Author: Trafficblast

Halo: Reach Was Nearly Just Called Reach, But Microsoft Objected

Halo: Reach has just released on PC for the first time as part of the Master Chief Collection, bringing the beloved game to the system nine years after it released for Xbox 360. The game, which was brought to Xbox One as well and is available on both systems through Xbox Game Pass, was the final Halo game made by original developer Bungie before they moved onto Destiny. Many of the folks who worked on the game are reminiscing about it on Twitter using the hashtag #reachmemory, and some interesting information has come out about the game’s name.

David Candland, who designed much of the game’s user interface, says that the original intention was to just call the game “Reach”, without a “Halo” attached to it. Microsoft objected, insisting that the game be called Halo: Reach, for “brand recognition.” As Halo was and remains a major flagship of the Xbox brand, this makes sense–but as Candland’s tweet points out, they retained their simpler name on the game’s title screen.

As Candland told USGamer, this was probably, ultimately, the right decision. “I’ll bet it did impact sales. It also made googling the game much easier.” He also reveals that the cumbersome “Combat Evolved” subtitle on the original Halo was added by Microsoft, which is why it’s not on the title screen of the original game.

Elsewhere on the hashtag, Bungie art director Jason Sussman revealed that the game’s iconic finale (which we won’t explain here to avoid spoilers) was nearly cut for time, but that “everyone knew it needed to be part of the game,” and they managed to fit it in.

The original Halo is returning to PC soon too as The Master Chief Collection continues to roll out.

Now Playing: Halo Reach Is On PC Now | GameSpot Live

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Birds of Prey Opening Scene Debuts At Brazil Comic Con

The first scene from Warner Bros.’ upcoming Harley Quinn movie–full title Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)–has made its official debut, according to reports out of Comic Con Experience in Brazil. Beyond the Birds of Prey trailer that debuted back in October, and the short teaser that preceded it, this is the first public footage that’s been seen of the movie–and unfortunately, it doesn’t look like WB will be releasing it online right away, so we’ll have to rely on the accounts of Brazil Comic Con attendees to find out what happened in it.

The scene features Harley Quinn explaining the status of her relationship with the Joker, The Wrap reports. “We broke up,” Quinn says. “Mr. J was super broke up about it.” She adds that she has a new place that’s all her own, where she can reflect on her past mistakes–presumably indicating she regrets shacking up with “Mr. J” in the first place. The title of the movie has the word “emancipation” in it, after all, which is not a term you’d generally use for an amicable breakup.

During the panel, star Margot Robbie reportedly revealed that she initially pitched the idea for Birds of Prey while filming Suicide Squad because she “wanted to see more female ensembles onscreen.”

Speaking of Suicide Squad, let’s not forget that there’s a new one in the works–though whatever you do, don’t call it Suicide Squad 2.

Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) sees Harley Quinn (Robbie) team up with GCPD detective Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez), Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett-Bell), and Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco). It features the villains Black Mask (Ewan McGregor) and Victor Zsasz (Chris Messina), and it’s directed by Cathy Yan, whose previous directing credits include 2018’s Dead Pigs and various short films. Birds of Prey hits theaters February 7 2020. Until then, we’ll be looking out for any new information that arises.

Image source: Margot Robbie (Instagram)

The Witcher Just Released Three Mesmerizing Posters

Netflix‘s next big original series is none other than The Witcher, which arrives on December 20. Based on the Polish novels by Andrzej Sapkowski, the show will follow the characters Geralt, a witcher who hunts monsters, Yennefer, a powerful sorceress, and Ciri, a child of destiny.

While we’re still a couple weeks away from the release of the show, The Witcher Twitter account released some images from the upcoming series that are mesmerizing. Check them out below.

Henry Cavill as Geralt.Henry Cavill as Geralt.Gallery image 1Gallery image 2

Henry Cavill stars as Geralt, who was created by fear, Freya Allan plays Ciri, who was created by prophecy, and Anya Chalotra plays Yennefer, who was created by power. All of these captions allude to each character’s backstory, which we will see in Season 1 of the show.

Because the upcoming Netflix series is based Sapkowski’s works, there is a lot of ground to cover between the characters and the world they inhabit. However, that didn’t sway showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich from tackling this challenge. “To me, there are challenges, and there are opportunities. And this, to me, was such a great opportunity,” Hissrich told GameSpot during a recent interview. “You have all of these short stories presented in the first couple of books, in The Last Wish and in Sword of Destiny. There is no narrative thread between them, so Geralt doesn’t grow and change that much between the stories, because that’s not how they were originally written.”

The Witcher arrives on Netflix on December 20.

Don’t Miss These Hidden Gems on Switch – NVC 486

Welcome to Nintendo Voice Chat! It’s December, and this year’s release schedule is starting to calm down. So, the NVC crew is here to add even more games to your backlog with their discussion on the best hidden gems on Switch that you shouldn’t miss. After that, the panel talks about Link joining Super Mario Maker 2 and the one year anniversary of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Finally, your listener questions are answered yet again on Question Block.

Timecodes!