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'Halo 3' headlines group of four classic Halo titles set for backward compatibility

Brad Jones
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While Halo fans might be disappointed that the series isn’t receiving a new FPS installment in 2017, 343 Industries has offered up some good news as part of its Halo Summer Celebration. Before the end of the year, four games from the franchise will be added to the Xbox One backward compatibility list.

Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, and Halo 4 are all set to be supported over the coming months, according to a blog post on Halo Waypoint. Physical Xbox 360 versions of each game will become compatible with the Xbox One, and digital copies will be added to the Xbox Store.

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Of course, all these titles are already playable on the Xbox One via the Master Chief Collection, which launched alongside the hardware back in 2014. Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, Halo 3, and Halo 4 were all a part of the package from the start, while ODST was added at a later date as DLC.

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That being said, the Master Chief Collection was marred by technical issues, many of which went unfixed despite several patches issued by 343 Industries. Many fans of the series might prefer to have access to the original versions of each game in order to avoid any inconsistencies.

The backward-compatible versions of these games also have the capacity to support LAN parties, for players who want to relive the days of Halo multiplayer before Xbox Live. Any configuration of Xbox One and Xbox 360 consoles can be networked together to support large parties of players.

What’s more, 343 Industries plans to make every DLC map pack for each of the four games available for free via the Xbox Store. It’s clear that the studio is making every effort to reignite the series’ multiplayer community — which might suggest we’re likely to see our first glimpse of Halo 6 over the coming months ahead of a 2018 release.

No timeline has been given on when these games will be added to the backward-compatibility list, other than the general window of before the end of 2017. 343 Industries will be on hand at the RTX Austin 2017 convention to show off Halo 3 and Halo 3: ODST running on the Xbox One.

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Brad Jones
Brad Jones
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Brad is an English-born writer currently splitting his time between Edinburgh and Pennsylvania. You can find him on Twitter…
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