Halo (franchise)

Halo is a science fiction video game series, created by Bungie Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios. It centers on the Master Chief, a cybernetically-enhanced human super-soldier, equipped with technologically-advanced battle armor and an artificial intelligence (AI) companion, Cortana. He aids the humans of a futuristic universe battle the Covenant, a theocratic alliance of alien races. In this science fiction setting, the term "Halo" refers to Halo megastructures; large, habitable ringed structures, similar to Larry Niven's ringworlds.^[1][2]

The main Halo trilogy video games have been praised as being among the best first-person shooters on a video game console, and are considered the Microsoft Xbox's "killer app".^[3] This has led to the term "Halo killer" being used to describe console games that aspire, or are considered, to be better than Halo.^[4] Halo's sequel, Halo 2, broke sales records for a media release,^[5] and Halo 3 sold more than US $170 million worth of copies in the first 24 hours of release, breaking Halo 2's record.^[6][7] As of October 4, 2007, games in the main Halo trilogy have sold over 20 million copies.^[8]

Strong sales of the series have led to the expansion to other mediums; the franchise includes five bestselling novels, two series of graphic novels, and numerous other licensed products. Spin-off games have been announced, including the upcoming real-time strategy game Halo Wars and Halo: Chronicles, which is being developed by Peter Jackson. The series' award-winning music has been composed by Martin O'Donnell, and soundtracks have been released for the three main games. The cultural impact of the Halo series has been compared by Brian Bendis to that of Star Wars.^[9] Fans of the series are refered to as "Halo Nation".^[10]

The Halo series features recurring science fiction and action game elements. Ancient structures, alien races, and cyborgs appear throughout the series. The games of the main trilogy are first-person shooters, with the player experiencing most action from the protagonist's perspective.^[11] The trilogy's first game, Halo: Combat Evolved, introduced the concept of limiting the number of weapons players could carry to two, forcing them to carefully select their preferred armament.^[12] 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",^[13] 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.^[14] The later two games in the trilogy do not use hit points; but rather, they exclusively implement the recharging shield.

Halo 2 introduced new gameplay elements, chief among them, the ability to hold and fire two weapons simultaneously, known as "dual wielding".^[15] Players also have the ability to hijack vehicles. Halo 2 was the first game in the series to fully support multiplayer, through Xbox Live. The game used "matchmaking" to facilitate joining online matches, by grouping players looking for certain types of games.^[15] Halo 3 added additional new features, including a class of items known as "equipment", as well as heavy support weapons.^[16] Rather than create new maps and geometry, Bungie included a map-editing tool known as the Forge, which allows players to insert game objects, such as weapons and crates, into existing multiplayer maps.^[17] Players can also save a recording of their multiplayer matches, and view them as video, from any angle.^[18]

Halo is set several centuries in the future. After the development of the "Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine", the United Nations Space Command (UNSC) began a program of traveling across the galaxy and planetary colonization. Over 800 planets are colonized in 200 years. Planets are categorized into "Inner Colonies" and "Outer Colonies"; the Inner Colonies, being closer to Earth and therefore older, are more developed and politically stable. While the newer Outer Colonies are less stable, often breaking into open rebellion. The UNSC creates the SPARTAN-II Project in response to these rebellions. Twenty-seven years before the events of the main trilogy, communication with an Outer Colony is lost, and the ship sent to investigate is destroyed by the Covenant.^[19] The Covenant Hierarchs declare humanity to be an affront to the Gods, and order its annihilation. By 2535, almost all of the Outer Colonies have been destroyed by the Covenant. The Covenant posses a significant technological advantage, and prove nearly impossible for the UNSC to defeat in space engagements. These events are only alluded to in the video games, but their full descriptions are outlined in the novels Halo: The Fall of Reach and Contact Harvest.

The main story arc of the game trilogy begins with Halo: Combat Evolved, and is set in 2552. The Covenant arrive at Reach, which is, along with Earth, the UNSC's last stronghold; they vitrify the planet, leaving very few survivors. However, Master Chief, the last SPARTAN-II thought alive, escapes on the ship Pillar of Autumn. The Pillar of Autumn proceeds to supposedly random coordinates selected by the female AI, Cortana, which she has deciphered from ancient Forerunner hieroglyphs. The ship arrives to find the titular Halo, Installation 04, and they are attacked by the Covenant. Battle damage forces the Pillar of Autumn to the surface of the ring, where the Flood, a parasitic alien species, are released by the Covenant. The release of the Flood prompts the Monitor of the ring, called 343 Guilty Spark, to convince the Master Chief to activate Halo's defenses, so that the Flood can be destroyed. The Halo is designed to starve the Flood of their food—sentient life—by exterminating all life for thousands of light-years in every direction. Upon discovering the Halo's purpose, the Master Chief detonates the fusion reactors in the crashed Pillar of Autumn, destroying the ring; he then escapes in a fighter spacecraft.^[20]

