[360] Halo 4

[metallicorphan]

3.1million day one sales

The video game sales tracking website says Halo 4 managed to sell about 15% more copies than previous games in the franchise including Halo 3 and Halo Reach.

congrats to all at 343i(and especially Kathode )


it does go on to say MW3 day one sales for Xbox was 7.5million...which according to the comments below the article is an error and is 7.5million across all platforms(some say 6.5)

[metallicorphan]

Don't forget that Spartan Ops Episode 2 is out today(5 more chapters to play)

[skystride]

I went to check if BLOPS 2 was out at a EB that was right beside the movie theatre after watching Skyfall.  Of course it wasn't and I somehow ended up buying Halo 4.  First half hour I was really impressed with the graphics and sound effects.  But about 2 hours in I started getting that MOTS feeling.  I'm going to keep trudging on, I hope the story gets better.

[Knightshade Dragon]

Got something for you:



You can enter them online here:  http://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/classified

Enjoy!

[Soulchilde]

Just tried to unlock them and it's tells me I haven't met the qualifications to unlock this item

[th'FOOL]

You need to find all of the terminals

[USMC Kato]

Had a very fun an entertaining night with Jarrodhk, Proner, and PeteRock. We did pretty well in the War Games, then finished out the night with Spartan Ops.

[disarm]

You need to find all of the terminals

I've just finished mission 5 and found four of the terminals so far.  They're definitely worth keeping an eye out for as they provide some very interesting backstory to the Halo universe and the unfolding plot of the current game. Watching the domain terminal videos shows that 343 really has put a lot of effort into building significant history into their new story, and I'll definitely be putting in the effort to find the remaining terminals...plus finding them all can unlock some more cool stuff

[Turtle]

I just wish they had actually put them in the game itself.

I like Halo, but I hate the way they go out of the way to put all the really good story outside of the games themselves.

This isn't the 90s, the technology and techniques have advanced enough so that you really can put a lot of good story interwoven into the gameplay, especially when you have Halo style budgets.

[Covenant]

Had a very fun an entertaining night with Jarrodhk, Proner, and PeteRock. We did pretty well in the War Games, then finished out the night with Spartan Ops.

I got your invite and was gonna join you guys Kato, but I was coop-ing the campaign with a buddy of mine.

I've come to the conclusion that I don't really enjoy playing the campaign solo, but co-op it is incredibly fun. Amazing how adding one more person can completely change how the game plays.

[PeteRock]

Had a very fun an entertaining night with Jarrodhk, Proner, and PeteRock. We did pretty well in the War Games, then finished out the night with Spartan Ops.

Highlight of the night?  Actually there were two:

1)  Kato:  "Oh damnit.  I crashed the tank."
     Me:  "How?"
     Kato:  "I rolled it."
     Me:   
     Kato:  \  /

2)  There wasn't much of an exchange.  But while fighting gallantly alongside Kato, I was somehow vaporized right next to him.  It happened so close I think he got some ash in his eyes.  There wasn't even time for him to ask what happened, all I heard was hysterical laughter.  At one point we had to take a drink anytime we were vaporized.  I have a headache this morning.   

[pr0ner]

Kato rolled a tank?  How the bloody hell did he do that?

[spigot]

Why they decided to tuck away those terminals in the game also boggles my mind. The couple that I unlocked provided some pretty cool backfill story elements that helps flesh out the narrative.

The campaign itself was pretty good, but not as awesome as reviews made it out to be. By the end of the game I was pretty sick already of fighting the new enemies they presented. If I see another knight or annoying pack of skele-dogs, it'll be too soon. Fighting the same Covenant enemy types also grew pretty weary. I guess that probably says more about me and my fatigue with the Halo games than the game design itself though.

[Jarrodhk]

Kato rolled a tank?  How the bloody hell did he do that?

Turns out tanks are not really designed for cliff diving.


Especially without water.

[Soulchilde]

Why they decided to tuck away those terminals in the game also boggles my mind. The couple that I unlocked provided some pretty cool backfill story elements that helps flesh out the narrative.

The campaign itself was pretty good, but not as awesome as reviews made it out to be. By the end of the game I was pretty sick already of fighting the new enemies they presented. If I see another knight or annoying pack of skele-dogs, it'll be too soon. Fighting the same Covenant enemy types also grew pretty weary. I guess that probably says more about me and my fatigue with the Halo games than the game design itself though.

