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MS talks Halo 3 telly advert

Sounds very expensive.

Microsoft will be airing a rather spectacular Halo 3 advert in the UK next Tuesday, in between the Champions League action on ITV.

Instead of focusing on gameplay or rendered footage from the game, it will feature a full scale landscape model based on the Halo universe to explore themes lying at the heart of the series - and replicate a key battle from it.

The Diorama used took up more than 400 square feet and was over 12 feet high, populated by lots of 8-inch character models that presumably didn't move themselves. Stan Winston studio housed the enormous project, and director Robert Saunders is said to have taken more than four days to film it all.

The effect is to make us all feel like we're standing in the 27th Century, apparently, while we learn about stories of war, duty, sacrifice and just how bastardly hard Master Chief is.

Those of you too excited to wait until next Tuesday evening will be able to watch it all on the official Xbox site tomorrow, from 5pm BST onwards.

Microsoft is rumoured to have spent more than USD 10 million (GBP a lot) on advertising for Halo 3, and aims to pull in around USD 155 million (GBP even more) after just one day on sale. That would mean it grabbed more money in 24 hours than best-selling film Spider-Man 3 took in a whole weekend.

The first one only got 8/10, too.

Halo 3 will be released exclusively for Xbox 360 on 26th September. Excited and that.