Forging Forth
It’s that time again, the Community Update returns to get you caught up on all the latest Halo news.
We are on the doorstep of the Halo World Championship, which will bring the last year of HCS to an epic conclusion. The Halo Infinite Winter Update is just a few weeks away (which will bring with it the Forge Beta and Campaign Network Co-Op), and there’s plenty more to bring you up to speed on. So, let’s get right into it!
HALO INFINITE
FORGE FUNDAMENTALS
Once upon a time, Forge was an object layout editor intended to allow players to rework weapons, vehicles, scenery, and spawns to change the experience of each map to their liking. But then, we saw crates suspended in the air with floating teleporter nodes, houses and cities built out of simple blocks. The words “interlocking” and “geomerging,” the tricks in a Forger’s arsenal to build seemingly whatever they wanted, became commonly known as a new community of intrepid cartographers emerged.
With each successive Halo title, Forge has grown and expanded its toolset to empower community creators to test the limits of their imagination within the sandbox of the game, and in Halo Infinite we’re looking to give you the entire playground.
In our four-part video series, Forge Fundamentals, we’re exploring the features that have been added and improved in Halo Infinite, to get you better acquainted with the tools at your disposal for Building, Scripting & Bots, Lighting & Audio, and File Sharing & Canvases.
In case you missed it, check out our latest video on Lighting & Audio.
RANKED FFA & SOCIAL SLAYER
As we continue to experiment with the playlist offerings of Halo Infinite, we have brought two new experiences into the rotation: Ranked Free-For-All and Social Slayer.
Ranked FFA is the ultimate “lone wolf” test, which will throw you into competitive Slayer and King of the Hill matches. Social Slayer dials up the fun with action-packed Slayer variants such as Kong Slayer (feat. fusion coils for all!), Ninja Slayer, Purple Reign Slayer, Rock ‘n’ Repulsors Slayer, and Rocket Dodgeball.
CAMPAIGN CO-OP ACHIEVEMENTS
Also coming with the addition of Campaign Network Co-Op and Mission Replay in the Winter Update are 24 new Achievements for you and your friends to pursue.
WAYPOINT GAME HISTORY & PGCR
Support for Halo Waypoint’s web and mobile app experiences have expanded, with two highly requested features now at your fingertips—Game History and Post-Game Carnage Report (PGCR) for Halo Infinite.
Explore all your previous games, going all the way back to Halo Infinite’s launch on November 15 last year, and get detailed breakdowns of your Kills, Accuracy, Medals, Objective play, and more.
INTEL INSIDE
On the lore side of things, new Intel for Season 2 of Halo Infinite has deployed to the seasonal hub on Halo Waypoint (and is also viewable in-game).
Get a glimpse at Sigrid Eklund during the battle of Concord in 2551, prior to her becoming a SPARTAN-IV, when she served with the Army Rangers and helped the local militia strike back against the invading Covenant.
You might recall visiting Concord, perhaps from playing BTB or Dominion on a certain snowy Halo 4 multiplayer map...
ENTRENCHED
The Entrenched event will see its sixth and final recurrence from October 25-31.
This event offers 30 tiers of unique cosmetics for your EAGLESTRIKE armor core, which can be earned by completing event-specific Challenges in the Land Grab event playlist. If you’ve got any items left to get from the Event Pass, be sure not to miss this final week!
You can also earn a unique discount code for your very own Fracture: Entrenched Tanker Jacket by completing your Event Pass. For more details, head over to our blog on Halo Gear rewards.
And finally, the penultimate instalment of The Last Sky Marshal has released, as Commander Kolby’s story draws to a close after four rounds of community votes to direct the story.
HOW D’YOU LIKE YOUR LIVER?
Complete all of your Challenges and the Ultimate Challenge this week to earn the Catawba Liver coating for your Warthog.
And head over to the Shop to acquire the holographic bunny ears of Marlin T. Buckets, which have returned in all their majesty!
MCC
A brief update for MCC this month as we gear up to deliver more news on the November Content Update!
On September 28, an update to MCC brought the following changes:
- The Exchange menu will now offer more items per week.
- Spartan Point (SP) rewards for most Weekly PvP and Weekly PvE Challenges have been temporarily increased from 1 SP to 2 SP.
- This temporary change is being made to accommodate the increase in new unlockable Customization items and may remain in place until further work on the Challenge system is completed.
- Five new Pose bundles have been added to the Exchange’s Featured items.
Stay tuned to @Halo and @HaloSupport on Twitter for the latest news on development updates.
HALO ESPORTS
HALO WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
- HaloWC Prize Pool: $1,000,000
- FFA Tournament Prize Pool: $5,000
Tune in live October 20-23 at Twitch.tv/Halo
Also be sure to check out our Community Stage, which will feature developer panels on Halo lore, animation, the art of multiplayer, and more: Twitch.tv/Xbox
The event will feature new Twitch Drops and an exclusive in-game reward for attendees.
The Cosplay Contest at HaloWC also offers up a prize pool of $5,000!
Register for the Halo WC Cosplay Contest here, and you can also read the rules and guidelines here.
(Limited to the first 32 responses.)
PARTNERED TEAM MERCH COLLABORATION
Select partnered teams are offering fans limited chance to buy unique apparel featuring Halo universe elements.
- eUnited – 10/7
- SSG – 10/10
- FaZe – 10/13
- Sentinels – 10/17
HALO GEAR
HAPPY HALO-WEEN
It’s that time of year again when we get to say “Happy Halo-ween!”
Head to the Xbox Gear Shop to stock up on all your ghoulish gear for this spooky season.
HAWORTH X HALO: FERN GAMING CHAIR
Built by Haworth. UNSC approved.
