Combat Evolved started life as a real-time strategy game for personal computers, turning into a first-person shooter exclusive to Microsoft's Xbox video game console after Bungie was acquired by the company. Bungie regained its independence in 2007, releasing additional Halo games through 2010 before moving on from the franchise. Microsoft established 343 Industries to oversee Halo going forward, producing games itself and in partnership with other studios.
Combat Evolved was a critical and commercial success, serving as the Xbox's "killer app" and cementing Microsoft as a major player in the video game console space. Its sequels expanded the franchise's commercial and critical success, and have sold more than 81 million copies worldwide. With more than $6 billion in franchise grosses, Halo is one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time, spanning novels, graphic novels, comic books, short films, animated films, feature films, and other licensed products.
The rediscovery of the Halo rings set the humans against the Covenant, who believed they were instruments of transcendence, not destruction. Master Chief and his artificial intelligence Cortana are instrumental in the destruction of a Halo ring to stop the Covenant and the threat of the Flood. Master Chief defeats the Prophet of Regret leading to the Prophets of Truth and Mercy denouncing the Sangheili as no longer the most honourable species amongst the Covenant. This began a civil war within the Covenant, with many grappling over the revelation that their religion was false. The disgraced former Covenant Sangheili commander known as the Arbiter, along with the rest of his race, helped the humans destroy the Covenant and stop the Prophet of Truth from activating the Halo Array via the Ark. The Human-Covenant War ended, though new conflicts began to emerge throughout the universe.
In the post-war era, the UNSC trains a new generation of Spartans, and tensions between the UNSC and colonist rebels resumed. The Master Chief and Cortana accidentally free the Didact and he briefly returns to assert supremacy over humanity, though he is foiled by the pair, resulting in Master Chief initially believing Cortana dead in the attempt. Cortana's survival through the Domain leads her to break with the UNSC and assert a new hegemony over the galaxy, with artificial intelligence (the "Created") in control.[2] After two years of a scattered war between Cortana and the UNSC, Cortana attacks the Banished, a mercenary organization largely led by the Jiralhanae race. The Banished win the resultant conflict, terminating Cortana and battling the UNSC for control of Zeta Halo.[3]
Video game developer Bungie was founded in 1991 by Alex Seropian in Chicago, Illinois, who partnered with programmer Jason Jones to market and release Jones' game Minotaur: The Labyrinths of Crete. Focusing on the Mac game market because it was smaller and easier to compete, Bungie became a preeminent game developer on the platform. What became Halo: Combat Evolved started as a real-time strategy game for the Mac, originally code-named Monkey Nuts and Blam!,[4] and took place on a hollowed-out world called Solipsis.[5] The planet eventually became a ringworld called "Halo", which became the game's title.[6]
Halo was announced on July 21, 1999, during the Macworld Conference & Expo.[7] The game morphed from a real-time strategy game into a third-person action game.[8][7][9] On June 19, 2000, Microsoft acquired Bungie and Halo: Combat Evolved became a launch title for the Xbox video game console.[10] The game turned into a first-person shooter, and was modified to work with a controller. Though the first Halo was meant to include an online multiplayer mode, it was excluded because the Xbox Live service was not yet available.[11]
Halo was not intended to be the Xbox's flagship game due to internal concerns and gaming press criticism, but Microsoft VP of game publishing Ed Fries did not act on these concerns. The Xbox's marketing heavily featured Halo, whose green color palette meshed with the console's design scheme.[12] 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. Halo limited the number of weapons players could carry to two, forcing them to carefully select their preferred armament.[13] Players fight with ranged and melee attacks, as well as grenades. Bungie referred to the "weapons-grenades-melee" format as the "Golden Triangle of Halo".[14] The player's health is measured in both hit points and a perpetually recharging energy shield.[15] Released for the Xbox in November 2001, Windows and Mac OS X ports were later developed by Gearbox Software, and released in 2003.[16][17] A stand-alone expansion, entitled Halo: Custom Edition, was released as a Windows exclusive, and allowed players to create custom content for the game.[citation needed]
