The Halo series has long allowed players to create and customize maps through the Forge, and one fan has created something very cool in Halo 5. Fan Alexander Henry has recreated a portion of the map from Halo Infinite, as seen in the recent gameplay reveal (below), and it looks great.
Henry posted a video reel of his map to Twitter, saying that it’s a 4v4 Slayer map created within 48 hours of the initial reveal. “I just want a shot at joining 343’s Forge team,” he said.
You can check out the video below. With Halo Infinite’s visuals drawing criticism, it has to be said–it looks pretty nice in the Halo 5 engine.
Here is the #HaloInfinite Gameplay demo built-in #halo5 Forge as a 4v4 Slayer map. Everything you see excluding the beam tower was built from the ground up within 48hrs of the Xbox showcase. I just want a shot at joining 343’s Forge team🙏🏼 Hope you enjoy! pic.twitter.com/6OPPd7N8vX
The official Halo account has not taken notice of Henry’s effort yet, but judging from the responses many members of the Halo community are impressed by his work.
Halo Infinite will be out on Xbox Series X, Xbox One, and PC later this year. The game will not feature paid loot boxes, which is good news.
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Hannibal ended in 2015 after three seasons on NBC, and the show has gained a cult following since its release. The show, from showrunner Bryan Fuller (Pushing Daisies, American Gods) starred Mads Mikkelsen as the cannibal Hannibal Lecter and Hugh Dancy as criminal investigator Will Graham–all of whom want it to come back.
Now, talking to Collider, Bryan Fuller and Hugh Dancy have talked about the possibility of the show’s return, why the rights to the character make it difficult, and what would need to happen to create more Hannibal.
“Martha De Laurentiis controls the rights for the Hannibal character,” Fuller says. Gaunmont International Television also needs to be involved, because they own “the rights to those characters and those situations.” However, it sounds like De Laurentiis is on board, and has been helping Fuller. “Martha and I, every couple of years, pick up our bags and go door to door and see if anybody’s interested in revisiting,” he says.
However, it remains complicated, as the show would need somewhere to live. “I wish there was something that was definitive,” Fuller says. “There’s some ideas that I’m very excited about that continue the strange trajectory of season 3. But I have not been approached.”
Hannibal recently came to Netflix in the US, and Fuller believes this would be a good place for a new series. “The biggest hurdle is that we were somebody else’s show,” he says. “What I love about Netflix platforming the show now is there’s an opportunity for it to be seen as a Netflix show and maybe that will reconfigure their appetite, so to speak.”
Fuller and Dancy also expressed a desire to work together again. “I would defer to Bryan’s sense of what would work if the story that he wanted to tell and where he ended up taking it could work in that format,” Dancy said. “Obviously, this is a wildly hypothetical question. But in the hypothetical, absolutely. I’m in, basically.”
Hannibal’s ending was (no spoilers) somehow simultaneously definitive and ambiguous, depending on which angle you looked at it from. The show never rated very well, but was a huge critical success.
One thing’s for sure, though–if Hannibal came back, it would not be an adaptation of The Silence of the Lambs, as that story’s main character, Clarice Starling, is getting her own series.
If you miss the show as much as we do, check out this gallery of horrifying murder sculptures from all three seasons.
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With rumors swirling that Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment is up for sale, gaming giant Electronic Arts has commented about its general approach toward buying studios. As part of the company’s latest earnings briefing, EA CFO Blake Jorgensen–who controls the company’s money–said EA is “more interested than ever” in buying studios. He refused to comment specifically on Warner Bros. but he pointed out that EA–as one of the biggest gaming companies on the planet–is usually in the mix when studios get put up for sale.
“It is very rare that we don’t get a chance to look at anything that is up for sale,” Jorgensen said. “You can imagine … people call us and say we’re thinking about selling the business or we’re thinking about selling ourselves. We are a place that a lot of people want to come as a long-term home if they decide to sell the business. We get to look at almost everything.”
Jorgensen said he “can’t comment on any specific acquisition,” but he pointed out that EA’s acquisitions in the past have come from long-standing partnerships. EA isn’t necessarily interested in snapping up a studio to get its portfolio of games–instead, it wants to invest in talent. All of this sure sounds like EA is not going after Warner Bros.
“As you’ve seen in the past, where we’ve done the best is where we have long-term relationships with people and we’re really trying to buy great talent versus games,” he said. “I think Respawn is a classic example of that. We were able to bring them into the fold and give them incredible support and it was all driven by the fact that they have incredible talent. It wasn’t about Titanfall–no offense to Titanfall. It’s an amazing game and maybe you’ll see Titanfall some time down the road. But it was really about the team.”
Looking ahead, Jorgensen said EA will “always” look at new creative-led teams to acquire. However, EA may not make any acquisitions soon, due in part to how the global pandemic has led to companies enjoying great fortunes and may be less likely to sell.
But overall, Jorgensen said EA is “more interested than ever because we see talent, and building great new franchises is critical to the long-term growth of the business.”
Halo Infinite will feature a free-to-play multiplayer mode and run at up to 120 FPS on Xbox Series X, according to a retailer listing and other sources.
Smyths Toys includes Halo Infinite in its listing for Xbox Series X, saying, “The legendary Halo series returns with the most expansive Master Chief campaign yet and a groundbreaking free-to-play multiplayer experience. Enjoy up to 120 FPS and greatly reduced load times creating seamless gameplay with Xbox Series X.”
