Following the delays in release of Halo 2 and some unwelcome eager fan antics, there’s no doubt more than one (if not thousands) of Master Chief fanatics are chomping at the bit to find out if Halo 3 will make its way to game store shelves for the promised 2007 release.

Word from Bungie.net is encouraging. In fact, it’s more than encouraging, and if the developer chat is any indication, this title is going to be hot. It seems the game is already at the point of testing the multiplayer functions.

Lars, one of the new[er] multiplayer designers, has a regular multiplayer test in session now — that happens every day — and with surprisingly polished-looking graphics, although I'm told a lot of the textures and decorator objects are just placeholders at the moment," Frankie writes. "Could have fooled me."

This is great news and even better now that the Xbox 360 is back up and running in my house. It’s time for Halo 2 to get shelved in favor of some real next-gen action. Halo 3 can’t get here soon enough!