The Xbox's signature franchise returns this year with a brand new caretaker. Halo 4 restores Master Chief to his rightful spot as the series' protagonist in the first effort from 343 Industries. For such a high-profile game, news and updates have been surprisingly hard to come by -- but that may not be the case for long. In fact, Halo 4 may be fully revealed by the end of this month.
A scanned image from Finnish games magazine Pelaaja places Halo 4's full reveal at Microsoft's Xbox Spring Showcase event in San Francisco, which is scheduled to take place February 29th. Naturally, neither Microsoft nor 343 Industries has commented on the news. That said, Microsoft has staged Spring Showcase events regularly for the last several years -- the 2011 show prominently featured a little game called Gears of War 3.
Take a look at the Pelaaja scan below. Click for a larger version.
Don't read Finnish? Take a look at the translated text below (thanks, halo4news.net).
"Halo 4 and other new products will be on display at the Xbox 360 Spring Showcase event in San Francisco. Remember the play to the podcast."
In many ways, such a move makes a lot of sense. While there can be little doubt that Halo 4 will have a significant presence at E3 2012, in that arena the game will have to fight for attention against other big announcements -- the next Call of Duty, perhaps Bungie's new game -- not to mention Nintendo's Wii U and its slate of launch titles. By revealing the game at its own event, Microsoft can keep the focus squarely on Halo 4.
For better or worse, Halo 4 is likely to be a transitional -- and potentially controversial -- effort. The team at 343 Industries is fully aware that the game will be judged harshly now that series originator Bungie has moved on to (presumably) greener pastures, so the decision to keep Halo 4 news under wraps is certainly understandable. The few details that were made public last December, including Master Chief's new armor and Cortana's peril, have not been greeted with entirely open arms by the fan community. Still, hope springs eternal that the "dramatic innovations" 343 Industries has in mind for Master Chief's return pay dividends for gamers.
What do you think, Ranters -- will Microsoft fully reveal Halo 4 by the end of the month? What do you want from the game?
Halo 4 is slated to release in 2012, exclusively for the Xbox 360
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Source: NeoGAF, @KabanOssi [via CVG]