Halo ATLAS brings non-silent cartography to Windows Phone on December 10

WP Central

Microsoft first announced the addition of an ATLAS to Halo Waypoint back in October. Simply the ATLAS didn't testify upward with the Halo WayPoint Mango update that coincided with Halo Anniversary'due south release. Thankfully we've learned today that the ATLAS is not very far off – it's coming this Sat, December x.

Halo ATLAS uses maps (sponsored by Brady Games) to provide valuable multiplayer data to Halo Reach and Ceremony players. When we say Halo Ceremony players, we really hateful Attain players considering the non-campaign Ceremony multiplayer simply piggybacks off of Reach.

The connectivity with Reach is possible considering during multiplayer games, Reach constantly sends out packets of information called heartbeats that incorporate gameplay status. Halo ATLAS provides a bunch of that data in near-real-time to smartphone users.

Features

Some of Halo ATLAS's features:

Weapon and vehicle spawn locations for Matchmaking and Firefight games.
Health pack locations.
Near-real-time locations for weapons and vehicles during Custom Multiplayer games.
Your location and that of your team members displayed on the map.
Visual indicators when your teammates are engaged in combat and when they are killed, and fifty-fifty when they positioning themselves to strike
'Follow me' way to track your movement.
Dynamic thespian list, including current score for the teams and each actor and equipped weapon for you and your teammates.

Access to all of this information during multiplayer games could potentially change the balance of matches, something 343 has already considered. As such, the almost-real-fourth dimension information won't appear during ranked matches. You'll nevertheless be able to view maps with weapon and vehicle spawns, but won't see player locations or where weapons and vehicles get moved. It sounds similar that bumps ATLAS down from indispensable to but a fun gadget, but it should all the same helpful in custom games.

While having an advantage over other players wouldn't exist an issue during cooperative Firefight games, ATLAS won't support near-real-time updates in Firefight maps simply yet. Improved Firefight support should come with a future update.

Coming presently to a smartphone most you

Halo ATLAS iOS

1 surprising office of today'south proclamation is that Halo WayPoint and ATLAS will be coming to iOS and Android platforms, not just Windows Phone. Let me to editorialize for a chip. While multiplatform availability is a good affair for gamers in general, publishing WayPoint and ATLAS on competing platforms definitely sends mixed signals about Microsoft'southward confidence in their own mobile platform. Subsequently all, every time a Windows Telephone-exclusive feature moves off to other pastures, that'southward ane less reason for people to switch over to Windows Phone. On the plus side, ATLAS volition be gratis on Microsoft'southward platform merely toll $four.99 on iOS and Android. That'southward kind of an advantage for Windows Phone.

The futurity of ATLAS

ATLAS will receive several new features down the line in addition to the aforementioned improved Firefight support. Some possibilities include support for user-customized FORGE maps, more data for objective-based maps (flag, oddball, and colina location, etc.), and a spectator mode for viewing tournament games. The more of these ideas finish upwards in the production, the more useful it will be to Halo Reach players.

The Halo ATLAS update to Halo WayPoint is scheduled for this Saturday in English language-speaking countries. ATLAS will exist released in other languages soon thereafter.

Source: Halo Waypoint – The Halo Message

Thank you to Mouthsmasher for the tip!

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