After listening to the most recent episode of the Giant Bomb cast (9-15-09) and the description that was given of Halo 3 ODST, I came to the conclusion that I had very little interest in that game, specifically its story. To put this in perspective, I consider myself to be a Halo fan and I enjoyed the stories of Halo 1, 2, and 3. I did not find the story of halo wars to be very interesting. 
 
             This got me thinking, does Halo qualify as a story with a single narrative or is it a universe with many narratives and stories? To better explain what I mean, compare Star Trek, which has many different stories explored throughout its primary mediums (TV. and film) and Star Wars, which has one main story that centers on a fairly consistent group of characters. The question is from that aspect, which is Halo closer to, Star Wars or Star Trek?

             I do have an interest in learning more about the events in halo. This might cause me to conclude that it is a universe. From what I have seen, however, the times where games have veered off course from the main story have been boring and meaningless. This makes me conclude it is a story. Perhaps Reach will be more interesting to me; on the other hand, you could argue that because the events of Reach take place right before Halo 1 and are therefore part of the main story line. I do not know; so the question remains…  
 
 Is Halo a Story or a Universe?   
 
Just a thought, Thanks
Gangway
 

Can't it be both? It's a universe, in that the game takes place in the Halo universe, with assault rifles built without any sights of any sort and limited to an effective range of about 8 feet, and pistols that have scopes for some unknown reason. It's also a story, in that Halo the game has a story about space marines fighting aliens because mankind is fighting for survival against aliens bent on annihilating mankind and the lone protagonist is the only hope for humanity in its darkest hour and he's really mysterious and silent but also indestructible.
 
I submit that Halo is a story, a universe, the name of something on top of an angel's head, a popular game franchise, and a set of fictional books.

The Halo story takes place in the Halo universe.

"The Halo story takes place in the Halo universe. "

It is both a story and a universe, yes, but it is primarily a universe, at least in my opinion. Ever tried reading the novels? One of them was 300 pages worth of "Master Chief ran in, shot the grunts, fragged the elites and beat down the Flood".

" It is both a story and a universe, yes, but it is primarily a universe, at least in my opinion. Ever tried reading the novels? One of them was 300 pages worth of "Master Chief ran in, shot the grunts, fragged the elites and beat down the Flood". "

Having read all six of the Halo novels I'm gonna have to go with "it's a universe". Only the first three novels feature the Master Chief , yet all six novels are excellent. The problem with Halo Wars is that RTS games don't immerse you into the game world like first person games do , so it doesn't feel as "real".

Universe. That got me particularly frustrated with Ryan's comments (another reason was that I felt it was maybe a bit too harsh and rude) but the point of Halo was that epic drama and scale, as Ryan said. What else must Bungie do to demonstrate that epic drama and scale than have a slice of the other parts of the war?

Yeah, the guys' comments on the Bombcast were slightly annoying for sure.  It seemed like a lot of it came from the fact that they don't really know about the game all that much.  That being said, they don't really have the luxury like we do of picking a handful of games during this busy season to be excited about because they really need to keep on top of everything.  Also, they rely mostly on press events to get their info about the games and probably don't scour the internet like we (me, at least) do.

Yea, which is also the reason why I think Modern Warfare and COD4 got such huge praise by the press. I mean, don't get me wrong, COD4 was such a great game and MW2 looks fucking fantastic, but its a type of game with no weight to it. You can just go in and kill Russians/Arabians/Dogs/Whatever. And then go hope onto to multiplayer. It pissed me off when COD4 gets the praise because, even though Infinity Ward did a lot with those games, A lot of Halo 3's features were overlooked: The theater, B.Net Community Support etc.