Bungie: No Halo for Gizmondo

One of the hotter rumors at last week's Consumer Eletronics Show in Las Vegas was that Microsoft was preparing to release a version of Halo for the Windows-CE-using Gizmondo game deck.

Now, Bungie has gone on record to say that it is most definitely not making a handheld port of its megapopular shooter. As part of its Bungie Weekly What's Update, a Bungie staffer directly refuted the rumor, saying "I am told Microsoft does have a relationship with the handheld maker, but I can tell you right now the arrangement does not include Halo."

In other Gizmondo news, Tiger Telematics, Gizmondo's parent company, announced seven new self-developed games for the handheld. These include:

• Johnny Whatever, a rock-'n'-roll-themed action game that has a rebellious musician trying to save the Queen of England from an army of robotic policemen.
• The fantasy adventure Fallen Kingdoms, which pits players against an undead horde called the Undrath.
• Momma, Can I Mow the Lawn?, which is described as "the world's first sit-on lawn mower driving adventure game."
• The third-person action adventure game Milo and the Rainbow Nasties, which sees a chameleon and his friend trying to bring color to a black-and-white world.
• Furious Phil, which sees a hero having to drive across a zombie-infested, postapocalyptic America from Chicago to Los Angeles.
• Sticky Balls, a puzzle title that sounds like a cross between a game of pool and Bejeweled.
• Future Tactics, a turn-based tactical sci-fi role-playing game "built around a highly complex battle engine," according to Tiger Telematics.

Currently the Gizmondo is only available in Europe, though it is expected to be released in North America during the first half of 2005.