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December 18, 2015
A brand new free DLC pack has been added to Halo 5: Guardians and it adds a range of new features. The DLC pack has been named "Cartographer's Gift" and it features a large number of new features and cosmetic items.
The most important addition to the new DLC for Halo 5 is Forge. Forge wasn't added at launch like it was in previous Halo titles. The wait was worth it though because Forge in Halo 5 is the most complex version we've seen of the map builder yet. Players are given a huge range of new tools in the new Forge.
On top of Forge, the Cartographer's Gift DLC has added a large range of new Spartan armor pieces, including two new armor sets, the iconic MARK IV armor set and the Raijin armor set. New emblems, new helmets and a variety of new Warzone REQ rewards have also been added into the latest DLC for December.
The December DLC is just the start of it as well. A brand new free DLC pack will also be released in January and a sneak peak at that has revealed that
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December 17, 2015
To help encourage Halo 5 players to play regularly, 343 Industries has added a new feature that rewards daily playtime in Arena and Warzone.
Starting immediately, players are now able to earn two extra REQ packs every single day so long as they follow a couple of criteria. The first REQ pack can be earned by winning an Arena match, whilst the second REQ pack will be awarded to players for their first Warzone win of the day. If you expect to play Halo 5 daily and manage to have a winning game of both Warzone and Arena, you're essentially able to collect up to 14 free REQ packs each week.
A daily login bonus isn't a new concept - in fact, we've seen countless games offer similar features. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain offers daily login bonuses to players for example, although for this reward players only have to boot up the game. Forcing players to win games in both Arena and Warzone to earn their daily rewards is great because it encourages players to play well, at
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December 04, 2015
Due to the reception of the Xbox One Elite controller exceeding Microsoft's original plans, the stock for the controller has mostly been wiped out across the globe. Currently Microsoft is working on manufacturing more Xbox One Elite Controllers to meet the unexpected demand, but for now Xbox owners are limited for choices if they'd like to get their hands on a controller.
According to Phil Spencer, Microsoft is working right now to get more stock for the $150 controller that has advanced features. Phil Spencer has taken to Twitter to apologize for it being so hard for gamers to find an Xbox Elite controller.
Unfortunately Xbox can't promise that they'll get more units out in time for Christmas. Phil mentioned that, "Demand has just exceeded our planning. If you find one [Elite controller] and you want it, pick it up, sorry."
One option for those looking to get an Xbox One Elite controller for Christmas is to pick up one of the various Elite console bundles that feature
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December 01, 2015
Now that backwards compatibility has been added to the Xbox One, we have plenty of exciting things to look forward to in the future. Whilst the catalogue of available backwards compatible Xbox 360 games is still quite expansive, Microsoft plans to add more games to the list.
In fact, Microsoft has revealed that they will be unveiling new backwards compatible titles each month. If you've got any Xbox 360 games lying around that aren't yet supported for backwards compatibility, we'd definitely suggest holding onto them.
Phil Spencer revealed on Twitter that the Xbox team will announce new games monthly. It's expected that each month a new updated list will be posted online by somebody working at Xbox, although the exact date for the monthly titles has not yet been decided.
It's great to see that Microsoft will still be putting resources into the new backwards compatibility feature. I personally cannot wait to see what new games are added to the list each month. I have
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November 26, 2015
It should come as no surprise that Halo is one of the biggest selling franchises on the Xbox. Since the release of Halo 5: Guardians on the Xbox One, a lot of people have been wondering exactly how many sales the game has managed to make.
Now that data is slowly coming in about sales around the world, fairly accurate information on Halo 5's week one sales are being announced. According to VGChartz, a website dedicated to reporting video game sales, Halo 5: Guardians managed to sell approximately 1.46 million copies in its first week.
The exact first week number, according to VGChartz is 1,457,849 copies, although this does not include digital sales, so we could be looking at over 2 million copies at least.
For an Xbox One exclusive title, 1.46 million isn't bad at all, but it is quite small in comparison to previous Halo releases. In fact, Halo 5 Guardians sold less copies than almost every other Halo release. Here's a week one sales rundown of the last eight Halo games.
