343 Industries has unveiled some new details about the second season of Halo Infinite ’s multiplayer, including a launch date of May 3 2022 and a title: Lone Wolves.

In a post on Halo Waypoint , Joseph Staten, Head of Creative on Halo Infinite, explains that Lone Wolves is Season 2’s official theme as well as its title, with “much, but not all,” of the season’s content guided by the idea that “Lone Wolf Spartans are hunters. Trackers. They’re resourceful improvisers, operating deep in enemy territory without resupply or support. They’re fierce, rugged, and prefer to work alone – but they’re still loyal to the Spartan pack.”

The post includes concept art for two of Halo Infinite’s Lone Wolves – Spartan Sigrid Eklund and Spartan Hieu Dinh – with a promise that players will learn more about them and Spartan Commander Laurette Agryna as they work their way through Season 2’s story which will be “a mix of cinematics, story-themed Events, Battle Pass items and more that embody the Lone Wolves theme."

Staten also says that Season 2 will include “playlist updates, balance changes, new modes, and maps”, highlighting a new Arena map called “Catalyst” and a BTB map called “Breaker.”

New modes include "Last Spartan Standing", described as “a free-for-all elimination mode” and another called “Land Grab”. “King of the Hill” will also return.

343 Industries has previously said that players could expect campaign co-op to arrive around Season 2 but, in this update, Staten clarifies that it won’t be ready right as the new season launches on May 3.

Staten explains in the post that “it’s going to take more time to land a high-quality, full-featured 4-player network co-op experience in the massive, wide-open world of Halo Infinite.”

He adds that the team is also working on 2-player split-screen co-op "on all Xbox consoles, from the original Xbox One through Xbox One Series X" but that the "non-linear, wide-open sections of the Campaign present some big challenges for split-screen that have taken us more time to solve.”

The team does, however, still expect campaign network co-op to launch "later in Season 2" and Staten says the team will announce a release date for that and split-screen co-op "as soon as we can".

Looking further ahead, Staten says that Forge still aims to launch in Season 3, with the team "already flighting Forge to a small group of community creators and working closely with them to ensure that all of you have a terrific experience creating, sharing, browsing, and playing Forge content." Public flights are planned for "later this year".

Staten confirms in the post that 343 is already hard at work on Season 3 but shares no further details on what it will involve or when we should expect it. With Season 1 scheduled to end on May 2, Lone Wolves will launch on May 3 and Staten promises that 343 Industries will reveal more about the new season's "maps, modes, customization options, and narrative content" in April.

Analysis: A work in progress

When Halo Infinite launched late last year, it was a hugely popular release for Microsoft and Xbox. Since then, it’s had its ups and downs, having drawn criticism for things like its battle pass progression and its store prices .

Last month it was reported that, despite being the “biggest launch in Halo franchise history”, attracting 20 million total players by January 25, the game has struggled to retain the players it initially attracted. On PC, for instance, Business Insider reported that the player count was peaking at around 30,000 daily concurrent players on Steam. Around the game’s November launch, its daily concurrent player count peaked above 250,000 players .

That’s a pretty hefty drop and while a decline in players isn’t a problem that’s exclusive to Halo Infinite, a lengthy first season probably hasn't helped. Originally hoping to have a new season every three months, 343 Industries extended Season 1 in order to create more time "to ensure Season 2 meets our high quality bar and so we can finish development for Season 2 in a healthy and sustainable way for our team."

The launch of a new season and all that comes with that certainly seems like a good way to draw players back and give Halo Infinite a boost. However, it seems more likely that the launch of long-awaited modes like co-op and Forge will prove to be the biggest draw for lapsed players.

Six months after Call of Duty: Vanguard flopped, Activision has worked out why

Call of Duty: Vanguard was not the commercial success that Activision had hoped for, with the publisher now blaming the game’s poor sales on its World War 2 setting.

