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January 17, 2015
A new patch was planned to roll out for the Master Chief Collection last week but it has since been delayed. The patch had been mentioned to include some fixes to matchmaking whilst adding some general tweaks to multiplayer, campaigns and interfaces.
Whilst 343 Industries failed to mention why the patch was delayed, they have since confirmed that the release of the patch has been pushed back till later this January. According to 343, the patch should be up and ready to install within the "next few days."
It's a shame that after all this time, the Master chief Collection is still not working 100% as planned, but 343 are still working on it.
The patch notes for the upcoming patch rolling out later this week can be read below.
Matchmaking:
Improved matchmaking search success rates.
Made an update to reduce instances of "Awaiting Privileges" matchmaking errors.
Made an update to ensure player counts more reliably match the expected numbers for each -
January 06, 2015
Whilst we all rightly presumed that the Master Chief Collection was going to be released with all of the content from previous games at launch, 343 Industries has been very far behind with development, due to server issues and other problems with the new Halo 2 anniversary multiplayer.
As a result, many in-game features and content of the Master Chief Collection has been unavailable since launch, including the Spartan Ops missions that were released as part of Halo 4.
The Spartan Ops missions were a set of in-game objectives that followed a set story and played out like the firefight game type in both Halo: Reach and Halo 3: ODST did. Unlike firefight, Spartan Ops were specially designed to delve into the story that took place whilst the Master Chief was floating about in space, and many players have complained that they are an incredibly important part of Halo 4.
Fortunately enough, 343 Industries have just launched Spartan Ops for the Master Chief Collection in a
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December 29, 2014
When the Master Chief Collection launched for the Xbox One, plenty of Halo fans were left devastated. Whilst 343 Industries did a spectacular job at delivering the new remastered content and graphics for the Master Chief Collection, it's online servers were plagued with problems, and most players had to week at least a week before they could play online properly.
Even then, there will still bugs, glitches and server problems, and most of the playlists were not even implemented at this point. Fortunately, 343 Industries have slowly been rolling out new fixes and extra content for the multiplayer portion of the Master Chief Collection, and this latest patch sees some much needed tweaks to the game bundle.
When you next get into the Master Chief Collection, a download will start for the newest update for the game. This new content patch has been focused exclusively on matchmaking online, and it's main feature adds new team balancing mechanics to the game.
343 Industries
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December 22, 2014
The months leading up to the Holiday season are always pretty hectic, but for major tech manufacturers like Microsoft, things get incredibly crazy. With the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4 currently fighting for the top spot, Microsoft had a lot to do to manage to get an upper hand on Sony's new console.
One way Xbox managed to do this was by pushing for more deals and better bargains, and over the black Friday weekend, Microsoft managed to rake in a huge amount of sales thanks to their discounts around the globe, and this actually helped them to secure the most sold console units for that month.
It isn't going to stop at black Friday either - Microsoft have learned that good deals make sales, and in tune with this they have regularly been putting up discounts on their consoles, and most recently, their first party titles, and some selected third party games as well.
Firstly, digital copies of both Destiny and Call of Duty Advanced Warfare have been put up for just $19.99,
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November 24, 2014
It’s time for a bit of a throwback. The Halo Master Chief Collection has just launched, and it’s flooded our brains with nostalgic memories of the hundreds of hours we spent on Halo games in the past.
In particular, Halo 2 is getting the most attention, and playing the new Halo 2 anniversary has reminded us of one of our best mods of all time.
Our old Halo 2 mod allowed players to fire two bursts of the battle rifle in the span of a second, and it had absolutely devastating effects. The combo could be achieved without a controller mod, and was often used by professional gamers involved in the MLG circuit.
With a controller mod however, the difficult to execute combo could be achieved effortlessly, and as you can see in the example video shown here, the double fire or BXRR mod could really kick some Spartan butt.
These kind of cool combos were key to being at the height of your game in Halo 2, and we expect
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November 23, 2014
The Halo Master Chief Collection has finally launched, but the game has so much content inside it that there's a lot to take in, so we'll be giving you a quick insight into what's new.
