Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

Halo 5 will support true 4k resolution on Xbox One X, developer 343 Industries has announced.

Every so often a game comes along that changes everything. Games like Doom, Super Mario Brothers and Half-Life aren't just incredible games in their own right - they helped shape the gaming industry as a whole. Halo: Combat Evolved is one such title. As a game, Halo evolved and refined the first person shooter, making it work on a console like never before. As a product, it helped define the first generation Xbox and help Microsoft become the juggernaut of today and, as a project, it lifted its creator, Bungie, into the history books as one of the most revered developers of all time.

I think it's fair to say that Bungie has had an interesting time of late. First, there came the controversy over the Taken King Collector's Edition making certain content unavailable to existing players without purchasing the game a second time. Then came a cross-promotion with Red Bull, asking players to purchase special promotional cans of the energy drink to access an extra mission in The Taken King expansion.

It took three-and-a-half years and $7000, but, finally, we have a huge Halo spaceship made out of Lego.

We've already taken a look at some of the less impressive games to debut alongside consoles past in our Five Terrible Launch Titles video. But of course, they weren't all terrible (in fact some of them weren't that bad at all, eh, vociferous Kameo fans?), so here's our guide to five of the best.

Plus, coming soon: Five Launch Titles You've Probably Forgotten About That Were Quite Good Actually, Come To Think Of It. We're just trying to remember what they are.

Read more

Veteran Bungie developer Joe Staten has announced his departure from the company.

Update: The official Xbox website has been updated with a timeline to celebrate today's anniversary.

343 Industries will be in total control of the Halo universe from 31st March, franchise creator Bungie has announced.

Xbox 360-exclusive games need to have "quality and impact", Microsoft Studios exec Phil Spencer has insisted.

Creating Xbox 360-only games and IP is about more than the "number of releases in a year", Spencer continued, explaining Microsoft's strategy on securing exclusives for the platform.

"Creating core IP, as many first-and third-parties have seen over the years, isn't an easy thing," Spencer told GameInformer (via GamesIndustry.biz). "I went through the process of creating Gears with Epic and I know the sweat, time, and effort that went into it."

Read more

Multiplayer data-tracking smartphone app Halo ATLAS goes on sale from 10th December, 343 Industries has announced.

UPDATE: And we're done! Thanks to everyone who entered and thanks to Microsoft for providing so many amazing prizes. We have notified 11 out of 12 winners as of Wednesday 22nd December and will be speaking to yesterday's victor this morning. Congratulations if you won and watch out for more massive giveaways on this scale in the future!

Games have an incredibly complicated relationship with their past. This is an industry that's fixated with the future, but too often it's one that holds its history at arm's length.

We're embarrassed by what's gone before, it seems, sometimes going as far as to compartmentalize older games under the horribly banal banner of retro gaming, a tag that's as pointless as it's revealing of the disdain we hold for anything that's over five years old.

With indie gaming re-appropriating the aesthetic of the 80s and early 90s, there has at least been a bridge built between now and then; titles like Terry Cavanagh's VVVVVV or Brian Provinciano's Retro City Rampage show that there weren't any retro games after all - they were, as they always have been, just games painted with fewer pixels.

Read more

The Halo: Reach Anniversary Map Pack is available to download from the Xbox Marketplace.

The Xbox is ten years old today.

Microsoft has just launched Halo Living Monument - a user-generated site that ask users to upload pictures of their favourite Halo memories from the last 10 years to create an "interactive 3D mosaic".

You can upload your images now, rate other submissions and share them over Facebook and Twitter.

On top of that, there's a new live action trailer, as seen below, to offer a bit of context.

Read more

Revisiting past masters is a prickly business that video games are only just beginning to dabble in, with varying degrees of success. Do you go for preservation or reinvention? Either way, you've got to tread carefully, for you're stepping on the precious memories of those who hold the originals dear.

There have been, of late, Bluepoint Games' delicate remasters, restoring Ico and Shadow of the Colossus to glories they never knew and providing a more modern theatre for the bloody spectacle of God of War. There are the curios, repackaged and reskinned for audiences new; witness Treasure's brilliant revivals of Radiant Silvergun and Guardian Heroes, and Daytona USA's 13-years-overdue homecoming earlier this month.

