Master Chief continues the fight in HALO LEGENDS (Blu-ray & DVD Reviews by William David Lee)

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—> See Links to or Blu-ray & DVD Reviews
(further below)

"Continue the Fight!"

The anthology of shorts dubbed Halo Legends is being produced by many of the top animation houses in the land of the rising sun including The BONES, Casio Entertainment, Production I.G., Studio 4C, and Toei Animation.

The 7-part series looks to cover a sizable portion of the Halo time-line including many events that were previously only revealed in best-selling novelizations.

The Halo videogames tell the story of Master Chief, the lone-survivor of a team of genetically engineered super soldiers known as Spartans, as he protects humanity from annihilation by a collection of alien races referred to only as the Covenant.

Master Chief now continues the fight...

HALO LEGENDS — on Blu-ray & DVD »
(Now available - released February 16)

HALO LEGENDS TAKES POPULAR UNIVERSE INTO NEW REALM WITH ANIMATED SHORT FILMS

All-new CGI & Traditional Anime SHORTS add New Chapters to renowned video game franchise...

Burbank CA — Go deeper into the Halo universe than ever before with Halo Legends, an all-new, CG and traditional anime PG-13 experience that presents enthralling new stories from one of the world's most popular video game franchises. Produced by 343 Industries, a part of Microsoft Game Studios, the exciting tales-beyond-the-games is now available (released Feb 16), from Warner Home Video as a Special Edition 2-disc version on DVD and Blu-ray for $29.98 (SRP) and $34.99 (SRP), respectively, as well as single disc DVD for $19.98 (SRP). The chapters are also available On Demand and Digital Download.

Halo Legends is a seven-story anthology — told across eight spectacular episodes — that explores the origin and historical events of the Halo universe and its intriguing characters. Halo Legends has been created in the same breakthrough format as The Animatrix and Batman Gotham Knight with each individual episode imagined by a cutting-edge, renowned Japanese anime director/animator, including Shinji Aramaki, Mamoru Oshii, Hideki Futamura, Tomoki Kyoda and Yasushi Muraki. The stories are inspired and produced by the creative minds of 343 Industries, including Halo franchise development director Frank O'Connor and managing editor Kevin Grace.

The individual episodes fall within Halo's 26th Century mythology as the battle between humanity and aliens rages on in an attempt to protect Earth and mankind's expansive number of space colonies. The dramatic, action-packed stories feature characters and locales familiar to Halo fans, and episodes range in length between 10 and 17 minutes — resulting in nearly two hours of animated adventures.

The episodes are animated by some of the world's most respected studios and directors in anime today. The studios range from Production I.G. (Ghost in the Shell, Batman Gotham Knight), Bones (Cowboy Bebop, Fell Metal Alchemist) and Toei Animation (Dragonball Z, Digimon) to Studio 4oC (The Animatrix, Batman Gotham Knight) and Casio Entertainment. The stellar roster of animation talent on Halo Legends is highlighted by creative supervisors Shinji Aramaki (Appleseed) and Mamoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell); directors Shinji Aramaki (Appleseed), Hideki Futamura (The Animatrix), Daisuke Nishio (Dragonball Z), Hiroshi Yamazaki (Karas), Toshiyuki Kanno (Black Lagoon), Koichi Mashimo (Blade of the Immortal) and Koji Sawai (Patlabor); directors/action designers Tomoki Kyoda (Eureka Seven, Evangelion 1.0) and Yasushi Muraki (Macross Plus, Vampire Hunter D); and writer Dai Sato (Cowboy Bebop).

Halo is a centerpiece in the world of video games, selling more than 27 million units to a devoted legion of fans — including the latest hit Halo 3:ODST. The Halo franchise has driven more than $1 billion in revenue from its award winning Xbox games, New York Times best-selling novels and comics and a wide variety of other merchandise.

Halo Legends "offers fans stunning, new creative visions of the popular video game's expansive universe, providing added depth and perspective to these be" said Halo franchise development director Frank O'Connor. Halo Legends is a perfect complement to the game's growing canon of ancillary entertainment options.

Bonus Features include: (both Blu-ray & DVD)
Presented on two discs
Includes several hours of bonus features:
• The Making of Halo Legends - An introduction to Halo Legends followed by a making-of segment for each episode
• Halo: Gaming Evolved - Explaining the Halo phenomenon from its inception as an Xbox video game to a present day entertainment franchise
• Audio Commentary with directors Frank O'Connor and Joseph Chou
• Blu-ray exclusive: "Halo: The Story so Far," an overview of the Halo universe up until the end of Halo 3

HALO LEGENDS — Explore further:
—> Blu-ray Review by William David Lee »
EXCERPT: Following the mammoth success of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, fanboys eagerly anticipated Peter Jackson's next project. Their mouths salivated when it was announced Jackson would produce a big-budget blockbuster based on the mega-hit video game "Halo." Jackson hand picked Neil Blomkamp, a special effects artist and commercial director, to helm the project based on a script by Alex Garland ("28 Days Later"). Could it be that someone would finally make a video game movie that didn't suck? Sadly, we'll never know. A co-production between Universal, Fox, and Microsoft, the proposed movie died due to escalating budgetary concerns and in-studio politics. Though a new script has been penned by Stuart Beattie, the project is still in development limbo.

Fans will have to make due with "Halo Legends," a collection of short animated films done anime-style. Financed by Microsoft's 343 Industries, the project follows in the footsteps of "The Animatrix" and "Batman: Gotham Knight." 343 went to some of top studios working in Japanese animation to create vivid stories which expand the mythology of the highly popular games.

I'm not a die hard video gamer, but more of a casual player. I don't own an X-Box and have never played a game of "Halo." I am, however, an anime fan. "Halo Legends" attempts to reach out to both audiences of "Halo" and anime as well as win new fans over. They'll have to work harder to do the latter. The animation is rich, but the storytelling is lackluster and downright tedious. If this was supposed to be an elaborate commercial for the game, it didn't make me rush to the store to buy it.

(Click thru the Link above for the full review, including a summary of each story segment)

For DVD interest, click here...
—> DVD Review by William David Lee »
EXCERPT: For a standard definition DVD, the transfer is quite strong with colors popping and nary a blemish to be found.

—> Visit the video game's Official Site »

Synopsis:
Master Chief, the lone-survivor of a team of genetically engineered super soldiers known as Spartans, protects humanity from annihilation by a collection of alien races referred to only as the Covenant.

This 8-episode anthology (7 stories) of 10-15 minutes length each, explores the origin and historical events of the HALO universe, and various characters inhabiting the world. Like Animatrix and Batman Gotham Knight, each of the eight episodes will be created by a separate prominent Japanese anime producer.

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Please Note - More details:
Be sure to check out the full details under related releases.

For other releases:
DVD & Blu-ray release calendar »

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