Apparently the best indication that a new generation of gaming consoles is on the horizon is when games of the current generation start requiring jaw-dropping amounts of hard drive space to play.

A recent update to Battlefield 3‘s multiplayer stood out for its hefty 2GB size, requiring players to wait impatiently for the update to finish, but another game might just force you to have to run out and do some errands or take up arts and crafts as you wait for it to install.

According to 343 Industries, the developers who took over the Halo franchise from Bungie, Halo 4 will require an 8 GB install in order to take part in its multiplayer action. That’s more than it takes to install almost any other full game to your hard drive, and nearly half the 20GB hard drive many people likely still have.

On top of that, the 8GB only covers the multiplayer portion of the game. It’s not yet known how many gigs it’ll require to install the full game, campaign and all, onto your system (which is, of course, what Microsoft recommends you do in order to get the best playing experience).

Sounds like we’re in for one massive new Halo adventure come November 6th when the game is released.

[Source: Gamespot]