I don't mind the Knights or the Dogs, but the Watchers...   Almost controller throwing hatred


Not sure I want to complete Spartan Ops due to the Watchers

[metallicorphan]

Why they decided to tuck away those terminals in the game also boggles my mind. The couple that I unlocked provided some pretty cool backfill story elements that helps flesh out the narrative.

The campaign itself was pretty good, but not as awesome as reviews made it out to be. By the end of the game I was pretty sick already of fighting the new enemies they presented. If I see another knight or annoying pack of skele-dogs, it'll be too soon. Fighting the same Covenant enemy types also grew pretty weary. I guess that probably says more about me and my fatigue with the Halo games than the game design itself though.

I don't mind the Knights or the Dogs, but the Watchers...   Almost controller throwing hatred


Not sure I want to complete Spartan Ops due to the Watchers

Huh? but they are the easiest of all...you take them out first,only takes a couple of well placed shots,i found a few Promethean weapons(sniper style)were perfect for the Watchers

and playing Spartan Ops on Legendary,,,it's the Knights who give you the real problem,especially towards the end of Episode 1 chapter 5(and defo in chapter 4),as you can only take so much damage,so by the time you have to take cover the damage you have dealt to the Knights,their shields usually recharge again by the time you can stick your head out and start again

Also don't forget,no matter what level of difficulty you have Spartan Ops on,you can't really fail it......you respawn when you die and when you have respawned everything you have killed stays dead,so its just a matter of patience


(I really loved Spartan Ops,and look forward in the future when i pick up Halo 4 again all Episodes should be present and i will have a hell of a lot of game to play)

[kronovan]

My kids and I love the new enemies. I particularly like the dogs, especially when I melee-smash their orange, glowing heads in. 

[kronovan]

I finally got a chance to complete the campaign at our LAN meet last night. For me this equaled Halo 3 as my 2nd all time favorite Halo game and I've played all them, including Halo Wars. The Anniversary remake of the original is still my favorite, but I gotta admit this gave it a bit of a run for the money. I loved the story and I really liked the plot twist mid point on both the game and historical story-line. I also thought it was as well paced as any Halo game to date, and hands down the best looking!

My only criticisms are that I wish the Promethean weapons could have been  more of a real departure from those of past games. I'm more of a campaign player though, and although that would work for me I can see where doing that could have thrown a wrench into mplay for some fans of the online play. I did really enjoy them though and I thought it was a hoot how at times I could freely choose between UNSC, Covenant and Promethean weapons - it was like a smorgasbord of yummy dishes making it hard at times to know which 1 to choose.  

My other criticism is that its not the most original of Halo games. Maybe its the tint of the glasses I'm seeing it with, but I could see shades of Metroid Prime, Tron and Star Wars in its visual and gameplay style. That said, all of that was cleverly incorporated and a fresh new take on those styles. Last criticism is that in split-screen there were some moments of significant frame rate drops. Understandable because of the much improved graphics, but Reach looked pretty damn good too and we didn't experience that nearly as much.

Anyhow, little quibble aside -  I loved it, wouldn't give it anything less than a  9 of 10 and can't wait until the next episode in the trilogy.  Kudos to kathode and his teammates for producing an excellent Halo game.  

BTW I'm wondering if anyone else is experiencing problems  accessing Halo Waypoint from the menus. Tying to access it from the Halo 4 menus, I can reproduce a crash of my 360 as sure as death and taxes every time. Meanwhile, I don't have any problem accessing Waypoint from the 360 desktop.

[disarm]

BTW I'm wondering if anyone else is experiencing problems  accessing Halo Waypoint from the menus. Tying to access it from the Halo 4 menus, I can reproduce a crash of my 360 as sure as death and taxes every time. Meanwhile, I don't have any problem accessing Waypoint from the 360 desktop.

Same issue here...try to access Waypoint from the Halo 4 menu and it freezes my 360 on a black screen every time. It's surprising that they left such a big bug in the game given how much they're trying to push Waypoint now, but it doesn't really bother me because you're exiting out of Halo and starting a new app regardless of the path you take...still have to restart Halo 4 when you want to play again.

