EP009 - Mr. Captain Jacob Keyes - we talk about Captain Keyes and stuff

FYI - Mudcat cut out on this one early so we have a rather abrupt ending. Back in full force next week!

EP008 - Just the facts: Lots of Halo news at Gamescom this week

• 00:00-2:15 - Introduction & letting you know we won't talk lore this week.
• 2:30-8:00 - H5G's campaign will force a four-player squad on you for the single player campaign. There will always be three AI players with you through the campaign. 
• 8:05-11:30 - Halo tabletop game, Halo Fleet Battles, was on display at Gamescom. It is a 1:20000 scale space combat game. Includes lore never before seen. You'll have to buy the starter set, assemble your pieces, and then paint them. Looks like a new hobby!
• 11:45-17:00 - H5G Limited Edition Xbox One console has been announced. We aren't surprised by this, but we are kind of surprised that they include a 1TB HDD. You think they would put in some "non-standard" drives in a bundle, like 2TB. Go drop some money if you want. We also debate attaching NAS to the XBone and get mad at file systems. Nerds.
• 17:05-21:00 - H5G rated T, for Teens by the ESRB. Their description as to WHY they rated it teen is rather interesting. By just reading it, it sounds like it should be M rated. We then discuss how the times are changing and things that shocked people in the past no longer shock them now. Rek1aimer also does a horrible Bob Dylan impression. 
• 21:10-31:20 - H5G has a one-million dollar prize pool! That's insane. Then we go off topic a bit and talk about eSports and future of eSports players
• 31:30-end of cast - Halo Wars 2 has been announced! Fans have been waiting for this a long time. 

EP007 - One Single Spore: when did we find the Flood, what did they do, will we see them again?

• 00:00-2:15 - Introduction & contest results. FYI - no one one, cause you guys didn't wanna do the work :)
• 2:15-4:45 - H5G showing up in the news for Gamescom. Apparently there will be a "mind blowing" presentation.
• 4:50-7:00 - Phil Spencer hopes the Master Chief Collection will boost Xbox sales in China, now that the ban is over. Not sure if they want to put all their eggs in that basket, but it couldn't hurt!
• 7:10-9:30 - The Pit was made by a fan for Counter Strike: Global Offensive. It looks really cool! However, we are unsure how it will play since CSGO is a rather fast paced game. We want to check it out more though. GG to whoever made it!
• 9:40-14:00 - HCS Season 2 finals. We talked about who won and how much money they got. $150K prize pool, first prize winner got $75K of that. Pretty sweet!
• 14:05-23:00 - Windows 10 is rolling out and with it, comes our favorite AI, Cortana! Mudcat shows us how she works. It's pretty darn awesome. She has a lot of fun little things she will say. You can even have her call you Chief. Now that's what I'm talking about!
• 10:00-end of cast - we discuss the Flood. We go over where we first encountered the Flood, their role in the Halo games, and most importantly will we ever see them again? 

EP006 - The Fall of Reach: What was Reach, why was it important, why did it fall?

• 00:00-1:45 - Introduction & contest reminder
• 2:00-3:10 - Batman Arkham Knight becomes the "PC version" of the Master Chief Collection failure. Kind of interesting. 
• 3:15-5:45 - A recent study shows that when you're a n00b at a game (i.e. you play poorly) you tend to harass more people, particularly women, online. The better you play, the less harassing you get. I find it funny that they used Halo 3 for this study, because the researcher found the SPARTAN armor made players look ambiguous (i.e. no idea if the player has boobs or not). Moral of the story, don't be a dick.
• 5:50-7:30 - H5G fire team update. Each character in your fire team will play differently, have their own characteristics, and unique capabilities. Linda will be your sniper, Kelly will be your fast mover, etc. This will make for some interesting gameplay since this is the first time we truly get squad combat in a Halo campaign. Let's hope 343i can pull it off!
• 7:35-8:00 - H5G will have skulls. 'Nuff said!
• 8:00-9:45 - Discussed HCS Season 2 finals. HCS Season 2 finals are going on right now in CA, the event is sold out. You can check it out on Twitch of course. Favorites are Evil Geniuses, CLG, and Denial with some other teams hoping to unseat their top spots. 
• 10:00-end of cast - we discuss Reach. We go over the origins with the Forerunners leaving artifacts. We then move into the discovery and colonization of Reach. Of course, the SPARTAN-II program was "birthed" at Reach and many of the SPARTANs consider it home. Then we discuss the fall of Reach, how and why it fell, and the aftermath. 

EP005 - Arbiter: the alien, the myth, the legend, the taco truck owner content

• 00:00-1:00 - Introductions
• 1:00-6:15 - More discussion on H5G not having split screen. Discussed an article on Engadget by author Philip Palermo, which pretty much sums up our thoughts. We then went on to complain more about this silly decision by 343i. 
• 6:20-10:20 - The H5G Limited Edition, the one that costs a whopping $250, won't have a physical game for now. 343i sites the reason for this being time constraints. While digital downloads are certainly the way to go for most media these days, paying $250 for a Limited Edition and not getting physical media kind of doesn't make sense. Then we start talking about remastering Reach... for some reason.
• 10:30-14:30 - Discussed the latest H5G vidocs and the trailer for Halo: The Fall of Reach animated series. We are super excited about this! Then we ramble about how there should be a Halo movie. Come on now!
• 14:45-20:45 - Discussed a quick HCS update, if you could call it that. We spend time talking about Raid on Apex 7, the announced H5G Warzone map that is four times larger than anything the franchise has ever seen. We discuss our thoughts on Warzone in general and how this map can play into it. Halo meets Titanfall meets BF4 meets COD perhaps?
• 21:15-end of cast - we discuss the Arbiter. We look into who the Arbiter's are. How did they come about? What have they done? We talk about how the Prophets used them for getting rid of those they thought could take over and those they thought were shamed for some reason. When we learn of the Prophet's deceit in Halo 2, the current Arbiter rises to the level of hero among his kind. What does the role of respect play with the Arbiter?

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