Well kids, looks like your anxious waiting and thumb-twiddling has come to an end. Microsoft has confirmed that Halo 3 will be released with a date of September 25th of this coming fall for North America. Europe will have to wait an extra day. Sorry Euros.

This announcement comes mere hours before the official beta release of the game early tomorrow morning. Three editions have also been said to be made – the regular edition for normal price, the Limited Edition for $10 more, and the uber Legendary Edition for the ungodly price of $129.99 – all of which can now be pre-ordered. So save up, all you Master Chief wannabees. Despite the fact you’ll still be waiting a decent chunk of time, this should still prove to be an interesting trip.

Bungie.net: Finish The Fight: September 25

I’ve already spoken of the pure excitement I have over the forthcoming Half Life Orange Box, but this trailer in particular is quite entertaining. The art style is perfect for a game. While Valve has the best visuals in the industry for rendering regular people, the highly animated look of Team Fortress 2’s players is reaching Pixar levels. Yeah I’m saying it. We’re out of that glass eyed uncanny valley of Spider-Man 3 visuals and squarely into spirited animated movie territory.

Ultimates 2 #13 comes out this week. I’m telling you this, because I can see how you might miss it, or not even be expecting it. If you’ve been buying the series, then – much like me – you’re probably more than a little relieved to be seeing it end. I’m not even looking forward to it. I’m just looking forward to being done with it. So, now for something I am looking forward to…

X-Factor #19
written by Peter David, art by Khoi Pham

Peter David has been toiling along on this title, diligently writing interesting stories and absolutely wonderful character interactions, despite getting shafted with a rotating cast of artists that won’t stop. A recent high point of David’s work on the book includes leader Jamie Madrox (AKA, the Multiple Man) accidently bunked up with both M and Siryn on the same night, after getting drunk and hooking up with one, while a somewhat horny multiple of himself went to bed with the other.

This issue, unfortunately, will likely be a little light on such shenanigans. However, it does seem to be working hard on story points. I will warn you – the stories David tackles deal intimately with the fallout of House of M (“No more mutants”, remember?) and Son of M (Quicksilver can use crystals from the Inhumans to give former mutants their powers back – if you missed it, consider yourself caught up. Oh yeah, and he’s a little crazy now). If you have zero interest in the subject matter, this is still a pretty great book. It’s really well written, and it’s a great example of why a Peter David book is generally a pretty sure bet. And if you do have an interest in the material, then I can’t really imagine why you wouldn’t be reading this book already.

That said, last issue tied up a kind of meandering storyarc where Jamie was out collecting rogue multiples of himself (one had become an agent of SHIELD, one had become an agent of Hydra, one got himself shot to death by a bunch of cops right in front of him, and so on, and so on), so this issue should be kicking right into story material. Don’t be a jerk; jump on now and catch a great book before it’s gone.