and more beyond that.
Some examples of new content coming are new ‘bioroid’ themed Halo 2: Anniversary armor sets, post-match poses, you’ll be able to customize the background video in the menu, mod support for Halo: Reach (with Halo 4 and Halo 2: Anniversary in the works for the future), and the Career hub will be getting a nice new coat of paint.
We’ve mentioned before that, following the release of Season 8: Mythic last year, we will be moving away from the model of Seasons. That nomenclature will be shifting to ‘Series,’ which you can expect to see roll out across the MCC in the next update.
SPARTAN POINTS
As we’ve shifted away from Seasons, what has previously been named “Season Points”—points earned by completing challenges and levelling up to unlock items—will eventually be renamed “Spartan Points” in a future update.
Over the years that the MCC has been continually supported with new content, the game now features well over 1000+ individual customization items spanning armor, attachments, nameplates, weapon and vehicle skins, armor effects, Firefight voices, and more...
That’s quite a lot!
For players who are new to the MCC, or who may not have dedicated much time specifically to unlocking items during the seasonal updates, or are simply completionists looking to catch the last outstanding items they need, we are internally exploring a potential new feature for the future in the form of purchasable Spartan Points.
It is prudent to note here that we are happy with the current system of how players earn Spartan Points, by completing challenges and levelling up through play. This would be an optional, additive alternative for players who might find the vast scope of content to be an intimidating amount of playtime and want to get ahead on (or skip) the grind, or maybe want to grab specific items they want (we all have our favorites!)
In the interest of transparency with our dedicated and passionate community, we wanted to inform you of this exploration in advance and provide assurance that purchasable Spartan Points would be an additive feature. We will have more information to share about this in the future.
ENHANCE!
We will also be adding support for dynamically refreshing content from our online Content Management System, which we are targeting for the next update. Historically, players have had to manually relaunch MCC to pick up any changes we make to matchmaking playlists or service settings—we previously touched on one example of why this was problematic in our server incident summary.
You may have noticed longer search times in matchmaking on Wednesdays (when we normally update our playlists) as players manually move up to the new content. Or, you may have noticed issues after Quick Resuming the game on Xbox Series S|X consoles. We are aiming for this upcoming update to automatically refresh this data as soon as possible—so if you’re playing matchmaking when we put out a playlist update, you’ll receive a notification and, once your match ends, we’ll automatically move you up to the latest content.
We’ve got plenty of other cool additions coming to MCC that you’ll hear more about as the next update draws nearer.
SO, WHEN’S IT COMING?
An excellent question! We are targeting this update for later this summer, so stay tuned for more details about what’s on the way!
HALO THE SERIES
Paramount+ has arrived in the UK, and with it comes the Halo television series!
Fans living outside the countries in which Paramount+ initially launched saw the streaming service become available in the UK and Ireland yesterday, June 22.
From June 28, you can get a 30-day trial of Paramount+ as part of Xbox Game Pass Perks.
For those who are looking to be brought up to speed: the Halo television series spans nine episodes and stars Pablo Schreiber as the legendary and iconic John-117 in a divergent branch of continuity known as the Silver Timeline.
You can read more about that in our Silver Debriefs, which recap each episode (so beware of spoilers!) and connect you to all the peripheral greatness around the show, such as the Declassified after-show hosted by Sydnee Goodman, Dr. Halsey’s personal computer (containing a trove of Silver Timeline lore), and more.
Paramount plans to add more territories over the course of this year, stay tuned for further news on that front.
If you're in the UK and happen to be around Picadilly Circus this weekend, be sure to head over to the Paramount+ pop-up experience where you can immerse yourself in some of your favorite universes, including Halo with armor and props used for the show.
Oh, and you can still grab the television series’ tie-in content in Halo Infinite if you haven’t already!
Simply log into the game and you'll be rewarded with the following:
- Together We Rise emblem
- Sword of Mercy emblem
- Artifact (AKA Keystone) emblem
- Artifact (AKA Keystone) weapon charm
- Silver Team weapon charm
- Silver Team emblem
Finally, there’s a lot of work that goes into making a Spartan. Selecting the six-year-old candidates, arranging their kidnapping, training them... it’s a lot!
But there’s also a lot that goes into the sound design of the Spartans, conveying on the silver screen that these are highly advanced super-soldiers while paying respect to the established sounds of the Halo universe—from suiting up, to their shields depleting, and beyond. In this breakdown video, sound designer Brennan Mercer walks us through the process of how Halo brought Spartans to life on television.
HALO ESPORTS
HCS EU Regional Finals Valencia
We’re days away from the first HCS Halo Infinite LAN in Europe happening from July 1-3!
Top teams from the region will be competing for the largest ever EU prize pool valued at $100K.
There's still time to purchase team passes. Visit the link below before 1159PM BST on June 27 to grab yours. Fans around the world can jump into the action on Twitch and YouTube. Stay tuned for details on what in-game rewards will be available as Twitch Drops by following @HCS.
