Microsoft today officially announced the release date for Halo 3. The game will hit retailers September 25th 2007, and 26th in Europe.
See full press release below.
Halo 3 Release Date Announced
Los Angeles, California—In a year when Hollywood is launching its biggest blockbusters ever, a video game is set to conquer them all. Halo® 3, the final chapter in the groundbreaking Halo trilogy, is set to shatter day-one entertainment sales records when it is released worldwide beginning Tuesday, September 25.
Created by legendary developer Bungie Studios and exclusive to Xbox 360™, Halo 3 sets a new standard for interactive storytelling and social gaming by engaging players worldwide in Master Chief's epic battle to save humankind. Halo 3 will be available to audiences around the world starting September 25 and will release in Europe on September 26.
Entertainment Event of the Year
"Halo 3 is much more than a video game release—it's the biggest entertainment event of the year," said Peter Moore, corporate vice president of Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business. "On September 25, we intend to deliver a finale that will go down in entertainment history and leave people around the world with an experience that will be shared and enjoyed for years to come."
Fueling the early buzz around Halo 3, Microsoft unveiled the Halo 3 multiplayer beta on the eve of its release at a star-studded event in Hollywood. Beginning May 16, Microsoft Game Studios kicks off the multiplayer beta, which provides audiences worldwide with an exclusive, early look at some of the multiplayer elements of Halo 3 on Xbox LIVE®.
New Halo Zune Player
Adding to the excitement, Microsoft also announced a special edition Zune™ digital media player, inspired by the hugely successful Halo franchise.
On shelves in June, the Zune - Halo 3 Edition comes loaded with a collection of Halo content, including videos, soundtracks, trailers, ads, and artwork.
In November 2004, video games changed forever with the release of Halo 2, which generated a record-setting $125 million in sales within the first 24 hours and changed the way people think about interactive entertainment. Three years later, it remains the most-played game on Xbox LIVE, with nearly one billion hours of online gaming logged to date.
Multiplayer Beta
The unveiling of the Halo 3 launch date comes on the eve of the release of the Halo 3 multiplayer beta, which debuts to audiences worldwide via Xbox LIVE on May 16 at 5:00 A.M. PDT and runs through June 6 at 11:59 P.M. PDT.*
To experience the multiplayer beta of Halo 3, purchase the critically acclaimed, Xbox 360-exclusive title Crackdown™ , which was launched in February. The specially marked copies of Crackdown acts as a key to participate in the beta. In addition to giving you the first opportunity to get your hands on the new levels, weapons, vehicles, and game types, the multiplayer beta will also provide valuable data that Bungie will use in continued development.
Halo Franchise
The Halo franchise has expanded beyond video games into The New York Times' best-selling books, graphic novels, collectible merchandise, and now the new, special edition Zune digital media player. Encased in collectible packaging, the Zune - Halo 3 Edition digital media player comes pre-loaded with artwork, trailers, and music from all three Halo games, as well as an exclusive new episode of Red vs. Blue from the fan-adored machinima creator Rooster Teeth Productions LLC. The Zune - Halo 3 Edition (estimated retail price $249) will be available exclusively at GameStop starting June 15.
*To play the Halo 3 multiplayer beta, you need an Xbox 360 console equipped with a hard drive as well as an Xbox LIVE Gold Membership.
Remakes of the campaigns featured in Xbox Game Studios' Halo 2 and Halo 3 are currently in development, according to a new rumor.
That's Microsoft's gaming division for you...kill off developers making new ip while trying to capitalize off some long lost glory that has no hope of ever being what it once was thanks to recent decision making favoring unrealistic profit goals and greed. What a joke.
So much bitterness. Why be upset over something like this. Just don't buy it and stick with what you prefer.
Give it rest medman..., take a deep breath and try to not sound so invested in something no one is forcing you to read, buy, or play.
"Console war"is over, Sony won, be happy.
@thesoftware730
I'm invested in people losing their jobs and their livelihoods while Microsoft execs tout record profits for their gaming division. Not sure why you wouldn't be invested. Could be you one day. Good luck.
So what’s their solution to having multiplayer? Wait until Halo 7?
That was one of the most memorable parts of Halo..
I'm not sure spending the heavy investment in time to recreate the multiplayer here is the answer either though.
Remaking the campaigns is a great idea to bring the new players up to speed. But if the multiplayer is included in each it'll just fracture the player base of each release.
I think it might be better to turn these campaigns out quicker and have 1 multiplayer game to keep everyone in one place
Maybe having an Halo Online and just release the Combat Evolve maps. And when Halo 2 releases have those maps release. I don’t know but I would like to play a newer version of Halo multiplayer. I know times have changed, and Fortnite is all younger kids really play. But back then it was Halo and you connecting 6 Xbox’s together lol.
I agree. I think that'll segment the playerbase and once 7 comes out, players might realize it sucks and go back to the older games. Especially if 7 is live-servixe, they'll be shooting themselves in the foot on the one good leg they have to stand on.
Kinda surprised they didn't just port MCC.
Maybe more $ to by made with separate remasters
Wouldn't have that problem if it were MCC being released. Gotta wait for 7 to be disappointed with MP all over again cause if they half baked Infinite what makes people think they won't half bake the next game? MP works in past HALO games not cause of nostalgia but because it's MP that isn't concerned with the endless service approach.
There is so much cognitive dissonance over Infinite. People say they didn't like it because it was a live service. Yet if you look at what the criticisms of it were at the time it came out and when the playerbase started falling off, the primary issue people had was a lack of updates. In other words, it wasn't enough of a live service.
Which is really an encapsulation of the problem with multiplayer today. So many people think that they want to go back to the "good old days" of mid-2000s multiplayer (The first few Halos, Socom, the first few Battlefields, CS 1.6, etc), but in reality if a multiplayer game like that came out today, people would whine about the lack of content within a month of launch and go back to a live service with a grindy progression system.
Why not just port the MCC? 🤔 That was the easiest layup ever and you completely missed it
I thought the same thing, then I realized that they wouldn't include the remakes in that edition. We may get a different version of Halo MCC in the future with all of the remakes included. I just want them to include Halo 5 at some point for PC.
I wonder if Microsoft will port Reach over to Playstation I quite enjoyed that game. I played Halo 3 and it was not bad I have Halo 2 on the OG Xbox I just need some cables to hook up to my tv to play it.
A new Halo 3 mod turns the iconic Master Chief into a Pokémon % Master as functional Pokeballs come to the game.
That is very impressive to skip the article here is the direct link to the video
https://x.com/GashnorOffici...
Full animiation then a code change to make the target that comes out of the ball to be in the same class unsc not a easy thing to do.
Not every Halo game has been a banger, but the franchise still has a raft of the greatest games of all time.
Infinite is a dumpster fire and as much as I like ODST, in no universe it ranks above Halo 2. This list is trash.
Best to worst: Halo 3, Halo 2, Halo Reach, Halo CE, Halo 4, Halo ODST, Halo Infinite, Halo 5.
How does this have no comments? I can't even find it on the Halo 3 page or the front page. Kinda big news to be stashed away... oh well.