Halo Infinite to Have Rebuilt, Customizable Control Scheme

In a new blog post, 343 Industries has announced that Halo Infinite will feature a fully customizable control scheme on all platforms and shown off some classic Halo weapons in Infinite’s new engine.

Quinn DelHoyo, lead Sandbox designer on Halo Infinite (and weapons designer during early production), detailed in the blog how developer 343 Industries is focusing on accessibility and customization for players with their new control scheme.

“Everything should feel intuitive and we don’t want the player to have to “fight” the game in order to have fun,” DelHoyo said. “It’s because of this principle, and the fact that Halo Infinite will be on PC, that led us to rebuild the control scheme system to allow players to fully rebind and remap their controls, regardless of platform. How players control Chief or their Spartan is crucial and we recognize that players feel the most connected to the game when control customization is fully featured.”

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343 Industries continued later in the blog, stating that the company has a team dedicated to improving PC controls, in addition to feedback from an internal pro team and PC Master Chief Collection players.

“PC as a first-class endeavor is another aspect to Halo Infinite that we are actively taking into account,” DelHoyo said. “PC as a platform is not going to be a port after we launch the game. We are playing on PC every day. So now, not only does our game need to feel great and like Halo on a controller like it has natively for the past 20-some-years, the game and all of its systems need to take into account native mouse and keyboard functionality.”

343 Industries also offered up several new screenshots of what some classic Halo weapons will look like rendered in Infinite’s engine. Everything from the original needler to Halo Reach’s BR 75 is there, plus a few potentially unexpected options, so take a look in the gallery below.

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Different damage types for weapons will be a major factor in Halo Infinite’s combat, expanding on the experimentation with light-based rifles seen back in Halo 4, and plasma weapons from the original Halo.

“Players should now have stronger choices presented to them,” DelHoyo said. “Instead of using the weapon that you like because of how it shoots or handles, in Halo Infinite you might want to grab a certain weapon because of how it affects other players, the environment, or vehicles. In essence, the ambition for damage types is to better integrate weapon types, ammo types, faction tech, etc., into the gameplay loops in a way that is easily understood by the player. That way the player can make better combat decisions based on the scenario. In addition to further clarity and purpose to the legacy damage types – i.e. kinetic and plasma – the team has also been pursuing new surprises for players that we’re eager to talk about in the months ahead.”

Lead weapon designer David Price stressed that 343 Industries wants to keep these damage types simple to understand, but also allow for a variety of unique identities even among weapons that share the same damage foundation.

“If they want to quickly strip personal shields they can use Plasma for example,” Price said. ”But this doesn’t dictate a weapons playstyle, class, or power level. I could still have a shotgun-style weapon that is any one of these damage types. This approach allows us to still make multiple weapons that feel unique within a damage type. We want weapons to feel diverse even if they share the same damage type.”

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Halo Infinite is scheduled to release in Fall 2021, and thankfully 343 Industries has promised fans that it will be sharing monthly updates as development progresses. A rough debut, subsequent last-minute delay before the launch of the Xbox Series X, and the departure of director Chris Lee have put Halo Infinite squarely in the crosshairs of an upset player base. Moves like the “Inside Infinite” blog posts and hiring on Halo veteran Joseph Staten to course correct development are clearly aimed at instilling trust in the franchise’s huge fanbase.

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Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer/fleeing grunt for IGN.

Bungie Changes Destiny 2 Weekly Bounties, Cancels Crimson Days Next Season

Bungie is making a number of changes to Destiny 2 starting in its upcoming season, adjusting how content will be dished out and how you’ll earn rewards when you log in. Starting in the next content season, Bungie is doing away with its weekly bounty system that requires players to sign in and complete certain objectives within a week in order to gain certain rewards, including premium currency.

The latest This Week At Bungie blog runs down how Destiny 2 will change starting with the next content season, which kicks off on February 9. Currently, players can log in each week and pick up weekly bounties from various in-game vendors, which reward experience points and Bright Dust, one of Destiny 2’s premium currencies, upon completion. You only have a week to knock out those bounties once you have them, and if you want to maximize both your XP gains (which controls your climb to rewards on Destiny 2’s season pass) and your Bright Dust gains, you need to play every week.

Bungie is changing out that system for a new one called Seasonal Challenges. New challenges unlock each week through the first 10 weeks of a new season, giving players objectives to chase across a variety of activities. Instead of expiring each week, however, the challenges pile up and last until the end of the season, so you can skip a week or two (or more) and still come back to the game and earn your rewards.

