With the remastered version of Bungie's classic Halo serving as the first entry in the PC debut of Halo: The Master Chief Collection - playable now for all Xbox Game Pass subscribers. Nine years after its original debut, Halo: Reach now supports an updates 4K 60FPS presentation and a suite of visual updates and options for those playing on PC.

As per below it looks impressive.

Experience the heroic story of Noble Team, a group of Spartans, who through great sacrifice and courage, saved countless lives in the face of impossible odds. The planet Reach is humanity’s last line of defense between the encroaching Covenant and their ultimate goal, the destruction of Earth. If it falls, humanity will be pushed to the brink of destruction.

Microsoft have also brought the game to Steam, and it's available as a separate purchase for those without Xbox Game Pass. As part of today's launch Microsoft has also announced that the next release coming to PC will be Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary in early 2020 - with Halo 2: Anniversary, Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST (Campaign), and Halo 4 to follow. All in 2020.

We finally have a somewhat belated review of Halo: Reach up due to a bit of lag in actually getting the game, but we handed review duties over to AusGamers' own Shufti, who is somewhat encyclopaedic about the series.

Not content with just offering up a review of yay or nae, Shufti delves deep into what's different this time around, breaking fundamental parts of game up into segments that make up his whole review, by which at the end, if you haven't already been through the game yourself, you should be able to surmise if this last Bungie Halo title (for the next decade or so), is for you you.

Click here for the full review.

Anyone who managed to nab an early retail copy of Halo: Reach will have to say goodbye to any in-game credits earned, as Bungie plan on resetting the credits when the game is officially released on September 14.

"Don't get too attached to any fancy new gear you might have already acquired," wrote Communications Manager, Eric Osbourne, on the Bungie Forums. "Consider any expenditures or investments you've made in the Armory the cost of doing business early. It's nothing personal; we just want to make sure the playing field is kept nice and level upon launch. It's only fair."

Sounds about right to me.

Let's keep the movie theme moving forward on AusGamers today, with yet another live action short for Halo: Reach; essentially teasing us about what might have been had everyone settled on the project (though in saying that, if it had happened we might not have ended up with the awesome District 9).

We have the latest live action Halo: Reach teaser, "Remember where it all began... remember Reach", a phrase set to remind (or educate) people that Reach is a prequel which sets up the events experienced in Combat: Evolved. Either way, this video is pretty awesome.

Watch it embedded below, or click here to download it.

The Halo franchise has been rife with early release issues thanks to a series of leaks and broken street dates throughout its history. Today it has been revealed Halo: Reach has been leaked via Xbox Live as a copy of the game had been posted for reviewers with a price tag of 99,999 MS Points (obviously so no one could buy it).

Turns out a few clever people worked out how to pull it down for their own means, overcome some security within the game, and get to playing Bungie's last Halo effort. So if you're a Halo fan, you might want to start being wary of news and forum posts, as it's highly likely we'll be seeing spoiler material.

Microsoft are aware of the situation and are investigating how it happened, and ways in which to stop the leak going any further.

Taking cues from the multiplayer connection side of things, Bungie have revealed they're offering a similar system to linking players together for Halo: Reach's co-operative campaign mode, offering a full matchmaking service to allow players to search for their friends, instead of having to launch the game together.

It's a simple fix to an issue many had with Halo 3 co-op team-up system for the game's story campaign, and obviously a welcome one. In typical Bungie fashion they revealed the feature thusly in the midst a Weekly Update:

Totally Unrelated Question 4: Can I haz Campaign Matchmaking?

Totally Related Answer: Yes.

Now you can quickly search out good players when you hit annoying bottlenecks mid-game. Win win really.

We have two new trailers for the fast-approaching Halo: Reach, Bungie's official last Xbox 360 exclusive before they move onto newer pastures with Activision.

"Vidoc #4 A Spartan Will Rise" introduces us to Noble Team. It's a little bit cheesy in its delivery but at the very least shows off the game's renewed (and rich) visuals, and gives a taste of the multicultural aspect of your Halo: Reach team (a bit of a rarity in shooters).

"Halo: Reach Patrol", is a bit of a live action bonus for Halo fans out there - it's a fairly stylish spin on the game's story, but doesn't offer anything special in the way of story or the like.

• Halo: Reach "A Spartan Will Rise" Trailer
• Halo: Reach "Patrol" Live Action Trailer

Halo: Reach will actively reach into the stats and habits of players to monitor performance, or more so, a forced lack thereof. Players who engage in "rage-quitting", an act that involves being smashed during multiplayer, raging at being inadequate or incapable, and quitting midway through the match, will be monitored and if said quits are of a habitual nature, chances are Bungie will have your number.

"We actually have new tools now to detect that and eventually, people who do this habitually will actually be penalised," Bungie Community Manager told Xbox 360 Achievements. "We want to be able to remove them from the population so they can't make everyone else keep having a bad time."

As the worldwide release date of September 14 2010 creeps ever-closer, Bungie and Microsoft Games have released a new trailer promoting the hotly anticipated Halo: Reach. Titled "Battle Begins", the latest clip takes a peek at Noble Team's epic planetary battle that will serve as the game's single-player campaign narrative.

This is officially Bungie's last title under Microsoft Game Studios as they signed a 10-year development/publishing deal with Activision that has everyone wondering what's next on the cards. One thing's for sure though, it won't be another Halo title.

Watch it now, right here on AusGamers.

