DK announced today that the company will publish the officially licensed encyclopedia to “Halo”, one of the most successful video game franchises in history. The Halo Encyclopedia will be a comprehensive guide to the characters, weapons, vehicles, equipment, and locations from “Halo: Combat Evolved”, “Halo 2”, “Halo 3”, “Halo Wars”, and “Halo 3: ODST”. Created in full collaboration with Microsoft, the book, which is scheduled for publication in November 2009, will give fans unprecedented insights into the “Halo” universe in 352 full-colour pages and it includes a Foreword by “Halo” franchise development director, Frank O’Connor.

“Microsoft approached DK to discuss a ‘Halo’ book project after San Diego Comic-Con last year, where they saw our impressive array of Star Wars, DC Comics, Marvel and other licensed reference titles,” says Alex Allan, Director of Licensed Publishing for DK. “‘Halo’ has always fascinated the creative team at DK, many of whom are avid gamers,” Allan continues, “and we had the full support of ‘Halo’s’ very experienced team to create this spectacular book.”

“We were struck by DK’s thorough treatment of other licensed properties and we turned to them to create the definitive reference to the ‘Halo’ universe for the legions of devoted fans,” said Microsoft Game Studios’ Frank O’Connor.

The Halo Encyclopedia is DK’s first foray into publishing a comprehensive reference book for a video-game property. DK secured a world language deal and expects to publish the book in many territories, and in foreign languages.