Then there are the remakes, a trickier business still, the most recent and most successful being Grezzo's reworking of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. An elegantly handled return to Hyrule that managed to offer a drastic visual overhaul while staying faithful to the tone of the aging original, Grezzo's masterstroke was presenting the game as you remember it, handling those memories with care and massaging them onto a new console.

Read more

Halo Reach owners not interested in next week's Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary release can still enjoy its revamped maps via a DLC add-on, Microsoft has announced.

Microsoft counts down to launch.

A fresh look at 343's remake.

A decade is a long time in video games, and going back to Bungie's very first Halo game goes to shows how far we've come since 2001's Combat Evolved.

343 Studios has defended Halo Anniversary's Kinect features, saying the new modes for the remake of the decade old FPS classic are 'additive' - and that they don't detract from the core game.

How has combat evolved?

Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Edition's achievement list has popped up online, courtesy of Xbox360Achievements.

UPDATE: Microsoft has confirmed that Analyse Mode is exclusive to Kinect.

Platform-holder Microsoft is bringing this autumn's biggest Xbox 360 exclusives to the Eurogamer Expo 2011.

Pre-order Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Edition through Game or Gamestation and you'll get an exclusive mini art book, Microsoft has announced.

Classic maps reborn.

Microsoft has just confirmed three new multiplayer maps for Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary.

Timberland returns from Halo PC. Set in a forested valley with raging rivers, it supports eight to 16 players.

Halo: Combat Evolved's Prisoner map also features. Two to eight players will scrap it out in a multi-level facility, packed with tight corridors, bridges and ramps.

Read more

Microsoft has confirmed stereoscopic 3D support for Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, to "help that sense of immersion and really help this game feel more than a simple remake".

While Sony strutted its stuff at Gamescom through the power of a press conference, Microsoft walked a more modest path with a Play Day event, with hands-on opportunities of a raft of Xbox 360 exclusive games including Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, Gears of War 3 and Forza 4.

The latest pics of the Master Chief remake.

It's a big year for Bungie. Not only does it celebrate its 20th birthday but, with the impending release of Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, it's also formally signing off custodianship of Master Chief to 343 Industries.

Microsoft has stressed that Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary's mysterious Kinect features are "cool", but gamers shouldn't get too excited by them.

Backstory expanded in new animations.

The recent release of new Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary footage allows us to get our first good look at how the game really looks and performs, and puts into focus just how much of a good job Saber and 343 Industries have done in visually revitalising the title that many see as the coming of age of first person shooters on console.

Microsoft's 343 Industries has been working on Halo 4 for two years.

Read more

The E3 demo showcased in greater depth.

Pre-order Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary and you'll get Avatar armour and a skull, Microsoft has announced.

Avatar armour! A skull!

Microsoft has admitted losing its way with Halo following the release of Halo 3 in September 2007.

Bungie has bid an emotional farewell to the Halo universe it created ten years ago.

Halo's Covenant-beating hero will appear "changed" in 343 Industries' upcoming Halo 4.

Whatever form they take, the mysterious Kinect features 343 Industries has planned for Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary will be optional, the studio has confirmed.

The Halo HD remake supports Kinect, Microsoft has confirmed.

The team responsible for Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary is planning to modify a handful of original Xbox controllers to be 360-compatible so that a select few can experience the game exactly as it was back in 2001.

Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, the forthcoming remake of the first game in Bungie's juggernaut FPS series, will have a RRP of £34.99 when it launches in the UK later this year.

There used to be breathing space between Halo games (Halo 1 2001, Halo 2 2004, Halo 3 2007), but in recent years Microsoft has been flinging the IP at us: Halo Wars 2009, Halo 3: ODST 2009 and Halo: Reach 2010.

Master Chief classic reborn this year.

Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary is releasing on November 15 this year.

A poorly kept secret, the existence of the remake leaked this morning before being officially unveiled at Microsoft's E3 conference.

As expected, it's an HD remake of Bungie's 2001 original, and will feature full Xbox Live support for campaign co-op and competitive multiplayer.

Read more