Rocket League

Rocket League
Developer(s):	Psyonix
Engine:	Unreal Engine 3
Platform(s):	PlayStation 4; Windows; Xbox One; macOS; Linux; Nintendo Switch;
Genre(s):	Sports

There is more information available on this subject at Rocket League (crossover) on the English Wikipedia.

Rocket League is a multiplayer sports game developed by Psyonix and released in 2015. In February 2016 the game was announced to launch on Xbox One, and with it came an official crossover with Halo exclusive to Xbox. The Xbox One edition of Rocket League comes with a Warthog-themed car called the "Halo HogSticker", with the Xbox exclusivity also including a Gears of War crossover themed after Gears' Armadillo vehicle.^[1]^[2]

Halo Hogsticker[edit]

The ''Rocket League'' on Xbox One announcement trailer, which also announced the Hogsticker vehicle.

The HogSticker is a vehicle themed after the M12B Warthog, fitted with Blamite afterburners and a fully-enclosed cockpit. It can be unlocked by playing one match with every Common body, and every included Premium body in the game's Collector's Edition. It features limited in-game customisation, accepting only the ability to change the paint colour and no ability to swap decals. The only wheels available for the vehicle are Puma wheels, a nod to the webseries Red vs. Blue, and it can only use the Blamite Overthruster.

The vehicle can be fitted with a number of antenna options including flags with the post-war logo of the UNSC (named "New Mombasa Cavaliers"), the emblem of the Insurrectionists, and the logo of the Swords of Sanghelios. A monitor (343 Guilty Spark) is also available as an antenna decoration.

Due to the Xbox-exclusive nature of the HogSticker, players on Playstation and PC who encounter Xbox players using the vehicle in crossplay matchmaking will instead see the standard Octane car.

There is one achievement tied to the HogSticker and Armadillo called "Battle of Heroes" that requires the player to "Win a game against the Armadillo or HogSticker while using the other vehicle".

Universe and lore[edit]

Main article: Project HOGSTICKER

To celebrate the release of the Warthog for Rocket League, 343 Industries Franchise Writer Jeff Easterling wrote some lore to help ground the vehicle in the Halo universe. The lore was released in a Canon Fodder article, and is presented through an in-universe communique from AMG Transport Dynamics' Special Projects Director Tyse Jenkins to Motorsport Manager Erik Burch, concerning the hypothetical "Project HOGSTICKER". In the message, Erik attempted to submit a project proposal for a racing Warthog variant fitted with Blamite afterburners - something which Jenkins denied. The message also contained nods to the RallyHog from Halo 5: Guardians' Hog Wild update and the mentioned-only M12 GT.

Blast-Off Bundle[edit]

Blast-Off Bundle antenna and wheels on a yellow team body.

Around 2017, an Xbox One S bundle called the Xbox One S 'Blast-Off Bundle' was released that contained a code for Rocket League. Once you redeemed the code for the game, you got a Rocket League code to be used in Rocket League itself for the Blast-Off Bundle that was sent to players via Xbox Live message.^[3] The code could only be used on a console that can play the Xbox version of Rocket League.

The Blast-Off Bundle included four items; two banners that were appropriately Xbox One S themed, and two alternative versions of the Halo themed items: A copper-green version of the Puma wheels called "Puma LE", and a smaller gold version of the Halo - Guilty Spark antenna called "Halo - Guilty SparkLE" that faced another direction.^[4] Like the other Halo items on Xbox, these items can't be used on other platforms. Unlike the regular Puma wheels, the Puma LE wheels could not be used on the Hogsticker body.

Gallery[edit]

The HogSticker.
Turnaround screenshots of the HogSticker.
The HogSticker in action.
The HogSticker using its afterburners.
The New Mombasa Cavaliers antenna.
The Guilty Spark antenna.
The Insurrection Rebels antenna.
The Swords of Sanghelios antenna.
A screenshot showing the "Halo - Guilty SparkLE" antenna and the icon for the "Puma LE" wheels from the Blast-Off Bundle.
Blast-Off Bundle antenna and wheels on a yellow team body.
Blast-Off Bundle antenna and wheels on a blue team body.