The latest iteration of the colossus Halo gaming series, Halo 4, will be released on November 6, and Microsoft is hoping to broaden the game’s reach even further by producing a webseries entitled Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn,  five 15-minute shorts leading up to the release of the sci-fi shooter.

Examiner.com reports that the shorts follow a young UNSC recruit on the UNSC Infinity who will eventually rise to the role of a leader. His story is meant to tie Halo 4 into all of the previous Halo games and the beginnings of the Human-Covenant war in a way that makes the Halo universe accessible to everyone.

The webseries will be live-action, exclusively on Machinima.com, and production has begun; happily that means we have the first pics from the sets, plus a promo pic: