Halo 4

"Wake up, John."

- Official tagline

Halo 4 is the upcoming, and eighth, installment of the best-selling Halo franchise. The game was developed by 343 Industries, a Microsoft owned internal development studio established for the purpose of creating new properties for the Halo series. Halo 4 is the first of three games in the Reclaimer trilogy, and is a direct sequel to Halo 3.

The game is set four years after the events of Halo 3 in 2557, and will follow the main protagonist Master Chief as he explores the uncharted shield world called Requiem. Here the hero will discover new enemies, experience the return of the Covenant, and will discover more of the Forerunners tainted history.

Halo 4 is scheduled for release on November 6th 2012  in all countries except Japan where it will be released on November 8, 2012. As of September 26, 2012, Halo 4 has "gone gold", meaning all development of the game has been completed and mass manufacturing of the game has begun.

E3 Expo 2011
Halo 4 was first revealed on Microsoft's homepage hours before the start of their E3 press conference, along side Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary due to a mistake by the editing department. The game was then officially announced at the end of Microsoft's E3 2011 press conference with a short teaser trailer entitled "Awakening".

E3 Expo 2012
Details on Halo 4 were further expanded on in the 2012 E3 Expo where Microsoft's E3 press conference revealed more about Halo 4's game-play. It was here where the new enemies were revealed to be Promethean AIs, and the return of the Covenant was officially confirmed. Several minutes of game-play and multiple preview clips of the campaign were shown before the trailer ended with a cryptic message from an "unknown evil".

Campaign
Information on Halo 4's campaign has purposefully been kept to a minimum for the purpose of maintaining high anticipation for the game. In the August 22nd Halo bulletin on Halo Waypoint, it was confirmed that there would be eight campaign missions alongside all the achievements available in Halo 4. All known missions, including their chronological order and names, have now been announced by 343 Industries.

Known Missions in the Campaign

 * Dawn
 * Requiem
 * Forerunner
 * Infinity
 * Reclaimer
 * Shutdown
 * Composer
 * Midnight

Multiplayer
Halo 4's multiplayer capabilities have been explored extensively in the gradual build up to its release on November 6th. Unlike previous games, multiplayer maps featured in Halo 4 will not be based upon campaign levels, but instead will be designed from the ground-up with competitive gameplay in mind. Gameplay will now feature customizable load-outs, which somewhat resemble a perk system, and see the return of old and new armor abilities

War Games
To link online multiplayer matchmaking to in-game fiction it has now been coined War Games by 343 Industries; with War Games being vast simulated training grounds for SPARTAN-IVs as part of their preparation for Spartan Ops missions, which take place 6 months after the conclusion of the campaign. These simulations will be hosted inside the and will allow individuals to take control of virtual SPARTAN-IV characters and battle in a realistic, but safe online environment.

Customization
Players will also be able to edit their SPARTAN-IV characters with a variety of different armors, and also be able to swap genders with the return of gender customization. In addition to this players will have access to Specializations, a set of ten unique armor enhancements which bring combat benefits to players who use them, such as increased vehicle handling or resistance to EMP blasts.

A major addition to the customization of characters in Halo 4 is the new custom loadouts, allowing players to edit their loadout before games to a much greater degree than that in Halo: Reach. As a player progresses through the game, ranking up online, they will be able to unlock loadout slots allowing them to choose the weapons and abilities they start with on game start.

Customizable loadouts:
 * Primary Weapon
 * Secondary Weapon
 * Grenade
 * Armor Ability
 * Tactical Package
 * Support Upgrade

Ordnance Drops
To encourage dynamic movement of games and prevent players camping at weapon re-spawn points, Halo 4 will now accommodate random ordnance drops in matches. This feature is available as either "Infinity Ordnance", where weapons, grenades, or power-ups are dropped on to the map for all to use randomly throughout the game, or "Personal Ordnance", where a choice of personal power-ups can be earned by a player via performance during a game, and dropped onto the map.

Game Types
Along with the announcement of War Games and its included features, several returning and new game types were announced. Game types confirmed by 343 Industries that will be featured in Halo 4's multiplayer have been listed:


 * Slayer
 * Infinity Slayer
 * Regicide
 * Oddball
 * Capture the Flag
 * Flood
 * Dominion
 * Extraction
 * King of the Hill

Multiplayer Maps
Similarly to the Halo 4 game types, all of the maps that will be featured in Halo 4 have now been announced, including future map pack releases! 343 Industries has confirmed that Halo 4 will have ten core Multiplayer Maps available to all upon release, and throughout the six months following the release, three confirmed map packs will steadily be released one by one available for download to help improve the Halo 4 online experience.

