When Halo 5: Guardian’s cover was revealed, everyone launched right into speculation as to the nature of the character on its revealed cover art- was it Master Chief? Some other Spartan? Just who was it?

343i was playing coy with us- they would only tell us that it wasn’t Master Chief, that it was in fact a brand new character. E3 came and went, and we never learned anything about the new Spartan. Well, now we finally know more. His name is Agent Locke, and he will be playing a major role in Ridley Scott’s Halo series.

Speaking to Eurogamer, 343 Industries’ boss Bonnie Ross explained that in spite of his crucial status to the game’s story, Master Chief is still the main character, and that the game will follow his search to find his own humanity.

“He is human, he’s always been human, but at the end of Halo 4 he really is reflecting on who he is and why he exists. That was very deliberate because the story we want to tell on Xbox One really is an important part and the main part of his hero’s journey. It’s more about what he’s searching for versus what the UNSC is asking him to do.”

Halo 5: Guardians launches next year exclusively for the Xbox One. A beta for it will be offered exclusively to all those who purchase the Halo Master Chief Collection for the Xbox One later this year, which also includes the fully remastered and restored Halo 2 Anniversary.

After a literal explosion of leaks and information concerning upcoming Xbox One exclusives, which included news that Halo 5 wouldn’t be releasing this year for Xbox One but that a Halo 2 Anniversary edition would be in-bound, Master Chief voice actor Steve Downes has repeated the same to Gamezone.

“I think you may be ahead of yourself on Halo 5. I wouldn’t expect anything until 2015. What you can look forward to this year is an anniversary edition of Halo 2.”

It’s also been rumoured that when Halo 2 Anniversary releases, it will contain beta access to Halo 5. Other rumours suggest that Saber Interactive and Certain Affinity, which helped 343 Industries being Halo: CE Anniversary to the Xbox 360, are also on-board for the project. The leaks have been so massive that Microsoft is currently pursuing legal action to identify and persecute the leaker.

What do you think? Rock-solid confirmation or just more subterfuge till 343 Industries or Microsoft officially announce it? Let us know in the comments.

A good character can represent an entire generation or just a game genre that is powerful. No matter how far back we may go in gaming there is always a connection to be found and an experience that others can share with you. These mascots of the gaming world are much more than a person in a rubber suit representing our colleges or favorite sports teams. They represent a feeling, an idea and most importantly the power of the human mind.

1. The Mario Brothers:

Well this one is obvious, they’re basically the little Italian men that started it all. Hell, Mario is the guywho is dodging barrels and saving the damsel in distress before he even had a game himself. His nemesis is a guerrilla with an identity crisis who thought he was a donkey and there were more ladders than most of us would care to ever actually climb.

Then he met up with his brother and they went on to fight Bowser and save the Princess as well as the Mushroom kingdom. Mario and his brother Luigi are the most iconic characters in video game history and probably the most popular plumbers to never actually unclog a pipe. They’ve had cartoons, a movie and merchandise named after them. The Mario Brothers are where many of us started as gamers. We will always have fond memories of these brothers no matter what platform we’ve chosen as our favorite.

As the title suggests, Art of the Instakill is about deaths and how fast an enemy dies when shot or stabbed. This is enacted by people wearing video game characters’ costumes, and you can see Commander Shephard fight Master Chief.

How awesome is that? Well to see for yourself check out the video and tell us what you think in the comments section below. You can check out their official Youtube channel for more awesomeness.

Lead writer for Bungie, Joseph Staten, has stated that “Immersion was the main goal” in creating Master Chief. In a recent interview Staten claimed that details of the chief’s past were left blank to add to a sense of player immersion.

“The less players knew about the Chief, we believed, the more they would feel like the Chief.” He further commented that “When it came to the Halo novels and other products of the expanded universe, immersion wasn’t as important as deepening understanding. Immersion was the main goal here. Also keeping the Chief a man of few words reinforced what we wanted to be a tough-as-nails soldierly persona.”

Staten also said that Cortana was originally intended just to point the chief in the right direction. Staten claimed that “we needed a character who could consistently guide the player through the game, and an onboard A.I. was something that could always credibly accompany the player (i.e., another soldier might get lost, wounded etc). Over time, Cortana became a fully realized character—a friend and companion to the Chief, not to mention the only person to poke revealing holes in his tough-guy exterior. Through his interactions with Cortana, the Chief revealed his humanity (e.g., players learned the Chief had a sense of humor when he banged his helmet to stop Cortana from talking). And it was for these reasons that we focused so much on the Chief-Cortana relationship.” The more we know.

Thanks to VG247 for the info.