With E3 finally here, the Halo Fan Base will be getting more Halo news for another year in a row. While I sat here, awaiting E3 on Spike, I got bored of watching “Deadliest Warrior” and switched over to G4 to watch a little “Campus PD.” As enjoyable as it was to watch college kids get arrested due to underage drinking, something else caught my attention. At the bottom of the television screen, a message appeared, “Breaking News An image announcing Halo 4 briefly appeared on Xbox.com this morning, hours before Microsoft’s E3 press conference.” Well if you look through the Xbox site, you certainly won’t find the image as it was quickly taken off line.

So there you have it! Halo 4 has been confirmed. We should get a lot more information, maybe even gameplay, within the next 2 hours or so. With 343 Industries in on the project, we should finally get a good look at what they really can do. Even though we got a look at what they are capable of doing with the latest Halo Reach map pack, building an actual Halo Game with the amount of hype it’s about to get will really test their skills. So how good do we think the game will be? We really have no idea at the moment. But expect that to change very soon as E3 begins to dish out all the gaming news we have been craving for some time.

Stay updated even further by visiting us online at http://360informer.com!

343 Industries has really kept everything under-wraps in terms of what they want the public to know about the future Halo Project. But according to 343 Industry’s Frank O’Conner, there will be some surprising news regarding Halo released sometime this year.

“I think that our main high-level task this year is to celebrate ten years of Halo with our fans, and we’re going to be doing a lot of things to celebrate that, and there’s going to be a lot of cool surprises in this year, and we just want to have a celebratory atmosphere,” said O’Connor. “Even as that baton is passed, and that torch is passed, we want to make sure it’s a happy year, and there’s still a lot to talk about.”

If I were to add in my own “two-sense”, it sounds like O’Conner is really excited about what they have planned for Halo. This could be a very good thing for Halo Fans because 343 Industries knows that they have some pretty big shoes to fill – Bungie. If O’Conner thinks the company is going in the right direction, he must think that they are staying at Bungie’s level. But only time will tell if what 343 Industries has planned is right. Besides, like all games, Halo is designed to please their great fans, not the creators.

Solely based on pure speculation, I’d guess that if Halo news is planned for this year, which it is, it would most likely be announced at this years E3. O’Conner still had some more to say regarding the next Halo Game:

“Your best experiences in movies and literature are always grounded in a suspension of disbelief, and that’s easier to do when the environment that you’re describing, and the universe that you’re describing is convincing, and feels true or real,” O’Connor explained. “Bluntly speaking, 343 Industries, and the franchise, and the licensing team within our studio, handles all that stuff—so we own it, and we own the messaging, and we own the branding, and we own the clarity of that product, and it’s something we take very, very seriously.”

As you can see, this is no April Fools joke this time. This is very real and has actually been quite popular around the Halo Community for the past few days. Although this game type is amazing, you may find some kinks that need to be worked out as several aspects of the game do not exactly function properly.

If you’ve found Halo Chess to your liking, simply sign into your Bungie Account, link it to your Xbox Live Gamertag and download the Game Type and Map Type to your Xbox 360 Console.

Download Links:

Halo Chess – Game Type

Halo Chess – Map

This was the first transformed Xbox. This fan built an entire Halo Battlefield on the Xbox itself. Everything is in full working condition, from the Xbox turning on and playing games to the fan running so the console does not overheat. Might I add that there is an actual fan built on the outside, in front of Master Chief, that allows the console to cool.

Anyways, this is what I call a Halo Reach Custom Xbox. It literally has Halo Reach all over it. The only issue here is that if it Red Rings, it’ll be hard to fix the console. Buy if you don’t want to take the risk of taking it apart and putting it back together, you’ll still have a nice little play set.

Here is the second transformed Xbox. This one may appeal to more people because it is a little cleaner looking. All in all, this is pretty much the best Halo “hook-up” I have ever seen. Perfect Halo Xbox and Xbox platform, sweet looking controllers, HD TV and of course, some nice speakers.

Now unlike the other Xbox, if this one Red Rings, you can still get it fixed and set it back on your statue stand. It’s a shame that this isn’t for sale as I would probably buy it.