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Resident Evil Village Leaks Are Finding Their Way Online, So Be Wary of Spoilers

Resident Evil Village will officially be released in May, but it appears that extensive leaks are starting to make their way onto the internet early. So be warned going forward as there are now spoilers abound the net.

As reported by Eurogamer, Capcom is taking down videos online with Resident Evil Village leaks. These aren’t just clips from The Maiden Resident Evil Village demo, but entirely new scenes showcasing encounters with Resident Evil Village’s popular Lady Alcina Dimitrescu.

These leaks, which we won’t detail here, are reportedly from a developer build of Resident Evil Village, likely related to the massive Capcom data hack.

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Last November, Capcom was the victim of a massive ransomware attack from a group called the Ragnar Locker hacker group. The hackers claimed to have stolen a trove of information, including files and internal documents and demanded an $11 million bitcoin ransom.

The company’s upcoming release calendar and potentially 390,000 items of personal information were reportedly compromised. Despite this, Capcom has said there was “limited impact” from the attack and that an investigation into damages is ongoing.

That said, fans looking to stay free of Resident Evil Village spoilers should be extra cautious going forward. Leaks for major video games have seemingly increased in recent years as parts of Cyberpunk 2077 and The Last of Us Part 2 were both leaked ahead of the official release dates.

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Matt T.M. Kim is a reporter for IGN.

Buck Rogers: George Clooney to Exec Produce, Possibly Star in Legendary Series

George Clooney has reportedly come aboard to executive produce and possibly star in Buck Rogers, the planned Legendary limited series based on the iconic sci-fi hero.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, George Clooney will executive produce Buck Rogers along with his Smokehouse partner Grant Heslov. The trade cautions, however, that there’s no acting deal set yet for Clooney.

Should the Legendary series prove a success then THR claims an anime off-shoot will follow.

Brian K. Vaughn is scripting the series, which is being produced by Don Murphy and Susan Montford.

George Clooney in Gravity.
George Clooney in Gravity.

As originally conceived by Philip Francis Nowlan back in 1928, Buck Rogers is a U.S. military pilot who falls into a coma after being exposed to gas and wakes up in the 25th century. A comic strip and pulp fixture, Buck — along with allies Wilma Deering and Dr. Huer — fought cosmic villains such as the Mongols, Killer Kane, and Ardala.

Buck Rogers has previously been portrayed in a 12-part serial by Buster Crabbe and in a short-lived 1950s TV series by three different actors (Earl Hammond, Kem Dibbs, and Robert Pastene). Gil Gerard then played the title role in the 1979-81 TV series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.

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The character has also appeared in role-playing games and videogames.

Clooney is no stranger to sci-fi having starred in Solaris, Gravity, and most recently The Midnight Sky, which he also directed.

Titans Casts Third Robin, Tim Drake, For Season 3

Titans began with one Robin and quickly added another, and the second season ended with none. Titans Season 3 is set to remedy that as a third Robin, Tim Drake, joins the cast.

Actor Jay Lycurgo will recur during third season of Titans as Tim Drake, a third Robin who followed in the footsteps of Dick Grayson and Jason Todd. According to Variety, HBO describes Drake as a “streetwise kid who’s managed to grow up on the toughest streets without losing his indelible belief in heroism.” He has an easy-going demeanor and a near-genius mind that allows him to excel as a detective.

This is interesting as it both seems to diverge from the comic book version of Drake while feeling pretty similar to Jason Todd as portrayed in Titans Season 2 by Curran Walters. While Dick Grayson (Brenton Thwaites) was the first Robin and has been working through the trauma that came with that, Todd stepped into the role with a chip on his shoulder. As he hid out with Deathstroke’s daughter Rose, Todd tells her of his history of being abused and having to fend for himself while committing petty crimes before Bruce Wayne, adopter of child soldiers, took him in.

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Armie Hammer Leaves TV Show About Making The Godfather

The Offer is an upcoming ten-episode series that takes a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the iconic film The Godfather. Now, the Paramount+ series has lost its star. Armie Hammer, who had previously signed on to play Al Ruddy, the producer of the film, has exited the project.

The news comes from Variety as Hammer is alleged to have sent graphic messages to women online, some of which alluded to fantasies about abuse and cannibalism. None of the messages are verified to have been sent by Hammer and, in a statement via Variety, he said, “I’m not responding to these bulls*** claims but in light of the vicious and spurious online attacks against me, I cannot in good conscience now leave my children for 4 months to shoot a film in the Dominican Republic. Lionsgate is supporting me in this and I’m grateful to them for that.”

The movie filming in the Dominican Republic is Shotgun Wedding, which he was set to star in alongside Jennifer Lopez. Josh Duhamel (Transformers) is believed to be replacing him in the role.

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