Eight weeks. Fifty five days. One thousand, three hundred and twenty hours - that's all we have left before Halo: Reach bears down upon us. And with the latest instalment in the 27 million plus selling sci-fi series just a few thousand hours away, it's time for the Microsoft PR machine to kick into a higher gear, and whip the general public into a frenzy. And for us, it's working.
Continuing the trend of recent years, with every new Halo game comes a whole range of Halo-related accessories, and Halo: Reach isn't going to disappoint in that regard. Coming with a range of Halo branded headsets, controllers, and even consoles, there's plenty to spend your money on... and we almost definitely will be.
Halo Reach: Limited Edition Console
Intergalactic toaster
First up is the Limited Edition Halo Console - a custom decorated version of the Xbox 360 slim. Coming with all the standard 360 slim features, including a 250 GB hard drive, built in Wi-Fi, a special port to make it easier to connect to Kinect (try saying that quickly) and a quieter fan, the console's been painted up to make it look almost like a prop out of the game. Not only that, but the machine will also come with a custom dashboard, that replaces the normal 360 dashboard menu sounds with effects lifted from the game. Two matching, custom decorated controllers, a specially decorated wired headest, round off the hardware side of the bundle, but there's yet more to come. Also including a standard edition copy of Halo: Reach (boo!), the package also comes with a download code to let you download some Limited Edition Armour for the game's Elite (alien bad guys), and an episode of Halo: Legends.
As we're sure you can see, you get a lot of stuff for your money, and at a price of just £249.99, there's every reason to pick this up - especially if you've managed to resist buying a slim so far.
Halo: Reach Limited Edition Controller
£40 worth of controller. You'd expect it to be made out of actual silver.
Of course, if you've already got a slim Xbox 360, or just don't fancy plumping up again for an entirely new system, you can still customise your Xbox with a range of branded accessories.
Being the kind souls they are, Bungie are releasing the Halo: Reach controller on its own. Available from the 3rd of September, for a price of £39.99, the pad even comes with a token to let you download a Covenant Banshee (a ship in the game) avatar item, which is nothing if not a nice touch.
Halo: Reach Limited Edition Wireless Headset
And, of course, if you're looking for a more Halo-related way to discuss co-op strategies with your friends - or yell at your more rebellious friends for interrupting an otherwise fine co-op campaign, you'll even be able to buy an limited edition wireless headset.
Weighing in at a still rather pricy £34.99, the headset comes bundled with... absolutely nothing, which seems a bit of a letdown after the cool extras the others have included.
With a brand new console, controllers, headset, and even three editions of the game to choose from, there'll be plenty of ways to customise your game of Halo: Reach this September. And with just a few thousand hours to go, you'd better get deciding which ones you want.
Available only at GAME and Gamestation, you'd better get your pre-orders placed as soon as possible, as stock is apparently "very limited". Although quite how limited it is remains to be seen.
