Will There Be A Halo: Combat Evolved HD Remake Next Year?

Now here’s a juicy rumor. Is someone remaking Halo: Combat Evolved? That would be simultaneously neat and depressing. Neat in that, yeah, I’d like to see what Halo: Combat Evolved looks like at modern resolutions and with textures larger than thimbles. Depressing in that, jeez, it’s come to this? The Hollywoodization of the video game business continues. Of course, Microsoft gave the old standby “We have nothing to announce at this time.” Certainly doesn’t like a denial to me…

Word on the street is that 343 Industries, a new internal division within Microsoft that’s been tipped as the future “stewards” of the Halo franchise (remember: Bungie has moved onto Activision), is making the game, and that it’ll be based on the Halo: Reach engine. Now, that’s a fine engine in its own right, particularly when considering the limitations of the Xbox 360, but in the days of Metro 2033 and even Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (and even Source-based games turned up to the max), please don’t expect me to be knocked-out impressed.

The idea behind the remake would be to bridge the gap between the next big sequel in the series, which is currently scheduled for release in late 2012.

In other words, that would make the Halo: Combat Evolved remake ready for your consumption probably late 2011.

One question: will they leave the Library untouched for nostalgia’s sake, or will they fix it?