Halo Update Blowout - True 4K, Backwards Compat

https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/news/halo-summer-celebration

Big summer blow out time guys! Lots of Halo Updates. What say you my fellow SW posters? Are you excited to play Halo 5 in True 4K this fall on the X1X? I am pretty pumped that is for sure. I wonder if we will get it on PC too??

See here for the details:

Following its official debut at E3, there’s been a tremendous amount of growing excitement around the upcoming release of Xbox One X and the promise of true 4K gaming. Many Halo fans were quick to note that Halo 5 was conspicuously absent from the list of games being given the 4K treatment. The team here at 343 always had a desire to bring players the best Halo 5 experience for Xbox One X, but we weren’t quite ready to make the announcement during the E3 time frame.

Today we are excited to officially confirm that Halo 5 will receive a game update to support true 4K with the release of Xbox One X later this year! We’ll have more to share on this front as we get closer to release, so stay tuned.

BACK-COMPAT BLOWOUT

The Xbox One’s list of backward compatible titles has grown by leaps and bounds since the initial wave of games came out in 2015, with nearly three hundred Xbox 360 titles currently supported. Today we’re thrilled to announce four more very special additions coming later this year to the Xbox One back-compat program: Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, Halo 4, and Halo: CE Anniversary!

Each of these games will include campaign and multiplayer, and will even support LAN play on Xbox One – including LAN play between Xbox One and Xbox 360! Once released, you’ll be able to pop in your original disc or purchase a digital copy of the game via the Xbox Store and jump right in.

Best of all, once these titles are added to the program, every Xbox 360 Halo add-on map pack in the Xbox Store will be made available for free, ensuring you have everything you need to achieve maximum enjoyment in online matchmaking or custom games. We know this is something you’ve been asking for, and we’re excited to make these map packs available for all players.

We’ll have more details on the release timing soon but in the meantime, join us at RTX Austin 2017 for an exclusive hands-on preview with Halo 3 and Halo 3: ODST running on Xbox One!

HALO WARS 2

Since its release in February, Halo Wars 2 has seen a steady flow of game updates, balance tweaks, and add-on content to improve and expand the experience for players on Xbox One and Windows 10. To date, Season Pass holders have received four months of new updates, with two more months of hotness still to come.

Here’s a quick summary of all the new multiplayer Leaders that have been released thus far, and a sneak peek at what you can look forward to in July and August.

Once the Season Pass wraps up in August, Halo Wars 2 fans will want to set their sights on this Fall’s new premium expansion, “Awakening the Nightmare,” which includes a new campaign from the perspective of The Banished, the return of an ancient and deadly foe in the Flood, two new Banished Leaders, and a brand-new multiplayer game mode “Terminus Firefight.” Read more about “Awakening the Nightmare” HERE.

Good to hear Halo 5 is getting the 4K treatment too.

I'm really curious to find out what the sales are going to be like when it launches? I was the hardcore that bought the Xbox one at launch, full price. I not buying the x at launch and not sure when i buy it.

Is 4K Halo enough still to drive sales?

"True 4K" I wonder if that means that they'll just let the scaler go all the way up to 4K. It'll be interesting to see what else they upgrade, like those half frame animations.

@Zero_epyon: At least try to hide your bias a little better. :)

lol what? Halo 5 runs with a dynamic scaler on Xbox One. Are they going to lock 4K or are they going to let the scaler go up and drop when it gets heavy? It's a legit question. Especially when they say "We’ll have more to share on this front as we get closer to release, so stay tuned." So there's going to be clarification.

Also they made some compromises for Xbox One like half frame animations. They should be able to upgrade that with X1X.

@Zero_epyon: We'll just have to wait and see. I don't know to what extent it'll be upgraded.

I wonder why MS continues to ignore Halo Reach. They're constantly reminding us about Halo 1-5 and ODST, but Reach is treated like the redheaded step child... seems odd to me.

While I'm no Halo fan I can still appreciate the effort they are putting in to the game post launch

Same here. Well, I like Halo quite a bit. Only game from Xbox I miss but I ain't gonna buy an Xbox One just for it.

Wasn't Halo 720p/60fps though? 4K is a huge boost. Will it even be possible? That's 9x the pixel counts!

