You know what I love? Acting. I love games that encourage me to treat the world like a stage and my playable character like a role to perform. I love not using my character as a mere tool to do what I want to do, but doing what I think my character would do.

When a game makes me feel like I should act out the role of the character, it gets me out of the mindset that I should play in the ‘perfect’ or ‘most efficient’ way, and instead makes me feel like I should play in the way that best strengthens my own version of the story.

You know what I love? Endings. I mean real endings. Not just that point where the game peters out before the credits roll, but proper conclusions that actually wrap everything up, grabbing the narrative loose ends and tying them together in a pretty bow. A proper ending to a game can increase just how significant all my actions up to that point felt. It can give them meaning: “This is what I was fighting for all this time.”

But so many modern videogames don’t end. So many videogames have to leave the ending open for the inevitable sequel that will be made when it sells well enough. Consequentially, so many videogame stories render my actions throughout them meaningless. Not because they are bad stories, but because they lack endings. They lack finality. In the end, I wasn’t fighting for anything.

Actually, that’s a lie: the reason they gave for it was quite surprising to me at least. Speaking to The Penny Arcade Report, Microsoft said that “Halo 4 was designed specifically for Xbox 360, and while we’re always exploring new ways to expand the franchise and share the Halo experience with as many fans as possible, we do not currently have any plans to port Halo 4 to PC.”

While some might correctly point out that the similar architecture of the Xbox 360 and the PC means that claims of being “designed specifically” for the 360 are somewhat odd, others might also correctly point out that when Microsoft says “designing specifically” for the 360 what they really mean is “using exclusivity to encourage hardware sales on their target platform”. Hypothetically, other people might also point out that Halo 4 would look even better on a platform with vastly improved graphics capabilities, such as the PC.

Here at games.on.net, we wouldn’t say any of those things though. That would be petty.

Source: PAR via Blue’s News

A picture is worth a thousand (angry) words.

After five-year hiatus, the Master Chief has returned. Halo 4 is here and it marks a bold new direction for the game on a couple of levels. Firstly — for the three of you who don’t know — this is the first game in the series not to be developed by Bungie. This is an enormous deal: Bungie’s superb body of work would have to be one of the hardest acts to follow in video game history, so the pressure for 343 Industries is definitely on. But are they up to the challenge? We dip our toes briefly back into the console world to check it out.

There’s a new trailer for Halo 4, and unlike the previous cinematics and tie-ins, this one really focuses on gameplay. There’s even some plot in there too — don’t say we never give you anything. There’s not really much to say about this one, it really speaks for itself. Having said that, I’ve actually never played a Halo game before, but always been vaguely interested — and this one looks pretty and interesting enough that I might check it out. Let us know what you think of the trailer, and what you think the game will be like come November 6, in the comments.

With just under a month before the game is set to be released to the public, Halo 4 has been leaked. Not just Halo 4 footage, although we’ve seen that too. Halo 4, the entire game, has been leaked. That’s a big ol’ hole in that particular bucket.

One of the most highly anticipated games of the year, the game is being circulated as a 16GB torrent, incorporating two discs at 8GB each. There are — apparently — several thousand seeds available as we speak, and though Microsoft are working fast to disable all YouTube footage showing the leaked gameplay, having the entire game leaked a month before release will be a serious blow.

Source: Gaming Blend

As with practically every video game ever produced, a couple of early copies of Halo 4 have been spotted in the wild. An image of what certainly looks like a copy of the game has popped up on NeoGAF and Reddit earlier in the week, but more damning evidence – YouTube videos of the shooter in action, for example – soon followed.

Although it’s entirely possible the “leaks” are just early promo copies, there’s always the chance of a genuine theft from a production facility – Halo 4 went gold in September – or code piracy, so Microsoft is taking the issue seriously. “We have seen the reports of Halo 4 content being propped on the Web and are working closely with our security teams and law enforcement to address the situation,” it told The Examiner.

As yet the game doesn’t appear to be doing the rounds with pirates, so hopefully Microsoft can keep it under control ahead of the Xbox 360 exclusive’s November 6 launch.

Source: The Examiner

Sporting some of the longest lines at the EB Expo, Halo 4 was finally on show and giving players a chance to try their hand at a round of team deathmatch. The very first thing to strike me was that this is a Halo-ass Halo game. 343 Industries gained access to the entire Halo code-base when they took over from Bungie, and it shows. This is most definitely still the same Halo, despite a change of developer….

Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn is the heaviest investment Microsoft has ever made into live-action promotions. The five episode season kicks off right now, and tells a story set 20 years before the event of Halo 4. You’ll meet the UNSC soldiers who’ll later pop up in Halo 4′s campaign as well as its episodic multiplayer mode, Spartan Ops. Check it out below, courtesy of Machinima Prime. Halo 4 arrives exclusive for Xbox 360 on November 6.

Source: Halo Waypoint

If you’re looking forward to Halo 4 then you probably know all about the upcoming ‘Forward Unto Dawn’ live-action series that’s premiering in October. Microsoft have also released this new, shorter trailer — a ‘vignette’ if you will – leading up to the series and showing the minds of some young recruits as they enlist. It’s pretty classy stuff.

Source: Press Release