Reaching the end....

Halo: Reach is the culmination of almost a decades worth of gaming.  A series dedicated to using classic sci-fi and gaming tropes that has seen its true development in the growth of its multiplayer community.  Centered around a faceless figure known as Master Chief John-117, the games allowed the player to a great deal of association with their protagonist by keeping him helmeted throughout gameplay a concept further extended into the closing chapter (from Bungie, the company most responsible for the games development) in Reach.  Bungie has developed a deep and beautiful graphics engine for their games and as a gift to their fans, with the completion of the Forge engine, have created an almost infinitely customizable and craftable game that will see a great deal of play for a long time coming.  I enjoyed the game series, mostly through my eyes as a reader and someone who appreciates stories, and the crafting of Reach as an "initial" bookend for the story saw some great moments.  The fact that the series has a even deeper story when connected with the Forerunners tales in the game, and the Marathon series of games that Bungie created spoke well to me, even when it doesn't for some of my friends.  While I hope that the games that will likely come after this, will probably not see the same level of depth, the potential for the series to grow does exist, who knows what may come after this.  For many, the best results of the Halo series may be all the related media into which it's extended.  One of Halo's Machinima (digital puppetry) series Red vs. Blue, has seen enough growth and a lot of brilliant content that has extended into film and internet media that it's almost more well known than the series that spawned it.  And one of director Neill Blomkamp's most known pieces was a series of Live Action style Halo shorts, that saw a great deal of use just prior to his film District 9, and similarities can be seen in the two media styles that very positively affect each other.  My greatest hope is that we continue to see new growth in media and storytelling through the many platforms inspired by Bungie and their Halo series.