Is Halo Wars part of the Halo saga?
Halo (franchise)
Strong sales of the games led to the franchise's expansion to other media; there are multiple best-selling novels, graphic novels, and other licensed products. "Halo Wars" took the franchise into new video game genre territory, as a real-time strategy game, while the rest of the games in the series are first-person shooters. Beyond the original trilogy, Bungie developed the expansion "", and a prequel, "Halo: Reach", their last project for the franchise. A high-definition remake of the first game, entitled "", was released on November 15, 2011, ten years after the release of the original. A new installment in a second series of games, "Halo 4", was released on November 6, 2012. "", a remastered compilation of the four primary "Halo" titles, was released for the Xbox One on November 11, 2014. In October 2015, "" was released. In February 2017, "Halo Wars 2" was released. In June 2018, the next main installment of the "Halo" series was announced as "Halo Infinite".
Star Wars Battle Pod
Star Wars Battle Pod is a 2014 arcade game based on the franchise "Star Wars". It was unveiled at the New York Comic-Con on October 8, 2014. The game consists of multiple scenarios that correspond with one of the major battles in the original trilogy. There are five scenarios: the Battle of Yavin (Yavin) from "Star Wars" where the player is placed in an X-wing attacking the Death Star to prevent it from destroying Yavin 4, the Battle of Hoth (Hoth) from "The Empire Strikes Back" where the player pilots a snowspeeder to assist in the evacuation of Hoth from invading Imperial forces, a speeder run through Endor (Endor) where the player helps Han Solo make it to the shield generator to destroy the Death Star's shield for the Rebels in space, and the Battle of Endor (Death Star II) from "Return of the Jedi", which places the player in the cockpit of the "Millennium Falcon" to try to destroy the Death Star II and end the war. There is one scenario that does not follow the storyline of the movies but sets its own path (Vader's Revenge). This scenario takes place literally seconds after the destruction of the first Death Star where the player plays as Darth Vader who is trying to prevent the Rebels from escaping with a piece of the Death Star with the ability to eliminate Han Solo in the process. Another version of the game adds a scene from "The Force Awakens", where the player pilots a T-70 X-Wing to engage First Order ships on Takodana and protect General Leia's transport.
Halo Legends
Reception to "Legends" was mixed. Orlando Parfit of IGN UK wrote that while the decision to merge "Halo" and Japanese anime seemed an odd choice, ""Halo Legends" proves a successful—if uneven—attempt to fuse these two universes, and will certainly prove essential viewing for those with more than a passing interest in Bungie's seminal shooters." IGN US reviewers Cindy White and Christopher Monfette said that the short films "prove surprisingly accessible to sci-fi fans in general," and that the collection was "well worth" the time. Matt Miller of "Game Informer" said that "Halo Legends" would appeal to story-interested fans of the franchise, not those who cared about multiplayer gameplay.
Based on Rentrak and "Home Media Magazine" numbers, "Legends" ranked second and fourth in Blu-ray Disc and DVD sales, respectively, during its first week of sales in the United States. It also ranked seventh in Blu-ray Disc rankings in Japan. In its second week it dropped off the US Blu-ray Disc Top 20 charts, and slipped to tenth for DVD sales. According to The-Numbers.com, "Legends" sold $2.56 million worth of merchandise or 168,000 DVDs its first week. Sales later reached , selling almost 600,000 units. As of 2018, DVD sales have grossed in the United States.
Halo 5: Guardians
"The Sprint" is a series about the development of "Halo 5", which debuted in Xbox One's Halo Channel and was later uploaded to YouTube. The first season was about the development of "Halo 5"s multiplayer; the second season focused on the development of the Warzone game mode, and additional tweaks for the presentation at E3 2015. The third season showed the development of the game's score and the use of motion capture.
Halo (franchise)
The success of the main "Halo" trilogy spurred the creation of spin-off games. "Halo Wars" is a real-time strategy game developed by Ensemble Studios for the Xbox 360. Set in the year 2531, the game takes place 21 years prior to the events of "Halo: Combat Evolved". Much effort was spent on developing a control scheme that was simple and intuitive, unlike other console strategy games. The game was announced at X06, and released in February and March 2009.
Halo Wars
"Halo Wars" was originally not a "Halo" series title. Ensemble spent 12 to 18 months working on the control scheme, using the "Age of Mythology" engine. The development team hacked an "Age of Mythology" expansion, "", and used it as a prototype for control experiments. Ensemble found that managing "Age of Mythology"s resources, units, and buildings was too difficult with the console's controller. "The answer [to making a PC-style strategy game for a console] is actually hidden in the question," Jason Pace, Microsoft Game Studio's lead producer, told "The New Zealand Herald". "It's something we believe has held strategy games back from succeeding on the console: you can't effectively bring a PC-style strategy game to the console because the fundamental game mechanic is tied to the mouse and keyboard input devices. It's not a question of just changing the control scheme to be gamepad friendly—you need to adapt the underlying strategy mechanic to make sense with the new input device." Senior designer Justin Rouse said that the team kept the controls from the research they had conducted, but scrapped the rest in favor of "build[ing] from the floor up what we need[ed]: the basics, the core of a strategy game." With the goal of making "the first great strategy game on the console", Ensemble streamlined gameplay mechanics; the game's single resource is produced at each base site, which allows players to quickly cycle through their bases instead of micromanaging multiple resources at many locations.
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary
"Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary" and the original, "", are identical in gameplay and plot. The game is a first-person shooter with portions of vehicular combat taking place from a third-person perspective. The plot follows the player character and protagonist Master Chief, a supersoldier, as he fights the alien Covenant on the mysterious ancient ringworld Halo. Players are equipped with a recharging energy shield that absorbs damage; players also have health that can only be replenished by health packs scattered across the game's levels. A variety of human and alien weapons and vehicles can be used.
Halo: First Strike
"First Strike" takes place in the 26th century, where humanity, under the governance of the United Nations Space Command (UNSC), has been fighting a losing war against a religious collective of alien races known as the Covenant. Humanity's best defense against the Covenant is the SPARTAN Project, super-soldiers in powered armor, but these elite troops are too few to turn the tide of war in the UNSC's favor. Following a Covenant attack on Reach, a planet within UNSC jurisdiction, the "Pillar of Autumn" flees randomly coming across an ancient installation built by the mysterious Forerunner. The Covenant call this relic Halo, and believe it is a weapon and means of transcendence. UNSC discover that Halo is in fact a method of containing a parasite known as the Flood, by destroying all sentient life to prevent the Flood from spreading beyond Halo. The SPARTAN Master Chief and his artificial intelligence companion, Cortana, detonate the "Pillar of Autumn"s engines, destroying Halo. Escaping the destruction via a fighter, the Chief and Cortana believe themselves the only survivors of the catastrophe.
343 Industries
Following Bungie's departure from Microsoft in 2007, 343 Industries was eventually given complete control of the "Halo" franchise including servers and data on March 31, 2012. The studio's development of "Halo 4", which began in 2009, was completed ahead of schedule the same year in September. It was released on November 6, 2012, as the first title of a new "Halo" Reclaimer Trilogy which will include at least two more installments over the years. At E3 2013, Microsoft and 343i announced the next "Halo" installment set for release on the Xbox One. Shortly after the announcement, the Reclaimer Trilogy was confirmed by Microsoft Studios corporate vice president Phil Spencer to be expanded into a Reclaimer Saga. The following year at E3 2014, the official title was revealed as "Halo 5: Guardians" along with plans for its release on October 27, 2015. Microsoft, in a contract with Mega Bloks, is in conjunction with 343i to manufacture a new line of toys and other memorabilia for the upcoming "Halo" saga. "" was released on October 27, 2015, with semi-exclusive content to those who purchased select Mega Bloks sets. 343 Industries has since released free monthly content updates since Halo 5's launch.
Halo: Contact Harvest
Set in 2525, twenty-seven years before the events of "", the novel tells the story of the United Nations Space Command's first encounter with the alien collective known as the Covenant on the colony world of Harvest, and the beginning of the long war that follows. The novel is an ensemble piece, with the action being narrated from both human and Covenant viewpoints. The protagonist is a young Marine, Staff Sergeant Avery Johnson, who also appears in the "Halo" video games. Upon release, the book was generally well received and became "The New York Times" bestseller in its first week. Critics pointed to the novel's success as a sign of the increasing importance of story in video games.
