Halo Infinite First Technical Preview Could Start 'as Soon as Next Weekend' - News

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Halo Infinite developer 343 Industries in the July 2021 Inside Infinite posted this week has detailed the upcoming multiplayer technical previews. The first preview could be as soon as next weekend. 

"We've been given the okay to say our first Bot-focused technical preview could happen as soon as next weekend," reads the Inside Infinite blog post. "Prior to the flight starting, we’re planning a live stream where we’ll dive into the actual build and walk through nearly every facet of the technical preview. Stay Tuned.

"We’ll be hosting hundreds of thousands of Halo Insiders during the first technical preview and then, if all goes well, we’ll invite even more eligible Halo Insiders for the next flight. We want to start at a reasonable number of participants before potentially going to a much larger player pool, but our goal is to eventually get every eligible Halo Insider a chance to go hands-on and help us achieve our goals on the road to launch. Remember, if you don’t get in this time, please don’t despair – more opportunities will come."

Joseph Staten, the Head of Creative for Halo Infinite, said the multiplayer bots is one of his favorite features of Halo Infinite. Bots were something he always wanted in the early Halo games, but were cut due to limited time and resources. 

"Bots come in four flavors: Recruit, Marine, ODST and Spartan, with each level representing an increase in Bot skill," said Staten. "The first time I played a match against Bots, I decided to set the difficulty at ODST, assuming they would be competitive, but not too challenging. I mean, not for me, right? A grizzled Halo veteran of two decades of Halo PvP. Well…

"Within 30 seconds of the start of a Slayer match in the sunbaked New Mombasa street-market at the center of the Arena map “Bazaar,” I found myself in a classic Halo 'combat dance' with a Bot who did an alarmingly good job of sidestepping shots from my Sidekick pistol and then dropped my shields with a well-thrown frag grenade. As I retreated from the market through an archway, peppering the bot with a few more rounds, I thought:

"'No worries. I’ll just crouch behind one of these big wooden doors and wait for my shields to recharge. Because I’m pretty sure this bot won’t be smart or brave enough to—' at which point the Bot sprinted through the door, clocked my position, and finished me off with two very confident blasts from its Bulldog shotgun.

"So, yes. As we mentioned earlier: be prepared. 

"Some more examples of Bot behavior: ODST and Spartan Bots will effectively dodge grenades and rockets (Recruits and Marines will not). All Bots use equipment, and higher-level Bots will Grappleshot to you to finish you with a melee kill (I’ve seen them do this with Energy Swords which is amazing and terrifying). Bots keep track of power weapon spawns and sprint to claim them. But most importantly: Bots are fair; we don’t change their health and damage values per difficulty level; they just get smarter and more resourceful the higher you go. 

"And that's exactly what we’re going to do in our tech preview flight: start the Bots on Marine difficulty and then let you work your way up to Spartan. Good luck! We hope you have a blast, and as always, we sincerely appreciate your support."

Anyone who is interested in participating in Halo Infinite's flighting need to register as a Halo Insider here. Even if you register as a Halo Insider it doesn't guarantee you a spot as 343 Industries will limit the number of users who are able to participate. You can check your profile here to see if you have filled everything out correctly. 

Halo Infinite will launch for the Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC in Holiday 2021.

A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.

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