Maps on release:


 * Adrift
 * Abandon
 * Complex
 * Exile
 * Haven
 * Longbow
 * Meltdown
 * Ragnarok
 * Solace
 * Vortex

Map Packs:


 * Wreckage - Crimson Map Pack (December)
 * Harvest - Crimson Map Pack (December)
 * Shatter - Crimson Map Pack (December)
 * Landfall - Majestic Map Pack (February)
 * Monolith - Majestic Map Pack (February)
 * Skyline - Majestic Map Pack (February)
 * Daybreak - Castle Map Pack (April)
 * Outcast - Castle Map Pack (April)
 * Perdition - Castle Map Pack (April)

Spartan Ops
With the announcement that Firefight will not be included in Halo 4's gameplay, 343 Industries announced that to replace the loss of this feature, a new episodic co-op series will be introduced called "Spartan Ops". Spartan Ops will feature weekly releases of missions on Halo Waypoint that will be free to download, and will follow the story of SPARTAN-IVs as they complete vital missions on Requiem, six months after the conclusion of the campaign. Three seasons have been announced, with the first season containing 50 missions.

Forge
Forge will be returning in Halo 4 with vast improvements to that of Halo: Reach's forge mode. Included in these improvements will be dynamic lighting, to create more realistic forged environments, more forge items, magnetic linking of objects, to ease attachment of objects, and three forge maps, each with a different terrain and forge pallets.

These three forge world maps will be available upon release:


 * Ravine
 * Impact
 * Erosion

Characters

 * Captain Andrew Del Rio
 * Commander Sarah Palmer
 * Cortana
 * John-117
 * Thomas Lasky
 * The Didact
 * Catherine Elizabeth Halsey
 * Jul 'Mdama

Species

 * Kig-yar
 * Mgalekgolo
 * Unggoy
 * Sangheili
 * Humans

Organizations

 * The Storm
 * United Nations Space Command
 * United Nations Space Command Defense Force
 * UNSC Navy
 * Naval Special Warfare Command
 * SPARTAN-II Program
 * Office of Naval Intelligence
 * UNSC Marine Corps
 * SPARTAN-IV Program
 * Shadow Squad
 * Majestic Squad
 * Fireteam Crimson

Locations

 * Requiem
 * Concord
 * Northern Polar Region
 * Erebus VII
 * Kholo
 * Unnamed orbital mining facility

Weapons

 * Asymmetric Recoilless Carbine-920
 * BR85HB SR Battle Rifle
 * Combat Knife
 * H-295 FOM Target Designator
 * M247H Heavy Machine Gun
 * M363 Remote Projectile Detonator
 * M395 Designated Marksman Rifle
 * M41 Surface-to-Surface Rocket Medium Anti-Vehicle/Assault Weapon
 * M45D Tactical Shotgun
 * M46 Light Anti-Aircraft Gun
 * M6 Grindell/Galilean Nonlinear Rifle
 * M6H Personal Defense Weapon System
 * M739 Light Machine Gun
 * M9 High-Explosive Dual-Purpose Grenade
 * MA5D Individual Combat Weapon System
 * Sniper Rifle System 99-S5 Anti-Materiel
 * Type-1 Antipersonnel Grenade
 * Type-1 Energy Weapon/Sword
 * Type-2 Energy Weapon/Hammer
 * Type-25 Directed Energy Pistol
 * Type-27 Special Application Sniper Rifle
 * Type-33 Guided Munitions Launcher
 * Type-33 Light Anti-Armor Weapon
 * Type-50 Directed Energy Rifle/Heavy
 * Type-51 Carbine
 * Type-52 Directed Energy Support Weapon
 * Type-55 Anti-Infantry Stationary Gun
 * Type-55 Directed Energy Rifle/Advanced
 * Z-040 Attenuation Field Generator/Localized
 * Z-110 Directed Energy Pistol/Exotic
 * Z-130 Directed Energy Automatic Weapon
 * Z-180 Close Combat Rifle/Asymmetric Engagement Mitigator
 * Z-250 Directed Energy Engagement Weapon
 * Weapon/Anti-Materiel Z-390 High-Explosive Munitions Rifle
 * Z-750 Special Application Sniper Rifle