Star Wars (2015 comic book)
The "Star Wars" series focuses on Luke, Leia and Han's continued conflict against the Galactic Empire with their fellow Rebel allies soon after the destruction of the first Death Star. As the series begins, Leia leads a covert rebel mission to destroy an Imperial weapons factory, attracting the attention of Darth Vader. In issues #4–5, Luke returns to Tatooine, searching Obi-Wan Kenobi's abandoned house for anything of interest regarding Obi-Wan or his father. He fights Boba Fett but also discovers Obi-Wan's journals, which Luke reads in issues #7, #15, #20 and #26-30. Issue #6 introduces Sana Starros, who is dramatically introduced as Han Solo's wife but later confesses to have only posed as his spouse during a previous scam. She becomes a recurring character. Issues #13-14 figure into the "Vader Down" crossover with the "Darth Vader" comic series, and later issues #31-32 focus in "The Screaming Citadel" crossover with the "Dr. Aphra" series.
Halo: Spartan Assault
"Halo: Spartan Assault" takes place between the events of "Halo 3" in 2553 and the events of "Halo 4" in 2557. Following the events of "Halo 3", the human UNSC and alien Covenant signed a ceasefire to end a decades-long war. It follows the early Spartan Ops' missions against the Covenant alien species and gives more background to the human-Covenant conflict. Stationed on the UNSC "Infinity", gameplay is through the perspective of either Commander Sarah Palmer or Spartan Davis.
Halo 5: Guardians
"Halo 5" is the first main installment in the "Halo" franchise to receive a T for Teen rating from the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) besides "Halo Wars", instead of the M for Mature rating. Microsoft Xbox division executive Aaron Greenberg felt that the M ratings on previous installments were surprising, "given the style of the game and the lack of real graphic violence and things like that", but that the "Teen" rating would theoretically enable "Halo 5" to reach a broader audience of younger players who would have otherwise been unable to obtain the game.
Halo Wars
Because of the Master Chief's large role in previous games, significant effort was expended on the Spartan units. Lead designer Dave Pottinger said the design team "started out just accepting and embracing the fact that the Spartans have to be the coolest unit in the game. If they're not, it's not going to meet the "Halo" fans' expectations." To position the Spartans as "kingmakers" in gameplay, the team gave them what it considered to be the "coolest" unit ability: hijacking enemy vehicles. The developers hoped players would become attached to individual Spartans in the campaign and gave each one an individual name; skirmish units were left nameless. The character design of the Spartans was meant to emphasize their relative inexperience and the setting of the game, which takes place decades before the events of the main trilogy. Devine commented on the Spartans' look:
Halo Legends
To oversee development of the entire "Halo" franchise, Microsoft created an internal division, 343 Industries, to manage the "Halo" brand. Frank O'Connor, 343's creative director, said that such a move was vital: "If you look at how George Lucas held on to "Star Wars", not just to make money from action figures but to control the direction the universe went in, you can see why we think it's pretty vital."
Halo Wars 2
The "Operation SPEARBREAKER" missions take place one month following the launch of the Halo Ring. "Spirit of Fire" and the Banished are still fighting for control of the Ark. A UNSC Squad, Sunray 1-1, stumble upon a Banished operation to repair a Forerunner warship to replace the Banished Carrier that was destroyed. Fighting though hordes of Banished forces and Sentinels, Sunray 1-1 is able to narrowly destroy the Forerunner ship before it can launch.
Halo Wars 2
Halo Wars 2 is a real-time strategy (RTS) video game developed by 343 Industries and Creative Assembly. It was published by Microsoft Studios and released in February 2017 on Windows and Xbox One. The game is set in the science fiction universe of the "Halo" franchise in 2559. It is a sequel to "Halo Wars" (2009) and takes place shortly after the events of "" (2015). The story follows the crew of "Spirit of Fire", a United Nations Space Command (UNSC) ship. "Spirit of Fire" arrives at the Ark, a Forerunner installation responsible for constructing and remotely controlling the titular Halo rings. Conflict breaks out between the UNSC forces and an alien faction known as the Banished over control of the Ark.
Halo (franchise)
Halo is a military science fiction first-person shooter video game franchise managed and developed by 343 Industries, a subsidiary of Microsoft Studios. However, this was originally developed by Bungie Studios. The series centers on an interstellar war between humanity and an alliance of aliens known as the Covenant. The Covenant, led by their religious leaders called the Prophets, worship an ancient civilization known as the Forerunners, who perished while defeating the parasitic Flood. The central focus of the franchise builds off the experiences of Master Chief John-117, one of a group of supersoldiers codenamed Spartans, and his artificial intelligence (AI) companion, Cortana. Other characters, such as Noble Six from "", are also introduced in the series. The term "Halo" refers to the Halo Array: a group of immense, habitable, ring-shaped superweapons that were created by the Forerunners to destroy the Flood. They are similar to the Orbitals in Iain M. Banks' "Culture" novels, and to a lesser degree to author Larry Niven's "Ringworld" concept.
Halo: Combat Evolved
Halo: Combat Evolved is a 2001 military science fiction first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie and published by Microsoft Game Studios. It was released as a launch title for Microsoft's Xbox video game console on November 15, 2001. Microsoft released versions of the game for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X in 2003. The game was later released as a downloadable Xbox Original for the Xbox 360. "Halo" is set in the twenty-sixth century, with the player assuming the role of the Master Chief, a cybernetically enhanced supersoldier. The Chief is accompanied by Cortana, an artificial intelligence. Players battle various aliens as they attempt to uncover the secrets of the eponymous Halo, a ring-shaped artificial world.
Halo Wars
In June 2016, Microsoft announced "Halo Wars: Definitive Edition"—an enhanced version of the game—for Windows and Xbox One. Development of the Definitive Edition was handled by Behaviour Interactive. It was made available on December 20, 2016 as part of the Ultimate Edition version of "Halo Wars 2".
Halo (franchise)
The "Halo" franchise includes various types of merchandise and adaptations outside of the video games. This includes bestselling novels, graphic novels, and other licensed products, from action figures to a packaging tie-in with Mountain Dew. Numerous action figures and vehicles based on "Halo" have been produced. Joyride Studios created "Halo" and "Halo 2" action figures, while "Halo 3" poseable and collectible action figures, aimed at collectors, were produced by McFarlane Toys and became some of the top-selling action figures of 2007 and 2008. MEGA Blocks partnered with Microsoft to produce "Halo Wars"-themed toys.
Star Wars video games
The following is a list of "Star Wars" titles that are handheld and mobile games. Additional handheld and mobile games are listed above. Unless otherwise mentioned they are for mobile phones.At E3 2012, EA with LucasArts announced "Star Wars 1313", which focuses more on the life of a bounty hunter as he descends to the level 1313 on Coruscant to unravel a criminal plot. The game focuses more on gunplay and bounty hunter gameplay rather than the Force users and lightsabers combat. It was set to release in Fall 2013 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows. "1313" has subsequently been cancelled by LucasArts following its purchase by Disney. The following are the stand-alone "Star Wars" videogames that were canceled, the canceled titles that were part of a series are listed along its respective series.The following games are more of "Star Wars" themed, rather than actually influencing the franchise's fictional plot, they are classified together because of sharing the same genre, rather than officially being part of the same series. Excluded are the games listed above.
Halo 3
Halo 3 is a 2007 first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie for the Xbox 360 console. The third installment in the "Halo" franchise, the game concludes the story arc begun in 2001's "" and continued in 2004's "Halo 2". The game was released on September 25, 2007, in Australia, Brazil, India, New Zealand, North America, and Singapore; September 26, 2007, in Europe; and September 27, 2007, in Japan. "Halo 3"s story centers on the interstellar war between twenty-sixth century humanity and a collection of alien races known as the Covenant. The player assumes the role of the Master Chief, a cybernetically enhanced supersoldier, as he battles the Covenant. The game features vehicles, weapons, and gameplay elements not present in previous titles of the series, as well as the addition of saved gameplay films, file sharing, and the Forge map editor—a utility which allows the player to perform modifications to multiplayer levels.
Halo: The Fall of Reach
Halo: The Fall of Reach is a military science fiction novel by Eric Nylund, set in the "Halo" universe, and acts as a prequel to "", the first game in the series. The book was released in October 2001 and is the first "Halo" novel. It takes place in the 26th century across several planets and locations. The novel details the events which led up to the game and explains the origins of the "SPARTAN II" super soldiers, narrating the story of the series protagonist, the Master Chief.
