the game takes place 21 years prior to the events of Halo: Combat Evolved. Much effort was spent on developing a control scheme that was simple and intuitive, unlike other console strategy games. The game was announced at X06, and released in February and March 2009. In October 2017, 343 Industries developed and released a virtual reality demo title in partnership with Endeavor One called Halo Recruit. In 2018, 343 Industries partnered with Raw Thrills and PlayMechanix to develop a coin-operated arcade game called that was released in the later part of 2018, with Round1 USA and Dave & Buster's arcades releasing first. Alternative reality games Alternative reality games have been used to promote the release of Halo games, beginning with the Cortana Letters, a series of cryptic email messages, circulated by Bungie prior to Halo: Combat Evolveds release. I Love Bees was used to promote the release of Halo 2. The game revolved around a website created by 42 Entertainment, commissioned by Microsoft and endorsed by Bungie. Over the course of the game, audio clips were released that eventually formed a complete five-hour story set on Earth between Halo and Halo 2. Similarly, Iris was used as a viral marketing campaign for the release of Halo 3. It featured five web servers containing various media files related to the Halo universe. Cancelled projects Several spin-off titles were planned or rumored for the Game Boy Advance, Gizmondo, Ultra-Mobile PC, and Nintendo DS. Microsoft announced an episodic video game to be developed by film director Peter Jackson's Wingnut Interactive in 2006. The game, Halo: Chronicles, was ultimately cancelled as part of budget cuts tied to job layoffs in January 2009. Ensemble Studios developed a Halo-themed massively multiplayer online game, often referred to as Titan Project, or just Titan. The project was cancelled internally in 2007–2008, without a formal announcement from Microsoft. 343 Industries announced a free-to-play Halo multiplayer game for Windows PC, Halo Online, in 2015. The game launched with a closed beta test limited to Russia that year. The title was developed with Saber Interactive using modified version of the Halo 3 engine, and published by Innova Systems. The project was cancelled in August 2016. Players modified the game to circumvent the region limitations and add new content after the project's official cancellation. The "ElDewrito" project saw legal takedowns from Microsoft for violating its game usage rules. Despite this, ElDewrito's