Such tidbits have contributed in the past to alternate reality games (ARGs) promoting the last two releases in the studio's popular Halo series of shooters. Games such as "i love bees" used websites that were made to look hacked, among other tactics, to fill in minor story gaps in the Halo universe.

This time around, Bungie has hit itself with a scrambled transmission, headed up by an image showing the words "KEEP IT CLEAN" in several languages and a transcript of radio chatter.

Bungie fans have much to look forward to, with the studio working on three projects since its separation from former part-owner Microsoft. Meanwhile, its Halo-related E3 announcement was pushed back from the conference but no announcements have been made since. Moreover, a highly anticipated update to Halo 3 arrives later this week.

Since all of these possibilities will fuel rampant speculation, the Shacknews staff decided to do some Internet Detective Work and bring you our findings, along with Bungie's scattered transmission following:

<> UNSC OFFICE OF NAVAL INTELLIGENCE

<> CLASSIFIED SIGNALS ARCHIVE [ONI.SEC.PRTCL-1A]

< OPENED PER OFFICIAL REQUEST [DARE.V.500341(S1)]

SOURCE: URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE A.I. [SUPERINTENDENT]

RECIPIENT: PROWLER "TOKYO RULES" [COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]
>> NOTATION KEYWORD SEARCH: "EMERGENCY" "DATA" "CORRUPTION"
>> (...) ~ QUERY RUNNING
>> (..)
>> (.) VTT TRANSCRIPT AS FOLOWS...

[SUPERINTENDENT]: "METROPOLITAN EMERGENCY!"
[SUPERINTENDENT]: "METROPOLITAN EMERGENCY!"
[SUPERINTENDENT]: "METROPOLITAN EMER--!"
[COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: "We know. Personnel are en route. Can you--"
[SUPERINTENDENT]: "DETOUR! PROCEED WITH CAUTION!"
[COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: "--put Kinsler on the line?"
[SUPERINTENDENT]: [UNITELLIGIBLE > DOG GROWLING(?)]
[COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: "Sorry, what?"
[SUPERINTENDENT]: "BE A HERO! REPORT VIOLATORS!"
[COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: "Oh, come on... "
[SUPERINTENDENT]: "METROPOLITAN EMER--!"
[COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: "Listen. We have a report of core data corruption."
[COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: "I need you to upload your--"
[SUPERINTENDENT]: "PARDON OUR DUST!"
[SUPERINTENDENT]: "YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK!"
[COMM.DUTY.OFFICER] "--logs for the last twenty-four hours!"
[SUPERINTENDENT]: "KEEP IT CLEAN!"
[SUPERINTENDENT]: "KEEP IT CLEAN!"
[SUPERINTENDENT]: "KEEP IT CLEAN!"
[COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: [UNINTELLIGIBLE > PROFANITY (?)]
[COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: "We're sending a team, alright?"
[COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: "Until they arrive, all additional comm needs to route through me."
[COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: "Repeat and acknowledge."
[SUPERINTENDENT]: "OBEY POSTED LIMITS!"
[SUPERINTENDENT]: "YIELD TO UPHILL TRAFFIC!"
[COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: "I'll take that as a "yes"..."
[SUPERINTENDENT]: "PLEASE REMAIN CALM!"

~ QUERY COMPLETE
ARCHIVE CLOSED >

Steve's Take: My first guess is a traffic simulator with real time terrain deformation ala Fracture. Notice the mention of hills and traffic. Also the metropolitan and dust thing pretty much confirms construction sites so I would guess you also get to build roads. I dont know how this information could be construed in any other way.

Blake's Take: Well, the word "Tokyo" is in there, so I'm going to say that it's a new IP, it takes place in Tokyo, and it gets announced at the Tokyo Game Show next month. Also, Bungie will hold a press event at Sushi Tokyo in Seattle to promote it with live entertainment by the Tokyo Police Club. I'm mostly holding out for free sushi.

Faylor's Take: Halo 4, bitches.