In Halo: First Strike, the Master Chief returns to Reach, located in the Epsilon Eridani system, and rejoins the survivors of the vitrification. He and other SPARTAN-II's—who had survived the destruction of Reach—proceed to attack a Covenant space station and rendezvous point, where a fleet is massing to attack Earth. The space station is destroyed, giving the humans time to prepare for the invasion.^[21] Soon after, in Halo 2, a small Covenant fleet arrives at Earth. Badly beaten by the humans, the Covenant commander, the High Prophet of Regret, flees to Halo Installation 05, taking the human ship In Amber Clad with him. At Installation 05, the Master Chief kills the High Prophet, leading to the replacement of the Elites with the Brutes as the preferred soldiers of the Covenant. This changing of the guard causes a schism within the Covenant. The Elites, realizing they have been betrayed, ally with the humans. One of the Elites, called Arbiter, prevents the firing of the Halo by the Brute Tartarus, with the aid of Miranda Keyes and Sergeant Johnson. However, this inadvertently puts all the rings on standby: the remaining installations can be activated remotely from "The Ark".^[22]

The Master Chief stows away on a Forerunner vessel headed to Earth, which was conquered by the Covenant. The invaders excavated a Forerunner artifact in the Kenyan desert,^[23] leading to the events of the final video game in the trilogy, Halo 3. Despite the efforts of the now-allied Elites and humans, the High Prophet of Truth activates the artifact, which opens a slipspace portal to the Ark. The Master Chief and the Arbiter travel through the portal aboard an Elite ship, and prevent the Prophet from activating The Ark. They then activate a new Halo ring,—intended to replace the recently destroyed Installation 04, but not yet fully built—in an effort to destroy the Flood, while still sparing the rest of the galaxy.^[24] Because the ring's construction was incomplete, the resulting pulse destroys the ring and damages the Ark. The Arbiter escapes the explosion, but the Master Chief and Cortana are left drifting in space; trapped in the severed rear half of their ship. The Master Chief cryonically freezes himself, as he and Cortana wait for rescue.

Currently, the Halo series includes a main trilogy of games; the games were released in chronological order, with each new installment following the events of the previous title. Four additional games, one stand-alone and a "new trilogy", are planned to continue the series.

Released on November 15, 2001, the Xbox version of Halo: Combat Evolved is the first Halo video game.^[25] The game introduced many common gameplay and plot themes in the series. Players battle various aliens on foot and in vehicles to complete objectives, while attempting to uncover the secrets of the eponymous Halo. A PC port was developed by Gearbox Software, and released on September 30, 2003;^[26] a Mac OS X version was released on December 11 of the same year.^[27] A stand-alone expansion, entitled Halo: Custom Edition, was released as a PC exclusive, and allowed players to create custom content for the game.

Halo 2, the sequel to Combat Evolved, was released on the Xbox on November 9, 2004, in two different editions. The standard edition has traditional Xbox packaging, and includes the full game on a single disc. The Collector's Edition has a specially designed aluminum case, along with an additional bonus DVD, extra booklet, and slightly different user manual. Unlike its predecessor, the Halo 2 fully supports online multiplayer via Xbox Live. Upon release, Halo 2 became the most played game on Xbox Live. It would retain the top spot for two years—the longest any game has held the spot.^[28] A PC port for the Windows Vista operating system was later released.

Halo 3 is the third game and final game in the main Halo series, ending the story arc begun in Halo: Combat Evolved.^[29] The game was released on the Xbox 360 on September 25, 2007, in North America and Oceania; September 26, 2007, in Europe;^[30] and September 27, 2007, in Japan.^[31] It features several new gameplay elements, including new vehicles and weapons, that were not present in previous Halo games; also bundled with the game were several saved gameplay films, the Forge map editor—which allows the player to modify levels—and file sharing.