Edgeworks Entertainment
"The Codex" is a 20-episode online machinima series, set in Bungie' "Halo" video game universe. Along with its sister series, "The Heretic", it is part of the greater "Codex Series". It relates the story of a Covenant invasion of a Human world in order to recover a Forerunner artifact, and the story of the Humans resistance of that invasion. Since its initial release on February 9, 2005, "The Codex" has earned a large international fan base, and has been featured in numerous print, radio, televised, and online news media such as NPR, mtvU, Xbox World 360 Magazine in Britain, and the front covers of the Dallas Observer and Houston Press. In his September 29, 2005 Long Tail blog entry, Chris Anderson, Editor-in-Chief of "Wired" magazine, described "The Codex" as the best machinima he had ever seen and an excellent example of his Long Tail theory. "The Codex" is the highest trafficked peer-produced "Halo" machinima series in existence, ranking second only to the professionally produced series "Red vs. Blue".
Happy Wars
Happy Wars is a free-to-play, online multiplayer, action tactical role-playing video game developed by Toylogic, available for Xbox One. It was originally released for the Xbox 360, on October 12, 2012, on the Xbox Live Arcade as its first free-to-play title, and additionally for Microsoft Windows on July 23, 2014, but availability on the online marketplaces of these platforms and service to these platforms has since been discontinued as of December 17, 2018. The Xbox One version was released on April 24, 2015, and is now the only platform one is able to play the game on.
Halo Wars
On release, "Halo Wars" reached second place on the United Kingdom weekly sales charts behind "Killzone 2". "Halo Wars" reached only 16.7% of "Halo 3"s first-week sales, but it outsold "" threefold, making it the fastest-selling console strategy game. The following week, "Halo Wars"s sales were ranked fifth. In Australia, "Halo Wars" weekly sales ranked highest, ahead of "Killzone 2". By March 12, the limited edition and standard version were ranked second and third, respectively, on the United States Xbox 360 sales charts, behind "". Gamasutra attributed the surge in "Halo 3" sales to the release of "Halo Wars"; the former was fourth in the United States and second in Australia in sales of Xbox 360 games, and reappeared on the list of top 20 United States console games for February.
Halo Wars
Ensemble expanded the "Halo" universe during the game's development, in order to create enough units to give players strategic options. Among the new units was the Gorgon, a biped mech that used weapons called Needlers to destroy light aircraft. However, Ensemble later realized that the Gorgon invalidated a rule they had established: "anything with two legs that walks" was an infantry unit. Instead, the team added a new aircraft called the Vampire. The UNSC, meanwhile, lacked a melee unit to match the Covenant's hand-to-hand power. Ensemble considered using the original, less advanced Spartan Mark I suits of armor, in keeping with "Halo" lore, but once added these units were indistinguishable from Spartans in appearance. Instead, they created a lumbering, mechanized unit called the Cyclops, a nod to "Age of Mythology".
Halo of Flies
As Halo of Flies
Halo (franchise)
Microsoft announced at Comic-Con 2009 that it was overseeing production of a series of seven short anime films, together called "Halo Legends". Financed by 343 Industries, the animation was created by five Japanese production houses: Bones, Casio Entertainment, Production I.G., Studio 4°C, and Toei Animation. Shinji Aramaki, creator and director of "Appleseed" and "Appleseed Ex Machina", served as the project's creative director. Warner Bros. distributed "Legends" on DVD and Blu-ray in February 2010. Six of the stories are officially part of the "Halo" canon, with the seventh, made by Toei, intended to be a parody of the universe. In mid-July 2015, 343 Industries announced that a new animated series of "Halo" will be included in the "Halo 5: Guardians" Limited Edition and Collector's Edition called "", and will be based on the book "Halo: The Fall of Reach" by Eric Nylund.
Solo: A Star Wars Story
Solo: A Star Wars Story (or simply Solo) is a 2018 American space Western film based on the "Star Wars" character Han Solo. Directed by Ron Howard, produced by Lucasfilm and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is the second "Star Wars" anthology film following "Rogue One" (2016). Alden Ehrenreich stars as Han Solo alongside Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke, Donald Glover, Thandie Newton, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Joonas Suotamo, and Paul Bettany. The plot takes place approximately ten years prior to the events of "A New Hope", and explores the early adventures of Han Solo and Chewbacca, who join a heist within the criminal underworld.
Halo: The Master Chief Collection
Halo: The Master Chief Collection is a compilation of first-person shooter video games in the "Halo" series for the Xbox One. Released on November 11, 2014, the collection was developed by 343 Industries in partnership with other studios and was published by Microsoft Studios. The collection consists of "", "Halo 2: Anniversary", "Halo 3", and "Halo 4", which were originally released on earlier Xbox platforms. Each game in the release received a graphical upgrade, with "Halo 2" receiving a high-definition redesign of its audio and visuals that are exclusive to the collection. The game includes access to the live-action series "" as well as the "" multiplayer beta that was available for a limited time.
Halo Wars 2
"Halo Wars 2" takes place in the science fiction universe of the "Halo" series. The game is set in 2559, 28 years after the events of "Halo Wars" and shortly after the events of "". "Halo Wars" closes with the crew of the human United Nations Space Command (UNSC) warship "Spirit of Fire" entering cryosleep and drifting in uncharted space. During the interim, the war between humanity and the alien alliance known as the Covenant has ended, and "Spirit of Fire" has been declared lost with all hands. While "Spirit of Fire" is adrift in space, the ship's artificial intelligence (AI) Serina (Courtenay Taylor) terminates herself before succumbing to rampancy, a terminal state. Captain James Cutter (Gideon Emery), Professor Anders (Faye Kingslee), and the rest of the crew wake from cryonic sleep at the Ark, a Forerunner installation capable of manufacturing large ringworlds known as Halos. Isabel (Erika Soto) is a UNSC logistics AI operating at a research facility on the Ark when an alien faction called the Banished invades. The Banished are led by the Brute warlord Atriox (John DiMaggio) and rose to power following the Covenant's demise. Serving under Atriox are the Brute general Decimus and the Elite Shipmaster Let 'Volir (Darin De Paul).
Halo Array
Each Halo features their own wildlife and weather. The constructs resemble Iain M. Banks' Orbital concept in shape and design. The structure that "Halo: Combat Evolved" takes place on was initially to be a hollowed-out planet, but was changed to its ring design later in development; a staff member provided "Halo" as the name for both the ring and the video game after names such as "Red Shift" were suggested.
Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes
Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes is a mobile collectible RPG developed by Capital Games and published by Electronic Arts. The game received a soft launch in Australia during October 2015, and was formally released on November 24, 2015.
Halo Wars
Devine described the challenge of developing "Halo Wars" as "getting "Halo" fans to play a realtime strategy game, and getting realtime strategy fans to play a "Halo" game." "Fans of the [first-person shooter] series have very strong expectations for how a "Halo" games looks, feels and plays. "Halo" is all about heroic action to save humanity, mega-battles across the galaxy, visceral, highly-tuned combat and heart-pounding tension," Pace said. These themes were considered fundamental to the "Halo" experience, and so Ensemble tried to replicate them for "Halo Wars". Early in play tests, the developers watched devoted "Halo" fans play the game; their feedback led to the development of special abilities, which, according to Devine, enhanced the "Halo" feel. Ensemble initially considered making the Flood a playable race, but this idea did not progress beyond the concept stage. According to Devine, this was largely because the Flood would have needed to be similar to "StarCraft"s Zerg, in order to maintain balance with the UNSC and Covenant. This did not match the Flood's role as "the single scariest thing in the galaxy".
Halo Wars
The first DLC package, Strategic Options, added three new multiplayer modes. "Keepaway" is similar to capture the flag; in it, players try to capture and hold Forerunner units. In "Tug-of-war", players earn points by fielding large armies and destroying enemy units. In "Reinforcement", players receive units as reinforcements, rather than training them at bases. The amount of available resources and reactors determines which types of units are deployed and the upgrades they can earn. Strategic Options was released on May 19, 2009, after a patch that addressed software bugs and game balance issues. The update garnered criticism for its small size (2 megabytes) and high price (800 Microsoft Points). Pottinger responded on the "Halo Wars" forums that the game modes were small downloads "because they are rules. There is some new content, but it's obviously a different type of content compared to a map." Robot released a second DLC package on July 21, 2009. The DLC, dubbed "Historic Battles", contains four additional maps and four new Xbox Live achievements.
