343 Industries’ head Bonnie Ross appeared on stage at Gamescom to reveal news of the ‘Halo Channel’, an entertainment suite dedicated purely to Halo content. This channel will grant access to Halo: Nightfall, previews of Halo 5: Guardians and other original Halo video content. It also contains the ability to allow you to switch between Halo games at will, stream to Twitch or watch others play Halo multiplayer. Second screen support is available through tablets and phones, allowing you to control or view the content remotely. This channel will be the one-stop hub for everything Halo, supplementing or perhaps replacing Halo Waypoint. Content found through the Halo channel may even carry over into Halo 5: Guardians.
343 then presented our first look at the Halo 5: Guardians beta, which will come included with Halo: The Master Chief Collection and will start on December 29, running for 3 weeks to January 18 2015. The beta will feature 4 v4 arena gameplay, a staple of classic arena FPS, taking Halo back to its roots. The beta will come with 7 maps, 3 modes, 11 sandbox weapons in each map and 7 armor sets to customize your in-game Spartan with. Interestingly, this beta will have ‘Fair Start’, meaning that every player will start off with the same loadout, bucking the trend of loadout customization seen in most shooters and in Halo 4. Loadouts will still likely be available in the full game in different modes.
Finally, 343 gave their nod to competitive eSports play with a preview of the remastered Sanctuary map in Halo 2: Anniversary. This map has been faithfully recreated in The Master Chief Collection, given a visual makeover for Xbox One and added 60fps. Well known eSports commentators give a play-by-play of a match between Halo MLG veterans in this video, showing that the heart of Halo 2 gameplay is still intact within this multiplayer.
Halo: The Master Chief Collection launches on November 11 2014 for Xbox One.