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Outpost Discovery Part Two: The Outposting (Gaming)

by Morpheus @, High Charity, Saturday, August 24, 2019, 09:35 (1678 days ago) @ Morpheus

Okay then! So we still have quite a bit to go through!

One of the coolest exhibits I've ever seen is The Ring Experience—an audible museum tour of the origins of the Halo Array. Tourists were given Bluetooth headphones and walked from 'room' to 'room', narrated by Gabriela on major events of the Forerunner's fall and the first activation of the rings. Set pieces included a 'section' of one of the Halo rings, a life-sized model of an Aggressor Sentinel, and of course...

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All of it ended in a small domed room(think mini-planetarium) with a comprehensive CGI video exploring the surface and underground workings of (if I remember correctly) Zeta Halo. You know, when it's not completely ripped to shit by the Flood. Unfortunately, the action was too domed to take pictures.

Up next was the Market Exchange, a.k.a. Merch.
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"Replica Energy Sword: $20
Master Chief Helmet: $80
Adult Master Chief Costume: $100
Buying all that at a party store for one-fifth of the price: Priceless"

By the way, Kermit, I haven't gotten any notification from you about the poster thing, give me a holler.

Halo: Outpost Discovery came packed with a full blown gaming arena, with both Xboxes and PC's.

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And I'm not kidding when I say 'packed'. They had separate sections for nearly every Halo experience--H1 campaign, H5 multiplayer, H2 multiplayer, all kinds of stuff. Even more impressive, 343i included a special treat; a demo build of Halo Reach for PC! Even better, the build was for my favorite level, Tip of the Spear.

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https://i.imgur.com/MslEo5M.mp4

Although I did run into some problems mapping the controls for a keyboard--I was unable to melee, reload, use armor abilities or switch grenades--it provided a interesting and unique experience either way! Still pretty cool. Reach looks A LOT BETTER without that whole "We're gonna filter everything in the style of a video camera to make everything look even more depressing" screen effect. And as promised, the action was in 4K at 60 FPS. I recorded the opening and closing cutscenes with my phone. Obviously, it can't do 4k off a monitor, but I did indeed have the 60 frame mode enabled. Preview it here:

(headphones, btw--no sound unfortunately)
https://i.imgur.com/CoLD7O3.mp4
https://i.imgur.com/unj6ODa.mp4
https://i.imgur.com/AADPstY.mp4

The Mixer Room had a sweet interview with Jen and Steve, plus an autograph "opportunity" (5am!? No, sir. I don't love you guys that much. lol)

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Last thing I want to touch on is the cool little slice of paradise that I got to enjoy for a day: The VIP lounge.

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This was a separate quiet area upstairs reserved only for the VIP's! Charging stations, free food and drinks, special events, and Xboxes hooked up with MCC. Which was pretty sweet, but unfortunately we weren't allowed to sign in so people could get Back in the Day. Which suuuuuuuuuuuucked.

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There was also private cabinets for Halo:Fireteam Raven, which I got to play for the first time! Difficulty was buffed up a bit for arcade play, obviously--but it was very fun to play, and well designed. Unfortunately, they disabled the QR scanners, so we couldn't sign in there either, making our valiant efforts for naught.

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"Now that's an ideal score right there."

That'll be it for now. I'll probably touch on more later, but right now I am exhausted. I'll post some more pictures later, and the codes will be in a separate thread. This was definitely one of the most fun experiences I've ever had, and I really hope there's a repeat of it!!


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