Halo Wars
On September 10, 2008, Ensemble Studios announced that it would close after "Halo Wars" completion. Ensemble founder Tony Goodman and other employees announced the formation of a new studio, Robot Entertainment, shortly before the game's release; another group of ex-staff created Bonfire Studios. Robot announced that, while developing new intellectual property, it would support "Halo Wars" and "Age of Empires" through a partnership with Microsoft Game Studios.
Halo (franchise)
At E3 2014, Microsoft and 343 Industries announced "", released on November 11, 2014, for the Xbox One. The game includes the full campaign and multiplayer modes of "Halo: Combat Evolved", "Halo 2", "Halo 3", and "Halo 4". The campaign of "Halo 3: ODST" was later released as downloadable content, and was free for those who bought "The Master Chief Collection" during late 2014.
Halo: The Master Chief Collection
Spartan Ops, the episodic content originating in "Halo 4", was released as downloadable content for "The Master Chief Collection" on December 22, 2014. Additional Achievements for Spartan Ops and the multiplayer mode were released on January 8, 2015.
"Halo: Nightfall"—a series of weekly, episodic digital videos directed by Sergio Mimica-Gezzan and produced by Ridley Scott—launched soon after the collection was released. The series was designed to connect the stories of previous "Halo" games to the upcoming "Halo 5". The "Halo 5" beta launched on December 29, 2014, and ran until January 18, 2015.
With the release of "The Master Chief Collection", Microsoft and 343 Industries announced an official competitive gaming league, the Halo Championship Series (HCS). 343 Industries partnered with the Electronic Sports League, live-streaming platform Twitch.tv, and other tournament organisers to foster the competitive multiplayer community in "Halo". The first season of HCS, featuring "Halo 2: Anniversary"s multiplayer, launched in November 2014 and ran until March 2015. It served as a test bed for ideas and future plans that 343 Industries has for esports in "Halo 5".
In April 2018, the MCC Insider Program was launched to playtest upcoming changes to "The Master Chief Collection", notably the various improvements to its interface and to its multiplayer modes. As a part of the various changes, 343 Industries introduced patches to re-add well-known Halo 2 glitches such as sword flying into its campaign, which led to increased interest in speedrunning the game. On August 27, 2018, the changes were published for all players.
Daniel Abraham (author)
In New York Comic Con 2013, Del Rey Books announced a new "Star Wars" novel by Abraham and Ty Franck, writing as James S. A. Corey. The book would be a standalone novel focusing on Han Solo, set between "Star Wars" and "The Empire Strikes Back. Honor Among Thieves" was released in March 4, 2014, as the second installment of the "Empire and Rebellion" series. The writers watched "A New Hope" and "The" "Empire Strikes Back" several times to capture Han Solo's voice while writing the book. A short story written by Corey titled "Silver and Scarlet" was included in the book as well as published in "Star Wars Insider" #148. A month after the novel was published, the "Star Wars" Expanded Universe was declared non-canon and renamed "Star Wars Legends" after the Disney acquisition of Lucasfilm, making "Honor Among Thieves" the last Expanded Universe publication.
Halo Championship Series
Results
Master Chief (Halo)
Master Chief first appears in the games as the protagonist of "Halo: Combat Evolved" and the 2003 novelization, "Halo: The Flood". During the opening cinematic of "Halo: Combat Evolved", the Chief is awakened from cryonic sleep. Upon exiting slipspace, the "Pillar of Autumn" is attacked by the Covenant and crash lands on Halo, a ring-shaped megastructure. Master Chief escapes the ship via an escape pod. Upon landing on Halo, his first task is to find other survivors. While fighting the Covenant, Master Chief and Cortana learn that Halo was created by an ancient race, the Forerunners, as a last line of defense against an alien parasite called the Flood. The Covenant accidentally release the Flood, which begins to spread across the ring. At the request of the installation's resident AI 343 Guilty Spark, Master Chief retrieves the Index, a device used to activate Halo's defenses and eliminate the Flood. However, Guilty Spark neglects to inform the Master Chief that Halo would accomplish this by destroying all sentient life in a vast radius, essentially starving the Flood to death. Cortana intervenes to prevent the activation of Halo. She and the Master Chief destroy it by detonating the "Pillar of Autumn"s fusion reactor core. The Master Chief and Cortana escape in a Longsword spacecraft, believing they are the only survivors.
Halo (franchise)
Bungie is a game development company started in 1991 by Alex Seropian. Seropian partnered with programmer Jason Jones to market and release Jones' game "". Focusing on the Macintosh game market because it was smaller and easier to compete, Bungie became the biggest Mac developer with games including the shooters "Pathways into Darkness" and "Marathon". What became "Halo" was originally code-named "Monkey Nuts" and "Blam!", and took place on a hollowed-out world called Solipsis. The planet eventually became a ringworld, and an artist suggested the name "Halo", which became the game's title.
Halo (franchise)
Following the release of "Halo 3", Bungie announced it was splitting off from Microsoft and becoming an independent limited liability company. While Bungie remained involved in the "Halo" series by developing games such as "ODST" and "Reach", the rights to "Halo" remain with Microsoft. To oversee everything "Halo", Microsoft created an internal division, 343 Industries, serving as "stewards" for the franchise. Frank O'Connor, formerly a Bungie employee, now serves as 343's creative director.
Halo Wars
After Ensemble's closing, Robot Entertainment announced that it was developing downloadable content (DLC) for "Halo Wars". Pottinger described support as ongoing rather than a one-time effort and compared it to Bungie's post-launch additions to "Halo 3". He stated that Robot would also work on balance issues, bug fixes, and other patches.
Halo (franchise)
The games of the main "Halo" trilogy were developed by Bungie, and are first-person shooters in which the player experiences most action from the protagonist's perspective. The first title in the series is "" on Xbox, released on November 15, 2001. The game was initially intended to be released for Windows and Mac OS, until Microsoft's purchase of Bungie in 2000 led to the game becoming an Xbox launch title and delaying any release for personal computers for 2 years. "Halo: Combat Evolved" introduced many gameplay and plot themes common to the whole trilogy. Players battle various aliens on foot and in vehicles to complete objectives, while attempting to uncover the secrets of the eponymous Halo. One concept introduced in "Halo: Combat Evolved", is limiting the number of weapons players could carry to two, forcing them to carefully select their preferred armament. Players fight with ranged and melee attacks, as well as a limited number of grenades. Bungie refers to the "weapons-grenades-melee" format as the "Golden Triangle of "Halo"", which has remained fundamentally unchanged throughout the trilogy. In "Halo: Combat Evolved", the player's health is measured in both hit points and a continually recharging energy shield; the sequels forgo the hit point system, although it returns in spin-offs. A Windows and Mac OS X port was later developed by Gearbox Software, and released on September 30 and November 11, 2003, respectively. A stand-alone expansion, entitled "Halo: Custom Edition", was released as a Windows exclusive, and allowed players to create custom content for the game.
Halo (comics)
In September 2011, The New 52 rebooted DC's continuity. In this new timeline, it is revealed that Halo and the Outsiders had survived the explosion but were assumed dead. They now work as part of the Dead Heroes Club, a group of heroes who take advantage of their legally-deceased status to perform covert missions for Batman.
Tales of the Jedi
Tales of the Jedi is a series of comic books published by Dark Horse Comics between 1993 and 1998. They are part of the fictional "Star Wars" expanded universe, and cover the Great Sith War and the Great Hyperspace War. The series represented the earliest chronological "Star Wars" stories until the publication of the "Dawn of the Jedi" series of comics and novels.
