Gearbox Working on Halo 4 for Next Xbox?!

Gearbox Logo

One of the industry’s best upcoming FPS studios, Gearbox Software has been long rumoured to be working on a secret project that is “bigger” than anything they’ve ever tried. Since this is the team that made the entire Brothers in Arms series, the Halo PC port and many awesome expansions of Half-Life, this is something.

Rumour has it that they’re working on nothing but a Halo 4. Apparently the fight isn’t quite finished. Supposedly, the game is in development for a next-generation Xbox console. It should be noted that while we don’t have any announcements of a new console generation, we haven’t even heard talks about anything like that.

The rumour comes from the Official XBox Magazine, and there doesn’t seem to be any hard verification. Still, it doesn’t seem unbelievable or contradictory. Gearbox only has one product on their plate, Borderlands and Bungie announced that they’re done with the Halo franchise.

In any case, Microsoft milking out the Halo franchise definitely isn’t news, what will all that promotion during Halo 3‘s launch. What is news is the weird, outlandish rumour. So is Microsoft working on a next-gen Xbox? How powerful is it? Is Gearbox actually working on a sequel to Halo 3? Will it come anytime before 2015? Questions galore.

We have no doubt that Microsoft has an answer to them all. ‘Microsoft does not respond to rumors’ or some such.

Halo 3 Midnight Launch Video

[Update #6]
The video player seems to be up and running now. If you have any issues let us know.

[Update #5!!!]
Here’s the YouTube version as we wait on the technical difficulties to be worked out. We’ve heard from some users that their experience with the player is that it’s running fine. If you’d like to see the high quality version of this video, click on the Videos tab above and go to the StuffWeLike TV. Look under StuffWeLike.com Podcasts and Video Reviews.[Update #4]
We’re currently experiencing some technical difficulties with the video player. It may take a while to load videos.

[Update #3]
The Halo 3 launch video podcast is now online!

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We’re editing the new podcast of the Halo 3 launch at Universal Citywalk. Stay tuned for further updates later today. I hope that it can be released sometime in the late afternoon period, but I’m tired so I might take a nap instead.

This episode actually features something brand-new to the podcast. I won’t say what it is, but if you’ve seen any of our previous podcasts you’ll definitely notice the difference.

Also I’d like to take this time to thank everyone that submitted photos and videos to the Halo 3 Coverage show!

[Update]
After being kicked out of the my college’s library during a fire drill, I’m back! As I was saying – if you have pictures or videos of your Halo 3 launch experience send them over to Halo@splashcast.net

Check back for more updates coming later in the day about the new podcast episode.

[Update #2]

5:29pm
Expect the new episode within the next hour.

E3 07 Predictions

E3

E3 is only days away and I’m here to tell you what’s going to happen with the BIG 3 Consoles.

We already know what games each system will have for its Holiday launch lineup: Halo 3, Super Mario Galaxy, Lair. For all 3 consoles E3 will focus on the lineup for 2008 and beyond.

With the Wii there’s already Mario, Zelda, and Metroid – so what’s next? We’re not going to be seeing sequels to any of these titles, it will be all about the spin-offs. Mario Kart is a must. Since both the Wii and Mario Kart scream,”Party time!” it’s a no-brainer. We could also see Nintendo going to their secondary stars Donkey Kong and Starfox, although a big show stealer could be a new Pilot Wings or Wave Race game. Nintendo could also show off some indie games for its upcoming WiiWare channel. Nintendo themselves could be developing games for this downloading service. Potentially sequels to their low profile games like Luigi’s Mansion and Pikmin. Hopefully they’ll solve the storage issue that the Wii faces in light of this and the Virtual Console services.

Halo 3

On the Xbox 360 front, I predict Microsoft will be stealing the show. Halo 3 is Halo 3. Future titles such as Alan Wake will expand games into the territory of compelling storytelling with satisfying action-adventure gameplay. Not only that, but titles such as Atari’s Alone In The Dark 4 will show that the 360 doesn’t have to rely on shooter games to survive. Microsoft will tout its Xbox Live system and it’s casual games service, as Microsoft aims to broaden the appeal of the Xbox 360 to all types of gamers.

 

Lair

A lot will be going on in the Sony camp as they try and reposition themselves in the gaming market. They have to show off a new slim PSP model that will compete with Nintendo’s DS Lite. Other than that they need to prove that KillZone 2 looks just as good as the 2005 E3 trailer did. Remember the “Is it pre-rendered or in-game?” fiasco? Well, now is the time for Sony to prove that those were in-game graphics. For Sony it won’t be about showing we have X sequels – well, maybe I’m wishing too much, maybe that’s for E3 08. I hope that Sony realizes that it needs original and exclusive titles in order to compete with Xbox 360 and Wii. I won’t predict anything else for the Playstation because I expect them to talk about many things that have never been seen before.

In the end E3 07 will be about showing off why gamers need to own all 3 consoles. Each manufacturer will sell itself out to prove how their console is different if they want to keep up with the competition for seasons to come.