I had never seen that Neil Blomkamp demo before. Interesting. I like how he tried to make it a war movie with a sci-fi background, rather than a sci-fi movie with war as part of the plot. Something to make it a little unique. I think a Halo film would definitely benefit from that kind of grittiness. Spielberg has done some good work on war films in the past, if he pushes it along those lines, it might come out alright.

There is a Halo animated series coming out next year (I think), perhaps that will generate more interest in the franchise beyond gamers and show how viable it is, or alternatively, prove a film version is a bad idea.

It feels like too many of these kinds of films are merely quick sort lived cash-ins. Such as Speed Racer or Dangonball's recent adaptions. These franchise have huge built in audiences who will run to see it in the cinema, and likely go home feeling disappointed, but their money is already spent, and the film has already turned a profit.

Presently, games have become very cinematic, but their stories only reach a relatively small audience. It wouldn't be hard to translate some of these stories nearly verbatim to the big screen, but for some reason no one ever feels like doing so, and instead feel the need to make major changes. I'd actually rather these video games stay confined to their own little worlds for gamers to enjoy. Seems like everytime something like that break out into a wider audience, a lot of what made it special is lost. At the same time, I am so fond of the stories found in games like Bioshock and Half-Life 1 and 2 that I wish I could recommend them to friends and family like a book or a movie.