Nemesis – Resident Evil 3

Love it or hate it, there’s no denying that the redesign for Nemesis in the upcoming Resident Evil 3 is pretty twisted. While the original looked frightening enough, the remake stretches its lower jaw skin further while resembling the T-103 more (which itself very much resembling Mr. X). It’s a natural evolution and reflects the extreme nature of the Pursuer.

343 Industries may have impressed with its latest trailer for Halo Infinite (launching in Holiday 2020 with Project Scarlett). But the more immediate development is Halo: The Master Chief Collection, which is coming to PC. You don’t need the entire collection though – each game can be purchased separately, and in a new Xbox Wire post, prices for the same were outlined.

On Steam and the Microsoft Store, Halo: Reach, Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, Halo 2 Anniversary, Halo 3, and Halo 4 will cost $10 each. The campaign for Halo 3: ODST will only cost $5. The first among these releases is Halo: Reach, out sometime this month.

Though a price for the entire package wasn’t provided, Halo: The Master Chief Collection is currently available on Xbox Game Pass. It’s also coming to Xbox Game Pass for PC, which recently launched and is available to new subscribers for $1 per month. For current owners of Halo: The Master Chief Collection on Xbox One, Halo: Reach’s multiplayer will be free, while Campaign and Firefight will be purchasable separately.

343 Industries has announced that in light of recent matchmaking issues facilitating the removal of Rumble from the Halo 2 Anniversary multiplayer of The Master Chief Collection, it will be reintroducing the same following feedback from fans. The playlist is expected to be live at this point though an official confirmation hasn’t been made.

On Halo Waypoint, the developer stated that, “Based on community feedback we’ve received since yesterday’s update, we are bringing the Halo 2: Anniversary Rumble playlist, which features a variety of FFA game types, back into the matchmaking rotation.

“Our team continues to work on resolving existing matchmaking issues such as party splitting and uneven teams, and in the meantime, this playlist will offer a mix of game types that are not affected by these known issues.”

Halo: The Master Chief Collection has been facing a variety of issues since launch pertaining to its multiplayer matchmaking. Though 343 Industries has released a few updates, some serious issues still remain. Stay tuned for more information on the same.

We already knew that 343 Industries had planned a grand total of 400 Achievements for Halo: The Master Chief Collection, for when it is due to hit the Xbox One later this month, for a grand total of 4,000 G offered in Gamerscore. What we didn’t know was that these guys are a bit crazy and may have gotten carried a teensy bit away, as they announced another 50 achievements that add another 500G to the package.

“For this round of achievements, we wanted to focus on community and the new multiplayer features being offered by the new maps and modes within Halo 2: Anniversary multiplayer,” developer 343 Industries wrote on their website.

The new achievements will be covering all four of the games included in this package, and, as with the previous round of achievements, some are tied to the overall package itself.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection launches exclusively for the Xbox One in one week. Stay tuned to GamingBolt for more coverage.

343 Industries may have upped the visuals for Halo 2 with the Anniversary edition but it won’t be in 1080p resolution. This is due to the game running two different graphics and sound engines, allowing players to switch between the classic visuals or opting for the new updated graphics. As executive producer Dan Ayoub stated, this “put a hit on resolution”. It isn’t quite 720p but it isn’t 1080p either.

“So in the last weeks of development, our teams were able to meet a stretch goal and the campaign of Halo 2 Anniversary now runs 60 fps at a crisp resolution of 1328×1080, which is a significant and meaningful boost in image quality we think fans are really going to appreciate.”

In case one is worried though, the remaining aspects of Halo: The Master Chief Collection is in 1080p and 60 FPS. Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 3 and Halo 4 will all run at this standard but Halo 2 Anniversary will be the one exception.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection releases on November 11th for North America and November 14th for Europe.

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One of the biggest deals in Halo 2’s seminal multiplayer mode was the ability to play as Elites. Related to this was the ability to customize your Elites, which tied in directly to the almost overwhelming flexibility of customization options that you get for your multiplayer experience in the Halo series.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection is, of course, bringing all the four numbered Halo games back. It is important to remember that Halo 2 is returning in this case as Halo 2: Anniversary, a fully remastered edition of the original game. And now, we have confirmation that no matter the changes, Elite customization will be a thing in Halo 2: Anniversary. However, it may not be to your liking.

The screens that you see above are ones from an early build of the game, and they don’t necessarily look like Elites did in Halo 2. Rather, they sort of seem to be hybrids of the Elites as they appeared in Halo 4 and Halo: Reach (which, as the two most far spaced games in the Halo chronology, kind of makes no sense). Personally, I don’t necessarily like the change, and I am not sure everyone else will either.

That said, it is an early build. And all said and done, I’d care more for how the game plays, and as we all remember, Halo 2 plays like a boss.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection seems to be an exercise in nostalgia for al Xbox and Halo gamers, as it updates the classic Halo games and modernizes them, bringing them over to the Xbox One. The showpiece of this collection in particular seems to be Halo 2: Anniversary, which is designed to stoke the fires of nostalgia of the most popular Halo game.