Halo (franchise)
In 2006, in acknowledgment of the "wealth of influences adopted by the Bungie team", a list of Bungie employees' favorite science fiction material was published on the company's website. The developers acknowledged that the "Halo" series' use of ring-shaped megastructures followed on from concepts featured in Larry Niven's "Ringworld" and Iain M. Banks' Culture series (of which "Consider Phlebas" and "Excession" were said to be particularly influential). In a retrospective article in "Edge", Bungie's Jaime Griesemer commented, "The influence of something like "Ringworld" isn't necessarily in the design – it's in that feeling of being somewhere else. That sense of scale and an epic story going on out there." Griesemer also explained, "One of the main sources of inspiration was "Armor" [by John Steakley], in which a soldier has to constantly re-live the same war over and over again. That sense of hopelessness, a relentless battle, was influential." The Flood were influenced by the assimilating alien species in Christopher Rowley's "The Vang"; it has also been speculated that the Master Chief's name "John 117" may have been a reference to a character named Jon 6725416 in Rowley's "Starhammer", or to the John Spartan character of "Demolition Man". An IGN article exploring the literary influences present in the "Halo" franchise commented on similarities between "Halo" and Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game": aspects of the SPARTAN Project and the design of the Covenant Drones are perceived as reminiscent of the super soldier program and Buggers found in the novel. Bungie has also acknowledged James Cameron's film "Aliens" as a strong cinematic influence.
Halo Championship Series
Results
Halo: Silentium
Halo: Silentium is a military science fiction novel by Greg Bear, based on the "Halo" series of video games. The book was released in March 2013 and is the twelfth "Halo" book (the eleventh novel) and the last book in the trilogy of novels focusing on the Forerunners, called "The Forerunner Saga". "Silentium" was released in hardcover, e-book, and audiobook following 2012's "Halo: The Thursday War", the second book in the separate "Kilo-Five" trilogy. "Silentium" concludes the efforts of the Ur-Didact and the Librarian to stop the Flood from destroying the universe. The book reached number eight on the New York Times Bestseller List for Hardcover Fiction.
Halo (comics)
Halo is later selected as a member of a new team of Outsiders, led by Red Robin and funded by Batman Incorporated. Halo and her teammates infiltrate a satellite said to be run by the villainous Leviathan organization, but this is revealed to be a trap set by Lord Death Man and Talia al Ghul. The satellite is destroyed in a massive explosion, making it unclear whether Halo and the others survived.
Halo: Uprising
The series was brought together by Ruwan Jayatilleke, Marvel's Vice President of Development. He attained the license to publish "Halo" comics, including the single-volume "The Halo Graphic Novel", in 2005. The graphic novel's critical and commercial success prompted Marvel to announce a new "Halo" limited series in 2006 with Jayatilleke serving as the series' editor. Bendis, a long-time "Halo" fan, was excited about adding to the franchise story.
Covenant (Halo)
The Covenant were first introduced in the 2001 video game "" as enemies of the playable character, a human super soldier known as the Master Chief. Not realizing the Halos were meant as weapons of destruction rather than salvation, the Covenant attempt to activate the rings on two separate occasions throughout the series, inadvertently releasing a virulent parasite known as the Flood in the process.
Halo 4
In "Halo 4"s multiplayer component, titled "Infinity", players assume the role of a customizable Spartan-IV super-soldier. Players can progress through ranks by earning experience points from completing matches and challenges. Gameplay items such as visual customizations, weapons, armor abilities, and various upgrades are unlocked and can be acquired by players when they gain ranks. Once players attain rank SR-50, they can enlist into a "Specialization", enabling them to unlock further cosmetic and gameplay-enhancing customizations for their Spartan. War Games is a competitive multiplayer matchmaking mode. There are various playlists with different game types ranging from standard deathmatch to objective oriented modes such as capture the flag. War Games can be played with up to sixteen players on Xbox Live and has up to four-player split screen support. In "Halo 4", players are able to join certain multiplayer matchmaking sessions while they are in progress. Spartan Ops is a story-driven episodic game mode, that can be played solo or cooperatively like the campaign mode. It serves as a replacement for the Firefight game mode that featured in "Halo: Reach" and "". Ten episodes of content were released for Spartan Ops, each featured a cinematic and five objective-based missions. The first five episodes were delivered on a weekly basis following "Halo 4"s launch, the final five episodes were released in early 2013.
Star Wars (2015 comic book)
Star Wars is an ongoing "Star Wars" comic series published by Marvel Comics since January 14, 2015. Originally written by Jason Aaron with art by John Cassaday, it is set between the 1977 film "Star Wars" and its 1980 sequel, "The Empire Strikes Back". The series features classic "Star Wars" characters Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo, Chewbacca, C-3PO, and R2-D2. It was one of three new "Star Wars" comics by Marvel announced in July 2014, along with "" and the limited series "".
Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga
Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga is a Lego-themed action-adventure video game based on the Lego Star Wars line of toys. It is a combination of the game "" and its sequel "", which spans the first six episodes of the Star Wars saga. The game was announced by LucasArts on 25 May 2007 at Celebration IV and was released for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, and Nintendo DS on 6 November 2007 in North America. The compilation title was released for the PC on 13 October 2009 in the US. Its sequel, "", was released in March 2011. The Mac OS X version of the game was released on 12 November 2010 by Feral Interactive. A version of the game for iOS was released on 12 December 2013, and for Android on 1 January 2015.
Ogre 2
After nearly 3 years effectively in the eSports wilderness, Halo made a return to the Competitive Gaming scene after the announcement of , and more specifically, Halo 2: Anniversary, the remake of arguably the most popular competitive Halo title. OGRE 2 brought back the name StK and competed at the developer run Launch Invitational, finishing in 3rd place. After the success of this tournament, the Halo Championship Series was announced, again endorsed by developer 343 Industries, and hosted by Electronic Sports League. OGRE 2 and his team mates were picked up by League of Legends organization Counter Logic Gaming, who were making their first splash into competitive Halo. The first HCS event was in Columbus, hosted by Iron Gaming, and once again OGRE 2 took home a 1st-place finish, with a hard-fought win over Evil Geniuses, making Halo 2: Anniversary the sixth gaming title he has a 1st-place finish in (his fifth within the Halo franchise), and his 40th national/global level tournament win, spanning over a decade. After holding onto the number one seed for the majority of the season, a second-place finish to Evil Geniuses at Gamers 4 Giving pushed them back for the first time since the season started. Evil Geniuses continued their dominance and took PAX nationals away from CLG in the finals, leaving CLG to take home 20K.
Halo Wars
"Halo Wars" was officially announced at Microsoft's X06 media briefing on September 27, 2006, with a pre-rendered trailer created by Blur Studio. The trailer depicts a group of Warthog vehicles searching for missing soldiers. Covenant Elites ambush the patrol and a battle ensues involving human and Covenant vehicles and infantry. The trailer ends with the arrival of Spartan reinforcements. GameSpy listed the trailer in its top 25 video game cinematic moments, because it showed "the world of "Halo" on a much grander scale".
The Han Solo Adventures
The Han Solo Adventures, written by American science fiction novelist Brian Daley, is a trilogy of novels set in the "Star Wars" fictional universe. It follows the smuggling days of Han Solo and Chewbacca two years before the events of the original "Star Wars" film. The books were released in 1979–1980, making them the first non-movie "Star Wars" books published, except for "Splinter of the Mind's Eye" (1978). They were also the last published until "The Adventures of Lando Calrissian" trilogy in 1983. The three Han Solo books were also published as an omnibus edition in 1992.
Covenant (Halo)
The Covenant are a fictional theocratic military alliance of alien races who serve as the main antagonists in the first trilogy of the "Halo" video game series. They are composed of a variety of diverse species, united under the religious worship of the Forerunners and their belief that Forerunner ringworlds known as Halos will provide a path to salvation. After the Covenant leadership—the High Prophets—declare humanity an affront to their gods, claiming the extermination of [humanity] is the 'will of their gods and [the Covenant] are [the gods'] instrument', the more advanced extraterrestrials subsequently prosecute a lengthy genocidal campaign against the technologically inferior human species.
The Halo Graphic Novel
The central premise behind the story of "The Last Voyage of the Infinite Succor" was to showcase both the true danger posed by the Flood and the inner workings of the Covenant military machine, to dispel the image that the Covenant "simply stand around waiting for the Chief to blast them". The story was written by Lee Hammock with art provided by Simon Bisley. Hammock described the process of writing the story as a "heady task" since he had to respect "Halo" fans' knowledge of the characters and canon, ensuring that "characters that [the fans] know as a part of themselves are portrayed aptly". These difficulties were mitigated by the knowledge that fans were not as intimately connected to the history of the character of Rtas as they were to the likes of the Master Chief; this allowed ample room to expand 'Vadumee's background in sync with the "Halo" canon while permitting the writer to "bring something new to the table".