[pr0ner]

BTW I'm wondering if anyone else is experiencing problems  accessing Halo Waypoint from the menus. Tying to access it from the Halo 4 menus, I can reproduce a crash of my 360 as sure as death and taxes every time. Meanwhile, I don't have any problem accessing Waypoint from the 360 desktop.

Same issue here...try to access Waypoint from the Halo 4 menu and it freezes my 360 on a black screen every time. It's surprising that they left such a big bug in the game given how much they're trying to push Waypoint now, but it doesn't really bother me because you're exiting out of Halo and starting a new app regardless of the path you take...still have to restart Halo 4 when you want to play again.

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one having hard locks any time I try to access Waypoint from the Halo 4 menu.

[kathode]

BTW I'm wondering if anyone else is experiencing problems  accessing Halo Waypoint from the menus. Tying to access it from the Halo 4 menus, I can reproduce a crash of my 360 as sure as death and taxes every time. Meanwhile, I don't have any problem accessing Waypoint from the 360 desktop.

Same issue here...try to access Waypoint from the Halo 4 menu and it freezes my 360 on a black screen every time. It's surprising that they left such a big bug in the game given how much they're trying to push Waypoint now, but it doesn't really bother me because you're exiting out of Halo and starting a new app regardless of the path you take...still have to restart Halo 4 when you want to play again.

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one having hard locks any time I try to access Waypoint from the Halo 4 menu.

Yeah it's a known issue that is being looked into.  To fix it, just access Waypoint through the dashboard.  You'll be prompted to update the app.  Once you do, it will work from inside the game.

[pr0ner]

BTW I'm wondering if anyone else is experiencing problems  accessing Halo Waypoint from the menus. Tying to access it from the Halo 4 menus, I can reproduce a crash of my 360 as sure as death and taxes every time. Meanwhile, I don't have any problem accessing Waypoint from the 360 desktop.

Same issue here...try to access Waypoint from the Halo 4 menu and it freezes my 360 on a black screen every time. It's surprising that they left such a big bug in the game given how much they're trying to push Waypoint now, but it doesn't really bother me because you're exiting out of Halo and starting a new app regardless of the path you take...still have to restart Halo 4 when you want to play again.

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one having hard locks any time I try to access Waypoint from the Halo 4 menu.

Yeah it's a known issue that is being looked into.  To fix it, just access Waypoint through the dashboard.  You'll be prompted to update the app.  Once you do, it will work from inside the game.

When was the last update to Waypoint pushed down?

[kathode]

When was the last update to Waypoint pushed down?

No idea.  Sometime just a bit before launch I think.

[pr0ner]

When was the last update to Waypoint pushed down?

No idea.  Sometime just a bit before launch I think.

Yeah, I've updated Waypoint since then.  I still get the hard lock any time I try to access Waypoint from the Halo 4 menu.

[leo8877]

When was the last update to Waypoint pushed down?

No idea.  Sometime just a bit before launch I think.

Yeah, I've updated Waypoint since then.  I still get the hard lock any time I try to access Waypoint from the Halo 4 menu.

Same for me. It still locks up.

[disarm]

Someone on the xbox forums claims that deleting Waypoint and reinstalling will fix the lockup issue. I'll be trying it this evening and will report back...

[kronovan]

Someone on the xbox forums claims that deleting Waypoint and reinstalling will fix the lockup issue. I'll be trying it this evening and will report back...

Worked for me - after reinstalling Waypoint, the next time I started Halo 4 I was prompted for a 2 MB download. I've  no problems accessing Waypoint from the Halo 4 menus now. 

[disarm]

The Waypoint delete and reinstall fixed the problem for me as well...loads right up now 

I also managed to finish the campaign on Heroic today...really enjoyed the whole thing, although the final gameplay portions didn't really feel like they built up to any big finish. The ending cinematics were interesting though and really leave me wondering where they're going to take the series next. I think overall that 343 did a great job with their first entry in the franchise, producing a game that was not only technically impressive but gives us more story and emotion than we've seen before in a Halo game...couldn't have asked for much more. Now it's time to get into multiplayer and see what Spartan Ops is all about...

[disarm]

Have to take back what I said...Waypoint is back to locking up the whole system if I try to load from inside Halo 4. It worked right after I reinstalled yesterday, but I guess that was only temporary

[kronovan]

The system crash while accessing waypoint returned for me This has really got me baffled because all I did since it was working was replay some Spartan Ops missions and replay a campaign mission to get the last termimal. Wayploint had also temporarily srfewed up my Milestone count, but it‘s at least back to normal now.

