Episodes
Week Two of Fracture: Firewall is here in Halo Infinite and with it more story shards with our old pal Governor Sloan, but amidst the musings of Halo, we are honored to have our first guest of the year, MagickMoonshot. Streamer, Caster, Community Manager, and Events Coordinator only begins to scratch the surface of what she does as a relatively new person to the Halo community space. Our interview with her takes us to her roots in gaming through her involvement with LVT Halo, Status Quo and...
Published 04/14/23
Inadvertently off for two weeks, we’re through our first Season 3 Fracture event, but plenty of other things are coming around the corner Halo Infinite as more stories unfold. Talking of stories, we enter our campaign discussions again with The Sequence, Nexus and The Control Spire, where we encounter the tension between Chief and the Weapon come to a head.
Published 04/07/23
Season 3 had a great opening with Chasm and Cliffhanger in Arena’s Featured playlist, but now it’s Big Team Battle’s turn, and Oasis has proven to be quite the fan favorite as we’ve gotten a few take on Fiesta with campaign upgraded sandbox items and Escalation Slayer. Besides Season 3 updates, not much more to see here this week.
Published 03/19/23
Season 3 is here and boy have we missed new content. Aside from a bit of a rocky start on the game server side, it seems like everyone has enjoyed the latest maps, modes and equipment, hopefully a sign of great things to come and a solid seasonal release. Of course there’s always the saying, “we’ll have to wait and see,” but it seems like 343 is getting on track and hitting some high marks once again.
Published 03/12/23
Season 3 brings along three new multiplayer maps, weapons, equipment, matchmaking improvements and story lines that has piqued the community’s interest and hopefully is the start of renewed interest in Halo Infinite. The shakeup at the studio hasn’t seemed to impact the rollout of new content and the train seems to be getting up to full speed. HCS Charlotte also saw the Green Wall continue their dominance as Optic Gaming took home the trophy.
Published 03/04/23
The largest content update is about to hit Halo Infinite since launch, and a lot of folks are happy with what’s coming. A new BTB map, two Arena maps, Escalation Slayer, Shroud Screen, Bandit, Armor, Narrative and more are on their way in just a few days. 343 has been kicking things into high gear lately and it seems like the content train is finally catching up. Also this weekend is HCS Charlotte, the first stop in the second season of competitive Halo for Infinite.
Published 02/26/23
Dust Storm and Godzilla T are joined by two of Podtacular’s Patreon supporters: PensHalo and Confal. As long time members of the Podtacular community, they share a lot of the same Halo interests as our hosts. With the recent changes to 343 and the upcoming season, we get their thoughts on what’s coming up for Halo.
Published 02/25/23
In a last minute surprise before season 3 comes to Halo Infinite next month, 343 has introduced the Community Collection playlist, bringing community Forged content to Matchmaking in an evergreen playlist that will be continuously updated. After a lot of community outcry from not enough content since launch, this is a welcomed addition to the online experience. We also received the HCS Season 2 roadmap (hope you live near Texas), a new Halo Waypoint Chronicle, and more!
Published 02/12/23
According to a recent Bloomberg report, 343 Industries is “all but starting from scratch” when it comes to the future of the Halo franchise, with now over more than 90 confirmed departures from 343 along with additional contractors, it seems like the development of Halo is undergoing large restructuring for the immediate plans of Infinite’s live service and the next gaming experiences. Rumors involve the next experience expanding on the alleged Tatanka battle royale type mode being more...
Published 02/04/23
Halo is staying in house with 343 industries as Pierre Hintze announced last week after more than 60 full-time employees were let go, but with that many people gone, there’s sure to be some slowdown of certain development and support at the studio. We know the roadmap for Halo Infinite has been laid out for a few more seasons at least with Season 3 still on target to release March 7th, but past that, what does the future of Halo Infinite look like? We’re still living in some uncertainty in...
Published 01/28/23
Hard news hits this week as a result of Microsoft letting go 10,000 employees over the next six months, starting this week where over 60 343 employees, mostly from the campaign team, were let go. This sudden announcement has a lot of us in shock and anxious about the future of Halo, let alone the impact this has on all the folks who suddenly find themselves without a job. We hope all our friends who were let go are able to bounce back.
Published 01/23/23
The Halo Championship Series for Season 2 is kicking off in Charlotte, NC in February as balance changes and new maps enter in for the latest competitive Halo experience. We also take a look at the next two missions in our Halo Infinite campaign discussions: Spire and Pelican Down. Got a topic for us to discuss, want to provide your input to our next topic? Hop in our Discord: https://podtacular.com/discord
Published 01/14/23
It’s been a quiet few weeks as 343 is finally starting to come back from the holidays. This gives us a chance to take some time to reflect on the first year of Halo Infinite and the roadmap that we know of so far. Overall community vibes are better now than they were at launch, but there’s still a fair amount of the community that still feels there’s a lack of fresh content to keep things interesting. We’ve got your responses to talk through this episode.
