Various 343 Industries insiders have been teasing some big Halo news coming down the pipeline, and today we got some big Halo news. To kick things off, 343 was proud to announce that Halo 5‘s most exciting update is still ahead of it. When the Xbox One X launches this November, Halo 5 will see its definitive edition.
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“Following its official debut at E3, there’s been a tremendous amount of growing excitement around the upcoming release of Xbox One X and the promise of true 4K gaming,” a Waypoint update reads. “Many Halo fans were quick to note that Halo 5 was conspicuously absent from the list of games being given the 4K treatment. The team here at 343 always had a desire to bring players the best Halo 5 experience for Xbox One X, but we weren’t quite ready to make the announcement during the E3 time frame.
“Today we are excited to officially confirm that Halo 5 will receive a game update to support true 4K with the release of Xbox One X later this year! We’ll have more to share on this front as we get closer to release, so stay tuned.”
Notice here that they said “true 4K,” meaning that Halo 5 will be running at 2160p natively, and not through some kind of checkerboarding technique. We also assume that the team will maintain the rock-solid 60 fps gameplay that Halo 5 is known for. On the Xbox One this is achieved via dynamic resolution. No word whether that will be necessary on the Xbox One X version — we assume it won’t be.
But that’s not all! 343 had one more huge announcement to make:
Four Classic Halo Titles Coming to Xbox One Backward Compatibility Program
Okay guys: Not only are we getting four classic Halo games added to the back compat program on Xbox One, but after the games launch (the timing hasn’t been disclosed yet) all of the Xbox 360 map DLC will be included for free! Here’s the official announcement from the udpate:
“Today we’re thrilled to announce four more very special additions coming later this year to the Xbox One back-compat program: Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, Halo 4, and Halo: CE Anniversary! Each of these games will include campaign and multiplayer, and will even support LAN play on Xbox One – including LAN play between Xbox One and Xbox 360! Once released, you’ll be able to pop in your original disc or purchase a digital copy of the game via the Xbox Store and jump right in.
“Best of all, once these titles are added to the program, every Xbox 360 Halo add-on map pack in the Xbox Store will be made available for free, ensuring you have everything you need to achieve maximum enjoyment in online matchmaking or custom games. We know this is something you’ve been asking for, and we’re excited to make these map packs available for all players.
“We’ll have more details on the release timing soon but in the meantime, join us at RTX Austin 2017 for an exclusive hands-on preview with Halo 3 and Halo 3: ODST running on Xbox One!”
Classic Halo. DLC included. Online multiplayer. Halo 5 in 4K. What more could you ask for? This is going to be a hell of a year for Halo fans! Which classic Halo game is the best, and which one will you play first? Weigh in on the poll below:
