WBlood Gulch is a multiplayer map in the first-person shooter Halo video game series. It first appeared in Halo: Combat Evolved, and was remade for Halo 2 as "Coagulation", as well as for Halo: Reach as "Hemorrhage" and Halo: The Master Chief Collection as "Bloodline". It also had spiritual successors in Halo 3's "Valhalla", in Halo 4 and Halo Wars as "Ragnarok", and in Halo 5's "Basin". Taking place in a canyon on the Halo ringworld that resembles the American Southwest, it was designed for the Capture the flag game mode but can also be used for other modes, such as deathmatch. Blood Gulch was one of Halo's most critically acclaimed and influential multiplayer maps, and played a significant role in the machinima series Red vs. Blue.
WThe Covenant are a fictional theocratic hegemony of alien races who serve as the main antagonists in the first trilogy of the Halo video game series. They are composed of a diverse array of species united under the religious worship of the extinct Forerunners and their belief that the Forerunner ring worlds known as Halos will provide a path to salvation, known as the "Great Journey". After the high Covenant leadership—the three High Prophets—discover that the existence of the human species directly contradicts their ancient religion, they declare a genocidal campaign against humanity to preserve their own political power, knowing if they revealed this information to the rest of the Covenant it would mean the hegemony would fall into chaos. The High Prophets claimed the extermination of humanity is the "will of the gods and we [the Covenant] are their [the gods'] instrument." Over the next 27 years of war, the Covenant would repeatedly overpower the technologically inferior human race and its United Nations Space Command, devastating hundreds of human colonies throughout the Orion Arm, killing billions in their campaign. The Covenant are ultimately defeated during the final battle of the war set on the Ark, a Forerunner world, in Halo 3. With the Covenant destroyed, its former members create new factions with differing ideologies.
WThe Flood is a fictional parasitic alien lifeform and one of the primary antagonists in the Halo multimedia franchise. First introduced in the 2001 video game Halo: Combat Evolved, it returns in later entries in the series such as Halo 2, Halo 3, and Halo Wars. The Flood is driven by a desire to infect any sentient life of sufficient size; Flood-infected creatures, also called Flood, in turn can infect other hosts. The parasite is depicted as such a threat that the ancient Forerunners constructed artificial ringworld superweapons known as Halos to contain it and, as a last resort, to kill all sentient life in the galaxy in an effort to stop the Flood's spread by starving it.
WForge is a level editor developed by Bungie and 343 Industries for the first-person shooter video game series, Halo. Forge was initially released alongside Halo 3, and was further expanded upon in Halo: Reach, Halo 4, Halo 2: Anniversary, and Halo 5: Guardians.
WThe Halo Array is a group of fictional megastructures and superweapons in the Halo science fiction franchise, consisting of ringworlds known as Halos built by structures known as the Ark. They are referred to as "Installations" by their artificial intelligence caretakers, and were created by an ancient race known as the Forerunners. The series' alien antagonists, the Covenant, refer to the Halos as the "Sacred Rings", believing them to form part of a greater religious prophecy known as "The Great Journey". In the games' stories, the Forerunners built the Halo Array to contain and study the Flood, an infectious alien parasite. The rings act together as a weapon of last resort; when fired, they kill all sentient life in the galaxy capable of falling prey to the Flood, thereby starving the parasite of its food. The battle to prevent their activation forms the crux of the plot progression for the first Halo trilogy of games.
WHalo.Bungie.Org (HBO) is a fansite created in 1999 by Claude Errera and two associates as a news site for the Bungie video game Halo: Combat Evolved. The site was started in 1999 as Blam.bungie.org based on the project's development name before it was called Halo. The site covers all Halo properties and posts game news, rumors, and fan art and videos.
WI Love Bees was an alternate reality game (ARG) that served as both a real-world experience and viral marketing campaign for the release of developer Bungie's 2004 video game Halo 2. The game was created and developed by 42 Entertainment. Many of the same personnel had previously created an ARG for the film A.I. titled The Beast. I Love Bees was commissioned by Microsoft, Halo 2's publisher and Bungie's ultimate parent company at the time.
WThe Life, also known as We Are ODST is a television and cinema advertisement launched in 2009 by Microsoft to promote the first person shooter Halo 3: ODST in the United States. The 150-second piece follows a young soldier through enlistment, training, and battle as an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper (ODST), analogous to a paratrooper that drops from space to a battlefield. The Life was created by advertising agency T.A.G., an offshoot of McCann Erickson. Production of the commercial itself was handled by production company Morton/Jankel/Zander (MJZ). It was directed by Rupert Sanders, and post-production was conducted by Asylum. It was filmed in Hungary, just outside Budapest in a coal mine and abandoned factories to give the sequence an "Eastern Bloc" aesthetic. The commercial and its associated campaign proved hugely successful; on the week of its launch, Halo 3: ODST became the top-selling game for the Xbox 360 worldwide, and over 2.5 million copies were sold within the first few weeks of release. The Life went on to win a number of honours from the advertising and entertainment industries, including two Clio Awards, a London International Advertising Award and several honours from the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, the most prestigious awards ceremony in the advertising industry.
WThe M6D Pistol, also known as the Halo CE pistol, M6D Magnum Sidearm or M6D Personal Defense Weapon System, is a fictional pistol featured in the Halo franchise of video games. It is one of the starting weapons used by the protagonist, Master Chief, and was designed and manufactured by Misriah Armory, a manufacturer for the United Nations Space Command. Called one of the most infamous video game weapons of all time, it has gained notoriety amongst critics and players for its unusually high power and accuracy, especially for the time it is received in the game. The pistol, or variants of it, appeared in several games in the series, starting in Halo: Combat Evolved, as well as in related media.
WThe first-person shooter video game Halo 3 was the focus of an extensive marketing campaign which began with the game's developer, Bungie, announcing the game via a trailer at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in May 2006. Microsoft, the game's publisher, planned a five-pronged marketing strategy to maximize sales and to appeal to casual and hard-core gamers. Bungie produced trailers and video documentaries to promote the game, partnering with firms such as Digital Domain and Weta Workshop. Licensed products including action figures, toys, and Halo 3-branded soda were released in anticipation of the game; the franchise utilized more than forty licensees to promote the game, and the advertising campaign ultimately cost more than $40 million.
W"The Silent Cartographer" is the fourth level in the first-person shooter (FPS) video game Halo: Combat Evolved. Taking place on the Halo ringworld, it follows the Master Chief and a group of UNSC Marines as they wage a daytime beachfront assault on the Covenant alien race in search of an ancient Forerunner installation known as The Silent Cartographer.
WThe M12 LRV Warthog is a fictional vehicle that appears in the Halo video game franchise. A military light utility vehicle with a rear-mounted weapon turret, it appears in most major Halo titles as a driveable vehicle. Several working replicas of the Warthog were later created in real life, including by Weta Workshop for use in the cancelled Halo film. Playing an important role in defining the level design and genre of Halo: Combat Evolved during development, the Warthog is an iconic aspect of the Halo series and praised for its design, though the manner in which it has been integrated into the series' gameplay has received a mixed response.