Who's animated about Halo Legends?

Frankie O'Connor is back with his first foray into official Halo things since he left Bungie. And he's bought a biggie. Halo Legends. A series of short anime films on all things related Halo.

The press proganda is as follows:

"The opportunity to work with talents such as Shinji Aramaki, Mamoru Oshii and others from some of the greatest anime studios is a very rare opportunity for Microsoft," explained Halo franchise development director Frank O'Connor. "We've seen the world through Master Chief's eyes, and we've experienced facets of the universe through a variety of literary prisms, but now we get to watch new tales unfold in really rich, visually dynamic ways. I think anime fans and 'Halo' fans alike are in for a real treat."

Frank O'Connor discussed the project with the Times in his new position as creative director of 343 Industries, which, as speculated, is Microsoft's Halo division. "If you look at how George Lucas held on to 'Star Wars,' not just to make money from action figures but to control the direction the universe went in, you can see why we think it's pretty vital," O'Connor said of Microsoft's interest in maintaining control of the Halo franchise. "Luckily, Microsoft has the resources to enable us to do that."

So basically they are doing a Matrix: The Animatrix thing.



If that's not enough, Microsoft is setting up a special destination for all things Halo on Xbox Live just for you and me.

Named the Halo Waypoint (a reference to a directional device in Halo: Combat Evolved), the Xbox Live hot spot will launch this fall (obviously spring for us in the south), featuring "content ranging from podcasts, trailers and screenshots, to exclusive video footage you won't find anywhere else," according to the press release.

As if that weren't enough, Halo Waypoint will also have "a career system and player rankings tied to both in-game and out-of-game accomplishments related to Halo." READ: Microsoft have found new ways to keep fans hooked on Halo.

And if that's not enough, it will also host early previews of the upcoming Halo Legends anime series as well as behind-the-scenes features.

Here's some official stuff:

“343 Industries is the publisher of the blockbuster Halo series of videogames and, as part of Microsoft Game Studios, oversees the Halo franchise, including novels, comics, licensed collectibles, apparel and more. 343 Industries is home to world-class developers working on future Halo projects, including Halo Legends and Halo Waypoint, as well as partnering with renowned developers such as Bungie LLC and Robot Entertainment to produce Halo games for Xbox 360 and Xbox Live."

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