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The Halo series is a series of first-person shooter video games developed by Bungie Studios and published by Microsoft. So far, two games have been released, and while it has not been announced a third game seems likely. The games' setting is very similar to the earlier Marathon games by Bungie. They are renowned for their relatively deep storylines, use of vehicles in gameplay and their multiplayer mode. Supporting the storyline is a series of novels, which provide background information and flesh out the proceedings between the games.
Video games
Halo: Combat Evolved
The first Halo game was released for the Xbox game console on November 15, 2001. It was later ported to both Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X PCs.
The story deals with the adventures of the protagonist Master Chief on a ring-shaped space station, the titular Halo. He must keep the station out of the hands of the two enemy races in the game: the Covenant and, later on, the Flood.
For more information, please see the main article about Halo: Combat Evolved.
Halo 2
The release date of Halo 2 was November 9, 2004. No ports have been released so far. It featured improved graphics, slightly tweaked gameplay, and multiplayer via Xbox Live.
In Halo 2, Master Chief battles the Covenant on Earth and later continues the fight on a second Halo, called Delta Halo. Meanwhile, the Covenant slides into Civil War and an Elite warrior called the Arbiter is introduced to the series as a second playable character.
For more information, please see the main article about Halo 2.
Halo 3
The development of Halo 3 has not been confirmed by Bungie or Microsoft, and thus any references to it are purely speculative. Steve Ballmer, the CEO of Microsoft, was quoted saying that Halo 3 was in development alongside Halo 2; however, this quote was recognized as a slip of the tongue and was debunked months before Halo 2 was released. There is also a rumor claiming that the date February 9, 2005 appears in the ending credits after the game is completed on the "Legendary" difficulty level. However, no evidence has been provided, and Bungie has since officially declared this a hoax and stated that nothing important in the Halo universe will happen on that date.
No details are known about this game, but the cliffhanger ending of Halo 2, in addition to the success of the Halo franchise, makes a sequel highly likely.
Novels
The Fall of Reach
Halo: The Fall of Reach is a prequel to the game, written by Eric Nylund. It provides background on the main character Master Chief and the beginning of the Covenant war.
The Flood
Halo: The Flood is an adaptation of the Halo: Combat Evolved's story by William C. Dietz.
It shows the UNSC's battles not only against the Covenant, but against Alpha Halo Installation 04's secret, the Flood.
First Strike
Halo: First Strike is the story between the first game and its sequel by Eric Nylund. It shows the UNSC's attempt at temporarily disrupting Covenant plans for invading Earth.
Movie
According to an early February 2005 report by the Seattle Times, Microsoft has sent Alex Garland, author of The Beach and the screenplay for horror movie 28 Days Later to Hollywood and tasked him with bringing the Halo story to the silver screen. [1] (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2002171529_halomovie05.html)
Bungie's official response has been, roughly, "we haven't announced a movie." In the past Bungie has been against a movie, but Microsoft has the final say in such matters. Whether this is a hoax or not remains to be seen, as the only evidence thus far are newspaper articles.
Other
The Haunted Apiary
The Haunted Apiary is an alternate reality game which acted as a teaser to the release of Halo 2, and supposedly unraveled the entire story of the time between when Halo ends and Halo 2 begins. The site where the game is located is ilovebees.com, which is still explorable, but a timer has been placed on the front of the page which counts down to a time more than 500 years in the future. Both Bungie and Microsoft disacknowledge that the site is their creation; ironic, considering the URL was briefly flashed on an official Halo 2 trailer.
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