Who dares ponder the inner workings of primo development studios such as Bungie, let alone consider the reasoning behind a name-change for the already adequately-titled Halo 3: Recon?

Halo 3: Recon is a new chapter in the Halo series which follows the fortunes of a lone and so far unnamed UNSC Orbital Drop Shock Trooper in the battles that rage in the city of New Mombasa in the run up to the events portrayed in Halo 3. It all sounds super-fine and dandy but for a couple of small flies swimming around the ointment. Firstly the game itself is, depending on which report you believe, three to six hours long - just enough to cruelly tickle the appetite - and secondly they’ve ditched a perfectly decent handle and renamed it Halo 3: ODST. Catchy, no?

Er, no, not especially, but at least it describes what the game’s about since it’s an acronym for Orbital Drop Shock Trooper - i.e. the hero of the piece. Maybe the Bungie guys had been mainlining Ronseal adverts when inspiration struck. Doubtless we’ll all have grown to love the name by the time the game finally gets a release and we‘ve all queued up like mindless drones to buy it. Speaking of which Autumn 2009 is still the current release window - gah, ages away…