Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary is likely starting public tests in January

343 Industries says it's planning to bring the PC version of Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary into public testing in January.

Referencing Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, 343 wrote in a blog post that "If work continues on its current trajectory, we are looking good to start flights in January," reminding the Halo community to sign up to the Halo Insider program. "Flights" is how 343 refers to alpha testing, which is only available to Halo Insider subscribers. 

Halo: Combat Evolved was the very first game released in the Halo franchise, and the Anniversary edition was the first game developed by 343 Industries after taking over from Bungie. Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary was first released in 2011 on the Xbox 360 and later ported to the Xbox One as part of The Master Chief Collection.

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Halo: Reach released on PC this month as the first in The Master Chief Collection chronologically. Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary is the next in line, to be followed by Halo 2: Anniversary, Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST Campaign, and finally, Halo 4. 343 Industries expects to have each of these games available to PC gamers in 2020.

If you've been playing Halo: Reach on PC and suddenly found yourself locked out, you might've been banned. 343 says they're dropping the "banhammer" for a variety of reasons to ensure "that players have a positive, fair, and safe experience playing MCC online." The studio highlighted three ban-worthy offenses, which you can check out below:

"AFK & Macros 

• This has been and will remain a bannable offense. For now, we have only issued temporary bans based on the egregiousness of the offense. We will continue to monitor this behavior and take enforcement action as needed. 

Coordinated XP Boosting 

• This is a bannable offense and falls under category of unsociable and unsportsmanlike behavior. Many, if not all, of the reports we have received on these involved various forms of bullying, hate speech, intimidation, and betraying against players who joined a match and did not want to participate in the XP boosting activity. This is not behavior that we will allow or tolerate in any way and we encourage players to continue to report instances of this happening so we can investigate. Also remember to mute other players and on Xbox, you can ‘block’ and ‘report’ players who violate the Xbox online code of conduct. 

Firefight Suicides 

• Intentionally suiciding in Firefight in an effort to exploit XP gains is another bannable offense and falls under the category of unsociable and unsportsmanlike conduct. Reports of this behavior will be investigated, and punishments will be issued if found true."

With the rest of the Master Chief Collection coming to PC next year, it's an exciting time to be a gamer. Here are the best upcoming games of 2020 and beyond. If you're still looking for all the Halo: CE collectibles, take a look at our Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Skull and Terminal Guide.