Halo 2 is as popular as it is not just because of nostalgia, but also because it was a genuinely great game with pioneering ideas. Most of these ideas related directly to the game’s essential online mode. One of these ideas was its skill ranking system, that was great. So great, in fact, that people wanted it back in all future Halo games. And now, ten years later, 343 Industries are bringing it back with The Master Chief Collection in its entirety.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection launches later this year on Xbox One. Stay tuned.

Microsoft will be releasing a fully remastered version of what is widely regarded as the greatest and most influential Halo game of all time, Halo 2, as Halo 2 Anniversary in the upcoming Halo: The Master Chief Collection later this year, that collects all four numbered Halo games starring Master Chief, and brings them on to the Xbox One.

Halo 2 looks absolutely stunning after the anniversary treatment, honestly. Like, it’s clear a lot of care has gone into modernizing this game. With its maps being remastered alongside its single player campaign, the greatest Halo game of all time may get a second lease of life. Of course, the sheer strength of the original Halo trilogy will make Halo 4 look that much weaker by comparison (and put that much more pressure on the upcoming Halo 5: Guardian).

Stay tuned to GamingBolt for more coverage and information on the upcoming game. And check out the gallery of concept art above.

E3 2014 is right around the corner and rumours are running wild about what we’ll see. According to industry insider Shinobi602, we’ll have plenty of intrigue surrounding some big name games for the PS4 being shown off. Perhaps more interestingly, it seems that we may not be getting the original multiplayer modes for the rumoured Halo 2: Anniversary.

For the PlayStation 4 fans, you can look forward to more footage of The Order: 1886. But what about, say, The Last Guardian? “The Order will have a stage demo. I don’t know one way or the other about TLG honestly, but, personally? I wouldn’t be surprised!”

In other news, a fan tweeted Shinobi about purchasing an Xbox One in order to play Halo 2: Anniversary. However, this would only be the case if the game featured the original multiplayer (as Phil Spencer said once that it should). Shinobi responded, “I would hold off until E3 if I were you mate.”

Of course, when asked if this was credible information, he said, “Pretty much.”

Now, another user pointed out that Spencer indeed indicated that if Halo 2: Anniversary were to be made, it would have to really nail multiplayer down. This somehow hinted at the original multiplayer modes being used. Shinobi was quick to respond though.

“I know, but what I was told recently really contradicts that. I’d just wait until E3, hope Phil’s right.”

What does this mean? It could be that instead of Halo 2: Anniversary, Halo: The Master Chief Collection is announced instead (as rumoured) and feature new multiplayer modes instead. The Master Chief Collection will be a collection of the first four games in HD and it would make sense to have new MP modes for the entire collection then separate multiplayer for each game. As usual any insider information should be taken with a grain of salt but Shinobi602 has a solid track record.

What are your thoughts on the same? Let us know in the comments.

Microsoft has finally confirmed the existence of Halo 5: Guardians for the Xbox One and announed that it would release in 2015 (as indicated by a recent leak earlier this year).

Speaking on Xbox Wire, General Manager of 343 Industries Bonnie Ross wrote that, “‘Halo’ isn’t simply a perennial game franchise, it’s a part of the Xbox platform itself. In terms of innovation and ideation, it’s sometimes important to people who might not even play ‘Halo.’ And of course it’s a passion and an essential experience for two generations of gamers. So we asked ourselves, how do we begin and where do we go with ‘Halo’ on Xbox One?

“In the past, ‘Halo’ games have pushed the Xbox forward, showcasing the console and its ecosystem in entertaining and innovative ways. Making a ‘Halo’ game that runs at 60 frames per second, on dedicated servers, with the scope, features and scale we’ve been dreaming of for more than a decade, is non-trivial. It’s a task that we, at 343 Industries, are taking very seriously to ensure we deliver the ‘Halo’ game that fans deserve, and a game that is built from the ground up for Xbox One.”

Halo 5: Guardians seems to star a female Spartan alongside Master Chief and will be a much bigger effort than Halo 5 with 343 Industries promising a new and more powerful engine. “We’ve invested a huge effort in retooling our tech to take full advantage of the Xbox One’s hardware and ecosystem to create worlds and experiences worthy of next-gen.”

But that’s not all. Ross also stated that, “Many fans noted that I was very deliberate with my phrasing on stage at E3 last year. I spoke about a ‘journey,’ rather than a destination – and that journey definitely begins in 2014 with a giant leap, rather than one small step. We’ll give you much more information about our plans for this year at the Xbox E3 2014 Media Briefing on June 9, and we’re confident that ‘Halo’ fans will be pretty excited about the special plans we have in store.”

Take what you will from that but we believe it means Halo 2 Anniversary will be arriving on the Xbox One this year. What are your thoughts on the same? Let us know in the comments.