EA has been heavily relying on the newest “Battlefield” installment to help restore the franchise’s reputation after several mixed releases and to loosen the long-standing dominance of Activision’s “Call of Duty,” now published under Microsoft’s umbrella (MSFT.O), in the competitive first-person shooter genre.

For years, “Call of Duty” has held a near-unshakeable grip on the FPS market, so EA’s ability to generate momentum with “Battlefield 6” is being closely watched across the industry.

The game officially launched on October 10, just weeks after EA agreed to a massive $55 billion sale to a Saudi-backed investor group, an acquisition driven largely by the company’s highly valuable gaming catalog. Early gameplay data is already impressive: EA reported that “Battlefield 6” players logged over 172 million matches online in the first three days, while content related to the game reached more than 15 million hours watched across major streaming platforms over the launch weekend.

EA also confirmed that the title recorded the highest number of concurrent players ever seen in a “Battlefield” game.

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PvP Focus: The game emphasizes player-versus-player encounters, with no single-player campaign. Players can engage solo or in teams of three, navigating the environment and battling others for resources​.

Exploration and Survival: Players will explore persistent and evolving zones, searching for alien artifacts, loot, and new gear. The game includes survival mechanics, such as managing healing and oxygen, to enhance the tactical gameplay.

Narrative and World-Building: Although primarily a PvP game, “Marathon” will have a rich narrative, with opportunities for exploration and conflict against both players and AI enemies. The setting on Tau Ceti IV includes mysterious signals, dormant AI, and other intriguing elements​​. The game aims to be accessible, with intuitive core mechanics that allow for strategic thinking and creativity in how players approach their objectives​.

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1. Development and Release of Halo: Combat Evolved (2001): The original Halo game, developed by Bungie Studios and published by Microsoft, was released as a launch title for the Xbox console. It introduced players to the sci-fi universe of Halo and the iconic protagonist, Master Chief.
2. Halo’s Success and Expansion (2001-2004): Halo: Combat Evolved received critical acclaim and became a massive success, helping to establish the Xbox as a prominent gaming platform. Bungie went on to develop two sequels, Halo 2 (2004) and Halo 3 (2007), which further expanded the game’s universe and introduced new gameplay elements.
3. Creation of Halo Spin-offs and Expansion beyond Gaming (2004-2009): During this period, Bungie released spin-off titles such as Halo 3: ODST (2009) and Halo Wars (2009), which offered different gameplay experiences within the Halo universe. Additionally, a series of novels, comics, and other media were released, expanding the lore and story of the franchise.
4. Bungie’s Departure and 343 Industries (2010-2012): Bungie announced their departure from Microsoft, and 343 Industries, a subsidiary of Microsoft Studios, took over the development of future Halo games. Bungie’s final Halo project was Halo: Reach (2010), a prequel to the original game.
5. Reboot with Halo 4 (2012): 343 Industries released Halo 4, the first game in the Reclaimer Saga, which continued the main storyline of the series. It introduced new characters and delved deeper into the mythos of the Halo universe.
6. Expansion of the Halo Universe (2014-2017): 343 Industries released Halo: Spartan Assault (2013) and Halo: Spartan Strike (2015), top-down shooter games for various platforms. They also launched Halo: The Master Chief Collection (2014), which compiled updated versions of previous Halo games for the Xbox One.
7. Halo 5: Guardians and Halo Wars 2 (2015-2017): Halo 5: Guardians (2015) continued the Reclaimer Saga, focusing on Master Chief and a new protagonist, Spartan Locke. Additionally, Halo Wars 2 (2017), a sequel to the original Halo Wars, expanded the franchise into the real-time strategy genre.
8. Halo Infinite and Recent Developments (2018-present): Halo Infinite, initially scheduled for a 2020 release, is the upcoming game in the series. It aims to be a spiritual reboot, returning to the franchise’s roots while introducing new gameplay mechanics and an open-world structure. As of my knowledge cutoff in September 2021, the game is still in development and set to release in late 2021.

It’s important to note that the Halo franchise also includes various multiplayer components, including the popular Halo multiplayer modes, which have been a significant part of the series’ success throughout its history.

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The news comes from 343 Industries’ Head of Creative, Joseph Staten, who stated as much in an interview with Game Informer. Staten, unfortunately, did not elaborate on the subject. So far, we don’t know how many additional weapons will be added, when the first will be released, or whether they will be wholly new, resurrected from the series’ past, or a combination of both.

Several weapons from prior games are currently missing from the game, so adding these would be a nice place to start. However, Infinite brought entirely new weapons to the game, so there’s reason to expect 343 Industries will continue to add new features.

Halo Infinite’s multiplayer is currently in beta for Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PC, with a full release set for December 8 with the game’s campaign, which will be available on the same platforms.

Here’s a breakdown so far:

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Joseph Staten, the studio’s head of creative, confirmed that means campaign co-op won’t arrive until May at the earliest, and Forge is still set to launch with season 3 but will arrive even later.

“So our goal still remains what I said before, which is to ship campaign co-op with Season 2 and Forge with Season 3. But those remain goals. Those remain targets. And we can’t commit to any hard dates right now, because as we’re seeing with this multiplayer beta, other things might move up in the priority stack for us. If it turns out that our progression system just isn’t working the way that we intended, if we need to move some of these bigger rocks that I talked about sooner then we as a team will make those decisions and will clearly communicate to our fans why we’re doing certain things.” said Staten.

The development team wants to take the extra time to make sure it’s stable and works well, so 343 Industries’ decision to focus on the campaign and multiplayer might have been the right one even if this news possibly comes as a little disappointment to fans.

But 343 Industries surprise launched the free-to-play multiplayer component three weeks early on Monday, and it is already a hit as, even before you include players playing on console, through the PC Xbox app and on cloud gaming, the mode quickly hit an amazing 272,000 concurrent players on Steam.

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Because you know, nothing says dedication like getting a black eye running to the gaming section and having someone toss you a new Xbox and up-selling an overpriced HDMI cord like they always do at Best Buy.

But the good news is this – it’s an online event that will help you get your hands on the new Xbox Series X or Playstation 5, so you still have a chance to get one, if you really, really, really, want it.

GameRant reported

It’s very important to note that these consoles will not be available in-store. This is presumably to stem the spread of COVID-19 by avoiding large gatherings. This is not to imply that Best Buy stores will be closed to gamers altogether. Best Buy stores will be open on Black Friday, November 27th, starting at 5 AM local time, with all sorts of game deals available. Plus, a few weeks earlier, in-person console pick-up appointments will be available for those who pre-ordered a next-gen console.

The online-only nature of the restocked consoles will likely not thrill those who failed to get a console during the pre-order process. Although there have been a few opportunities to claim a new console in the weeks after pre-orders launched, they are few and far between. Given the huge number of gamers waiting to get a new console, any new opportunities present huge bottlenecks, and demand will surely far exceed supply. Best Buy’s website may crash from the demand, leaving many frustrated once again.

They can count me out for getting a next gen system. At this time I don’t see any reason to get a new Xbox or Playstation. It seems like the biggest selling point this time around is simply the graphics and the dick measuring everyone’s doing to see who has the most powerful system.

Doesn’t anyone remember that we played Halo on levels that consisted of mostly gray walls like on Hang’em High, or a little bit of grass like on Blood Gulch – and we played these games with basic-Betty graphics for HOURS upon HOURS?

And does everyone forget that graphics now are simply amazing and 1,00,000xs better than they were 20 years ago?

We obviously don’t need graphics to be improved and companies like 343 better start paying attention to this. They took Halo and ruined it years ago, but hey – they got great graphics, so that’s all that matters, right? Nope. Halo 4 and Halo 5 are unplayable with bad maps and lousy weapons, so maybe game developers can focus on making better games with good graphics instead of bad games with amazing graphics.

I’ll grab a new Xbox Series X when there’s a good reason to upgrade, but right now – there simply isn’t.

And for those who disagree, go pay $500 and get a new monitor or TV while you’re at it. Let me know how your experience is any different, because I guarantee – it won’t be.

Also, the PS5 is ugly and way too big. I would need another bookshelf just to put it on. I don’t want that thing in my house unless it doubles as a satellite dish for NASA and aliens show up to probe my neighbor.

