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.

The next time you log into Halo: The Master Chief Collection, you will be prompted to download the latest content update, which focuses on ranking, matchmaking penalties, stability, as well as game-specific improvements for each title.

Additionally, 343 Industries are excited about the progress of the Relic multiplayer map remake and the Campaign for Halo 3: ODST, both of which are on track to release within Halo: The Master Chief Collection next month with our next content update. Look for more details next month, including the final map name for the Relic remake, release date and more. To hold you over, here’s a few brand new screenshots, complete with desktop wallpaper links:

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.

A summary of what is included in today’s update:

Ranking

• Made a variety of improvements to ranking consistency and penalties.
• Resolved an issue that could cause a player to rank down excessively, such as dropping multiple levels after a loss.
• Resolved an issue that caused a player’s rank to appear incorrectly.

Based on these improvements and updates, we’ll be resetting ranking for Halo 2: Anniversary, and separately, will begin to roll out ranks to additional playlists soon (we’re aiming for the next day or so), starting with the addition of ranking to the Team Slayer and Halo Championship Series playlists. We’ll be actively monitoring the ranking system across these playlists over the next few days to ensure that everything is working properly before adding ranks to additional playlists.

Quitting & Betrayals

• Added new quit and betrayal penalties to matchmaking:
  • In ranked playlists, quitting a match is now treated the same as a loss. Quitting is defined as exiting the game in any fashion. If you quit a match, your ranking will be impacted, and this may result in dropping a level.
  • All quits and betrayals are being tracked automatically, and action is being taken against offending players who commit these offenses more than what is considered normal behavior.

Halo: CE

• Resolved an issue that was causing off-host players to deal more damage than the host in peer-to-peer custom games.
• Updated Derelict to include the Rocket Launcher when selecting the “Classic” weapon set.
• Made improvements to vehicle weapon accuracy.
• Resolved an issue that caused incorrect bullet and grenade collision with an invisible object on the map Derelict.
• Update the “Boxer” controller layout by switching the “switch grenade” and “throw grenade” buttons.

Halo 2 Classic

• Resolved a hitbox issue where shooting an enemy’s weapon from the front would not cause damage.
• Corrected the matchmaking Team Ball respawn modifier from “Inheritance” to “None.”

Halo 3

• Updated Halo 3 Forge to include editing for all game types.
• Made significant improvements to Halo 3 audio, specifically in regards to weapon fire and sound effects.
• Made improvements to Halo 3 multiplayer networking stability.
• Made improvements to Halo 3’s controller “deadzones.”
• Resolved issues that were causing Halo 3 multiplayer stats to not track correctly.
• Resolved lighting and shading issues occurring on the “Sandbox” multiplayer map.
• Resolved an issue where the “Begins with a Single Step” achievement did not unlock correctly.
• Resolved an issue where the Golf Club object did not appear correctly in Forge.

Halo 4

• Resolved an issue where Primary Weapons could display in the Secondary Weapon slot after removing the Firepower Tactical Package.

Parties

• Made improvements to voice chat consistency, specifically in team-based matchmaking games.
• Resolved an issue where a player may not hear another player via voice chat after completing a game.
• Improved party functionality, specifically in regards to game invites and joinable states.
• Increased the speed at which the roster populates with Xbox Live friends after completing a game.
• Resolved an issue where players could get stuck on the “Leaving Matchmaking” screen for longer than usual.
• Resolved an issue where players were unable to join immediately after becoming Xbox Live friends.

Achievements

• Resolved an issue that caused "The Guardians Are Coming" achievement to not unlock correctly.
• Resolved issues that caused complications with Spartan Ops achievements unlocking.

UI, Stability & Misc.

• Made a variety of improvements to UI throughout the title, specifically in regards to notification messages and stability.
• Improved Playlist and Campaign Career Stats tracking for Halo 2, Halo 3 & Halo 4.
• Made a variety of significant improvements to stability throughout the title.