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Blurb: Bungie Watch is all about the details you need involving everything Bungie.

This week: Bungie's next project has been revealed, but it's not what your expecting.

There is no doubt you can't wait to get your twitchy little fingers on Halo 3. But what if there were no such thing?

Recently, a forum member at Xbox.com, DM Duo Maxell, claimed to have an article from the April issue of Game Informer magazine. The supposed article states that Halo 3 is under development, but currently codenamed, Forerunner. The article also reports that Master Chief will return in "huge persistent worlds" and a 4-player co-op mode is emphasized. You may be getting excited to finally catch wind of Bungie's secret project, but it turns out this forum member was getting in the spirit of April's Fools Day. One of Bungie's top spokespersons quickly responded to the rumors, denying all that was said.

Although playful banter, some of the details about Forerunner sound really exciting. Like the non-linear gameplay that would allow you to handle missions or quests much like an MMO. Halo 3 has been predicted as an MMOFPS before, similar to the upcoming Huxley. Perhaps this is much less of an April's Fools joke than we think.

If Bungie's next project isn't Halo 3 or Forerunner, then what is it?

It turns out the next big thing from Bungie is the Halo Graphic Novel. The collaboration between Bungie, Marvel Comics, and many talented comic-book artist have created a 128 page, hardcover graphic novel featuring four original stories. That means you've never seen this material before. Could we expect the HGN to give up the Halo movie storyline? Or better yet, juicy Halo 3 details? With the release date set for July 2006, well after E3, signs point to "yes".

And for those still impatiently awaiting the Halo 2: Original Soundtrack Volume 2, the release date has been set for April 25, 2006 -- Finally. Now you'll have something to tie you over until the graphic novel is released.

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