The Campaigns
All four original Halo campaigns from the main franchise, including Halo Combat Evolved, Halo 2, 3 and 4 can be played within the Halo Master Chief Collection. All games have had a makeover, although the most difference has been made to the Halo 2 campaign.
The Matchmaking
343 Industries are still slowly rolling out the matchmaking playlists for the Halo Master Chief Collection, and so far there have been a few issues - give it a week and everything should be running. From there, we may have to wait a couple months before all of the playlists and the entire ranking system is ready for play.
New Forge
As well as providing forge mode to all of the Halo 2 online levels, 343 have thrown in a few blank canvas maps that can be used to build to your heart's
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November 22, 2014
For those unaware, Halo: The MCC has just released, and it has dropped our jaws to the ground. In particular, Halo 2 within the Master Chief Collection stands out for it's amazing new cutscenes and HD graphics that have been developed specifically for this new Halo installment.Considering that the matchmaking has been having problems, it has given me more than enough time to hop into Halo 2 and experience the new HD rendition of what is perhaps one of the most classic video games of all time. From start to finish, the campaign is captivating and challenging, and the new cutscenes will definitely keep you from skipping through the story to focus on blowing up more covenant.
If you are still waiting for the matchmaking to come back, we'd definitely suggest checking out Halo 2 within the Master Chief Collection because it is stunning. In fact, even if the matchmaking is back up by the time you are reading this, still head into the Halo 2 campaign, because you'll be missing out
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November 17, 2014
So far, Microsoft have managed to keep things about Halo 5 Guardians pretty quiet, and the only content about the game that we have learned about in the past has come straight from Xbox themselves. However, over the weekend, a massive leak showing video footage of Halo 5 hit the internet, and it stirred a frenzy.
Whilst the leak has pretty much been wiped from the web as of writing, the internet never forgets, and we can all still recall what the video displayed. The gameplay showed a few seconds of combat, focusing on a player using a Battle Rifle.
What was clear right away was the changes that had seemed to be made to the ADS in Halo. Ever since Combat Evolved, ADS has been limited to scoped weapons like sniper rifles and battle rifles, and the strange new battle rifle ADS in Halo 5 Guardians confused many players into thinking that ADS would be the norm in the upcoming Halo game.
However, a 343i official responded to the leak on Twitter and stated that ADS will not
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November 10, 2014
One of the things that has helped Halo to stick around for so long is it's huge versatility. For example, the Halo 3 campaign was filled with tons of easter eggs and unlockables that could make playing through the game a second (or third) time still incredibly enjoyable, and it's multiplayer was always filled with a variety of hot-swappable game modes.
To top it all off, Forge gave players the ability to create their own maps and game modes, and it’s back on the Master Chief Collection, and it's better than ever. Whilst players will be able to play Forge on the Halo 2 maps, they will also be given access to three different blank canvas maps that allow players to create to their heart's content.
To make up for the lack of terrain on these empty levels, 343 have added a large range of natural scenery formations including flat pieces of ground, hills, trees and rocks, all of which can be used to create a nice base for a level.
A lot of new features have been added to the
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October 29, 2014
Back in the golden days of Halo Combat Evolved, the pistol was the gun to use. Yes, snipers and rocket launchers were fought for, but the overwhelming power of the pistol made it a force to be reckoned with at all times.
A new gameplay trailer showing off the Master Chief Collection in full 1080P had a selection of Combat Evolved multiplayer, and we couldn't help but notice just how over-powered the pistol seemed to be in the gameplay shown.
When compared to pistols of many modern shooters to today, the magnum in Halo CE was just undeniably amazing, and we're happy to see that 343 haven’t made any changes to it on the Combat Evolved portion of the Halo Master Chief Collection multiplayer.
Another interesting thing to take from the latest trailer is that there are now achievements in all games - gameplay clearly shows players earning achievements whilst playing on CE maps, which suggests that the game has had a slight overhaul, and I must say, it looks oh-so satisfying