Bungie Sightings

Oni is Violent, Oh Yeah, Sure

From the Oldies, but Goodies Dept: This reporter has seen a number of diatribes on video game violence, including a few that pointed at Bungie games such as Marathon, Myth, and Halo... but Oni - you've got to be kidding me. Yes, dear reader, PBS affiliate WGBH produces a series called Culture Shock which chose Oni as an example of a highly violent video game for their interactive survey on video game violence. The mind boggles. Oni is the most tame video game Bungie has published since Gnop.

While I was under the initial impression that the survey was slanted against video game violence, it is actually fairly balanced - you just have to vote against the way any Bungie fan would naturally lean to see the pro-violent-video-games information.

And the results of the survey?

Of the 16913 visitors who've voted, 72% said yes, they thought this image [Oni artwork by Craig Mullins] should be on the homepage of this Web site; 27% said no, they thought that it should not.

One thing I've noticed - despite their promises, the Oni illustration is not on the homepage of their site. Next time I'm in Boston I need to hunt them down and kill them.

A Million Halos

Just a year ago on March 23, 2002, according to a NPDFunworld market report, the official tally of copies of Halo: Combat Evolved purchased by consumers reached 1,008,992! Dave Candland reported this on April 2, 2002, and Microsoft issued the press release on April 8, 2002.

According to the latest guesstimate by Matt Soell, the worldwide figure should be well over three million. Considering that Minotaur: The Labyrinths of Crete only sold 2,500 copies in 1992, Bungie is obviously doing something right.

Keep banging the rocks together, guys.

By 2010 every person on earth will own a copy of Halo!

A New Halo Weapon: Paper Cuts

As reported on HBO, the British Xbox site, Playmore.com, is offering a nifty PDF file for download that, once printed, can be assembled into a paper stand-up Master Chief! It's very cool.

You can directly download the PDF here - but I suggest you go directly to the site because they have a Flash interface that is l33t.

Eight Years of Pfhorte

Remembering the early Marathon map editors gets this reporter to wheezing and coughing, as well as an irresistible urge to watch a Macintosh spontaneously reboot. Bungie Sightings hopes that other old Marathon fans feel the same, as it was eight years ago on this day, March 17, 1995, Steve Israelson made the first-ever Marathon map editor, Pfhorte, available for download via AMUG. Thus, the cult of serious Bungie game modding was born!

Macintosh oriented Bungie fans may be interested to note that Steve has had a major role in other interesting Mac projects, including the Mac port of Command and Conquer and LiveStage by Totally Hip.

Thanks for all your dedicated work, Steve.

Myth II 1.3.2 Released

As reported on Bungie.Net and even *gasp* SlashDot, Project Magma and MythDev have released the first non-Bungie update for Myth II: Soulblighter. Version 1.3.2 takes care of a few compability problems with newer operating systems. The game has been carbonized allowing it to run natively under Mac OS X, and the flashing cursor bug that has plagued users of Direct3D under Windows 2000/XP has been eliminated. Other improvements include increased network security for multiplayer, and reduced chat lag. Myth II v1.3.2 will be completely backwards compatible with version 1.3, and works on both PlayMyth.Net and Marius.Net.

Brian Morden Goes to the Prom

One of Brian Morden's HBO posts that this reporter missed out on was the story of his Senior Prom. Unfortunately, by the time I was able to find it in the voluminous HBO archives, the links to the pictures were broken. Thanks to Brian's terrific mom, Dawn, Bungie Sightings has been able to recreate his story.

Here in full detail is the story of barely restrained teen-age passions, restrictive clothing, sickening amusement park rides, and one fateful wrong turn that could have gone horribly awry. Our story begins in the hot, sweltering backwoods of a small central Pennsylvania town - a town where no parent's car is safe - a town where every neighbor knows your secrets - a town called Altoona.

Enjoy it, I know Brian sure did.

[b.net] Building a Better Chapter - Part Two

Building a Better Chapter - Part Two
03/14/03

SketchFactor returns with a posse of spotlighted founders to further discuss what makes a successful 7th Colum chapter.

Brian's Memorial Service

I must apologize for the delay, but with the assistance of fellow BORG'ers I have completed the story detailing my experiences at Brian Morden's memorial service back in the 22nd of February.

I'd like to thank again (and I'll never stop thanking) Mark and Rob for their support in helping deliver the eulogy to Brian. I think we were able to reach our goal of representing the people that never physically met Brian but have known and admired the man via the internet.

Microsoft Stock Down After Halo 2 Announcement

Microsoft (MSFT - quote - chart) stock plunged over 6 tenths of a point today after Friday's late announcement that Halo 2 would not be shipping in 2003. In heavy trading late in the day Microsoft lost 2.6% of its value, no doubt due to investors fears that a delayed Halo 2 would depress the sales of Xboxen and Xbox Live services. Both Bungie and Microsoft were not reached about this article.

