'Halo' TV casts Natascha McElhone as Cortana

This newest adaptation of Halo as a TV series will be including Windows' own Cortana AI. Natascha McElhone will be playing the AI as well as Dr. Catherine Halsey, who created the Spartan super-soldiers like Master Chief. It was announced back in April that American Gods' Pablo Schreiber will be taking on the role of Master Chief. Other cast members include Fargo's Bookem Woodbine as Soren-066 and Shabana Azmi as Office of Naval Intelligence head Admiral Margaret Parangosky.

Showtime's Halo won't go into production until later this year, and it's expected to go to air sometime within the first quarter of 2021. The series follows the game series' story of the war between humanity and the Covenant, an alliance of alien races bound by religious zealotry.

Source: Windows Central

Microsoft will release ‘Halo Infinite’ alongside the new Xbox

One game that’s sure to take advantage of Microsoft’s upcoming next-generation console will be Halo Infinite. This game was first teased by the company back at E3 2018 and it appears to be an open-world version of Halo. And now we know it’ll launch alongside the Project Scarlett console. And it’ll be available on the Xbox One and PC then as well. The new teaser trailer above shows Master Chief being brought back to life. According to 343 Industries, Halo Infinite is considered a “spiritual reboot” of Halo, complete with new characters. But at its heart, it’s still Master Chief’s story. At the same time, though, the story is a good starting point for new players. It builds on the story from Halo 5, and it contains adventures that led up to this moment.

Halo Infinite is made with the new Slipspace Engine, which 343 Industries built specifically for this game and future Halo games. This teaser is a first look at what we can expect.

‘Halo 5: Forge’ comes to Windows 10 on September 8

Microsoft and 343 Industries have announced the release date for Halo 5: Forge on Windows 10: September 8. This game puts the focus on playing multiplayer matches (no single-player campaign here) mostly on custom maps made on the PC or the Xbox One. And with its release on Windows, it gives you more leeway to use more powerful hardware. The game allows for 4K displays and has an interface that takes advantage of finer-grained mouse and keyboard controls.

Launching alongside Forge is the Anvil’s Legacy Halo 5: Guardians update, which syncs Xbox One owners with this release. It’ll let you play Forge maps made by Windows creators as well as get two new maps (one for Arena mode and one for Warzone), new skins, weapons, and attachments.

Source: Engadget

‘Halo 5’ won’t launch with split-screen co-op, but ‘never say never’

Much to the dismay of some fans, Halo 5: Guardians will not come with split-screen cooperative play when it comes out. It’s a major change for the Microsoft-developed game as every other Halo console title came out with the feature. But according to Microsoft General Manager of Games Publishing Shannon Loftis, this doesn’t mean it won’t possibly get the feature in the future.

Loftis said in a meeting at E3, "The priority feature for the release of Halo 5 was 60fps, so that's what the team has been focused on delivering. But, you know, never say never. The glorious thing about Halo and about Xbox is that we can deliver continuous improvements to any experience. But, no announcements being made here." Again, she isn’t confirming that it will get split-screen co-op but she is talking of the possibility after the game is launched.

Source: Engadget