We’re gonna go nice and easy on the word count front this week and treat your eyes and ears to some small hits of content instead – a smorgasbord of imagery, if you will.


In exchange, you’re going to accept the blatant shilling I’m about to put on display and watch our fancy new Noble Map Pack trailer, which I’ve handily embedded for your viewing pleasure below!



And since I keep all the promises I make to the Internet, here’s the series spanning musical track, ripped from the trailer to be injected into your ear canals in all its majestic glory, courtesy of Marty, Jay, and C Paul.


Mmm, that’s some piping hot soundtrack!

On the Cold Front

Last week, we dropped you onto the sandy side of Tempest and let you soak up the sun-drenched space. This week you get to check out the more dark and chilly confines offered by the Invasion space, Breakpoint.



It might be a little difficult to get a good idea of how the back half of the map breaks down from this fixed perspective on the bridge, but this vantage point offers a great glimpse of this massive map’s visual splendor. If you’re dying to uncover some detail on the gameplay, sit tight. We’ll plow into the nitty gritty elements at a later date. I hear Stosh is prepping the top downs as we speak. Stay Tuned.

Community Challenge Progress Report

The official Community Challenge thermometer went live last Friday and ever since, our Supreme Database Commander, Michael Williams, has been doggedly tracking all of your day-to-day Challenge progress.


Currently, we’re averaging 1.4 million Challenges done and dusted per day, with the most significant variance coming by way of degree of difficulty, and of course, daily player population.

According to Williams the most impactful Challenge so far has been Neuroscience, with Points Pyramid bringing up the rear. While early edumacted guesses saw us trending toward a very early November lifting of the rank cap, our most recent data plots our arrival a little further out than we’d hoped. Sketch has been threatening to send me into matchmaking on an epic quest for challenges, armed only with the Target Locator if you don’t hit the mark sooner rather than later. Step it up, please. For my sake.

Sublime Intervention

To help speed you along (and thwart Brian’s mean-spirited plans), we’ll be deploying a fairly easy Daily Challenge on Monday morning. Link your gamertag with a Bungie.net profile and play one measly matchmaking game and you’ll snag what’s likely to be the easiest Challenge of your career.

If you’re not already linked up, simply click on the “Sign Up” link in the upper right hand corner of Bungie.net with your Xbox LIVE gamertag and Windows LIVE ID password in hand. Once you’ve created your account, fire up Halo: Reach and a single matchmade game.

If you’re already setup, all you have to do is play. It’s almost as if we planned on giving you a quick and easy way to make up ground!

It’s literally in your hands at this point. I expect each and every one of you to knock out your fair share of Challenges this weekend. Just remember, not only will boosted Challenges NOT count toward the overall tally, they’ll likely earn you a Credit reset and some face time in the no Credit corner.


(Please play right. We’re not asking. The Banhammer is now fully automated on this front and ready to dispense justice at a judicious, but furious pace.)

Playlist Update Inbound

Although The November 2nd playlist update isn’t the same species of two-headed monstrosity we already unleashed this month, we do plan on making some significant alterations on the Arena front next Tuesday. Specifically:

• Doubles Arena
  • Voting options increased
  • Slayer DMRs replaced by Arena Slayer Pro
• Team Arena
  • Voting options increased
  • Slayer DMRs replaced by Arena Slayer Pro

Aside from making Arena into a Radarless Pro Zone, we’re also adding a vanity search to your File Browser so you can see all the screenshots other players are snapping of you in game. I expect my glamor shots to be mostly made up of the myriad of players who make it their business to teabag my lifeless corpse whenever the opportunity arises, regardless of the game’s score. Vanity, my arse.

Blame Dave

Dave Candland tells me that some of you were asking about DLC achievements this week. In an act of selfless generosity, he sent the latest artwork my way so you could thoroughly ogle it.

Blame Miller

I was doing some forum lurking myself and noticed that there were some complaints that the Pelican isn’t on the list of player pilotable vehicles. Turns out, it is. By way of Dan Miller’s mad genius and some deviously hidden devices, the Pelican can become player controlled.


You just have to be at the right place at the right time.

Grunt-o-Ween

And the award for best Haloween costume ever goes to...this fine young gentlemen:

Blame Stosh

If you’ve enjoyed the Synths of Tempest and Breakpoint, make sure you Blame Stosh for all his hard work. During one of his infrequent breaks from the action, he dug up this fairly interesting sequence of events on Invasion.



And with that, this round of the weekly update is over. I fully expect you to crush the Community Challenge over the next few days so I can finally rock my favorite helmet in matchmaking. Anything is possible if you just believe. Make me proud.