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Back in my day, we had to walk to school uphill both ways, get up if we wanted to change the TV channel and play whatever map and game type combination the Matchmaking gods selected for us. That's right, no fancy-schmancy voting system existed. If you got Neutral Flag on Waterworks, you played Neutral Flag on Waterworks…and you liked it! Assuming you capped the flag and didn’t fall off the bridge to your death every time, anyway (coughs and looks at Bravo).

Way back then, I may or may not have been a total pain in the ass (think chocolate milk kid plus Exorcist girl plus adorably curly pigtails). When I was being particularly rambunctious, I was often plopped down in front of the TV in an attempt to keep me still for more than two minutes. It was during this forced downtime that I picked up even more annoying habits, such as a near-perfect “ET phone home” impression, an obsession with Gremlins and a refusal to fall asleep until someone confirmed that no evil clown dolls were hiding under my bed. I also picked up something that wasn’t annoying, though, and that was a love for Steven Spielberg and his many masterpieces.

From Jaws to Men in Black to Back to the Future to Jurassic Park, Steven Spielberg has made a tremendous impact on not only the film industry, but also my life. That’s why, when I first heard there was a possibility he was going to be the Executive Producer for our original Halo live-action television series, I peed my pants just a little. Then, when I heard it was official and finalized, well… let’s just say a change of pants was in order.

The studio is incredibly excited about this partnership, and we can’t wait to share more information about this particular project in the future. To set expectations accordingly, it will be a (long) while before you hear more about our just-announced TV series, as we are all still very early in the process. Fret not, though, because we have numerous things, both big and small, up our sleeves. None of those things are going to be revealed in today’s Bulletin, but Bravo still has some interesting stuff to share with you. So pull up a chair, get comfy and start reading the tidbits below, which includes an update about the June 3 weapon tune and various Halo 4 Matchmaking odds and ends.

Current State of Weapon Tuning

Hey, it's Bravo. This past Friday, we had several community guests join us in the studio to check out a behind-the-scenes look at our current weapon tuning efforts. Through several hours of gameplay, a live stream broadcast and multiple group discussions over gourmet burritos, we got a chance to discuss how the weapons felt. If you’d like to check out the live stream, head here to watch.

The group hanging out after the live stream. Pictured left to right: Tashi, Ninja, Gh057ayame, Bravo, TheDrMouse, Greenskull, bs angel, CrazyByDefault, Quinn, Rukizzel, Neighbor

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Ever since Bravo joined the team, he’s been trying to wrestle the Bulletin away from me— and I don’t mean figuratively, either.

Previously, the winner of our weekly arm wrestling match got to write the intro to the Bulletin. Clearly I have an edge when it comes to brute strength, so my many-months-long winning streak surprised no one. Once Bravo realized he would never secure a pin, though, he changed up the rules: our weekly match-ups were moving in-game.

Our first 1v1 was Plasma Pistols only…or so I was told. Turns out Rockets were secondary. Bravo wins (and pens the 5.1 Bulletin). Our second 1v1 was on Settler, where Bravo placed my only spawn point in the ocean. Yup, he wins again (and pens the 5.8 Bulletin). After the shenanigans, I insisted that our third head-to-head be a straight-up Battle Rifle duel to the death. I got the four-shot BR, and Bravo got a broken one. Or at least that’s what I’m assuming happened, considering he spent more time watching my celebratory crouching than actually playing.

So here we are, bs angel at the Bulletin helm once again. Considering that I don’t know what next week will bring, I’m going to make the most out of this one by talking to you about… well, you.

Halo is nothing without its community, and that’s something we remember each and every day. We share your creations on our web site, through both informal blogs and also more formal spotlights. We promote your events, from both our personal and official Twitter accounts, and we spend a sizeable amount of time consuming your feedback, primarily on our forums but also around the rest of the Haloverse as well.

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Normally, people are not allowed to have friends visit them regularly at work. Luckily though, over the past few weeks, several of our friends have been visiting the studio. At first I thought this was strangely awesome – tons of Halo players visiting the studio to hang out with me. Slowly, however, I have realized that it’s much more likely that everyone just wants to get their hands on the 4-shot Battle Rifle and new weapon tuning. This is based on the fact that most guests generally walk past my welcoming outstretched hand and straight into our Multiplayer playlab.