Something far worse though - I realised on the weekend while gaming with a buddy that a XBL Gold account is required to view the terminals. I highly recommended this game to my friend who isn‘t an online player at all and doesn‘t have gold. I felt embarassed when I told how much the terminals add to the story only to find out he couldn‘t access them. MS gives you 14 days gold with it , which my friend used to play a few Spartan Ops missions, but of course being a more casual gamer he isn‘t close to finishing the campaign and his 14 days are up. I don‘t know, it may be just me, but it seems prertty damn unreasonable for MS to make you have gold just to view the terminals.  That certainly wasn‘t the case in Halo CE Anniversary.

[th'FOOL]

The system crash while accessing waypoint returned for me This has really got me baffled because all I did since it was working was replay some Spartan Ops missions and replay a campaign mission to get the last termimal. Wayploint had also temporarily srfewed up my Milestone count, but it‘s at least back to normal now.

Something far worse though - I realised on the weekend while gaming with a buddy that a XBL Gold account is required to view the terminals. I highly recommended this game to my friend who isn‘t an online player at all and doesn‘t have gold. I felt embarassed when I told how much the terminals add to the story only to find out he couldn‘t access them. MS gives you 14 days gold with it , which my friend used to play a few Spartan Ops missions, but of course being a more casual gamer he isn‘t close to finishing the campaign and his 14 days are up. I don‘t know, it may be just me, but it seems prertty damn unreasonable for MS to make you have gold just to view the terminals.  That certainly wasn‘t the case in Halo CE Anniversary.

You can access waypoint (and the terminal vids) on the website. Also, I bet they can access them in waypoint via the waypoint app on the xbox, rather than through Halo 4

[kronovan]

Well we went over the Waypoint inerface -with what extremely limited options you have with a XBL silver account- quite thoroughly and we could not find a way to access the terminals. I know when I want to view them I have to go though my SR which isn‘t displayed when you only have silver access. We were however launching Waypoint from the 360 desktop, because -you guessed it- his 360 black screened whenever he tried to launch it from halo 4. So I wouldn‘t know if there‘s more functionality for silver account users if  launching it from inaside Halo 4? I wasn‘t aware you can now access the Waypoint website without a gold account - certainly wasn‘t the case in the past . Are you sure that that doewsn‘t just give you a limited interface like launching it from the desktop?

[kathode]

An update is out for Halo 4 today that should address the issue with launching Waypoint from the game, and a bunch of other stuff - http://blogs.halowaypoint.com/post/2012/12/06/Halo-4-TU-Change-List.aspx

Sorry for being away.  I've been on vacation.  I actually saved up enough to take all of December off, so that's what I'm doing now

[kronovan]

Thanks for the update Kathode. I downloaded the update when I started it up last night to continue the latest chapter of Spartan Ops. I then gave it a test and successfully accessed Waypoint 3 times, which makes me very happy.  

A question for you; my gaming group and I love Sartan Ops, but we would love to see some new maps used in the missions. We'd also be more than happy to pay for that via some DLC. Is there any chance 343 might release DLC in the  future that adds new SO maps?

[kathode]

A question for you; my gaming group and I love Sartan Ops, but we would love to see some new maps used in the missions. We'd also be more than happy to pay for that via some DLC. Is there any chance 343 might release DLC in the  future that adds new SO maps?

Yeah new Spartan Ops stuff is coming.  They posted about it in a weekly update last week - http://blogs.halowaypoint.com/Headlines/post/2012/12/06/The-Halo-Bulletin-120612-.aspx  Basically the weekly cadence of new Spartan Ops goes on break soon until January, and then comes back with more missions that include new maps.  No announced plans beyond that right now!

[kronovan]

A question for you; my gaming group and I love Sartan Ops, but we would love to see some new maps used in the missions. We'd also be more than happy to pay for that via some DLC. Is there any chance 343 might release DLC in the  future that adds new SO maps?

Yeah new Spartan Ops stuff is coming.  They posted about it in a weekly update last week - http://blogs.halowaypoint.com/Headlines/post/2012/12/06/The-Halo-Bulletin-120612-.aspx  Basically the weekly cadence of new Spartan Ops goes on break soon until January, and then comes back with more missions that include new maps.  No announced plans beyond that right now!

