More photos of the lovely Xbox 360 Limited Edition Halo 4 console, and the thought process behind it

When Microsoft and 343 Industries officially unveiled the Xbox 360 Limited Edition Halo 4 bundle at San Diego Comic-Con earlier this month got a generic product image and the contents of what it'll include.

While sufficient at the time, it hardly did justice to just how magnificent this new custom console is going to be. To further emphasize its beauty, 343 Industries' Jessica Shea shared some new photos of the Halo 4 console and the elaborate design process it went through.

"We started off with a few different concepts, but most of them were Forerunner in direction. What was interesting about this process was looking both at our universe for inspiration – as well as the fabrication, material, and tech processes that had become available to us," Shea began. "Figuring out what we could do and how those manufacturing and painting techniques could apply to the unit was a completely organic, two way process."

"There were dozens of iterations with hundreds of changing elements, but it’s kind of a continuum of progress and refinement," she explained. "We landed on the final design as we went through all of the goals – create a Forerunner-themed object that differed significantly from prior consoles (which is why we ended up with translucent gray plastic – in part to differentiate from the simple metallic finish of the Reach console, which would have been an obvious direction otherwise)."

She furthered: "Unlike some of our “historical” Forerunner stuff, we wanted this to feel new, alive – and functional. And specifically, military. Forerunner stuff has typically felt abandoned, and while this still maintains an element of mystery, it also feels organic and vital in a way our previous monolithic Forerunner stuff has not. An interesting note here is that there are a couple of features you simply can’t see in photographs – including paint and finish on the interior of the console, a touch that provides a subtle depth and detail like insect wings, and the inclusion of blue LEDs on the power button and the jewel on the controller."

Enter the transparent case.

"The transparent case does a couple of things – the simplest of course is creating a translucent Xbox for collectors – “metallic”, “weird surfaces”, and “translucent” are all popular ‘mod’ schemes for things like custom PCs and consoles, historically. Secondly (and actually more importantly), it speaks to some of the materials and objects you’re going to encounter in the game."

Shea added: "The main inspiration comes from an important object in the game that you haven’t seen yet, and while it’s not a literal recreation of that object, having it grounded in the heart of our story was always the number one factor driving our design process – even if it had ended up as a UNSC-themed object (as did one of the controllers) that would have been a prime driver."

In the post, you can also learn more about the concept behind the Forerunner and UNSC-themed controllers, as well as the custom audio sounds the Halo 4 console will make.

The Xbox 360 Limited Edition Halo 4 Console Bundle comes with two exclusive controllers, a copy of Halo 4, a wired headset, a 320GB hard drive, and Xbox LIVE tokens for exclusive Halo 4 in-game and avatar marketplace downloadable content. It will be priced at $399.99, but you do have the option of purchasing the standalone Halo 4 Limited Edition UNSC-themed wireless controller for $59.99.

The Halo 4 Limited Edition bundle is available for pre-order today, but for now, enjoy these high-quality photos of this gorgeous piece of machinery. For those of you who already purchased their bundle, I apologize for teasing you with these.