More and more video games are turning to live action shorts to serve as commercials in the months leading up to release. Perhaps the most notable was the Halo:ODST trailer last year, but there were also shorts for Assassin’s Creed II, Alan Wake, and Ghost Recon:Future Soldier. We can now add another to the list for Bungie’s latest and last Halo project, Halo:Reach.

The Reach short will debut tomorrow night at 9PM PST. The short, which was directed by Noam Murro, details the story of Carter 259, the Spartan squad leader you’re sent to control for the title’s campaign. More specifically, you’ll get to see how Carter evolved from your average marine into a suited-up badass Covenant killing machine.

Keep an eye on Bungie.net for more updates.

As with the last several Halo titles, Reach already has some “leaked footage.” It gets the quotes because really, it could be fake. It could be viral marketing. It could even be leaked footage, but whatever the case, this thing is questionable.

The video opens on the boot screen, which features this message:

Welcome to the Halo: Reach Public Beta, the experience you are about to enjoy is an early sample of a few multiplayer and single-player levels from Halo: Reach, launching exclusively on Xbox 360 later this year. Until then, drive [sic] into Activities or Campaign and have a blast.

The text is pretty sloppy, which makes me lean toward the fake side of the boat. The video also leaks a new mode called “Murder Mode” that supposedly allows you to kill enemies without being seen. I could have sworn that was the bludgeon to the back of the head move. Also, why would it be called “Murder Mode?” Why not call it a “Murder Skill,” unless it allows you to become invisible for an extended period of time, which really isn’t so different from the Arbiter’s cloak skill in Halo 3.

Check the full video at Xbox Evolved.

A couple of interesting job postings went up for Microsoft this week, including positions for both Project Natal and Halo development. Don’t worry, fanboys, those are separate positions. No one’s diluting your competitive gameplay just yet.

The Halo listings are for designers, AI developers, animators, and a multiplayer game design lead. The Natal listings didn’t specifically mention a game or IP for the position, but at least one mentions “a large franchise.” That could mean, well, anything. Another of the Natal positions is for “an excellent next-generation” type thing, which again could be anything, just probably not something we would have seen or heard anything about.

Joystiq got in touch with Major Nelson to confirm that the posts are real. They are. That’s all he would say.

It’s hard not to think of Halo 3:ODST as the expansion it was first billed as. Sure they’ve added a load of features, and there’s even a mini-game now. But the game is really just an extension of a story that’s already been finished, a tale with an ending. Bungie’s committed to the title – in fact, they’re not even willing to talk about Halo:Reach.

Bungie’s community leader Brian Jarrard spoke at PAX this year regarding both releases. “Obviously right now what we’re excited about is the impending launch of ODST, so we don’t want to totally start talking about next year’s model before this one’s even off the assembly line.” Alright, so he doesn’t sound that committed to the current title, does he?

I don’t blame the guy. I realize Halo:Reach has the same problem I mentioned above – a story that’s already done – but it’s far enough removed from what I consider a trilogy’s timeline that it’s also entirely different.