Drop Disclosure
It's that time again, the Halo Community Update is here!
Pull up a chair and make yourself comfortable as we round up all the latest and greatest Halo news from over the last month. We've got the August Drop Pod which has gone live for Halo Infinite, we've got HCS updates, an exciting new novel from Kelly Gay which takes us back to Zeta Halo, and much more...
HALO INFINITE
AUGUST DROP POD DEPLOYED!
The August Drop Pod for Halo Infinite was deployed on August 9, bringing with it a series of improvements to the player experience which include expanded customization options, QoL improvements, and laying the groundwork for future updates.
Our cross-core journey begins with visors and helmet attachments. All visors that are currently in the game (and all future visors to come) will no longer be bound to a specific core, but will be available across all helmets from all armor cores.
Likewise, certain Mark VII helmet attachments will be able to be worn across multiple Mark VII helmets.
This involved some greater complexities as most helmet attachments for Mark VII are designed to fit a specific helmet, but the Live Team and our Artists worked to greatly increase the customization pool here as they looked at which combinations wouldn’t have clipping or large gaps.
On the multiplayer experience front, the August Drop Pod will enable us to more easily implement more Ranked playlists in the future. We’ll be kicking things off with Ranked Doubles, which will arrive in the game along with a CSR reset just two weeks from now. Social Team Doubles will also accompany this playlist update, so be sure to grab a friend to hop into some 2v2 action!
We’ve laid the groundwork for Region Select through some backend work in this Drop Pod and will keep the community appraised of news about this feature as it gets closer to completion and release.
Finally, Challenges will appear on the pause menu while you’re in a match. Note that the pause menu will not show the real-time numbers (remaining or total) for your Challenges just yet, as Challenges update at the end of a match, but this feature will be coming further down the line.
ENTRENCHED RETURNS SOON
Fracture: Entrenched returns next week, running from August 16-22!
This will mark week four out of six for the Fracture: Entrenched event, which offers 30 tiers of unique cosmetics and rewards for your EAGLESTRIKE armor core. So get ready to jump into the Land Grab event playlist and complete event-specific Challenges in order to earn Event Pass reward tiers.
We recently announced the Fracture: Entrenched Tanker Jacket, which can be acquired by players who complete their Event Pass. For more information on that, head to the Halo Gear section below!
Part 3 of The Last Sky Marshal, the Entrenched Story Shard, will also release alongside next week’s event.
MEANWHILE ON ZETA HALO...
The Sol Testing Ground emblem rewards for participating in the Halo Infinite Campaign Network Co-Op flight have officially been granted!
If you took part in the flight and don’t see the emblem in your customization menu, head over to Halo Support and let us know.
Complete all your Challenges this week and complete the Ultimate Challenge to unlock the Knife Dancer visor...
...and head to the Shop to pick up the Champion Bundle, which includes the Halcyon Days coating for all armor cores, the Oddball Champion stance, UA/RENFU shoulders, and the Fastball nameplate and emblem.
For those of you who have Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, be sure to keep an eye out for the next Ultimate Perk drop later this month!
MCC
CUTTING ROOM GALORE
The cutting room floor is a limbo-like space filled with myriad concepts and designs that never quite made it to the final release – from blind wolves and keelbugs, to gravity wrenches and cyborg soldiers, to infamous E3 demos and scrapped level geometry, and beyond...
Over the last month, we’ve detailed an exciting partnership between 343 Industries and a group of community modders – the Digsite crew – to restore some of this ancient, long-lost content.
In this trilogy of blogs, we’ve explored the following:
PART 1: Cutting Room Floor – learn more about the old and cut content from 1999 MacWorld-era Halo, Halo: Combat Evolved, and Halo 2 that is being restored.
PART 2: Cutting Room Corps – meet the fine folks who have been working to revive this old content and learn more about their work.
PART 3: Cutting Room Lore – a special encyclopedia-style Canon Fodder issue providing more details on how certain elements from these past games are incorporated into the universe and canon.
SO FADES THE GREAT HARVEST OF MY EDAMAME...
In this hour of victory, we taste only beans. I ask, why?
The roots of the beans have grown deep under our careful tending. Where there are beans, the wisdom of our countless generations has saturated their soil. Our strength is a luminous sun, towards which all beans blossom... and the impervious shelter beneath which they have prospered.
I stand before you, accused of the sin of ensuring you log into Halo: The Master Chief Collection. Of attempting to save us, from this fate where we are forced to... live without beans.
This partnership with Mediatonic is the greatest threat in the galaxy. Refusing to go to the Halo 3 customization screen is a fool’s gambit. Why squander eons in the darkness, when you could seize the Bean-117 back accessory for your own?
The Bean-117 back accessory belongs to MCC players alone!
Think of my acts as you will, but do not doubt the reality: The Beanclamation has already begun, and we are hopeless to stop it...
HALO ESPORTS
NA SUPER RECAP
Up to $125K was up for grabs at the NA Super last week, which was won by OpTic Gaming after a thrilling run by G1 who eliminated powerhouses CLOUD9 and SENTINELS on their way to the finals.
Huge congratulations to the Top 8 teams for securing Pool Play and travel coverage to the HCS Orlando 2022 Major which will take place from September 23-25!
SEASON 2 REGIONAL BUNDLES
Alongside the August Drop Pod came new HCS Regional Bundles.
Proceeds from each purchase go to our Partnered TOs to help support the growth of Halo esports in each respective region, so you can pitch in to support your favorites with new Battle Riffle coatings, emblems, nameplates, and backdrops for NA, EU, MX, and ANZ.
