halo : reach

Give Road Trip tips, get Halo beta codes

Update (Saturday, 8:40 p.m.): All the Halo:Reach codes are now spoken for. Thanks so much to all who made so many great suggestions.

You know you want them.

I'm sitting here at my desk with 10 Halo: Reach beta codes burning a hole in my in-box. And I want to give them to you.

But I need your help in return.

In late June, I'm going to be leaving on Road Trip 2010, my fifth-annual journey around a region of the country, reporting and writing on and photographing some of the most interesting destinations the … Read more

Bungie unveils Halo: Reach special editions

If what you've really been missing is a 10-pound, 10-inch statue of the Noble Team, the team of fighters that are the heroes of the hotly-anticipated video game Halo: Reach, then don't fret. Your time is coming soon.

Mere mortals may scoff at the need for such a collectible, but true Halo fans know that those who end up with these icons are going to be the envy of the many who can't get their hands on them. Thankfully, everyone will have the same chances of ending up with one.

On Thursday, Microsoft and Bungie unveiled the details of the Halo: Reach "limited" and "Legendary" editions, both of which are now available for pre-order and will be released sometime this fall. As previously reported, the Halo: Reach beta will begin on May 3. The game will be an Xbox 360 exclusive.

The limited edition, which will cost Halo fans $80, includes the game disc and manual, as well as a game disc "housed in recovered ONI 'black box;'" an Elite armor set that players can use when they're in multiplayer mode; and an artifact bag with the personal journal of Dr. Halsey, as well as "other classified documents and effects that unravel long-held secrets from the Halo universe."… Read more

Microsoft X10 conference wrap-up

After a four-year hiatus, Microsoft held its X10 conference this week in San Francisco primarily to announce a bunch of release dates for some notable 360-only games due out this year. The company also flexed its exclusivity muscles by showing off some content that'll only be available on Xbox 360.

We've got all the highlights from the event below, along with all of the show's debut trailers in the video playlist to the right.

Halo: Reach: No solid release date for the game, but Halo 3: ODST owners can get a taste of the title's multiplayer … Read more

Halo: Reach to go into multiplayer beta on May 3

SAN FRANCISCO--If Master Chief means something to you, then get ready. The Halo: Reach multiplayer beta will open up on May 3.

"Reach," as it's being called, is the latest iteration of the hugely popular Halo franchise for Microsoft's Xbox 360. The game is expected to ship sometime this fall, but before that, "millions" of Halo fans will get a chance to play the game and help its developer, Bungie, get the title ready for the masses.

Just this week, Halo: Reach entered private alpha, and on May 3, fans who already have Halo: ODST will be able to access the Reach multiplayer beta using their ODST discs.

For Microsoft and Bungie, Halo: Reach is a crucial title this year. The Xbox has been performing strongly over the last year, but Sony's PlayStation 3 has finally begun to make up some ground on it over the last few months. For Bungie, the game is an opportunity to take on the success of Activision's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which has set records as the best-selling console game of all time.

According to Bungie creative director Marcus Lehto, Reach is a standalone prequel to the existing Halo series, offering fans of the hit franchise an entirely new story and new characters on a scale unlike what Bungie has done with the game before.

Lehto explained that Reach will have a much darker story line and will focus on a "key turning point in the Human-Covenant War." Halo: Reach takes place in 2552.

In the new game, the planet Reach is humankind's last line of defense against the Covenant. But the planet is also home to the Spartan program, the heart of the human military. The game focuses on one group of Spartans known as Noble Team, led by Carter 259. … Read more

What is Halo Reach's 'Super Secret Game Mode?'

Twice a year, Halo creator Bungie holds internal competitions called pentathlons where teams play Bungie video game titles, as well as offline game classics like Pictionary and Hacky Sack. Bungie calls it a "celebration of gaming" for Bungie employees.

On Wednesday, Bungie wrote a blog post discussing this year's Winter Pentathlon. Included with all the other titles participants will play, the company included the latest installment in the Halo franchise Halo Reach, which is scheduled to hit store shelves later in the year.

Typically, a mention of an upcoming release in a Bungie pentathlon wouldn't matter. … Read more

E3 Game trailer: Halo Reach

Developer Bungie is continuing the Halo universe with Reach, set to release in 2010. This teaser-trailer premiered at the Microsoft E3 2009 press conference.