Xbox Newsbeat – 18 December 2015
Halo World Championship Update for Australia and New Zealand
Get your team together and get practicing over the holidays ahead of the qualifiers in January!
Earlier this year at gamescom, 343 Industries and Xbox announced the Halo World Championship (HaloWC), the biggest Halo esports competition in franchise history that is centred on the ultra-competitive Arena multiplayer mode of Halo 5: Guardians. We’re excited to unveil new details, including when and where the tournament will take place across Australia and New Zealand, an update on the crowd-fund assisted prize-pool, and how you and your friends can register to compete against the very best around the world.
HaloWC Prize Pool at USD $2 Million and Growing!
Xbox and 343 Industries originally announced a starting prize pool of $1 million for the Halo World Championship, with the potential to grow through crowd-funding via the all-new Requisition System (REQ System) of Halo 5: Guardians. Since launch, the prize pool has grown tremendously because of the Halo community, bringing the prize pool to over USD$2 million and it continues to grow daily!
Tournament Format
Partnering with MLG, ESL and Gfinity, the Halo World Championship consists of online and in-person live events that will take place in U.S. and Canada, Europe along with the Middle East and Africa, Greater Asia, Latin America, and Australia and New Zealand. Key dates for Australia and New Zealand specifically, include:
Australia and New Zealand qualifying rounds:
- 3 January, 2016 – First online qualifier – 1 winner
- 10 January, 2016 – Second online qualifier – 1 winner
- 17 January, 2016 – Third online qualifier – 1 winner
- 24 January, 2016 – Fourth online qualifier – 2 winners
- 31 January, 2016 – NZ AvT Auckland LAN event – 1 winner
- 7 February, 2016 – Regional Finals for Australia/New Zealand
Preliminaries and finals
- 1 March, 2016 to 20 March, 2016 – Halo World Championship Prelims and Finals
For more information regarding the online ladders, qualifiers and regional in-person live events, please visit: www.Halo.gg.
Registration
If you want to learn more or register in the Halo World Championship, head over to the new Halo esports portal, Halo.gg. For esports fans, we’ll be livestreaming everything from ladders, qualifiers, regionals and finals – be sure to tune-in to the Halo and Xbox Twitch channels! The stakes have never been higher in the world of Halo esports – it’s time to get your team together and get practicing over the holiday break so you’re ready to take it to the world in 2016!
For all the latest Halo World Championship news and updates, check out the Xbox Wire.
ABC iview is available now on Xbox One!
For all the latest and greatest ABC content right on the platform you know and love
ABC iview, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s free internet TV service, is available now on Xbox One consoles around Australia. ABC iview offers comprehensive and free access to TV on demand from ABC, as well as original Australian programming available exclusively on iview.
Now until the end of January, enjoy over 50 hours of the best Aussie comedy for free, with iview’s Binge on The Best of Australian Comedy. Series include:
- The Katering Show Series 1
- Chris Lilley’s Summer Heights High and We Can Be Heroes
- Upper Middle Bogan Box Set (Series 1-2)
- Josh Thomas’s Please Like Me Box Set (Series 1-3)
- Soul Mates from the creators of Bondi Hipsters
- The Librarians Box Set (Series 1-3)
- Black Comedy Series 1
- 8MMM Aboriginal Radio
- Sammy J & Randy In Ricketts Lane
Easy to use and ad free, ABC iview has a fast, responsive and cinematic design for enjoying your favourite ABC programs, including Good Game and Good Game Pocket, allowing fans to catch up on the latest industry news, on demand.
ABC iview offers Xbox One owners instant access to great entertainment for free with the click of a button and the launch adds to an already stellar line up of entertainment options on the Xbox One, along with the ability to take advantage of the Xbox features such as voice controls and parental control. Make sure you download the app and check out all the great content on offer!
For all the latest Xbox news and updates, check out the Xbox Wire.
