I’ve enjoyed many of the books, but something that does disappoint me and in-fact this is more directed at Cryptum than the rest; is how little the authors really do thier homework concerning the Halo universe before expanding it.
I find it a jarring experience to read something only to be pulled out of the story thinking “Hang on, according to the game that isn’t right”
This makes me more disappointed for the future of Halo, given that 343 seem to be taking to heart many of Cryptums aspects; despite the fact the author himself can’t maintain continuity within his own book, let alone against the pre-established terminals discovered in Halo 3.
It is made more confusing in Halo Anniversary during the first terminal when (spoiler) 343 refers to Humans as well Humans as they are landing; yet later in the game when he is accessing the mainframe as they stuck true to the original he curiously says “Curious… Hmm… So HUMAN history is it?”
I understand the need at times for retcon-ing; BUT frankly there is absolutely NO reason why 343 can’t put together a wiki, even if it is internal with vague information covering all the concepts they believe should work; then check authors work prior to publishing (as License holders that is their right!) against said wiki to make sure that continuity is maintained.
Years ago maintaining such a large database of information would’ve been costly especially just for a video game, but frankly you just have to look at the Star Wars continuity and retcon-ing that had to be done prior to Wookiepedia compared to now. Same with Star Trek books/comics prior to Memory Alpha.
While the universe section is a good start, that is ALL it is. 343 has the media from ALL of the games, they can cover all of the weapons (and variants including pictures of them all), same with ships, locations, etc… halo.wiki.com has more information than the official source, while this might always be true; I think that there should be someone at 343 who’s only job is to maintain and expand that section, in particular with timelines; set facts, etc…
I think we all need a place where Canon is officially maintained, while fansites do a good job of it at times; they don’t know what the developers themselves are thinking, it should be up to the developers to provide. Especially as it could be a good way to expanding on concepts introduced within the games/movies/comics/etc.
