We could go on (and trust us, we'd like to), but in the interest of keeping some surprises, we'll stop the retelling here. Suffice it to say, there's plenty more action, some big-time sacrifices, an all-too-brief battle between two of the Halo series' protagonists, and the appearance of another series regular. Oh, and there's a happy ending of sorts. The Package is part of the Halo Legends anthology, which will be available for viewing in Fall from the Halo Waypoint site.

The preview video – found after the break – walks you through some of the destination's functionality, notably the "career system" which will track "in-game accomplishments across multiple Halo games." Unsurprisingly, that career will be limited to the Xbox 360-released Halo games: Halo 3, Halo Wars, Halo 3: ODST, and "all Game Add-on content for those titles." Oh, you beat Halo 2 in under 30 minutes? We'll just have to take your word for it.

Halo Waypoint is being developed collaboratively by Microsoft's internal Halo studio, 343 Industries, and Certain Affinity, the Austin-based developer (with some former Bungie staffers) behind Age of Booty. Waypoint will be available November 5 for both Xbox Live Gold and Silver members; however, come November 26 those Silver members will have to pony up for Live if they want to keep their Waypoint access. That's a solid three weeks to determine if the exclusive Waypoint offerings – like the Nov. 7. preview of the "Halo Legends" anime anthology – are worth it. We imagine it will be for the hardcore Halo fan ... but we'd assume they've already got a Gold account.

http://www.joystiq.com/2009/10/19/halo-waypoint-detailed-captured-on-video/

Video of SKY TV on the 360 in action looks fracking sweet!!!

http://www.vg247.com/2009/10/23/sky-360-movie-hits...

available to the general public this Thursday, November 5.

Here's the rundown (via Joystiq):

Monday:

* Spotlight on Louis Wu


Tuesday:

* Halo in Five Minutes


Wednesday:

* Halo 3 ODST Firefight Community Screenshots


Thursday (official launch):

* Intro to Halo Legends, plus "The Babysitter" trailer
* Welcome to Waypoint


Friday:

* Top Ten Firefight Tactics (Prima Strategy)


Saturday:

* Halo Legends: "The Babysitter" (available Saturday only)


Sunday

* Inside the Fiction: Featuring Say My Name and the NMPD Pelican from Halo 3: ODST.

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 - 2 Disc Special Edition version will have several hours of incredible bonus features, including:


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


Widescreen (1.78:1)


Halo Legends Blu-Ray versions will be loaded with bonus materials, including all the great extras from the 2-disc Special Edition as well as Halo: The Story so Far, an overview of the Halo universe up until the end of Halo 3

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

“Warner Home Video is proud to partner with Microsoft to bring this video game phenomenon to fans in an altogether different entertainment medium,” said Amit Desai, WHV Vice President of Family, Animation & Partner Brands Marketing. “The great storytelling, memorable characters and truly astounding CG/Anime make Halo Legends a must-have for the fans.”

Just watched the first one, 'The Babysitter'. That was amazingly awesome.