The success of the game led to a sequel, Halo 2, which was announced on August 8, 2002, at Microsoft's X02 press event.[18] It featured improved graphics, new weapons and enemies, and a multiplayer mode on Xbox Live.[19][20] Halo 2 was released on the Xbox on November 9, 2004, and later for Windows Vista on May 17, 2007. The game was released in two different editions: a standard edition with just the game disc and traditional Xbox packaging; and the Collector's Edition with a specially designed steel case, along with an additional bonus DVD, extra booklet, and slightly different user manual. Halo 2 introduced new gameplay elements, chief among them the ability to hold and fire two weapons simultaneously, known as "dual-wielding".[21] Unlike its predecessor, Halo 2 fully supported online multiplayer via Xbox LIVE. The game uses "matchmaking" to facilitate joining online matches by grouping players looking for certain types of games.[21] This was a change from the more traditional "server list" approach, which was used to find matches in online games at this time.[22]
Halo 3 was announced at the 2006 Electronic Entertainment Expo.[23] It utilized a proprietary, in-house graphics engine, and employed advanced graphics technologies.[24][25] Halo 3 is the final game in the original Halo trilogy, ending the story arc begun in Halo: Combat Evolved.[26] The game was released on the Xbox 360 on September 25, 2007.[27] It adds to the series vehicles, weapons, and a class of items called equipment.[28] The game also includes a limited map-editing tool, known as the Forge, which allows players to insert game objects, such as weapons and vehicles, into existing multiplayer map geometry.[29] Players can save a recording of their gameplay sessions, and view them as video, from any angle.[30]
While Bungie remained involved in the Halo series by developing games such as ODST and Reach, the rights to Halo remained with Microsoft. To oversee everything Halo, Microsoft created an internal division, 343 Industries, to oversee the franchise.[31][32][33][34]
343 had already codeveloped the Halo Legends animated series and had overseen production of Halo: Reach and 2011's Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, a remaster of the franchise's debut title.[35] The next game in the series, Halo 4, was announced at E3 2011 as the first entry in what would be originally known as the "Reclaimer Trilogy".[36][37] The game included many staples of previous games, such as new or redesigned weapon types,[38] an improved map-editing tool[39] and expanded multiplayer options and maps.[40] Halo 4 was released worldwide on November 6, 2012,[41] achieving record sales for the franchise.[42] In a new addition to the series, a story-driven multiplayer campaign entitled Spartan Ops was released over the weeks following Halo 4's release, telling what happened after the end of the main game.[43] In announcing the formation of 343 Industries, Microsoft also announced that Xbox Live would be home to a central hub for Halo content called Halo Waypoint.[44] Waypoint is accessed from the Xbox 360 Dashboard and offers players access to multimedia content in addition to tracking their Halo game "career". O'Connor described Waypoint as intended to be the prime destination for Halo.[45]
Halo 5: Guardians, was released for the Xbox One on October 27, 2015.[47] The game takes place across many worlds, mainly the Elite homeworld, and revolves around Spartan Locke's hunt for the rogue Master Chief, who is trying to find a still-living Cortana.[48]
The third part of the Reclaimer Saga, Halo Infinite, was announced during E3 2018.[49] It brings the focus back to Master Chief, and Halo's roots by taking place on the new Zeta Halo. The story mainly focuses on exploring the deeper lore of the Halo series, finding what happened to Cortana, and battles with the Banished.[3] It released December 2021.[50]
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.[51] The game was announced at X06, and released in February and March 2009.
Alternative reality games have been used to promote the release of Halo games, beginning with the Cortana Letters, a series of cryptic email messages, circulated by Bungie prior to Halo: Combat Evolved's release.[5] I Love Bees was used to promote the release of Halo 2. The game revolved around 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.[55][56] Similarly, Iris was used as a viral marketing campaign for the release of Halo 3.[57] It featured five web servers containing various media files related to the Halo universe.
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