If you haven't picked up one of this season's major releases yet, or just want something at a decent price to stick in the PS4/Xbox One stocking for Christmas, Target are doing their hardest to convince you that they really still like selling games.

Briefly: Players who purchased and played the Xbox One collection before 19 December of last year are starting to get their codes for the remastered ODST campaign. Folks falling outside of that window will be able to purchase the campaign separately for $US4.99 "soon".

Of all the broken video games that we were stuck with in 2014, none were as broken as Halo's Master Chief Collection, which even now, months after release, is still broken. But it's OK! You can now sign up for a beta. For an update that may or may not fix it.

In an effort to make good on the troubled launch of the Xbox One's Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Microsoft announced today that they're giving anyone who played the game some free stuff, including a copy of an upcoming remastered version of Halo 3: ODST.

There are heaps of updates in development studio 343's latest patch for the buggy multiplayer modes in the Xbox One's month-old Halo: The Master Chief Collection. Just how effective those are, however, is a bit hit or miss, according to my and some other players' experiences.

Welcome to 2014, where it is apparently unreasonable to buy a video game and expect it to work properly. One of this month's biggest culprits has been Halo: The Master Chief Collection, a compilation of Halo remakes that's been infested with bugs since it came out two weeks ago, with the most prominent problems surrounding multiplayer matchmaking.

The ability to create and tinker with custom maps in the Halo series was first introduced in Halo 3's Forge mode. Players went wild with it, creating all sorts of maps and introducing new gameplay rules to go along with it.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection has a so-called "mystery" achievement, whose description is simply "inscrutable, mysterious". The way to unlock it might seem totally arbitrary (and kinda lame), but it actually ties into a story from Halo's distant past.

Been frustrated with the multiplayer matchmaking in Halo: The Master Chief Collection? Microsoft knows it's a problem and is working to fix it.

Since the launch of 343's remastered Halo: The Master Chief Collection, many players have been reporting a laundry list of issues.

One of the major overhauls 343 planned for Halo: The Master Chief Collection was in upgrading Halo 2's cutscenes. And Blur Studios, the team responsible for remastering them, did a wonderful job.

It's launch day for the Halo: The Master Chief Collection, but players are struggling to get online to play in any of the multiplayer matches.

I remember loving the Halo series.

Although I waxed poetic on my own personal favourite Halo map -- Lockout -- yesterday, even I can admit that the most famous of all Halo multiplayer maps is Blood Gulch, AKA Coagulation. Microsoft has just announced that this classic map will be among the six, from-the-ground-up remakes for Halo: The Master Chief Collection. Blood Gulch has a new name: Bloodline.

The last Master Chief game made by Bungie came out seven years ago, long before HD resolutions became the norm for most video games. Microsoft's given it a full graphical upgrade for the modern era though. Check out what Halo 3 looks like in high-definition.

The next Halo game will launch with a massive day-one update, Microsoft announced today -- you'll have to download 20 GB worth of "features and multiplayer content" to complete the Halo: Master Chief Collection, which is out November 11 for Xbox One.

Halo: Master Chief Collection would -- in theory -- be a perfect point of entry for PC gamers who've missed out on the series over the years. So why is it, for now, Xbox One-only? And could that change?

Halo 5 won't be out until next year, but creator 343 Industries says Halo: The Master Chief Collection will offer plenty of information on the still mystery-shrouded shooter. If you can find it.