Xbox Gaming in South Africa

Bungie has flicked the switch on a new playlist update for Halo: Reach's matchmaking, bringing in a wave of changes for the shooter's online mode.

Highlights include a separate Team Snipers playlist, as well as a Living Dead playlist for Halloween. The first Forge maps will also make an appearance, with Atom and Cliffhanger being introduced into many of the current playlists.

The full list of changes include:

Playlists

• New Playlist: Team Snipers
• New Playlist: Living Dead
• Rumble Pit
  • Lineup rebalanced to offer more kill, less frill.
  • Removed Infection, Safe Havens, Race, Rally, Headhunter Pro
  • Removed “Classic” gametypes
• Team Slayer
  • Removed all Snipers gametypes
• Team SWAT
  • Added SWAT Magnums gametype
• Team Objective
  • Removed 1 Flag Classic
  • Removed Headhunter Pro
  • Removed the following gametypes from Hemorrhage due to the size of the map with only 8 players:
    • Multiflag Classic
    • 1 Flag CTF
    • 1 Flag Pro
    • 1 Bomb Assault
  • Removed Oddball and Hot Potato from Boardwalk
• Multi Team
  • Removed SWAT
  • Removed Classic gametypes
  • Removed The Cage
  • Changed weighting for Rocket Race so it does not have a 100% chance to appear in Slot 3
• Big Team Battle
  • Removed Multiflag from Boneyard and Spire
• Invasion
  • This playlist now offers 3 voting options
• Firefight
  • Updated Firefight playlist gametypes to be a full set instead of 1 round. Adjusted skull progression.
  • Removed Friendly Fire
• Score Attack
  • Removed Crash Site
  • Added Mythic Score Attack
  • You can no longer pickup other weapons in Sniper Attack

Maps

• Zealot/Arena Zealot
  • Arena Zealot is now used for all Slayer gametypes
  • Players can no longer stand on the edge of the generators in space and crouch to shoot below the shield
• Asylum
  • Softkill zones added to the tops of the Sniper buildings
• Boneyard
  • Modified respawn zones for Slayer gametypes
• Hemorrhage
  • Modified respawn zones for both bases
  • Respawn timers for all Warthogs on Hemorrhage should now be 120 seconds

New Forge Maps

• Cliffhanger
  • Added to Rumble Pit, Team Slayer, Team SWAT, and Team Objective playlist rotation
• Atom
  • Added to Team Slayer, Team Snipers, Team Objective, Multi Team, and Big Team Battle playlist rotation

Gametypes

• CTF
  • All CTF gametypes should now have a player respawn of 10 seconds
  • All Classic CTF gametypes now feature Flag At Home To Score and Touch Return
  • Flag At Home To Score disabled for all non-Classic CTF gametypes
  • Modified Flag Return and Flag Reset times:
    • 1 Flag on Small maps use 10 second return and 30 second reset
    • All other CTF gametypes use 30 second return and 45 second reset
• Assault
  • Assault gametypes now have a player respawn time of 10 or 15 seconds depending on the map

Next week will see even more changes, with the Firefight mode getting special attention. And if that's not enough, Bungie has promised to increase the current level cap and introduce new ranks and Armory items once the online community has reached 117 million daily & weekly challenges completed. Don't worry, it isn't as bad as it sounds: Bungie predicts the milestone will be completed sometime in November.

Right, time to get online and start completing those challenges!