Bungie showed this teaser with "secret numbers" during its panel at PAX today.

Bungie LLC, the Kirkland game development studio best known for the "Halo" franchise, may have another hit on its hands, if the size of the line for its panel at the Penny Arcade Expo today is any indication.

At least 700 people waited to hear members of the Bungie team talk and answer questions about the upcoming "Halo 3: ODST" -- including the imagery (inspired by film noir); the music (dark, cinematic jazz); sneak peeks inside the game (why is there a flood of water coming through that corridor?); the weapons (sorry, no battle rifle), future projects (yes, for the last time, we're working on non-Halo intellectual property, but we can't tell you about it); and the prospects for a "Halo" movie someday (oops, we're out of time!).

There were no clear spoilers, at least not that I heard, despite plenty of razzing among the Bungie team about accidentally spilling the beans. But they did show the patch above with some new "secret numbers" that apparently provide clues about the game, building on past hints that the Bungie team has leaked to fans.

Toward the end, one PAX attendee asked if Microsoft knew they were using a MacBook to make their presentation. Bungie has been spun out of Microsoft, so it might have seemed like they were expressing some newfound freedom, but Bungie's Joseph Staten noted that Bungie has long used plenty of Macs, to the extent that Bill Gates remarked on the prevalence of the Apple computers when he visited the studio once.

Another attendee pointed out that Halo was originally developed for the Mac, but Bungie's Marty O'Donnell corrected the record. Although the game was originally shown at Macworld, he noted, it was being developed as a cross-platform title, also expected to appear on Windows PCs. But then, of course, Microsoft acquired Bungie, and the first "Halo" was ultimately a blockbuster on the original Xbox.

"Halo 3: ODST" is due out Sept. 22 for Xbox 360.