Published 01/12/23
We draw upon the close of 2022 and a year of Halo Infinite. After a tumultuous launch for Halo Infinite, we have Campaign Co-op, Forge, Custom Games Browser and a whole lot of quality of life improvements that we’ve received. Competitive Halo is alive and thriving and we continue to see some amazing community content. We appreciate everyone that continues to listen and are looking forward to what 2023 brings us.
Published 12/24/22
Halo Infinite has now been out for a year and through the ups and downs, it’s safe to say we’re finally at a point where we’d consider it a full game with Forge, Campaign Co-op and the surprise drop of the Customs Game Browser. This is probably the most accessible Halo Multiplayer experience now and this is only the beginning. Along with updates to Halo Infinite, The Master Chief Collection has also received quite the update this month with the release of the final mod tools for all the games...
Published 12/10/22
Forge has been out for just a little over a week and the amount of content the community has come out with in such a short time has been incredible! From remakes to mini-games to prefabs to new maps, forgers, seasoned and new are coming out with amazing stuff giving Halo Infinite a new life! We’ll undoubtedly be talking about more as content comes out and look to have several forgers on in the coming episodes. We’ll be off next week for Thanksgiving holiday here in the US, so we’ll talk to...
Published 11/19/22
The biggest update to Halo Infinite is finally here and it’s bringing a fresh wave of players back as campaign co-op and Forge are primed and ready to run! So many great customs are already made and a tons more are in the works by some of our favorite Forgers and more people are trying their hand at it as well. We’re excited to start incorporating custom games with up to 24 players into our Friday night game nights. If you want to come play with us, check us out Fridays at 8:30PM Eastern and...
Published 11/11/22
Halo Infinite has finally received the Winter Update introducing the Forge Beta and ForgeHub has some exciting new developments with their community, website, Discord and announcing their biggest prize pots for their first upcoming Forge contests. We’re pleased to have SIR IRON WOLF and Captain Punch on for this special episode, with plenty more to follow.
Published 11/09/22
We’re just a few days away from the largest update to hit Halo Infinite since release. While it’s been tough playing out the lack of content, we’re finally Campaign Network Co-op, Forge Beta, new maps and modes, overhauls to weapon balancing, progression and matchmaking, and so much more! We haven’t been this excited for Halo content in a while, so we’re looking forward to what Tuesday brings next week. Not to mention all the cool new Forge customs and maps we’ll be getting.
Published 11/05/22
Live from Halo World Championship 2022, we are joined by Drax, Greenskull, Wardog, Halo Legacy, HiddenXperia, and Laird talking about the event, Halo Infinite and much more!
Published 11/03/22
Not a lot of game news this week, but as we wind up to HCS Worlds next weekend, we’ve got panels, cosplay contests, meet and greets, drops and more happening next week. A whole slew of new partnerships with apparel, food and other brands has also cropped up as is the time of the year. We have one more Forge video before the winter update drops in November and we’ll be off of the live stream recording until that time. We have several other podcasts lined up between now and then though. This...
Published 10/15/22
Counting down the weeks to HCS Worlds and the Halo Infinite Winter Update, we’re looking forward to some great entertainment and content in the next month. Bringing some small pieces of Halo Outpost to Worlds will make it a wonderful event to attend (let Dust Storm know if you’re going) and Forge along with Co-op is going to breathe a new breath into the game. Our latest look at Forge is also bringing even more capabilities than ever before with the Slipspace engine.
Published 10/08/22
With just a couple months before the Winter Update drops, the newest achievements coming with Halo Infinite’s Network Campaign Co-op has been delivered over on Halo Waypoint offering up 24 new achievements for 420 Gamerscore. Since we both missed out on the flight, we’re excited to get in and experience the story with friends and families. This past weekend also saw Optic Gaming take home the trophy for the NA finals leading into worlds at the end of October. Some exciting new updates to the...
Published 10/01/22
Our next look at Forge is finally here and it’s probably one of the biggest upgrades to the multiplayer experience Halo has seen! From expanding game mode functionality to interactive elements and even more wacky possibilities, scripting in bots will bring exciting new experiences to Halo like never before. Also happy birthday to Halo 3 and Halo 3: ODST.
Published 09/25/22
With our first look at Forge in Halo Infinite, the potential for new user generated content is very promising for custom games and hopefully the refresh and longevity of matchmaking. With the ongoing content drought and time it’s going to take before our next season, we are eagerly awaiting the Forge beta this November. In other news, Bonnie Ross has left 343 Industries after starting the company and continuing the journey from Bungie over the last 15 years. We wish Bonnie the best and thank...
Published 09/22/22