The Halo Nation just can't wait for 2015 to get here.

A Halo television series to be produced by the master Steven Spielberg and the eagerly awaited "Halo 5: Guardians" for the Xbox One will hit TV screens and game consoles in the fall of 2015. Now you know what you want for Christmas, don't you?

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Microsoft Corporation has just announced these twin pieces of glad tidings that should also take some gloom out of the news that Xbox One console sales skidded to 1.2 million units in this first quarter from 3.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2013.

Microsoft expects more than big things from Halo 5. Frank O'Connor, franchise development director at 343 Studios that manages the sci-fi shooter game franchise, said Halo 5: Guardians is a really big deal for 343.

"It's the next chapter in the Master Chief saga. It's also a big deal for us because of the transition to the Xbox One platform. All of the Halo games-more or less-have added something to the XBox ecosystem."

Halo 5: Guardians is all about Master Chief's journey after the world shattering events of Halo 4. When we last left Master Chief (otherwise known as Master Chief John-117), he's destroyed the Composer but has lost Cortana, his female artificial intelligence companion, in the process.

Additional plans for the Halo franchise this year will be made public on June 9 during Microsoft's presentation at the Electronic Entertainment Expo or E3, the largest annual gathering of the gaming industry.

Halo 4 for the Xbox 360 broke all gaming industry records by earning $300 million in its opening week in 2012. A live-action digital series, "Forward Unto Dawn," was released together with Halo 4. Pundits widely expect Halo 5 to break these records.

Halo is a multi-billion dollar military science fiction video game franchise centered on the combat adventures of Master Chief and Cortana. The word Halo refers to the Halo rings, which are large, habitable structures created by the Forerunners (an extinct, ancient civilization) to destroy all sentient life.