Halo 4: Behind-the-scenes E3 effort

Microsoft's Halo studio 343 Industries casts its collective eye back over Halo 4's E3 2012 showing in a three-minute video.

Microsoft's Halo studio 343 Industries casts its collective eye back over Halo 4's E3 2012 showing in a three-minute video.

'Beginning with the return of Master Chief in Halo 4, this will be the biggest year for games on Xbox,' Microsoft Studios' Phil Spencer told the assembled audience during the opening presentation at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo.

New enemies, vehicles, weapons, multiplayer modes and campaign storyline meant that Halo's E3 team -- like many other developers at the entertainment expo -- had a lot to communicate in a short space of time.

'You come in with so much trepidation and you've been so 'heads down' and it's really hard to have perspective,' explained executive producer Kiki Wolfkill, with lead designer Scott Walker adding, 'You're like 'Oh god, is this really going to show as well as it needs to?''

At the end of the day, though, the pre-E3 pressures and stresses resulted in an experience that 're-energized and revitalized everyone here,' concludes designer David Ellis.

Halo 4, a first-person shooter set in a science fiction universe, launches on Xbox 360 on November 6, one week before fellow first-person shooter Call of Duty: Black Ops II and two after Medal of Honor: Warfighter.