E3 2014: Microsoft Debuts The Master Chief Collection

The newly announced Halo: The Master Chief Collection is fan service done right. While the details will surely be sorted out prior to the game's November 11th release date, what was shown at Microsoft's press conference was more than enough to get Halo fans excited. The good news: the game will contain all the content from Halo 1, 2, 3, and 4 unlocked and playable right from the get-go. Halo 1 will be included as Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary.

For those unfamiliar, Anniversary allows players to run the game in the original format or, with the push of the back button, switch over to a more modern retouched version with improved graphics. Halo 2, another original Xbox title, will get the Anniversary treatment for the collection. No mention of any graphical changes were made for Halo 3 and Halo 4, but it was said that everything should run at 1080p and 60fps. All games will come on a single disc, and a brief glimpse of the unified single player hub shows that players can easily choose which levels they want to play across all games. Players should be able to make their own playlists or choose from premade playlists to tackle any combination of levels without having to deal with booting into each game separately.

More importantly for many, it was announced that the game will include all multiplayer maps running on their original systems. From what was said this should mean the inclusion of all DLC maps across all the games, amounting to over 100 maps. They also made it clear several times that these would also run at 1080p at 60fps, and they will be on dedicated servers. This is a pretty huge win for any fan of Halo multiplayer. With the recent disconnect of the original Xbox online support, hardcore fans have been unable to play Halo 2 multiplayer, and it would have been easy for Microsft to have just include a greatest hits version of the series' great MP maps. Kudos to Microsoft and 343 for going the distance to give fans what appears to be a nearly definitive version of Halo multiplayer. While I have some apprehension give the extremely laggy performance of Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, dedicated servers gives me hope for an improved experience, and as a loyal Halo fan I can’t wait to play some of the best multiplayer action on my Xbox One.

Also, as a great ‘one more thing’, purchasers of Halo: the Master Chief Collection will also get a buy in for the Halo 5 multiplayer beta starting in December 2014.