Halo 3 Revealed!
Tuesday, May 9, 2006, 1:00 P.M.—Minutes ago, the first footage of Halo® 3 was blasted onto the Microsoft® press briefing screens to a drooling audience in Grauman's Chinese Theater.
You can watch the Halo 3 trailer HERE, or hop onto Xbox Live® Marketplace and download it now.
Special guest speaker Bill Gates was on hand to unleash a blistering two-and-a-half minute trailer for the most-anticipated Xbox 360™ game on the planet. No doubt the blogs, press reports, and podcasts are launching by the minute with impressions as you read this.
The trailer started out with what appeared to be the ashes of Earth, remnants of street signs swaying in the wind. Out of the haze walked the most realistic looking Master Chief ever imagined, assault rifle in hand. Flashes of a familiar face cut in and out through static to set the stage for what appeared next.
Once the familiar Halo theme started, the scene panned out across a large valley revealing Covenant ships hovering over the surface as a massive structure blasted out of the ground below.
The final words ... “This is the way the world ends” were followed by the call to action “Finish the Fight—2007”. Our mouths are still wide open in awe at how amazing the trailer looked.
The first game in the series, Halo®: Combat Evolved, offered instant legitimacy to the original Xbox® console when it launched in November 2001. Microsoft and Xbox had hit upon their mascot: a hero boasting iconic battle armor, cloaked in critically acclaimed gameplay, known only as Master Chief, and prepared to usher in a new age of gaming.
Halo accomplished what all publishers strive for, but few achieve; it broke through into pop culture and became less a product than an identifiable brand. Microsoft and Bungie Studios (Halo developer) had their instant flagship franchise. More importantly, they chose not to instantly cash in but instead develop the franchise with a focus on unparalleled quality, not quantity.
The massive buildup for the sequel helped Halo® 2 break not only gaming industry records, but shatter much-touted Hollywood box office records as well. Even the strategy guide for Halo 2 spent time on the NY Times Best Seller list, solidifying the release as not only momentous for the console, but as a cultural event as well.
Hype, buzz, and sales notwithstanding, Halo 2 was used to set the benchmark standard for Microsoft's still fledgling Xbox Live service, with innovative Web integration, matchmaking, clan support, downloadable content, and dynamic game types that could be tweaked and refined on an ongoing basis by developer Bungie.
The promise of Halo 3 is not just a stellar new entry for Microsoft's blockbuster franchise, but also the ability to set standards for the rest of the industry by incorporating and redefining the best features Xbox 360 has to offer. Halo 3 is the next big push, the true second wave for Microsoft's next-gen console. If you don't believe us, just take a look for yourself!