Speaking with MTV Multiplayer, Bungie's community manager Brian Jarrard has revealed that the team considered a number of Halo options before settling on the prequel, Halo: Reach (which takes place before the events in Halo: Combat Evolved) stating "up to and including a proper 'Halo 4', where Master Chief was going to wake up from cryo-sleep and we were going to tell that story."

If you're as bored with Master Chief as I am, their about face to Halo: Reach was definitely good news, and Jarrard promises the game will definitely tie things up for fans, but won't confuse newcomers.

"By the end of this, it's all going to come to a nice, neat finish," he said. "And if people want to then go play the Halo trilogy, I think they'll have a better understanding of what's going on, but it's not required at all."

Halo: Reach is due to land in September.

Microsoft have finally let us know when Bungie's last (known) Halo project will be within our grasp, citing a worldwide release of September 14 (Europe, North America and, of course, Australia), with Japan following one day later. That's really not too far off in the grand scheme of this year's release schedule.

Halo: Reach has been enjoying a rather successful online Beta, with owners of Halo: ODST being given unhinged access to the multiplayer, while a further 800,000 or so managed to nab Beta keys, rounding the Reach populace out to more than 2 million players, making for some seriously reaching data collection (sorry :P).

Bungie, of course, most recently signed a 10-year deal with Activision, actually very much likely making this their last Halo foray, for the next decade at least.

Microsoft's press company in Australia let us know yesterday about this cool-sounding new video en route to promote Halo: Reach. Unfortunately, they weren't able to hook us up with it. Argh.

This week is the premiere of “Birth of a Spartan”, a live-action short directed by award-winning director Noam Murro. “Birth of a Spartan” is a stirring depiction of the transformation of Carter 259, the future leader of Noble Team in “Halo: Reach”, from an ordinary young man to a superhuman Spartan warrior.

The highly classified bio-augmentation procedure is a Spartan candidate’s final and most difficult ordeal before joining the ranks of the legendary soldiers. The dramatic interpretation of Carter’s rebirth as a Spartan embodies the themes of courage, sacrifice and honour in “Halo: Reach” and gives viewers a unique look into the origins of a central character in the upcoming blockbuster game.

After debuting on welcometonobleteam.com (which might be of interest also), we've got the trailer up now for your viewing pleasure.

The high-def video goes for around one minute (not a whole lot happens, but it sure is purty) and shows the sort of production values you can accomplish with a live action game promo when you have a little company like Microsoft on your side.

Halo aficionados are probably following the development of Halo: Reach like cats on catnip, but for the unconverted out there, we recently sent out a non-Halo lover to a hands-on play session with Halo: Reach's all-new multiplayer mode, which ups the ante in terms of combat, engagement and tactical play over its predecessors.

With a stern critical eye, Chad Drake took on the challenge, and apparently immediately succumbed to the allure of the all-new jetpack, likely instantly converting him. But, he does point out some other cool features as well, that might help you make a decision about whether to get in on this or not.

Click here for the full preview.

It's Halo: Reach day here on AusGamers, with a brand new trailer for your viewing pleasure, a forthcoming hands-on preview with the game's multiplayer, and Microsoft's morning reveal of two limited edition bundles for the game.

One of the biggest games of 2010, "Halo: Reach," is getting the ultimate collector's treatment it deserves. Limited and Legendary editions of "Halo: Reach," packed with exclusive content are now available for pre-order starting today at participating retailers.

Halo: Reach Limited Edition

• Game disc housed in recovered ONI "black box"
• Exclusive Elite armour set for use in multiplayer modes
• Artefact bag containing Dr. Halsey's personal journal and other classified documents and effects that unravel long held secrets from the "Halo" universe

Halo: Reach Legendary Edition
The complete "Halo: Reach" collection. In addition to the game disc, manual, and the complete contents of the Limited edition, the Legendary edition includes:

• Noble Team statue expertly crafted by the artisans at McFarlane Toys. Individually moulded, hand-painted and individually numbered, this statue is a must-have for any serious "Halo" fan
• UNSC-themed custom packaging
• An exclusive multiplayer Spartan armour effect

There's no word on pricing other than closer to the game's release we'll know the score, but we're also reminded the beta for the multiplayer will kick off on May 4th. Stay tuned for the AusGamers hands-on treatment shortly. Check out screens of the bundles right here.

You can grab the new trailer locally from AusGamers too or watch below:

Bungie and Microsoft Games Studios have released another gameplay trailer for the upcoming Halo Reach, this time promoting the promised multiplayer beta.

Invitations to the beta will extend to owners to Halo 3: ODST and will be accessible through the game itself.

The gameplay footage in today's trailer was captured from an alpha build of the game of features a variety of multiplayer game modes. Watch it right here on AusGamers.

The beta is set to kick off on May 4th 2010, preparing for a retail release "in the second half of 2010", exclusively on Xbox 360.

I can honestly say, until I saw this trailer I was a bit cautious of Halo Reach, after all, Bungie had apparently walked away from the series, but for some reason they kept walking back in, and as a result, it started to seem like they were reaching beyond their creative means - or maybe just tired of the IP altogether.

Thankfully today's developer diary shows off a much more advanced game engine, some ambitious gameplay goals and reveals new information (such as the game being "sandbox"), all reiterating a clearly rejuvenated Bungie behind the wheel of their beloved franchise.

Click here for the full video, or just watch the embed below.