Both have done amazing jobs on their Xbox’s. You really can’t question their love for Halo as this type of project likely wasn’t completed in 30 minutes. But take your pick, which one did you like the best? I find the second one a bit more appealing.

Anyways, just to throw a little entertainment in the mix, here is a little Halo Comic that I dug up showing all you campers why your technique isn’t such a good idea.

OK, fine, most likely a camper won’t be caught of guard like that - while eating a sandwich. Take it for what it’s worth, humor – even if you didn’t find it funny.

Much talk about a possible Halo: Combat Evolved remake had been in the air last November. Of course, back then it was just rumors. However today, that rumor has been confirmed to be true. Microsoft has confirmed that a remake for Halo: Combat Evolved is scheduled to be released on November 15th of this year, exactly 10 years after the original Halo: Combat Evolved was released.

The remake is being developed by New Jersey-based Saber Interactive and will not be Bungie’s 2001 copy of the game running at a higher resolution. In fact, the game is supposed to be upgraded in art assets and the controls will be based on recent Halo Configurations. No specific details on the type of engine type has been confirmed, however it will not be the engine that ran Halo Reach.

Details on the multiplayer aspect of the game are still being worked out, but online co-op is expected to be present.

The Halo world has become vastly different since it came into existence. Halo: Combat Evolved, over the course of many years, has evolved into Halo: Reach which, according many people, failed to reach expectations. But when things don’t go in the right direction, you don’t give up and quit, you pick your head back up and start moving in the right direction. The only issue with Halo Reach is that Bungie may have taken Halo a little too far into the wrong direction. I’m not saying this is totally my opinion, but after reading come comments about the game, it doesn’t seem like too many people really felt that Bungie had improved Halo. So what really is the right direction for this franchise? Well choosing the right path is now solely in 343 Industries’ hands. There are a lot of things 343 Industries can do to improve the Halo Series. I’ll list a few opinionated improvements I’d like to see them make.

Lets start off with basics: Grenades. In Halo Reach’s Beta, the Grenades were said to be “overpowered.” The only reason I think people said they were overpowered was because no one was used to grenades actually killing people in Halo. For once, grenades in Halo actually worked. But because so many fans complained, Grenades were reverted back to their old useless self once again. 343 Industries needs to fix this; at the least make the grenades a little more powerful than they are in Halo Reach. They need to kill, not just make dirt fly up in small explosions.

The next thing that needs to be gone is the Rage Quit Ban. This just flat out angered the fan base. There are so many reasons for some one to quit in the middle of a game besides “raging.” It seems like Bungie forgot that maybe someone needs to go out to dinner in the middle of a game, or go feed their dog; the Rage Quit Ban was flat out idiotic and was unnecessary no matter what the intentions were. No one likes Rage Quitters, but the amount of constraints the Rage Quit Ban system put on an average player was unbelievable. I think I speak for most people when I say that this banning system needs to go.

The next thing I’d love to see in the next Halo is an improved Assault Rifle. If you look at most First Person Shooters, like Call of Duty, the Assault Rifles are the main gun most people use because, well they’re the best. In Halo Reach, Assault Rifles were often used mostly because the rest of the guns around players were even worse. If there happens to be a good weapon on the map, it is almost always taken. To fix the Assault Rifle, I believe it needs to be increased slightly in power and majorly in range. The Assault Rifle needs to be dominant, and when players are choosing the Magnum over the Assault Rifle, it is a clear indication that something is definitely wrong.

Killing in Halo Reach is normal, but I feel that it may be better for the Halo Series if 343 Industries reduces the health of a player so the time to kill isn’t so long. Halo needs more of that competitive edge; if killing a Spartan with an Assault Rifle means unloading a whole clip in his face, then it doesn’t really come down to who’s good at the game; it comes down to who sees who first. I wouldn’t agree with decreasing the health drastically to a Call of Duty amount (three – four bullets causes death), but I feel that it should only take about half a clip to kill someone. Decreasing the health will up the tempo of the game and likely give it a more competitive edge, which is highly lacking in Reach.

