According to anonymous Microsoft sources, Halo 3 will NOT be released later this year in an effort to combat Sony’s Playstation 3, and will instead be released in March of next year. This would also mean that Halo 3 would miss the Christmas shopping season, which could seriously impact Microsoft’s revenue during the holidays, not to mention disappointing gamers all over the country.

This is a huge blow to Microsoft, who had previously reported that Halo 3 would be released in time to combat Sony’s PS3 launch. While most hadn’t expected Halo 3 to ship this year anyway, due to how late Microsoft had started development, Microsoft’s promise to have the game out by November had many gamers salivating. Now that the Xbox’s flagship game isn’t due out until next year, there are bound to be more than a few gamers who are going to be rather disappointed that the Xbox 360’s most awaited game won’t be out as promised.

In my opinion, this hurts the Xbox 360 tremendously. The original arrival date of Halo 3 in November 2006 gave people a reason to buy an Xbox 360, especially considering that the PS3 would have just come out and wouldn’t have made a foothold in the next-generation race yet. By March 2007, however, the PS3 will have been out for 5 months, and there’s no telling how many killer apps Sony will have out by that time. A release in November would have almost guaranteed the Xbox 360’s victory in the next-generation wars, at least for the next year or so; now that the game isn’t due out until March, the Xbox 360 might very well suffer as a result. With any luck, Microsoft will announce the official release date at this year’s E3.