Last week, professional Halo player and good friend, Coby Yamauchi, came by the studio to hang out. (It is worth mentioning that he actually did stop to say hello before he plugged in his controller.) Coby joined us in testing some of the new weapon tuning, as well as new (wacky) game modes. We also hung out with multiplayer designers and other 343 team members to talk multiplayer level design and even have a look into some of the complex systems used by the test team to break down multiplayer gameplay, maps and films.

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bs angel and I often joke about what the letter “B” stands for. Seeing as my Gamertag is B is for Bravo, I argue that the letter most definitely stands for “Bravo.” Naturally, she argues that the letter instead stands for her Gamertag. This week, however, I’ve decided that B not only stands for “Bravo” but also “Bulletin.” This being said, welcome to the weekly update.

Whenever good friends stop by, I tend to ask ‘em if they’d like to go for a ride in the new Warthog. This is especially the case when the friend in question is a 3-time Halo National Champion. Last week, Dave “Walshy” Walsh was in town, and yes, this Warthog is not only drive-able, but is also a total monstrous beast that little children should not be playing around (Watch out, kid.).

After we discussed what an excellent driver / gunner Warthog duo we would make, Walshy and I swung by the 343 Multiplayer playlab to get hands on with some of the current weapon tuning efforts. We played several matches together, and I got a chance to catch up with him after he stopped by. Here were his impressions on what he saw as well as his dominance with the Assault Rifle.

Hey, Walshy! What were your first impressions with the new weapon tuning? Did anything immediately stand out as different, enjoyable, confusing, etc.?

New weapon tuning felt much better! Three features stood out the most to me:

• The Battle Rifle being a 4-shot makes it a force to be reckoned with, no longer is the DMR the go-to choice for top players.
• Decreased magnetism on automatics definitely adds more skill to those short-range fights.
• The LightRifle's increased rate of fire while zoomed in will possibly make it the best long-range starting weapon in the game.

I’ve certainly seen quite a bit more LightRifle in our playtests. The slightly increased ROF when zoomed makes it even deadlier at range. So tell me – was the 4-shot BR as crispy as you expected?

Cookie Crisp crispy! I might have to start doing the wolf howl after each kill! On a slightly more serious note, the 4-shot kills give the game the faster kill time that I loved from previous Halo games.

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I’ve been playing Halo since the days of Combat Evolved. Throughout my 11-year love affair with the franchise, I have learned three things: Master Chief is a pretty cool guy who doesn't afraid of anything, Sergeant Johnson really does know what the ladies like, and Cortana would strongly prefer that you not leave this planet. After spending the other day with her – or her IRL counterpart, to be exact – I also learned she would prefer it if her Wikipedia page was accurate. Let me explain.

Last December, for the Child’s Play Charity Dinner Auction, we donated a Halo bundle that included a studio tour and personalized Cortana voice mail, with 100% of the proceeds going toward improving the lives of hospitalized children. The highest bidders for the bundle, “olanmills” and “Ragingterror” as they’re known in the online world, recently redeemed their winnings for a day full of developers, designers and Jen Taylor (the voice of Cortana). During a narrative-fueled lunchtime discussion, the conversation started with pleasantries and slowly morphed into a game of Jen-themed “Did you know?”

"Did you know she’s the voice of Princess Peach?” was followed by “Yes! Did you know she voiced Zoey from Left 4 Dead, too?” which then led to the opening of her Wikipedia page so we could test our knowledge of everybody’s favorite pocket-sized AI. It was at that point that she learned that particular user-edited entry contained a few inaccuracies. As we were semi-distracted by the sound of Cortana’s voice coming out of Jen’s mouth, it took everybody a few moments to recognize she was calling out the roles she had never heard of, much less actually done. I told her someone would probably fix the falsehoods at some point, and then suddenly realized that statement could be interpreted as an assurance or ever (GASP!) a promise. You know how she feels about that subject, so if you are familiar with Jen’s background in regard to her VO work, and you’re also an active member of the Wikipedia community, I’m sure she would appreciate a revised Filmography listing because the current one is, for the lack of a better phrase, not a natural – nor accurate – formation.

