Halo: Reach

[Keithlewis]

Halo Reach Breaks Xbox Live Record

http://www.informationweek.com/news/sof ... ction=News

Halo Reach, the new first-person shooter from Microsoft and Bungie, broke the record for online play on Microsoft's Xbox Live gaming service Tuesday—the same day it was released.

"Reach already surpassed the all-time highest record for Halo 3 concurrent users on LIVE. Woot!" said a Bungie developer, in a post on the company's Twitter page.

The developer did not specify how many gamers logged in to play Halo Reach at the same time, but the numbers were likely significant.

As of midday Wednesday, the basic, $59 version of Halo Reach was the top selling video game on Amazon.com, while the $79 Limited edition held the fourth place spot.

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A $399 bundle that features a Halo-themed, 250GB Xbox 360 console and wireless controller, as well as the basic edition of the game, was the eighth best seller on Amazon's list.

The Legendary edition, which includes 10" character figurines designed by Todd McFarlane and sells for a whopping $149, was in ninth place on Amazon's real-time roster of top-selling video games.

Microsoft and retail partner Best Buy held launch parties Monday night in New York, Seattle, and London, England to mark the game's release. At the New York event, crowds lined up for blocks around the city's famous Times Square area to be among the first to purchase the game.

Halo Reach, an Xbox 360 exclusive, is billed as a prequel to the original version of Halo. "Halo Reach follows the story of Noble Team, a squad of heroic Spartan soldiers as they make their final stand on planet Reach, humanity's last line of defense between the terrifying Covenant and Earth," according to Microsoft.

The game features a new graphics and audio engine that offers enhanced visuals and sounds over its predecessors, Microsoft said.

[Keithlewis]

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/09/15/halo- ... l-vs-disc/

If you're a hardcore FPS multiplayer ... player, odds are you'll see the business end of Halo: Reach's loading screen countless times over the next few months. According to a quick test conducted by Examiner, you're going to want to install Reach to your hard drive if you value your free time, as doing so reportedly cuts down load times drastically for just about all of the game's modes.

Some of the sped-up load times are too fast to resist -- for instance, according to Examiner, an installed Reach can load a custom game in 9.7 seconds, as opposed to 28.7 seconds uninstalled. That would give us an extra 19 seconds to spend getting shot over and over and over again!

[BreakingBacks]

[BreakingBacks]

Halo: Reach October Playlist Update

Our first Halo: Reach post-launch playlist update has been successfully deployed to Xbox LIVE. This update addresses a variety of issues in addition to tweaking some of the existing core gametypes and playlists.

Please note that this is just the first of many updates. Our team continues to work on improving the Reach online experience and we're always listening to your feedback and reviewing the voting and game data we get from our servers. Reach will just keep getting better! As always, we welcome your feedback in our Optimatch forum here on Bungie.net.

Also note that we have another small update happening later this month (either 10/12 or 10/19 pending final test pass) that will enable campaign matchmaking. And for everyone out there who doesn't love Infection as much as the rest of the players, don't fret, we have plans to move Infection into its own "Living Dead" playlist later this month.

Lastly, in addition to everything listed below, today's update also makes some tweaks to the betrayal system. Hopefully players will feel it's a bit more 'fair' now and it shoudl behave closer to what you're used to in Halo 3.


Here's the full changelist of everything included in today's update:

PLAYLISTS

Rumble Pit
* Added Crazy King
* Added Juggernaut
* Removed Oddball on Asylum

Team Slayer
* Removed SWAT
* Removed Classic
* Weights adjusted based on voting data

Team SWAT (New!)
* Based on existing Team Slayer SWAT offering
* Removed Hemorrhage
* Replaced Zealot with Arena Zealot map variant

Team Objective
* Added Crazy King
* Added several gametypes on Powerhouse (CTF, Assault, Stockpile, Crazy King, 3 Plots)
* Removed heavy vehicles from all 4v4 Team Objective gametypes

Multi Team
* Added Rocket Race

Big Team Battle
* Added Crazy King
* Removed SWAT
* Removed Snipers from Boneyard
* Weights adjusted based on voting data

Doubles Arena
* Removed Slayer Pro for Season 2
* Removed Boardwalk
* Replaced Zealot with Arena Zealot map variant

