What can be said about Halo 3 that hasn't already? If you're reading this, chances are you've already seen the trailer, which essentially provides the little information everyone has to go on. And yes, that is all of the information the developer has made public to date - so take whatever you read elsewhere with a grain of salt. With that said, we're sure your creative minds can draw certain extrapolations from the trailer.!

What We Know
It is going to be the next evolution of the Halo franchise - one of the largest and most successful ever produced - and the first Halo release on the Xbox 360. It is the Xbox flagship franchise that has broken sales records and is associated with the console in a deep and meaningful way. Oh, and unless you've been living under a rock for the last five years,with eyes and ears glued shut then you already know it's a kickass series to boot.

The trailer opens up with the shot of a deserted wasteland; the visuals look phenomenal, reportedly rendered in real-time. As we see the camera pan backwards, the transmission is interrupted, with a flash of a blue entity quickly appearing and disappearing. As the camera continues to pan, we see the smoldering wreckage of a ship strewn across the terrain.

In a scene that sent chills down my spine the first time I saw it at Microsoft's Press Event at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, Master Chief emerges in all his glory, and in astounding detail. Metallic armor suit, sun reflecting off of it, locked and loaded. The environment quickly comes alive; ships move in from the distance, we see a massive floating base in the skyline, a portal entrance swirling in the distant clouds, and lightning striking in the distance. The trailer closes with the comment "this is the way the world ends", and that's essentially all we know about Halo 3.

And why is this trailer generating such attention? Perhaps because it is the first actual confirmation of the third installment of one of the most legendary console franchises ever produced? We can assume the next game starts at the conclusion of Halo 2 and that most of the characters will be back - but most Halo fanatics are not into the storyline as much as the multiplayer, and for that we've got nothing, nil, zilch, nada, no info whatsoever. However, that won't keep us from dreaming, now will it?

Finally, it has been revealed that this will be the final entry in the Halo "trilogy", so expect Bungie to go all-out on this one.

What We Don't Know
Just about everything else. The trailer highlights a 2007 release date, beyond which we have no idea. It has been reported that the story will be epic in size, yet focus on a dark and gloomy world as demonstrated in the trailer.

I'm not going to speculate on Halo 3; it's been done ad nauseum and I'll leave it to the writers of other publications to make less-than-informed guesses. What I will say is this: you know as much as we do, from what's been seen in the trailer, from the official post on the Bungie website, and any other official channel. However, you can rest assured that as soon as we do get more official news, or at least something with a credible source to back it up, you'll be the first to hear.