But it ended the story nicely and then Bungie didn't want to make anymore Halo games after reach.
Microsoft wanted more money so they forcibly brought it back.
To my knowledge the new Halo games announced at E3 are a remake of Halo: CE with two spinoffs.
I played through DNF, and the only excuse for loading times that long is if you're a moving van. I mean the game sucked ass, and it's humor was nothing more than pop-culture references and Duke's "edgy" personality which isn't even edgy anymore, it's just obnoxious and completely anachronistic.