As the dust settles on E3 2014, I continue to be curious about the identity of NeoGAF user ntkrnl, the architect of a spectacular series of rumours about the Xbox conference showing. To the best of my knowledge, he or she has yet to be proven wrong on any count. Furthermore, Kotaku claims that a contact has told it that "ntkrnl" works (or at least, has worked) for Microsoft. Among other things, ntkrnl was first to the punch on Halo 5's beta, which will take place in December. I've just dug up the post in question, and there's a little more to say on the subject of the game's "huge" maps. There will be 6-8 in the beta, reportedly, including two "arena" maps and two that can be meddled with in Forge, the franchise's much-loved level editor. Given that most betas only ship with one or two maps, this seems a little too good to be true. But then again, so did all that talk of a PlatinumGames Xbox One exclusive in January. Fingers crossed. Elsewhere on GAF, 343's franchise development director Frank O'Connor has weighed in on discussion of Halo 5's engine. It's not the same as the "native" Xbox One engine that's being used for six remastered maps in Halo: The Master Chief Collection, apparently. O'Connor summarised the Collection's technical make-up as a "proprietary evolution of og engines, including aspects of h4 renderer", where "h4" stands for "Halo 4" and "og", Joe assures me, stands for "Original Gangsta". "Original" seems more plausible, Joe . http://youtu.be/zTt3NXTnfCU Said "proprietary evolution" isn't being used for Halo 5: Guardians, "which is obviously still being refined as the game gets closer". You'll have to wait till the beta for your first taste of that. So does this mean that the live multiplayer footage of Halo: The Master Chief Collection we saw at E3 (the match that took place on an upgraded Halo 2 map) isn't representative of Halo 5's graphical prowess, another user asked? "Correct." http://youtu.be/DqD2MkOwDcU Source - OXM
