Microsoft's E3 press conference was a much anticipated one as many gamers and journalists were waiting for announcements about Halo 3: ODST, an expansion of the very popular Halo 3 game. This was also the last project that the original developer of the franchise, Bungie, will be making, prompting even more interest from gamers.

But it seems that Bungie has secretly been working on a completely new Halo game, which will be released next year. Dubbed Halo: Reach, this new game will be out in 2010 and promises a completely new experience as opposed to Halo 3: ODST. Sadly, no concrete details are known about the game, as only a trailer was released to the press at Microsoft's conference.

It will most certainly tell the story of the first Halo novel to be published, which was titled Halo: Fall of Reach. The novel revealed the origins of Master Chief, the main protagonist of all the other Halo titles except for the upcoming ODST, and about the planet Reach, the place where almost all Spartans lost their lives to the alien Covenant.

The tagline of this new game is “From the beginning, you know the end,” making an original story much more likely. We can expect more Spartan characters and some deep insight into the beginning of the UNSC-Covenant conflict and how the aliens began destroying every colony that the humans started in space.

After the trailer appeared, speculations and rumors about it and about the teaser images featured on Bungie's website have already started popping up, with many Halo fans discussing the possible story, characters and plots of the game.

Until either Bungie or Microsoft will reveal some concrete details about this game, we don't really know anything for sure except for the fact that those who buy Halo 3: ODST will get a voucher for the multiplayer beta of Reach. We will keep you informed as soon as anything is made available.