HCEA

DevinOlsen, back again confirming for YouTube that the Food Nipple Grunt easter egg is still in Halo Anniversary.

Halo: Anniversary - Food Nipple Gru

DevinOlsen confirms that the old Myth easter egg in Halo-- that a certain point outside the control room will play the track "Siege of Madrigal" still exists in the Anniversary edition of the game.

Halo: Anniversary - Siege of Madrig

DevinOlsen verifies that the Rex egg still exists in Halo Anniversary.

Halo: Anniversary - REX Egg Remains

Remake of the original Haliens by c0ld vengeance, using Halo Anniversary.

First of all, many kudos to Cody Miller who did the production and editing on this episode, rescuing it from my hard drive where it had lurked, untouched, since late last year.

Miller, Blackstar and myself pick up where the discussion of Halo Anniversary ended in episode 23.

Since no one has transcribed any song for Halo: CEA, I have decided to transcribe a piece. This is a transcription of the piece Installation 04. For more information, read the README file in the download.

Narcogen, Blackstar and Cody Miller take a break from looking at the levels of Halo: Reach to discuss 343 Industries' recent announcement of Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, a high definition re-issue of the first Halo game, scheduled for release in November of 2011 in time for the ten year anniversary of the first game's release.

Articles about the remake of Halo 1, referred to as "Halo: Anniversary" or "Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary".

Product Overview:

"Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary" is a spectacularly remastered version of the original "Halo" campaign, created in celebration of the 10th anniversary of one of the most beloved franchises in gaming history. With a bounty of new features including cooperative play over Xbox LIVE, a bundle of some of the most beloved multiplayer maps in "Halo" history reimagined for Xbox LIVE, new challenges and a new story to uncover, "Halo: Anniversary" is a must-have experience, coming exclusively to Xbox 360 on Nov. 15, 2011.

Developed by 343 Industries in collaboration with Saber Interactive and Certain Affinity, "Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary" immerses you in the landmark campaign and genre-defining multiplayer game that helped revolutionize the first-person shooter genre and sparked one of the most iconic science-fiction universes of all time.

Features:

Top features include the following:

• Stunningly remastered campaign. Relive the award-winning adventure that defined"Halo: Combat Evolved" as one of the best games of the decade with breathtaking next-gen graphics and audio remastered for the Xbox 360. Engage in epic-scale battles against the backdrop of the eponymous "Halo" ringworld, and relive nostalgic memories with the ability to toggle Classic mode to play the original version.
• Online campaign co-op. For the first time, experience the story that started it all with a friend on Xbox LIVE and launch a cooperative assault against the Covenant, whether you live across the street or halfway around the world. [*Xbox LIVE Gold membership required for online multiplayer.]
• Classic "Halo" multiplayer maps reimagined. Wage battle on six detailed remakes of some of the most beloved "Halo" multiplayer maps of all time, and bring the fight to the Covenant on a stunning and resonant new Firefight map.1 Remastered in the"Halo: Reach" engine and inspired by maps from"Halo: Combat Evolved" and"Halo 2," these iconic battlefields reignite the heart-pounding multiplayer action of the original favorites and let you relive epic confrontations like you've never experienced them.

Developed in collaboration with Certain Affinity, the new multiplayer maps are included on the "Halo: Anniversary" game disc, which means players will not need to own the original "Halo: Reach" game to play. The first of the new remakes to be revealed at E3 Expo 2011 will be the fan-favorite map Damnation.

New challenges and enhanced story. Unlock up to 1,000 Achievement points as you clash with online opponents and battle through the campaign, and uncover never-before-revealed backstories told in motion-graphic form that foreshadow new mysteries in the story of "Halo 4."

More information on "Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary" will be revealed at Halo Fest, which coincides with PAX Prime 2011 Aug. 26 through 28 in Seattle, Wash.

About "Halo"

The "Halo" franchise is an award-winning collection of properties that has grown into a global entertainment phenomenon. Beginning with the original "Halo: Combat Evolved" (2001), the critically acclaimed and record-shattering series of games has since inspired multiple New York Times bestselling novels, comic books, action figures, apparel and more.

Published by Microsoft Studios, the "Halo" franchise of games is exclusive to the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system and the Xbox LIVE online entertainment network. To date, more than 40 million copies of "Halo" games have been sold worldwide, driving more than 3.3 billion hours of gameplay by people connected to Xbox LIVE.

1 Xbox LIVE Gold Membership required for online multiplayer gameplay.

For more information, press only:

Joe DiMiero, Edelman, (415) 486-3285, joe.dimiero@edelman.com

Ken Zhang, Edelman, (206) 505-6565, ken.zhang@edelman.com

Supposed box art for HCEA.

Microsoft chose E3 this year for two Halo-related announcements. Both have been long anticipated and the subject of much speculation and controversy.

First, something old: The game that started it all is being "remastered" as Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary. Still not sure how to punctuate that, maybe we'll get some guidance on it shortly. I'm still looking into the details, but it looks pretty much like what I've been expecting; a recreation of the original game's campaign using the capabilities of the Halo engine at least at the level of what was done with Reach. That should mean that all of the gameplay features possible in Reach should be supported in HCEA, even those not included in the original. We already know that this is true for at least one feature, which is XBL integration. Multiplayer and campaign coop will be supported over Live.

In a promotional video, 343i is talking about keeping the old gameplay, including the pistol; whether that just means keeping to the old game's balance, or also leaving out features that Halo 1 did not include, like boarding, remains to be seen. However, they are adding new things, like Halo 3-style hidden terminals that will tell a new story.

I think how 343 Industries achieves its goals with HCEA will give people a good idea of what they can expect from Halo 4.

HCEA is expected for release on November 15, 2011, exactly ten years after the release of the first title as a launch game for the original Xbox.

UPDATE: On the official site, Frankie gives a few more details about the gameplay, which will be untouched-- so it looks like aside from networking, no new features. The new graphics engine will run on top of the old one, and you can switch on the fly, sort of like what was done with the XBLA update of Monkey Island.

Here's what Frankie has to say:

So we did not DARE touch the gameplay in Halo. As a matter of fact, the gameplay engine, the physics, the controls (with some minor changes for the 360 controller and the aspect ratio) are identical. It is, in short, the Halo CE engine, but with a second graphics layer, a separate engine in fact, running on top. You can see this phenomenon yourself by pressing the back button at any time. The game will switch from old graphics to new, and back again, in real time. That in itself, is a bizarrely fun feature – one we constantly used to check to see if things truly were identical, or more frequently, simply to compare the two generations of hardware and see how far things had come. Although perversely, sometimes we switched back only to remember how good the original looked.

The lack of modern engine gameplay features I can understand, even if I might have wished for them-- but aspect ratio? Really? Why are all the screenshots widescreen, then, if this game is going to be 4:3? Now I'm confused.

UPDATE: Whoops, jumped the gun on the aspect ratio thing. That's one of the "minor changes" not one of the things that is "identical".