Before you head off into the depths of the constantly changing web-based encyclopedia, I do hope you’ll read the Bulletin because today we’re talking weapon tuning, Join-in-Progress-ing and Campaign easter egg-ing, the latter of which we’ll tackle first.

Halo 4 Campaign Easter Egg Hints

The Halo 4 Campaign still contains many uncovered secrets. You discovered three of them after our mission designers shared some cryptic yet decipherable hints a few months ago, and that team is back again with a new batch of riddles. The first two easter eggs listed below are similar, size-wise, to the previous three you discovered, while the third one is more of a teeny-tiny source of amusement. So grab your decoding rings and get ready, because it’s about to get all easter egg-y up in herre.

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Throughout my online adventures, the two questions I am most often asked are “You’re not really a girl, are you?” and “What do you actually do all day?” While the first one is easy to answer (“Yes. Source: I just checked.”), the second makes me pause. Do I share my penchant for looking at cat pictures, or do I attempt to describe the many intricacies of my day-to-day responsibilities? The latter is often met with a soft snore, so I’ve learned to simplify the answer to this: “I play Halo.” I don’t just play Halo, though; I also watch it, which was the case last weekend.

AGL Nashville, a competitive Halo event owned and organized by Brad Weir, took place April 12-14. Because we tend to go small here at 343, we had the tournament playing on our teeny-tiny projection screen. We, along with much of the Halo community, tuned into their live stream to watch the pros duke it out on Halo 4’s virtual battlefields. While my skills are not such that I can compete, gameplay at the professional level is both inspirational and amazing to watch. Thus, the weekend was full of memorable moments, a few being too-many-to-list clutch plays, one particularly ill-placed rocket, a coach whom I suspect of moonlighting as a NASA countdown commentator, and someone in the chat room asking who would win a three-way arm-wrestling match: Quinn, myself or Bravo. I’ll let you guess who I put my money on…

Congratulations to Pulse Esports for taking home first place, thank you to those of you that watched and supported the event, and we’re already counting down the days until AGL6. If you are looking for ways to burn time until then, I invite you to hang out and read this week’s Bulletin. There are a few tasty tidbits, especially if you’re looking forward to the upcoming Multiplayer weapon tuning update, which coincidentally enough, is the subject of the first Bulletin segment.

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April 8th not only marked the launch of the Castle Map Pack but also the beginning of a full week of Halo 4 festivities. While we’ve been busy keeping the contests, challenges and giveaways going, I thought we’d stop for a second to both catch our breath and get you up to speed on what exactly this week has to offer. Spoiler: It’s a lot!

Castle Map Pack

Daybreak, Outcast and Perdition are officially here. Whether you fancy yourself a driver or just have a thing for large battles over open spaces, this is the add-on for you. Featuring three brand new medium-to-large maps, the Castle Map Pack can be yours for 800 Microsoft Points or the low, low price of nothing, should you be a Limited Edition or War Games Map Pass owner.

Competitive Skill Rank

For the past several weeks, one of the most common questions across the Halosphere has been, “When are we getting ranks?” On Monday, I was able to stop using everybody’s favorite word (soon!) and start saying, “You can haz.” Your Competitive Skill Rank, or CSR, is now available on all screens of Halo Waypoint – mobile, web, console and SmartGlass. If you’d like a detailed write-up about how this brand new, 1-50 skill-based system works, check out last week’s Bulletin. To see your set of numbers in action, make sure you’re signed in and then click the Halo 4 logo on the navigation bar at the top of the page.

CSR Challenge

For the five-oh fans amongst you, anybody who reaches CSR level 35 or higher in the Castle DLC playlist at any point on or between April 8th to April 22nd will receive a free Avatar t-shirt. It kind of looks like the image you see to the left. And by “kind of”, I mean “totally”. Because it is.

