First details of Halo 4's plot drop in Chief gets new armor, Cortana nearing rampancy

Microsoft is saying that Halo 4 will kick off a new trilogy when it's released in 2012, but, as of yet, all we've had to go on is a fairly nondescript cinematic trailer. Now, 434 Industry's Frank O'Connor has started to lift the veil, and reveal some details about what we can expect when Halo 4 releases next year...

"There's some fairly radical modifications to his armour" O'Connor said in an interview with CVG. "Some of those are an artistic evolution, but some are connected to the story. We just can't talk about it yet. He's been in space for a long time."

Changes to armor are sort of expected – as O'Connor said, Chief has been in space for a long time, and things have undoubtedly changed. We're personally hoping some of his armor modifications let him do things like sprint, find cover, and use iron sights on any weapons (though he also confirms in the interview that the game "feels like Halo," so we're unsure if any of those features will make it in).

Above: The teaser trailer for Halo 4 doesn't give us that much to work with

O'Connor also went into some slight story details, confirming that, yet again, Cortana is in danger. "Seven years is the lifespan for a smart AI before it enters a state called rampancy," he said. "Cortana was getting close to the end of her natural lifespan at the end of Halo 3 but she has been exposed to far more information than any other AI in existence. She's going to develop some muscle from that process but it also contributes to her rampancy - that much information makes things worse."

The interview also explains that while the sequel will begin the story on the Xbox 360, the trilogy will be concluding on whatever Microsoft's next system is. Beyond that, however, we'll likely need to wait until next year's E3 to find out more about what we can expect with the next Halo.