The Arbiter, Master Chief and a Prophet enter a bar...




I had to share a very bad Halo joke I made up with with you...

After a hard days battle, the Arbiter, Master Chief and a Prophet enter a bar.
Disturbed by their entrance the bar tender looks up and says, 'Halo!'


Ba doom doom dish!

Movies and Media that make references to the Halo Universe



References to Halo found in other movies


The original Halo is famous for being inspired in part by the Aliens series of films. It's no secret that some things were borrowed straight out of the movies. Quotes, characters, in jokes and vehicles shared Aliens themes and styles. Check this list for some examples.


Sometimes things come full circle, and now some movies are referencing the Halo games. Here's a list of notable mentions:


"Taken" (2002)
Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over (2003)
Temporada de patos (2004)
 -  "Halo? What's that?" "It's a video game"
The Hard Problem: The Science Behind the Fiction (2004) (V)
 -  mentioned once
The 40 Year Old Virgin (2005)
 -  Andy talks about playing Halo.
"Jeopardy!: (#22.48)" (2005)
 -  correct response in "Computer Gaming" category
Last Laugh '05 (2005) (TV)
 -  dialogue
"Game One: (#1.1)" (2006)
 -  The show reports about the progress of the Halo movie, showing scenes from the game too.
"30 Rock: Blind Date (#1.3)" (2006)
 -  One of Liz's ex boyfriends used to play Halo all day
"30 Rock: Tracy Does Conan (#1.7)" (2006)
 -  Dennis plays Halo till Liz falls asleep
Dead & Deader (2006) (TV)
 -  "I'm more of a 'Halo' guy."
Doomed (2007) (V)
 -  video game mentioned
Sydney White (2007)
 -  Gurkin describes the video game he created as a combination of several others
"Trading Spaces: Thrills and Spills" (2007)
 -  Mentioned during the part where they buy the video game system for the kitchen
Standing on the Shoulders of Kubrick: The Legacy of 2001 (2007) (V)
 -  mentioned once
Lost Signal (2007)
 -  mentioned in dialogue
"The Big Bang Theory: The Dumpling Paradox (#1.7)" (2007)
 -  the guys play it
Fable 2 (2008) (VG)
 -  The Collecters Edition has two items that can be downloaded. Hal's Armor and Hal's Sword which resembles Spartan Armor and the Covenent Energy Sword respectively. There is even a backstory about a "Hal" coming through a rift from another world.




Jeff Dunham's Very Special Christmas Special (2008) (TV)
 -  Mentioned in dialogue
17 Again (2009)
 -  mentioned that Ned has the new 'Halo' game
"House M.D.: Here Kitty (#5.18)" (2009)
 -  "Over 400 teenagers you were playing 'Halo' with last night"
"Gossip Girl: The Grandfather (#2.19)" (2009)
 -  mentioned by Blair
"The Big Bang Theory: The Dead Hooker Juxtaposition (#2.19)" (2009)
 -  Penny offers to play it.
"Harper's Island: Snap (#1.10)" (2009)
 -  When asked if he's ever actually shot anything, Sully replies with the names of three video games he's played
"The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror XX (#21.4)" (2009)
 -  Jimbo is dressed up as the Master Chief.


    Jimbo Jones as the Master Chief in The Simpsons TV Show

District 9 - the ship that carries the Prawn to the mothership looks suspiciously shaped like a Pelican. Also the lead character says the word 'Halo' at one stage.

List borrowed from
IMDB

A brief history of Halo: The Story Explained




The story of Halo is no fairy tale set in a Castle that needs protection from a marauding dragon. It is, however, a monster of a tale spanning the length of the universe from Earth to places with strange names like Onyx. Many fans might know Halo only through the Xbox games, others may have expanded their knowledge from reading the books, graphic novels and the Halo Encyclopedia. Halo Waypoint has handily put together a brief history of Halo for anyone who might just be a little curious about what’s actually going on as sometimes even in the games it’s not clear!