The success of the main Halo trilogy has spurred the creation of spin-offs. Halo Wars is a real-time strategy game being developed by Ensemble Studios for the Xbox 360. Set in the year 2531, the game will take place prior to the events of Halo: Combat Evolved.^[32] According to Ensemble, much effort has been expended into developing a control scheme that is simple and does not have issues like those in other console strategy games.^[32][33] The game was announced at X06, where a pre-rendered trailer was shown; at E3 2007, a montage of gameplay clips featuring many aspects of Halo Wars was shown, followed by a demonstration video on the official site. The game will be released on October 1, 2008.^[34][35] The other in-universe spin-off is Halo: Chronicles, a "new trilogy" of Halo games. Originally announced on September 27, 2006, at X06 as an untitled project, these titles are to be co-written, co-designed, and co-produced by Peter Jackson, with his recently formed development studio, Wingnut Interactive; the series will be episodic.^[36] A Halo-based character, Nicole Spartan-458, appeared in Dead or Alive 4, a product of the collaboration between Tecmo's Team Ninja and Microsoft's Bungie Studios.^[37]

Alternate reality games were used to promote the release of the games in the main trilogy. The Cortana Letters, a series of cryptic email messages, were circulated by Bungie prior to Halo: Combat Evolved's release.^[38] I Love Bees, an alternate reality game, was used to promote the release of Halo 2. The game focused on a website created by 42 Entertainment, commissioned by Microsoft and endorsed by Bungie. Over the course of the game, audio clips were released that eventually formed a complete five-hour story set on Earth between Halo and Halo 2.^[39][40] Similarly, Iris was used as a viral marketing campaign for the release of Halo 3.^[41] It featured five web servers containing various media files related to the Halo universe.

Four Halo soundtracks, composed by Martin O'Donnell, have been released. The Halo Original Soundtrack contains most of Combat Evolved's music. Due to the varying nature of gameplay, the music present was designed to use the game's dynamic audio playback engine. The engine allows for the mood, theme, and duration of music played to change according to gameplay.^[42] To afford a more enjoyable listening experience, O'Donnell rearranged portions of the music of Halo into standalone suites, which follow the narrative course of the game. The soundtrack also contains music not used in the game, including a variation on the Halo theme that was first played at Halo's debut at Macworld 1999.^[43]

For Halo 2's soundtrack, producer Nile Rodgers and O’Donnell decided to split the music into two separate volumes. The first, Volume One, was released on November 9, 2004 and contained all the themes as well as the “inspired-by” music present in the game (featuring Incubus, Hoobastank, and Breaking Benjamin). The second release, Volume 2, contained the rest of the music, much of which was incomplete or not included in the first soundtrack, as the first soundtrack was shipped before the game was released;^[44] the second volume was released on April 25, 2006. Halo 2, unlike its predecessor, was mixed to take full advantage of Dolby 5.1 Digital Surround Sound.^[45]

The soundtrack for Halo 3 was released on November 20, 2007. O'Donnell noted he wanted to bring back the themes from the original game in order to help tie together the end of the trilogy.^[46] The tracks are presented, similarly to the previous soundtrack for Halo 2,^[44] in a suite form. Unlike previous soundtracks, where much of the music had been synthesized on computer, the soundtrack for Halo 3 was recorded using a 60-piece orchestra, along with a 24-voice chorus.^[47] The final soundtrack was recorded by the Northwest Sinfonia at Studio X in Seattle, Washington.^[48]

The first Halo game was announced on July 21, 1999, during the Macworld Conference & Expo.^[49] It was originally planned to be a real-time strategy game for the Mac and Windows operating systems, but later changed into a third person action game.^[49][50][51] On June 19, 2000, Microsoft acquired Bungie Studios and Halo: Combat Evolved became an exclusive title for the Xbox video game console.^[52] After receiving Xbox development kits, Bungie Studios rewrote the game's engine, heavily altered its presentation, and turned it into a first-person shooter.^[53] Though the first Halo was meant to include an online multiplayer mode, it was excluded because Xbox Live was not yet available.^[54] The success of the game led to a sequel, Halo 2, which was announced on August 8 2002 at the Microsoft's New York X02 press event.^[55] It featured improved graphics, new weapons, and a multiplayer mode on Xbox Live.^[56][57] Halo 3 was announced at the 2006 Electronic Entertainment Expo.^[58] The initial conception for the third game was done before Halo 2 was released in 2004.^[59] It utilized a proprietary, in-house graphics engine, and employed advanced graphics technologies.^[60][61]

A report published on IGN explored the literary influences present in the franchise, and noted Halo was influenced by The Culture and Ringworld, written by Iain M. Banks and Larry Niven respectively. It commented on the similarities between characters in Halo and other science fiction series, most notably Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game. Aspects of the SPARTAN Project and the design of the Drone species were perceived as reminiscent of the super soldier program and Buggers found in the novel. Other elements of the games such as Master Chief's name "John" have been suggested as originating based on a character named Jon 6725416 in Christopher Rowley's Starhammer.^[62] A report written by Roger Travis and published by The Escapist compares Halo with the Latin epic Aeneid, written by classical Roman poet Virgil. Travis posits similarities between the plots of both works and compares the characters present in them; with the Flood and Covenant taking the role performed by the Carthaginians, and Master Chief's role in the series to that of Aeneas.^[63]

