90 million dollars for a MMOG about an FPS with little to no story. No wonder nobody in the gaming industry seems to be able to make money.
Eh, no. Say what you want about the actual gameplay of the Halo-series, but after four games (well, five if you count the RTS I suppose; can't comment on that though) and X amount of novels (if you count those), the lore is actually fairly rich. Sure, it's the usual space-opera theme of "mankind on the brink of destruction" with cliches like "ancient race gone thousands of years ago" blah blah. Then again, show me any fantasy or sci-fi completely devoid of cliches, and I'll give you a million dollars. (it's gonna have to be monopoly money though, as I can't afford it otherwise..)
As far as the Halo universe/lore goes, I have no problems seeing it host a Mass Effect-like game. Of course, Halo being an FPS, the actual narrative isn't anywhere near ME, but I'd put it fully on par with HL2 in terms of story. Which is to say it could make a wonderful B-movie or blockbuster if they threw a large enough budget at it
On the subject of the MMO cancellation, I've gotta say I'm happy. Seems like the usual publisher cluelessness, thinking something like "Oh, Blizzard is printing money with WoW. Let's throw something half-assed together and get a piece of the action!"