Halo (comics)
During an attempt by the Outsiders to create a new headquarters, other Aurakles would return to reclaim Halo. Halo would later strike up a relationship with Sebastian Faust, a fellow Outsider that not many on the team trusted. The entire team is eventually cleared of wrongdoing. Halo later returns to Markovia. There she assists in combating a portal to Hell that had opened as part of the Day of Judgment incident.
Halo: Combat Evolved
During the Microsoft press conference at the 2011 E3 Expo, it was revealed that "Halo: Combat Evolved" would be remade by 343 Industries with an in-house game engine and would include achievements, Terminals, and Skulls. It was released for the Xbox 360 on November 15, 2011. The release date marks the 10th anniversary of the original game's release. The remastered version of the original game includes online multiplayer and cooperative play functionality. The remake is also the first "Halo" game to include Kinect support. The game is a mix of two game engines—the original Halo engine created by Bungie which provides gameplay and a new engine created by 343 and Saber which is responsible for improved graphics—and the player is able to switch between the improved and classic modes of the game at any time. The game's multiplayer component uses the "" gameplay engine, tailored with a map playlist to mimic the original multiplayer, as opposed to including the original game's multiplayer mode.
Halo Wars
The game's plot was well received. Reviewers praised the game's cinematics and voice acting. Geddes said the story was good, but not on par with those of Bungie's "Halo" games, and that most of the characters were stereotypical and somewhat unlikable. Critics noted that for a strategy game, the campaign was rather short, with only 15 missions; Nate Ralph of "Wired" completed each in fewer than 40 minutes. Jon Wilcox of Total Video Games wrote "there's an ebb and flow" to the gameplay, with "lengthy chapters cut with shorter punchy ones or time-based missions, all together creating a surprisingly compelling experience". Wilcox said the additions of performance-based medals added replay value to the campaign. Price said that, although the story and mission structure of the game was fairly standard, levels that were "rote" in other RTS games seemed more substantial in "Halo Wars". Reviewers such as Geddes, Wilcox, and Patrick Kolan of IGN UK said that the lack of a Covenant campaign was an unfortunate omission.
Factions of Halo
"Halo" has a variety of affiliated merchandise. A version of the strategy board game Risk was released based on Halo Wars with game pieces being modeled after the UNSC, Covenant, and Flood. A mix of human and Covenant vehicles and weapons were also featured in the Halo ActionClix tabletop game and a series by McFarlane Toys. Game journalists have even noted the similarities between the Warthog and the Hummer HX, which GM denies. The merchandise includes several series of action figures. The first series of figures were created by Joyride Studios, and featured characters, weapons, and vehicles representing all of "Halo"s factions. The task of creating "Halo 3"s action figures fell to McFarlane Toys; in an interview with Bungie, Todd McFarlane stated that the challenge of creating figures for a franchise was that designers had to accommodate and integrate both articulation and attention to detail, "without compromising one or the other too heavily". A total of three series of figurines have since been produced, featuring UNSC, Flood, and Covenant forces. Manufacturer Kotobukiya also produced "high-end statues" for "Halo 3"s debut. Other merchandise based on the weapons of the "Halo" universe include die cast weapons replicas and a set of Covenant weapons used for Laser tag.
Halo Wars
In 2004, the Microsoft-owned Ensemble Studios—developers of the "Age of Empires" strategy series—began work on the game that would become "Halo Wars". The studio confirmed in April 2006 that it was working on a console-based RTS. CEO Tony Goodman said, "We're giving RTS games on the console a shot. We actually spent a whole year just trying to reconstruct how the controls would work on an RTS game." Without revealing the title, Goodman described the game as being shorter and more visceral than their previous projects.
Halo Wars
Rippy began writing music for the game in April 2007. "Some of the plot points of Halo Wars revolve around discovery, and I think that was my favorite idea to write to—that sense of, 'no one's seen this before,'" he said. The first two tracks combined repurposed elements from past projects with his efforts to convey the "Halo" sound. "Flollo" contained musical ideas Rippy had experimented with since his last project, "". "Bad Here Day" was the first piece in which he tried to incorporate the ""Halo" sound". Rippy felt it important to avoid repeating too many old themes because he wanted the game to have its own identity; however, he wanted to continue to incorporate choir and piano, elements he believed to be integral to the sound of previous "Halo" games. In adherence to an Ensemble Studios tradition, the tracks are often named after coined phrases and inside jokes, rather than in-game events.
Halo (franchise)
Several spin-off titles were planned for release on handheld systems, but did not progress far in development. Rumors of a handheld "Halo" title for the Game Boy Advance surfaced in 2004. Bungie denied the rumors and commented that such a project between Microsoft and Nintendo would be "very unlikely". At a Las Vegas consumer technology convention in January 2005, rumors spread about a version of "Halo" for the handheld Gizmondo system. Bungie denied the rumors stating they were not making a game for the system. A former Gizmondo employee later revealed development only extended to basic story and game structure concepts to obtain funding from investors. In 2006, a concept video for Microsoft's portable Ultra-Mobile PC featured footage of "Halo" and caused speculation for a handheld title. Microsoft later stated the footage was for demonstration purposes only; "Halo" was included because it was a Microsoft-owned property. In January 2007, IGN editor-in-chief Matt Casamassina claimed he played a version of "Halo" for the Nintendo DS. He later demonstrated on-camera, in-game footage of an early-development style version of "Halo DS". The demonstrated work featured dual-wielding and a version of the "Halo 2" map Zanzibar. On October 5, 2007, Bungie employee Brian Jarrard explained the "Halo DS" demo was in fact an unsolicited pitch that was never taken on.
Halo Wars
"Halo Wars" received generally positive reviews. Reviewers lauded the game's pre-rendered cinematics, attention to detail in replicating the "Halo" universe, and intuitive control scheme. Complaints against the game included the lack of an option to play as the Covenant faction in campaign mode as well as the lack of strategic options during play. Critics from GameSpot and "USA Today" wrote that experienced RTS players would find the strategic elements of the title shallow. The game sold one million units worldwide through March 2009, making it the best-selling console real-time strategy game to date. An enhanced version of the game—"Halo Wars: Definitive Edition"—was released for Windows and Xbox One. "Halo Wars 2", a sequel developed by 343 Industries and Creative Assembly was released in February 2017.
Halo Wars
Halo Wars is a real-time strategy (RTS) video game developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox 360 video game console. It was released in Japan and Australia on February 26, 2009; in Europe on February 27; and in North America on March 3. The game is set in the science fiction universe of the "Halo" series in the year 2531, 21 years before the events of "". The player leads human soldiers aboard the warship "Spirit of Fire" in an effort to stop an ancient fleet of ships from falling into the hands of the genocidal alien Covenant.
Halo Championship Series
Halo Championship Series (HCS) is a professional "Halo" league sponsored by Microsoft and 343 Industries. It is governed by Electronic Sports League, more commonly referred to as ESL. Seasons 1 and 2 ran on "", specifically its remake of "Halo 2". In August 2015 Microsoft announced it would be increasing the total prize pool of the HCS to $1 million USD, for the newly announced Halo World Championship, which will be the debut event for "". This prize pool was later announced to be crowd-funded, which later resulted in Major League Gaming announcing that the prize pool had climbed to $2 million USD. Later that week, 343 announced that the prize pool was locked at $2.5 million USD. This was confirmed to give the winners, later announced to be Counter Logic Gaming, the largest single monetary prize in console eSports history.
Halo (franchise)
On March 25, 2015, 343 Industries announced "Halo Online", a free-to-play "Halo" multiplayer game for Windows. A closed beta test limited to Russia launched in the second quarter of 2015. The title was developed with Saber Interactive and published by Innova Systems; it is powered by a modified version of the "Halo 3" engine. The project was cancelled in August 2016. A leaked beta of the game was used and modified with a launcher dubbed "ElDewrito" that circumvented the region limitation and later added content and bugfixes to the game, after the cancellation of the release.
The Ballad of Halo Jones
Since the publication of Book Three in 1986 fans of the series have been speculating on the possibility of Halo returning for further adventures. In his introduction to the Titan reprint of Book Three in 1986 Alan Moore seemed to be leaving an open door for Halo's story to return to the comic:
Halo Championship Series
The initial event for the HCS Fall season 2018 was MLG New Orleans, taking place at the New Orleans Morial Convention Center in New Orleans. The event took place from July 13th - 15th and was hosted along side a Gears of War tournament. The event featured a $250,000 prize pool. This event is hosted as a global open meaning armature teams can play through the open bracket.MLG New Orleans was the first time Oddball was showcased in the Halo Championship Series for Halo 5: Guardians and several maps made by community members using the in-game level editor forge where also reviewed for competitive play.HCS London was the second main event of the HCS Fall Season 2018 and was notably the first international tournament for Halo 5: Guardians hosted out side of North America. The event featured a $135,000 prize pool and was hosted by Gfinity. The event took place at the Gfinity Arena in Fulham, London.
