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Halo 5 confirmed for 2015, Halo Master Chief Collection out in Nov

343 Industries confirms a remastered version of its previous four games will be out before Halo 5: Guardians, which debuts in 2015.

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Roger Cheng (he/him/his) was the executive editor in charge of CNET News, managing everything from daily breaking news to in-depth investigative packages. Prior to this, he was on the telecommunications beat and wrote for Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal for nearly a decade and got his start writing and laying out pages at a local paper in Southern California. He's a devoted Trojan alum and thinks sleep is the perfect -- if unattainable -- hobby for a parent.
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Halo makes its annual appearance at Microsoft's E3 conference. Josh Miller/CNET

Before Master Chief takes on another mission, he's getting a remix.

Microsoft announced "Halo: The Master Chief Collection," which is a remastered bundle of the previous four core "Halo" titles, would launch on November 11. While a beta for Halo 5: Guardians would be available by the holiday season, the game won't debut until next year.

Aside from a few exceptions, the selection of videos for the next-generation systems has been underwhelming, and Microsoft --whose Xbox One lags behind the PlayStation 4 in sales -- needs a catalyst. There are few video game franchises with the kind of weight that Halo carries with the gaming community, and it could be the shot in the arm that the Xbox needs.

Bonnie Ross, presenting for developer 343 Industries, said Halo 5 would be about the Master Chief's "journey, past, and future," and hinted that the game would embrace its history and roots.

Along that theme is the Master Chief collection, which allows gamers to get all four of the Halo games on the Xbox One.

In addition to the game, 343 also announced "Halo Nightfall," a live-action series introducing a "pivotal character" that would play a role in Halo 5.

Go here for CNET's full coverage of the E3 video game conference.