Microsoft Announces $500 1TB Xbox One ‘Halo 5’ Bundle With Custom Sound Effects

I'm the first to proudly admit I'm a PC man. Normally when I hear about "customized" gaming consoles my first response is "Hey, every PC I've built is customized." But there's something special about Microsoft's newly announced Xbox One Halo 5: Guardians Limited Edition 1TB bundle. 

No, snarky reader, it's not merely the $500 price tag. 

Microsoft's limited edition Xbox One console, which releases this October a week prior to the launch of Halo 5: Guardians, sets my hardware lust (an internal meter which dictates how much cash I'll irrationally spend with complete disregard for logic or budget) into overdrive. It boasts a design "inspired by UNSC technology" and is accented by metallic blue trim. Augmenting the custom experience is a matching controller and Halo-themed system sound effects. 


Of course it wouldn't be complete without the game itself, and the bundle ships with the Limited Edition of Halo 5: Guardians (pictured above). You'll get a Steel Book, a bunch of in-game items like the FOTUS-class armor and Warzone REQ bundle, and a special multiplayer emblem. The cool stuff is always physical, like the Guardian model by Metal Earth, and an item called "Spartan Locke's Classified Orders." It all gets rounded out with a digital copy of the animated series Halo: The Fall of Reach, and -- in the package's only peculiar move -- a download voucher for the game inside said Steel Book. If I'm spending $500, I wouldn't mind a disc, but I guess the 1TB hard drive Microsoft includes is roomy enough for that download. 

[Update: Fans of old-school physical media will have an opportunity to trade the voucher for a disc copy of the game, according to Halo Waypoint.]

Halo is Microsoft's flagship Xbox franchise, so complimenting it with a customized Xbox One console is sure to involuntarily extract money from fanboys like me. It's a cunning move by Microsoft, as this particular console may be the entry point into the new-generation Xbox console for potentially millions of Xbox 360 players waiting for the opportune time to jump in. 

By the way, this system launches around the same time Xbox One gets its free Windows 10 update. Are you crossing your fingers for some exclusive Cortana commands?