Awesome! Just by chance I flicked to Spike TV around the end of the Video Game Awards and noticed the blurb and video on Spartan Ops. Looking forward to what's coming in January. And congrats on you and your coworkers winning best Xbox game. 

[Kagath]

Going to post something I have on another forum:

Finally cracked open my copy had since Turkeyday and completed the SP on Easy. No broadband for MP access though so that's out for now. Co-op on Legendary will happen at some point I'm sure as usual.

That was ...kinda underwhelming. I'm sure most of this has been covered already in the thread but here's some initial thoughts after playing through Single player on Easy setting:

Spoiler for Hiden:

The good:
- The graphics. Everything seemed to look pretty darn good. Mostly nice and clean like the previous games. The cutscenes were pretty nice looking as well.
- Some new weapons that were pretty fun to use. The Disintegrator fire rifle was pretty fun and the Binary gun was decent. Never used the Rail gun so no idea. Kinda silly that the ancient aliens have the same basic weapons we have though.
- Sound of most weapons. The Beam rifle and human Sniper sound pretty good.
- The music was decent but nothing really stood out as catchy or inspiring like the old games. This current guy is no Marty O'donnell for sure. I didn't find myself humming along with anything once except the 'requisite onscreen flyby' scene.
- The Mantis is pretty fun.

The bad:
- The sound. All I recall is blaring music. Why oh why can't the Halo series have the option to turn down the music separately or bump the voices. Why the hell make the marines have funny sayings if you can never hear them. I had trouble hearing Cortana over the music a lot of times too. Glad I turned on the full subtitles... I have Tritton AX720 headphones so it's not like I shouldn't be able to hear them better. Other games sound fine so why not Halo games?
- The Warthog. Changed the sound to ridiculous high pitched levels. What, does it have a chainsaw motor powering the thing now? Seems way to difficult to be able to drive it at slower speeds as it acts almost all or nothing on the accelerator. Bad for my brother and I that like to drive the Hog with more precision instead of just balls out speeds in MP.
- The Promethean enemies. I don't like them. No personality like the Covenant. The flying things only made me think of the ones in Quake 4 constantly for some reason.
- Very little Marine interaction compared to previous games. My brother and I try to keep the Marines with us as long as possible in the previous games for the added firepower and funny sayings. I understand it's part of the story restrictions but you are with them only a tiny bit. (see sound problem as above)

I never read the books or media outside the games so I was a little lost. I found some of the terminals but can't view the movies due to no access to broadband right now... Fucking stupid idea to require that for much needed backstory exposition.

I found myself often just not caring too much and going through the motions of the game. The characters just didn't do much for me. Yeah, it had the Chief and Cortana but it still didn't totally feel like a Halo game to me. Yeah I know, they wanted to make their game but it still feels off.

[Purge]

You know, if you want to drop a music track, use the 360 media player, pick an mp3 off your PC/whatever, then turn down the sound to nothing.

[Kagath]

You know, if you want to drop a music track, use the 360 media player, pick an mp3 off your PC/whatever, then turn down the sound to nothing.

I still want to hear the game just not the too loud music. I like hearing the marines say funny things but I can't in this. I have never understood why the Halo games couldn't have separate sliders for music/sound. Generally love the games, but this is just a bonehead move on the developers part.

[kronovan]

I never read the books or media outside the games so I was a little lost. I found some of the terminals but can't view the movies due to no access to broadband right now... Fucking stupid idea to require that for much needed backstory exposition.

I'd posted about this earlier and I'm quite surprised about 343's decision to do that too. I think I'm more annoyed that you need an XBL Gold account to view them in Waypoint. I  had a friend check into viewing them on the Halo Waypoint website and he confirmed that you can view them there with only a silver level account. Considering that the 360 now has an Internet browser, I guess that isn't so bad. That won't help you without a broadband connection though.  

I'd also agree about sound being perhaps the weakest element in the game. For me it wasn't just sound levels though, as the musical score didn't quite seem to be up to usual Halo standards. IMO it's still better than 90% of  the games on the 360, but considering the amount of resources they advertised about pouring into the soundrack I expected something that at least equaled previous games.