Disclaimer: Bungie Sightings and its affiliates do not own holdings in Microsoft and Bungie Studios. In addition, we are pretty damn clueless about what all those stock market numbers mean. However, we do know that if you pretend something is a big deal other less mentally agile people will invariably agree with you.

Lack of Sapience

As noted @ HBO and reported @ HomeLAN, Jamie Griesemer's panel at GDC 2003 concluded without the appearance of any black helicopters. However, continuing Bungie's tradition of dazzling you while they hide the bodies, Bungie's Halo level editor Sapien was mysteriously disabled and no one was able to get a good look at it. Of course, this could have been truly accidental, as Mat Noguchi was rumored to have been drinking heavily in the company of 7 transgender Bungie groupies the night before the presentation.

Marty O'Donnell must have been hitting the sauce, too, as he was unable to work a boom box for his panel the following morning and faced the world silently. Marty, ever the moderately-paced thinker, wowed the audience by whistling the Flintstones Vitamins theme. You can read more about this, as well as general GDC coverage @ GameSpy.

Shishka is currently on-site and acting as Bungie Stalker At-Large. Read.

Halo 2 2004

As reported on BungieNet, Halo 2 will definitely not be released in 2003. Despite cries of anguish from Bungie fans everywhere, Matt Soell offers the following consolations:

Bungie will continue to meter out Halo goodness over then next year.
Halo for the Mac and PC will be coming out in 2003 with some extras.
There will be a Halo 2 taste at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in May.

Speaking of E3, Microsoft is rumored to reveal more details about the Xbox 2 at the show. Wouldn't it be ironic if Halo 2 came bundled with the Xbox 2?

Update: Matt has added this unequivocal statement, "No. I'm already seeing this rumor tossed around on other sites as fact. Bollocks. Halo 2 is an Xbox game."

[b.net] Building a Better Chapter

Building a Better Chapter
03/07/03

You would think creating your very own Halo fan club is a piece of cake, but sadly the dried carcasses of dead or abandoned Chapters over at Bungie.net are a bitter testament to the reality of keeping your local club alive and fresh. Bungie's own SketchFactor passes on some learned wisdom on what it takes to keep folks coming back for more.

Halo: Better than Freedom

One of Bungie's long time fans, Meg aka Pallor, sent me the following story about an assigned probationer. FYI, Meg's official title is "State of Tennessee Probation and Parole Officer II" - don't cross her within state lines, the law is on her side. Meg says:

I have a probationer and his girlfriend (who is also on probation with me) on my caseload that sees me every month. In February, they were in and saw my Halo desktop on my computer. The male asked if I liked Halo, I replied yes. One of the other Officers going by remarked that my significant other made the game. My male probationer freaked out. He became very nervous. He is about 6'0" and 300 pounds of a man, shaking in my office quivering at the site of the Master Chief on my computer. He could barely get his things together to leave.

Tuesday (March 3), the female probationer asked me if I knew how much the male respected me and was in awe (not just because I can throw him back in jail) but because of my connection with Halo. She says the game ruined her life when it was released. It was all he wanted to play. As soon as he came back from work he was in front of the TV. They had parties where his friends played games for hours. Her frustration with the game was quite obvious.

She then proceeded to tell me when they were incarcerated waiting to make bail, they had their family hock some goods to raise cash. It seems that the xbox was sold and all of the games except Halo. The male was insistent that Halo would not be sold, he didn't care they could get the $50 someplace else. He was screaming at people NOT HALO NOT HALO. So, to this day, he has Halo and no xbox. It seems owning Halo is better than your freedom.

The male came into my office for his appointment and echoed basically the same thing: They can take his freedom but not his Halo.

FYI, their convictions are possession with intent for resale of prohibited controlled substances.

The Halo Author that Wasn't

When Halo was first announced, this reporter heard a number of mentally challenged people accuse Bungie of ripping-off the ringworld concept from Larry Niven. While these claims are foolish, I always wondered what Mr. Niven's feelings on the subject were.

Thanks to a post on /., this reporter has found the transcript of an IRC chat with Larry Niven where he briefly talks about this very issue.

But wait, it gets better - Del Rey approached him about writing a Halo novel.

Here is a heavily edited version of the chat log that appears on Larry Niven's site. This chat occurred on the #Knownspace channel on April 7, 2002. Mr. Niven's handle is 'fithp' and appears in red.

