Halo (video game series)
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Halo is a popular series of science fiction first-person shooter video games developed by Bungie Studios and published by Microsoft. The games are set in the "Halo universe"—a science fiction universe created by Bungie Studios exclusively for the series. Halo: Combat Evolved quickly became known as the first "killer application" for Microsoft's Xbox video game console when it was released in 2001, achieving both critical acclaim and financial success. Combat Evolved was later published on the PC and finally released for the Mac (for which it was originally developed prior to Microsoft's buying developer Bungie).
A second game, Halo 2 was released in 2004, breaking sales records and becoming the fastest selling United States media product in history.<ref name=gameindustry.biz>Fahey, Rob (November 11, 2004). Halo 2 US sales top $125; UK retail celebrates successful launch. Retrieved on September 7, 2006.</ref> A third game, Halo 3, is in development for the Xbox 360, announced for release in 2007 . The Halo games have become well known for their graphics, gameplay, physics, and storyline. Further expanding the Halo universe are several novels, which provide insight into the background story, a movie currently in pre-production, and two upcoming Xbox 360 projects: a Halo RTS named Halo Wars and an as-yet untitled Halo project to be made in partnership with Peter Jackson.
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Video games
The series follows the events of the war between future humanity and a collective of alien races known as The Covenant. Here is an example of game play taken from over 50 different online players perspectives.
Halo trilogy
The Halo trilogy centers around the SPARTAN 117 "John", also known as Master Chief, a human super-soldier equipped with technologically advanced battle armor, and his AI companion, Cortana. Halo was the most popular application for the Xbox console up until the release of sequel, Halo 2, which was previewed in 2003. Halo 3 is yet to be released, and will mark the end of the Halo trilogy [1].
Halo: Combat Evolved
Halo: Combat Evolved is a first-person shooter that takes place on a mysterious ring world named Halo. Set in the year A.D. 2552, it focuses around a war between humans and a technologically advanced alliance of alien races known as the Covenant, who are united by their fanatical religious beliefs. A subject of the SPARTAN-II Project, the protagonist is a highly trained and biologically-engineered cyborg. Prior to the game's beginning, SPARTAN-II soldiers were recalled for further augmentation, in preparation for a mission to discover the Covenant homeworld's location by boarding a Covenant starship. Two days before the mission began, Covenant forces launched an assault on the second largest human installation Reach, and destryoed it. A single starship, the Pillar of Autumn, survived the alien onslaught and initiated a random jump to Slipspace,required by the "cole protocol", hoping to lead the enemy away from Earth. The Autumn was carrying the last known SPARTAN-II super-soldier, who is known as the "Master Chief".
The ship exits Slipspace near a mysterious ring-shaped superstructure, called "Halo" by the Covenant, and is attacked by the Covenant fleet. The Master Chief is awoken from his cryogenic sleep and escapes in an escape pod, as do other Marines. The ship's Captain crashlands the Autumn into Halo, surviving the impact.
In the ten levels of the game, the Master Chief must, with the help of the artificial intelligence construct Cortana, fight off the Covenant forces and other enemies, to discover the true purpose of Halo.
Halo: Custom Edition
Halo Custom Edition is an expansion of the PC version of Halo: Combat Evolved. It is used to load user-created content (mods) that were created using the Halo editing kit.
Halo 2
Halo 2 is the sequel to Halo: Combat Evolved, released for the Xbox on November 9, 2004 in two different editions; the standard Halo 2 edition, with traditional Xbox packaging and a single disc with the single- and multiplayer components, and the Collector's Edition, package in a specially designed metal case, along with an additional bonus DVD, extra booklet and slightly different user manual (written from the perspective of the Covenant military). The game's sales generated US$125 million on its premiere day, making it the fastest selling United States media product in history. The game has sold over 7 million copies worldwide since release. A PC port for the Windows Vista operating system is currently in development by an internal team composed of both Microsoft Game Studios and Bungie Studios.
Halo 2 features new vehicles and weapons, and improved artificial intelligence, as well as new game mechanics like dual wielding and the ability to hijack vehicles. Unlike its predecessor, the game fully supports online multiplayer via Xbox Live. The game has a reworked, more advanced graphics engine than the original, utilizing normal mapping and bloom effects. It also has Bungie.net integration and rankings and tracking of every online match. Halo 2 supports the same local area network and split-screen multiplayer components found in Halo: Combat Evolved.
