According to BlackSite designer Ricardo Bare, there are two "schools of thought" among developers who must release their games alongside Halo. The first, and most obvious, is the understanding that your game is doomed, and therefore you should curse your publisher for scheduling an imbecilic release date and quickly settle into the realization that you won't be receiving a bonus for all those sleepless hours spent smoothing out the buggy corridor in that damned missile silo near the end of level four. But then, there are those, like Midway (who has no publisher to blame), who believe that blockbusters like Halo 3 help to spur sales of like-genred alien shooters. (Note our reaction to this theory in the image above.)

"Whenever you go and see a really bad ass action movie like X-Men, it just makes you want to go and see Spider-Man 3, right? You usually want more of the same," Bare told CVG, adding, "when something really huge comes out, it helps the other two or three really good games that also come out, because you want more FPS action." But Bare was also quick to draw a distinction between Halo 3 and his team's Area 51 follow-up, which adds squad-based tactics and political commentary to the alien extermination plot. So whether you want "more of the same" or something a bit different, BlackSite has you covered? Have we got the slogan right? Midway had best launch a stronger marketing campaign than that (and start reaching out to the PC and PS3 crowds) and, even more importantly, beat Halo 3 to store shelves. In other words, stop cannibalizing resources for another demo (this time with multiplayer) and don't waste any more time pondering the BlackSite sequel -- Halo 3 is here September 25th. Guys, maybe it's time to consider a 'strategic' delay?