Xbox Newsbeat – 25 September 2015
Come Join Xbox at EB Expo 2015
Come see Halo 5: Guardians, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Quantum Break and more!
Friday October 2nd marks the kick-off of this year’s EB Games Expo 2015, and Xbox Australia will be there in full force!
Come by our booth to get hands-on gameplay with Master Chief and Agent Locke in ‘Halo 5: Guardians’, and challenge your friends in the new ‘Warzone’ multiplayer mode!
Try out Lara Croft’s latest adventure as you go hands-on with ‘Rise of the Tomb Raider’, and experience next year’s hit from Remedy Entertainment, ‘Quantum Break’.
343 Industries Design Director Kevin Franklin, and Crystal Dynamics Senior Designer Michael Brinker will also join us live in the auditorium to chat all things Halo and Tomb Raider.
All this and much more will be in store, so come by and say hi!
See the Amazing ‘Descent Into Legend’ Trailer for Rise of the Tomb Raider
Get your latest taste of Lara’s next adventure
The latest trailer for Rise of the Tomb Raider has hit!
In ‘Descent Into Legend’, you’ll get your next glimpse of Lara’s next action-packed adventure as she tries to survive deadly wildlife and even deadlier tombs in her search for the Lost City of Kitezh.
Rise of the Tomb Raider releases on November the 10th, 2015 as a holiday exclusive for Xbox One and Xbox 360.
To view the new trailer, please visit the Xbox YouTube page.
Halo 5: Guardians Campaign Cinematic Introduces Blue Team
Learn more about the origins of the Spartan-II training program and Blue team
343 Industries has released the cinematic to the second mission in Halo 5: Guardians – “Blue Team” – that introduces players to the titular squad of elite Spartan-II’s as they board a derelict Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) research facility to ensure its contents do not fall into the hands of a renegade faction of Covenant zealots.
Led by the legendary Master Chief, Blue Team grew up together through trials and tribulations of the Spartan-II training program as children, and have become a “family” through the course of countless battles – including Fredric-104, Kelly-087, Linda-058, and John-117.
Halo fans can learn more about the origins of the Spartan-II training program and Blue team in the upcoming animated series Halo: The Fall of Reach. A three-part, animated production, Halo: The Fall of Reach is an adaption of the critically acclaimed Halo novel of the same name, authored by Eric Nylund, and can be viewed via the Halo Channel on Oct. 27 for fans who purchase the Halo 5: Guardians Digital Deluxe Edition, Limited Edition or Limited Collector’s Edition.
To check out the new trailer, please visit the Xbox Wire.
Halo 5: Guardians Requisition (REQ) System Introduction
Curious as to how the REQ system works? 343i Take us on an in-depth tour.
Back in June, we revealed the new Requisition (REQ) System for Halo 5: Guardians. Since then we’ve seen a lot of interest from fans wanting to learn more about this system and how it works in the game. So starting this week, we’re kicking off a series of blog entries to give you a closer look at the REQ system, which has been designed to reward players for time spent in Halo 5’s multiplayer experiences. This series will detail multiple aspects of the system, giving you an overview of how things work, and also showcase some of the REQ content that will be available when the game drops on October 27.
Additionally, we’ve just released a quick REQ video guide (which happens to feature Mister Chief in his first speaking role).
When we first started working on the REQ system almost three years ago, it began with a pitch from the team. We have a number of people here at 343 that are fans of Collectible Card Games (CCGs), in both physical and digital form. In fact if you walk into the kitchen on any given day, odds are good you will find a group huddled around the table, playing Magic the Gathering, Hearthstone or another similar game. The initial pitch for the REQ system was simple: let’s create a deep reward system for the game that allow players to collect items from a large pool of compelling content, delivered in a series of randomized packs. We wanted the system to produce the same joy and excitement that comes from opening a booster pack of and discovering a rare card inside. The system would need to bridge all of our multiplayer experiences in Halo 5, and should provide an inventory of weapons, vehicles and power-ups to be used for the dynamic deployments that are featured in our new Warzone mode.
At the time, we didn’t know how far we could take the system, or exactly how much content we could create. Since then it has grown to the point where we now have over 1000 unique REQ “cards” to collect at launch, with hundreds more to come in the months that follow. One of the great parts about the REQ system is our ability to keep introducing new REQ content over time. This expands the collection of rewards available to players so you are always working towards new and enticing objects of desire. It also ensures that the gameplay experience is ever-evolving, as new weapon variants, vehicle variants and cosmetic options are released into the multiplayer ecosystem.
