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Halo Infinite is shaping up to be one of the most ambitious and graphically impressive games in the series. And if you want an insider look at the characters, worlds and technology of the game, Dark Horse Comics has you covered with The Art of Halo Infinite.

IGN can exclusively debut the cover to The Art of Halo Infinite, created by the game’s art director Sparth. Check it out below:

Here’s Dark Horse’s official description for The Art of Halo Infinite:

The legendary super soldier returns in Halo Infinite. 343 Industries and Microsoft are building the biggest and most visually spectacular Halo yet. Halo Infinite debuts on the Xbox family of consoles, including Xbox Series X, Microsoft’s latest and most powerful game console. To take full advantage of its prodigious graphical prowess, 343 Industries built an all-new, next-generation game engine, giving their world-class artists the tools and technology to realize the worlds, war, and wonder of the Halo universe in unprecedented style and fidelity. 343 Industries have given Dark Horse access to the art and artists who’ve brought Halo Infinite to vibrant, vivid life. It’s all here in unparalleled detail, the heroes you’ve grown to love–the Master Chief, the brave soldiers of the UNSC, as well as the weapons, vehicles, villains and vistas–and of course, the eponymous and magnificent environments of Halo itself.

The Art of Halo Infinite is priced at $39.99 and is currently scheduled for release on December 29, 2020. You can pre-order the book on Amazon.

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We recently got a closer look at Halo Infinite at the Xbox Games Showcase. Find out more about the new story and villain details revealed, as why 343 Industries says there won’t be a Halo Infinite 2.

IGN’s Brian Altano and Max Scoville recently unboxed another art book from Dark Horse during Comic-Con@Home. Check out the video below to see what you get with the deluxe edition of The World of Cyberpunk 2077:

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Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.

CrossCode recently released on Nintendo Switch, PS4, and Xbox One, and Xbox players were able to pick the game up on Xbox Game Pass. As it turns out, this last option has been by far the most popular one for new players.

Talking to the video podcast Duel Screens, CrossCode designer and programmer Felix Klein explained that the game has surprised them with its performance on Xbox Game Pass. He says that when the PC version was available on Game Pass for Windows 10, not many people played it–but now that it’s on console, that has changed.

“We’re actually pretty surprised at how many people play that way,” Klein says, just past the 43 minute mark in the video below. Asked if he can elaborate, he says that it’s comfortably outpacing the other systems. “Right at this moment, there’s more people playing on Game Pass than Switch and PS4 combined. That’s something I did not see coming.”

While this might not be too surprising on the surface, it’s worth noting that the install base on the Xbox One is much lower than the combined figures for the PS4 and Switch. Concrete Xbox One sales figures aren’t available, but the data suggests that it’s well below the PS4’s 110 million, and the lifetime sales of the Nintendo Switch (55 million) are likely higher, too.

Recently, No Man’s Sky developer Hello Games reported that the game had gained 1 million new players since coming to Game Pass. While you might think that it’s better to get a paying customer, there’s some evidence to suggest that Game Pass leads to higher sales–the developer of Descenders attributes Game Pass with higher sales figures.

In April, Microsoft said that Game Pass has 10 million subscribers, and with Xbox Series X on the horizon–and Game Pass front and center in the marketing–that’s likely to go up further. Here’s why Xbox Game Pass could be Microsoft’s secret weapon going forward.

Halo Infinite will have smarter AI enemies that take advantage of the environment around them to attack you in new ways, including by picking up fellow enemies and throwing them at you. Jerry Hook, the head of design at 343 Industries, confirmed that Brutes can pick up Grunts and throw them at you–which is new for the Halo series.

“The biggest thing you get with the Brutes that you don’t generally see is that they pick up Grunts and throw them at the player. Could an Elite do that? No! A Brute could definitely do that,” Hook said during a group interview attended by VideoGamesChronicle.

Later in the interview, Hook said that “the Grunt toss” is just one element of how 343 has programmed the AI to be more strategic in how they will come after you.

“The Grunt toss is one of the key elements where you see the AI starting to take advantage of the sandbox that you haven’t seen before,” he said. “So you still have that great feeling of the AI taking advantage of shields and cover that was pretty critical to the Halo experience that we’ve had in the past, but we wanted to give them more. We wanted to give them more awareness of the sandbox itself and be able to use it. Don’t be surprised if you see an AI go grab a different weapon to take you out.”

Writing on Twitter, Hook said, “You will see a lot more of the AI interacting with the sandbox than ever before.”

Halo Infinite releases this holiday as a launch title for the Xbox Series X, while it will also be released on Xbox One and PC. For lots more on the game, which had its proper unveiling recently, check out some of GameSpot’s recent stories below.

