This past Friday Microsoft and Bungie offered a press preview for the upcoming Halo 3, which will arrive later this year. The upcoming first-person shooter is the latest title in the popular Halo series, and could be the much-needed “killer app” for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 game console. Previews for the game were staged in New York and San Francisco in advance of the public beta test of the game, which will go live this coming Wednesday. While Halo 3 offers new advancements including improved and vastly more realistic physics, some attendees felt the graphics still have a way to go to be true “next gen.”

Microsoft lifts shroud off Halo 3 [Reuters via MSNBC]