The Halo Story Explained

Long before humanity shed its own earthly shackles, an ancient race known as the Forerunners had already mastered control of the heavens. Using their technology they took it upon themselves to protect all life in the galaxy. But when a dark threat emerged from the blackness beyond the galaxy’s stars, the Forerunners surprisingly were caught off guard.

The Flood, a parasitic alien species that propagates itself by infecting sentient beings, had already infested a variety of worlds within the Milky Way galaxy. By the time the Forerunners took action against the Flood, it was too late; the Flood had already surpassed any efforts at containment offered.

Fearing all in the galaxy would be lost forever to the Flood, a group of Forerunners developed a plan to stop the parasite once and for all. They called this plan Halo. Using a massive installation known as the Ark, they built seven ring worlds, which they spread throughout the galaxy as a defensive mechanism. This Halo Array, as they called it, when fired, would destroy all sentient beings within range, effectively starving the Flood to death as there would be nothing left for it to use to spread.

Then, after staying the hand of judgment as long as they could, the Forerunners finally fired the rings and seemingly vanished from existence to never be heard of again. The knowledge surrounding the Halo Array and its use and as well as the Ark was lost for a time. All that remained was the hope that someone, somewhere in the distant future, would discover the truth.

One hundred thousand years later, humankind finally turned its eyes to the stars. But even after developing the technology of Slipspace travel, which allowed them to colonize distant worlds, they failed to learn from their own primitive nature, they went too far, too quick.

Not long after humans built other worlds to inhabit, they began to war with each other. A powerful governing body known as the United Nations Space Command (UNSC) attempted to quell any insurrectionist factions, but there seemed to be nothing that could halt the mounting tide of violence between mankind.
It was then that an agency known as the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) commissioned the SPARTAN-II project. This extreme measure sanctioned the abduction of young children who would be genetically engineered into the most advanced supersoldiers humanity had ever seen. And for a time, this solution worked flawlessly, the Spartans meted out swift, almost merciless, judgment against any who resisted the orders of  United Nations Space Command.

But in 2525 CE, all of that changed.

Without warning, the Outer Colony of Harvest was obliterated by an unknown force, a force that would later reveal itself as the Covenant. This alliance of alien species believed humanity was a stain that needed to be wiped from the galaxy, and they committed themselves to this belief without any mercy and proved ruthless in doing so.

Extinguishing every human population they could find, the Covenant were consumed with humankind's total and complete annihilation. However, despite being greatly outnumbered, the Spartans engaged the alien enemy in groundside conflicts, frustrating the Covenant’s advancement every step of the way. Ultimately, each terrestrial victory proved insignificant, since the Covenant dominated space battles without contest.

Still, it wasn't until they attacked the planet of Reach, Earth's veritable doorstep on the brink of humanity’s extinction, that these legendary Spartans fell.

Fleeing into Slipspace at a seemingly random vector, a UNSC warship brought with it what was believed to be the last remaining Spartan, the enigmatic Master Chief, John 117. As they arrived in a remote, uncharted region of the galaxy, they suddenly came face to face with something they had never before seen —Halo.

What is the plot of The Impossible Life and the Possible Death of Preston J. Cole?




The Impossible Life and the Possible Death of Preston J. Cole plot summary


In the beginning, before Halo: Combat Evolved was even released on the original Xbox, Bungie had thought big and organised a book tie in. That book was The Fall of Reach. It's job was to set up the events and plot that had lead to the start of the Halo game. It's author was a chap called Eric Nylund and he went on to write two more of the 5 Halo novels that followed the Fall of Reach. 


Halo: Evolutions is a collection of Halo fiction in the 'short story format'. It seems only natural then that Microsoft bought back Eric Nylund to have a crack at a story. 'The Impossible Life and the Possible Death of Preston J. Cole' is his take on one of the Halo universe's key characters.


The title itself is most interesting. On the face of, it says nothing. It's almost in the style of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and other book titles that seem to describe the plot. 

