Live action commercials and shorts were used to promote Halo 3, ODST, and Reach, so it is of no surprise to see another one. What is a shock is series protagonist Master Chief will appear. We may never get that big budget Halo movie, but the Sparan II armor shown in this video looks pretty good.

Expect the series to run online starting in October.

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The Covenant you thought you’d stopped at the end of Halo 3? They’re not done yet. If anything the survivors have an axe to grind with John 117 for taking away their great journey.

The on stage demo from the floor of Microsoft’s Xbox 360 E3 event starts with a live action short showing the launch of the UNSC Infinity, the largest ship ever constructed by man and intended to be a peaceful ship for exploration. On the surface of an unknown planet, Master Chief and Cortana watch this ship barrel over head ready to crash. As Chief treks to catch up, you’ll see Halo 4’s new Heads Up Display, now with Cortana’s face displayed when she talks to you. After taking out a small Covenant scout party, Chief runs into a nasty bunch of Forerunner AI. He’ll pick up a new Forerunner rifle and a Forerunner shotgun, both of which disintergrate enemies.

The demo ends with Chief surrounded by these Forerunner AI, and then a quick montage of scenes from other parts of the game. Cortana was put into service 8 years ago, and UNSC AI only have a lifespan of 7 years. She’s dying and going crazy, and some voice from beyond announces “I have long dreamt of this day, Reclaimer.” Reclaimer is the title given to Master Chief by the Forerunner AI in the first Halo game, when it was thought he was activate the ring and eliminate all life in the galaxy.

As part of a promotional effort from Microsoft, several sites (including Powet.tv) were sent out part of a large ‘Halo 4’ image, split into 32 parts.

I got the email less than a half hour ago, but enough other fans and blogs got it that a forum goer from NeoGAF was able to stitch them all together.

What appears to the left may well be the box art for Halo 4. Behind the crouching Master Chief is the UNSC ship Forward Unto Dawn, broken in half from the event of Halo 3, is being sucked into the maw of the mysterious monster planet we saw in the E3 trailer last year. Also along for the ride are a few Covenant ships and who knows what else behind that fire and debris.

This next image transcends implications into an outright leak. This is the card back to one of the Halo 4 action figures. The first wave has Master Chief, an Elite Zealot, a Grunt Storm (whatever that means!) and a Red multiplayer Spartan.

Advertised as Wave two is another Spartan, Cortana, and two new characters: The ‘Crawler’ and the ‘Watcher’ with images of each. They’re kind of hard to see, since they’re toys and the images isn’t the best to begin with. Hopefully these new enemy classes mean we’re officially beyond The Flood as late game enemies. The Flood did not appear in ODST or Reach.

Halo 4 will launch on November 6 in North America, and is available for pre-order now. More news is expected soon, during E3.

Master Chief or Commander in Chief? If you’re in the US, thats what you’re facing on November 6, as Microsoft will be launching the first chapter in the next Halo trilogy, Halo 4. This day also happens to be Election Day, with national and local offices including the Presidency on the ballot in all states and territories.

Halo 4 is still pending a rating, but is expected to be rated “M” like others in the series. M rated games are available to those age 17 and up, while those 18 and up are eligible to vote. Just a friendly reminder to vote by absentee ballot if you’re planning to attend a midnight launch and spend all night playing.

Halo 4 is on the cover of the next issue of Game Informer (see image) and many details from the interior article are already online. Expect the Covenant to return in reduced numbers, a Forerunner planet, and a new faction that will challenge players beyond previous games.

The video starts with the closing cinematic from Halo 3, so spoilers beware if you managed to not complete that game since the last time Earth had a leap day.

The designers and producers at 343 Industries walk through some of the changes to the Spartan armor and do reveal that multiplayer features the next generation Spartan IV equipment. Master Chief himself was (or is?) a Spartan II, and much of the Noble team from Reach were Spartan IIIs. 343 were not kind enough to talk about armor abilities, but it does seem that dual wielding is gone for good.

Only a small fragment of campaign footage appears, and they’re not revealing the enemies just yet. We’ll probably have to wait until E3 in June for more answers.

Franchise director Frank O’Conner says every comic, book, and additional content released around Halo over the last 4 years has been building up to this.

“Reclaimer” is a term used by 343 Guily Spark in the original game, “Halo: Combat Evolved.” Master Chief John 117 was charged with activating the Halo super weapon, but its vague use in the series may imply John specifically or any human or Forerunner who manipulated a Halo, The Ark, or a Shield World. This might sound all like gibberish to anyone who didn’t play Halo, and I can assure you its almost gibberish to me, and I’ve played all the games multiple times.

In any case, the concepts seen in the teaser seem to imply a lot more Forerunner structures and new planets will be explored in the new trilogy. Hopefully we’ve seen the last of the Flood, though. And the last of the Brutes. I could do without Skirmishers as well. You know what, lets just halo Halo 4 with all Hunters and Grunts! Yeah!

Below, hear some of the creators at 343 Industries talk about taking Halo into future. [Read the rest of this entry…]