Halo Waypoint, the new virtual home for all things Halo, launches today on Xbox LIVE, and will be the exclusive destination for full-episode previews of Halo Legends beginning Saturday, November 7. Available for Halo fans worldwide following a successful preview period, Halo Waypoint brings all the richness of the Halo universe together in one place. Halo Waypoint features daily updates of fresh, exciting content such as developer interviews, trailers and screenshots, exclusive video footage, community activities, and the latest Halo news.

Avatar Awardables

In addition, Halo Waypoint includes an innovative career system that tracks players’ accomplishments across multiple Halo games and gives them new ways to show off their heroic gameplay feats. By downloading and “enlisting” in Halo Waypoint, players will be rewarded with a variety of Bungie-created Halo 3: ODST Avatar Awardables for attaining specific Achievements in the game. Rewards vary from stylish T-shirts to full sets of ODST armor. The experience is retroactive, so if players have already unlocked the requisite Achievements, the awards will be ready for them once they enlist in Halo Waypoint.

Players can unlock the following Achievements to gain access to Halo 3: ODST Avatar Awardables:

As a bonus for enlisting in Halo Waypoint, fans receive a Monitor accessory for their Avatars modeled after the Halo character, 343 Guilty Spark. The Monitor will help fans find their way around Halo Waypoint.

Halo Legends Anime

The rollout of exciting new Halo content doesn’t stop there. This Saturday, the first preview episode of the highly anticipated anime series, Halo Legends, will debut ONLY on Halo Waypoint.

Set to be distributed in early 2010 by Warner Home Video, written and created by an array of renowned anime studios and produced by 343 Industries, Halo Legends will explore never-before-told stories based on themes and characters in the vast Halo universe. Sponsored by the U.S. Air Force, previews of four new Halo Legends episodes will be available only on Halo Waypoint during 24-hour live-streaming events on Xbox LIVE over the next three months.

The first Halo Legends preview episode, “The Babysitter,” is created by famed anime house STUDIO4°C, and follows the story of a group of ODSTs who reluctantly accept a Spartan sniper into their strike team. As they embark on a perilous mission to assassinate a high-ranking Covenant Prophet, old rivalries must be reexamined if the mission is to succeed. Watch what happens as the mission progresses into hostile territory, and both the Spartan and the ODSTs discover something important about the other.

Following each preview episode on Xbox LIVE, fans will receive exclusive behind-the-scenes looks at each studio’s creative process through “making of” specials. Below is the current broadcast schedule of upcoming Halo Legends live-streaming events (subject to change):

05-Nov-09 – Introduction to “Halo Legends”
07-Nov-09 – “The Babysitter”
14-Nov-09 – Making of “The Babysitter”
21-Nov-09 – “The Duel”
28-Nov-09 – Making of “The Duel”
05-Dec-09 – “The Package” Part 1
12-Dec-09 – Making of “The Package”
19-Dec-09 – “The Package” Part 2
26-Dec-09 – Making of “The Package”
02-Jan-10 – “Origins” Part 1
09-Jan-10 – Making of “Origins”

Source: Xbox Press Releases & Feature Stories

On November 5, fans around the world will have a completely new way to access all things Halo with the launch of Halo Waypoint, the new destination for the iconic franchise available exclusively on Xbox LIVE.

Produced and developed by 343 Industries in collaboration with Certain Affinity, Halo Waypoint offers a diverse selection of unique and immersive content, bringing together all the goodness of the rich Halo universe in one place. Halo Waypoint informs fans of the latest Halo news and activities, granting access to content ranging from interviews, trailers and screenshots, to exclusive video footage and community content that you won’t find anywhere else.

Halo Waypoint provides a new challenge for Halo gamers with a career system tied to in-game accomplishments across multiple Halo games. At launch, career tracking will include Halo 3: ODST, Halo 3, Halo Wars and all Game Add-on content for those titles. Available exclusively on Xbox LIVE, Halo Waypoint provides a dynamic experience that will continue to grow and expand with new content updated regularly.

Previews of the highly anticipated anime anthology Halo Legends, will be available exclusively on Halo Waypoint starting November 7. Halo Legends is just one of the Halo exclusives that won’t be found anywhere outside of Halo Waypoint.

