Xbox One November Update Released November 8, 2014

Just in time for Halo: The Master Chief Collection‘s launch on Monday night, Microsoft released a major update to the Xbox One dashboard. It is going to be the final Xbox One dashboard update of the year, Microsoft has confirmed there will not be a December update.

Here’s a video with all the new features. The new feature everyone is going to enjoy is likely going to be the support for background images and other interface customization options.

You are not required to download the update to use your Xbox One online, but take my advice and download it before the weekend is up before Microsoft decides to make it mandatory.

Halofest 2014 Details Announced November 6, 2014

Microsoft announced their intention to host a new Halofest a few days ago, but their information about the event simply wasn’t clear enough for me to warrant posting about it on the site. Now, some new information about the event has hit the web, including the essential information about how all of you can check it out.

Halofest 2014 will start one hour before the release of Halo: The Master Chief Collection on the Xbox One on the East Coast. They will be showing the first episode of the Halo: Nightfall series and give a first look at the Halo 5: Guardians Multiplayer Beta.

I plan to be taking part in midnight launch events at my local retailer. Hopefully I can get them into piping in the live feed from this event as the night happens.

Microsoft says the stream will begin November 10th, 2014 at 11PM EST. You will be able to watch it on your Xbox One or Xbox 360’s Live Events Viewer.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection Launch Trailer November 5, 2014

We’re less than a week away from the launch of Halo: The Master Chief Collection on the Xbox One and to celebrate that release, Microsoft has released this trailer. If you had any question about picking up this game collection, you need to watch this.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection is coming November 11th, 2014 exclusively on the Xbox One.

Nintendo Direct 11/5/14 November 5, 2014

Nintendo Directs are a great way for Nintendo to provide a special connection between themselves and their customers. They’re great for product announcements, previews and more. Today, Nintendo has just released an all new one, detailing some of their plans for the next year. If you’ve been hoping for a remake of The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, you might want to play extra attention to the beginning of the video.

Without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, Mr Iwata.

D4 Clothing Pack 7 Released for a Limited Time November 5, 2014

The seventh downloadable clothing pack for the quirky Xbox One exclusive adventure title D4 has been released on the Xbox Games Store and it will be free of charge for just two weeks before it is removed forever.

The seventh downloadable content pack is made up of two exclusive pieces of DLC, a “Happy Wars” costume pack and facial hairstyle set. You can download both of them free of charge right now.

If you haven’t downloaded the 6th DLC pack, it is still up for download as well. Comprised of two pieces of DLC, the third facial hairstyle set and a “Wind-up Knight” Costume Pack. Get it now before it is taken down in a week. That content is also free of charge.

D4 is out now exclusively on the Xbox One.

PS4 System Software Update 2.01 Released, Rest Mode Fixed November 5, 2014

A highly anticipated system update for the Playstation 4 was just released. Version 2.01 includes all of the new features brought in by 2.00, but promises fixes a serious issue the PS4 was having with Rest Mode.

The software’s official documentation merely mentions that the new system software “improves system stability” but users that were having issues with the PS4 while it was in Rest Mode say the problem appears to have been addressed.

The new system update is not currently required to use the Playstation Network but if you happen to have version 2.00 installed on your PS4 I would recommend updating it immediately anyways.

Halo 2: Remaking the Legend Documentary Officially Released on YouTube November 3, 2014

The documentary that I can’t possibly give enough positive press to has just been officially released on YouTube, and now people who don’t have access to Xbox Video or missed any of the Twitch Broadcasts can finally watch it. Produced by Microsoft and 343 Industries, Halo 2: Remaking the Legend is an hour long documentary detailing the phenomenon that was Halo 2‘s development, launch, and upcoming remake for the Xbox One. It has key interviews from former Bungie employees, current 343 staff, and a lot of Halo super fans. Give it a watch below!

If you aren’t a fan of YouTube or prefer other ways to watch, the documentary is still up for free purchase on the Xbox Video store if you prefer to watch it on your Xbox 360 or stream it on your Xbox One. It is also expected to come out on the Halo Channel on November 11th, 2014, although we have not seen an exact word on when we can expect the Halo Channel video service to launch.

Mountain Dew Game Fuel Has Returned November 3, 2014

Grocery shoppers interested in picking up sugary sodas to help them through long gaming sessions can rejoice as Mountain Dew Game Fuel has returned just in time for the launch of the latest Call of Duty game!

Mountain Dew has had a long history of doing promotions with Microsoft going back as far as the days of the original Xbox. In 2007 to celebrate the incredible launch of Halo 3, Mountain Dew created a specific flavor just for gaming, Game Fuel. While its release was a limited promotion, it would return every once in a while (typically around November), to promote a new game or gaming milestone, like World of Warcraft or the Xbox One launch. This time it’s back to promote the launch of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and is promising a major Xbox One giveaway contest.

