Final Halo: Legends Episode Coming on January 2

Microsoft is announcing that it plans to release a new episode of the Halo: Legends anime series on January 2, 2010. The last piece of the saga is set to be delivered on the Halo Waypoint Xbox Live area for exactly 24 hours and gamers will have a first chance to see it before the whole series is launched on a DVD in February 2010.

The new episode, which is called Origins, will show fans of the series Forerunner forces as they go up against the Flood that is driving them back.

The episode is set to link the past with the present and offer more insight into the main events of the Halo videogames and background for the upcoming Reach title, which might very well be the last game in the series for a while.

Halo Waypoint will also host a special behind the look segment related to Halo: Legends on January 9, 2010. The people at Studio 4oC who have worked on the series will be able to share their thoughts on their work and will talk a bit about how the series will progress in the future. Before the DVD release, which is coming on February 16, fans will also be getting a sneak peek at the second season of the anime.

Microsoft and Bungie are again collaborating on Halo: Reach, another title in the series that will show how the Spartans fought against the Covenant in the first huge battle of the war and will detail how they were almost wiped out. From the initial trailer for the title, it seems that Reach might actually be squad-based, a first for the franchise, and that players will not be controlling the Spartan who will become Master Chief. The game will probably arrive in time for Christmas 2010.