Players of the original Halo game may remember that the Pillar of Autumn arrived at the Halo, after following the directive known as The Cole Protocol. Named after the protagonist of Nylund's short story, the Cole protocol was itself the subject and name of the sixth halo novel.

The plot of Nylund's story gives an insight into what may have really happened to Admiral Cole as according to the official records, he died...but did he?

-

Clearly, this isn't the full plot summary, it will be here when I've read the whole thing!

How to set your Gmail Theme to look like Planet Reach

So like Google's fantastic Gmail has background themes you can use to make your Gmail  Email experience like totally awesome in Full Halo Glory (TM). 


For those so inclined, one can change the theme setting to 'Planets' and if you squint your eyes a certain way, it looks like the planet Reach:



Hey, I told you to squint!

Here's the comparison to Bungie's vision of the Planet:



See, that orange colour means it's the same!



And this just proves it!

So, I know you're sold on this 'Gmail Reach Theme' and because I'm a lovable chap I'm gonna tell you how to get in into Gmail for free.

Log in to your Gmail. Click Settings at the top right. Click Themes on the far right. Select the Planets picture, middle of the third row. The change to your theme will happen automatically and you'll be blessed with Full Halo Glory (TM).

All this shows is that despite their rivalry with Microsoft, the lads and ladies at Google love Halo. Heck, their Chrome logo was modeled on Guilty Spark 343 right?





           The things I do for you Halo fans..... ;)

What is the Halo Encyclopedia?

Aren't encyclopedias extinct because they are redundant in the internet age? I'm mean you don't see any salesmen wandering streets trying to sign young mothers up to monthly subcriptions of Britannica's A-Z of the Universe any more do you?



So what's with Microsoft releasing the Halo Encyclopedia? Why do we need one of those?

The official blurb is "Created in full collaboration with Microsoft, Halo Encyclopedia is packed with hundreds of images, illustrations, and technical drawings that highlight all the information fans and newcomers to the game need to know. Everything you ever wanted to know about Master Chief and the Halo Universe: origins of the game, the mechanics behind it, all the weapons, villains, heroes, locations. Includes behind the scenes information, history, and insider tips on the game."

The book was witten by on Tobias Buckel, whom keen Halo fans might recognise as having been the authour of The Cole Protocol  The encyclopedia (Man, that word is hard to write!) also has a forward written by Mr Halo, Frankie O'Connor.

Okay I'm sold, where do I buy?

Halo: Evolutions: Not a Harry Fucking Potter Novel

Halo: Evolutions, released on November 24th 2009, is an extended written look at the Haloverse through the eyes of some very popular science fiction and fantasy authors and some key members of Microsoft's 343 Industries's staff. 



Is that a Monitor of a Halo Installation in the Chief's reflection?


On the author side, the Halo fans get stories from the writer of Star Wars: Republic Commando fame Karen Traviss, The Last Days author B.K. Evenson, and esteemed comic book writer Fred Van Lente. To cap it all off, Eric Nyland who wrote the first halo Novel, The Fall of Reach also gets another crack at Halo. 


I wondered earlier if the Halo universe was getting too full. This Halo: Evolutions book is an example of that concern. But who am I kidding? More Halo? Bring it on!


The 343 Industries is the Microsoft  team in  charge of all things Halo. From this team, managing editor Kevin Grace, and Robert McLees, a writer on the first three Halo games as well as the upcoming Halo: Reach have all contributed stories to Halo: Evolutions. And yay! Frankie is having a go as well.

Fans are being promised a look at "some awesome new stuff that wander into unexplored territory of the Halo mythos."