Spin-off titles were planned for release on handheld systems, but proved to be either rumors or did not progress far in development. Early rumors of a handheld Halo title began in 2004 about a title for the Game Boy Advance. However, Bungie denied the rumors and commented that such a project between Microsoft and Nintendo would be "very unlikely".^[64] At a Las Vegas consumer technology convention in January 2005, rumors were 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.^[65][66] A former-Gizmondo employee later revealed development only extended to basic story and game structure concepts to obtain funding from investors.^[67] 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.^[68] In January 2007, IGN editor-in-chief Matt Casamassina claimed he played a version of Halo for the Nintendo DS.^[69] Due to speculation, on October 2, 2007 he demonstrated on-camera, in-game footage of an early-development style version of Halo DS.^[70] The demonstrated work featured dual-wielding and a version of the Halo 2 map Zanzibar.^[69] On October 5, 2007, Bungie employee Brian Jarrard explained the Halo DS demo was in fact an unsolicited pitch that was never taken on.^[71]

File:Clixhunter.jpg

The Halo franchise includes various types of merchandise outside of the video games. Currently, this includes five bestselling novels, two series of 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 figures were produced by McFarlane Toys. Bungie teamed up with WizKids to make Halo ActionClix, a collectible miniatures game. The tabletop game features detailed sculpts of characters with dials that track a unit's health and statistics.^[72]

There have been numerous printed adaptations based on the Halo canon established by the video games. The series has been adapted repeatedly into novel form, with two more novels planned. Larry Niven (author of Ringworld) was originally approached to write a Halo novelization, but declined due to unfamiliarity with the subject matter.^[73] The first novel was Halo: The Fall of Reach, a prequel to Halo: Combat Evolved. It was written by Eric Nylund in seven weeks, and published in October 2001.^[74] The second novel, titled Halo: The Flood, was written by William C. Dietz and served as an adaptation of Halo: Combat Evolved.^[75] Eric Nylund returned to write the third novel, Halo: First Strike, which takes place between Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2. After being written in sixteen weeks,^[76] it was published in December 2003.^[77] Nylund also wrote the fourth adaptation, Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, which was published on October 31, 2006.^[78] Bungie employee Joseph Staten wrote the fifth book, Halo: Contact Harvest, which was released on October 30, 2007. Bungie considers the Halo novels as additions to the Halo canon.^[79]

The Halo universe was first adapted into the graphic novel format in 2006 with the release of the Halo Graphic Novel, a collection of four short stories.^[80] It was written and illustrated by graphic novelists Lee Hammock, Jay Faerber, Tsutomu Nihei, Brett Lewis, Simon Bisley, Ed Lee and Jean Giraud. At the 2007 New York Comic Con, Marvel Comics announced they would be working on an ongoing Halo series with Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev. The first part of the series, titled Halo: Uprising, bridges the gap between the events of Halo 2 and Halo 3.^[9]

In 2005, a script for a film adaptation of Halo was written by Alex Garland^[81]—which D.B. Weiss and Josh Olson rewrote during 2006^[82][83]—for a 2008 release. The movie was to be developed and released by Universal Pictures and 20th Century Fox, under the creative oversight of Microsoft.^[84] Peter Jackson was slated to be the executive producer,^[85] with Neill Blomkamp as director. Before Blomkamp signed on, Guillermo del Toro was in negotiations to direct.^[86] The crew has stopped and resumed preproduction of the film several times;^[87] while Blomkamp has declared the project dead,^[88] Jackson says the film will still be made.^[89] Blomkamp commented the Master Chief worked from a video gamer's perspective, but dramatically does not hold much weight because of his faceless nature. The character as depicted in the film would have been "the most important supporting cast member". Instead, "other characters around him [...] did most of the emotional heavy lifting", with their story exploring their perception of the Master Chief.^[90]