- Landing Page: https://halo.gg/valencia2022
- Follow: DreamHack Halo (@DreamHackHalo) / Twitter
- Team Passes on Sale: https://t.co/Qg7ROpzUrQ
- Watch: https://twitch.tv/halo
- Watch: https://aka.ms/youtube-hcs
HCS MX Regional Finals Mexico City
From July 22-24, the HCS will journey to Mexico City.
Mexico's best will go head-to-head for $50,000 at the MX Regional Finals! Just like the EU event, there's still time to purchase spectator and team passes for the event. More details below...
- Landing Page: https://halo.gg/mexicocity2022
- Follow: HaloMXGP (@HaloMxgp) / Twitter
- Team Passes on Sale: https://t.co/G1R0ouU4be
- More Info: Facebook: https://facebook.com/HaloMxGP
- Watch: https://twitch.tv/halo
- Watch: https://aka.ms/youtube-hcs
- Watch in Spanish: https://twitch.tv/halo_es
HCS Open Series
If you’re a competitor outside of the two regions above (and even in them!), there are still opportunities to test your skill in online events. Competitors will be playing for cash prizes in addition to HCS points. Details below.
- FACEIT Registration Page: FACEIT: Tournament Registration
- Esports Engine Leaderboards: HCS Leaderboards
- FACEIT LFG and Player Discord: Player Discord
HALO GEAR
Pride Month
With Pride Month here comes a veritable swath of gorgeous Xbox and Halo Gear!
Outfit yourself with various T-shirts, jackets, hoodies, tank tops, tote bags, stickers, and other Pride-themed finery in celebration of this important time of year.
Xbox Heritage Collection
Feeling nostalgic? It's hard not to when talking about Halo, which brings with it such a wealth of memories from over twenty years of bringing folks together from the living room, the neighborhood, and across the world.
Enter the Xbox Heritage Collection, which offers an exciting range of classic Xbox and Halo-themed clothing that'll make you feel like the early '00s never ended.
Min-Mod Collection
Also new in the shop is the Halo Infinite Min-Mod collection, which includes various apparel and accessories – this sleek collection is inspired by the UNSC military aesthetic and minimalist poster design. Stay tuned to @HaloGear for all the latest gear news.
PARTNERSHIPS
For folks who kept up with the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase on June 12, you may have been caught by surprise by some unexpected partnerships we've had in the works.
Have you ever wanted to pilot a Pelican? Silly question, of course you have! Whether through glitches in Halo: Reach and Halo Infinite, or during the Shutdown mission of Halo 4, or through mods in the other games, you've had a brief taste of what it's like...
But if you grab Microsoft Flight Simulator on Xbox Game Pass (and you absolutely should), you can take to the skies of 21st century Earth in everybody's favorite 26th century dropship!
With Fall Guys having made its way to Xbox, which you can get for free, you can have your wobbly bean avatar don the appearance of various characters from the Halo universe.
How best to showcase such a thing? Naturally, when one thinks of the epic, chaotic action of both Halo and Fall Guys, one inevitably comes to the conclusion that a diorama punctuated by Chopin's Raindrop Prelude is absolutely the way to go!
RADAR BLIPS
WE'RE HIRING: Come join us on this great journey to build the future of the Halo franchise—check out our available roles and apply!
CANON FODDER: Our latest issue dives deep into the recently released Halo Encyclopedia, looking at a curated selection of brand-new and exclusive art pieces of things that have previously only lived in the imagination, and offering some exciting unseen alternative pieces as well.
THE STEAM SUMMER SALE IS HERE: It's that time of year again. Save up to 75% on Halo titles available on Steam. If you haven't already, now is the perfect time to grab the Halo Infinite campaign, Halo: MCC, Halo Wars: Definitive Edition, as well as Halo: Spartan Assault and Spartan Strike!
THE ARTIST’S CORNER
Keeping with the key image of our latest Canon Fodder issue, which prominently shows an alternate piece of Kurt-051 clad in his SPI armor (beautifully realized by artist David Heidhoff), this month’s piece for the Artist’s Corner is a Halo Mythos piece from Jean Sebastian Rossbach depicting an engagement between SPARTAN-III super-soldiers and the Covenant.
Rossbach’s piece here specifically depicts Operation: PROMETHEUS from the fan-favorite novel Halo: Ghosts of Onyx.
From July 27 to August 2 in 2537, the three-hundred Spartans of Alpha Company were deployed to a Covenant shipyard located on asteroid K7-49. With at least a dozen Covenant ships under construction, Alpha Company was sent by ONI to neutralize as many plasma reactors as possible to hinder or halt the aliens’ capacity to complete these ships as they encroached further into human space.
The Spartans were successful, but their victory was paid for heavily as the whole of Alpha Company was wiped out—cut off from their exfiltration craft and faced with overwhelming reinforcements, all on K7-49 would eventually perish.
And so, with that veritable flood of information—both rounded up and new—we come to the end of this month’s Community Update.
Is it really the end of June already? Well, there’s much to look forward to! Campaign co-op flights, the Alpha Pack narrative event, Kelly Gay’s Halo: The Rubicon Protocol, the aforementioned MCC update, and more is on the horizon, and we can’t wait to share more with you when the time comes!