Xbox Surprise: ‘Halo Infinite’ multiplayer debuts; 70+ new backwards compatible titles revealed

Microsoft released a pre-recorded presentation Monday to mark and celebrate the 20th anniversary of the original Xbox. As part of the celebration, glory developer 343 Industries released a playable beta for Halo infinite‘s multiplayer mode.

Players on Xbox One, Xbox Series X | S and Windows can download the first season, Heroes of Reach, which includes all the new maps and features scheduled for full release. IN Heroes of Reach, players are put in the role of a new generation of Spartan warriors training in a specialized academy to join the same elite force as the Master Chief, glory‘s traditional protagonist.

343’s creative lead Joseph Staten briefly took the stage, accompanied by 343 multiplayer creative director Tom French and a masked crowd of 343 employees, to describe the surprise launch as “a thank you and to celebrate the 20th anniversary.”

Writes for the official glory blog, the State clarified after the broadcast that Heroes of Reach is scheduled to last until May 2022. This is a modification of the plan from 343’s original goal of airing a new season of multiplayer content every three months, and it was done “so we can finish the development for season 2 on a healthy and sustainable way for our team. “

The extension of the season will also include additional content for Halo infinite‘s multiplayer, such as a free collection of cosmetics with a 20th anniversary theme that will be awarded to anyone who logs in Infinite for the next three weeks.

The official opening event for Heroes of Reach, “Fracture: Tenrai,” is scheduled to begin on November 23, giving players their first chance to earn the samurai-themed spartan armor that caught the eyes of so many people in the first official trailer.

Part of the Xbox anniversary presentation was a certain tacit admission, as the story goes glory as a franchise is more or less inextricably linked to the Xbox as a platform. From gameplay montages to cosplayers at launch parties, glory and its characters have been part of the Xbox from the beginning, and much of the gameplay footage shown during the presentation was taken from a glory games or something.

This was transferred to the debut trailer for a new documentary, Power On: The Story of Xbox, which will debut on IMDB TV, YouTube, Roku and other streaming networks on December 13th. This plans to tell the story of the original team that created the Xbox, the opposition it faced from within Microsoft, and the “pure chaos” that surrounded the development process.

Other things glory news on the show included one very short teaser of next year glory TV show on Paramount +, which is a prequel to the history of the games. The seconds-long clip showed a shot of a young Master Chief (Pablo Schreiber, Orange is the new black) as he put on his combat gear.

Microsoft also used the anniversary celebration to release a surprisingly new batch of backwards-compatible titles. The program, which was paused back in 2019 to focus on what eventually became the Xbox Series X | S, uses custom emulation packages so old games can be played on disk on current-generation systems. Games that have been added to the backwards compatible list are also made available for digital purchase through the Microsoft Store.

This latest batch of games includes some true classics, as well as a few out-of-nowhere choices (Oneechanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad ?!). The full list was made available through Microsoft Program Director Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb’s website, and although there are still a few notable omissions (Fatal Frame, Lollipop chainsaw), there are just as many obscure resurrections.

Notable games on the list include:

• The full Max Payne series, a self-conscious action / noir mash-up from Remedy, the Finnish-based developer who would continue to make Alan Wake, Quantum Break, and Control
• FEAR, an action / horror first-person shooter from Monolith Productions in Kirkland, Washington, and all of its sequels
• 2011s Mortal Kombat, which restarted the series, as well as the much mocked one Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, which lets you perform fatalities on Batman
• The first four matches in Dead or alive series, which means the entire franchise can now be played on a single Xbox, which may be the first time
• Sega is deeply underrated Binary domain and mostly forgotten Gunvalkyrie
• The time-consuming first-person shooters TimeSplitters 2 and The future is perfect

Several of the recently released games will take advantage of the FPS Boost feature on the Xbox Series X | S, which allows them to run at 60 FPS. This includes FEAR, binary domain, and REFUSE. Several other games that were already on the list, including Gears of War, Dead Space 2, Alan Wake, and Fallout: New Vegas was also updated to take advantage of FPS Boost.

In a blink-and-you-miss-it addition to the news, as written on Xbox Wire by project manager Peggy Lo, the fall on November 15 is described as the “latest and last addition” to the backward compatibility program. This does not necessarily mean that it is the last in the overall project; Lo continues to write “we are excited to explore new ways to preserve our history and bring the catalog of the thousands of titles available in the Xbox ecosystem to more players.” Continued, I suppose.

The overall non-glory the message of the presentation remains consistent with Xbox’s current mission statement for the year. “Games are about people,” said Xbox CEO Phil Spencer. “That’s it. Games are about getting real people together to create experiences and relationships.”

“We are constantly investing in making games easier to make,” said Sarah Bond, head of the Xbox Creator Experience. “We work with creators to ensure representation of different characters and to enable anyone to play any game, anywhere.”