The Combat Comes Home With Halo Legends On DVD And Blu-ray

Just because Halo: The Movie is reportedly on hold doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the franchise beyond your videogame console. On February 9th, 2010, Warner Home Video will finish the fight with Halo Legends on DVD and Blu-ray.

Legends is a seven-story CG and traditional anime series that takes a look at Halo’s origins and the universe’s most monumental events. If you’re a fan of the games, you’ll be familiar with the 26th Century battle between the humans and the invading aliens, as well as mankind’s ever-expanding number of space colonies.

The anthology is shown through eight episodes, each ranging from 10 to 17 minutes long. In the same style as The Animatrix and Batman Gotham Knight before it, Halo Legends features segments by prominent Japanese anime director/animators including Shinji Aramaki, Mamoru Oshii, Hideki Futamura, Tomoki Kyoda, and Yasushi Muraki. The stories come from the minds of Halo franchise development director Frank O’Connor and managing editor Kevin Grace.

You’ll have three purchasing options for Halo Legends: a single-disc DVD for $19.98, a special edition two-disc DVD for $29.98, and a special edition two-disc Blu-ray for $34.99. The single-disc version comes solely with the eight episodes, clocking in at just under two hours. Bumping up to one of the two special editions will tack on several more hours of bonus features including “The Making of Halo Legends,” with an introduction and production details for each episode, “Halo: Gaming Evolved,” and audio commentary with directors Frank O’Connor and Joseph Chou. Exclusive to the BD edition is “Halo: The Story So Far,” an extensive look at the history of Halo up to the end of Halo 3.

Halo fans rejoice. Those of you who aren’t fans of the game probably haven’t gotten to this point of the article anyway.