@howmakewood: Makes you wonder how far off Halo 6 is. They still have a solid community in Halo 5 and resources are clearly being used to bump the game to 4K. They also still have their pro league (I think).

No, it is 1080p.

It's dynamic resolution, up to 1080p which I don't think it reaches too often? Wonder can they lock it down to 4K or is it scaling down

"However, based this latest build, not to mention the marked improvement we saw at Gamescom, it's clear that significant effort has been made in making sure that the 60fps promise is delivered upon. After testing all three modes available here, we managed to uncover only a small handful of dropped frames. No matter how many enemies or effects are on screen, we see an almost complete adherence to 60 frames per second. Delivering a frame-rate this consistent is an incredibly impressive feat - the kind of achievement typically reserved for first-party Nintendo games or, more recently, Metal Gear Solid 5.

What this technology means for the player is a constantly changing resolution during gameplay, ranging from something in the region of 1152x810 all the way up to a full 1080p. Fortunately, based on what we've seen so far in this build, campaign mode gameplay tends to hang around 1344x1080, during which it's fair to say full HD is fleetingly attained during big set-piece battles, such as encounters with the giant Kraken in a later mission. Interior areas inevitably hold up better in this sense, with less strain put on the engine when the level design funnels the player in one direction. The pay-off is clear though; 60fps is locked at practically all times, while image quality shifts up and down the scale to ensure this consistency."

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2015-hands-on-with-halo-5-guardians

@kuu2: how did I get owned exactly? 1344x1080 is about 3/4th of pixels from 1920x1080. I'm not dismissing Halo 5 here lol

Awesome news all around. I'm really looking forward to the Awakening the Nightmare dlc for Halo Wars 2 as well.

I think he is talking about the poster that said Halo is a 720p game. Not you.

I just found out fantastic news !

Shouldn't use plural then

I was asking if it was. Wasn't even sure. Halo is my favorite FPS franchise so I have no idea what this guy is talking about. Just another SW clown.

I asked if it was. Didn't say it was. Learn to read you clown.

Would have been absurd for the biggest first party IP to not get support for MS' high-end device.

But, alas, doesn't move the meter for me. Still not interested in either the Bone X or returning to Halo 5.

You calling howmakewood a COW? LOL Man you are a JOKE around here cause he's a Hermit.

We know very well what Microsofts definition of 'True 4k' is.

This basically kill MCC, isn't it?

@davillain-: Part time sheep

Yep MCC is a goner. Obviously instead of voting for Halo 3 for every fucking mode MCC players will migrate to their former glory and Halo 3 will see a massive resurgence.

@no_bo_dy_83: Yes and no. It might pull some people away from MCC to play the game they desire (Halo 3 for a lot of people). Halo 2, Halo 2A, and Halo CE can only be played online through MCC.

• Halo 2 servers were shut down on the original Xbox
• Halo CE never had online/the anniversary edition MP was actually Halo 3.
• Halo 2 Anniversary is only on MCC.

It's weird....people don't like manticores like me or howmakewood or davillain, and yet we are still playing their precious plastic. I don't get it. It's like they don't WANT us to play all the games available on all the platforms because they can't?

All the dlc is free too pretty cool

Probably don't drop to 720p that often, played through GeoW:J and some Witcher 2 and they looked horrific :D

Awesome... kinda wish they were doing the MCC in 4k too. I'm sure that wouldn't be too difficult.

Stinkles NEVER mentioned it's native 4k.

this is awesome

@scatteh316: kinda like Sony's definition of 1440p being 4K? Lol

@kuu2: No the MCC servers are separate

More Halo... yay!? ... not really...

No Halo 2? Isn't original XBOX BC coming soon (part of the reason I bought Crimson Skies early)?

Higher than Sony's definition of 4k! Already has more true 4k than any other console.

this is a system seller for me. Haven't played halo 5 yet cause I don't have an xbox lol

Lol... what's Sony's new version of 4k now that XB1 X is coming? "Dynamic 4k" or some crap it said in the ads. Lmao.

One thing is for certain, it is imperative they maintain 60 fps. Max out the graphics as much as possible, 4K native or dynamic, but 60 fps needs to remain intact it's one of the main reasons(alongside all the gameplay additions obviously) that I really enjoy the competitive online of this game.