The Halo franchise is turning 25 next year, and Halo Fest is being revived with a convention and concert to celebrate the milestone. The event is set to take place next December in Seattle, with tickets going on sale soon.

Halo Studios announced the event at this year's Halo World Championship, promising a convention that will cater for twice as many attendees as the HWC usually allows for. Halo Fest has been held three times before: the first in 2010 as an event hosted by GameStop to promote the release of Halo Reach, the second in 2011 as part of Pax Prime 2011, and the third as a standalone event in 2014.

The plans for Halo Fest 2026 are far more ambitious than any of its previous iterations--it's set to be a three-day event, with the first day being an official Halo concert held at the Benaroya Hall, followed by a two-day convention held at the Seattle Convention Center's Summit Building. The convention plans to tie in many of the community attractions usually hosted at the Halo World Championship, including the "Community Stage, voice actors in attendance, cosplay contest, meetups, and more."

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Raven Software has released its plan for Call Of Duty: Warzone's year ahead, as Season 01 alongside Black Ops 7 draws closer. The studio has some exciting new and reworked features in the works for COD's battle royale spin-off, including large map rotation, the new Blackout experience on Avalon, and some new modes that will test experimental features like wall jumping and grappling hooks.

In a news update posted to X, Raven leads with the news that large map rotation for Battle Royale will arrive early next year. "While it wasn't previously realistic for us to host multiple large maps, we've since taken the steps necessary to support it," the developer says. The feature won't launch with Black Ops 7 unfortunately, but it is being targeted for early 2026.

Resurgence is due for a shakeup, with Raven acknowledging that the mode has "started to feel a bit stale." As part of the refresh, the new Haven's Hollow map will launch for Resurgence in Season 01, with map rotation to be added shortly after launch. While the initial rotation will include just Rebirth Island and Haven's Hollow, the developer plans to bring back past maps--including an improved version of Fortune's Keep. In response to complaints about Rebirth Island, the map will also be getting a refresh in Season 02.

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In a move that would have shocked the gaming world just a few years ago, Microsoft has announced that the upcoming Halo remake, Halo: Campaign Evolved, will be available on its rival console, the PS5, and Halo will be on PlayStation moving forward. An Xbox exec explained that the decision is the result of a changing media landscape, where TikTok provides stiffer competition for the Xbox platform than other consoles do.

President of Xbox game content and studios Matt Booty told The New York Times about the company's changing priorities in an interview. "We are all seeking to meet people where they are," he said of the decision to put Halo on its competitor platform. "Our biggest competition isn't another console. We are competing more and more with everything from TikTok to movies."

Booty explained that Microsoft hopes to bring more players into the Xbox ecosystem by bringing its flagship franchises to a new audience, adding that consumers no longer feel strong attachments to the devices they use to play their games.

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There's been a lot of hype among Halo fans surrounding the long-rumored remake of the first game, Halo: Campaign Evolved. For one thing, It's the first Halo game to arrive on PlayStation 5. However, Jaime Griesemer--a designer for Halo: Combat Evolved and the design lead on Halo 2 and Halo 3--isn't happy about some of the changes that were made for the remake.

In a series of posts on X, Griesemer lamented the trailer's sequence where the Warthog vehicle moved past obstacles that were placed in its path to prevent plays from being able "to steamroll the Hunters." "When you can just smash the crates out of the way it wrecks the encounters," added Griesemer. "But the worst part? They put trees in the landing area of the WooHoo Jump. Lame."

Griesemer went to tag Halo co-creator Marcus Lehto (who is a big fan of the remake) before asking the following question: "What have they done to beloved B30?!"

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It looks increasingly likely that you'll soon be able to access Xbox Cloud Gaming for free by watching ads, Microsoft has confirmed.

The Verge dropped a report on the upcoming feature earlier this month, suggesting that the new plan will start public testing soon, with a full launch in the coming months. Writing about Xbox's overall business plan following the news that Halo will soon be coming to PlayStation consoles, The New York Times delivered confirmation of the rumored ad-supported Xbox Cloud Gaming tier. "A Microsoft official confirmed that the company was also conducting internal tests for free ad-supported cloud access to some games through a program separate from Game Pass," the New York Times article reads.

The original report from The Verge was more thorough on Microsoft's plans for Xbox Cloud Gaming with ads, with the current version of the program being tested internally by Microsoft employees. In its current iteration, users can access some games they already own through cloud gaming, along with eligible Free Play Days games and Xbox Retro Classics games.

