Halo: Beyond the Games

Machinima is the art of making short, often humorous movies using a video game engine, and no other Machinima out there has tasted as much success as the Red vs. Blue series.

Created by Rooster Teeth Productions, Red VS Blue chronicles the adventures of two teams, Red and Blue, as they’re locked in constant battle in a desolate canyon called the Blood Gulch.

The series made fun of nearly everything out there from first person shooters to science fiction movies to military life, and each and every character in this series comes with his/her own brand of wacky humour.

While the Red vs. Blue series has achieved a good amount of commercial success (all five seasons have been released on DVD), you can watch all of them for free from a bunch of websites, including Rooster Teeth’s official site.

The Halo graphic novel was Bungie’s first foray into the world of print media, and it contains four short stores (one big and three small). Even though these stories are set in the Halo universe, they’re not all about Master Chief; instead they concentrate on other secondary characters such as Sgt. Johnson and how he escaped from the Halo in the very first game.

This graphic novel was in development for nearly two years, after which Bungie decided Marvel would be the most ideal publication for this sort of venture. The Halo graphic novel also comes bundled with tons of bonus material in the form of an art gallery compiled by Bungie, Marvel and other sources.

With Halo Wars we come full circle, back into the world of video games. The only reason I’m mentioning this game in this list is this: unlike the three Halo games that were all first-person shooters, Halo Wars is a Realtime Strategy Game set in the Halo Universe.

The game will not be developed by Bungie; instead Ensemble Studios will be handling the game’s development. Judging by their track record (think Age of Empire series), I really don’t think Halo fans have anything to worry about.

The game will put players into the boots of the human UNSC forces as they take on the Covenant for the very first time. Yes, the game takes place even before the events of the very first Halo game.

Much love to Wikipedia, without which this feature wouldn’t have been possible.