Halo 4 Original Soundtrack Volume 2

Some people like the steady hum of Halo in their earholes. If that describes you, you’ll be excited to hear Halo 4 Original Soundtrack Volume 2 is now available for your purchasing pleasure. Frankie uses it in conjunction with a fire, glass of wine and bearskin rug. You should feel free to do the same.

Spartan Ops Challenge

Maybe you’ve played through all 10 episodes or perhaps you have yet to venture into this particular game mode. Regardless of which group you fall into, playing and completing any 5 missions of Spartan Ops starting April 11 at 2:00 a.m. PST and ending April 12 at 2:00 a.m. PST will result in a t-shirt being added to your Avatar’s virtual wardrobe. Speaking of which…

New Halo-themed Avatar Items

You may not be able to don the ancient armor of the Didact in real life but that doesn’t mean your virtual mini-me should be stuck with the same fate. Get stomped on by a Mantis or enjoy the sight of balls flying around your face by dipping into the newest additions to the Halo Avatar Collection, which includes Didact Avatar Armor, a Cryptum Ball prop and more.

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The Castle Map Pack, which is the third of three Map Packs from the War Games Map Pass, is scheduled for release on April 8th. If you don’t have a calendar handy, that just so happens to be Monday. To make sure you’re properly prepared for this particular trio of maps, we have several days’ worth of Castle-related content planned for your viewing pleasure. We shared the 9 relevant Achievements yesterday, and we have three new videos along with a live stream coming out later this week. Check out our schedule, so you can adjust yours accordingly.

While we’re excited for you to get your hands on the Castle Map Pack, that’s actually just the start of a full week of exclusive offers, updates and challenges. For those that enjoy Multiplayer, Monday will feature the release of the new maps, CSR and a Halo 4 matchmaking update – the latter two of which we’ll discuss in-depth later in this Bulletin. Should ranking up be on your list of things to do, daily and weekly challenges offering extra XP will be active in both War Games and Spartan Ops for the entirety of the week. We have a few other things up our sleeve as well, including a CSR challenge where playing the Castle DLC playlist and reaching level 35 or higher between April 8 and April 22 will award you with an exclusive Avatar t-shirt, so stay tuned to Halo Waypoint and our Twitter account for more giveaways and surprises.

For now, let’s chat about the soon-to-be-released CSR feature, shall we?

Competitive Skill Rank

CSR, or Competitive Skill Rank, launches on all screens of Halo Waypoint (web, console and mobile) next Monday. You will be given a unique rank for each playlist within Halo 4, and the system will use the familiar 1-50 scale. We have been closely monitoring the match results and progression of players behind the scenes to ensure that this new system presents a challenge while still providing an optimal Matchmaking experience. As this is a brand new feature, everyone’s CSR will be set to 0 when it launches. This will allow all players to start on equal footing and enjoy the progression of the 1-50 system.

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While the weather in Boston was frightful, the inside of its convention center was delightful. At least it was if you were there last Friday, Saturday and Sunday, anyway.

Taking place March 22-24, video game lovers from around the world recently descended upon the snowy coast of Massachusetts for PAX East – an annual convention that celebrates all things gaming. We were there, happily nestled in the Xbox booth, letting people get their hands on the Halo 4 Castle Map Pack before its official April 8th launch date. We also discussed where we’ve been, where we are and what is on the horizon for Halo 4 Multiplayer in our Matchmaking-themed panel. Covering everything from the soon-to-be-released trio of maps to the Competitive Skill Rank system, to a little surprise by the name of Forge Island, we tackled as many subjects as we could cram into a single hour.



There are always questions after we release a spattering of new information, so this week’s Bulletin is dedicated to answering some of those inquiries. We’ll resume the normal Bulletin format next week but for now, enjoy the PAX East-themed Q&A, the “Q” of which was provided by you, and the “A” of which was provided by Franchise Development Director Frank O'Connor, Multiplayer Designer Quinn DelHoyo and Lead Multiplayer Level Designer Kynan Pearson (with a special appearance from Senior Environment Artist Vic DeLeon).

