Ever wonder just why grunts look the way they do? Or if the inspiration behind the Forerunner architecture came from Frank Lloyd Wright? Or if the Warthog always looked like a jacked up Jeep 4X4?

Just in time for the 10th anniversary of Halo: Combat Evolved, Titan Books along with Bungie have released The Great Journey: Halo: The Art of Building Worlds. Inside is close to two hundred pages of original concept art from Halo: Combat Evolved all the way to the most recent Halo: Reach and everything in between.

Halo: The Art of Building Worlds takes players through the journey of Bungie as they created not just Halo: Combat Evolved but the universe that surrounds it. Some of the artwork are full two page spreads, beautifully painted works, that show the lush environments of the Halo universe. Other pages include series of sketches of everything from variations of Elite and Spartan Armor to the unused fauna concepts that never made it into certain games.

These pieces are some of the most interesting as you get insight into the Halo that never was, including the original concept for Master Chief and the completely un-iconic name he was almost graced with back when Halo was still an RTS game. Much like looking at classic Star Wars concept art, this book is a literal nerdgasm of “what if”.

In his foreword, 343’s Frank O’Connor explains how Halo has become this generation’s Star Wars. Looking at the artwork and stories that have come from them in this book, we have to agree with him.

It’s hard to talk about video games and not mention the Halo franchise. Constantly breaking records and taking names, Halo is a system selling behemoth of a property for the XBox 360. It was one of the games so popular, that it would go on to spawn multiple Machinima series, animated shorts created using assets from the respective games. These included everything from Phil to Arby ‘n’ The Chief to what may be the most famous Machinima ever, Red vs. Blue.

Smartly coinciding the release of the 8th season of Red vs. Blue entitled Revalation and the Recollection three disc set with the release of Halo: Reach, Rooster Teeth helps provide Halo fanboys with more Halo than they can handle in the biggest week of their gaming year.

The Recollection contains the second full story arc of the Red vs. Blue universe. Not a part of any official Halo canon, Red vs. Blue takes aspects of the game world never explained like the constant fighting in multiplayer of the different Spartans and tries to explain it. Taken with a grain of salt, the story even gets a little meta and makes a viewer step back and wonder how much applies to them. But for the most part, there is just lots of great comedic moments and swearing over a finely animated and even dramatic story.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise we like to play some games around here. When we have some downtime at the plush offices of The Flickcast, the team often assembles in the rec room in front of the 60 inch plasma TV and plays some XBox 360. Sure, we can choose from any number of brand new, cutting edge games but we also like to have some fun with XBox Live Marketplace games as well.

Fortunately, to help out with this and so we know what to get when, Microsoft’s own Major Nelson has graciously provided a schedule of upcoming game releases available in the XBox Live Marketplace in the next few months.

Here’s the scoop according to the Major:

Xbox LIVE Deal of the Week:

April 26: The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai, 400 points
May 3: Zombie Apocalypse, 400 points

Xbox LIVE Games on Demand:

April 27: Shrek the Third (All regions except Japan)
April 27: Far Cry (North America)
April 27: Kane & Lynch: Dead Men (North America)

Anthologies can often be either one of the best ways to explore a concept if executed properly. The idea explored here is Halo and the mythology surrounding it. For the first time, one work tries to take from all other source material like the Halo games, novels and comics in an effort to fully explain the world of Halo. In the process, it also helps actually add new substantial concepts to this much applauded franchise that show that the fight isn’t really over for Master Chief and the Spartans.

As seen before with Batman: Gotham Knight and The Animatrix, Halo Legends is an anthology of seven distinct and separate stories about the characters and ideas of Halo as seen through the eyes of various anime heavyweights. With writers and directors who had worked on everything from Cowboy Bebop to Bubblegum Crisis and MASK to Dragon Ball Z, the spectrum of top talent in this field was pieced together to put together Halo Legends.

The first story, “Origins”, comes in two pieces and may easily be the most important of the seven parts to the greater Halo universe. For the first time in full detail, the audience is given a look at exactly what happened to the Forerunners that caused them to disappear with the creation of the Halo rings. Most interesting about this feature comes from the revelation of what the Forerunners looked like and how they became revered as the gods of the Covenant.

2009 was a huge year for gaming. With some games not living up to lofty expectations, others took the reins set before them and ran with them further than many expected. Batman: Arkham Asylum proved it was possible to make a great game based on Batman, though it took the video game industry over 25 years to figure out how to accomplish that.

Wolverine: Origins proved that games based off movies didn’t have to be bad and in the eyes of many surpassed the quality of the film that inspired it. Legends were reborn as the Beatles were featured in their own Rock Band game. Yes, it was a momentous year for gaming which leads us to proudly present these awards for the Best Video Games of 2009.

Best Playstation 3 Exclusive Game

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune was easily one of the best early releases for the Playstation 3. But the problem is no one knew about it who didn’t have the system. A fantastic game, it fell victim to the lack of Playstation 3’s being in consumers’ homes. Knowing the gem they had their hands on, Sony made sure to give Uncharted 2: Among Thieves a spotlight at this year’s E3 along with a strong marketing push when it was released this year.