More than a mere bundle of previously released games, however, The Master Chief Collection is a beast of an offering brimming with more bonuses, enhancements, and extras than you can shake an Energy Sword at. For starters, each title is optimized to take full advantage of the Xbox One’s power and will run at 60 frames-per-second. So, even the series’ most recent releases – Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary and Halo 4 – will benefit from the jump to Xbox One, sporting much higher fidelity, better shadowing, reflection, and lighting effects, as well as an overall level of detail that trumps the previous console generation.

While Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 3, and Halo 4 will melt your eyeballs, Halo 2 raises the bar even further... then chucks it, javelin-style, through the heart of your high expectations. Because the Master Chief’s second outing is celebrating a big anniversary, his handlers are giving it an extra coat of awesome. All of the cinematics have received a retina-searing makeover courtesy of Blur Studios; the crazy-talented team is also applying the movie-making magic to a brand-new prologue and epilogue that sheds some light on the Chief’s forthcoming journey in Halo 5: Guardians.

Those who replay Halo 2 will also be treated to new narrative elements via story-expanding Terminals, much like those found in Combat Evolved Anniversary. Also like its predecessor, Halo 2 will see the addition of game-customizing Skulls, as well as the cool ability to swap between its original visual presentation and the optimized version at the touch of a button. Finally, Halo 2’s massive multiplayer following can celebrate the big 10 by diving into six map remakes, built from scratch for the Xbox One.

This particular content update includes improvements for matchmaking, roster, custom games, and adds Halo 4’s Spartan Ops mode. Below, you’ll find a summary of the updates that are included in today’s update.

Spartan Ops:

• Added the entirety of Halo 4’s Spartan Ops mode

Matchmaking:

• Made an update to make sure a match only starts when teams are even.
• Players will now receive a ‘loss’ when disconnecting before a round has ended.
• Made an update to include all split screen players in vote tally.
• Resolved an issue that caused players to become stuck “Joining Session.”
• Resolved an issue where players could be dropped from matchmaking after disconnecting their controller.

General Multiplayer Updates:

• Made additional improvements to Halo: CE hit registration.
• Made an update to the “Halo 2: Anniversary Career Progress” page to ensure achievements are correctly tracked.
• Fixed an issue where it took a long time to join players that are in a Multiplayer lobby.

General UI/Menu Updates:

• Made additional improvements to Roster update times.
• Fixed Halo 3 game type text when viewing saved data in “My Files”.

Halo 2: Anniversary Campaign:

• Fixed an issue where the ‘Black Eye Skull’ incorrectly prevented players from reaching checkpoints.

Campaign Playlists:

• Fixed an issue where cross-game playlists could fail to progress to the next level.
• Made several fixes to Campaign Playlist Carnage Reports.
• Fixed an issue where Halo 3 Cooperative Playlist progress would not save correctly when completing a mission.
• Made changes to ensure that Competitive Scoring and Timing are tracked correctly in Halo CE and Halo 2 Campaign Playlists.

Stats & Medals:

• Made updates to improve stat tracking.
• Fixed an issue where the “Steaktacular” medal would not be correctly awarded in Halo 3.
• Fixed an issue where the “Supercombine” medal would be incorrectly awarded in the Halo 4 Campaign.

Achievements:

• Made an update to ensure that the “Flaming Ninja Anniversary” achievement unlocks when prerequisites are met.

Control Layouts:

• Updated the Halo 2 “Boxer” Button Layout.
• Updated the Halo 4 “Legacy” Thumbstick Layout.

General Stability:

• Made several updates to improve overall game stability.

Note: We’ve seen many inquiries about dedicated server support for Halo: The Master Chief Collection. Dedicated servers have been up and running since launch, and we continue to optimize and improve connectivity. The vast majority of games are being played on dedicated servers, but in the event that players cannot connect to a dedicated server, the lobby will stay together and the match will still occur on a peer-to-peer connection. Please be aware that you may connect to the dedicated server quickly enough that you won’t see the ‘connecting to dedicated server’ dialog. The absence of that dialog doesn’t mean that you’re not playing on a dedicated server.

Speaking of fragging friends online, The Master Chief Collection features all the multiplayer content from each of the four games, including all previously released download-only maps. While sorting through this enormous amount of solo and multiplayer content might sound like a daunting task on par with fixing a Warthog flat, 343 Industries has got your back. Thanks to what they’re calling the “Master Menu,” players won’t have to hop from menu to menu when navigating this epic offering. All campaign chapters are unlocked from the get-go, so fans can use this intuitive interface to play any mission, any time, at any skill level. Multiplayer will also benefit from the Master Menu, as a variety of user-friendly, streamlined features – such as maps being broken into gameplay types – are being implemented.

The final game will also leverage this seamless UI to offer curated playlists, such as ones that, say, allow you to play through each of the four games’ final missions consecutively, or let you experience every Warthog mission in one sitting. While the prospect of piloting the Chief’s slick ride for several hours straight is exciting, it’s but just one of the reasons this collection will have you up way past the wee hours.

On top of all the tweaks and enhancements to four of our all-time favorite games, “The Master Chief Collection” also features the debut of “Halo: Nightfall,” an all-new digital series executive produced by legendary director Ridley Scott and directed by Sergio Mimica-Gezzan (“Battlestar Galactica,” “Heroes”). While details on the project are protected as fiercely as UNSC secrets, we can reveal that the series – airing weekly – will tell the origin story of an all new character that is pivotal to Halo 5: Guardians.