How Microsoft Is Preparing for Halo 3

Expect a lot of Master Chief over the coming weeks, including a new TV ad you'll be able to preview soon.

In less than two weeks Xbox 360 owners around the world will be sitting down to play Halo 3, the concluding chapter in Microsoft's shooter trilogy. But before that, there's a whole raft of promotional activity headed our way, including a new TV commercial for the game that will make its debut online this week.

At 5.00pm on Friday, at Xbox.com, Microsoft is planning to give its faithful customers an early look at the ad, which in the UK will air on Tuesday, 18 September, during the UEFA Champions League game on ITV1.

Dubbed Diorama, the commercial, filmed over four days in Los Angeles, consists of 90 seconds of non-game footage that takes a far-future-based look back at Master Chief from the 27th century.

It's all part of a massive campaign by Microsoft to make sure that every Xbox 360 owner and anyone thinking about getting one knows the game is coming. The company is planning to spend around $10 million promoting the game in the US alone.

Even that figure, big as it is, is dwarfed by some predictions of how well the game is going to do.

This week an analyst in the US wrote in a note to investors that Halo 3 could quickly bring in $200 million, based on the more than one million pre-orders and early sales, according to a report at Next Generation.

Halo 3 is coming only to Xbox 360 and will be released in Europe on 26 September.

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo