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The Halo Bulletin: 8.7.1308.07.2013 15:35
Working on Halo often requires that I keep quiet about ongoing projects. This can be particularly difficult when the project in question is awesome, or contains a remake of one of Halo 3's most popular maps, or contains a brand new game type, or new armor, or - you get the point. The development of the Champions Bundle has been particularly exciting to watch over the past few months, especially thanks to last-minute-clutch-game-winning passes during Ricochet playtests. The game type offers an entirely new team experience, and I absolutely cannot wait to see the game type played in Matchmaking, tournaments, and beyond. In addition to the newness, excitement, and often chaotic nature of this game type, we've also got five new medals that will be included - so let's talk about 'em.
Champions Bundle Medals
At San Diego Comic-Con, we showcased some of the new medals included with the Champions DLC but we have not yet had the chance to discuss them in detail, so now seems like the perfect time to do so. Ricochet—the brand new game type which requires you to move the ball across the map and into your opponent's goal, either by throwing or running —has a variety of new medals for you to earn. We demoed Ricochet gameplay at Comic-Con last month and if you'd like to understand just how these medals are earned (and pick up some early tips), be sure to check out the Ricochet tournament footage from our live stream. Here are the descriptions of the new goodies for all of you medal-heads (see what I did there?).
I've been fortunate enough to play a fair bit of Ricochet over the past month, and I must say that the Rejection interception is by far my favorite medal. It is hard to beat jumping up, snagging a goal-bound ball out of the air, and frustrating your hopeful opponent to no end.
Halo 4 Global Championship Update
We are now almost halfway through week 4, leaving just over 11 days left in the Halo 4 Global Championship Online Qualifier. As we have mentioned, we are performing thorough checks of each week's leaderboards before announcing finalists. This includes sweeping for cheaters, verifying account ownership and personal info, and more. For week 1, we have confirmed three finalists, and are currently waiting to hear back from the potential 4th finalist.
Congrats to the above players! For week 2, we have confirmed four winners and will be contacting them shortly. This process took longer than expected, as investigations led to the discovery of players who were using exploits such as network manipulation and boosting. These players will be removed from the leaderboards, and appropriate action will be taken against their accounts. We are taking the same action against the week 3 leaderboard and will report the final results when possible. Thank you for your patience as we ensure accuracy in our final leaderboards.
The above players have demonstrated that they all are well-rounded FFA players - with as high as 61 games played in the Global Championship playlist, there is no doubt that they have all played their fair share of objective as well as Slayer game types. We're looking forward to seeing how the finalists from week 4 stack up against the rest of the competition at the Halo 4 Global Championship Finals - stay tuned to Waypoint for updates on confirmed finalists and the final player pool.
Matchmaking Playlist Update
On Monday, we'll be moving into the fifth and final week of the Halo 4 Global Championship. When we shared the tournament schedule, we revealed that the featured game type for the final week would be Legendary Rumble. We're excited to announce it will also feature Legendary Rumble BR, a new game type premiering in the Global Championship playlist in response to community feedback regarding a BR-start Legendary experience. The maps and settings will mimic the 4v4 Legendary Slayer offering, with no initial, random or personal ordnance, weapons placed around the map, motion tracker enabled and a single Loadout for all players. The settings for each game type are as follows: Legendary Rumble
Legendary Rumble BR
For Legendary BRs, we added a Battle Rifle in the Primary Weapon slot, and moved the Assault Rifle into the Secondary Weapon slot. These settings will offer a BR-based game type that is quite different from the Team Throwdown and Pro game types, and we hope that you enjoy the experience. Additionally, we want to hear your feedback on the game type, as we are considering adding it to the Legendary Slayer playlist after the tournament concludes. Head on over to the War Games Feedback section and let us know what you think after you give it a shot.
Gamescom Qualifier
Gamescom, the world's largest trade fair and event for interactive games in Cologne, Germany will be the last chance to qualify for a spot in the Halo 4 Global Championship finals. We can't wait to check out the competition in Germany and are now able to share some details with you.
Screenshot Spotlight - Monitor
Previously, we turned the spotlight on Landfall. This week, we decided to go with some particularly guilty sparks. Take a gander at the following Monitor screenshots, and then capture your own for your chance at being featured in next week's Bulletin.
As we touched upon last week, we'll be keeping a close eye on the competition at AGL9 in Atlanta this weekend. Tune in to the live stream if you'd like to check out some of the Halo 4 Global Championship invited players (and more) compete alongside and against one another!
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