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November 22, 2015
Halo 5: Guardians has already had one of it's new free DLC packs released but 343 Industries now has more content in store for the game. In December, 343 Industries will release another free DLC pack with extra content.
In the new December DLC for Halo 5, players will have the chance to unlock new armor, new weapon types for Warzone, new weapon skins and of course the new Forge mode.
When Halo 5: Guardians was released, players were not given access to Forge mode because 343 Industries still had some tweaks to make to it. In December the covers will be unveiled and the new Forge mode will finally be available to players. It looks as if players will get access to a Forge world they will feel familiar with but there may also be a space themed Forge map too.
If you have played Halo 5 you will know that the rocket launcher's appearance has been completely redesigned. Fortunately players will have the chance to use the old school rocket launcher after the December update
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November 14, 2015
The new Xbox One experience has now been released across all internet-connected Xbox One consoles. The new update brings a completely new UI redesign and adds a few new features onto the console software as well.
The most talked about feature of the Xbox One experience is of course the backwards compatibility feature. Backwards compatibility with Xbox 360 titles is now possible and for the most part it works very smoothly with all backwards compatible games.
In the new UI you'll get a new Xbox Home that is very simple to use. Within the new Xbox Home you are able to share achievements and game clips to friends within seconds. Finding out what your friends are playing has become more convenient as well. For the most part, everything has become more connected, more social and more streamlined.
The Xbox Dashboard button has been reworked too - you're now given a game guide that can be accessed from within any game or app, or even from the home screen. The new dashboard
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November 13, 2015
Overwatch is a new class based shooter that has taken Twitch by storm over the past couple of weeks. The game has recently been released in beta and a lot of players have expressed their praise for the title. At Blizzcon this week, some details were revealed about Overwatch, including a release date.
According to the Overwatch developers, the game should hopefully be available in Spring 2016 for PS4, Xbox One and PC. The Spring release date will be for the full game and not just another beta.
In Overwatch, players play on either of two teams, both of which have six players on. Each player can choose between a selection of 21 different characters. These characters are known as Heroes in Overwatch and they all have their own special abilities, play styles and weapons. So far, most of the Heroes were playable in the Overwatch beta, but some of the Heroes were not.
At Blizzcon, the Overwatch developers revealed details on the last three Heroes. Details for these Heroes
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November 08, 2015
When Gears of War: Ultimate Edition was announced, the developers revealed that pre-ordering the game would make players eligible for all four of the previous Gears of War games on Xbox 360 - these titles would be provided to players via digital download codes and they would be sent out once the backwards compatibility patch goes live on the Xbox One.
Well good news is that the plans for the backwards compatible Gears of War games are still going ahead and now that the backwards compatible patch has been released, Coalition games has mentioned exactly when the four Xbox 360 Gears of War titles will be available for the Ultimate Edition pre-orderers.
According to Microsoft, all four backwards compatible Gears of War games will be available for download from December 1 - if you already own either of the Gears of War titles on Xbox 360, you will also be able to insert the discs into your Xbox One after the November 12 backwards compatibility patch.
So what games do actually
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November 07, 2015
If you've been paying attention to anything that has come out of the 343 Industries camp then you may have heard that they will be releasing map packs as free DLC for Halo 5. Most of the additional funds for Halo 5 will come straight from the gold REQ packs, which cost $2.99 and provide players with cosmetics and Warzone boosts and items.
Thankfully, it looks like there won't be a lack of DLC content, despite all of it being free. In fact, the first DLC content patch for Halo 5 will be hitting servers in November. 343 Industries has already revealed what content will be included in the first patch.
In just under a week, the new content patch for Halo 5 will be launched. In this first content patch, 343 Industries will be adding a few different features, including the much loved Big Team Battle game mode. Unfortunately there aren't any dedicated in-house maps for BTB yet - instead, you'll have to make do with maps created in Forge by the 343 developers for the 8v8 game mode.