PAX East Q&A

Are there any plans to further support Halo 4 after the next title update?
–SitriStahl
We intend to support Halo 4 through Matchmaking, events, essential fixes and playlist design for a long time to come – and while there are no announced map packs after Castle releases later this spring, we have some cool ideas about future content and support that we’re tinkering with right now.
–Frank

Will Multi-Team be 4 teams of 3? What game types will be included in that playlist?
–DANGER B0Y
Multi-Team, which launches with the Castle Map Pack, will consist of six teams of two. A couple of the modes that you can expect at launch are Slayer and Oddball. Who knows… maybe we’ll throw SWAT in there as well.
–Quinn

Can we expect to see some universal balance changes applied to the default game settings?
–D34D D34D D34D
Yes. You can expect to see global tweaks to the sandbox much like the adjustment of the Boltshot in the previous title update and the Warthog’s Gauss cannon in this one.
–Quinn

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In Seattle, there are espresso stands on every corner. In Boston, however, that’s not the case, at least not in the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. While my first PAX East involved spending the majority of my time unsuccessfully looking for frothy bean-based beverages, I’m expecting this year’s festivities to go a bit more smoothly. That’s right, I’m already mentally prepared for the lack of caffeine-supplied energy jolts. I’m also physically prepared as my suitcase is currently cram-packed full of its canned, portable counterparts.

My PAX East preparations may have involved raiding the local coffee shop multiple times, but the rest of the team has been insanely busy planning our panel, securing mass amounts of swag and putting the finishing touches on new Halo 4 maps and game modes. While I’m certainly not going to reveal every last detail of our PAX East presence, I’ll happily fill you in on the basics. Read on to devour just that.

PAX East

PAX East – a show exclusively for gaming – opens bright and early Friday morning at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. For a small group of people, however, the party is getting started on Thursday night. Below are the details regarding our pre-funk festivities, playable booth experiences and multiplayer panel, the latter of which just may include a fun little surprise or two…

Mad Catz Unveiled: Thursday, 6PM-12AM
A private party thrown by our friends over at Mad Catz, Unveiled is an exclusive pre-PAX East event. We’ll be on deck, providing participants with a world-exclusive hands-on preview of upcoming Halo 4 Multiplayer content. We gave away tickets to this event on Monday and said we would announce the winners in today’s Bulletin so without further ado, the winners are @imthedorkkk, @MasterSundown, ‏@Bighungry2x, ‏@njbrodeur87, @Capitalism_Rox, @squirrelburrito, @AH_Booshy and @therealjlalor. See you Thursday night!

Halo 4 Multiplayer: Past, Present, and Future Panel: Friday, 5-6PM
You’ve played the Majestic Map Pack and may even have a chance to play the Castle Map Pack on the floor at PAX. Come prepared to hear our very own Kevin Franklin, Andy Dudynsky and Jessica Shea (hey, that’s me!), as well as Certain Affinity’s Tom Potter and special guest Burnie Burns of Rooster Teeth discuss where we’ve been, where we are, and what is on the horizon for Halo 4 Multiplayer.

PAX East Floor Experience: Friday – Sunday, 10AM-6PM
PAX East is all about getting down and dirty with your favorite games and we’ll be allowing you to do just that in the Xbox booth, where numerous stations will have the not-yet-released Halo 4 Castle Map Pack loaded up and ready to go. We’ll be giving away swag to the first several hundred people in line, and we’ll also be hosting a Majestic-themed FFA competition where the last (wo)man standing will walk away with a GAEMS Halo UNSC Vanguard Personal Gaming Environment. We have three GAEMS cases in desperate need of good homes, so come back every day of the show for your chance to win one!

If you find yourself in the eastern part of Massachusetts this weekend, we hope you stop by and say hello. Should that not be in your future, however, we’ll be posting updates on both Twitter and Facebook, giving away a GAEMS case as part of our traditional Twitter Free Stuff Friday festivities, and maybe even posting a video or two so all of you, regardless of where you’re located, can stay up-to-date on all things PAX East and Halo. So, one way or another, we’ll see you this weekend.

While many of us will be at PAX East for the next few days, several core components of our sustain and services teams are staying behind, working hard to get everything detailed below officially ready for your perusal. Join Bravo as he takes you through the tweaks, changes and additions that are coming to Halo 4 Matchmaking on Monday.

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