Lord of the Rings SDCC update: JA Bayona is CURRENTLY filming in New Zealand, the biggest production in the world to resume filming post-COVID.
⚔️New NZ cast added
⚔️More NZ crew than any production ever
⚔️Galadriel, Elrond & Sauron confirmed
⚔️Cast has a tighter bond than ever

— TheOneRing.net (@theoneringnet) July 26, 2020

One of the new pieces of equipment in Halo Infinite is the grappling hook, which players can use for a variety of purposes. It can be used to swing to new locations or to grab items and throw them at enemies. The grappling hook can also be used to perform an attack.

343 Industries head of design, Jerry Hook, recently expanded on the grappling hook in an interview, saying you shouldn’t expect to use it to swing like Spider-Man wherever you want.

“I want to make sure our fans understand this–Master Chief is not Spider-Man. That is not at all what the Grappleshot does,” Hook said.

Hook went on to say that Halo’s deeper lore mentions the grappling hook, so it’s not something that 343 created for the game.

“If you look in the lore, Grappleshot had a very specific purpose for the UNSC. For helping Marines and Spartans be able to do ship-to-ship combat,” Hook said.

And in Halo Infinite, Master Chief has found a way to modify to help climb and assault enemies in new ways. “Chief and the Spartans have modified that to ensure it can be used within not only the Ring but terrestrial environments in general,” Hook said.

A blog post from 343 shares a few more details on the grappling hook, which is officially known as the Grappleshot.

“The Grappleshot opens up new traversal options while also providing new ways to engage enemies. Get up close and personal by grappling into an enemy for a satisfying melee, pull a Fusion Coil to yourself and throw it at your target, or grapple to a ledge to rain fire on enemies below,” 343 says. “This new equipment, along with various new weapons, open up more freedom and flexibility for players to showcase their own playstyles.”

The Grappleshot will also be available in Halo Infinite’s multiplayer, but 343 said it will be a pick-up as opposed to an item you always have.

Halo Infinite is a launch title for the Xbox Series X, and it will also come to the standard Xbox One as well as PC. The first gameplay trailer wowed some Halo fans and left others wanting more, especially in terms of its graphics. In response, Microsoft has said the graphics will get “better and better” in the lead up to launch.

Microsoft has also clarified that Halo Infinite’s multiplayer is not delayed.

Gameplay from FIFA 21 appears to have leaked onto Twitter, teasing some new features and an updated UI.

A ‘FIFA 21 Beta’ Twitter account surfaced yesterday, posting a variety of clips and screenshots from the game to the platform. A ‘FIFA EA Play’ watermark appears to move around the screen during the footage, suggesting these clips may have leaked from a preview event linked to EA’s most recent showcase.

pic.twitter.com/DF2LnBguKv

— تسريبات FIFA21 (@FIFA21Betaa) July 25, 2020

The footage shows off an updated, purple-hued UI for this year’s instalment, which is comparable to the colours used in the official FIFA 21 Twitter branding.

pic.twitter.com/pseB3HJvH8

— تسريبات FIFA21 (@FIFA21Betaa) July 25, 2020

It also appears that there have been changes made to the advantage system (as can be seen in the image above), and the account shows a series of what appear to be updated player faces for Liverpool, Manchester City and Real Madrid players. Other tweets show gameplay, which looks expectedly similar to last year’s edition, and lists of celebrations.

The leaks appear to stem from a “FIFA Producer Tour” build of the game, and the title screen notes that this is a pre-release build of the game, rather than a leaked demo. It’s unclear from the footage whether this is a current-gen or next-gen version of the game, although it looks strikingly similar to FIFA 20.

pic.twitter.com/Uyjary3IKY

— تسريبات FIFA21 (@FIFA21Betaa) July 25, 2020

In other FIFA 21 news, we recently got a glimpse into how the game will make anticipated changes to its Career Mode for this year’s instalment.

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Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

Obsidian Entertainment’s upcoming survival adventure game Grounded is looking to offer a unique take on the genre–and now even the trailer is defying convention by shouting out another studio’s ostensibly competing game.

The two games couldn’t be more different, of course, even though Obsidian is known for narrative-heavy RPGs in the same vein as CD Projeckt Red’s. Grounded is a big departure from the norm for Obsidian, with the trailer naming the studio as “the makers of games that are nothing like this one.”

Grounded looks more like a Rust-style survival game, featuring combat with monstrously large insects, multiplayer and base-building features–albeit with its inventive Honey I Shrunk The Kids aesthetic.

With Grounded releasing this week, it’s also a safe enough distance from Cyberpunk 2077’s delayed November 19 release to get away with. Obsidian’s latest game will drop on July 28 on PC and Xbox One, and will be available on Xbox Game Pass on release.

Obsidian Entertainment recently announced Avowed, a fantasy RPG for the Xbox Series X that probably won’t be hyping Witcher 3 in its trailers.