I’ve personally never had Game Fuel when it first hit shelves, but a friend of my sister, who was an enormous fan of Mountain Dew Code Red, told me she enjoyed Game Fuel just fine.

I’m really happy to see the soda back on shelves over here this year. Expect more Game Fuel content on the site soon!

Halo 5 Multiplayer Armor Unlocks in Halo: The Master Chief Collection November 2, 2014

IGN has reported that there will be some special bonuses in the form of exclusive unlockable multiplayer armor in Halo 5 for players who purchase Halo: The Master Chief Collection when it launches later this month.

The armor unlocks are tied into earning some specific achievements in Halo: The Master Chief Collection and watching episodes of the upcomming Halo: Nightfall series. Some of these achievements can be gotten from any of the games included in The Master Chief Collection, some are game specific, and some are tied into the Halo: Nightfall series. If you want to know all the details, check them out below.

And don’t forget, you should be able to wear these exclusive armor permutations in the Halo 5 multiplayer beta this Holiday.

MARK VI [GEN1] Armor – To unlock this armor you must earn the “Your Journey Begins” achievement: 5G – Play your first campaign or multiplayer mission.

This looks like it will be a very easy achievement to obtain as it can be achieved on any level or multiplayer map. This will likely be most players’ first achievement.

MARK VI [GEN1] Scarred Armor – To unlock this armor you must earn the “Cairo Stations” achievement: 10G – Complete the Cairo Station Level in Halo 2.

This is the first level of Halo 2, and it should unlock at any difficulty. Play this level first and you should have it unlocked pretty quickly.

HELIOSKRILL Armor – To earn this armor and helmet you must unlock the “Legend” achievement: 50G – Beat all of the Halo games on Legendary Difficultly.

This by far will be the most difficult armor to unlock. Fortunately there don’t seem to be any requirements to beat the levels by yourself to earn this achievement. My advice would be to try to link up with friends and tackle each mission in cooperative mode. It will take a while but it should be possible. I just hope that 343 won’t require a checkpoint reset if your cooperative partner dies when playing Halo 2 on Legendary difficultly.

NIGHTFALL Armor – This armor unlocks in two pieces. To unlock the helmet, watch the second story from the first episode. To unlock the rest of the armor, you need to watch all the episodes of Halo: Nightfall.

This could arguably be the easiest armor to unlock as it only requires you to passively watch the Halo: Nightfall series, but it could be a very time consuming one. We don’t know how long this series is going to be yet. We also don’t know if we’ll be able to watch all of Nightfall’s episodes at launch. According to some information that Microsoft included in the Xbox Store, the Halo: Nightfall series is going to be streamed, and new episodes will be added to the stream on a regular basis. It could be different for retail customers, but Microsoft has not been very clear on the Halo: Nightfall schedule and, like Halo 4‘s Spartan Ops missions, we might have to wait a few weeks after the game’s launch before all the episodes are released.

Also, what the heck does “second story” mean? Are they going to pull a BMW Films and tie each separate episode together by including small postscript films for each episode which tie into a viral marketing campaign or do they just mean the second part of the episode? I’ll keep you guys posted on that.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection is coming November 11, 2014 exclusively to the Xbox One. Halo 5 is coming next year exclusively to the Xbox One.

All New Halo 2 Documentary Out Now on Xbox Video October 31, 2014

Happy Halloween everybody!  With the release of Halo: The Master Chief Collection a mere two weeks away, Microsoft decided to give Xbox gamers a nice treat.  They produced an hour long retrospective documentary on the development and release of my favorite game in the Halo series, Halo 2, and the process of remaking the game for the newest Xbox console.  I still remember waiting out in the cold for this game’s midnight release ten years ago, but I never realized just what a momentous occasion I was taking part in until I found out I participated in one of the biggest entertainment launches of its time.

The documentary is up now and you can download and stream it for free on the Xbox Video service for the Xbox One and Xbox 360.  If it isn’t on the main page just do a search for “Halo” and you’ll find it pretty quickly.  If you don’t have an Xbox 360 or Xbox One and would like to catch the documentary anyway, Microsoft is planning to stream it on their Twitch.TV Channel a few times this weekend.  Check below for the schedule.

• Friday, Oct. 31 at 12pm PST/3pm EST
• Saturday, Nov. 1 at 6pm PST/9pm EST
• Sunday, Nov. 2 at 6pm PST/9pm EST

Microsoft also plans to put the documentary on the Halo Channel on November 11th, 2014.  As of this time of writing, the Halo Channel has not yet officially launched on any platform, nor has Microsoft announced a release date for it, so this announcement could be taken as a small confirmation that the channel will be up in time for Xbox One release of the Halo remakes.

Halo 2: Anniversary is coming as part of Halo: The Master Chief Collection, which is going to be released November 11th, 2014 exclusively on the Xbox One.