DailyTech - Halo 4 Launches for Xbox 360, to Compete with Call of Duty: Black Ops 2

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Software Halo 4 Launches for Xbox 360, to Compete with Call of Duty: Black Ops 2
Tiffany Kaiser - November 6, 2012 7:23 PM

24 comment(s) - last by TakinYourPoint.. on Nov 8 at 12:08 AM

It has been five years since "Halo 3" was released, and it looks as if "Halo" fans were more than ready for the successor

"Halo 4," which features the return of "Master Chief," was released today for Microsoft's Xbox 360.

The first-person shooter is the first game in a new trilogy of the "Halo" series. It takes place three years after "Halo 3" ended, and represents the return of the Master Chief as the protagonist.

It has been five years since "Halo 3" was released, and it looks as if "Halo" fans were more than ready for the successor.

"Because there hasn't been a game to star "Master Chief" for five years, there's a bit of a pent-up demand," said Ryan McCaffrey, Xbox Executive Editor at IGN.com.

"Halo 4's" plot is centralized around "Master Chief" and his ability to kill evil aliens while trying to save his AI friend, Cortana.

While the "Halo" series was on break, the "Call of Duty" series stepped in as the most popular games on the Xbox. Now, "Halo 4" will closely compete with "Call of Duty: Black Ops 2," which will be released next week on November 18.

Ahead of "Halo 4's" launch, Microsoft said this would be the best "Halo" yet.

"Fans worldwide will experience the biggest, most detailed 'Halo' universe yet," said Microsoft. "The game features more weapons, more enemies, more detailed animations and more ways to play with friends.

"One thing that hasn't changed is the hardware the game runs on, the Xbox 360. That was one of the challenges for the engineering team at 343 Industries (the new internal studio at Microsoft, helming the franchise): how to do more, not with less, but with the same hardware that's been around since 2005."

"Halo" was originally released in 2001. It has sold 46 million copies and generated $3 billion of revenue in the franchise since.

Earlier this year, Microsoft announced a "Halo 4" bundle, which contains a Halo 4-themed console with blue and grey coloring and a custom controller that has blue LEDs as opposed to the usual green LEDs.

The bundle, which appears to include the special edition Halo 4 console, the Halo 4 game, and two controllers, was rumored to run around $399.99 while a stand-alone controller will cost $49.99.

Source: Microsoft

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Ummm...

By Veero on 11/7/2012 9:18:24 AM , Rating: 2

Obviously written by someone who has not been following the game pre-launch or played much of Halo.

quote:
It takes place three years after "Halo 3" ended, and represents the return of the Master Chief as the protagonist.

It actually takes place 5 years after Halo 3, or technically 4 years 7 months according to Cortana in the first mission. (fanboy in me coming out a bit here)

quote:
"Halo 4's" plot is centralized around "Master Chief" and his ability to kill evil aliens while trying to save his AI friend, Cortana.

While technically correct, referring to the enemies as "evil aliens", and Cortana as an "AI friend" doesn't do either description much justice to someone who has played the games even a little.

quote:
The bundle, which appears to include the special edition Halo 4 console, the Halo 4 game, and two controllers, was rumored to run around $399.99 while a stand-alone controller will cost $49.99.

This was posted the day the game came out, there are no "rumored" prices about anything. The console is $349.99 and the controller is $59.99, and these prices have been known for a good while now.

One would hope that journalist at least do a little more research before writing an article on something, these were not hard things to verify and figure out.

RE: Ummm...

By Reclaimer77 on 11/7/2012 11:08:59 AM , Rating: 1

She doesn't even hint at the Master Chief story arc, which is clearly the best one we've ever had and what separates this from all the others. Master Chief is forced out of his comfort zone, and he's more human than ever before. Instead of the stoic heroic killing machine, his character actually develops in Halo 4 as he faces internal struggles as well.

Bungie did a great job with Halo, but I never really felt all that engaged with the story and character of The Reclaimer. But this new studio is taking everything to a whole new level.

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