Hot on the heels of Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary‘s arrival as part of Halo: The Master Chief Collection, the FPS game’s developer 343 Industries has some exciting news: the first batch of Halo 2 and Halo 2: Anniversary beta tests begin today.

That’s according to 343’s community support and engagement coordinator, Tyler ‘Postums’ Davis on Twitter, who says: “PSA: All Ring three blockers have been resolved at this time for Halo 2 and Halo 2: Anniversary flighting to begin on Friday, April 17. We will let folks know when buttons are being pressed for invites to roll out. Stay tuned to get tactical Marines!”

“Flighting” is what the studio calls beta tests and “ring three” refers to players who’ve joined the Halo Insider Program – a community of players who can sign up to get the chance to test the Halo MCC games in testing and provide feedback to the devs. 343 runs public flights with “specific goals, meaning not all Insiders will be selected for every flight” – but the signups are free to everyone, and if you make sure your settings are “are complete and accurate”, you’ll increase your chances of scooping a place.

If you are given a place, you can expect an invite to land in your inbox sometime today. If not, the studio provides MCC development updates on its site here so you can still keep up with the latest changes ahead of the game’s arrival.

PSA: All Ring 3 blockers have been resolved at this time for Halo 2 and Halo 2: Anniversary flighting to begin on Friday, 4/17. We will let folks know when buttons are being pressed for invites to roll out. Stay tuned to get tactical Marines! — Tyler “Postums” Davis (@343Postums) April 16, 2020

Given it’s just entering public testing, there’s no set Halo 2 or Halo 2: Anniversary release date to scribble down on our calendars yet, but the game’s Steam page says it’s “coming soon”. Fingers crossed “soon” means “in 2020”.