Here's a list of the authors who have made contributions to Halo: Evolutions

"Pariah" by B.K. Evenson
"Stomping on the Heels of a Fuss" by Eric Raab
"Midnight in the Heart of Midlothian" by Frank O'Connor
"Dirt" by Tobias S. Buckell
"Acheron-VII" by Sparth (art) and Jonathan Goff (words)
"Headhunters" by Jonathan Goff
"Blunt Instruments" by Fred Van Lente
"The Mona Lisa" by Tessa Kum and Jeff VanderMeer
"Icon" by Robogabo (art) and Jonathan Goff (words)
"Palace Hotel" by Robt McLees
"Human Weakness" by Karen Traviss
"Connectivity" by Robogabo (art) and Jonathan Goff (words)
"The Impossible Life and the Possible Death of Preston J. Cole" by Eric Nylund
"The Return" by Kevin Grace

The good thing about Halo: Evolutions from a parent's point of view is that like Harry Potter, it gets kids and the older kids away from the 360 for a while so they can get some good reading into them! Except, of course, Halo rules,  Harry sucks....

What is the plot of 'The Duel' in the Halo Legends anime film series?

arbiter from Halo Legends


What is the plot of 'The Duel' in the Halo Legends anime film series?


The Duel is the second film in the Halo Legends short film series. The first was The BabysitterThe Duel was originally shown on the new Halo Waypoint that you can download to the dashboard of the Xbox 360. The next chance to see it will be if you get your hands on the Halo Legends DVD which be released on the 9th of February 2010.






The plot:



In the anime "The Duel," a Sangheili Arbiter named 'Fal' is charged with heresy by a High Prophet, because of his blatant and rebellious refusal to accept the Covenant's religion, despite threats made against his clan (think a Christian refusing to renounce his belief system for another's equivalent type scenario).

A second Sangheili serving the unnamed Prophet named 'Haka' takes his own initiative against Fal, forcing a servant of his to kill his wife Han whom clearly was in love with Fal, and him with her. Haka then proceeds to kill Fal's servant and leaves both of their bodies in Fal's home.

When Fal ulimately discovers what Haka had done, he is enraged and begins a personal war against Haka's troops, even his fellow clansmen, killing many of them until he finally is before Haka.

The two duel, but it is a short struggle, as Haka slashes Fal across his chest, mortally wounding him. To his surprise, he quickly finds that Fal has impaled him on his own sword. Borrowing a classic sword-fighting premise from a million stories and films, both Sangheili fall, each having killed the other.

Fal's last moments alive are concerned with thoughts his wife.

As a result of Fal's actions as part of his actions leading to the Duel, the rank of Arbiter is stripped of its honour and is bestowed only apon the Sangheili who have been deemed to have no honor, in order that they might regain it.


In case you wanted a shorter crisper plot description, here's Halo Waypoint's official blurb:

"“The Duel” takes place thousands of years in the past at the dawn of the Covenant. The story follows a shamed Elite who defies his role as an Arbiter to take a path of revenge against those that stole the only thing that mattered to him. This ancient Arbiter must fight his way through ever-growing groups of former allies (Grunts, Elites, Hunters and more) until he finally stands face-to-face with the Elite who betrayed him."

The Duel's plot being set at the dawn of the formation of the Covenant gives us a small insight into the beginning events of the Halo 2 xbox game where the Arbiter, er... becomes The Arbiter. His disgrace at not having prevented the Master Chief from exploding the first Halo installation results in him being bestowed the title of Arbiter with the expectation that, as the "Blade of the Prophets", he will die trying to redeem himself. 

My point is that the Arbiter of Halo 2 and 3 has brought upon himself the same dishonour that Fal bought upon himself, thus 'earning' the title.

Does the Duel have a New Zealand reference?

 In Maori, which is an official language of NZ, a 'haka' is a war dance which was historically done before a tribe battled another as a challenge. Now the All Blacks rugby team famously do one before each test match. I wonder if the name Haka is a reference to New Zealand and possibly the fact one of Bungie's main men, Chris Butcher is from New Zealand. 

Probably a long shot but does any one have any ideas?



Where's New Zealand?


My first reaction to seeing this 'Word vs Brand New Videogame' chart  on Kotaku was to think, where the hell is New Zealand? We are home to Lord of the Rings! Man, we nearly got the Halo movie made! And heck, we made the Speed Racer Xbox game.

The news is that there is no news when new Xbox 360 games are released in New Zealand. We just get to buy them the day before America.

And that includes Halo: Reach. Woot!

What happened to the Halo Movie?






Let's just say Denzel Washington's Trip to Wellington in New Zealand  turned out to be a big waste of his time.


New Zealand's Godfather of Film, Peter Jackson had done the deals and was set to produce a silver screen version of the Halo universe till things crashed and burned like a Pelican crashing and burning on a beach. 

During 2005 - 2007, the stars, both metaphorical and literal, were aligning.


Initially Alex Garland, a novelist known for the script of his own novel, The Beach had handed over a script for Halo that covered the time frame of The Fall of Reach. Legend has it that Mr Garland was paid $1 million by Microsoft (who own the rights to Halo) to write the adaptation of Halo. Microsoft then sold the script to Universal for $10 million.


Enter Mr Jackson, King of the World after LOTR and King Kong. Let's make a Halo movie, he said.


Things were in production. Bungie was in cahoots, helping out with the canon and helping foster the film's development. 


Neil Blomkamp at the time an unknown ingénue who had built a strong reputation as a director of commercials was in Wellington preparing the film. Blomkamp directed a trilogy of live-action Halo short films (known collectively as Landfall)  to promote the release of the Xbox 360 game Halo 3


It was gangbusters and not Dambusters. District 9 was just a short film called Alive in Joburg.


They even made a real live Warthog jeep. Denzel flew into Wellington. Would he be playing Sergeant Johnson?


And then Hollywood took a royal dump on the whole shebang.


Production was put on ice. Best laid plans were sucked into the suck. The big wigs in Hollywood chickened out and canceled the Halo movie. Grown men wept and Denzel Washington left was never to utter the line "I know what the ladies like" in a movie. 


Blomkamp had this telling thing to say "It's not so much me as the entire vessel sank. Basically, it was a combination of; there were two studios involved that weren't getting along in the process of making it, Universal and Fox. That kind of stuff happens, it's a fragile industry. So the film collapsed at the end of last year, and it's been dead, ever since then. I'll be curious to see what happens." 


So fuck you Universal and Fox. 


In 2009, scriptwriter Stuart Beattie tried to get the Halo juices flowing again  with his own spec script. It was rumored that Steven Speilberg blew his load on the script but it was a galaxy too far and the Halo movie is happening no more.



Concept Artwork that Beattie Commissioned 


Extra for Experts: Peter Jackson also had planned to make a computer game called Halo: Chronicles. This too, never saw a byte published.

Beginners Guide to Halo: Reach



I had someone use what I thought was an odd search term to find Halo Reach Game News:


"What planet is halo reach on?"

The page they found was Why is Planet Reach so important to the Halo story line? which gives a very brief spiel on the events that happened on the planet.

But then I thought to myself, the person who was searching for the information about a planet in a galaxy far far away didn't know the answer - maybe they were new to the Halo series?

Everyone knows about Halo and the Master Chief right? But that's about as far as it goes sometimes. Heck, I only today realised the Engineers in Halo 3:ODST were actually intended to be in Halo: Combat Evolved game. Like Pink, who knew?


So, given that not every one knows everything and Halo: Reach will bring a slew of new fans to the Halo series, here's few things that will help beginners understand the context of Reach.

Will the Master Chief be in the Halo Reach campaign?

The Master Chief is the main protagonist of the Halo series of Xbox games. He's a bad ass, engineered to be bigger and stronger than an ordinary man. He knows no fear and was the bloke who finished the fight. He will not necessarily be the main player in the Reach campaign mode - the leaks suggest you play other 'Spartans' who were augmented in the same way the Master Chief was.



Who is Dr Halsey on Reach?

This Doctor is the person who engineered the Spartan project. Effectively the mother of the Spartans, she plays a large role in the Halo novels but has yet to make an formal appearance in a xbox game. Given the plot elements of The Fall of Reach it seems likley Dr Halsey will be a central character or plot point in Halo: Reach

What is the campaign plot of Halo Reach?

