I came into a recent Halo: Master Chief Collection preview event expecting to think, "Yep, it's Halo alright" and be on my merry way. Instead I encountered a surprising number of problems.

Those who love Halo but only play Halo video games may be oblivious to some of the big developments going on in the series lately. There are big things happening, particularly in the Halo comics, that any Halo fan should know about.

It's not often that video game artists make the headlines, but Kenneth Scott made a few this week when he left his post as art director at 343 studios. That's kind of a big deal for fans because he was in charge of shaping the series' visual identity.

The people behind Halo 4 just released this blooper reel. It's creepy, kinda funny, and worth watching just for Creepy Cortana, which is apparently based off a 343 designer's face.

The battle for supremacy in Halo 4 that kicked off at the Rooster Teeth Expo earlier this month and continued at Gamescom will conclude at PAX Prime this weekend. The Halo 4 Global Championship Finals began yesterday at Benaroya Hall in Seattle, and they continue today. Tomorrow's finale will be live streamed from 4 to 6 PT.

Halo has always had a rich history in eSports but as of recently it has fallen from the spotlight thanks to a lack of a presence at some of the larger eSports events like Major League Gaming's Pro Circuit. While Halo took a backseat in the competitive gaming scene, games like League of Legends, StarCraft 2, and Call of Duty have taken the reigns.

A new bundle of DLC -- the Champions Bundle -- is coming to Halo 4 on Aug. 20, 343 said today at the Rooster Teeth Expo. It's cost 800 Microsoft Points, and will introduce a new armour pack, a skin pack, and a new game type called Ricochet.

Bill Doran makes replica video game weapons so good that were they not recreations of things that didn't actually exist, you'd swear they were the real thing. His latest work is this enormous Halo sniper rifle, which, yeah, looks so much like something Master Chief would actually use it's hard to believe it's actually just made out of fibreboard.

My name is Nathan (RC) Peters. In March 2011, I was hired on as a contract Quality Assurance tester to work at Certain Affinity studios in Austin, Texas. I worked on the multiplayer portion of Halo 4. Here is an inside look at the reality of being a contract worker within a video game company, and why you should never accept a job as a contractor.

Their name alone speaks volumes about what their architecture embodies: the way they see themselves, the image they want to present to others. Forerunners. A group of individuals that comes along before others, setting the stage for their existence. They named themselves this, with all the vanity in the world.

I like to think of Paul Pepera's art as the realisation of childhood dreams. Rendering what we imagined our LEGO constructions to be in our heads, not as they actually looked, all clunky and basic and sharp.

343 Industries announced during a PAX East panel yesterday that Halo 4 will soon get its own version of Halo: Reach's Forge World map (pictured above), a feature that has been missed since 4 launched. Called "Forge Island" and releasing for free on April 11, the map will provide a series of open spaces in which Halo 4 forgers can putz around and try to smack one another by swinging tanks around like giant, deadly paddles. That's what I'm going to do there, at least.

In these dark days of micro-transactions and overpriced DLC, as a horde we've become used to paying hand over fist for map packs. Now 343i, the new Halo folks, are giving a map away for free. Ironically, it's a map that will allow you to create many more maps of your own. This is a good thing.

What does a games writer do, exactly? What is a writer's job? If we're talking about a writer on a movie or the author of a book, it's easy for us to figure out on our own what exactly that person is doing. But when we look at the writer of a video game, things become a bit more cloudy.

Dave Bolton is a concept artist who has worked for 343 Studios, ArenaNet and Hourglass Studios. So we're about to get a look at some fantastic art from, among other things, Halo 4 and Guild Wars.

The people at Bungie are famous for putting obscure Easter Eggs into their games. Halo's creators have packed the massive sci-fi shooter franchise with all sorts of references and secrets, and fans love finding them.

A poorly kept secret since November is official now: the Majestic Map Pack, the latest series of multiplayer maps in Halo 4, will indeed be available on February 25 for 800 Microsoft Points.

Today's the big day for Halo's ex, Bungie, which will soon tell all about its new affair, Destiny. That makes the discovery of these four images for Halo 4's forthcoming Majestic Map Pack quite a coincidence, indeed.

Watching someone who isn't too familiar with video games try their hand at Halo 4 can be pretty hilarious. But when it's Conan O'Brien testing out 343's first entry in the series, it's that much funnier. Even if he does roll his eyes a little too much at the storyline.