HC Weekly Recap: September 1st

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"Snake? Snake?! Snaaaaaake?!" is probably what you're all thinking right about now and understandably so. Our friend, SolidSnakee, was the sole reason our Media Stream received activity last month, so he will be taking a much-deserved break this week. Instead, your neighborhood friendly auburn will be gracing you with this past week's community content and the usual news from our overlords at 343 Industries. If you don't like to read, you can find a list of important links below.


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In this week’s Halo Community Update, we received another peak into an arena design in Halo 5: Guardians titled The Rig. The Rig is set on a planet called Meridian, a location that players will visit at some point within the campaign. Glassed during the Covenant War, the Rig sports a weathered texture as it lay stationary on the abandoned, sand-covered planet. Christopher Hands, Senior Environment Artist, discusses in detail the early concepts and inspiration behind map in this update, so be sure to check that out if you're interested.

The Community Update also includes a segment from a 343 Industries Multiplayer Level Designer, Adrian Bedoya. He notes that the design places an emphasis on vertical design, accommodating one of the Halo's newest mechanics, clamber. The full breakdown includes both his theories behind the map, changes made to the design, and a look at the finalized layout.

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Infection has been a principal feature in the Halo franchise since the release of Halo 3. However, the gametype roots back to Halo 2, where it was just a player-created variant known as "Zombie". While its rules were largely the same as Infection, players had to resort to honor rules as a method to "convert" infected players. The variant was popular nevertheless and was thus translated into what we know as Infection.

In a previous community update, 343i announced that the beloved gametype would makes its first appearance in Master Chief Collection's online multiplayer as a rotational playlist. Keep in mind that it will only be available for a limited time. You can expect to see the following gametypes:
  • Halo 3: Braaaains, Creeping Death, Save One Bullet, Hide and Seek, Speed Demons
  • Halo 2: Anniversary: Infection, Cadre
  • Halo 4: Flood, Hivemind, Last Stand
I know that a certain resident debbie cake has been taking advantage of this latest playlist update. Having experienced what the playlist has to offer, Master Debaytes has written a review concerning both the selection of maps and the quality of the gametypes used. You can expect that some time in the near future. Be sure to give us your opinion there, too!

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Now, let's cover the Halo-related happenings brought to us by the community itself. To those that don't frequent Youtube, our bros over at The Halo Forge Epidemic uploaded two videos within the last week. The first video, a channel update, outlines the current state of Meet Your Maker and the channel's plans moving into Halo 5. The second video was a feature of Hemlock, an H2A design forged by Hush3d Behemoth and Canadian Echo.


"Hemlock is a 1v1/2v2 which makes players think critically about their movement, for you have to commit to your choice, in most cases. Add in a variety of flanking and escape options and you have yourself a map design which promotes thoughtful 1v1 gameplay, as well as promote a team-driven, constant communication based 2v2."

- Hushed Behemoth

Those that venture into the depths of our lovely forum (no, not the shoutbox) may have noticed an interesting thread appear in Forge Discussion just recently. Having snagged a copy of the Prima Strategy Guide, our very own Esteemed Lemon took the time to upload the overheads of every developer design seen in the Halo franchise. There are over 100 different scans to view, each detailing the layout and unique landmarks of each respective map. Having said that, there is a ton of content in the thread, but don't fret! Addy organized everything for your viewing pleasure. Fronk commands thee to read more here.

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Lastly, GrammyXBL and others at ForgeInitiative recently started working on what has been coined "The Halo 3 Customs Remaster". You probably have a grasp on the details just looking at its title, no? Well, I'm going to describe it nonetheless! The Halo 3 Customs Remaster is a community project established with the objective of recreating Forge classics from ~2007. So far, their team has constructed a number of remasters including Jenga, Duck Hunt, Indiana Jones, and many more still! You can find more information here or at r/forgeinitiative.

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Bewitching Bargains

Addy: It's that time of the week again, the new Deals with Gold are live and contradictory to the above title; I don't feel that there are many bargains to be had. I simply liked the alliteration.

On Xbox One we are presented with a fairly stale offering of titles that have previously been available for free on Games with Gold over recent months, the one real exception here is The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, currently 30% off if any of you are hankering after a digital copy of this game.

Over on 360 there is a variety of different games and genres that there might be something on offer for most tastes in video games. My pick of the week on this platform is The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings which is on offer at a whopping 85% off.

As per the usual you can find the full extent of this week's promotions listed below;

Don't forget that at the time of writing, today is the first of the month meaning that the first of the new Games with Gold titles are now available to download. If you would like to learn more about what's on offer for this month, check out last week's recap for more information. For those of you that are too lazy for that, you can now download The Deer God on Xbox One and Battlestations Pacific on Xbox 360 now!

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That just about wraps it up. Until next time, then.

auburn
 
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