The Halo franchise has been highly successful commercially. During the two months following Halo: Combat Evolved's release, it sold alongside more than fifty percent of Xbox consoles.^[91] By April 8, 2002, it had sold a million units.^[92] Halo 2's sales generated US$125 million on its première day, making it the fastest selling United States media product in history.^[93][94] As of May 9 2006, 8 million units of the game have been sold worldwide.^[95][96] Prior to the release of Halo 3, the first two games of the trilogy had sold a combined 14.8 million copies.^[97] GameSpot reported 4.2 million units of Halo 3 were in retail outlets on September 24, 2007, a day before official release—a world record volume release.^[98][99] Halo 3 broke the previous record for the highest grossing opening day in entertainment history, making US$170 million in its first twenty-four hours.^[99][100] Worldwide, sales exceeded US$300 million the first week, helping to more than double the sales of the Xbox 360 when compared with the weekly average before the Halo 3 launch.^[8][97] At the end of 2007, Halo 2 and Halo: Combat Evolved were the number one and two best-selling Xbox titles, respectively, and Halo 3 was the best-selling Xbox 360 title.^[101] Likewise, the Halo novels have appeared on Publisher Weekly's bestseller charts, and the Halo Graphic Novel sold more than 100,000 copies, a "rare hit" for the games-to-comics genre.^[102] The Halo novels became Publishers Weekly bestsellers, and Ghosts of Onyx and Contact Harvest appeared on The New York Times bestseller lists as well.^{[75][76][103][104]}

Overall, the Halo series has been well received by critics. Halo: Combat Evolved has received numerous Game of the Year awards.^[111][112] In March 2007, IGN listed it as the top Xbox game of all time, while readers ranked it the fourteenth best game ever on "IGN Readers' Choice 2006 - The Top 100 Games Ever".^[113][114] Conversely, GameSpy ranked Halo: Combat Evolved tenth on its list of "Top 25 Most Overrated Games of All Time", citing repetitive level design and the lack of an online multiplayer mode.^[115] Halo 2 also received numerous awards,^[116] with IGN listing it as the number two top Xbox game of all time in March 2007.^[113] After its initial release, it was the most popular video game on Xbox Live.^[117] Halo 3 was nominated for and won multiple awards; it won Time magazine's "Game of the Year" and IGN chose it as the Best Xbox 360 Online Multiplayer Game and Innovative Design of 2007.^{[118][119][120]} Most publications called the multiplayer aspect one of the best features; IGN said the multiplayer map lineup was the strongest of the series, and GameSpy added the multiplayer offering will greatly please "Halo veterans".^[121][122] Complaints focused on the game's plot. The New York Times said the game had a "throwaway" plot and Total Video Games judged the single-player aspect ultimately disappointing.^[123][124] The series' music and audio has received enthusiastic response from game reviewers.^{[122][125][126]}

The main trilogy, particularly its protagonist, have been declared iconic and a symbol of today's videogames; a wax replica of the Master Chief was made by Madame Tussauds in Las Vegas, where Pete Wentz compared the character to notable characters from previous generations like Spider-Man, Frodo, and Luke Skywalker.^[127] The Escapist author Roger Travis compared Halo's story to Virgil's Aeneid, saying the religious and political struggle described in the games relates to the modern epic tradition.^[63] GamesTM stated Halo: Combat Evolved "changed videogame combat forever", and Halo 2 showcased Xbox Live as a tool for communities.^[11] GameDaily noted Halo 2's launch is "easily comparable to the biggest in other sectors of the entertainment industry", marking the first time a video game launch has become a major cultural event in America.^[128] Time magazine included the franchise in the "2005 Time 100", highlighting that in the first ten weeks after the release of Halo 2, players spent 91 million combined hours playing the game online.^[129] A The New York Times report noted the success of Halo 3 was critical for Microsoft, persuading consumers to buy the Xbox 360 console which was experiencing waning sales compared with the Nintendo Wii, as well as helping restore the console's image. On September 25, 2007, the day before the release of Halo 3, Microsoft's shares rose 1.7 % based on sales expectations for the game.^[130] Halo has been described as a series that "has reinvented a genre that didn't know it needed to be reinvented", with aspects of the trilogy being duplicated in other FPS games multiple times.^[131]

As a highly popular video game series with a large and active fan base, the Halo trilogy has given rise to a wide array of video productions in an emerging entertainment medium, machinima.^[132] Virtually all machinima footage is taken from the multiplayer modes of the main trilogy games. Most productions are set outside Halo canon, while others are based on fan fiction closely relating to the official story. Halo 3 includes a saved film function that allows camera angles not possible in previous games, and other features that simplify production.

A notable machinima production is the comedy series Red vs. Blue: The Blood Gulch Chronicles, a parody of the Halo universe, created by Rooster Teeth Productions. It has achieved an unparalleled level of success in Halo machinima in specific, and machinima in general; it is largely credited with bringing attention to the genre.^[99][133] Red vs. Blue generated annual revenues of US$200,000, and special promotional episodes were commissioned by Bungie.^[99] The series ended on June 28, 2007, after 100 regular episodes and numerous promotional videos.^[134] Other machinima series include Fire Team Charlie, The Codex, and the in-game interview show This Spartan Life.

• Bungie Studios