Microsoft has not been too keen to share details regarding the next chapter in the Halo first person shooter saga, which it has dubbed Recon. The game has been rumored for some time, and Bungie originally wanted to present it officially at E3 this year, but Microsoft pushed back the announcement.

Moreover, at the Tokyo Game Show, the company presented a short trailer of the videogame, while saying that it would not feature Master Chief, but a member of the United Nations Space Command Marines squadron, who lands on a world that is attacked by the Covenant and possibly the Flood.

Various sources have said that the game will be “more bloody, violent, and grim,” appealing to a more mature gamer, while providing interesting information regarding the Halo universe. The December issue of Game Informer is supposed to offer more details regarding this.

Joe Bertone, the lead designer of the game, has stated that, Halo 3: Recon is a “three to five-hour expansion pack,” while Joe Staten, the cinematic director added that “we do not view this as a $60 title.” No other details are offered regarding the release date of Recon, but Microsoft aims to get it out for the Xbox 360 sometime in the fall of 2009.

Until then, the Halo franchise will get its first and probably last real time strategy game in the first months of 2009, when Microsoft should launch Halo Wars, the last project created at Ensemble Studios. The game aims to portray the initial phases of the conflict between the UNSC and the Covenant, while also introducing an early encounter with the Flood. The bad news is that the single player campaign is human only, the Covenant can be played only in skirmish mode, while the Flood is not payable at all. The game also sports a new control scheme for the Xbox 360.