Team Arena
* Removed Slayer Pro for Season 2
* Replaced Zealot with Arena Zealot map variant



MAPS

Arena Zealot (New!)
* Added a softkill zone to the space area
* Modified initial spawns so enemies cannot see each other

Zealot
* Objects can no longer be dropped into the boot_base

Asylum
* Removed multiple duplicate Headhunter score zones

Boneyard
* Changed the base object for territories from a hill marker to a flag stand
* Objects can no longer come to rest on the out of bounds cliff behind the scaffolding where the Invasion core is captured
* Players can no longer sit in the out of bounds area under the ship scaffolding

Pinnacle
* Health Packs should not respawn after 15 seconds

Hemorrhage
* Landmine removed from Red team's west cliff
* Respawn time for all Mongoose vehicles is now 45 seconds
* Scorpions replaced with Wraiths (4 minute respawn)

Paradiso
* Respawn timer for Concussion Rifle at Red base is now 30 seconds to match Concussion Rifle at Blue base

Reflection
* Changed the base object for territories from a hill marker to a flag stand

Boardwalk
* Changed the base object for territories from a hill marker to a flag stand

Powerhouse
* Respawn timer for all Needler weapons is now 45 seconds


GAMETYPES

Global Changes
* Slayer DMR now has motion tracker enabled
* Evade has replaced Hologram for all gametypes in which players can hold objects (CTF, Assault, Stockpile, Oddball)
* Evade has replaced Dropshield for gametypes which create concentrated gameplay in specific areas (Crazy King, Territories, Oddball)
* All Classic gametypes should now include Sprint as default equipment

King of the Hill
* Teams are now always able to correctly score points
* Players standing in the hill no longer receive extra points upon returning from a host migration

Rocket Race
* Players now attached to vehicles after being on foot for 10 seconds
* Flipped vehicles will be detected to prevent players from attaching to a non-upright vehicle
* Added functionality for tracking and reporting rotations
* Fountain of Mongeese should no longer be possible (don't ask)
* Players are no longer able to jack another teams Mongoose
* Players are no longer forced into a specific role of driver or gunner
* All players start with a Rocket Launcher
* Players move at 50% speed, do significantly reduced damage and are marked with a nav icon
* Players on foot are now able to score points in Rocket Race

Juggernaut
* The Juggernaut no longer sees other players as allies upon returning from a host migration
* New clients after a host migration will no longer lose their Juggernaut status

Territories
* All teams now have separate capture timers for each territory
* Locked territories will no longer prevent players from using equipment
* The flag in the territory is now attached if the territory is a flag stand object
* Added a HUD_Widget to display contested status to players inside a territory
* The progress bar for a territory will now show as full when that territory is being contested (capture progress is saved and will appear again once the territory is no longer contested)
* Random flag clothes will no longer disappear after a round transition

Oddball
* Bombs in Hot Potato now properly report carry time
* Multiple hot potato bombs will no longer spawn in the same location
* The carry time reported stat will now always be correct after a host migration has occurred
* Players carrying the oddball during a host migration will no longer receive extra points

Stockpile
* All stockpile flags are now attached to their spawn location if it is a flag stand

Invasion
* The game score is now set per frame tick based off of the current phase
* A failsafe game end timer has been added to catch any possible bad cases of Invasion games not ending properly

Invasion: Boneyard
* The core will now reset whenever it is thrown through a shield door into a spawning location in Phase 3

Invasion (Assault) and Assault
* Added sudden death to Invasion (Assault) and Assault gametypes

Race
* Players who die before the first checkpoint will no longer spawn in a random location on the map

http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx ... &cid=29067

[Keithlewis]

Halo: Reach - Noble Map Pack


Content: Halo: Reach - Noble Map Pack
Price: 800 Microsoft Points
Availability: All Xbox LIVE regions


Dash Text: The fight for humanity rages on a galactic scale. From a frozen xeno-archaeology site harboring secrets millennia old to an orbital anchor defending the stars high above planet Reach - and to mysterious places far, far beyond - Bungie's Noble Map Pack injects three new explosive environments into the multiplayer battlefield, each designed to reinforce all of Halo: Reach's vital warfronts, from small scale engagements to massive Invasion battlegrounds.

[Keithlewis]