<fithp> New things have been happening. For some time now I've been getting email about "Halo".
<Redflame> From people concerned about whether it is Ringworld?
<fithp> Halo is a game on Xbox, with dynamite visuals. The structure that is the game's site looks like a poor man's Ringworld.
<fithp> So I get emails suggesting I sue, and I keep saying I can't patent nor copyright a ring.
<fithp> Now I've gotten a suggestion from Del Rey Books: shall I write a novelization of Halo?
<Redflame> LOL!
<Nesssus> lol
<fithp> I waffled. I can't jump into a fully programmed universe, I said, and write anything good. It works better if I've been living in that universe.
<Redflame> fithp, you've played Halo?
<fithp> I'm about to play Halo. They sent me an Xbox and Halo, and some other games too.
<fithp> Steve Saffel's suggestion. [Steve Saffel is an editor at Del Ray. -pd]
<fithp> This might work for them. I did sequels to the 1001 Nights and the Berserkers, and rewrote the Green Lantern universe, because I was already living there in my head.
<fithp> They who sent me the stuff are Microsoft.

Unfortunately, that's all Mr. Niven had to say on either of the subjects.

A Halo novel written by Larry Niven would have been a coup for Microsoft and Bungie, but as Mr. Niven pointed out, he writes best when he lives in a universe. Fans like myself want him to do his best work.

However, there is still hope - but not for Halo fans. I'm making it my mission to get him hooked on the Marathon series. A Marathon book would rock!

Happy 34 Marcus

Right now, somewhere in Bungie's offices, Marcus Lehto's getting slapped on the ass 34 times. It couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

Happy birthday Marcus, from your stalking fans at Bungie Sightings.

Brannon Boren - The Keeper of Halo Secrets

There exists a book that contains all of Halo's secrets called the Halo Story Bible. It is guarded by seven Microsoft security personnel and one rabid hippo. Access to the book is tightly controlled. I dream of this tome and the secrets it therein. Torrid dangerous dreams.

There is a man who sits in an office at Microsoft. He dreams of Halo, too. When he comes up with a good dream he writes it down and it is placed in the Halo Story Bible. Microsoft pays him to dream. Life is patently unfair.

One day this man came by the Halo.Bungie.Org forum and replied to a question about cold sleep. This reporter's curiosity was piqued. Who was this Brannon Boren?

With the usual bribes of Apple Computer stock placed in eager hands at Microsoft, I found out that Mr. Boren not only had access to the Halo Story Bible, but actually originated materials for it! Faster than you could say, "the Jjaro were at Tau Ceti," I had my secretary, Miguelita, arrange for an interview. A Greyhound bus private plane picked me up at the Last Chance Gas Station in the Nevada desert and threw me out flew me to Redmond.

At Microsoft's main security checkpoint I was scanned, searched, and scrutinized. When they pulled on the rubber gloves I barely flinched - for I knew I Was On To Something Here. Luckily, when I mentioned my appointment was in the lavish offices of the Franchise Development Group (FDG), they ceased to treat me like yellow journalism vermin. They even drove me to the FDG building in Clippy, the annoying talking golf cart.

The office of the FDG was a madhouse. Interns, secretaries, assistants, and executives chattered away non-stop while fax machines spat out contracts. Phones rang shrilly. Computers beeped incessantly. Most disturbing of all; everyone here was so damned happy. Everyone trotted about with thier eyes burning with the dangerous inner knowledge that they could change the world - or at least keep it entertained for eight hours or so. Right off I made a promise to myself not to drink or eat anything here.

Through the maddening crowd, Brannon Boren marched up to me with the same scary smile. After cordial introductions and minor pleasantries, Brannon and I took seats in the FDG's combination solarium and IMAX theatre. He indicated that I should first see an orientation video. Strong memories of Videodrome caused me to protest and Brannon relented. The interview began.

What department do you work in at Microsoft and what do you do?

I work in the Franchise Development Group in Microsoft Games, but not as an employee of Microsoft (or of Bungie Studios). I have an office here and I work on site full time, but I'm a contractor. I've been here for a little over two years, except for a brief leave last Spring.

My position involves contributing to the documentation and expansion of a game's universe beyond the scope of the game. I work on Halo, but also other titles. Along with Eric Trautmann, I write material for the Halo Story Bible, including describing how the technology works, creating background stories for characters, and detailing places and events. I also assist with development on the Halo novel line, and other Halo licensed products. I was asked to contribute and rewrite dialogue scripts for Halo, which is why my name appears in the credits.

What other titles do you work on?

Quantum Redshift, The Unseen, Crimson Skies, a few games I can't talk about, a few games I don't want to talk about, and a few games you'll never see.

Are the circumstances that allowed you to arrive at this position a one-of-a-kind thing or is involving writers and "thinkers" the way to design games today?

I can't discuss the composition of specific game teams within Microsoft, but I can speak about trends I see in the electronic game industry. There really should be a person hired to work exclusively on story, setting, characters. and dialogue, but that's not yet considered a necessary position on a game development team.

Players now consider plot to be an essential part of their gaming experience. