News

In video game history, not many franchises have made as much impact as Halo. Released in 2001, Halo: Combat Evolved not only redefined the First-Person Shooter (Fps) genre but also helped establish the Xbox as a major player in the gaming market. The game introduced players to a rich narrative filled with deep lore, memorable characters like Master Chief, and groundbreaking multiplayer experiences.

The game revolutionized the entire gaming industry and made Xbox a leading console. | Image Credit: 343 Industries

The game’s legacy is very deep and has influenced countless games and franchises including novels, animated series, and a live-action television adaptation. Yet, not many players know that before the Master Chief donned his iconic green armor, the vision for the game was very different: originally it was intended to be a real-time strategy (Rts) and real-time tactics game.

The History and Development of Halo

The origins of Halo can...

What if the Halo: Combat Evolved the way you knew was just the tip of the iceberg? That there was always more to it? Imagine diving into a world where every cut mission, discarded weapon, gatekept story element, and forgotten character is brought back to life.

This is not just a remaster; it’s a complete reimagining, a tantalizing possibility that has surfaced over X.

Teasing the Halo We Never Knew Will the new Halo: Combat Evolved remake be up to the mark?

Marcus Lehto recently sparked intense speculation with a provocative tweet. He suggested that a potential remaster could include all the content that never made it into the original game. This has fans buzzing about the possibilities of an enriched narrative and expanded gameplay mechanics.

What if cut missions, weapons, characters and storyline elements were reintegrated along with more contemporary core mechanics that improve gameplay while remaining faithful to the original?...

Call of Duty and Battlefield are two of the biggest names when it comes to online multiplayer Fps games. However, while Call of Duty is growing even today by adding new games to the franchise, Battlefield has hit a bit of a roadblock. The last installment of the latter was released back in 2021, Battlefield 2042, and was met with a lukewarm welcome by the community. Fans who are now eagerly awaiting a new Battlefield game will be waiting quite a bit longer as a studio closure leaves the game’s future in limbo.

EA Announces Closure of Ridgeline Games The new single-player Battlefield project will now be handled by Criterion Games.

The information comes from Andy Robinson on X, who tweeted out saying EA has closed Ridgeline Games, the studio handling a future Battlefield single-player game. This title was supposedly going to be a counterpart to Battlefield 2042, which was designed exclusively for online play.

Pedigree is a funny thing in the video game industry. On the one hand, if you’re familiar with a developer and have enjoyed their previous work, odds are that you’ll like the next game they put out. But pedigree also means that a new IP can carry some heavy expectations that are very difficult, if not impossible, to meet.

As the inaugural title from V1 Interactive, a small studio founded by Halo co-creator Marcus Lehto and other former Bungie staffers, Disintegration is leaning hard on its pedigree to make a name for itself in the crowded first-person shooter genre. And while Disintegration may not live up to the legendary exploits of Master Chief, there are some unique ideas here, bolstered by a fantastic multiplayer mode, that make the game worth trying for yourself.

Disintegration takes place 150 years in the future on an Earth ravaged by climate change, disease,...

Rob Leane Feb 3, 2020

Den of Geek got involved with the technical beta for Disintegration. This is how it went.

In late January, V1 Interactive and Private Division hosted an online technical beta test for Disintegration, the upcoming shooter game that comes to us from former Bungie creative art director and Halo developer Marcus Lehto. Den of Geek logged onto PS4 and got involved, sampling some early hands-on time with two of the game's multiplayer modes. Long story short: we had a good time with Disintegration, and it left us wanting more.

The game's story takes place in a dark future in which mankind has integrated with machines to survive, but, as you'd expect, these multiplayer modes only really give you a tiny taste of that narrative. Instead, the two modes that we played are mainly focused on getting players to compete against each other online. Each player takes control of...

Matthew Byrd Jan 21, 2020

Disintegration is a new sci-fi title from a former Bungie creative director and one of Halo's original creators.

Marcus Lehto, a former creative director at Bungie who worked on Bungie, is leading the development of a new first-person shooter from Private Division and V1 Interactive called Disintegration. And, from what we've seen of the game so far, the game's unique twist on the Fps genre could set it apart from the competition.

The game's single-player campaign puts you in the role of Romer Shoal, "an expert in piloting a Gravcycle, a hovering quad-engine vehicle originally used for search and rescue missions that has been transformed into an armored chassis bristling with powerful weapons." Shoal doesn't just unleash the Gravcycle's firepower on the battlefield, though. He also commands a unit of soldiers on the ground. The key to victory is to both use the Gravcycle's weaponry, which...

Behold, the grandfather of all easter eggs.

Easter eggs have been a part of video games ever since Warren Robinett hid his name in the depths of Adventure in 1979. Easter eggs represent a break in the environment of the game, and while some might be subtle references or jokes, others can be completely over the top. Easter eggs remind the player that even the most serious of developers still have a sense of humor. However, not all easter eggs are created equal.

I’ve compiled a list of unique easter eggs that are meant to take players totally by surprise. It’s one thing if an Npc references another game in the series, or if a character is named after a designer, but what about huge fire-breathing chickens? What about fighting a horde of demon cows? These ridiculous and unbelievable easter eggs will be highlighted in this list. Enjoy!

Note:...

Christopher Nolan's "Inception" dominated the 9th annual Visual Effects Society Awards winning the top prize of Outstanding Visual Effcts in a VFX-driven feature. The mind-bending film won all four categories that it was nominated for.

DreamWorks Animations' "How to Train Your Dragon" also received love from the Ves sweeping the feature animation categories including Outstanding Animation in an Animated Feature.

The ceremony, held at the Beverly Hilton, also paid homage to Nolan by giving him the inaugural Ves Visionary Award. The great Ray Harryhausen was given the much-deserved Lifetime Achievement Award.

Here's the complete list of the winners of the 9th annual Visual Effects Society (Ves) Awards (Check our Awards Avenue for complete winners/nominees for all award-giving bodies):

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual-Effects Driven Feature Motion Picture

Inception

Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Mike Chambers, Matthew Plummer

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Feature Motion Picture

Hereafter

Michael Owens,...

The Visual Effects Society (Ves) has announced the nominees for the 9th Annual Ves Awards ceremony recognizing outstanding visual effects artistry in 24 categories of film, animation, television,

commercials and video games.

Christopher Nolan's "Inception" dominated the nominations receiving four nods. Nolan will also be honored at the event with the inaugural Ves Visionary Award. Ray Harryhausen will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award.

The Ves Awards will take place on Tuesday, February 1 and will air exclusively on Reelzchannel Saturday, February 19 at 10p Et/Pt with encore presentations throughout February.

Here's the complete list of nominees for the 9th Annual Ves Awards:

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual-Effects Driven Feature Motion

Picture

Inception

Paul Franklin Visual Effects Supervisor

Chris Corbould Special Effects Supervisor

Mike Chambers Visual Effects Producer

Matthew Plummer Visual Effects Producer

Iron Man 2

Ben Snow VFX Supervisor

Ged Wright VFX Supervisor

Janek Sirrs VFX Supervisor

Susan Pickett VFX...

Early versions of Halo: Reach featured a dedicated space combat mode in multiplayer. It was to be similar to the Long Night of Solace level in the campaign, which sees players battle Covenant ships in space. "We joked about it from time to time and even had a rough version of it working very early on in development," said creative director Marcus Lehto to Game Informer (via Cvg). "But the mechanics of it were pretty silly and we very quickly (more)...

"Halo: Reach" released at 12:01am this morning, but you can be sure there will be plenty of people playing straight through to the credits before tomorrow's dawn. A certain percentage of those hardcore "Halo" fans have probably read "Halo: The Fall of Reach," a novel which released in 2001 and told of the doomed fate of the planet of Reach.

By the time the credits roll in the "Halo: Reach," those who read the novel may be left scratching their heads, as there's a pretty big inconsistency between the events of the game and the events of the book. I spoke to Marcus Lehto, the Creative Director of "Halo: Reach," about what sort of work they put into making sure the game and the book blended, and what should be considered true "Halo" canon.

Note: This Is A Huge Spoiler. If You Haven't Finished "Halo: Reach" And Don't Want The End Of The Game Ruined,...

Last night saw a massive Times Square launch event for "Halo: Reach" where hundreds of fans gathered to be the first to play and buy the game. I didn't stick around for the performance by indie rap sensation Kid Cudi but I did speak with the two important members of the Bungie development studio responsible for "Reach." Marcus Lehto's got the most history with the studio, going back to its pre-"Halo" days and Joseph Tung served as executive director on the developers' last go-round in the Halo-verse. The pair talked about the game's cinematic influences, how listening to fans changed the game and the goals they tried to meet in their last efforts in the worlds they made. You'll have to to excuse the bass thumping in the background, but it's a talk worth watching.

Bungie's very real "Halo: Reach" Legendary Edition materialized in retailer listings for $149.99 with a special case, collectibles and an assortment of in-game armor, as well as a "Legendary Noble 6" sculpture. Bungie waited until nearly the eleventh hour, however, to go into detail about their "two full hours of exclusive, behind-the-scenes campaign commentary covering unrevealed aspects of 'Halo: Reach''s production" that are now officially part of the package.

Creative director Marcus Lehto, audio director and composer Marty O’Donnell, cinematics and story lead Lee Wilson and effects lead Steve Scott will all contribute to the extra content, according to a post on Bungie.net. Their reflections will cover "a full campaign play-through, from start to finish." It will be "judiciously edited to excise the downtime and deliver only the most impactful moments," however, so it sounds like they'll try to keep it lively. Don't watch the commentary before playing "Reach" yourself,...

Bungie may not have attracted the 3 million players they expected to host for the "Halo: Reach" multiplayer beta test, but they sound like they came close. "More than 2.7 million" is the official count, according to a report by the AP, and September 14 will be the ultimate release date for the full game.

"It's exceeded our expectations," Bungie community director Brian Jarrard said, according to the story. "Our only real perspective going into this was the 'Halo 3' beta test, which had about 800,000 people. We knew there were a couple million copies of 'Odst' out there, but we really didn't have any specific information that let us know what the population might be like."

Emotions and demands likely run high right now on the Halo team, since "Reach" will be Bungie's last title with Microsoft before embarking a new project with Activision as its publisher.

"This is the most pressure we've ever been under,...

Bungie has revealed that it is planning something "big" surrounding Halo: Reach at this year's E3. Marcus Lehto, the creative director for the upcoming Halo title, spoke of the plans on his official Halo: Reach blog. "This week, we solved some big E3 plans that have been cooking for a while now. It wasn't easy at all," he wrote. "I had some different ideas as to what I wanted to show, but our marketing folks did a great job of pulling me up off the ground (more)...

“We knew From the beginning, what the end was gonna be,” says Creative Director Marcus Lehto. “This is the definitive Halo, made by the people that created Halo,” adds Composer Marty O’Donnell. The two are discussing Bungie’s final Halo game, Halo: Reach, in the new ViDoc Once More Into The Breach. Strong statements, sure, but judging by what’s on display in the video, they just might be right.

The video is full of technical information about how they gutted, re-built, and optimized the Halo 3 engine to power Reach. That stuff is interesting, but what the in-game footage makes clear is simple: this game looks fantastic. With a huge amount of on-screen detail and a quantum leap in animation quality, Halo is definitely going out on a visual high point. But it’s not just the visuals getting an overhaul. Reach is attempting to inject freshness into all aspects of the Halo universe.

The creative director over at Bungie has compared Halo: Reach to James Cameron’s box office behemoth Titanic.

It was also revealed that some aspects of the upcoming title will upset die-hard fans of the series’ source material; the 2001 prequel novel - Halo: The Fall of Reach.

Speaking to Edge, Marcus Lehto said:

“Reach is like Titanic – we know the end from the beginning. Reach is going to fall and 700 million people are going to perish as a result.”

“It’s a very dark story to tell, and our goal is to allow the player to experience Noble Team’s efforts and get satisfaction from them continuing to fight forward and achieve the final acts of what we can’t talk about today. That success is what’s so gratifying at the end.”

“We are very sensitive to the Halo canon, and we are careful not to be stomping on the Halo timeline.