Halo 3
Image:Halo3TrailerScreenShot.JPG Halo 3 is the third and final installment in the Halo series, announced at Microsoft's E3 2006 Press Conference via trailer. The trailer depicted the Master Chief walking through a desert with wreckage that resembles parts of the space elevator of New Mombasa. As the Master Chief is walking, Cortana speaks the following lines:
- I have defied Gods and Demons
- I am your shield, I am your Sword
- I know you; your past; your future
- This is the way the world ends
Cortana is presumably in the clutches of the Gravemind, a Flood intelligence, as shown in the end of Halo 2. The Master Chief halts on a cliff overlooking a Forerunner Artifact surrounded by Covenant starships. According to Bungie, the trailer takes place in the game about 1/3 of the way through. Halo 3 marks the end of the Halo trilogy. Recently a few reporters were given restricted access to play a multiplayer test of Halo 3 in the Bungie headquarters.
Spin-off games
As the Halo franchise continues to grow, games are being developed that will have little or nothing to do with the Halo trilogy story-arc.
Halo Wars
Halo Wars is a real time strategy game exclusivley for the Xbox 360 which looks like takes place in the time before Halo: Combat Evolved, thus not part of the Halo Trilogy. Its developer, Ensemble Studios, stated in the FAQ that Halo Wars is "created for the Xbox 360 from the ground up", which means they "didn't have to make compromises or shoe-horn in artifacts from a Windows PC game". You will probably be able to command either the UNSC or Covenant army in a series of conflicts early in the series, possibly leading to where Halo: Combat Evolved started. Identified units in the games are the crew of the UNSC's Spirit of Fire, which might be the group that the game focuses on in a campaign mode. Also, you may have the ability to control SPARTAN Group Omega, the Spartan II's in the trailer, which are only five of 33 Spartans II's at the time the game probably takes place. On the Covenant side, Elites seem to be your main units. As for vehicles, it looks like Warthogs, Scorpion tanks, long and shortswords, and Pelican dropships for the UNSC. The Covenant looks to have banshees, ghosts, and wraiths. Weapon wise, it seems the UNSC had either battle rifles or assault rifles and the Covenant have energy swords and an unidentified plasma weapon. There is no update on the release date. It is also based on the book Halo: The Fall of Reach by Eric Nylund.
Untitled Halo Project
An untitled Halo project was announced on September 27, 2006 at X06, to be co-written, co-designed and co-produced by Peter Jackson, with his recently-formed Wingnut Interactive <ref>"X06: Peter Jackson Forms a Game Studio", 1UP.com, September 27 2006.</ref>. Jackson will create a game set in the Halo universe, in partnership with Bungie Studios. <ref>http://www.bungie.net/News/TopStory.aspx?link=bungieatx06</ref>
Novelization
The Halo universe has several times been adapted into novel form. The first adaption was Halo: The Fall of Reach—a prequel to Halo: Combat Evolved, written by Eric Nylund and published during October 2001.<ref name=xbox.com2>Longdale, Holly. Game Worlds in Written Words. Retrieved on September 2, 2006.</ref> The novel was reportedly finished in seven weeks,<ref name="xbox.com2" /> eventually becoming a Publisher's Weekly bestseller with nearly two hundred thousand copies sold.<ref name=xbox.com3>Greene, Marty. First Strike Author Eric Nylund Q&A. Retrieved on September 2, 2006.</ref> The second novel, entitled Halo: The Flood, served as an adaptation of Halo: Combat Evolved. Written by William C. Dietz, this novel also attained the Publisher's Weekly bestsellers list during May 2003.<ref name=gamingage>Klepek, Patrick (May 5, 2003). Halo novel cracks bestseller. Retrieved on September 2, 2006.</ref>
Eric Nylund returned to write the third novel, Halo: First Strike, a sequel to Halo: Combat Evolved taking place before the events of Halo 2. It was published in December 2003,<ref name=randomhouse>Halo: First Strike by Eric Nylund. Retrieved on September 2, 2006.</ref> after being written in a period of sixteen weeks.<ref name="xbox.com3" /> A fourth novel, entitled Halo: Ghosts of Onyx,written again by Eric Nylund was published on October 31 2006.<ref name=bungiestory>The Next Halo Novel: Ghosts of Onyx (August 29, 2006). Retrieved on September 2, 2006.</ref> The Halo universe was adapted into the graphic novel format in the Halo Graphic Novel, a collection of four short stories, released during July 2006.<ref name=igncomic>Halo Graphic Novel at IGN. Retrieved on September 2, 2006.</ref> It was written and illustrated by well-known graphic novelists Lee Hammock, Jay Faerber, Tsutomu Nihei, Brett Lewis, Simon Bisley, Ed Lee and Jean Giraud. Bungie Studios considers the Halo novels as canon.<ref name=joestaten>Joe Staten Interview (October 2004). Retrieved on August 6, 2006.</ref>
Action figures
A shipload of action figures and vehicles based on Halo have been produced by Joyride Studios and includes, among others, the Master Chief.