Introducing the Fern Halo Special Edition Gaming Chair, exclusively designed for legendary Spartans. Precision engineered for comfort, it supports your entire body for hours of comfort, level after level. With design features that are classically Halo. Pre-orders open on October 18th.
ACTION FIGURE MILES X HALO COLLABORATION (WITH RAKEEM MILES)
We teamed up with hip-hop star and fashion designer Rakeem Miles on a special Halo collaboration.
This collection is inspired by Rakeem’s passion for Mental Health Awareness and his longstanding love for Halo and the Master Chief. The collection drops later this month in the Halo Gear Shop and will be available at HaloWC.
Additionally, the collection will be available in PacSun stores and online. Stay tuned to @HaloGear for more details coming soon.
MEGA UNSC FORWARD UNTO DAWN COLLECTIBLE SET
For the Halo collectors out there, our construction partner MEGA Construx recently released an incredible new set, the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn.
This buildable replica of the iconic frigate features a highly detailed design, a super poseable Miranda Keyes micro-action figure, and a display stand. Available only at Target.
WARTHOG RIDE ON
Yes, it’s true! The Halo Warthog Electric Ride On is real and it will be available only at Walmart stores and online (US).
A few ‘hogs have been spotted in various Walmart locations across the country, but we expect the majority of the units to land in more stores and online at the end of October through November. Stay tuned to @HaloGear for all the latest updates!
PARTNERSHIPS
DORITOS & ROCKSTAR
They put Halo in Doritos, now put Doritos in your Halo!
In the US and select global markets through December 31, Xbox has kicked off a new partnership with Doritos and Rockstar, and Halo is happy to be a part of it. You’ll find special edition cans and packaging on shelves featuring art and prizes from your favorite Xbox games, including Halo Infinite.
If you still don’t have Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, you can get one month for free, enter to win thousands of prizes, and get your hands on your choice of content from popular Xbox titles, including Halo’s Tasteful Sensation Razorback coating.
TROLLI
Halo is still going strong with your favorite wacky worms!
This month, you can find them at the Halo World Championships in Seattle, and you can still enter to win an exclusive Trolli Gaming Bundle. Every Halo-themed bag gets you consumables for Halo Infinite in the form of Challenge Swaps and 2XP.
And as a bonus, League Trolli is hosting a Halo Infinite tournament series featuring FFA, 2v2, and 4v4 with cash prize pools. To find out more about League Trolli or the Halo Infinite series, keep up with Trolli on Twitter or Instagram, or head to their Discord.
HONDA FAN CUP TOURNAMENT
The upcoming Honda Fan Cup tournament featuring Halo Infinite gives you a chance to show off your skills and take a shot at the massive $20,000 prize pool. In addition to the prize money, the top two finishers in the Finals will win the exclusive Haworth x Halo: Fern Gaming Chair.
The tournament kicks off with four Qualifiers on November 27, December 4, December 11, and December 18. The top players from the qualifiers will secure a spot in the Finals on January 7.
All of the Qualifiers and the Finals will consist of 1v1 matches, so get ready for tense action—where every decision and every move are critical!
Whether you compete or not, we hope you’ll tune in to watch the Finals, which will be livestreamed on the Xbox Twitch channel on January 7 at 10am PT.
For Halo fans who aren’t able to compete in the tournament, we have you covered with the Honda Fan Cup Play & Win sweepstakes starting 11/7, where you have a chance to win cool prizes including an Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2: Halo Infinite Limited Edition controller, the Halo x Haworth: Fern Gaming Chair, the Spartan Tech Backpack, and Game Pass subscriptions codes.
Note: Game Pass subscribers can enter the Honda Fan Cup Play & Win by clicking on the Honda Fan Cup banner on the Xbox home screen (tip: hit home refresh if you don’t see it).
RADAR BLIPS
- CANON FODDER – FOOD FOR THOUGHT: In this month’s Canon Fodder, we explore the lore of Halo: The Official Cookbook (yes, really!) from the civilian perspective of Arturo Bustamante, who has travelled across humanity’s interstellar sphere and detailed this cosmic culinary odyssey. We also look at some new Halo 2: Anniversary armor lore (feat. Spartan Team Omega) and answer another round of community questions.
- COMMUNITY CORNER – WEXYLEX: Our latest Community Corner has Alex “WexyLex” talk about her history as a cosplayer, and features some of her incredible creature cosplay designs as a Brute, Hunter, and most recently a Skirmisher.
THE ARTIST’S CORNER
This month’s piece for the Artist’s Corner comes once more from Halo Mythos, illustrated by Leonid Kozienko, and depicts the Master Chief on the surface of Delta Halo during the events of Halo 2.
This is, of course, an event that needs no introduction... but since I have your attention, I’m going to give it one anyway!
After the Prophet of Regret fled Earth, pursued by the UNSC In Amber Clad, they arrived at another Halo, Installation 05. The Master Chief, along with a group of Marines and ODSTs, dropped to the surface of the ring and set out to assassinate the Prophet, traversing through grasslands and overgrown jungles. Some of the weathered, stone-based structures they encountered seemingly predated the construction of the ring itself, leading some to speculate that they were brought to this installation to be preserved.
On the horizon, the Syfon-pattern assault carrier, Solemn Penance, looms as a constant reminder of your objective. Taking out Regret might just be the spark that ignites a cascading series of events that shift the balance of power within the Covenant and lead to the end of the war...
With that, the October Community Update comes to a close.
Lots going on! Between all these exciting partnerships and several additional wardrobes of Halo Gear that I absolutely must get my hands on, we're just a few weeks away from the Halo Infinite Winter Update and all the creative goodness that will come with Forge, Campaign Network Co-Op, and more. We'll have more to show on that front very soon.
In the meantime, we can't wait to see you at HaloWC!