Halo Infinite will let you host a cross-platform LAN party on a PC dedicated server
A new trailer details the PC edition's features and options
After decades of Halo being primarily an Xbox series [settle down, disgruntled elderly Mac fanatics -ed.], Halo Infinite will buck that with a simultaneous launch on PC too. With that December launch drawing near, a new trailer focuses on the PC edition, detailing various graphics settings and multiplayer options and noting the interesting detail that you'll be able to use a PC to host a dedicated server for a cross-platform LAN party. Watch on for lots of shots of scrolling through options menus.
"While we're still listening and growing, the process of taking Halo: The Master Chief Collection to PC was invaluable in helping us learn what to do (and not to do) to create a game that looks, feels, and plays like a PC shooter should, all the while honoring the legacy of what makes Halo, Halo," 343 Industries say.
So the video has plenty of talk about graphics options, ways to tweak the UI for widescreen monitors, ranked matchmaking pools split by input type for the cross-platform multiplayer (a controller 'hopper', a mouse & keyboard hopper, and a mixed hopper), anti-cheat, LAN dedicated servers, and other such tech chat.
I liked the wee detail of how they measure mouse input latency. They've whacked an LED onto a mouse which lit up upon clicking, and arranged a high-framerate camera to capture both that light and the montitor in the same view, letting them clearly see the delay between input and outcome:
Halo Infinite will launch on the 8th of December. The multiplayer side will be free-to-play, though the campaign will run you £50/€60/$60 on Steam and the Microsoft Store—or it comes included with Xbox Game Pass. £50 for the campaign seems expensive, given that the price tag usually pays for multiplayer too, but I'm guessing this is another nudge from Microsoft to get people signing up for Game Pass.
Thanks to beta weekends, we've played a fair bit of Hinfinte multiplayer around the RPS treehouse. Ed told us that it "reminds me of old Halo, and I mean that in the best way", and he prefers the smaller modes because he's a lazy boy. Brendy thought its maps are classic big Halo jungle gyms too.