Halo 4 was first announced at Microsoft’s E3 2011 press conference as the start of a brand new trilogy for Master Chief. The new developer of the Halo franchise, 343 Industries, revealed at the Penny Arcade Expo that Halo 4 will be the first in the "Reclaimer Trilogy."
"This trilogy is a direct continuation to the events in Halo 3," said 343 Industries’ Frank O’Connor. "It will deal with the fate of John and the fate of Cortana."
According to the Halo Nation wiki a Reclaimer is "an individual who, whether by chance or by precedent, has been placed in charge of activating a Halo super-weapon. The individual must journey to retrieve the Halo’s activation key (the Index) from the ring’s Library and then use it to activate the Halo Array. It has also been demonstrated that it is the role of a Reclaimer to activate Forerunner technology on installations such as the Ark or the Shield Worlds; it is also true that other, undiscovered Forerunner constructs also require a Reclaimer to operate in some fashion lay scattered across the galaxy."
When asked during the fan Q&A session whether Master Chief will have a more talkative role in the next three games O’Connor said, "You’re definitely going to have the opportunity to dive deeper into John’s mind in this trilogy."
Also revealed was a Halo 4 concept art slide show that can be viewed in video form below. 343 Industries is aiming to release Halo 4 sometime in the 2012 Holiday season exclusively for the Xbox 360.
[flash width="540" height="333"]http:/www.youtube.com/v/vAKmu2yn3Fk?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0[/flash]