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Almost a week after high-profile Twitch streamer Emiru was assaulted during a TwitchCon meet-and-greet, Twitch CEO Dan Clancy has posted a statement apologizing to the streamer and acknowledging the multiple failures that allowed the incident to happen.

While Twitch posted a statement about the assault shortly after it happened, the company's version of events was strongly disputed by Emiru's own statement about the incident. Clancy has also been called out for his comments on the assault during an interview with Taylor Lorenz, where he seemed to put the onus back on creators to "control [their] community."

Clancy has now posted a personal statement on the Twitch X account, apologizing directly to Emiru and taking responsibility for the incident. "It shouldn’t have happened and we take that very seriously," Clancy said in the statement. "We failed, both in allowing it to occur, and in our response following. We mismanaged our communications about the incident, and that includes the comments I made. I apologize to Emiru for all that took place."

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During the Halo World Championships, Microsoft confirmed the long-rumored remake of the first Halo, Halo: Campaign Evolved. It also happens to be the very first Halo game to arrive on PlayStation 5, or any PlayStation platform. Now, Microsoft and Halo Studios have confirmed that all Halo games going forward will be on PlayStation as well as Xbox consoles and PC.

Following the official announcement of Campaign Evolved, Halo Studios community director Brian Jarrard appeared on stage at the Halo World Championships and wore a PlayStation T-shirt while sharing the news about the franchise's multi-platform future.

"It's a huge deal," said Jarrard. "It's a long time coming. We're just super excited to be able to welcome even more players now into the franchise we love, to fall in love with Halo the same way we all did 24 years ago. As a community guy, I know the Halo community is super excited to welcome in their friends as well. It's just going to mean more Halo for everyone. It's really a new era. Halo is on PlayStation going forward, starting with Halo: Campaign Evolved."

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The newly announced Halo 1 remake that brings the series to PlayStation for the first time has no multiplayer support. It is a campaign-only experience. Why is that?

Executive producer Damon Conn addressed this in a post on Xbox Wire. "Focusing on the campaign experience means we can concentrate fully on really capturing the atmosphere, tone--the emotional impact of what made the first campaign so special and iconic," Conn said.

While there is no multiplayer in the new Halo: Campaign Evolved, the game delivers some extras that weren't in the original 2001 release, including three new prequel missions and the ability to sprint. The game was made in Unreal Engine 5 and is likely to be followed by a brand-new Halo live-service game.

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Tomb Raider Colossal Collection Volume 1 (Hardcover)

$81.88 (was $100)

See at Amazon See Vol. 1-3 at Amazon

Tomb Raider fans can get a nice discount on Dark Horse's recently published collection of classic comics. Tomb Raider Colossal Collection Volume 1 is on sale for $81.88 (was $100) at Amazon. The 888-page hardcover collects 33 comics originally printed from 1999-2003 by Top Cow Productions.

Now's the perfect time to start reading Lara Croft's classic comic book adventures. Tomb Raider Colossal Collection Volume 2 launches November 25. In addition to collecting the rest of the original run, Volume 2 includes Top Cow's Tomb Raider: Journeys miniseries and several one-shots. Fans of the Crystal Dynamics reboot trilogy also have something to look forward to for next year. Tomb Raider Colossal Collection Volume 3 collects all of Dark Horse's tie-in comics in one, nearly 1,200-page book.

Volume 2 and 3 are currently up for preorder for $100, but if you order now, you won't be charged until Amazon ships your book; any discounts offered until launch will automatically be applied to your preorder when you're charged.

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The PlayStation 2 is celebrating its 25-year anniversary today, October 26, 2025. Below, we remember the diversity of its library, the qualities that have lived on beyond it, and the ones that were exclusive to that moment in time.

In a certain light, games are more expansive than they have ever been. Forums like Itch proliferate game jams and niche sub-cultures, and give aspiring developers a place to share their work. Steam is home to a wider catalogue of games than has ever been available on any home console. The diversity of the games in these places is under direct threat, but is by no means defeated.

Yet, if one wanted to experience the medium of video games in all its breadth on just one platform, a PlayStation 2 might still be the best bet.

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Pokemon Labyrinth Board Game

$17 (was $30)

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Super Mario Labyrinth Board Game

$24 (was $30)

See at Amazon See more Mario games

The Nintendo-themed editions of Ravensburger's Labyrinth board game are discounted for a limited time at Amazon. The best deal is on Pokemon Labyrinth, which is up for grabs for only $17 (was $30). The Super Mario version of the fast-paced and highly replayable classic has also received a price cut to $24 (was $30).

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