Whilst Bill Gates' fighting-talk originally had us believing that 3 was on collision cause to launch at the same time as Sony's console, the likelihood of this appears to be dwindling. "It's perfect," Gates told Time magazine. "The day launches [the new PlayStation], and they walk right into Halo 3." This comment came at a time when hadn't even announced Halo 3 was under way, and was received with shock by the industry. It now seems that Gates may have got a little excited when suggesting a spring debut for the new sequel (when the PS3 is rumoured to be launching).

A new interview, conducted by IDG, appears to relax this challenge to Sony somewhat, officer Robbie Bach commenting: "Philosophically the point Bill was trying to make is that we're not just going to ship and not have great stuff coming up," he explained. "We don't know when Sony will ship PS3. They've said spring. Halo is something we'll ship when it's ready."

It certainly would have been an interesting face-off but if the PS3 does arrive with the new buds it seems unlikely Halo 3 will be ready to challenge. Especially with no announcement of the new title expected anytime soon.

By Luke Guttridge