SEASON 2 PARTNERED BUNDLES
Likewise, new bundles for your favorite Partnered Teams are also available in Halo Infinite today!
These include new team-themed coatings for your Assault Rifle, Sidekick, Warthog, and also include a weapon charm. Head to the Shop and show your love for your team of choice!
ANZ REGIONAL FINALS IN MELBOURNE
The next big LAN event on the HCS calendar is in Melbourne, AU where the teams from the ANZ region will compete for their share of the $50K prize pool.
TICKETS FOR ORLANDO AND HALOWC ON SALE
Tickets are currently on sale for HCS Orlando and the Halo World Championship!
A limited amount of VIP tickets for HaloWC are still available. HaloWC is the biggest event of the year on the HCS calendar, arriving in late October to bring 2022 home ins tyle. Look forward to amazing competition, incredible production, and more surprises!
HALO GEAR
Halo: The Rubicon Protocol is available now! You can order a copy of the book in trade paperback, ebook, and unabridged audio formats.
The latest novel from acclaimed author Kelly Gay released on August 9, bringing us back to Zeta Halo, beginning with the ambush of the UNSC Infinity by the Banished and following what happens in the six months that follow as the UNSC survivors struggle to survive and endure Escharum’s closing grip on this area of the ring.
December 2559. Humanity has its back against the wall after the United Nations Space Command flagship Infinity drops out of slipspace into a devastating ambush launched by the Banished. As this fierce enemy alliance seeks to claim a mysterious object hidden within the ancient Forerunner construct known as Zeta Halo, the surviving UNSC corps now find itself compromised and its leadership out of reach—with remaining personnel forced to abandon ship and take their chances on the fractured, unpredictable surface of the Halo ring.
Now survival in this strange, alien environment—whether for Spartan super-soldiers or those who never thought they would see the battle up close—is measured day to day against a relentless and brutal adversary that always has the upper hand. Desperation grows, but the will to keep on fighting and enduring no matter the odds is never in doubt… even as the Banished seek to unleash a frightening new enemy that could doom them all....
Over the last month, we’ve dropped a couple of previews for this new outing in the Halo universe which you can check out below!
PREVIEW 1: The UNSC Infinity is under attack! In this first preview, we take another look at the Banished assault on the UNSC Infinity from a different perspective.
PREVIEW 2: Safe at last? In this second preview, we follow a group of survivors who have—after a grueling week of fighting for survival—finally found safe harbor at the UNSC Mortal Reverie. But for how long?
PREVIEW 3: Christmas on Zeta Halo. Stranded on a fragment of the shattered section of the ring, Spartan Horvath spends the festive season with an unexpected guest he must work with so they can both escape before the sundered island’s gravity and atmosphere fail.
HALO: THE OFFICIAL COOKBOOK
Prepare to feast your eyes on the official Halo cookbook, releasing on August 16th! Soon, you’ll be able to dive in and prepare many recipes from the Halo universe.
Our friends at Insight Editions are offering a gift with preorders, a pair of koozies featuring the UNSC Eagle logo. Preorder now to claim the offer! If you have already preordered, just visit the link below to show your proof of purchase to claim your UNSC approved gear.
FRACTURE: ENTRENCHED TANKER JACKET
Halo Gear Rewards from the Xbox Gear Shop are exclusive physical products players can earn access to after completing specific in-game accomplishments. We recently announced our first Halo Gear Rewards item, the Fracture: Entrenched Tanker Jacket.
This high-quality jacket features embroidered emblem patches, beautifully screen-printed Halo art, and a personalized removable Gamertag patch. And as a bonus, it will also come with an additional UNSC patch. Players who have completed the Fracture: Entrenched Event Pass in its entirety will qualify to purchase the exclusive Tanker jacket.
Fracture: Entrenched is coming back and there will be three more weeks to complete the event and qualify for this Halo Gear Reward item.
Check out the blog on Halo Waypoint for more details. If you have completed the event pass but haven’t received your code, please reach out to @HaloGear on Twitter.
THE ARTIST’S CORNER
This month’s piece comes from artist Benjamin Carre from the much-loved Halo Mythos, an essential guide to the stories and history of the Halo universe.
Carre’s piece depicts the Master Chief and Spartan Jameson Locke on Genesis following the events of Halo 5, as both Blue Team and Fireteam Osiris battle their way through local Promethean forces to escape the artificial Forerunner world with the aid of 031 Exuberant Witness.
More of this would be detailed in Matt Forbeck’s 2018 novel Halo: Bad Blood, connecting to the epilogue cinematic of Halo 5 where the Spartans return to Sanghelios, reuniting with Arbiter Thel ‘Vadamee, Commander Sarah Palmer, and the infamous Dr. Catherine Halsey. After a celebratory “barbeque” with the Sangheili, the UNSC Infinity arrives the following morning and continues to search for ways to fight their new digital enemies.
That brings us to a close for August, so it's back to you!
Jump into Halo Infinite and try out some new customization options (I'm a particular fan of those bright yellow and blue visors which make me the opposite of conspicuous on the battlefield!), grab yourself a copy of Halo: The Rubicon Protocol and read an epic and gritty story of survival on Zeta Halo before the Master Chief's return, jump into MCC and get your Bean-117 back accessory, and go show some love for your HCS bundle(s) of choice.
Next week, it's time to get that Fracture: Entrenched jacket...