Halo: The Master Chief Collection News

Halo: The Master Chief Collection now has "modern aiming".

343 industries is developing a "mix tape" approach to customise matchmaking in Halo: The Master Chief Collection.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection hits Xbox Game Pass 1st September 2018, Microsoft has announced.

Microsoft has announced new games coming to its Xbox Game Pass subscription service during its E3 press conference - some of which are playable now.

A new update heading to Halo: The Master Chief Collection lets you download and install the bits of the game you want.

The Intelligent Install system lets you choose to download the components of the game you want and ditch the rest.

In the case of Xbox One shooter Halo: The Master Chief Collection, you can choose from campaign and multiplayer in each of the bundled games: Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2: Anniversary, Halo 3 and Halo 4, as well as the campaign for Halo 3: ODST.

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The long road to recovery continues for The Master Chief Collection - three-and-a-half years after the game came out.

In a post on Halo Waypoint, developer 343 Industries said the game's first official update since it announced the renewed effort to improve the state of the Master Chief Collection should come out later this summer.

343 also revealed the features it's prioritising for the first retail update:

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Four and a half years ago, Microsoft announced a live-action Halo TV series in development at cable network Showtime, backed by Steven Spielberg as an executive producer.

Years later, Microsoft is returning to Halo: Master Chief Collection.

Halo star Master Chief was deliberately absent for much of Halo 5's campaign - a decision the game's developer 343 Industries has now admitted was a "huge disappointment" for fans.

Microsoft's Xbox Ultimate Game Sale goes live tomorrow, but the discounted prices are already available via the Xbox Games Store.

UPDATE 30/5/15 2.30pm Microsoft has now begun issuing free Halo 3: ODST download codes to early adopters of The Master Chief Collection, as a make-nice offer for that game's shonky launch.

However, those who have received codes have reported experiencing trouble installing the ODST expansion. Numerous users on Reddit and NeoGAF report downloads getting stuck at 99 per cent and the game requiring you to re-download the latest large patch.

But some folk have managed to get ODST working - as evidenced by the reports from those who went to go check if Bungie's subtle Destiny Easter egg was still present. Alas, 343 Industries has taken it out. See before and after shots below.

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Developer 343 Industries was forced to cancel one of its official Halo tournaments after Xbox One shooter Master Chief Collection ran into connectivity problems.

In a tweet issued from the official Halo account last night, 343 said it was looking into party joinability issues and as a result cancelled Cup #1 of Season 2 of the Halo Championship Series.

The HCS is the official Halo eSports league, and has been running for a number of months now in partnership with the ESL.

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Microsoft has released yet another patch for Halo: The Master Chief Collection. The update weighs in at 1600MB.

Top of the changes list posted to Halo Waypoint are a series of improvements to tackle quitting and betrayals.

Exiting a ranked match in progress now counts as a loss and will impact your rank appropriately.

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Microsoft has released the first image of Halo 3: ODST on Xbox One.

UPDATE: Eurogamer YouTube producer Ian Higton has downloaded the patch and played Halo: The Master Chief Collection's various playlists to see if it's improved matters.

His tests show reasonable matchmaking times and party stability, suggesting whatever 343 Industries has tweaked under the hood has had the desired effect.

Here's what he found, with times in minutes and seconds to a full lobby, then being in-game.

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Microsoft mini-series Halo: Nightfall will be available to stream, download and buy on physical disc from next month.

UPDATE 10/2/15 9.15am: Halo: The Master Chief Collection developer 343 Industries has decided not to beta test its next game patch with the Xbox One preview community.

UPDATE 22/1/15 11.05am: The next update for Halo: The Master Chief Collection will enter into a public beta phase before being generally released.

Members of the Xbox One preview program will be messaged in the coming days with an opt-in prompt to download the forthcoming patch, developer 343 Industries has said.

The update will then be tested in an "at home" setting from this Friday, 23rd January through until Monday 26th January. Participants are warned they will need 1-2GB of hard drive space free.

