'Halo Legends' Animation Marked for Release

Rated "M" -- for mature -- the franchise of Halo videogames has enveloped gamers intrigued by intergalactic warfare for the better part of the past decade. Science-fiction storytelling never seemed so real in a shooter game environment where humankind battles a sworn enemy for reasons and logic that at times feels just out of reach. Combat on foot, by vehicle, or in any other manner accessible to humanity's latest frontline against the Covenant, gamers of Halo are accustomed to an immersive fantasy world conveniently littered with white-knuckled firefights and advanced technology too good to be true.

Now, Microsoft Game Studios is ready to expand the Halo brand even farther, dipping their toes into the realm of international co-production, mixing and merging east and west talent and resources, akin to The Animatrix (2003) or more recently, Batman: Gotham Knight (2008). With home video distribution support from Warner Home Video, the Halo universe will expand with Halo Legends, currently scheduled for domestic release early February 2010. Halo Legends will feature animation direction by many of Japan's leading cartoon innovators, placing one of the west's leading game properties in the hands of visual artists of an altogether different type. For example, directors Mamoru Oshii (creator of the reversionist fantasy The Sky Crawlers), Shinji Aramaki (director of the CG/mo-cap action tale Appleseed, 2004), and Koji Sawai (key animation director for Patlabor: the movie, Wolf's Rain) are all listed as contributors.

"Seven stories from the heart
of the Halo Universe."

Halo Legends will be a seven-story anthology, stretching across eight individual episodes, tracing the historical precedent which gave birth to the Halo universe and its many characters. As mentioned before, the animation collection will use a production structure similar to that of other east-west collaborations, what with writing conducted by both counterparts, and full production handled in-house by the eastern component.

According to reports, the individual episodes fall within Halo's 26th Century, as the battle between humanity and aliens rages on in an attempt to protect Earth and mankind's expansive number of space colonies. These installments of Halo Legends will range in length between 10 minutes and 17 minutes, totaling roughly two hours of direct-to-video programming.

The animation collaboration will be rated PG-13.

Animation production will be handled by a handful of the anime industry's most renowned: Studio BONES; Production I.G; TOEI Animation; Casio Entertainment; and Studio 4C. Additional anime artists on the roll call include: Dai Sato (writer for steampunk TV epic Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, and anachronistic samurai series Samurai Champloo); Yasushi Muraki (animator and artist for political thriller Gasaraki, retro futuristic movie Metropolis, 2001); and animation director Daisuke Nishio (mythological action OVA 3x3 Eyes, perennial favorite Dragonball Z). Animator Hideki Futamura (The Animatrix) and director Koichi Mashimo (of the .hack franchise, Noir, Madlax, and El Cazador de la Bruja), are also listed.

Available for purchase from the first week of February 2010, Halo Legends will be distributed via Warner Home Video in three manners, single-disc with an estimated runtime of 119 minutes ($19.98); two-disc special edition ($29.98); and Blu-ray Disc edition ($34.99). Bonus features, from the two-disc and Blu-ray editions, will include a "Making of Halo Legends" featurette, "Halo: Gaming Evolved" featurette, and audio commentary with directors Frank O'Connor and Joseph Chou. The Blu-ray version will also include "Halo: The Story So Far," an overview of the Halo universe up until the end of Halo 3.

on Halo: Halo is a sci-fi shooter that takes place on a mysterious alien ring-world. Packed with combat, Halo has gamers battling inside and outdoors with Alien and Human weaponry. Gamers' objective: to uncover Halo's horrible secrets and destroy mankind's sworn enemy, the Covenant. The original Halo videogame was released for the Xbox gaming console (11/15/2001), which has since been followed by Halo 2 (Xbox; 11/9/2004), Halo 3 (Xbox 360; 09/25/2007), and most recently, Halo 3: ODST (Xbox 360; 09/22/2009), among others.