Technology

 * M2705 Regenerative Kinetic Dispersal Field
 * M805X Forward Acceleration System/Fulcrum Mitigating
 * Promethean Crawler
 * Alpha Crawler
 * Crawler Snipe
 * Promethean Knight
 * Knight Lancer
 * Knight Commander
 * Knight Battlewagon
 * Promethean Watcher
 * Series 12 Single Operator Lift Apparatus
 * Sprint
 * Type-3 Refraction Dissonance Modifier/Camouflage
 * Type-27 Responsive Holographic Form Emulator
 * Z-2500 Automated Protection Drone
 * Z-5080 Short-Range Spectrum Augmenter/Vision
 * Z-90 Photonic Coalescence Emitter/Aegis

Vehicles

 * D79H-TC Pelican
 * Deployment Platform Type-56 Ground Support/Ultra Heavy
 * F-41 Exoatmospheric Multirole Strike Fighter
 * HRUNTING/YGGDRASIL Mark IX Armor Defense System
 * M12 Force Application Vehicle
 * M12 Light Reconnaissance Vehicle
 * M12G1 Light Anti-Armor Vehicle
 * M12R Light Anti-Aircraft Vehicle
 * M274 Ultra-Light All-Terrain Vehicle
 * M808B Main Battle Tank
 * Mobile Anti-Aircaft Weapons Platform M510 Siegework/Ultra-Heavy
 * Type-26 Assault Gun Carriage
 * Type-26 Ground Support Aircraft
 * Type-32 Rapid Assault Vehicle
 * Type-44 Troop Carrier
 * UH-144 Falcon
 * Type-44 Troop Carrier
 * UH-144 Falcon

Limited Edition
343 Industries announced that Halo 4 would be available to be bought as a Limited Edition on May 16th 2012, along side announcing that there would be no plans to launch a Legendary Edition as was tradition with previous Halo installments. The Limited Edition is set to be launched on November 6th 2012, at a cost of $99.99 USD or £64.99 GBP.

Halo 4 Limited Edition contains:
 * Bonus digital content through Xbox LIVE:
 * Unique in-game Spartan IV armor skin.
 * Unique in-game weapon skin for the Assault Rifle.
 * An exclusive in-game emblem.
 * Xbox LIVE Avatar prop.
 * Xbox LIVE Avatar Spartan IV armor set.
 * The Limited Edition also contains the UNSC Infinity Briefing Packet:
 * A Spartan armor customization schematic.
 * An introduction to the massive ship UNSC Infinity.
 * Insight into the Spartan IVs.
 * War Games Map Pack Pass:
 * Access to nine maps - three future competitive multiplayer map packs, each including three locations.
 * Scanner helmet.
 * Strider helmets.
 * Falcon in-game emblem.
 * Early access to unique Specializations.
 * The Special Edition of Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn
 * Bonus in-fiction bonus content expanding the characters and stories of Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn and their connections to Halo 4.
 * Special Featurette: Bringing Gaming into Reality.
 * Making of Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn.

Console Edition
At the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con, it was announced that there would be an exclusive Halo 4 themed console bundle for the Xbox 360 Slim edition. In this announcement, the accessories and prices were also revealed. The bundle will be available for pre-order and selected stores, and will also be available to buy on November 6th 2012, at the cost of $399.99 USD or £269.99 GBP.

The bundle will contain:
 * Halo 4 standard edition.
 * Wired headset
 * Two Halo 4 themed controllers.
 * One Halo 4 themed Xbox 360 Slim with 320GB hard drive.
 * Xbox LIVE tokens for exclusive bonus content:
 * FOTUS in-game armour.
 * FOTUS avatar armour.

The console and controllers will feature an exclusive blue glow to the Xbox button ring, and the controller centre button; these are usually green.

Halo 4 Controller
Along with the Limited Edition Halo 4 Console Bundle, a limited edition Halo 4 controller was announced. This product will be available by the 21st October 2012 and is priced at $59.99 USD.

The controller will feature a different design to those of the Limited Edition Halo 4 Console Bundle, with a United Nations Space Command emblem on a dark grey translucent body. The controller will include an Avatar T-shirt as exclusive downloadable content.

Halo 4 Tritton Warhead Headset
This Headset has been announced at the 2012 Comic-Con, with the price being $300. It can be pre-ordered at most game stores.

Pre-Order Bonuses
It has been confirmed that there will be numerous pre-order bonuses, however these bonuses will vary from store to store. The following table lists the items received from all participating retailers:

Forward Unto Dawn
Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn is a live-action webseries that will debut on October 5, 2012, and continue until the release of Halo 4 on November 6th, 2012.

Aside from marketing Halo 4, the goal of the webseries is to introduce the franchise to people unfamiliar with the games. 343 Industries franchise business management director, Matt McCloskey, said to Variety: "make Halo accessible for people who haven't played the games."