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

343 has added Spartan Ops mode from Halo 4 to Xbox One exclusive first-person shooter Halo: The Master Chief Collection as it continues to work to improve the game.

Microsoft will add the Halo 3: ODST campaign to Xbox One exclusive first-person shooter Halo: The Master Chief Collection.

Five weeks after it launched, Halo: The Master Chief Collection finally has a Halo: Combat Evolved playlist.

Microsoft has released another patch for Xbox One exclusive first-person shooter Halo: The Master Chief collection.

This one includes improvements for matchmaking, roster and parties.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection endured a torrid launch, with long matchmaking times preventing many from playing the game online.

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343 Industries has delayed the launch of Halo spin-off Spartan Strike to early 2015 as it continues to battle issues with The Master Chief Collection.

Microsoft's Halo 5: Guardians beta will take up 10.27GB of space on your Xbox One hard drive, according to a leaked listing spotted by Reddit.

The install size was spotted via a game page for the beta that was briefly available on the Xbox One's games store.

It looks like the page was made visible in error - it lists yesterday's date as the beta's release.

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343 Industries has released a new update designed to speed up matchmaking in Xbox One exclusive Halo: The Master Chief Collection.

The game has suffered a number of issues since its release last month, and developer 343 has released a raft of updates in a bid to improve matchmaking times.

Here are the patch notes:

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Microsoft has released another new patch for Halo: The Master Chief Collection, this time weighing in at 523MB.

The update contains the latest set of fixes from developer 343 Industries, including improvements for the game's beleaguered matchmaking.

While nowhere near as hefty as the game's 15GB day one content update, the patch is still another large download for Halo players.

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Halo: The Master Chief Collection developer 343 Industries has issued a new statement apologising for the game's ongoing matchmaking problems.

The long-awaited matchmaking update for Xbox One first-person shooter Halo: The Master Chief Collection launches this evening, developer 343 has confirmed.

It will be available mid-late afternoon Pacific Time, 343 said on Halo Waypoint. Pacific is eight hours behind UK time so we're looking at a late evening release on these shores.

The patch addresses the matchmaking issues that have plagued the game since release, as well as user interface problems.

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Halo: The Master Chief Collection owners will have to wait until later this week for a fix for the first-person shooter's ongoing matchmaking issues.

Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed: Unity has entered the UK sales chart in second place.

Activision's first-person shooter Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare held on to the top spot despite a 77 per cent fall in sales, according to official figures from Chart-Track. Unity missed out by 16,000 sales.

However, it seems Unity has done well. The PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One game outsold the launch of last year's game, Assassin's Creed: 4: Black Flag, which originally debuted on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 to a significantly higher install base.

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343 has moved Halo: The Master Chief Collection to a limited playlist in a bid to improve matchmaking.

UPDATE 12/11/14 13.10pm Microsoft has told Eurogamer that the new update to fix Halo: The Master Chief Collection's matchmaking servers has now gone live.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection owners are struggling to connect to the game's online matchmaking servers.

Users report waiting hours to connect, and in threads on Reddit and Halo Waypoint have reported only finding a couple of matches in up to six hours.

Eurogamer has this morning repeatedly tried and failed to get into a game - the loading screen states that no matches can currently be found.

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There's good news on Halo: The Master Chief Collection's gargantuan day one download.

First off, it's smaller than expected. Developer 343 had said it would be 20GB, but it's now 15GB, we've verified. Still huge, mind, but a little less huge.

And it's available to download now, if you've pre-ordered the game digitally. So if you've enabled auto-download you can get the update going ahead of the Xbox One's release on 11th November.

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A Halo 2 Anniversary cutscene has leaked onto the internet ahead of the release of Xbox One shooter Halo: The Master Chief Collection.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection, out on Xbox One next month, includes Halo 2 Anniversary, a remastered version of the original Xbox first-person shooter.

