Halo Waypoint

Halo Waypoint is a central hub for Halo-related content. The hub, which is accessed through Xbox Live, is available to Xbox Live Gold subscribers. It was released as part of the Xbox Fall Update on November 5th, 2009.

Content

Halo Waypoint provides users with various kinds of Halo information, including information on members of the Halo community, various machinima videos, and gameplay strategies and tutorials. It will also allow players to access their own gameplay-related data, tracking "milestones" and progress through multiple games in the series.

Weekly content

Halo Waypoint will consist of new updates and features every day of the week, with each day highlighting a different aspect of the Halo Universe.

• Spotlight: Every Monday, interesting Halo personae (ranging from community site leaders to comic artists and authors) will be featured and interviewed.
• Beyond the Games: On Tuesdays, various kinds of Halo merchandise will be featured, and yet-to-be-released items will be previewed.
• Community Day: On Wednesdays, Halo Waypoint will focus entirely on the Halo community, showcasing user-created content and featuring the top Halo fansites.
• Machinima: On Thursdays, Halo machinima will be featured.
• Strategy: On Fridays, various gameplay-related tips and tricks will be featured.
• Halo Legends: On Saturdays, exclusive previews and behind-the-scenes episodes of Halo Legends will be featured.
• Fiction: On Sundays, various aspects of the Halo series' canon will be covered, and questions regarding the various media in the series will be answered.

Career information

Halo Waypoint will display a player's progress through the Halo games using milestones and awards. Milestones are achieved as a player's Halo gamerscore increases. Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, and Halo Wars will all support milestones, and future games will support it as well, although Halo 2 Vista and its achievements are currently not supported. Originally there were forty milestones, but on January 6th, 2010, it was raised to fifty via a title update. Earning achievments can also unlock avatar awards

Halo Awards are medals that a player can earn by unlocking related achievements in the Halo games; essentially, they are groupings of achievements. As an example, the Vehicle Specialist award is unlocked after completing several vehicle-related achievements. Awards are also given in tiers; the more achievements a player unlocks, the higher the tier of their award will become. (For example, completing "extra" vehicle-related achievements will increase the Vehicle Specialist award's tier.)

Intel

Halo Waypoint will also offer Halo-related news and grant access to exclusive content. Such content will include podcasts, trailers, screenshots, sketchbooks, videos, and, as previously mentioned, exclusive previews of Halo Legends. It has also been confirmed that full episodes of Halo Legends will be available on Halo Waypoint, though they are free and are not even needed to be downloaded, but they are usually only on Waypoint for a single day.

The Fiction

The Fiction content contains articles and videos by former Ascendant Justice staff, Vociferous and Cocopjojo, each detailing a specific aspect of the Halo universe. There are five sub-categories to the Fiction content, Characters, Armory, Ships, Locations and History. The most common format of these entries is a written article, containing a gallery of related images, usually screenshots from the Halo games. Some entries include only a video, and in some cases, an intro video and three written parts.

Characters

The individuals and players found within the story of Halo.

• The Face of Regret - A look at the Prophet of Regret. (Four parts, first part a video)
• Heavy Weapons Specialist Dutch - Corporal Taylor H. Miles (Video)

Armory

The weapons, vehicles and equipment found within the story of Halo.

• NMPD Pelican - D77 Civilian Pelican - New Mombasa Police Department (Text and images)
• Drop Pod - A method of troop deployment. (Text and images)
• Gauss Technology - Magnetic acceleration in combat. (Text and images)
• Booster Frame - Open Frame 92/Extra-Vehicular Activity. (Text and images)
• VISR - Visual reconnaissance technology for field operations. (Text and images)

Ships

The fleets, ships and other space-faring vehicles which exist within the story of Halo.

• UNSC Say My Name - Warship at the frontlines during the events of Halo 3: ODST... (Text and images)
• Modular Dispersal Technology - An ancient technology repurposed. (Text and images)
• Battlecruiser - A detailed look at the infamous Covenant ship. (Text and images)

Locations

The galaxy-spanning places which are visited during the story of Halo.

• Uplift Reserve - New Mombasa's corporate-funded nature preserve. (Video)
• Space Tether - The mechanics and purpose of the orbital space elevator (Text and images)

History

The events, military operations and technology which shaped the story of Halo.

• Ten Twenty - The events on and around October 20, 2552. (Four Parts, first part a video)

Factions

The different species and organizations found within the story of Halo.

• Rise of the Brutes - A brief look at the history of the Jiralhanae. (Video)