In a recent video promotion for the new all-digital Xbox One S, Microsoft showed off a sliver of split-screen gameplay for Halo 5, as the video’s audio states “They were playing Halo in conference room 4-B,” despite the title not supporting that particular feature. After this story broke, Community Manager Brian Jarrard of 343 Studios took to Twitter and wiped up the speculation in a tweet saying; “Sorry to disappoint but no, splitscreen isn’t being added to Halo 5. The footage in question looks to be a little bit of good old fashioned creative liberty in the editing bay.”

I remember a time...long, long ago, when local couch co-op ruled as king. This was a time when high-jacking the controller or punching the arm of an unsuspecting sibling or friend was a steadfast tactic for victory. In this glorious age, triumphant cheers of victory and shrieks of udder defeat bellowed throughout crowded college dorm rooms everywhere. This was a time when split-screen came standard in Halo titles.

Halo 5: Guardians launched as what was arguably the weakest co-op experience for the series. Despite supporting four player co-op in the campaign, the game lacked local couch co-op for the very first time in any Halo game on Microsoft's console. Combined with the missing Firefight or Spartan Ops co-op mode, players were very limited in the time they could spend with their friends in a non-competitive setting.

The fans asked for it, and it's nearly here. The co-op friendly Warzone Firefight will be added to Halo 5: Guardians and available for all to play very soon.

Microsoft is offering up some big discounts on a slew of co-op titles for the Xbox One and the Xbox 360. From now until May 9, you can snag Halo 5: Guardians for just $44.99, Gears of War: Ultimate Edition for $27.99, and Ryse: Son of Rome for $17.99. If you're an Xbox Gold Member, you'll get an additional 10% off that price.

The new Warzone Firefight mode for Halo 5: Guardians, which was rumored earlier this year and formally announced last month, is available to play for a limited time. No need to sign up anywhere or download something, just go fire up the game on your Xbox One, head over to the multiplayer section, and you should see the option to play in the Warzone menu.

Fans of the Halo series may recall a particularly fun horde mode in Halo 3: ODST called "Firefight." Unlike many other games with similar features out there at the time, what made this one so special was the inclusion of the Halo Skull modifiers, which would change things up a bit every five rounds. Folks (ourselves included) have been clamoring for this beloved mode to return, and it looks like we'll finally get our wish soon.

One of the biggest features of the latest Halo title, Halo 5: Guardians, is the team vs team Warzone. This new multiplayer mode pits two teams of 12 against one another to capture strategic points and score points in a very "DOTA-esque" fashion. Currently, this is a strictly PvP affair, but some of our readers have alerted us to 343 potentially being interested in opening it up to PvE.

On Monday night I was invited to be a guest on the Gamertag Radio podcast, a truly excellent podcast that has over 500 episodes and 10 years of experience covering gaming culture. Both GTR and Co-Optimus are part of a special group of sites picked to look at Alienware's upcoming Steam Machine which launches on November 10th.

This one goes firmly in the rumor category, but a recent interview with Frank O'Connor from 343 made it sound like a PC version of Halo 5: Guardians could happen. So if you don't own an Xbox One, there may be hope you'll have a chance to team up with Locke, Buck, and the rest of the Scooby gang as they hunt down Master Chief.

We break down Halo 5: Guardians co-op play as a compendium to our review. If you've followed the series there's a lot "missing" here including couch co-op play, a separate co-op mode like Firefight, and LAN play. Read on for the details. 

While both salmon and tilapia are kinds of fish, they are distinctly different in both taste and texture. The same can be said about video games. There are genres of games that have simply defined themselves as a distinct place within it. While they are still first person shooters at heart, we often describe a game as like DOOM, like Call of Duty, ...