Halo Bootcamp PC

With the latest entry in the Halo franchise garnering rave reviews, and talk of a long-awaited TV series finally in the offing, there’s never been a better time to call yourself a shotgun-loving, Covenant-crushing space marine supreme. Well, unless you’re a PC gamer, that is. Despite making a pair of appearances on the computer format some 6-plus years ago, Microsoft’s franchise favorite has yet to return to desktop duty in the wake of the much-delayed Halo 2 Vista.

Back in March, Eurogamer reported on an interesting find in the annals of an AMD Beta driver, detailing what appeared to be an entry for Halo 3 PC. This telltale listing prompted plenty of wild speculation online as well as a petition to release the much-anticipated title from captivity. It all proved for naught however as Microsoft intervened to squash the rumor later that same month, stating “we currently do not have plans to release any Halo titles on Steam, nor do we currently have plans to release a PC version of Halo”. With that, all hopes of a PC-centric comeback were kiboshed — until today.

According to reports appearing online over the past 24 hours, a mix up involving Microsoft and the Korean ratings board has resulted in the accidental outing of Halo’s latest title: ‘Bootcamp’.  Whilst little is yet known about the entry, statements from the game’s publisher have been unusually forthcoming in confirming the title’s existence as well as its ties, or lack thereof, to the second Halo trilogy.

“What’s Bootcamp? It is not related to our Xbox One efforts, or the Reclaimer Saga, but rather a project we’re very enthusiastic about and will have more to say about in the very near future.”

So what might this latest adventure entail? Well, the word ‘Bootcamp’ appears often in the expanded Halo universe; most commonly in connection with the Master Chief John 117’s superhuman training school. This black ops base, first glimpsed in the Eric Nylund novel Halo: Fall of Reach, fostered the famous Spartan program that gave birth to the Chief as well some as his less fortunate cohorts. Taking place in a time before the Covenant threat, recruits hone their skills against one another through a series of unrelenting physical tests, a prospect not entirely unfamiliar to fans of Halo’s multiplayer.

Halo Bootcamp Screenshots

A description of Bootcamp also surfaced, and it appear to be an entirely new adventure that's played from a third-person perspective. This info comes from the NeoGAF page that originally pieced together the Halo Bootcamp news, and it sounds like gamers will be in for a very different type of experience this time around.

“‘Halo’ as a third-person point of view based on the worldview of the mission is going to be executing an action game of water."

"Minor violence representation (expressed as mere weaponry, attacks and a third-person point-of-blood description)."

It's impossible to tell who's developing this title, although Black Tusk Studios is certainly a legitimate possibility. Maybe E3 will clear things up, but it's not absurd to imagine that the game will be hitting the Xbox 360 or Xbox One as well. Only time will reveal Bootcamp’s true nature, so until then, let the Spartan-fueled speculation begin.

Are you excited that Halo is returning to the PC? Would you buy a third-person Halo title?

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Sources: Gameranx & NeoGAF (via Gamefront)