Microsoft took the stage first at E3 last week and made several key announcements. Beyond showcasing new gameplay for titles like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Gears of War 3, the company announced two new Halo projects: Halo Anniversary, a remake of the original Halo: Combat Evolved, and Halo 4 , the first major project by 343 Industries

Kinect also played a large role, with Microsoft demoing Kinect Star Wars and announcing compatibility features for Mass Effect 3 and Ghost Recon: Future Soldier. Other Kinect titles Ryse, an exclusive title from Crytek, and Fable: The Journey were also unveiled.We talked with Microsoft Games Studios VP Phil Spencer to get his thoughts on the show and to find out where the Halo franchise is going.

“ Bringing+Master+Chief+back+to+the+franchise+is+a+huge+move.

“ Halo+3+has+sold+over+10+million+units+and+Halo:+Reach+continues+to+sell.

YesNo announcement on that yet.343, the studio that's now building Halo, thought about the place and story they wanted to tell inside of the Halo fiction and found a story arc that they thought would really be interesting to tell. It happened to play out in three beats, starting with the return of Master Chief, which is what we showed in the teaser. Bringing Master Chief back to the franchise is a huge move. People love playing as Master Chief and he's obviously iconic to the franchise. We'll be talking more about the story between now and launch.It was all CG.343 obviously has partnered closely with Bungie for a while. We had been working with them on Halo: Reach and map packs. We started with the code base from Halo, so it's not something we had to re-roll from the beginning. [Chief Technology Officer] David Wu and the team behind the core engine tech inside of 343 have done a lot of work. Halo has always been a unique game with huge outdoor environments but also playing indoor environments at the same time. The technology base isn't 100 percent new, but a ton of work has gone into it by 343.People shouldn't look at Anniversary as part of an annualized franchise. I love the fact we're doing the Anniversary edition because I loved Halo 1. We just looked at it and thought it needed to be refreshed. It wasn't part of us trying to get into an annualized rhythm with the franchise. It will be done in time for this holiday that is the 10th Anniversary for Halo. It felt like a good time to celebrate it.It was a couple years ago. We thought about what we wanted to do for the Halo anniversary. It's important to us as a franchise and as a platform. Halo launched Xbox and it made it relevant for us core gamers. We're not going to ignore that. But you have to plan ahead of time. We had discussions about "will people look at this as us milking it," but we figured with achievements, Xbox Live, and "up-res-ing" the game, it was a project out of passion not a project out of business.Obviously Halo 2 is one that we've talked about. I wouldn't say this is a strategy for us to go back and remake Xbox 1 games. This was the 10th Anniversary of Halo so it made sense. We don't really have a "remasters" program that we're kicking off with this launch. There are obviously some great Xbox 1 games that would be nice to see, but we've focused most of our resources on creating new things. I'm not putting it in or out of bounds right now, though.Halo 3 has sold over 10 million units and Halo: Reach continues to sell. We're not even a year into its release cycle. But it's a good point. When you think about these cross platform games that sell on so many platforms, it's great to see the weight that Call of Duty plays on our box with the online content, online play, and just the retail sales of the franchise. For us we want to make sure Xbox customers have a unique set of blockbusters that are theirs. Halo, Gears of War, Fable, and Forza, because there's a pride in being an Xbox customer and they want to know they have content that's uniquely built for them and I think Halo plays an important role there.For me the most important thing is when we release a Halo game, it's the quality and is the pinnacle of design and creativity on our box. That's what that franchise stands for and I have a ton of confidence in 343's ability to continue to do that.