The Game Developers Choice Awards are awards annually presented at the Game Developers Conference for outstanding game developers and games. Introduced in 2001, the Game Developers Choice Awards were preceded by the Spotlight Awards, which were presented from 1997 to 1999. Since then, the ceremony for the Independent Games Festival is held just prior to the Choice Awards ceremony.
Medal of Honor is a series of first-person shooter video games. The first game was developed by DreamWorks Interactive and published by Electronic Arts for the PlayStation in 1999. Medal of Honor spawned a series of follow-up games including multiple expansions spanning various console platforms and personal computers.
Halo: First Strike is a military science fiction novel by Eric Nylund, based on the Halo series of video games. The book was released in December 2003 and is the third Halo novel; Nylund's second contribution to the series. The novel serves as a bridge between the events of the games Halo: Combat Evolved and its 2004 sequel Halo 2. First Strike was also released as an audiobook, narrated by Todd McLaren.
Master Chief Petty Officer John-117, or "Master Chief", is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Halo multimedia franchise. Master Chief is a playable character in the series of science fiction first-person shooter video games Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 4, and Halo 5: Guardians. Outside video games, the character appears in books and graphic novels—Halo: The Fall of Reach, Halo: The Flood, Halo: First Strike, and Halo: Uprising—and has cameos in other Halo media, including Halo: Reach, Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, The Halo Graphic Novel, Halo Legends and Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn.
Halo is a military science fiction media franchise centered on a series of video games managed and developed by 343 Industries, a subsidiary of Xbox Game Studios. Halo was originally developed by Bungie Studios. The series centers on an interstellar war between humanity and an alliance of aliens known as the Covenant. The Covenant, led by their religious leaders called the Prophets, worship an ancient civilization known as the Forerunners, who perished while defeating the parasitic Flood. The central focus of the franchise builds off the experiences of Master Chief John-117, one of a group of supersoldiers codenamed Spartans, and his artificial intelligence (AI) companion, Cortana. Other characters, such as Noble Six from Halo: Reach, are also introduced in the series. The term "Halo" refers to the Halo Array: a group of immense, habitable, ring-shaped superweapons that were created by the Forerunners to destroy the Flood, but which the Covenant mistake for religious artifacts that, if activated, would transport them on a Great Journey to meet the Forerunners. They are similar to the Orbitals in Iain M. Banks' Culture novels, and to a lesser degree to author Larry Niven's Ringworld concept.
Recurring characters of the Halo multimedia franchise are organized below by their respective affiliations within the series' fictional universe. The franchise's central story revolves around conflict between humanity under the auspices of the United Nations Space Command or UNSC, and an alien alliance known as the Covenant. The artifacts left behind by an ancient race known as the Forerunner play a central role—particularly the ringworlds known as Halos, built to contain the parasitic Flood by wiping out sentient life in the galaxy.
Guerrilla B.V. is a Dutch video game developer based in Amsterdam. The company was founded as Lost Boys Games in January 2000 through the merger of three smaller development studios as a subsidiary of multimedia conglomerate company Lost Boys. Lost Boys Games became independent the following year and was acquired by Media Republic in 2003, which renamed the studio Guerrilla Games and sold it to Sony Computer Entertainment in 2005. The company employs approximately 250 people under the leadership of joint studio heads Angie Smets, Jan-Bart van Beek, and Michiel van der Leeuw. Guerrilla Games is best known for its Killzone series and the 2017 game Horizon Zero Dawn.
Halo 4 is a first-person shooter developed by 343 Industries and published by Microsoft Studios for the Xbox 360 video game console. The sixth mainline installment in the Halo franchise, the game was released on November 6, 2012. Halo 4's story follows a cybernetically enhanced human supersoldier, Master Chief, and his artificial intelligence construct Cortana, as they encounter unknown threats while exploring an ancient civilization's planet. The player assumes the role of Master Chief who battles against a new remnant faction that splintered off of the Covenant, a former military alliance of alien races, and against mechanical warriors of the Forerunner empire known as the Prometheans. The game features a selection of weapons, enemies, and game modes not present in previous titles of the series.
Halo Wars is a real-time strategy (RTS) video game developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox 360 video game console. It was released in Australia on February 26, 2009; in Europe on February 27; and in North America on March 3. The game is set in the science fiction universe of the Halo series in the year 2531, 21 years before the events of Halo: Combat Evolved. The player leads human soldiers aboard the warship Spirit of Fire in an effort to stop an ancient fleet of ships from falling into the hands of the genocidal alien Covenant.
Halo: Reach is a science-fiction first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie and published by Microsoft Game Studios originally for the Xbox 360 home video game console. The fifth installment in the mainline Halo series, and a direct prequel to Halo: Combat Evolved, Reach was released worldwide in September 2010. The game takes place in the year 2552, where humanity is locked in a war with the alien Covenant. Players control Noble Six, a member of an elite supersoldier squad, when the human world known as Reach falls under Covenant attack.
343 Industries is an American video game developer and subsidiary of Xbox Game Studios based in Redmond, Washington. Headed by Bonnie Ross, the studio is responsible for the Halo series of military science fiction games, originally created and produced by Bungie, and the developers of the Slipspace Engine. Named after the Halo character 343 Guilty Spark, the studio was established in 2007, following the departure of Bungie from Xbox Game Studios, then called Microsoft Game Studios. After co-developing downloadable content for Halo: Reach, Bungie's final Halo game, 343 Industries released Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary and Halo 4 to critical and commercial success – the latter starting the studio's "Reclaimer Saga" of mainline Halo games. The studio followed with Halo: The Master Chief Collection and Halo 5: Guardians, along with various spin-offs such as the Spartan Assault series and Halo Wars 2. 343 Industries is currently developing Halo Infinite as a launch title for Xbox's Project Scarlett – the successor to the Xbox One.
Respawn Entertainment, LLC is an American video game development studio founded by Jason West and Vince Zampella. West and Zampella previously co-founded Infinity Ward and created the Call of Duty franchise, where they were responsible for its development until 2010. The studio created the Titanfall series, as well as the free-to-play battle royale game Apex Legends. Respawn was acquired by Electronic Arts on December 1, 2017, and is developing Medal Of Honor: Above and Beyond as well as Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order as of June 2019.
Halo 5: Guardians is a first-person shooter video game developed by 343 Industries and published by Microsoft Studios for the Xbox One. The seventh mainline entry in the Halo series, it was released worldwide on October 27, 2015. The game's plot follows two fireteams of human supersoldiers: Blue Team, led by Master Chief, and Fireteam Osiris, led by Spartan Locke. When the former goes absent without leave to track down the artificial intelligence construct Cortana, Master Chief's loyalty is called into question, and Fireteam Osiris is sent to retrieve him.
