All Articles: Halo: Nightfall

First trailer for Halo: Nightfall released at Comic-Con 2014

Jameson Locke is an all-new character in the Halo universe, and Halo: Nightfall webseries, which takes place between Halo 4 and Halo 5: Guardians, tells his origin story. Locke is an operative of the Office of Naval Intelligence, which is the toughest military branch the Earth has. He and his team must uncover the truth behind an artifact that can kill humans – and who is trying to use it against them.

Halo: Nightfall will launch this November.

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Xbox Entertainment Studios will close; Atari doc, Halo: Nightfall, Halo series will continue

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William Goldman, the screenwriter of The Princess Bride, once said, “In Hollywood, no one knows anything.” Today, Microsoft is feeling that uncertainty as the software giant has announced they plan to lay off 18,000 people over the next 12 months. Over 12,000 employees in Microsoft’s Nokia division account for the vast majority of jobs affected but, according to Re/code, the company’s film production studio at Xbox Entertainment Studios will also close.

Xbox Entertainment Studios had barely gotten their original programming schedule off the ground before the closure notice came down. An app that included a comprehensive look at the Bonaroo musical festival was released in June while the studio’s first series, Every Street United, is currently airing and will conclude in August.

Some of the originally programming Microsoft had planned will continue even after the closure of Xbox Entertainment Studios. First and foremost, Halo: The Television Series and the Ridley Scott-produced Halo: Nightfall be released as scheduled. And with filming already finished, the documentary examination of Atari’s New Mexican landfill, Atari: Game Over, will also be completed.

The fate of the remaining projects in the studio’s “Xbox Originals” series is unknown, though it’s likely that many will be canceled. Sony still plans to move ahead with their own original programming initiative beginning with this Winter’s Powers.

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First wave of Xbox Originals include Atari landfill dig documentary, Halo TV series, more

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A film crew from Microsoft’s Xbox Originals production studio was knee-deep in refuse this past weekend as part of their search for the fabled burial site of “millions” of unsold E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial cartridges. The excavation of the New Mexican landfill will serve as the centerpiece to Atari: Game Over, one of the first films in development for Microsoft’s streaming video service. With the excavation a success, Microsoft has decided to unveil all 12 projects that are currently in production within the Xbox Originals office.

The first two Xbox Originals productions will be available for your viewing pleasure this June. They are Bonnaroo, a “live concert destination” for those who cannot attend the annual festival, and Every Street United, a documentary series on street soccer that will culminate in a championship match held during the World Cup this July.

Atari: Game Over will air sometime this year as part of the Signal To Noise documentary series, which will focus on “little known stories of how modern technology has radically altered the way we interact with our world.” And don’t forget, Microsoft still has Steven Spielberg’s Halo Television Series and Ridley Scott’s Halo Digital Feature in production as well.

Looking further out, the studio plans to produce Humans, a series set in a world where life-like robots co-exist with humanity; Deadlands, which is based on the popular pen-and-paper campaign; Extraordinary Believers, a new show from the Robot Chicken team; Fearless, a reality series that follows “individuals who risk their lives to make the world a better place;” Gun Machine, a series based on Warren Ellis’ hardboiled detective novel; Winterworld, a post-apocalyptic series set in an icy future; and an untitled show from the JASH comedy collective.

Every Xbox Original will be viewable through the Xbox Video app, which is available for the Xbox One, Xbox 360, Windows 8, and Windows Phone 8. Complete details on all 12 projects can be found after the break. (more…)

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