In their most recent livestream, 343 Industries laid out a number of updates and tweaks they have in the works for Halo 5: Guardians, Halo: The Master Chief Collection, and Halo Wars 2. While most of these tweaks are multiplayer focused or centered around visual enhancements to these titles to make them look better on the forthcoming Xbox One X, there was one co-op friendly piece of news with Halo Wars 2: it soon will support cross-platform play.

We're coming to the close of September, which means Fall is officially kicking off. Next month is the appropriate time to start putting up Halloween decorations AND NOT THE BEGINNING OF AUGUST, CONVENIENCE STORES!!! Anyways, there are a handful of co-op title releases this week, like Cuphead and Total War: WARHAMMER 2, as well as the arrival of the SNES Classic and the final DLC for Nioh.

Not to be outdone by Steam, Microsoft kicked off their Ultimate Game Sale last Friday with deals on 350 titles, many of which can be played cooperatively, like Gears of War 4 or Halo Wars 2. This sale ends on Monday, July 10, so you still have some time to take advantage of these savings.

Oops! Looks like ole Atriox done kicked up a nest of the Flood. Halo Wars 2 will be getting an expansion this fall that includes new campaign missions, new multiplayer leaders, and, oh yes, a new Firefight mode.

Last week Microsoft was running a "Backwards Compatibility" sale for their weekly "Deals with Gold," meaning you could pick up a bunch of older Xbox 360 titles for cheap. This week, they're offering discounts on some of their first-party title, including Halo 5, Gears of War 4, and Halo Wars 2.

The second bit of DLC for Halo Wars 2 arrived last week. Similar to the first, which added a new USMC leader and a few units to the game, this content expands the roster of leaders available to you in the Blitz and Firefight (and other multiplayer) modes with a new leader and a few new units.

Early on in Halo Wars 2, I kept getting the feeling that I had lived this all before in an almost dream-like way. I played through campaign mission after mission, trying to shake the feeling and find my 'Ah-ha!' moment that would set the game apart, letting me tell my friends and associates of the special moments I wanted to share with...

Boy, January was a quiet month and February has started the same way, but in a mere two weeks we get one of the year's behemoths; Halo Wars 2.  Microsoft are not shy in promoting their exclusive titles and they prove generous again with their new launch trailer for the game.

During last night's Game Awards, Microsoft and 343 Industries showed off a new trailer for the upcoming Halo Wars 2 that put a little more focus on the Brute, Atriox, you'll be going up against in the campaign. They also made a surprise announcement that Halo Wars: Definitive Edition will be releasing on PC and Xbox One, and you can get it early if you pre-order the Ultimate Edition of the sequel.

During this year's E3, Microsoft revealed the "Xbox Play Anywhere" program. This program allows players to buy a digital copy of select Xbox One titles and also get it through the Windows 10 store to play on PC (or vice versa), and it also maintains your progress on both platforms so you can pick up and "play anywhere." A few of these Play Anywhere titles are now available for pre-order on the Windows 10 store, including Gears of War 4 and Halo Wars 2.

Set after the events of the last major Halo game, Halo Wars 2 continues the story of the UNSC Spirit of Fire and its crew. In the latest video teaser, we see them awakening to a new threat and a whole new galaxy.