The section in question has now been removed, but the image below shows it in its original form:Both sources for Windows Central and noted Xbox insider Klobrille have since supported the claim that Halo Infinite’s multiplayer will be free-to-play. Klobrille adds that the 120 FPS is an aim for Arena mode on Xbox Series X, and that multiplayer will include a Battle Pass system, and feature types of customisation new to the Halo series. We’ve contacted Xbox for comment.
Joe Skrebels is IGN’s Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].
Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt Red has warned users about beta scams related to the much-anticipated role-playing game. Writing on Twitter, the Polish studio said it’s aware that bad actors are trying to scam people with fake emails containing codes for a Cyberpunk 2077 beta.
“If you recently received an email claiming to be granting you beta access to Cyberpunk 2077, it’s not from us,” CD Projekt Red said. “Unfortunately, there have been more of these being sent out over the past few weeks. When we contact you via email, it’ll always come from @ cdprojektred com address.”
The studio further advised people to stay vigilant about any third-party emails they see claiming to have information about Cyberpunk 2077.
“If you are being contacted by a third party claiming to be working with us (an ad agency for example), you can assume it’s not genuine,” CD Projekt Red said.
After multiple delays, Cyberpunk 2077 is now slated to arrive in November 2020 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. New versions of the game are coming to PS5 and Xbox Series X later on, and people who already bought the game on console can get a free upgrade.
The global pandemic is keeping people staying home and looking for things to do. Gaming, in particular, has enjoyed a huge uptick in play time–and spending–due to the virus. Electronic Arts has now put that increase into perspective with hard data.
EA posted total revenue of $1.46 billion for the period, while the company made a profit of $365 million. The overwhelming majority of EA’s revenue for the quarter–$1.1 billion–came from microtransactions, which are called “live services.”
“This was an extraordinary quarter, and we’re deeply proud of everything our teams at Electronic Arts are doing for our players and communities,” EA CEO Andrew Wilson said. “We launched new games, deeply engaged players in our live services, and welcomed tens of millions of new players to our network. It was an unprecedented first quarter of growth in our business, and we will continue building on that strength with more innovative experiences, more groundbreaking content, and more ways to connect with friends and play great games throughout the year.”
EA CFO Blake Jorgensen added that “player engagement” numbers for EA’s games were “exceptionally high” and above EA’s own forecast.
The Sims 4, in particular, was a huge success for EA during the quarter, reaching more than 30 million players to date. The number of daily, weekly, and monthly active players for The Sims 4 reached “record highs” during the quarter.
Additionally, Apex Legends‘ new Season 5 update performed very well, reaching the “highest levels since Season 1.”
Madden NFL 20 was also a bright spot for EA during the period. EA said “player acquisition” for the series rose by nearly 140 percent, and Madden Ultimate Team engagement was up “more than double” compared to last year.
In total, EA released more than 30 new content updates for all of its console/PC games and more than 50 updates for its mobile titles during the period, which helped drive overall engagement.
This quarter also saw EA return to Steam, bringing almost 30 titles to the platform, including Mass Effect 3, Star Wars: Battlefront II, Dragon Age: Inquisition, and others.
For more on the EA earnings report, check out the recent stories below.
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An EA Executive casually mentioned the possibility of a new Titanfall game “sometime down the road” while discussing studio acquisitions during a financial call. Blake Jorgensen, EA’s COO and CFO, was answering a question about EA possibly acquiring any new studios and brought up the process of acquiring Respawn Entertainment, when he mentioned the magic word.
“It wasn’t about Titanfall, and that’s no offense to Titanfall; it’s an amazing game and we’ll maybe see a Titanfall at some point, sometime down the road,” Jorgensen said.
Jorgensen was more than likely just using it as an example to strengthen his answer, more stumbling into Titanfall than coyly teasing it. But in a conversation dominated by financial numbers and FIFA Ultimate Team, my ears were burning at the mention of one of EA’s best franchises having even the most remote possibility at getting a new entry.
Titanfall 2 has one of the best single-player FPS campaigns of this console generation and an unmatched movement system, so naturally fans of the series, like me, will grasp at any hope for a new game, no matter how minuscule that possibility really is.
There are a lot of budget monitors out there for those not looking to spend a lot of money, but if you’re on the other end of the spectrum, looking for the best out there with no price limits, then there’s an excellent deal at Microsoft right now. The 43.4-inch Lenovo Legion Y44w-10 ultrawide monitor is only $799 right now, down from its regular price of $1,199. That’s $400 off, one heck of a deal for an excellent ultrawide display.
If you order now, the Lenovo Legion ultrawide monitor can arrive as soon as August 3 if you order with express shipping. Otherwise, it comes with free two-to-three day shipping, which may take longer due to current conditions with the pandemic.
This particular Lenovo Legion boasts a 3840×1200 resolution, a 144Hz refresh rate, and a 6ms response time that can be overclocked to 4ms. On the back, you’ll find two HDMI 2.0 ports, two USB-C ports, one DisplayPort port, and four USB 3.1 ports. It’s also equipped with FreeSync technology that’s compatible with G-Sync, making it possible to take advantage of variable frame rates no matter what your GPU is.
Ultrawide monitors are great to game on, providing an incredible experience that can only be found on PC. However, not every game supports ultrawide monitors. In those cases, you’re left with black bars on both sides of your gameplay. Thankfully, Steam has an excellent group for ultrawide monitor users that lists all of the games that support the 21:9 aspect ratio. It’s definitely worth checking before you make your purchase.