To get an in-depth look at the new REQ system, please visit the Halo Waypoint, and to see a great (and hilarious) trailer outlining the new features, check out the Xbox YouTube channel.
HUNT the TRUTH Season 2 Available Now
The #1 podcast series returns
Based on the award-winning video game franchise, the acclaimed Halo podcast series that amassed more than 6.7 million listens and ranked as high as #1 in Video Games and Games & Hobbies on the iTunes Podcast Charts is back, as Season 2 of HUNT the TRUTH premiered on huntthetruth.tumblr.com, iTunes Podcasts and Soundcloud.
Again featuring an all-star cast, Season 2 begins shortly after the events of Season 1, as journalist Benjamin Giraud’s exposé of a massive military cover up and conspiracy seemingly came to an inauspicious end. Keegan Michael Key reprises his role as the now-discredited journalist, but the focus of Season 2 turns to FERO (voiced by Janina Gavankar), the rebel leader who helped Giraud unravel his hunt.
“In Season 1, Giraud was like an active audience member within the fiction,” said Frank O’Connor, Franchise Development Director at 343 Industries. “He was piecing together facts and false truths from week to week as he was pulled along and redirected by various sources, and in the end, we still left a lot of open questions – mainly, who could he actually trust? In Season 2, we’re taking the hunt further, from the perspective of probably the most credible of those sources – FERO.”
Fans eagerly awaiting the Oct. 27 release of Halo 5: Guardians should tune in as events in the audio series build toward the story that will unfold in the game. “While the first season dealt with subterfuge and espionage at the fringes of the game events, Season 2 will lead directly into the galaxy-shaking mysteries of Halo 5: Guardians,” said O’Connor.
To see all relevant media assets, please visit the Xbox Wire.
Limited Editions and Hardware Unboxed for Halo 5: Guardians
Ready to dive in to Halo 5: Guardians but don’t know where to start?
Fear not Spartan, because Xbox’s Major Nelson and 343 Industries’ Josh Holmes have joined together to talk about all the latest Halo 5 goodness releasing this year. For starters, the Halo 5: Guardians Limited Edition comes with a physical copy of the game packaged in a beautiful SteelBook that looks like it dropped straight out of the Halo universe. Also included are Spartan Locke’s Classified Orders as well as dossiers for both Blue Team and Fireteam Osiris, a Metal Earth model of a Guardian, the Warzone REQ Bundle which includes 14 Premium REQ Packs, and Halo: The Fall of Reach – Animated Series.
If you don’t know what REQ Packs are or how the REQ System works in Halo 5: Guardians, then head over to the School of REQ for a crash course with Mister Chief.
The Halo 5: Guardians Limited Collector’s Edition comes with everything listed in the Limited Edition, but with a digital copy of the game so you can pre-download starting on October 20 and a commemorative statue of the Master Chief and Spartan Locke, which actually splits into two and can be reconfigured. For fans who are ready to dive in to Halo 5: Guardians but don’t have an Xbox One yet, you’ll want to check out the Limited Edition Xbox One Halo 5: Guardians Bundle available on October 20. Inside the bundle is a 1TB, custom designed Xbox One with looks and sound inspired by Halo 5: Guardians – that includes the limited edition Halo 5: Guardians wireless controller inspired by Spartan Locke and UNSC technology.
The bundle also includes a digital copy of Halo 5: Guardians along with all of the collectible items included with the Limited Edition plus access to the FOTUS-class armour, a fan favourite, and the Vanguard multiplayer emblem. We mentioned the Spartan Locke controller that’s packaged in the Halo 5: Guardians Xbox One bundle, but what about fans of the Master Chief? Fret not, because there’s also a limited edition Master Chief controller and both controllers are available separately, each coming with a unique visor to customize your Spartan in Halo 5: Guardians multiplayer modes. For those who demand better audio, look (or hear) no further than Astro’s Halo 5: Guardians-inspired A40’s, which have a custom finish that matches the Halo 5: Guardians wireless controller and Xbox One bundle.
Pre-order the Console Bundle and Limited Edition Bundle now on the Microsoft Store!
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