According to an anonymous source, we've been told Microsoft will be revealing the official release date of its highly anticipated Bungie-developed shooter soon. The company is expected to announce that Halo 3 will ship to North American consumers on September 25th of this year, with European Xbox 360 owners getting the game just one day later on September 26th.

That's just a couple days after the Tokyo Game Show goes down in Japan, a move which could be seen as an effort to downplay announcements from Microsoft's competitors.

I'm off to the Halo 3 Hollywood premiere event, kicking off within the hour, so keep your eyes peeled for news. Michael McWhertor