As reported way back in the mists of time - OK, 2007 - the much-anticipated Halo movie has been long jettisoned into the ether. Costs may have been prohibitive for the feature-length version Neill Blomkamp and Peter Jackson worked so hard on, but Microsoft and Machinima have found a way into the game's vast world in a five-part web series that will launch later this year. Check it out for yourself in the new trailer recently debuted at Comic-Con.

"I wanted to bring a sense of reality and gravity to the world," explains the series' director Stewart Hendler, who promising to stick faithfully to the game's detail and legend. "Everything from the performances to the aesthetics should be tethered to a sense of authenticity and grittiness."

As its title hints, Forward Unto Dawn acts as a prequel to Halo and introduces the game's big bad - theocratic aliens the Covenant - and the cybernetically souped-up human super-soldier, Master Chief, sent to do battle with them.

The first episode will go live online on October 5. Further eps will be posted each week until Halo 4 is released.