As part of the current 360 preview program, I’ve been given early access to Halo Waypoint. Like the new features for the dashboard update, Halo Waypoint is a separate downloadable module, found on either the My Community or Games Marketplace tabs; and once installed can be activated from your Games Library.

The main difference between this and the other preview features (Twitter, etc.), is that Halo Waypoint will show up on your gamercard. While there are no unlockable achievements or gamerscore, Halo Waypoint does contain a host of Avatar awards; some of which are dependant on achievement progress within the three separate Halo titles.

Its simple interface offers two options at first; Intel, and Career. The Intel section has everything you would expect; the latest Halo related news, community screenshots, and archive with information on the games and books that have been released. I expect the archive will also fill up after launch with older news stories, as they’re pushed from the main “What’s New” list.

The Career section is split down further into Career Milestones, Waypoint Awards, and Achievements categories.

The combination of gamerscore and achievements from all three 360 Halo games (Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, and Halo Wars) are added together to form your Career Milestones. Currently there are 40 milestones, however it is expected that this number will increase as new Halo games, and Halo DLC, is released.

Waypoint Awards are groups of achievements based around certain themes. These include the use of special weapons to kill enemies, or completing the campaigns of each game. These awards show up on your Halo service record, and have multiple tiers. Though gaining a few tiers on an award may seem easy, it will require the use of all three titles to achieve the highest ranks available. A further challenge for those who want to show they’re the best of the best.

The Achievements section speaks for itself. It’s a simple list of achievements from all Halo games, making it easy to see which ones you’re missing for your Career progression, and those all important Waypoint Awards.

It’s great to have everything all in one place, and even better to see that Halo Wars has been have incorporated into the mix as well. However it’s limited. While Halo Waypoint has pretty much everything that most Halo fans will need, it doesn’t really offer much that the Bungie site doesn’t already contain.

It’s important to note that Halo Waypoint is still in its early days (this is after all, a preview), and with the promise of the animated Halo shorts (Halo Legends) becoming available to stream via Waypoint, its future looks bright.

Halo Waypoint will become available for all Xbox LIVE members on November 5th.  A gold subscription will be required, however a trial peroid will be available for silver subscribers.