Halo: CE Anniversary armed with Kinect

One of Microsoft's key announcements during its 2011 Electronic Entertainment Expo media briefing was Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary. Due for release on November 15, the Anniversary edition is an HD update of the Xbox original, including a remastered campaign, Xbox Live co-op support, and seven bundled multiplayer maps.

In addition to the previously announced features, Microsoft Studios has confirmed for GameSpot that the title will support the Xbox 360's motion-sensing add-on, Kinect.

"As a first party, we believe that Kinect will be important to all genres of games, be it racing games with Forza, combat games like Ryse. Even games like Halo Anniversary has Kinect integration," Microsoft Studios head Phil Spencer told GameSpot. Unfortunately, Spencer did not expound upon how Microsoft's games studio would be integrating Kinect into the Bungie-created Xbox classic.

"It's no surprise we're exploring ways Kinect can enhance game experiences in authentic and meaningful ways," a Microsoft representative said in a statement. "The Kinect features we're exploring with Halo: Anniversary are additive and will not affect the core gameplay experience or alter our mission of delivering a faithful re-creation of the original game. That said, we have nothing else to share just yet."

News of Kinect integration into Halo: CE Anniversary isn't entirely unexpected. As part of a separate E3 interview, Spencer told GameSpot that it is not a mandate that all first-party games integrate with Kinect but, "in the end" all Microsoft Studios titles will make use of Kinect "in some form."

See the video below for GameSpot's full interview with Spencer from this year's E3. For an idea of what to expect from Halo: CE Anniversary, check out GameSpot's review of the original.