Forge Mode, New Multiplayer Maps and More Now Available for Free in Halo 5: Guardians
More great content to sink your teeth into over the holiday break
Cartographer’s Gift, the latest free update for Halo 5: Guardians, is now available, adding new maps, weapons, armour sets, assassinations and the highly anticipated Forge mode to the game’s multiplayer experience.
A sample of the new content that fans can expect in the Cartographer’s Gift update includes:
- Forge Mode – Forge has been rebuilt from the ground up for Halo 5: Guardians. Giving more power and control to the Forge community was the primary goal, and community feedback will continue to fuel the evolution of Forge.
- New Weapons, Armour Sets and Assassinations – The classic M41 “SPNKr” Rocket Launcher, MARK IV [GEN 1] armour set and two new assassinations – “Nice Try” and “Oh Snap” – REQs have been added for you to collect for your arsenal.
- New Warzone and Arena Maps– Four new maps – the Warzone map “The Battle of Noctus,” Arena map “Overgrowth,” and Big Team Battle maps “Antifreeze,” and “Entombed” – are now available in Halo 5: Guardians
Cartographer’s Gift will automatically download and install for all Halo 5: Guardian players. For more details about all the new content included in the Cartographer’s Gift update, please visit Halo Waypoint.
Here Are The New Xbox One Backward Compatibility Titles Playable Today
More great content to sink your teeth into over the holiday break
Last month we launched one of the most requested features: Xbox One Backward Compatibility, with an initial set of more than 100 titles, allowing fans to take their Xbox 360 experience to Xbox One and still be able to play with their friends, take screenshots, stream and record in-game DVR clips. Today, we’re excited to announce even more Xbox 360 titles available now on Xbox One via Backward Compatibility.
Since launch in November, fans have been enjoying Xbox 360 games on Xbox One for the first time ever, logging more than 9 million hours spent playing Xbox 360 games on Xbox One. And the most popular games fans from around the world have been spending those hours playing are Fallout 3, Gears of War 3, Just Cause 2, Assassin’s Creed II and DiRT 3.
From titles like DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION to classics like Fable III, today, fans will have 16 additional games to choose from, expanding our growing library of Xbox One Backward Compatibility titles. And as a reminder, all Xbox 360 games available through Games with Gold after Nov. 12, such as the recently available Sacred 3, are playable on Xbox One. You can find the full list of our latest additions below and also on Xbox.com/BackCompat.
What’s more, hot off the heels of the Halo 5: Guardians launch and the Halo World Championship kick-off on Dec. 6, Halo fans can dive even deeper into the Halo universe as Halo: Reach is among the titles added to the catalogue this month. The game showcases the power of Xbox One Backward Compatibility, bringing exciting storylines and gameplay from fan favourites onto one console. Today, Halo: Reach will join Halo 5: Guardians, Halo: The Master Chief Collection and Halo: Spartan Assault on Xbox One.
Let’s dive into the list of new titles* available today:
- Braid
- DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION
- Doritos Crash Course
- Fable III
- Halo: Reach
- Hydro Thunder
- Iron Brigade
- Kane & Lynch 2
- Motocross Madness
- MS.PAC-MAN
- Peggle
- Portal: Still Alive
- Spelunky
- Splosion Man
- Ticket to Ride™
- Zuma’s Revenge!
And this is just the beginning. We’re continuing to work with our publishing partners to grow our library of Xbox One Backward Compatibility titles, so stay tuned for more. We’ll be adding to the catalogue on a regular basis, so be sure to check back here for the latest information about Xbox 360 titles that are playable on Xbox One.
Do you want to see a specific Xbox 360 title on Xbox One? Let us know. Fan feedback is essential in shaping the Xbox Experience, and it was integral in making Xbox One Backward Compatibility a reality. Keep voting for the Xbox 360 games that you want to add to Xbox One Backward Compatibility at Xbox.UserVoice.com.
* Disclaimer: Games and availability subject to change. Title availability varies by region.
For all the latest additions to backwards compatibility, be sure to check out the Xbox Wire.
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