Forge is a must keep for 343 Industries, but hopefully we don’t see another Forge World like we saw in Halo Reach. Forge World had potential, but in the end it was lacking the one thing everyone needs: A clean canvas. Bungie may have gone a little too fancy with the whole idea of Forge World. The fixes to the Forge menu were terrific, but I honestly really enjoyed the maps Sandbox and Foundry from Halo 3. These maps are completely flat, indoor canvases and people around the Bungie community created masterful forges with them. I’m not saying to completely scratch out Forge World, but maybe 343 Industries should think about including one or two completely flat maps so people can have a nice base to forge on.

The campaign in Halo Reach was great, but I think a lot of players missed playing as Master Chief. Yeah, it was great that we had a team of Spartans with us in this campaign, but for the people that were with Halo from the very beginning, losing Master Chief was a real let down. The image of Master Chief is really the one thing that comes to mind when you think of Halo. Without him, it was like Halo lost its main character. It’s like watching Harry Potter without Harry Potter in the movie, the main character was gone and there was really no one else that could replace him. Starting Halo 4 off where Halo 3 left off would be a really great idea if it involves Master Chief as the main character.

Armor Abilities received mixed feelings from fans. But the honest truth is this: Armor Abilities are just not for Halo. There is no doubt that everyone thought they were the best thing ever in the Beta, but in the end, all they did was make Halo Reach even more unbalanced than it already was. The key element for any good first person shooter is to make sure everything is balanced. Just look at The Call of Duty Franchise; Modern Warfare 2 was a huge success but a lot of people were let down because it was not balanced. Players found “cheap” ways to beat and annoy their opponents at the same time. The Call of Duty Team went back to the drawing board and created Black Ops. Black Ops is praised because it is so balanced; it accommodated almost all the fans. Bungie pretty much took Halo 3 and went in the opposite direction. If 343 Industries wants to keep Armor Abilities, they’ll have a lot of work ahead of them to balance them out. It’s hard to say, but I think Armor Abilities may need to go.

343 Industries has a vast work load ahead of them if they plan on setting the Halo Series in the right direction. These changes, that I believe in, only relate to the game play for Halo 4. It’ll be very interesting to see how Halo 4 turns out, but I wouldn’t expect the game to be perfect. Anyways, these are just my opinions. Be sure to let me know what you think: Tell me what you agree with and even disagree with. Try not to be too harsh, these are just a few fixes to problems I had with the game.

Update: Guys, this is simply just my opinion. I know most of you probably disagree, and you may be right. I’m probably completely wrong with my ideas but it’s just my opinion. Chill with the hate comments.

First off, I’d like to apologize for not posting any relevant Halo news for the past months. Now that Halo Reach has somewhat subsided, I haven’t come across any huge news that I felt anyone would really care to know about.

However, I feel that the dry spell has finally ended; Halo Reach is done but 343 Industries is still hiring jobs to create their version of Halo. At the moment, there is absolutely no news on the Halo game. Although, if my prediction is right, 343 Industries should shed some light on the topic soon. Halo3Blogs will resume its complete cover of the Halo Universe shortly.

In the mean time, you can check out my newly developed blog at http://360informer.com. It is still in the works, and I plan on making it something big. If you’d like to help, please contact me at admin@halo3blogs.com to apply to become a writer. I already have a few writers on the staff but a few more could never hurt.

Keep checking back on the blog every now and then; if any news is released about the new Halo game you’ll find the full update here at halo3blogs.com

Instead of finishing the level immediately, head to this tower west of the nightclub.

There is a switch located on this building.

To press the switch, one person with a jet pack needs to get on top of the other’s falcon and press the button by jumping to it.

Then fly south and fly through the ring like structure.

Any falcon is transformed into a pelican, and any banshee becomes a phantom.

To download a video clip to your Xbox of Seth4563 and I pulling this glitch off, click here.

As of today, Bungie has finally increased the level cap for us players. If you were well past the original level cap and continued to play, chances are you will be up a few levels as the experience you have bean earning has carried on. Along with more levels, Bungie has also added additional pieces of armor which will be accessible by leveling through the new possible levels. Start saving those credits, stuff will start getting real expensive soon!