'Halo 4' Coming to Xbox 360

Speculation about Halo 4 has been rampant since this year's E3. Some wondered whether we would see the game on the current Xbox 360 or on Microsoft's rumored upcoming console.

Frank O'Conner from 343 Industries confirmed on the NeoGAF forums that the title would indeed be on the Xbox 360.

Halo 4 will be on Xbox 360 and use a modified core of the Halo engine(s), the franchise development director said. Not really a singular engine since it goes through fairly radical evolutions all the time.

343 Industries is the studio that took over production of the Halo franchise after developer, Bungie, gave up the reins. 343's first whack at the Halo franchise releases Nov. 15 with Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, a rehash of the first Halo game celebrating the original release. It has been a decade since the first game's launch and the new homage adds better graphics, better multiplayer support and some Kinect functionality.

The Halo franchise first released in 2001 and featured futuristic super-soldier, Master Chief, as he tried to defend the Earth from the alien menace, the Covenant, on the ring-world of Halo. The game spawned a handful of sequels, including two more games in the trilogy along with standalone titles Halo: Reach and Halo: ODST.

Halo 4 is a reboot of the series beginning a whole new trilogy for the franchise. The trailer shows Master Chief waking up from the victory coma he went into after the events of Halo 3.

Set in the aftermath of 'Halo 3,' Master Chief returns to confront his own destiny and face an ancient evil that threatens the fate of the entire universe, Microsoft's Halo Web site promises.

That ancient evil might be the race that built the Halo world in the first place, but we don't know much about the game. We'll figure more out as Halo 4 comes out in 2012. Until then you can see the game's trailer on Microsoft's Web site.