Oh, Microsoft, only you can make a very exciting announcement about a new Halo game duller than watching grass grow. Microsoft has denied Bungie the possibility to reveal their latest project at E3, apparently because the Redmond giant thought it had more interesting things to show (like what? Oh , yeah, Final Fantasy XIII, which is also coming to the Xbox 360) so the developer put out a trailer pretty much revealing that the next title would be a new stand alone single player campaign not featuring the very famous Master Chief. At the Tokyo Game Show, Microsoft finally made an announcement of its own.

During the Microsoft keynote speech, which was delivered by John Schappert, it was revealed that the new expansion would be called Recon (which seems pretty uninspired as far as Halo names go) and that it would arrive in the fall of 2009. Being a stand alone expansion or expendalone, as the industry has come to call these, the game will not require players to already own Halo 3.

Microsoft’s statement regarding the game reads, “Bungie has several projects underway within the studio, one of which is a brand new campaign experience for Halo 3 that we teased two weeks ago. Now, at long last, we can lift the shroud of secrecy and shed a little more light on what we've been working on. We'll have more to say later, but for now, check out our official announcement trailer which builds upon the teaser and provides new insights into what awaits next Fall”.

Microsoft also released a short trailer showing an Orbital Drop Shock Troop Marine which will be the main character of the upcoming game. It seems that the Marine, possibly together with a squad of other troops, will need to tackle the AI Superintendent, which Bungie has already showed as malfunctioning in recent teasers. The Flood will probably also be making an appearance.