OXMUK

Famed comic creator, McFarlane Toys founder and Kingdoms of Amalur artist Todd McFarlane is designing action figures based on Halo 4. Which means he's had insider access to its characters, guns, levels and storyline. Throw us a bone, Todd. G'wan.

"343 still has some surprises to reveal, so we can't give you all the details just yet," MacFarlane wrote in a release. "But we've seen what they're working on, and Halo 4 will be worth the wait!

"Each new Halo game is a significant entertainment event," he added. "Halo 4 marks the return of the Master Chief and Cortana, plus the introduction of new characters, weapons and locations sure to excite long-time fans.

"We're really excited to be working with the all-star team of 343 Industries. Microsoft has assembled an incredible group of developers to ensure Halo's continued place among the top entertainment franchises. 343 Industries is pushing the envelope with the visuals, storytelling and gameplay, and we can't wait until fans get their hands on Halo 4."

According to a launch calendar posted over atHalo Waypoint, McFarlane will show off three never-before-seen Halo 4 character designs in August and four in November, building up to the game's tentative Christmas 2012 release window.

Halo 4 branded toys are also due to appear at a London event next week.

Check out our lengthy Q&A for everything we currently know about Halo 4. 343's Frank O'Connorfeels that "regurgitating" Bungie's battle-proven template isn't wise, but anticipates negative reaction to any changes the studio makes.

http://www.oxm.co.uk/37976/todd-mcfarlane-talks-secret-halo-4-characters/

Cool, can't wait to see some new characters!

"tentative christmas 2012 window"

??!!

Halo releases in September to avoid the COD blitz. Not sure if this is wise.

But releasing in early december will at least avoid the November launch blitz of COD. All I can say is MS better advertise the hell out of this game to compensate.

$10 bucks riding on this to any takers...

...the gaming community will see halo 4 as a disappointment regardless of what is actually in the game all sighting and blaming the lack of bungie.

@ cod release comment.
Halo is just about the only game out there that will sell exactly the same even if released on the same day as cod. Cod and halo have different fans. They play entirely different.

An example of this is in your local workplace. Half of us play halo half play cod. Niether group plays the other game. Hell I've given cod a go, and its to easy. Not enough skill involved. Wtf man with the gun attachments and level progression. Wtf with the airplane bombing runs etc. Its way to luck involved and the map design is poor in compariosn.
with halo its more about a level playing field and skill of the game.

Halo will sell fine alongside cod. In fact it would still open with 2mill+ on a same day release.
That is the power of halo and its fans. And the fact that its the next installment for the chief will go further in its favour. The chief cannot be messed with. If 343 pull out the best visuals on 360 to you can bet even cod fans would check it. Halo 4 will have much more advertising than cod.
People give cod to much credit. On 360 at least cod has frailites itself going against halo. The differene is tiny compared to say cod on ps3 vs killsone or uncharted.
If it was gears of war id agree. But halo no way. Its not scared of cod.

Christmas release?!? Seriously?!

God damn it!

IT HAD TO BE DONE!

Personally after reading the last book, Primordium, I am very interested in what the story holds and can guess at some possibilities of what/who those new characters could be.

Well this seriously messed up my pre-order comparison plans :/

It does make sense for them in a way, but I'd much rather they release it in September like usual this gen. Unless they've got another big hitter coming.

Cool, can't wait to get my hands on the full game *_*

Have never been a huge Halo fan I did enjoy the Halo reach campaign. The gunplay and enemies is a little to cartoony for my tastes. No preorder for me but will pick it up as long as campaign looks as good or better than Reach.