MS didn't think Halo was a good name

Bungie has revealed that Microsoft's marketing department originally didn't like the name Halo, and insisted on tagging the Combat Evolved subtitle - which Bungie "hated" - to the first release in the legendary sci-fi series.

"At the time, Microsoft marketing thought Halo was not a good name for a videogame brand," designer Jaime Griesemer told Edge magazine in a feature on the making of the 2001 classic (via CVG). "It wasn't descriptive like all the military games we were competing with.

"We told them Halo was the name. The compromise was they could add a subtitle. Everyone at Bungie hated it," Greisemer said.

"But it turned out to be a very sticky label and has now entered the gaming lexicon to the point where articles that have nothing to do with Halo get titles like 'Skateboarding Evolved'. So I guess in hindsight it was a good compromise."

Bungie's final Halo game for Microsoft, Halo: Reach, will be released on 14th September. Expect more on it from E3.