In its latest annual earnings report , Activision Blizzard said Call of Duty: Vanguard “didn’t meet our expectations” and admits its disappointing commercial performance was “primarily due to [Activision’s] own execution” of the game (thanks, Kotaku ).

“The game’s World War II setting didn’t resonate with some of our community,” the report says, “and we didn’t deliver as much innovation in the premium game as we would have liked.”

Activision goes on to say that it’s addressing both of these issues – the poor choice of setting and lack of innovation – in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 , the next mainline Call of Duty title due to release later this year.

“We are working on the most ambitious plan in Call of Duty history, with over 3,000 people now working on the franchise and a return to the Modern Warfare setting that delivered our most successful Call of Duty title ever,” the report says.

Excuses, excuses

Call of Duty: Vanguard certainly wasn’t a roaring success for Activision. Despite being the best-selling game of 2021, its sales were down by 36.1% on 2020’s Call of Duty: Black Ops - Cold War . Its underperformance has even reportedly encouraged Activision to break with Call of Duty’s annual release cycle , as the publisher pushes Treyarch’s 2023 entry into 2024.

However, for Activision to chalk up Vanguard’s poor sales to its World War 2 setting is a little peculiar. Call of Duty: WW2 flew off the shelves when it launched back in 2017, with Activision even boasting that it sold twice as many copies as Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare during launch. Given the sheer volume of video games and other media set in the conflict, it’s a little strange to think players aren’t interested in the setting.

Vanguard’s lack of innovation might be a better explanation. In our Call of Duty: Vanguard review, we said “the campaign mode ultimately falls flat when it comes to both narrative and gameplay”, and thought its multiplayer offered only more of the same.  While its Zombies mode was a nice refresh on what had come before, it only offered one game mode at launch, and couldn’t prop up a tired franchise on its own.

Of course, Vanguard’s launch was also colored by an ongoing investigation into alleged sexual misconduct at Activision Blizzard . Its underperformance did nothing to scare Microsoft, however, which announced its plans to purchase Activision Blizzard for $69 billion earlier this year.

Apple, take some notes from this half a MacBook concept for a future Mac mini

If you browse forums and news sites, you'll most likely come across concept ideas from users who want to give their vision of how a product from Apple or Microsoft could be.

Back when owning an iPhone was a wish for many in the early noughties, you would see concept images of iPod Videos with a 'Phone' menu, but in the same iPod body, or a design that would look similar to the bondi-blue iMac from 1997.

However, one user has gone beyond this concept idea, and removed the display to a MacBook Pro , but left the keyboard part intact.

This not only harks back to the days of the Amiga with its 2-in-1 design, but gives me the idea that this could be perfect as a replacement to the Mac mini .

An Amiga and Apple hybrid?

The Mac mini has been around since 2006, and Apple mentioned at the time that they could only do this thanks to the PowerPC to Intel CPU transition.

But with another transition in progress, Apple has repeated the same mantra, which is why we've seen a redesigned iMac and MacBook Pro so far.

While there's been efforts by others to prove that a smaller Mac mini could work for the Apple Silicon chips, you still need to have a keyboard and trackpad in order to use it.

This is why the below makes sense in the long run, instead of being an effort to go viral for a day.

This would reshape how a Mac mini could work, especially if this concept could also run on a battery if needed.

You could take this hybrid on a commute to work, and plug in the HDMI or Thunderbolt cable to start your day. This would cut down the setup you would normally have to do for a Mac mini, as the keyboard and trackpad are already there.

But this also harks back to the days of the Amiga, a PC from the eighties that allowed you to do this in a similar design.

It's one thing to look at an image, but to see someone use a snapped MacBook as if it's an Amiga 600 in 2022, makes a lot of sense.

The design can work in an age where you can easily find a spare monitor in the office and get going on some work, without also having to find a keyboard and mouse.

If this was to replace how we see the Mac mini in the near future with an M2 chip , it could be the best recommendation from me for family and friends, especially if they're looking for a new device for their bedroom or office.