Microsoft launches Xbox Halo bundle

Three days after dropping the Xbox's price by $30, Microsoft is giving gamers a new reason to purchase its console. Late today, the company unveiled a "limited-edition retail special," which bundles the the award-winning, Bungie-developed shooter Halo with a translucent green Xbox and S-controller for $169.

Besides being $10 cheaper than the $149.99 console and the $29.99 game's normal combined price, the Halo bundle offers an added incentive for gamers to purchase it. Microsoft is only releasing 200,000 boxed sets, which are already on sale. "We expect collectors, as well as those who have been waiting for the right time to purchase their Xbox systems, to jump at this unique opportunity," said Xbox Marketing Chief Bill Nielsen.

Branded with the Halo logo, the console is the same color as both the debug kit Xboxes used by Microsoft game testers and the limited-edition console issued in Europe last year. It is the first time a nonblack Xbox has been released to the US public. In addition to the green Xbox, Europeans were treated to a clear "crystal" Xbox earlier this year, while in Japan, Microsoft released two colored consoles--a blue Dead or Alive-branded Xbox and a white limited-edition one.