Halo 4 Release Date: Xbox 360 Game To Hit Stores On Election Day (VIDEO)

Microsoft announced on Tuesday that the fourth installment of its Halo series will be available for Xbox 360 on November 6, 2012 -- otherwise known as Election Day.

According to a press release issued today, the game's narrative will pick up four years after the events of Halo 3, which was released in 2007. At the end of that game, the series' protagonist Master Chief was alive but separated from the human race and heading to an unknown planet with his A.I. sidekick Cortana.

"Master Chief returns to confront his destiny and face an ancient evil that threatens the fate of the entire universe," Microsoft said in the press release.

Halo 4's launch coincides with the release dates of a number of other popular games including Assassin's Creed III, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, and Grand Theft Auto V, Games Radar reports.

But if Halo 4 performs as well as its predecessor, it should have no trouble putting up some big numbers. Bolstered by more than 4 million pre-orders, Halo 3 became the fastest-selling game in history when it was released in 2007.

That record was broken in 2011 by Call of Duty: Black Ops, which earned $1 billion in sales after just 42 days of release - so taking back the crown will be no easy challenge for Microsoft.

Fans can judge for themselves tonight whether the game appears to live up to expectation. Reports have surfaced on Twitter that Miscrosoft will preview a segment of the game on "Conan," airing at 11 p.m. tonight on TBS.

Check out a sneak peak of the new game released by Microsoft earlier this year:

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Comments

[Miss Massacre]

11:19 PM on 08/31/2012

This is going to rule! the only thing that upset me was that Martin o' donnell isn't doing the music.

[Daniel Teichler]

04:03 PM on 07/22/2012

The graphics seem smoother and sharper

[ErikMartir]

05:27 PM on 04/18/2012

No more bungie, but man if you look into the sneak peaks.... it looks awesome maybe better than when bungie was doing it.

[Pat LaPenna]

11:11 AM on 04/29/2012

Its not going to be like previous Halos in terms of the combat paces. It looks faster, as if it were turning more into Call of Duty. And Master Chief's armour looks so skimpy compared to what it was in Halo 3.

[BoundToBe]

12:33 AM on 06/18/2012

If you are saying Call of Duty has fast paced combat because you can kill a player with one or two shots than I would disagree with you. I would agree that the combat pace looks faster in Halo 4 than in other halos. But, Call of Duty is based on more realistic combat where you would move along slowly through the map waiting for opportune moments to get a kill. You can kill a player faster than in halo, but most of your time is spent actually looking for them. Halo is more like a training grounds (just as 343 is describing multiplayer) where, more often than not, you are fighting rather than looking for enemy players. You are placed in a relatively small sandbox style map to go "train". To me, the combat pace of Call of Duty and Halo really can't be compared. I enjoy both games but they are two completely different experiences.

[NerdyStudent]

03:58 PM on 04/18/2012

The question is begged, why is there a Halo: Reach picture for the lead to this article...

[imonlyhereforthelaughs]

09:23 AM on 04/18/2012

Meh. So many better options.

[NerdyStudent]

03:58 PM on 04/18/2012

Opinions, opinions.

[ki11ergreens]

07:15 PM on 04/17/2012

Halo? No No No, Grand Theft Auto V!!!! Yeah!!!

[moflard]

03:30 PM on 04/19/2012

And I was so sure you were going to say Fallout IV.

[ki11ergreens]

06:08 PM on 04/19/2012

Oh believe me I'm waiting for Fallout too! :)

[rh654]

06:34 PM on 04/17/2012

I can't wait!!!