List of Halo media
Halo is a science fiction video game franchise created by Bungie and owned and published by Microsoft Studios. Central to the "Halo" series are the three first-person shooter video games "", "Halo 2" and "Halo 3"; novelizations, soundtracks, and other media are also available. The story of the series is about the Master Chief, a cybernetically enhanced human super-soldier and his artificial intelligence (AI) companion, Cortana, as the humans of a futuristic universe battle the Covenant, a theocratic alliance of alien races. The "Halo" series has inspired machinima productions, such as "Red vs. Blue", and other fan fiction; however, this list only covers media produced or endorsed by series creator Bungie, or the intellectual property overseer 343 Industries.
Halo 4
"Halo 4" takes place in a futuristic science fiction setting in the year 2557, four years after the events of "Halo 3". Backstory details that hundreds of thousands of years before the modern era, humans were one of several interstellar civilizations. Following a war with the parasitic Flood, the humans came into conflict with the Forerunners, a powerful race that upheld a policy of benevolent shepherding of other races known as the Mantle of Responsibility. Humanity had begun an aggressive campaign of destroying any Flood infestations on a planet, which was misinterpreted as a desire for conquest. After centuries of war the Forerunners defeated the humans, ancestors of the contemporary human race, and stripped them of their technology and empire. The Forerunners soon fought the Flood themselves; after exhausting every other strategic option available to them, the Forerunners activated weapons of mass destruction known as the Halo Array. The Array's firing killed all sentient life in the galaxy to deprive the Flood of their food. Life that the Forerunners cataloged was then reseeded throughout the galaxy.
Halo (comics)
During the "Infinite Crisis", supervillain prisons around the world are opened as their respective wardens are targeted and blackmailed. Halo is part of a makeshift team of heroes battling a breakout at the Alcatraz prison in San Francisco. She later joins the Battle of Metropolis, which takes place in issue #7, helping other heroes protect the city from an army of super-villains bent on its destruction.
Halo (franchise)
In 2017, 343 Industries and Creative Studios released a sequel to Halo Wars titled Halo Wars 2. The soundtrack was composed by Gordy Haab, Brian Lee White and Brian Trifo under the direction of Paul Lipson who had helped in the audio and music of nearly every previous Halo title. The Halo Wars 2 soundtrack featured many melodies from the music that Stephen Rippy had composed for the first Halo Wars but with new arrangements and more melodies to represent the individual characters. The original game soundtrack was released on February 17, 2017 and released digitally on February 21, 2017.
Halo Wars
Time constraints prevented many elements from appearing in the final game. One such missing feature was a fatality system by which Spartans or Covenant leaders could inflict massive damage on large groups of units. Pottinger said that the animations, while interesting, did not mesh with the fast-paced combat of "Halo Wars" and raised balance concerns. Other elements based on "Halo" fiction did not work in a strategy game. Although more than 100 people worked on the project, which cost tens of millions of dollars, a Covenant campaign was never realized because of a lack of manpower and money.
Halo: Uprising
Halo: Uprising is a four-issue American comic book limited series set in the "Halo" universe. The series was written by Brian Michael Bendis, illustrated by Alex Maleev, and published by Marvel Comics. "Uprising" tells a story set between the ending of the 2004 video game "Halo 2" and the beginning of its sequel, "Halo 3", as Earth is under attack by a collective of alien races known as the Covenant. The series was intended to be released and concluded before "Halo 3" shipped on September 25, 2007, but the final issue did not appear until April 2009.
Halo Wars
Four tracks from "Halo Wars" were included as a preview on a bonus DVD bundled with "Halo Trilogy—The Complete Original Soundtracks", a December 2008 compilation of previous "Halo" music. The tracks were mixed in Dolby Digital 5.1-channel Surround Sound and packaged with video of recording sessions and the "Five Long Years" trailer. The soundtrack was released on February 17 as a standalone compact disc and as a digital download. AOL Radio secured the exclusive rights to premiere the soundtrack early, playing a new track at the beginning of every hour.
Star Wars: Rogue Squadron (series)
Star Wars: Rogue Squadron is a series of Star Wars arcade-style action video games jointly developed by LucasArts and Factor 5 and published by LucasArts for Nintendo consoles.
The series deals with the Rebel Alliance unit, Rogue Squadron, who under the command of Luke Skywalker and Wedge Antilles use starfighters to engage and defeat the Galactic Empire. The games are set during episodes "A New Hope", "The Empire Strikes Back", and "Return of the Jedi" and recreate the battles that take place during those films, notably the Battle of Hoth, which is in every "Rogue Squadron" game in one form or another. Both of the GameCube "Rogue Squadron" games featured "making-of" documentaries.
Halo (franchise)
In the distant past, a powerful race called the Forerunners fought an alien parasite known as the Flood. The Flood and the Gravemind, which spread through infestation of sentient life, overran much of the Milky Way Galaxy. Exhausted by their war and after having explored all other options, the Forerunners conceived a weapon of last resort to combat the Flood, called the Halo Array. Using an installation known as the Ark, they built large ring-shaped megastructures known as Halos. The Halo Array, when activated, would destroy all sentient life in the galaxy – depriving the Flood of their food, after which samples of the lost lifeforms would be reseeded. Delaying as long as they could, the Forerunners activated the rings and disappeared.
Halo Championship Series
Dreamhack Atlanta 2017 was an event that took place at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, Georgia from July 21 - 23 2017. The event is the combination of the Summer 2017 season finals for both the North American and European pro League Seasons. The event featured a $200,000 prize pool.Dreamhack Denver 2017 was an event that took place at the National Western Complex, Denver, Colorado from October 20 - 22 2017. The event is the combination of the Fall 2017 season finals for both the North American and European pro League Seasons. The event featured a $200,000 prize pool.The Halo World Championship 2018 was the third Halo World Championship featuring Halo 5: Guardians. The event was hosted by MLG and took place at the Century Link Field Event Center in Seattle, Washington from April 13 – 15th 2018. The competition once again featured a prize pool of $1,000,000. The 2018 series of HCS was primarily hosted by MLG.
The Halo Graphic Novel
The stories themselves were designed as glimpses into the "Halo" universe, including information on the inner workings of the alien Covenant, as well as details regarding elements of the back-story that were hitherto undisclosed. Jarrard explained that "The stories that happen off camera, the parallel events to the arcs that our fans know from the existing mediums, are the stories we really wanted to tell." Jarrard further described this as an attempt to move away from the story of the Master Chief, the central character of the franchise, and focus instead on what they believed to be the core themes that lay behind the game universe, such as maintaining hope in the face of overwhelming odds and humanity's struggle for survival; themes that extended beyond "... a genetically enhanced super soldier picking up two guns and kicking some alien butt." The four stories that ended up in the final publication were "the most interesting to [Bungie], and the writers of [the novel]". Although Bungie created the story arcs present in the "Halo Graphic Novel", the studio described the importance of providing a framework for each story that the various artists and writers could tell without jeopardizing their own voice. Artist Simon Bisley said that "the stress was to make the characters look very much as they do in the game. Beyond that point I was given free rein to interpret the script and the action" based on what was given to the artists and writers.
Halo Wars
Although Ensemble had to re-create all of Bungie's assets from scratch, Bungie had produced a large amount of reference material for the "Halo" film adaptation that the "Halo Wars" team used for inspiration. Another reference point was art from the "Halo" first-person shooters; however, as the art was from a forward perspective and "Halo Wars" takes place from a bird's-eye view, the team exaggerated shapes to make the units recognizable. Lead designer Graeme Devine noted that the Warthog Jeep is "actually jumping three times as high as it does in "Halo", and it goes four times faster than it does in "Halo", and all these things—but it looks the same. Very different, between look and accuracy." To ensure artistic continuity between "Halo Wars" and previous games in the series, Ensemble created a set of guidelines for their artists to follow; for example, the Covenant were to retain their curvy, organic look, while the Forerunner and UNSC were to keep the same geometry angles. UNSC structures and units were given a green tint, with gold specular highlights. The Covenant were textured with a repeating honeycomb pattern, with small blue lights against a purple base color.
