The running ticker for Halo players killing the sworn enemy of humanity, the Covenant, has reached ten billion.  Made up of a collection of alien creatures who follow a religious regime, the Covenant have fought against Earth during the entire Halo saga and even became allies (a select few anyway) while battling the flood.  Bungie’s website claims that ten billion Covenant enemies have been slaughtered after 565 days of constant plasma grenades and battle rifles.  Nonetheless, the post congratulates us all on a successful campaign and offers some statistical comparisons for this monumental figure such as:

 [i]“The Earth's current population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, has reached 6.7 Billion.  If current trending models remain accurate, it's projected that our population will reach ten billion sometime in the next fifty years.”[/i] 

And:

 [i]“…if we were to skin the Covenant aliens felled upon Earth's battlefield, there would be enough leather to upholster the entire state of New Jersey.  Which would be easily be the most disgusting thing ever done in the history of disgusting things.”[/i] 

Bungie is no stranger to keeping in touch with their gaming community, and offer their fans content that could be interesting, funny, or just stupid (also funny).  Whether you are an avid Halo fan or not, this extension of the gamer experience is the type of content the industry needs to engage its audience in if it expects to gain hardcore fans and thus, repeated financial supporters of their games.