The Reset Button: What I'm excited for - Halo: The Master Chief Collection.

What I'm excited for: Halo - The Master Chief Collection.

As a gamer, it's easy for me to get excited for a new game hitting the market. But with the current generation doing more and more in terms of remasters and collections, it's hard to get excited for something I've played, beaten, and left behind. True, there may be a handful of games I'd happily go through again if remastered, but I don't hold a candle for it actually happening.

What Microsoft and 343 Industries has done is peaked my excitement for a collection. To put it plainly, it's the grandmaster of all collections. Halo: The Master Chief Collection.

John-117's greatest adventures in one package.

With Halo 5: Guardians on the books for Q4 2015, fans like me were clamoring for an adventure with Master Chief on the Xbox One. To calm the fan base and give us something to keep our controllers busy, 343 Industries is putting Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Edition, Halo 2 (with an "anniversary edition" makeover), Halo 3, and Halo 4 on one disc.

Due out November 11th, 2014, The Master Chief Collection puts all the bells and whistles together for one of the best collections ever released. When Halo 2 multiplayer was shut down a few years ago, fans fought for as long as they could to keep it alive. 8 players who stayed logged in after the servers shut down were able to keep playing until their internet disconnected them or they powered their system down. They held out, but eventually all 8 were booted offline somehow and Halo 2 multiplayer was a thing of the past. A memory for all Halo fans of one of the best multiplayer experiences ever.

I loved Halo 2 multiplayer. Back in 2004-2005, I would grab a 2-liter of Mountain Dew (I was 20 at the time of release and didn't always have access to booze), some Taco Bell (another poor choice), and hit Halo 2 multiplayer until the wee morning hours. Those were amazing times with a lot of cool people on Xbox Live. This was before the days of douchebag kids on Call of Duty shouting racial and homophobic slurs. This was just a bunch of people playing Halo 2 online. Plasma Swords, battle rifles, and melee attacks were on the docket. And it was good.

Well, like Surge, it's coming back. 343 Industries is bringing back the full Halo 2 multiplayer experience in the Master Chief Collection. All maps will be included, all remastered in glorious HD graphics. All original modes are back, which has me extremely excited. I've never had as much fun playing an online shooter as I did Halo 2. Halo 3 and Reach were fun because they were Halo, Gears of War had it's moments when playing with friends, and CoD/BF were decent when you weren't getting called the n-word, but Halo 2 was the granddaddy of them all. So I'm beyond excited to get back into it online.

Dual-wielding, son.

All four games will run at 60fps in 1080p resolution. Can you say "gorgeous"? There will also be lighting upgrades to make things really pop.

The Master Chief Collection is going to keep me very busy until Halo 5: Guardians drops. It has been a long while since I've played Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2. I'm very confident the story will pull me back in like it did over 10 years ago. 

If you own a Xbox One, the Master Chief Collection is a definite buy. The amount of content in this collection is top of the line and the multiplayer on all 4 games is some of the best ever, with Halo 2 being my personal best ever. And if you've never played Halo before, you're in for one of the most entertaining gaming experiences ever. Master Chief is the face of the Xbox franchise and this collection will once again show why. 343 Industries has outdone themselves, making a fan like me happy of the treatment Halo is getting after Bungie walked away from the franchise.

November 11th, I return to Halo 2. Get out your plasma pistols and take aim, folks. Because I won't miss.

Game on.

-ML

Read More

Preparing for a return to Los Santos.

Back in the saddle again.

Sorry for the lack of content on my side of the fence, folks. Things tended to get a tad bit out of hand the last few weeks. Lapses in memory, traveling for work, and a Thursday Night Football game featuring my Atlanta Falcons took me out of my element and my posts suffered.

For that, I apologize.

But allow me to right the ship now and get back into the blogging spirit. I haven't touched many retro games lately, so I'm going to post about something I've very excited about. A return to Los Santos.

Los Santos.

If you're a gamer, you know Los Santos is the fictional representation of Los Angeles in the Grand Theft Auto universe. On the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, gamers worldwide ventured the rough streets, vast countryside, rugged mountains, and ocean depths of this enormous city. The game was Grand Theft Auto V and it was good.

Very good.

Good enough to become one of the, if not THE, best selling games of all time in a quick fashion. Gamers everywhere were hoping Rockstar Games would bring the sandbox king to the Playstation 4 and Xbox One consoles. A PC release was even petitioned for with a massive amount of signatures acquired. Ask and you shall receive, folks. This November, Michael, Trevor, and Franklin bring the chaos and mayhem of Los Santos to next-generation consoles. A PC release is set for early 2015.

Now, I put extensive time into GTA V on Xbox 360. But even in the amount of time I put into the game, I barely scratched the surface of everything it has to offer. GTA Online, probably one of the multiplayer modes I've wanted for a long time, was something I dabbled in but never fully embraced. And I left a lot of side-missions and events on the cutting room floor. Regretful, as anyone who knows me is fully aware that GTA and Splinter Cell are my favorite gaming franchises. So leaving a bunch of content behind when I made my transition to next-gen wasn't something I was pleased with.

November 18th changes all of those things. If you preorder the game, you'll be awarded $1,000,000 in currency to use in-game. Buy those cars you want. New weaponry. A few garages to store all your vehicles. New digs for Michael, Trevor, and Franklin. Whatever you want, really. Additionally, the game will feature updated visuals and other technical enhancements. Bundle this in with new weapons, vehicles, and activities and you have a recipe for all last-gen players to dive in again.

PS4 vs. PS3 screenshot. Massive difference.

In something I was surprised to learn, gamers who upgraded from Xbox 360 to Playstation 4 will be able to transfer their game save over from last gen to current gen. Yes, from Xbox 360 to Playstation 4. Obviously a PS3 to PS4 save transfer is also possible. This is a big deal for me, even though I wouldn't mind starting fresh. I'm not entirely sure if my GTA Online character will transfer, as well, but it would come as a pleasant surprise if so.

Another last vs. current gen shot. More massive difference.

I was greatly considering going digital for this, as I did so for The Last of Us and Destiny, but figured I'd do a physical copy instead. Not that I have any intention of ever trading the game in. I always find something to do in GTA, regardless if I've finished everything or not. And GTA Online will definitely keep me engaged for, I'm guessing, a decent amount of time. Especially if some of my online or real-life friends decide to grab it on PS4. Remote Play on my Vita also influenced my decision for PS4 vs. Xbox One. Being able to play from my living room instead of in the basement is a big one. If you own a PS4, a Vita is almost a necessary accessory for the system.

Overall, I'm ready for my return to Los Santos. It's been too long and there is a lot of chaos left to engage. Another work trip is going to prevent me from diving in day one, but it'll be there when I return. Trevor Phillips better get ready to burn things.

GTA. The best franchise in gaming today.

Thanks for coming back for my return to the blog. I'll be back next week.

Game on.

-ML

Read More