In short, the planet is overrun by the nasty covenant. The army of the UNSC and Spartans decide to fight back. It this action leads to the events of the original Xbox game, Combat Evolved.

I heard Reach is based on a book called The Fall of Reach?

You heard right. It actually came out before Combat Evolved! Those boys at Bungie were certainly into back stories in a big way.

I only bought ODST so I could get the Beta to Halo: Reach. Will those Engineers be in the game?

Who knows if they will, but legend has it, the Master Chief did meet one on Reach....

The Engineers of Halo 3: ODST and maybe Reach?

engineer from halo odst reach

Halo 3: ODST's Engineers were a surprise for me. I'd never heard of these creatures before - plenty of fans had though and Bungie made no secret of their existence:

"First seen in still images prior to the retail launch of Halo: Combat Evolved (and then again by industrious players who coaxed character models out of unplayable portions of the disc), our official unveiling of the Engineer didn’t go down until eight years after the Master Chief first went toe-to-toe with the Covenant. But since you’ve now seen these curious, armor-clad characters floating and sputtering around the city of New Mombasa, we figure the time is right to declassify their artistic origins."

So now that Halo 3: ODST is done and dusted, Bungie took the time to explain a bit more about the design and origin of the Engineers. A chat with the lead designer Shi Kai Wang sheds a lot of light - for instance they were inspired by sea creatures like jelly fish!

"I definitely looked at a lot of sea creatures for inspiration - the way they move, the way they emit light, the fluidity of their bodies - and tried to translate that into a creature out of water. Under water sea slugs and glowing jellyfish were the main source of inspiration." - Shi Kai Wang.


Note the giant ball sack, top right. hehehe.

Engineers are formally known as Huragok and are effectively a class of Covenant.

Within the Halo universe,  their origins are that they were created by the Forerunners prior to the first activation of the Halo Array. Being mechanical structures rather than true life forms, they survived the activation and were later found by the Prophets.  The Prophets subsequently made the Huragok their slaves to do work regarding understanding and using Forerunner technology.

While Engineers possess no true tissues or organs, their nano-mechanical surrogates so closely mimic their biological analogs that they seem almost indistinguishable to later observers. Gas-bladders serve as their method of locomotion, allowing them to float through the air even after their deaths. The bladders also serve as part of their respiratory system; if their gas bladders deflate, they will asphyxiate and die (source).

The Engineers as a concept and as a design have been around since Halo: Combat Evolved was being put together by Bungie. As noted above, they were even spied in some pictures before Combat Evolved was released.

Due to time constraint issues, the Engineers were "left on the cutting room floor" while Halo CE was being finalised. They were cut so late in the piece, however, that they remained in the game's code. Xbox modders and hackers located the Engineer files within the code on the game disc and manged to spawn Engineers in various configurations within the game. These are the images that may be found on the internet:

    Hey! I don't belong here!

    What's purple and doesn't look like Cortana?

Will the Engineers be in Halo: Reach? There's a real possibilty they might be as they are actually referenced in The Fall of Reach novel. The Master Chief watched an Engineer dismantle a vehicle's engine, assemble it into various other working configurations, and then return it to its original state (page 183 of the book).

There is real potential for at least some kind of reference in the xbox game now that they are official in the 'released game cannon' and not just in the Halo novels. Time will tell...


Extra for Experts: Maybe Microsoft should have used the Engineers to fix all the Red Rings of Death that seem to occur all over the world....

Forza 3 Halo Reach Design

Forza Motorsport 3 is a racing simulator video game developed for Xbox 360. It was released in October 2009. It is the sequel to Forza Motorsport 2 and the third installment in the Forza Motorsport series.


The game gives players a chance to customise their vehicle.  While there are no Warthogs or Mongeese on in Forza, one Halo: Reach fan came up with this swish design:





My other ride is a Mazda. Yours?

Halo:Reach Desktop Wallpaper Download

Want this Halo Reach wallpaper for your computer's desktop?

If you want the picture of the Halo spartans in glorious 1140 x 900 size - here's how you grab it:

With the mouse, click on the image so it enlarges. Then right click on the wallpaper image and 'save as'. Once the file is saved to your computer, open it up Window's Control Panel and select change desktop background (or some variant) select the saved file and the wallpaper will be up on your desktop faster than you can say "Jump In!".

Some programs might offer the short cut that when you do the 'right click'  you get the option to make the halo picture the desk top bachground straight away.



The Space Ships of Halo: Reach

Long Night of Solace

The Long Night of Solace was the Covenant super carrier that destroyed the UNSC Grafton in the Halo Reach game and destroyed  several other UNSC deployments. 
Grafton
Pillar of Autumn

The above Pillar of Autumn was where Halo really first began - as the Master Chief you were woken to fight the Coveant who had found you - so in the context of Reach, the Pillar escapes with Noble 6's help, to which then the Master Chief takes over the protection of Cortana

Ardent Prayer


The Ardent Prayer was used as part of the plan to destroy the Supercarrier, Long Night of Solace. You may not know that Ardent Prayer is the setting of the Halo: Reach multiplayer map Zealot, and the Firefight map Corvette.

The Space Ships of Halo: Reach (The below was all speculation before the Reach game was released)


You can't have an epic space battle between two different races without one at least having got to the battle in a space ship. Where the Fall of Reach is concerned, the allied forces of the Covenant had a massive armada of ships and the humans had a few too, with perhaps the Pillar of Autumn being the most famous.


So what are the human ships that might be found in the game of Halo: Reach? Here's some of the contenders:


Three UNSC ships, the destroyer Heracles and the frigates Arabia and the Vostok, were sent to investigate the destruction of the Harvest colony by Covenant forces. Only the Heracles survived the subsequent encounter with the Covenent and made it back to the planet Reach.






During the battle of Reach most of the UNSC space ships in the area were destroyed. Some confirmed KIA, others MIA. The Herodotus was a UNSC Destroyer that notably got carved up by an Energy Projector. The projector is a laser that the Covenant used to glass Reach and many other places including a bit of Earth in the game Halo 3 to prevent the spread of the Flood. 


Other vessels to fall to the Covenant included the Musashi, the Minotaur and the Tharsis. The Frigate Euphrates also was KIA and the Applebee and the Lark also got pwned. They all might rate a mention in the game.


The Longsword Starfighter bomber Knife 26 was also used:


Longsword
During Reach, a Longsword was used by Lieutenant Keyes destroyed a Covenant Supercruiser. The Longsword delivered a Nuclear Warhead to the ship - it was was an unmanned sortie flight controlled by remote piloting.

During the Fall of Reach, Keyes is in command of the ship Iroquois, in which he showed gallantry in destroying 4 Covenant vessels. This is perhaps ironic given Keyes was unwittingly responsible for the Covenant finding Reach as the Iroquois was tagged by a Covenant Spy Probe which gave them the planet's positioning.

Given this ship had a fairly prominent role in the space battle over Reach, it is possible that Iroquois will be mentioned in the Halo: Reach xbox game - it all depends on the timing of the ground mission of the Spartans as it's understood the game is focussed largely on the ground.

Given the sad fact that the Pillar of Autumn is the only known UNSC space ship to have survived the reach episode, and all other being presumed to have been destroyed (stated in Halo: CE, I think?) the fate of the Iroquois is that it is presumed to have been destroyed as well.





Pillar of Autumn

So the Pillar of Autumn is probably the only space ship that we can pretty much guarantee will be in the Halo: Reach game as it was the ship that found the Halo installation after Keyes followed the Cole Protocol and its the ship the the Master Chief eventually ended up on. In the original Halo: CE, you start and end the game in the space ship - so it must surely be going to feature!

Extra for Experts: Aegis Fate

One keen Halo fan has made a Lego version of the Aegis Fate which although having a larger role in the time frame of the Halo 3 game, during Reach it was on duty protecting Earth.





Aegis Fate made of Lego