If you’ve held off on the Xbox One, a new bundle from Microsoft might justify the wait: You can now purchase the Halo: The Master Chief Collection Bundle—which combines an Xbox One console with four Halo game titles—for just $350.
There are, of course, a few gotchas.
First—as always—is availability: the Halo: The Master Chief Collection Bundle is available only in the United States and “select markets.” Microsoft says it will be sold, starting “in March,” at “local retailers.” It is available from the Microsoft Store online now as well.
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Second, this is the base Xbox One console, meaning it doesn’t include Kinect. What you get is the console with a 500 GB hard drive, a single wireless controller, and a headset.
But this deal is a good one, especially for Halo fans. And with the Halo: The Master Chief Collection, we seem something I’d love to see from Activision for Call of Duty: a way to play favorite games from the past, which in this case span both the original Xbox and the Xbox 360. As its name implies, this collection includes all four of the Halo games that have starred the iconic Master Chief character: Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, Halo 2: Anniversary, Halo 3 and Halo 4.
“Halo: The Master Chief Collection allows fans to play all 45 campaign missions, plus more than 100 multiplayer and Spartan Ops maps, in 1080p at 60fps,” Microsoft notes. “The bundle also comes with access to the new live-action digital series from executive producer Ridley Scott, Halo: Nightfall. This jam-packed offer gets you four great games in one bundle, and provides tremendous value for fans of Halo and the Master Chief.”
And to be clear, the Halo games are available via download, which is either good or bad depending on how you feel about such things. It’s a massive download: According to my own Xbox One, the collection occupies a massive 62 GB on disk. Yikes!
Game on.