As part of Halo 2's new lick of paint, Halo custodian 343 Industries drafted in video game cinematics specialist Blur Studios to create all new cutscenes for the game.

The launch trailer, below, shows clips from these cutscenes, and they look pretty impressive. Don't miss a look at the Gravemind in all its tentacley glory.

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Halo: Nightfall, the Ridley Scott-produced live-action series about Bungie's popular sci-fi saga, will debut on Monday 10th November via Xbox Live, Xbox.com and Twitch.

343 Industries has said it "simply wasn't practical" to ship Halo: The Master Chief Collection on two discs, following fan complaints about the game's 20GB day one download.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection takes up so much room on its 45GB Blu-ray disc that you'll need to download a 20GB day one patch.

Writing in a new blog post on Halo Waypoint, developer 343 Industries acknowledged the "large" download size but explained that it had not wanted to "cut corners" to try and cram everything onto a single disc.

In happier news, the game will now launch on 11th November in the UK - the same date as North America and three days earlier than planned. Only France, Belgium and Japan will now see the game launch later that week.

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Halo 2 competitive multiplayer map Warlock has been remade for upcoming Xbox One exclusive first-person shooter Halo: The Master Chief Collection.

Halo 2: Anniversary's campaign does not output at a native 1080p resolution, Microsoft has confirmed.

Halo 2: Anniversary, part of upcoming Xbox One exclusive Halo: The Master Chief Collection, lets players switch between running the original Xbox graphics engine and the new Xbox One Anniversary graphics engine at the touch of a button - and as a result it outputs at a 1328x1080 resolution and 60 frames per second.

In an interview with IGN, 343 executive producer Dan Ayoub commented:

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One of the first things Microsoft announced about its upcoming Halo: Nightfall mini-series was that it would somehow include the involvement of director Ridley Scott.

Microsoft has released new footage for Xbox One exclusive first-person shooter Halo: The Master Chief Collection, showing off the Gungoose in action for the first time.

Developer 343 is remaking popular Halo 2 map Lockout for Xbox One game Halo: The Master Chief Collection.

At Microsoft's Gamescom briefing 343 Industries announced that the Halo 5: Guardians beta will run for three weeks this winter, from December 29th 2014 to January 18th 2015.

The beta - which you can get access to by buying November's Halo: The Master Chief Collection - will concentrate on 4v4 arena gameplay across seven maps and will run at 60 frames per second from dedicated servers. There will be three modes, 11 weapons and seven armour sets you can customise your Spartan with. There will be some unlocks in the beta that you'll be able to carry forward into Halo 5 Guardians itself.

There is also the fair start system, so all players start a match with the same loadout.

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The £169.99 Halo: The Master Chief Collection Mjolnir Edition includes a 12" Master Chief statue.

The first footage of the upcoming Xbox One and Showtime exclusive live-action TV series, Halo: Nightfall, was revealed today.

UPDATE 18/7/14 8.20AM: Microsoft has confirmed that part-game, part-TV show Xbox One exclusive Quantum Break will be unaffected by the closure of Xbox Entertainment Studios.

UPDATE: Courtesy of YouTube user woooshness we have a video walkthrough of the reimagined Ascension for Halo 2 Anniversary.

In the video, below, taken from the Rooster Teeth Expo over the weekend, we're shown Ascension, which has been made HD and 60 frames per second as part of Xbox One game Halo: The Master Chief Collection.

A number of changes have been made, including tweaks to the level design, a new weapon spawn and, most importantly of all, an energy shield for the middle of the map. There are three control panels placed around the map, which can be activated to turn on the energy shield, providing cover in the middle for their teammates.

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Halo was once on PC. Will it ever be again?

With Halo: The Master Chief Collection, due out later this year, and Halo 5: Guardians, due out in 2015, announced for Xbox One only, it seems PC players are being left out in the cold.

"Right now we are focused on Xbox One," Bonnie Ross, who runs Halo franchise overlord 343 Industries, told Eurogamer.

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