What does TU mean in Halo: Reach?
To put it simply, "TU" stands for "Title Update". If you're wondering what's the deal with just one update, let me give you a little history lesson on Halo: Reach. When Reach first launched, it featured some pretty controversial features, the most infamous of which was Bloom. Bloom enlarged the reticle on precision weapons like the DMR with rapid fire shots, forcing players to fire slower to maintain maximum accuracy. Some fans weren't worried about the change, while fans of the more traditional Halo gameplay hated it. In an attempt to appease players, a title update was released that reduced the bloom effect and made other changes to multiplayer.
Along with the significant reduction in bloom, Halo: Reach's title update also allowed melee damage to bleed through enemy shields. In previous Halo games, melee attacks against players with a low shield drained the last remaining pieces of that player's shield and also dealt damage to their health. In Vanilla Reach, a melee attack in the same scenario would only empty the enemy's shield and have no effect on their health. TU changed this mechanic to work like the original Halo games. A few other tweaks have also been made to some Spartan abilities with TU. Armor Lock has been rebalanced and the duration of Active Camo has been reduced quite significantly.
The version of Halo: Reach in the Master Master Collection uses TU for almost all of its play modes, so these changes will be live in almost every Halo: Reach match you play. Now, if you see TU appearing in your next Reach match, you know exactly what that means.
