Halo 3 = Forerunner? Or elaborate April Fool’s joke?
While Halo 3 rumors have been around since the second after Halo 2 launched, the latest round of rumors may surprise you. And let me be clear…these are indeed rumors, with some basis of fact, and more than likely a whole lot of April Fool’s joke thrown in for good measure.
Word is rapidly spreading around gaming sites on the net that the announcement of the next Halo game appears to be imminent; however, if you were expecting a sequel to Halo 2, then you might be in for a surprise.
The weirdness started at the press event held in New York for the Viva Piñata announcement, where the general manager of Microsoft Game Studios, Shane Kim, said, “We’re not here to talk about the mythical Halo 3, as I call it. We’ll be talking about anything we’re doing in the Halo universe – whether that’s Halo 3 as I call it or anything else – at the right time. That time will be soon.”
So, it sounds like he said the announcement for the next Halo game is indeed imminent, and most folks guess this will be at E3 2006. But doesn’t it also suggest it might not be the sequel that everyone expects? What is he suggesting? Is Bungie is working on more than one game set in the Halo universe? Is the third game in the “Halo series” not a direct sequel to Halo 2?
While Halo 3 rumors have been around since the second after Halo 2 launched, the latest round of rumors may surprise you. And let me be clear…these are indeed rumors, with some basis of fact, and more than likely a whole lot of April Fool’s joke thrown in for good measure.
Word is rapidly spreading around gaming sites on the net that the announcement of the next Halo game appears to be imminent; however, if you were expecting a sequel to Halo 2, then you might be in for a surprise.
The weirdness started at the press event held in New York for the Viva Piñata announcement, where the general manager of Microsoft Game Studios, Shane Kim, said, “We’re not here to talk about the mythical Halo 3, as I call it. We’ll be talking about anything we’re doing in the Halo universe – whether that’s Halo 3 as I call it or anything else – at the right time. That time will be soon.”
So, it sounds like he said the announcement for the next Halo game is indeed imminent, and most folks guess this will be at E3 2006. But doesn’t it also suggest it might not be the sequel that everyone expects? What is he suggesting? Is Bungie is working on more than one game set in the Halo universe? Is the third game in the “Halo series” not a direct sequel to Halo 2?
The story goes on to say an inside source allegedly told Game Informer that the upcoming Halo movie will be based on the Halo: The Fall of Reach book with the game complementing the movie, and therefore being a prequel as well.
Ok, but let’s go as close to the horse’s mouth – Bungie – as we can for the answer to this one. Though the front page at the official bungie.net site says nothing, yet, the halo.bungie.org forums have this response:
“This showed up in the forums a couple of days ago, and was quickly debunked by Frankie (from Bungie Studios)…but we’re getting plenty of mail right now, so it’s probably time for a front page post. The April issue (April? That month should send up flags) of Game Informer contains a story about Bungie’s next game – or so it seems. Over at xbox.com, someone went to the trouble of transcribing the entire article. Sounds really cool… except that it ain’t real. April Fools!”
So, what we have are mysterious hints from Shane Kim that an announcement is forthcoming on something Halo-ish, which is probably true, and more than likely some April foolery from a gaming mag, which is probably bogus.