Preview of Halo Reach initial armor.  Much more information to come after game release! Take a look!

Halo Reach live action trailer released today from Europe’s Gamescon! Not flashy or heavy with action, but still cool. Halo Reach may have more ‘serious’ real-world overtones than expected in a Halo game.

You’ll probably remember playing on this highly lit indoor map from Halo 2. This remake for Halo Reach looks fantastic. Remember?

This generation of gaming consoles will last for some time considering a few big game releases on the horizon in 2011.  Two games, Id software’s Rage and Crytek’s Crysis 2 will be released in September and March of next year.  The current consoles are still powerful enough to run the very high tech game engines for each.  The id Tech 5 for Rage first demonstrated by Carmack himself in 2007 on an 8 core Macintosh with a 512MB Quadro video card is one bad-ass game engine.  It is rumored the engine will also power the hotly anticipated Doom 4 which has been confirmed by id software to be “deep in development.” Also, the Cryengine 3 game engine designed by Crytek will power the long awaited Crysis 2.  This engine is also very powerful and is said to support DirectX 9, 10, and 11.

Not much is known about id software’s next game Rage except that it is a new franchise about a post-apocalyptic world left behind from an asteroid impact. This game will allow the player to fight and drive in a combined first person shooter driving game.  I personally think the game will be much more in-depth than that and will probably include many RPG elements, although car combat and shooting will be at the games core. Rage is a huge game and id did voice some concern early in development whether they could release the game on 2 discs for the Xbox 360.  There are rumors that the 1 Terabyte game could be released on 3 dual layer DVD discs for the Xbox 360 and 1 Blu Ray disc for the PS3. Lately there has been talk that a version of Rage will be released on the iPhone!

Crysis 2 for release on all systems besides the Wii is the other huge release for 2011. Developed by Crytek in Europe the game will follow in the footsteps of the smash PC hit game Crysis.  Crysis is a game that not many people got to experience considering the very powerful and expensive gaming rigs required to run the game.  Very much a first person shooter at its core, Crysis 2 is set in New York city in the year 2023 during an alien invasion.  Combat will be urban in style where you’ll be able to strategically plan your movements and attacks in an evacuated cityscape wearing the high powered Nanosuit 2. Debates about whether the console version of this game will live up to standards is under discussion among gamers.  I was not impressed with the first teaser trailer released early this year for console versions.  Let us hope Crytek won’t disappoint us.  Crytek’s earlier console versions of FarCry and FarCry 2 where not bad so there is hope.  On a final note, the PC version of Crysis 2 will definitely outshine the console for those who can afford the latest and greatest hardware.  If you have an Alienware machine then your in for some awesome eye candy.