The Halo Waypoint Xbox Live destination is now live and freely accessible to all Xbox Live users, both Silver and Gold. However it will become a Gold-member exclusive starting on November 26, 2009.
In order to access Halo Waypoint, you’ll need to download it first and it takes up 113.8MB of space. Once installed, you’ll have access to this all-new section (channel) of Xbox Live that is completely devoted to the Halo franchise.
Here is what you can do with Halo Waypoint:
* Access the Intel section. Here you can browse information on the entire Halo universe. This includes all previous released games and even non-game-related Halo information such as info on the Halo Legends anime project.
* You can check out a sneak preview episode of Halo Legends (which releaes on February 9, 2010). Called “The Babysitter”, this anime short was created by Studio 4-C (Tekkon Kinkreet), follows a Spartan accompanying an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper (ODST) squad on a mission to assassinate a Covenant Prophet.
* You can follow your “Halo career” which tracks your progress through all of the Halo games via Achievements. It then “converts them into an overall ranking and recognition system” called Halo Career.
* You may get rewarded for your Halo Career depending on your ranking. This comes in the form of “Waypoint Milestones”. These milestones are reached and unlocked as Waypoint specific Achievements as you increase your rank in your Halo Career (i.e., play previous Halo games and earn Achievements). You can also be awarded Avatar clothes and accessories depending on your Halo Career rank. In fact, just for signing up you’ll receive a Forerunner Monitor avatar prop.
The Halo Waypoint promises to have daily-updates with exclusives and rewards, so it’s definitely in your interest to check the channel out if you have an Xbox 360.