http://360informer.com/2011/07/the-most-anticipated-xbox-game-of-2012/
E3 2011 has given us so much insight on what to look forward to in the upcoming year, 2012. Microsoft unveiled so many new gaming experiences, from a massive amount of Kinect games to YouTube on the Xbox Live dashboard. But out of the enormous mix of games and adjustments, there is only one thing that stood out from all the upcoming technological advancements. That shining jewel has had a history with the Xbox industry from almost the very beginning. The gaming series is still very much alive to this date and will be getting much more original with the fourth installment coming Holiday 2012.
The dead give away clearly points to none other than Halo 4. So why is Halo 4 standing out of the crowd when the initial creators of the franchise, Bungie, left to work with Activision. The reason is because the new creators have decided to do something Bungie has not done in a long time. Something that will make Halo 4 standout from the past two Halo games. The return of Master Chief.
You may be asking yourself how it’s possible for a single character to bring so much attention and anticipation to a single game. But the truth is, it’s really not Master Chief that we are all excited about. Sure we definitely want to play as Master Chief and it sure as heck is exciting, but the re-involvement of Bungie’s super soldier promises much more than any character can singly bring to a game: Continuation to the gripping story surrounding the world of Halo. For the past four years now, Bungie has fed us gamers two Halo games that have had nothing to do with the aftermath of Halo 3. Rather, we were able to relive the story surrounding Halo from two different perspectives: Orbital Drop Shock Troopers and Noble Six.
So what’s the big deal then, so what if the story is continued? The big deal about the Halo storyline continuing is because the storyline was not supposed to continue. Bungie assured the fan base multiple times that Halo 3 was going to be it in terms of the storyline. And that statement seemed definite, especially because 4 years had gone by with no Halo continuing the storyline after Halo 3. Anticipation for Halo 4 is extremely high because this game was not supposed to be made. We were not supposed to know what happens after Halo 3. But thanks to 343 Industries, Halo lives on.
The return of Master Chief calls for the continuation of the Halo storyline, but the return of a true Halo game marks the start of the new generation. This is what forces even non-Halo players to get excited about the fourth installment in the series. Rumors have been circulating very recently that the Xbox 720 (working name for next-generation Xbox console) is expected to be revealed at E3 2012 and be launched with none other than Halo 4. If Halo 4 is coming at the end of 2012, then wouldn’t that mean Xbox 720 would come right around then too if the rumors are true? Halo has defined Xbox gaming from the start and it would make complete sense to kick off a new generation of Xbox with a new generation of Halo.
Anticipation for a game could not be higher than the anticipation present for Halo 4 right now. Everything just seems to be right in place: Unexpected storyline continuation, unexpected game, unexpected character return, and of course, possible mark of the Xbox 720 release time period. 2012 will be bringing an unimaginable amount of amazing Xbox 360 games. But the amount of anticipation riding Halo 4 makes it the game to beat next year.
