I agree the Mass Effect books were good. I just read that there will be a four part comic book series from Dark Horse that will bridge the gap between ME and ME2 more directly than the 2nd ME novel did apparently.

If those flaws are ironed out ME2 could be something special. If they add some more stuff to the exploration of the extra planets instead of just having a silo here and there or some random scattered enemies that'd be great. Something along the lines of the DLC, that was pretty bad-ass. Did you hear ME will have 1 more DLC before ME2 comes out? Unfortunately there will only be 1, but it's better than nothing.

No problem. You're right, there were two studios but I can't remember the other one. it was either Warner Bros or Paramount.

I agree, I hope this District9 movie is at least well received critically for Blomkamp and that could grease the wheels with the money men for a potential Halo movie down the line. As long as the Halo movie is done right I would want it to come out. With Weta studios, Peter Jackson, and hopefully this Blomkamp guy comes through it could be great if it ever happens. I think the movie should be based on the fall of Reach, that way we can see the origins of the Spartans and Master Chief busting up two ODSTs in the ring without his armor on.

I would imagine 343 is referring to guilty spark. Bungie is funny when it comes to their number references. And they're obsessed with the number 7. All the achievements in the nausea-inducing XBLA remake of Marathon are multiples of 7. Another game with funny references in their achievements is Gears (especially Gears 2). If you're a fan of Arnold movies you'll get a few of those, and I think there's an Admiral Ackbar reference achievement called "It's a trap!" in CoD: WaW.

Peter, you forgot to mention that originally MS and 20th Century Fox had struck a financial and creative control deal that was unheard of for anyone other than the Spielberg's of deals but because of the strength of the Halo brand Fox was ok with it. Well, apparently they weren't ok enough with the creative control aspect of it and at the last minute they tried altering the deal Darth Vader style (They told MS to pray they don't alter the deal any further) and very much un-Lando Calrissian style MS wasn't ok with that alteration and backed out.

Anyone get the 343 reference by any chance?

Also, if anyone was interested in the Peter Jackson/Blomkamp Halo Movie combination you might want to check out District9, it's "Presented" by Peter Jackson and directed by Neill Blomkamp. It of course is not Halo related, but looks like a pretty cool, totally original Sci Fi movie (at least from the trailers). Check it out, here's the trailer http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/30565189#30565189