Microsoft and Bungie release scenes from Halo: Reach game

spartanIt’s still about a year away from release, but Microsoft and Bungie teased the release of their next big game, Halo: Reach.

The 2.5-minute trailer is based on the opening cinematic footage for the sci-fi shooting game, which is the fifth major release in the Halo series since the first game debuted for the original Xbox in 2001. This game is going to be one of the most highly anticipated of next year, since the Halo games are on their way to 30 million in sales to date.

The multiplayer beta of Halo: Reach is set for next spring, and buyers of Halo 3: ODST, launched this fall, will receive invitations for it. The released scene hints at the story of Halo: Reach, which will be based on the first Halo novel, Eric Nylund’s Halo: The Fall of Reach. It shows Spartan super-soldiers of the same sort as Master Chief, who appeared as the main character in the first three Halo games. Reach is a planet that is wiped out, or “glassed,” by the Covenant alien invaders.

The last tease of the game was at E3 in June, so the gamer blogs are wagging tongues about the latest disclosure. There are multiple Spartan soldiers shown in the trailer, a couple with their masks off. They board some cool looking helicopters and fly into what looks like a storm of nuclear weapons.

Bungie is the Seattle-based game developer making the game. Microsoft will publish it as an exclusive on the Xbox 360 game console. The trailer was one of a number shown off at the SpikeTV Video Game Awards 2009 show this weekend.

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Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.