Halo CEA: Terminals explain please

[Legiondude]

Now before the collective Escapist community virtually tars and feathers me for liking halo, I just wanted to ask. Recently I bought halo CEA and came across a terminal video whih left me a bit confused.
In the video the covenant construct says "it was never made" and also said "only I shall remain and then....free." Does that mean the covenant construct is a re-purposed Forerunner AI or something. I've read some of the books however my knowledge of the mythos is still sub-par compared to the most hardcore fans.

The Halo terminals are a reference to Marathon (I won't explain how, because it would spoil the story). It's a little dated, but if you haven't played it you definitely should. It's open source now, and you can get the entire trilogy at

http://source.bungie.org/

No they aren't Marathon and Halo are wholly separate universes. Unless you mean the terminal-like things you find around marathon.

Yes they are, but the terminals themselves themselves and also the things they say closely resemble the dialogue in Marathon. As I said, it's a reference, though not a direct storyline connection.

Except 343 can't reference Marathon as it's Bungie IP, which is why they removed the marathon logo from Guilty Spark's lightbulb in the Anniversary edition

 

[Eldritch Warlord]

Except 343 can't reference Marathon as it's Bungie IP, which is why they removed the marathon logo from Guilty Spark's lightbulb in the Anniversary edition

Not exactly, since Bungie holds the copyrights to Marathon 343i can't include any material from Marathon (at least not until the copyright expires in about a century because copyright laws are currently retarded). This would be things like characters, specific weapons, large portions of dialog, and most relevantly the game's symbol.

Apparently this didn't apply to Halo CEA's classic mode since Spark's Marathon logo eye and the giant Marathon logo airlocks on the Pillar of Autumn are still there. Maybe they don't count because they're assets in a game Microsoft owns. Although MS owns Halo 3: ODST yet Bungie claims to own the Superintendent symbols which is why they can sell Superintendent branded merchandise at the Bungie Store. Yet the Superintendent logo appears in Breakneck, a map for Halo: Reach made by Certain Affinity working with 343i without Bungie involvement. Furthermore ...

The point is copyright law is complicated and 343i can make all the references to Marathon they want as long as they don't lift material directly from the game. The terminals are a reference in that Marathon's primary story-telling mechanism was the terminals scattered throughout the game and this is fairly unique in the gaming world.