The first details on Bungie’s exciting new Halo 3 expansion - Halo 3: Recon have finally emerged, detailing new equipment, more human characters and surprisingly, an open-world city. Revealed in the most recent issue of Game Informer, players take control of The Rookie, a faceless, Orbital Drock Shock Trooper part of a five-man team rocketed into Ground Zero of Earth city New Mombasa, during the events of Halo 2.

What we’ve learned so far is that the game has a hub-like structure and you’re playing as a rookie ODST troop, tasked with tracking down some lost squadmates. While you run around looking for them (and this is the part of the game that’s a little bit open-world) you wander the streets of New Mombasa looking for clues on their whereabouts. Once you find those clues, the game changes things up and you get a flashback of what happened to that soldier, and then you play that flashback, taking control of the troop in question for a more traditional Halo level. Eventually,  you’ll discover the fate your teammates and unravel the mystery of what went on in New Mombasa.

Hit the jump for more info, and good news for Firefly Fans!

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We’re not sure how many Halo 3 action figures this actually makes from McFarlane toys, we’ve lost count. What can say though, is this is a brand new figure - there’s no repainting, nor is it an old figure with new weapons. Speaking of weapons, this new UNSC Marine comes with a battle rifle, a pistol and a trip mine.

This round of action figures should be out in March 2009, along with the other repaints/reissues in the gallery below. read more »

Microsoft Game Studios and the soon-to-be-late Ensemble Studios are on track to have their Real Time Strategy version of the Halo universe shipping by this February, and they’re preparing a nice Limited Collector’s Edition for those willing to drop a little extra money. $79.99 gets you the Halo Wars game, six leader cards, a Spirit of Fire patch, a Halo Wars: Genesis graphic novel, and the Halo 3 Mythic Map Pack, which comes with “Assembly,” “Orbital” and “Sandbox”. A great way to ensure your core audience stays intact as you move from a First-Person-Shooter to a Real-Time-Strategy, isn’t it?

As for the downloadable content side of things, the LE also comes with a bonus in-game “Honor Guard” Wraith, with folks who pre-order from select retailers receiving a code for a special flaming Warthog.

Hit the jump for more pictues of the box set, full press release, and the flaming Warthog!

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