Halo 3 not a launch title for the XBox 360?

Some of the reports on the launch of the XBox 360 last night have commented on the fact that Halo 3 is not on the list of launch titles announced. This is not too surprising given the relatively short time since Halo 2 was released. One comment that seemed to make sense is that Microsoft may be keeping Halo 3 in reserve to combat the launch of the PS3 next year.

Personally, until Bungie announce that they’re even working on Halo 3, I won’t start getting (too) excited. The end of Halo 2 would certainly give the strong impression that Halo 3 will arrive at some stage – “to finish what I started” as the MC says himself. If Bungie follow their previous examples, they would not want to release Halo 3 before it’s properly finished. However, if it’s using the Halo 2 engine, then it’s really just down to cinematics and level designs. Somehow, I don’t think that would be good enough for Bungie though, and they will try to push the envelope once more.

There’s a part of me that’s quietly getting excited about what all the talent in Bungie could do with a machine as powerful as the XBox 360, and what it will mean for Halo 3. Even just the thought of playing in 720p HDTV resolution sounds great. I just hope that Halo 3 lives up to the inevitable hype better than Halo 2 did.