Screenshot by Fyrewulf.

Co-op Night Is Wednesday at 9 EDT

Cortana is admiring the "sun" while Master Chief is checking his weapons, but this scene of domestic bliss is short-lived. The Didact is docked close by, and they want to have a word with him.

A note about this week's game. Where practical, on co-op nights we like to kill everything and play in every area. No skipping play areas on Shutdown, okay?

This week's battle plan:

• Shutdown
  
• Legendary
  
• Tough Luck, Thunderstorm, and Mythic (fun skulls and Tilt optional)
  

If you haven't yet, be sure and send a friend request to Coop Night on XBL. This will help me organize teams.

Battle Notes

I enjoyed playing the Reclaimer level--lots of vehicular mayhem. From reports, it was better without Tilt, and I got to be a gunner for a bit, which is one of the joys of playing co-op. Didn't dig the acid rivers, though.

Here are the stats from last week:

Team Kermit

Team Snipe

Team JDQuackers

Team Revenant

JediMattFoley joined us for the first time, and was part of JDQuackers' Team (along with Bones), which ended up being the most cooperative, with only 42 kills separating the highest and lowest number of kills. I had the most assists with 40, but Bones was close with 36.

Co-op Night FAQ (V5.1)

Why co-op?

I like playing with other people--especially people from the bungie.org communities. We all love inhabiting other worlds and kicking alien butt. Co-op Night gives us to chance to do this while also enjoying each other's company and maybe getting to know each other better than we might when we're trying to shoot each other in the face.

What will we play?

A level of the Halo 4 campaign each week until we're done.

Why only one level?

There's no limit to what you can play. The battle plan is just a starting point. If you want to continue to play the next level, that's fine, but personally, I’m about savoring one level per night. Simply put, Co-op Night is about having a night where if you show up, it's assumed you are interested in co-op with community members, and you’re committed to playing through one level.

So there are no rules?

Not really, but the goal is to milk as much fun as possible out of each mission, and for the most part, this means full path Halo, appreciating the story, killing everything, avoiding glitchy shortcuts, and saving the galaxy with style while leaving piles of dead enemies in our wake. In other words, this is not high speed Halo. Co-op night is about teamwork. On co-op night, assists count as much as kills.

How will teams be formed?

Here's how team formation on co-op night works.

1. Send a friend request to the gamertag Coop Night on XBL. (You can also send a note to Kermit7, but friends of Coop Night get invited first.)

2. If you're online at the designated time, I assume you have an interest in co-op and invite you to my party.

3. If and when we have a full party (or multiple parties), we play a short custom Free-For-All game and the results will serve as our randomized team list. I'll assign team leaders, and we'll count off four starting from the top.

4. The party leaders leave to form their own Xbox Live party, inviting their assigned teammates (usually the two to three names under them in the last game results). Then the co-op game begins!

With luck, this process shouldn't take more than 10-15 minutes.

But what about my friends?

You have friends? Congratulations! Gathering a party to play co-op should be easy whenever you want. Quit your bellyaching, soldier! You've got a job to do. Co-op night isn't about playing with the same old people you always play with. It's about playing with the bungie.org community, and maybe forming new friendships and bonds forged in brightly colored blood.

Kermit

cc: DBO