If you didn’t already know, Halo 4 will be the first Halo game to be developed by 343 Industries, as Bungie has now officially stepped away from the franchise as promised. Halo 4 is actually set to be the first game in a reboot trilogy, so we should expect to see a lot more from Master Chief in a possible two more games from 343 Industries after Halo 4 lands.

We know that the game will be due out during the 2012 Holiday season, but Microsoft has not released any other details at the moment. We’re guessing that the next big reveal will come at E3 2012, but in the meantime, we now have a glimpse at how Master Chief’s in-game appearance may look like, thanks to the release of a few pictures for the official Halo 4 Master Chief action figure, courtesy of the official Halo website.

The figure has been designed by McFarlane Toys and as you would expect, it looks pretty awesome and a must have collector’s item if you have picked up previous merchandise in the franchise. Compared to Master Chief from Halo 3, we see that the hero’s armor has been upgraded with some funky looking shoulder pads, while there also seems to be a heavier emphasis on the stealth-style exoskeleton suit, which dare we say it bears some resemblance to stylings from good old Solid Snake from the Metal Gear Solid games.

Does this mean that Master Chief will have some brand new stealth-based abilities, or are we perhaps getting a bit ahead of ourselves? It’s too early to say of course but we definitely like the way Master Chief looks here and we can’t wait to see his new suit in action when 343 Industries decide to release the first slice of gameplay.

Don’t forget that we haven’t even seen who will be the main baddie in Halo 4 yet either – how long are 343 going to keep us waiting on this aspect? Check out the image of Master Chief in Halo 4 for yourself and let us know your thoughts on it. Do you prefer this new look, or did you like Halo 3 Master Chief more?

Finding the statue has to be one of the best Easter Eggs yet, but it will take hours of extra gaming to locate it. He is not a huge statue as he appeared in other maps, this time he is miniature – but he is still there for us to admire.

One happy Xbox 360 user was allowed to publish his instructions on Strengthgamer , visit the website now to find out how to locate the Master Chief statue in Halo: Reach. Good job you was not looking last night, as we reported that there was an issue with the Halo 3 servers.

Have you found him yet?

We recently asked if you think that Halo: Reach is a disappointment, we would still like to know what you think?