According to a recent blog post on Halo Waypoint, the first beta for Halo: Reach on PC from The Master Chief Collection will be released in the last week of June “if everything goes according to plan.” This will not be a massive test phase where everyone interested in playing will get a shot, however. The beta will only be open to a small group of players who’ve locked in a chance for an invite by registering to be a Halo Insider.
In the blog, 343 Industries goes into more detail about why its chosen to approach the first Halo: Reach beta this way.
“We’re starting more modestly because we’ve got quite a few levers to pull and we want to ensure our delivery pipeline runs smoothly, our communications are clear, and that participants can properly provide their feedback on the build,” 343 Industries said. “Since there are so many pieces and levers that need testing, verification, and appropriate approvals, we need to take our time to ensure we’re sending out a quality flight to our Halo Insiders.”
Hands-on with some PC Halo was expected earlier this year but was delayed because the ports to PC needed a bit more work. Microsoft has been playing nice with PC gamers by bringing Xbox experiences to them via the Xbox Game Pass and one of the highest profile releases is getting tested before launch. E3 2019 attendees had a chance to play the PC version of Halo: Reach from The Master Chief Collection and those who weren’t able to try it then will get another opportunity sometime next week.
If you don’t make it into this first test, the developers have not shared when a second opportunity will come around. This is likely because a second wave will be heavily dependent on how stable 343 can make the latest build with the small group that’s being allowed to access it this first time around. If you don’t get in or need something to play up until the invites go out, you can try out games like Metro Exodus, Wolfenstein 2, and Imperator Rome with your Xbox Game Pass for PC.
The Call of Duty franchise has held a special place in my heart ever since I played my first Black Ops game back in 2010. That game's campaign was something else, with twists and turns that culminated in a mind-blowing finale. We can all admit that compared to those older campaigns, the recent CODs have been lackluster at best, and a complete and utter disappointment at worst. The reboot of Modern Warfare did give me some hope, as the first two installments were actually quite good, but the third game left such a bad taste in my mouth that I wasn’t exactly expecting much from Modern Warfare 4.
After recently finishing the campaign, I can say that this installment is nothing like the recent releases and instead feels closer to the franchise’s roots. For the first time in a long while, the campaign comes across as well-crafted rather than rushed to hit a release date. It arrives three years after MW3, and you can see exactly where all that time went. It seems the studio finally made listening to player feedback a priority.
Epic Games has just announced the 2026 Epic AI MegaJam, which is looking to see how much game development can be squeezed into a very short window. This is running from November 12 through November 15.
Participants can work alone or in teams of up to five people, build in Unreal Engine or Unreal Editor for Fortnite, and bring along “as many AI agents as you want.” Epic explicitly encourages coding agents, AI-generated assets, audio tools, writing tools, and other AI systems. The official event page literally says "Vibe your way to $50k.”
It’s turning into a pretty good time to be a Monster Hunter fan who plays on a phone. Capcom has confirmed that Monster Hunter Outlanders will launch on Android and iOS on October 29, giving the series a new mobile-first game just as Monster Hunter Rise is also preparing to make the jump to smartphones through Netflix.
Outlanders is being developed by Tencent subsidiary TiMi Studio Group under license and supervision from Capcom. Unlike Rise, which appears to be the full console and PC game adapted for mobile, Outlanders is a free-to-play survival hunting game made specifically for phones.