Once again powered by Crytek’s proprietary CryEngine, the latest in the series returns to New York, with players taking on the role of Prophet. The city has been encased in a large dome, and is now overgrown with trees and rainforest wildlife.

Crytek’s CEO Cevat Yerli explained that the studio aims to deliver a mix of sandbox style gameplay with first-person combat. The game will feature seven environmental themes, as players aim to uncover the truth behind the dome’s “Seven Wonders.”

Microsoft Studios has announced that Halo 4, the newest entry for one of the Xbox 360′s biggest exclusive franchises, will launch around the world on November 6.

Halo 4 will be the first numbered released for the series since 2007, as well as the first new game release to be shipped by developer 343 Industries, which took over the first-person shooter property from Bungie several years ago.

Since opening in 2007 as a subsidiary of Microsoft Studios, 343 Industries has shipped a remake of 2001′s Halo: Combat Evolved and the Halo Waypoint Xbox 360/mobile app. It’s also released updates for 2010′s Halo: Reach developed by Bungie.

Halo 4 is meant to be the first of a new trilogy for the franchise. Microsoft Studios’ corporate VP Phil Spencer says the game starts a journey that will encompass the next decade of Halo games and experiences.

Since its debut a decade ago, the Halo series has sold more than 40 million games around the world. Microsoft has capitalized on its popularity with licensed novels, live-action shorts, comic books, apparel, action figures, and other Halo merchandise.

Microsoft claims Halo 3 had the biggest consumer launch of all time when it released in 2007, after the Bungie-developed game generated some $170 million just 24 hours after going on sale in the United States.

Media research group Nielsen recently polled gamers and found that Halo 4 is their most anticipated title for Xbox 360 in 2012, followed by Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed III, Rockstar’s Max Payne 3, and Electronic Arts’ Madden NFL 13.

The UK website for Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 appears to have gone live before the official reveal later today, stating that the game will be set in the near future during a 21st century cold war, moving the spin-off to be more in line with the Modern Warfare part of the series rather than its 20th century-based predecessor.

Activision said in September last year that the original Black Ops had seen sales of 23 million, while 18 million copies of the map pack DLC for the game had also been sold.

The company’s Call of Duty Elite social network will be integrated into Black Ops 2, as Activision attempts to bolster the franchise’s monthly active users’ count even further.

According to Activision, a major update will launch with Black Ops 2 that will add new features, dubbed Call of Duty Elite 2.0.

Call of Duty Elite currently has over 40 million monthly active users, with 10 million of those playing the original Black Ops, and 20 million logging in via Modern Warfare 3.

The company has had a grip on this record for several years now. Blizzard’s World of Warcraft: Cataclysm was the last fastest-selling PC game when it pushed 3.3 million copies within 24 hours after debuting in 2010. Before that, WoW: Wrath of the Lich King held the record with 2.8 million copies sold in 2008.

Blizzard notes that Diablo III‘s first-day 3.5 million sales does not include the 1.2 million consumers who also received a copy of the game after signing up for a World of Warcraft Annual Pass. Nor does that number include players in Korean internet game rooms, where Blizzard claims Diablo III is currently the top-played game.

After Diablo III‘s first week of availability in numerous regions (U.S., Canada, Europe, South Korea, Australia, Southeast Asia, and others), over 6.3 million consumers have purchased a copy of the game. One analyst previously predicted the game would sell 5 million during its first year on sale.

Despite its early sales success, the game’s launch was marred by errors and problems with its servers that prevented consumers from playing it, even in single-player. Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime apologized, “[We] regret that our preparations were not enough to ensure everyone had a seamless experience.”

Since Diablo‘s debut in 1996, the franchise has sold more than 26 million units, including expansion packs.

Take-Two’s contract for the MLB license is set to expire within the next 12 months, and a company spokesperson told Kotaku, “MLB 2K12 is our last offering under that agreement. At this time, we have no further comment.”

In 2010, Take Two CEO Strauss Zelnick called the MLB license “a losing proposition.” At least as far back as 2009, the company blamed losses (in part) on the performance of its MLB games.

At the moment, Take-Two shows no indication that it plans to renew the MLB license. During a recent call to its investors, the company said that it expects losses associated with the MLB 2K brand to disappear within the next few years, suggesting that there are no future titles in the company’s projections.

Take-Two picked up the MLB license seven years ago for $30 million, though Take-Two has had trouble benefitting from the deal, as its MLB 2K games have struggled to find consistent success.

With MLB 2K seemingly absent from Take-Two’s lineup, the publisher’s only remaining annualized sports franchise is NBA 2K.

It also means that the Xbox 360 may well not have its own MLB title in the near future, as the only other publisher to develop titles with the license is Sony with its PlayStation-only series MLB The Show.

Sony has announced that its Uncharted series for PlayStation 3 and PS Vita has sold more than 17.3 million copies around the world since its debut in November 2007.

The action-adventure franchise has become one of the best-selling properties for Sony in just four years — the latest console entry, Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception, shipped 3.8 million units worldwide when it launched last year.

This 17.3 million amount is several million more than the 13+ million sold copies that Sony previously announced for the series in December. The total includes all three of the Naughty Dog-developed PS3 games, as well as SCE Bend Studio’s recently released Uncharted: Golden Abyss for PS Vita.

Sony has also revealed that it’s releasing a “Game of the Year Edition” for Uncharted 3, which will include all of the game’s downloadable content releases. It has not disclosed a release date for the title.