Halo Waypoint will be accessible for Xbox LIVE Silver Members as a trial until November 26. After that time, Halo Waypoint will be available exclusively for Gold subscribers. For a content schedule of Halo Waypoint programming, visit the online Halo Portal Web site, and follow the Halo Waypoint team on Twitter at @HaloWaypoint or on Facebook.
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Lock and load! When Halo 3: ODST drops on September 22, it will deliver a completely new campaign, a new cooperative multiplayer experience called Firefight, the complete Halo 3 multiplayer experience on a standalone disc, and new competitive multiplayer maps for Halo 3 you won’t find anywhere else. Microsoft and Bungie today revealed the remaining three multiplayer maps which are sure to get fans around the world excited.

Heretic returns to familiar ground as the Halo 2 arena Midship makes its long-rumored debut in Halo 3. The stark interior of the Pious Inquisitor might appear austere on first glance, but Heretic’s symmetrical spaces require players to execute complex strategies in order to outplay their opponents.

Citadel may be a long-abandoned Forerunner stronghold, but its small, symmetrical confines are far from secure. Two opposing bases offer little safety for players looking for solace. Instead, Citadel forces small squads to stay in constant communication, keep their heads on a swivel, and be prepared to adjust combat tactics in close quarters.

Longshore lacks the commercial ships that once made it a lucrative port for Old Mombasa, but it still bustles with activity. Designed for large scale combat and well suited for smaller affairs, Longshore’s multitude of industrial buildings, elevated walks, and open inlets conspire to create a complex battleground tailored for multiple combat scenarios.

Developed exclusively for Xbox 360 by acclaimed developer Bungie, Halo 3: ODST is a new game in the Halo saga that lets you experience events leading up to the epic story told in Halo 3 through the eyes of an ODST (Orbital Drop Shock Trooper), as you search for clues leading to the whereabouts of your scattered squad and the motivations behind the Covenant’s invasion of New Mombasa.

In addition to a brand new campaign, Halo 3: ODST introduces a new cooperative multiplayer mode called Firefight which allows Halo fans to experience co-operative gaming in a whole new way: they will be fighting as members of an ODST squad against waves of increasingly challenging enemies across a variety of battlefields. This experience is made even more intense with the integration of the “skulls” from Halo 3, which progressively activate as time goes on to alter the gameplay and up the challenge. Battle through wave after wave in search of high scores, Achievements, and bragging rights.

Halo 3: ODST also includes a second standalone disc with three new Halo 3 multiplayer maps, all original Halo 3 maps, as well as the Legendary, Heroic, and Mythic Map packs for a total of 24 maps.

Grab Halo 3: ODST at your favorite game retailer to ensure access to the Halo: Reach multiplayer beta when the beta goes live in the future.Announced at E3 2009, Halo: Reach is the prequel to the blockbuster Halo trilogy and is scheduled for release in fall of 2010.

Halo 3: ODST is available for pre-order in both a standard package and a Halo 3: ODST Collector’s Pack, which includes the game and an exclusive, laser-etched Wireless Controller. Pre-order Halo 3: ODST at participating retailers and you will receive a token to unlock grizzled UNSC hero Sgt. Johnson as a playable character in Firefight. The Halo 3: ODST Collector’s Pack is available for pre-order in the U.S. exclusively at GameStop, and is available worldwide at other participating retailers.

Source: Xbox Press Releases & Feature Stories

Halo 3: Mythic Map Pack is now available for download from the Xbox Live Marketplace. The Mythic Map Pack is available in all Xbox Live regions and costs 800 points.

The long-awaited Mythic Map Pack drops into Xbox LIVE Marketplace. Investigate Orbital’s abandoned hallways – before it was evacuated, the Quito Space Tether was heralded as the “Civil Engineering Monument of the Millennium.” Witness Assembly, where Scarab hulls loom overhead, being decontaminated in preparation for the city-sized Lekgolo colonies that will breathe life into the massive metal husks. An excavation site surrounded by deadly Forerunner defenses, the mysteries of Sandbox are hidden high above, deep below, and right before your eyes.

Just a quick reminder that the Halo 3 Heroic Map Pack is now free for everyone do download fro the Xbox Live Marketplace.

Oh yeah, Bungie has revealed the first pictures of the on of the upcoming new multiplayer maps ‘Ghost Town’.

Further information on the official Bungie.net website.

Wow, Bungie has gone all screenshot-tastic on our asses this morning with a shed load of new images from the upcoming Heroic map pack. Enjoy…

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Bungie has just announced that the first set of extra Halo 3 maps will be released next month. The ‘Heroic Map Pack’ will contain 3 multiplayer maps: Standoff, Rat’s Nest and Foundry. The map pack will be available on the Xbox Live Marketplace on Tuesday 11th December and will cost 800 points. But don’t despair if you are a bit short of cash before Christmas, in the spring ‘08 the map pack will be made FREE to everyone.

