This is also from that thread and my feelings haven't changed since I wrote it.  

The gameplay, what you do, is the story. People have complained that we don't get very much background on the characters (in Gears), or that the story is nonexistent. We don't get much info about the characters at all. But the story is far from nonexistent. It is just that it is almost completely played out while you are actually playing the game (i.e., engaging enemies and moving through the environments). It is unfair to say that the story is dumbed down, because it isn't; the opposite argument, that other games have their story trumped up, would be more accurate. Gears is like a Michael Bay film. I am sure that some would argue that many of his films don't have a story.

Actually, I find the Halo stories excruciatingly boring.  Like, I didn't even bother to complete H2 campaign, BORING! It is the definition of pretentious. You can e-mail that one to your brother, papi.  I like what he did with Gears just fine.

The Halo First Strike novel was an exception - that is some fantastic action based Sci Fi.  Also, the whole Dr. Halsey thread is cool.)

Hey, hillbillies, those not logs. They for wipie-wipie.