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Christmas will be coming early for Xbox 360 fans. First person shooter Halo 3 will be launched on September 25 - the final chapter in the hugely popular sci-fi trilogy and the game that dominates Xbox sales.
It's a surprise. There had been talk of November - and video games are notoriously late as developers iron out unexpected bugs. The cool thing is that the September 25 release is worldwide so chances are, because of the time zones, NZ'ers will be among the very first to get our claws on it and play the game!
How big is Halo? Halo 2, making a record-setting $170 million in sales within the first 24 hours is still the most-played game on Microsoft's Xbox Live, with nearly 1 billion hours of online gaming logged to date.
A Halo 3 multiplayer beta is being made available on Xbox LIVE and will run through to June 7. This lets you have an early look at some of the multiplayer elements of the new game.
If you buy a specially marked copy of the recent 360 game Crackdown you'll find new levels, weapons, vehicles and game types and data that developers Bungie are using. But what we're all waiting for is the single-player storyline to find out what's happened and that remains locked away in a vault until release time.
If it gets leaked, you'll get the scoop! By the way - Welcome to this new gaming blog!
I'll be bringing you the latest news, previews and reviews on games from those on PC to all the consoles, small and large, and opening up doors for your comments.