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343 has confirmed that we will see gameplay action from the single player campaign mode in their latest Halo Waypoint message. Unyshek said, “It’s Community Update time, which means we’re diving into the latest and greatest Halo news from around the franchise – from past to present. We’ll be discussing Halo 3’s upcoming launch on PC as part of Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Halo 5: Guardian’s future offerings, and what you can expect from Halo Infinite during the Xbox Games Showcase on July 23.

Other than that, 343 and Microsoft aren’t saying that much about it. Summer Game Fest is on July 21, so don’t get too excited to see Halo in that unless it’s a surprise.

The good part is we can access the Halo Infinite gameplay via live stream on July 23. We can go to Xbox.com for that. We can likely keep an eye on the social networks to see if anyone is livestreaming it as well, particularly those connected with 343 or Microsoft, as there might be several sources streaming it at the same time – but it’s not yet known who.

The Halo Infinite trailer is here, but keep in mind this dates back to 2018. This is nothing new but hopefully on July 23 they give us more than a few minutes of action to keep us hungry for more.

Xbox posted this a few days ago, but it didn’t exactly mention Halo Infinite at all. The response to their post has been a mixed bag of memes and jokes from Playstation and Xbox gamers.

At some point it turns into a Playstation VS Xbox debate, but then one person says Master Chief is better than Mario and that was probably the funniest post. At least to me because I imagine Master Chief standing next to the little Italian guy and they’re probably talking about what’s for dinner, and you know the Italian can cook better than the space fella. But if the Flood shows up, I’m not expecting Mario to collect coins and jump on them while MC has a rocket launcher and battle rifle at his side.

🎮 Xbox Games Showcase
📅 July 23rd
⏰ 9am PT@SummerGameFest Pre-Show at 8am PT with @GeoffKeighley on @YouTubeGaming#XboxGamesShowcase pic.twitter.com/zGr5AnFwic

— Xbox (@Xbox) July 6, 2020

Ahahahaha @Xbox is absolute trash when it comes to games!! Literally no one is interested

— Zschrader714 (@zachschrader734) July 6, 2020

https://twitter.com/Hussin51431746/status/1280191317323194368?s=20

GeoffKeighley??? 😖 Why? No one in the Xbox comunity like that dude

— Mikael Auditore (@MiKAuditore) July 6, 2020

https://twitter.com/DomTheBombYT/status/1280161244473970690?s=20

Shot these #Sony boys what you got. Let's make Xbox Great Again 😁

— RudeJap (@kingvladmir0) July 6, 2020

https://twitter.com/OvershieId/status/1280139964508864513?s=20

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The video is titled “Throwback Halo snipe clip” and it features the map Hang’em High from Halo CE. At first glance, you might not notice the first move the player makes because you’re looking in the distance to see who gets sniped.

Then you see the headshot and think, OK, it wasn’t really that good. What’s so good about this? Nothing, right? Most of us could snipe on Hang’em High with our eyes closed and playing with our toes. And if you really want to be old school, we had REAL LAG back in the day on our much slower connections.

But here we are, seeing a snipe clip on Sports Center, and thinking it was boring.

That was where many of us went wrong.

Watch the clip a second time and you’ll see an old school classic move. The player doesn’t actually have the sniper rifle yet. He throws a grenade to the lower level and ‘nades it up to himself. Tricky, cool, and awesome at the same time.

Now here’s where it gets smooth. The nade pops the sniper up almost right into his hands and he goes into a headshot all in one slick motion. That’s what made the clip kinda cool.

Watch…

https://www.facebook.com/SportsCenter/videos/733175557493112/

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Over the years we started playing some other games like Call of Duty, Halo, Battlefield, and anything we can do to stop ourselves from playing Fortnite (because we stink at it).

So now we’re changing names to TrendingViews which is an old website name I’ve had for 10+ years.

I asked a few gamer friends what they thought and they loved it.

We’re going to focus on all sorts of console games, a little bit of technology, and even some movies and TV articles if they’re relevant or entertaining.

Hopefully it goes through!!

See ya out there!

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