Direct from the keynote webcast comes the long awaited announcement, and the beginning of something new (or the continuation of something great).

In a demonstration that (despite the two interruptions, 2 fps, and the fact that I'd managed to see it before) floored me, Bungie's Jason Jones unveiled Halo, their new in development game. Halo, nee Blam.

They're talking about the P1 right now, but you can read about that elsewhere. From what was shown, Halo is a first/third person action game. But that description utterly fails to do it justice.

Even in my 200x120 window, what I saw was awesome... and it was all done in real time. No prerendering... hardware only though. Vehicles and some awesome looking characters (human and alien) were moving around an outdoors landscape, complete with some great environment effects (for example, the vehicles were kicking up dust as they ripped along). Flying aliens/vehicles were soaring overhead, and the whole world had an... unlimited look to it.

As for its netplay features, little detail was given other than that it would be oriented on cooperative, team style playing instead of individual. Of the story, also not much, but I imagine the next few days will be fleshing out both of these things. Stay tuned.

And finally, before I dash home to check the email, if ANYONE managed to save a quality version of the Keynote, that kingdom and pony are both still up for grabs... and I'll throw in no small amount of adoration if you are able to snip out the Halo related sections and get it somewhere a lowly modem user like me can get it.

Alright, much pause and reorganize... stay tuned!