Film adaptation
An upcoming film adaption of the series. The script for the movie was to be written by Alex Garland,<ref name=filmforce>Linder, Brian (February 3, 2005). Halo Goes Hollywood. IGN. Retrieved on September 9, 2006.</ref> though writer D.B. Weiss, author of Lucky Wander Boy is currently set to rewrite it, using elements of the Garland draft.[citation needed] The movie was to be developed and released by Universal Pictures and 20th Century Fox, under the creative oversight of Microsoft, but there have been complications with the distributors, and it is subject to change.<ref name=xbox.com6>Peter Jackson to Executive Produce Halo Movie. Retrieved on September 9, 2006.</ref> Former Columbia president Peter Schlessel has been selected as producer,<ref name=eonline>Grossberg, Josh (June 10, 2005). Hollywood's Halo Effect. Retrieved on September 9, 2006.</ref> and Peter Jackson will be the executive producer.<ref name=hollywood>Staten, Joseph. The Great Hollywood Journey, Part II. Retrieved on September 9, 2006.</ref> The movie is expected to release 2008, due to difficulties in selecting a director for the project.<ref name=unknown>Thorsen, Tor (August 9, 2006). Unknown directing delayed Halo. GameSpot. Retrieved on September 9, 2006.</ref> The director has been revealed as Neill Blomkamp.<ref name="unknown" />
Recently the project has been postponed at the agreement of both Jackson and Fox. Rumors are that it was due to a dispute with Microsoft and their share of the projects profits.
Fan fiction
A large body of fan fiction based on the Halo series has been written, covering both the past and future of the setting. The sites bungie.net and halo.bungie.org both host collections of Halo fan fiction. Indeed, there are several works of fan fiction that run to the length of a novel or more, and are well-known among the Halo community. Additionally, fanfiction.net hosts a selection of over 1,000 Halo-inspired pieces.
The Haunted Apiary
The Haunted Apiary (aka I Love Bees) was an alternate reality game used to promote the release of Halo 2. The game was centered on a website at ilovebees.com, and was created by 4orty2wo Entertainment, commissioned by Microsoft and endorsed by Bungie. The URL was discovered when it was briefly flashed in an official Halo 2 trailer.
Halo machinima
Image:RVB group shot.jpg Red vs. Blue: The Blood Gulch Chronicles, created by Rooster Teeth Productions, is a machinima series that parodies the Halo universe. Virtually all of the footage of the series is taken from Halo and Halo 2 gameplay. Set mostly outside Halo canon, the series chronicles the story of two opposing teams fighting—in Blood Gulch, a desolate box canyon "in the middle of nowhere"—a human civil war that supposedly ensues between the events of Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2. An absurdist parody of Halo itself, military life in general, and other science fiction films, Red vs. Blue is based largely on comedy.
Other machinima series—ranging from Fire Team Charlie, another comedy, to The Codex, a space opera more closely tied to Halo canon, as well as the in-game interview show This Spartan Life—have also been created.
Music
Three soundtracks, all composed by Martin O'Donnell, have been released based on the Halo game series:
See also
- Halo Zero, a fan-made 2D sidescroller set in the Halo universe.
- Marathon Trilogy
- Halo: Spartan was a supposedly cancelled Gizmondo game that was in pre-production, but was only so to generate stock numbers. It was said that it was going to be controlled with the mounted-camera on the Gizmondo for superior FPS controls.[2]
References
<references />
External links
- Bungie Studios
- Halo Easter Eggs- Listing of the Best Halo Easter Eggs
- Halo Community
- Halo 2 Wiki for Multiplayer action
- Halopedia - Halo knowledge center
- Halo Pro - Large online movie resource
- HBO, a large web resource for Halo-related topics
- Halo 3 Multiplayer
- The Library - A Massive Halo Reference Page
| Non-series Games | Gnop! • Operation Desert Storm • Minotaur: The Labyrinths of Crete • Abuse • Oni • Pathways Into Darkness • Pimps at Sea | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Marathon Games | Marathon • Marathon 2: Durandal • Marathon Infinity | ||
| Myth Games | Myth: The Fallen Lords • Myth II: Soulblighter | ||
| Halo Games | Halo: Combat Evolved • Halo 2 • Halo 3 • Halo Wars • Untitled Halo Project | ||
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