For Halo fans, the time has finally come.
Ever since the earth-shattering cliffhanger of Halo 2, Halo fans have stood waiting for the sequel, wanting anything, from a confirmation to Halo 3, to explanations about why Halo 2 ended like it did. I don’t believe Halo 2 ended abruptly for any other reason other than, in 2003, Bungie realized the Xbox would not be able to handle what they wanted to do, and then decided to do Halo 2 as sort of an interlude to the real Earth battle that they have envisioned from the start. We got a little tease of it in the beginning of Halo 2, but it is not what the Halo 2 posters show, and I would know, I have several. The Halo 2 posters show an orange tinted Earth sky, and hundreds of Covenant cruisers overheard. That is what I believe we will see in Halo 3 finally, after all these years.
On May 9th, it’ll be exactly one year, six months since November 9th, 2004, and ironically, Microsoft’s pre-E3 Press Conference is May 9th. Bungie Studios (the developers of Halo) do not have a booth at E3, and if the rumors right now are true (and every credible source is saying they are, including this very site) Microsoft will show off a 2 minute trailer of Halo 3 during their Press Conference. I expect Microsoft will put that trailer on Xbox.com & the Xbox Live Marketplace, and I’m sure Bungie will have it over at their site too. My guess would be Microsoft won’t say a word about Halo 3 for the rest of E3, and let it’s more soon to be released games have the spotlight on the show floor, but everyone will know what happened during the Press Conference, and will know, that Halo 3 is finally confirmed, and is coming.
The Halo 2 - Volume 2 Soundtrack finally came out just under a week ago, a soundtrack Halo music fans have been waiting for, also since November 9th. Along with that is the Halo Graphic Novel which is set to release this summer. There is no better time than now to announce and confirm Halo 3’s development than now, if not only to hype those two products, but to also help Microsoft in the hype war against Sony’s PS3.
I don’t think Halo 3 will be out this year though, I believe the earliest will be March 2007, but Halo 3 could come out anytime between November 2006-2007, no one knows how much Bungie has done, but according to the Weekly Updates Bungie has been giving out, they have a lot of stuff done and working, so a release date is very up in the air right now, I think the Halo movie could have a bit of an affect on it as well, as I’ve always believed they will use the movie and Halo 3 to hype each other up, and make 2007 the “Year of Halo“.
This is the time Halo fans have waited for since the moment those credits started rolling at the end of Halo 2, and in just over a week, we will see what we have waited so long for. I never thought it would be 18 months before we had a confirmation of Halo 3, but it has been, and now it’s time.