Captain Obvious confirmed playable.

Halo's been kinda growing stale for me. I loved Halo and Halo 2, but Halo 3 was kind of disappointing. ODST sounds like enough of a change of pace to reinvigorate the series, though. Mario, Metroid, and Zelda have been around forever; let's hope the Halo series gains that longevity.

Apparently ODST training includes bunny-hopping.

@Phantom Spaceman:
It also includes dancing from side to side to dodge bullets and backpedaling faster than your opponent can sprint forward.

They should finally take Halo in its original direction: a whole planet to explore and no missions save the ones you choose to embark on. Maybe the game winning parameter would involve wiping out the Covenant while keeping the Flood in check, and would involve days of committed play, and could include bringing friends in to help.

Otherwise I don't think anything about ODST looks different.

I'm on the same page as Thaliard. Halo 2 was the peak of the series for me, and for whatever the reason, Halo 3 fell kind of flat. I hope Halo fans enjoy their game, but the series just doesn't do anything for me now.

And I don't feel like they're exploiting the series; Halo has always been produced with effort and originality. Though the latest offerings don't synch with me anymore, these have been quality games, and will likely continue to be that way.

Quick, act surprised.

Bungie, REPENT.
Is it not written, man does not live by bread alone.

Anyway, I too would like to see them make a game in another genre. Sure they wouldn't make as much money but th.... oh yeah.. money.

Those Halo guys should start a basketball team.

I don't get this at all. How is it that Microsoft has 5 Halo games, and everyone says its milking a franchise, but Nintendo shoves Mario up into every single thing they do, and its not milking him? Just realize that Halo is Microsoft's Mario. It's their iconic, first party franchise that everyone expects with the console.

This is not saying that Halo is as good as Mario. It's just saying that every company has their brand, and Halo is Microsoft's brand. As long as they keep innovating, and keep changing the franchise up enough to keep things fresh, who cares how many they release. Personally, I hope the Halo franchise never dies.

Personally, I think Nintendo has bastardized Mario way worse than Microsoft with Halo. I mean look at all the things they shove that fat little Italian into: Super Mario, Mario RPG, Paper Mario, Mario Kart, Mario Tennis, Mario Party, Mario Paint. When Microsoft releases Halo Paint, then it's time to get concerned. But right now they've got 3 games featuring Master Chief, one RTS game, and one set in the Halo 3 universe that doesn't feature Master Chief. So atleast they're trying to mix things up, and keep them fresh without overdoing it.

Halo = Microshafts only move.

I personally hated the first one, the second one and the third one, didn't even consider playing any after that. Just can't stand that silly, shiney, twitchy, strafey fantasy shooter type genre. I pick up some zappy magic gun and i think, meh, fuck this.

The Halo world is not for me.

But if you enjoy it, fair play, i suppose.

"Halo = Microshafts only move."

Gears of War and Fable would like to have a word with you.

Seriously, that's like me saying God of War is Sony's only move. It's ridiculously untrue.

what the hell is halo?

Hey, Sexualchocolate just described every FPS set in a sci-fi setting in the history of the world.
I never liked Halo much myself, minus the vehicles. I seriously think they were the best part of the games. That and the music was pretty amazing.
I actually think Halo Wars was my favorite Halo game. No, seriously. It was a solid RTS (even if you couldn't play as the flood) that made me want to learn more about the Halo universe. I wouldn't have "bought" (read: gotten off Goozex) Halo 3 had I not played Halo Wars first.
Still, I'd like to see them branch out more with it. They don't ALL have to be the same tired FPS.
But for now, Horde mode until Firefight I suppose.