Halo Array
Installation 04, also referred to as Alpha Halo, appears in "". The majority of gameplay takes place in areas on this installation, and its exploration drives the story. The ring was managed by an artificial intelligence known as 343 Guilty Spark, and is located in the Soell system, dominated by a gas giant known as Threshold. Halo orbits Threshold's only satellite, an extremely large moon known as Basis. A group of humans aboard the ship "Pillar of Autumn" crash-land on the ring after being pursued by the alien Covenant. The ring holds religious significance to the aliens, while the humans believe it is a weapon that could turn the tide of the war against the Covenant in their favor. In reality, the ring is home to a virulent parasite called the Flood, which is accidentally released by the Covenant and threatens to infest the galaxy. The human soldier Master Chief eventually detonates the "Pillar of Autumn"s reactors in order to destabilize the ring and cause it to break up, preventing the spread of the Flood and the activation of the Halo network, which would kill all sentient life as a fail-safe to starve the Flood. The Ark was alerted to its destruction and proceeded to create another ring, which, too, was destroyed by Master Chief. During the game's events, Guilty Spark alludes to a previous firing of the network, which Bungie's director of cinematics Joseph Staten said occurred around 100,000 years previous to the events of the game in the year 2552. After Installation 04 was destroyed, a shard of the ring was sent through slipspace to orbit a red giant. The supernova-like detonation of the "Pillar of Autumn" creates a new element on the ring shard which is fatal to humans. Appearing in "Halo: Nightfall", the shard is visited by a team of ONI operatives and colonial militia following a terrorist attack with the new element. With only a limited time before the shard's sunrise kills them, the team struggles to destroy the deposits and capture the smugglers mining it. Only two of the team manage to escape while Colonel Randall Aiken, a former Spartan supersoldier, sacrifices himself to destroy the deposits with a nuclear weapon.
Factions of Halo
The Banished is a splinter faction of the Covenant, founded and formed by Atriox, first debuted in "Halo Wars 2". After the events of "", they invade and took over Installation 00 (The Ark) until the long-lost UNSC "Spirit of Fire" arrived after 28 years from slumber of drifting following the events of "Halo Wars". Captain James Cutter and his army battle the Banished to take control of The Ark.
Halo Wars 2
Development of "Halo Wars 2" began in 2014 when "Halo" franchise developer 343 Industries approached development studio Creative Assembly about collaborating on a project. Creative Assembly were chosen for their years of experience in developing RTS games. 343 Industries wanted to integrate the story of "Halo Wars 2" more closely with the ongoing storyline of the "Halo" series, leading them to set the game 28 years after the original "Halo Wars" to fit the story in the current timeline of the franchise. The game was announced in 2015 at Gamescom and showcased at a number of video gaming conventions before release. Two open betas ran during the final year of the game's production so the development team could make adjustments to the game based on player feedback.
The Halo Graphic Novel
Upon release, the "Halo Graphic Novel" proved to be a "rare hit" for the games-to-comics genre, debuting at No. 2 on both the Nielsen BookScan and Diamond sales charts. At least 100,000 copies were rumored to have been published, and the comic continued to be one of the top-selling graphic novels months after its debut. The success of the novel led Marvel Comics and Bungie to announce a four-issue monthly "Halo" comic series at San Diego Comic-Con 2006 called "". Despite delays, the first issue of the limited series was released on August 22, 2007.
Halo (franchise)
"Halo 3" is the final game in the main "Halo" trilogy, ending the story arc begun in "Halo: Combat Evolved". The game was released on the Xbox 360 on September 25, 2007. It adds to the series vehicles, weapons, and a class of items called equipment. The game also includes a limited map-editing tool, known as the Forge, which allows players to insert game objects, such as weapons and crates, into existing multiplayer map geometry. Players can save a recording of their gameplay sessions, and view them as video, from any angle.
List of Halloween Wars episodes
Halloween Wars is an American reality competition series that premiered on October 2, 2011 on cable television network Food Network. The show has several teams of three (a cake sculptor, a sugar artist, and a pumpkin carver) that compete to create a Halloween themed display. The last trio standing is awarded $50,000
Star Wars Tales
Star Wars Tales is a comic book series published by Dark Horse Comics, beginning on September 29, 1999, and completing its run on July 13, 2005. Each issue featured several unrelated stories from various eras of the "Star Wars" timeline. All stories from Issue #20 and before have been retroactively labelled "Infinities", placing them outside the Star Wars canon. Starting with Issue #21, when "Tales" changed editors, all stories are considered to be within continuity, unless labelled otherwise. "Tales" stories from before Issue #21 are still considered non-canon, although canon references to the stories can and have been made, which incorporates those elements referenced into official continuity.
Halo Legends
"Halo Legends" had origins in the 2006 Marvel Comics tie-in, "The Halo Graphic Novel"; O'Connor said that the idea of an anime compilation existed for years before there was momentum for the project. Wanting to tell smaller stories in a different format than video games and novels and in different art styles, O'Connor said that anime was a natural fit. An additional consideration was that 343 Industries felt that the Japanese style of narrative fit the stories well. Most of the animation studios Microsoft approached were available for the project. Most studios were "afraid" of creating their own stories, even if they were familiar with the series, so O'Connor sent them possible story treatments. Microsoft was deeply involved in making sure story details were correct and writing the scripts for the stories—O'Connor estimated that 50% of the dialogue in the final products were verbatim from the original scripts. While all the stories save one are considered canon, O'Connor noted that some discrepancies were the cause of artistic interpretation.
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary
"Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary" was developed as a partnership between development studios 343 Industries, Saber Interactive, and Certain Affinity. 343 Industries, the "Halo" series' franchise overseers, approached Saber Interactive to develop a remake of the original "Halo" in time for its tenth anniversary. After considering whether to remake the game entirely or to adapt and add features to the existing PC version, Saber decided to use its game engine for reproducing the original's appearance and the original "Halo"s engine for gameplay. A development tool for toggling between the old and new visuals became a game feature. "Anniversary"s enhancements include a complete high-definition visual overhaul, support for cooperative and multiplayer gameplay via the Xbox Live online service, new and remastered sound effects and music, and extras such as achievements and hidden in-game collectibles. The game is the first in the series to include Kinect support.
Halo Wars 2
In 2009, Microsoft Studios launched "Halo Wars", a real-time strategy spin-off from the first-person shooter series "Halo". It was developed by Microsoft subsidiary Ensemble Studios. While "Halo Wars" was a commercial success, Ensemble Studios was shut down after development. Before its closure, the studio had started planning a story for a sequel. According to "Halo Wars" lead writer Graeme Devine, this script explored the history of the Forerunners and involved "Spirit of Fire" arriving at a Forerunner station tracked by Anders. In 2007, Microsoft formed an internal division, 343 Industries, to develop "Halo" products, and the studio searched for a developer to partner on a "Halo Wars" sequel. They viewed working with other developers and using external experience as key to maintaining quality across their projects.
Halo Wars
"Halo Wars" was exhibited at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in 2007 and 2008. Devine narrated the soundtrack for a video shown at E3 2007, which was later made available on the Xbox Live Marketplace. This video described the game's controls, user interface, vehicles, special weapons, and new units. It also showed a UNSC base consisting of an airbase, vehicle depot, missile silo, and other buildings. IGN, "Next Generation", and "PC World" ranked "Halo Wars" as one of the most anticipated showings at E3.
Halo 2
"Halo" had never been planned as a trilogy, but with the critical and commercial success of "Combat Evolved", a sequel was expected. Bungie writer and cinematic director Joseph Staten recalled that during "Combat Evolved"s development, Bungie "certainly had strong ideas for extending the story and gameplay experience that we knew we couldn't fit into one game". The added publisher support for a sequel allowed greater leeway and the ability to return to more ambitious ideas lost during "Combat Evolved"s development.
Halo Wars
"Halo Wars" takes place in the science fictional universe of the "Halo" series, during the 26th century. In 2525, a collective of alien races known as the Covenant attacked humanity, declaring humans an affront to their gods, the Forerunners. The game takes place in 2531, roughly 20 years before the events of "". Six years after the Covenant invaded the colony of Harvest, human UNSC forces are still locked in battle on the planet.