Earlier today, Microsoft Game Studios announced that the DLC Bungie has been working on will be available December 11th to the tune of 800 Microsoft points. The Heroic Map pack is comprised of the first three maps of our intended downloadable suite to support Halo 3’s multiplayer. Christopher Barrett, (AKA Barry) the creative director of Downloadable Content and Steve Cotton, the DLC design lead answered a host of questions, some reasonable, some borderline nonsense to give folks a little better idea about what they are seeing when they look at the three screenshots of the maps we’ve released (there will be more coming sometime after the Thanksgiving holiday). 

A quick note about how Matchmaking will work:

When Halo 2’s downloadable content joined the Internet, it effectively split the Matchmaking population into the “haves” and the “have-nots,” Bungie was readily aware of the problem that  caused, and has rectified it in Halo 3. First, when downloadable content arrives, it will have its own playlist for those folks who just want to play with their new toys. Simultaneously all of the DLC maps will be rolled in to the regular Matchmaking playlists as well and then as folks are getting matched up, the game will take into account who has what maps in the matchmaking process. So you’ll see Team Slayer on Standoff show up in the Team Slayer hopper as well as in the new DLC-focused playlist.

Rat’s Nest

Foundry

Standoff

Find out more about the map pack here.

Wow, Microsoft has just confirmed that Halo 3 is oficially the biggest US entertainment release ever. With first day sales of $170 Million Halo 3 beats previous releases such as Spiderman 3 and even the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows book.

Xbox 360 Exclusive “Halo 3″ Registers Biggest Day in US Entertainment History with $170 Million in Sales

Microsoft today announced that the Xbox 360 exclusive game “Halo 3″ has officially become the biggest entertainment launch in history, garnering an estimated $170 million in sales in the United States alone in the first 24 hours. The Xbox 360 title beat previous records set by blockbuster theatrical releases like “Spider-man 3″ and novels such as “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.”

“Halo 3″ is the conclusion to the epic trilogy and picks up where “Halo 2″ left off, answering questions around the fates of the beloved protagonist Master Chief and his artificial intelligence sidekick Cortana as they struggle to save humankind from destruction at the hands of the alien coalition known as the Covenant. In addition to the rich storyline, “Halo 3″ continues the franchise’s grand tradition of delivering innovative online multiplayer experiences via Xbox LIVE, the world’s largest social network on TV.

“Halo 3 has become a pop-culture phenomenon,” said Shane Kim, corporate vice president of Microsoft Game Studios. “Not only is “Halo 3″ setting sales records, it’s also redefining entertainment.

Within the first 20 hours alone, we’ve seen more than a million Xbox LIVE members come online to play Halo 3 – that makes September 25 the most active Xbox LIVE gaming day in history.”

Retailers have also expressed their excitement about the launch of “Halo 3.”

Bob McKenzie, Senior Vice President of Merchandising for GameStop Corp commented that, “With consumer demand for Halo 3 and related products, we expect it to be the biggest video game title generator in GameStop’s history.”

“The initial demand we’ve seen for ‘Halo 3’ has been astounding, and the game is on track to become the number one gaming title of all time.  ‘Halo 3’ is a genuine entertainment phenomenon and our customers have responded very enthusiastically to the release,” said Jill Hamburger, vice president of movies and games at Best Buy.

Developed by Bungie Studios, the “Halo” franchise is exclusive to the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system and optimized for the Xbox LIVE® online entertainment network. The more than 7 million Xbox LIVE users will get a continually evolving gaming experience with “Halo 3.” Its online multiplayer and cooperative gameplay for Xbox LIVE Gold users, the much-talked-about Saved Films feature that enables players to capture and save their favorite moments on their hard drives, and Forge, an innovative map editor that enables infinite customization options are just some of the new features to experience.

More than 10,000 retailers hosted Midnight Madness events to celebrate the launch of this third installment in the billion-dollar franchise. In New York, Seattle, Miami and Los Angeles, Microsoft and retail partners hosted marquee launch events that featured contests and appearances by local celebrities and professional athletes who are fanatical about the “Halo” franchise, including Ludacris and Zac Efron and Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates.

More than 1.7 million copies of “Halo 3″ were preordered in the United States before a single store opened its doors at midnight, Sept. 25, making this the fasting pre-selling game in history, surpassing the previous record-setting pre-sales of “Halo 2.” Well beyond just a U.S. phenomenon, the launch of “Halo 3″ was a worldwide celebration that released in 37 countries and available in 17 languages.