Well nintendo has been milking mario for years, In a worse way then M$ and Halo. However, nintendo has not relied on only mario to get people onbord with their system. Mario is not Nintendos bred and butter, family gaming is. Just like Solid Snake is not ps3's bread and butter, and all in one kick ass system is. But Xbox....not so much. If the bread and butter to Xbox is halo, I can see why I never bought one. There is only so far you can go with a game no matter how good that game is. Guitar hero was fun, but now there are so many of them no body cares. Dynasty Warriors was fun, but there are so many of them now that no one even cares about games that slightly resemble Dynasty Warriors. M$ is milking the franchise, even if the games are up to par, problem is that up to par is not everything. They need to go above and beyond and if the story line to Halo:OSTD is the same length of halo 3, I dont give a damn if their world is the most open one possible, its going to suck. The online is going to feature 4 new maps along with all of the ones from halo 3, and a horde like mode....I see nothing all that new. Might as well buy 3 since people are still playing that and give halo:ostd a rental, unless you must really want the horde mode. Halo has not changed much since the first one. Some would argue that is a good thing, but its not. Like I said dynesty Warrirs was good when it first came out years ago. Lets look at the evolution of Halo:The first one was a solid FPS with a good story. The second one featured a dual wielding and online and no good story, the third one had better graphics and a few new weapons and maps and even less of a story. Everything is going to be the same. People are going to be like "OMG this is amazing, I have never seen anything like it" but they have seen it. Multiple times. Halo fanboys remind me of the zombies from Land of the Dead and the halo games are their skyflowers.

I never really understood all the Halo hate. It's an FPS series that doesn't anything particularly innovative, but does most everything right. Just because it's well-liked by a large part of gaming audiences doesn't mean you have to offset that by professing your exaggerated hate for it everywhere you go. Look at the 007 games, there's a new one pretty much every year, and they're all the same, and they all have the same flaws, but somehow Halo's THREE similar games somehow get all the flak. There are far worse shooters out there, that's a fact.

I'm glad Bungie is starting to slow down with Halo, but I'm also glad they aren't going to be permanently done with the franchise. It's been fun, but it's time for a change. Hopefully by the next installment, they'll have some new vehicles, re-designed guns (although ODST is sort-of doing that =D), and an all new set of alien dudes for us to shoot.

Captain Obvious couldn't even be bothered to get up this time.

Halo and me go way back. I can remember playing the first one the summer I graduated high school and being amazed. I didn't even have an Xbox, but most of my friends did. I don't see anything wrong with MS milking it and I am glad they are continuing to add more to the series. There were countless drunken nights spent with friends and two networked Xboxs with Halo in. Then Halo 2 came around with the online support. I bought an Xbox 360 when it first came out soley for Halo 3. Call me a fanboy, I don't care...it's just the series holds alot of memories for me personally (both good and bad). I think this could be said about any successful franchise people find themselves involved with. Just look at Final Fantasy!

Also I agree with the comments in regards to Halo being Microsoft's Mario. I think being spoiled with complex FPS's on the PC long before Halo definitely added to my lack of enjoyement of the franchise as a whole.

What they should do is make it a persistent online world with multiple playable races and elements of RTS planning. And release it on the Mac.

Oh wait . . . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2RVje3MyhQ

As much as I like Halo,I want Bungie to try something else.

@GoldenGamerXero

I completely agree with you in that sense and to Halo's credit, it's had a bit more of a hard time branching out than Mario. So far they've gone the RTS route which I thought was a nice change for the series although I didn't play it. Having a Halo character in DOA was also interesting.

Mario has definitely added different things to platforming and sports/boardgames along the way where Halo is still kind of stuck with the FPS and while FPS's continue to change, it's getting harder and harder to become innovative.

It doesn't matter what I say... The halos will never end.

@Draconianviper

I don't think that a problem with Halo as there's a lot to be done with that universe but rather a problem with Bungie. They're taking the safe route by sicking with what they've alreadly got and when they do attempt a different genre like with Halo Wars it still seems pretty basic RTS. The same old click here, go here, kill that and considering with how well and high a standard they set with console FPSs I was suprised to see they were just doing the basics in Halo Wars.

First game was fine. Outgrew it after that.

More Halo for MS. Is MS going to stop there and not bring any new game for the system? Halo: ODST is still not out but we are to expect another Halo. What's next? a Halo Racing game? MS need to get more variety.