Halo Reach

The fine folks over at Bungie Studios have begun to unveil their "Player Investment" initiative in Halo: Reach. We've got the highlights.

As previously announced, Bungie has plans to reveal new tidbits about the Halo: Reach beta every Friday leading up to launch on May 3rd. Their first major batch of info includes some exciting new details, specifically focused on how to involve players in game progression and advancement.

To put it another way, Bungie has crafted an intricate system of rewards and upgrades to assure that you stop getting the appropriate amount of sleep.

The new player investment system for Halo: Reach includes a number of interconnected systems. First of all, TrueSkill remains an important element of the Halo experience, but it is now divorced from rank. TrueSkill now acts purely as a behind-the-scense matchmaking tool, to make sure your competitive gaming experience is tailored to your abilities.

Rank is now an element of gameplay that crosses every mode. "In Halo: Reach, Rank is a global, cross-gameplay-mode-encompassing representation of the time you've spent in the game," explains the recent post from Bungie.  "So whether you're a Campaign-only guy, or a Matchmaking-only girl, or you swing both ways, you're going to be seeing that Rank advance as you keep playing."

To increase your rank, you'll need to earn credits. Credits are earned in any number of ways across all of Reach's game modes. Specifically, you'll get credits from winning matchmaking games and finishing achievements.

Credits also come through the pursuit of commendations. These persistent awards show up as you play through any of the game's modes, and you'll earn credits as you hit milestones along the way. For instance, complete a certain number of headshots for one credit reward, then continue to develop that skill for more rewards as you complete even more headshots.

Finally, daily and weekly challenges are a dynamic credit-earning tool that changes all the time. These clearly marked goals give players a constant reason to log in and complete a specific task. Daily challenges include tasks like killing a certain number of enemies in a particular game mode. Weekly challenges are more extended tasks that could take you or a group of friends several days to complete.

Credits can be used to alter the cosmetic look of your character, with a far-reaching character customizer that looks to be far more advanced than tools found in previous Halo games. In the upcoming public beta, players will be able to customize their helmet, left and right shoulders, and chest, in addition to the expected emblems and colors. The retail game will not only dramatically expand the existing variety of items in the above categories, but broaden to other body areas as well.

The Spartan you'll create will go beyond your multiplayer avatar – Bungie seems to imply that your customized Spartan will show up in the Campaign as well. In addition, you'll be able to customize your Elite avatar, but his appearance won't cross as many modes of the game.

The player investment system looks like it could be a blast. We're particularly excited about the potential for daily and weekly challenges that help to keep the game active and engaging in the weeks and months after release. There's plenty of more detailed information on all these topics from Bungie's original post. Make sure and check it out if your interest has been piqued. And swing back here soon, as we'll have plenty more on Reach's beta over the coming days and weeks. Finally, if you missed it the first time around, you should consider exploring our extensive month long coverage of Halo: Reach from this January.

Let us know what additional details you'd like to hear about regarding the upcoming beta, and we'll see what we can dig up.