PICTURES: Halo 4 launches with massive glyph over London skies

Halo 4 launches in London

Now this is how you launch a video game. Not for convention centers and the back rooms of venues for Halo 4, no sir. The huge action franchise decided to launch by having X Box 360 take over the river Thames in London and put on a spectacular lighting performance which was visible for miles over London. Indeed, if you take a look at the top picture you'll see the Halo 4 glyph symbol flying overhead (that or it's a UFO). The glyph is one of the largest to fly over London, measuring 50 feet in diameter and weighing in at over three tonnes.

One of the soliders from Halo 4 isn't to be distracted by the glyph in the sky

More than 500 people turned up to watch the launch of the $1.9 billion grossing gaming franchise, with Chris Lewis, Vice President of Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft EMEA, teling the Daily Telegraph: "Halo launches are renowned for being entertainment game-changers and we are back with our most ambitious projects to date. Last week we created a replica of the Halo universe within the heart of Europe. This week we have one of the world's largest and brightest performance art objects being flown over London." He added "The Glyph flyover makes the seemingly impossible world of science fiction a reality, a 50 foot symbol of the Didact hovering in the skies of a major capital city, seems a fitting way to herald the next chapter of this phenomenal blockbuster franchise."

The glyph soars over Canary Wharf in London

There were 500 people in attendance at the launch, with hundreds queing up outside shops in the city

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