Microsoft E3 Invites Hint at Halo, Portal, Star Wars Announcements

Microsoft has begun sending out some unique invitations for its E3 press conference, which is going to be held at the prestigious expo next month.

Microsoft is losing ground in front of Sony, with its strong lineup of exclusive games, and in front of Nintendo, which is set to reveal a successor to the massively popular Wii home console at E3.

Now, in order to amp up the hype for its own E3 event, Microsoft has begun sending out unique invitations to members of the press, spotted by Kotaku.

Instead of just a regular card, the invitations are more like sets of stickers, which contain various words and names, as well as items.

The words range from names of famous video game characters, including Master Chief, Cortana, GLaDOS or Lara Croft, while the items go from lightsabers, to guitars, cars, airplanes, or the famous Lancer rifle from Gears of War.

As you can imagine, these stickers have raised an uproar on the web, with many speculating on what they mean and what possible announcements are hinted.

As you can imagine, a new Halo game is right on top, with words like Master Chief, the main protagonist of the Halo series, Cortana, his trustful helper, and sayings like Spartans Unite, relating to Microsoft's hugely successful franchise.

There are also hints about Star Wars, and the often rumored game based on the franchise that is set to appear for the Kinect motion sensor, with the name of Luke Skywalker, and the famous quote "May the Force be with you," being pictured.

Last but not least, announcements pertaining to the upcoming Tomb Raider or Gears of War games are also quite possible, while an announcement regarding Portal 2 may also be made at E3.

Microsoft hasn't commented on its unique invitations, so expect it to release the full details about all of them at its press conference on June 6, 2011, between 9am and 11am PT, right before E3 formally opens its gates.