343 Industries shares lots of new Halo: The Master Chief Collection details

News by Dave Cook Contributor

Published on June 20, 2014

Halo: The Master Chief Collection is out November 11 on Xbox One, and will deliver the first four titles as you remember them, along with new changes and features. 343 Industries has shared many new details on what's in the collection. Fans will want to check this out.

It follows this big gallery of Halo 2: Anniversary screens, showing you how far the original game has been enhanced on Xbox One.

Now, 343 Industries has shed a big ray of light on the collection over on Halo Waypoint that cover all four games.

Studio community manager Andy Dudynsky revealed that work on the collection began, "several years ago," before Halo 4 shipped. He added that The Master Chief Collection will also launch as a digital download, with all of the same bonus extras, such as Ridley Scott's Halo: Nightfall series and access to the Halo 5: Guardians beta on December 27.

He then answered a series of questions from fans. He confirmed that spectator mode is being dropped from all Halo games in the collection, and added, "By leveraging the Xbox One platform we’re able to take advantage of Twitch functionality to provide a spectator experience that will allow online players to stream their matches, speedruns, Forge sessions and more. However, there is not a dedicated in-game specific spectator mode."

Dudynsky then confirmed that the version of Halo 2 included will come with post-patch multiplayer. "We are making huge investments to deliver a premium experience at 1080p, 60 fps," he explained. "Having said that, the original game had a lot of dependencies running at 30 fps so we are focusing on making sure Halo 2 plays the way it did “post-patch.” Gameplay will feel the way you remember it."

He told one fan that the multiplayer maps in Halo 3, Halo 4, and the six Halo 2 Anniversary maps can be modified in Forge mode, but that 343 will share more on that soon.

Also, matchmaking will not include join-in-progress, and Halo 4 will include the entire Spartan Ops collection.

Dudynsky revealed that Halo 2 will include new content, such as, "new terminals where players will have the opportunity to delve deeper into the universe and find key hints about future Halo games and experiences."

When asked if the collection could come to Xbox 360, he replied, "We are dedicated to bringing a full and fun experience to Halo: The Master Chief Collection on Xbox One, providing you with dedicated servers, a unified interface, increased visual fidelity, and gameplay running at 60 fps.

"We do not have any plans to bring the game to Xbox 360 as the game size, enhanced features and technical specifications simply can’t support it."

If you like to co-op, you can do so in the following ways per game: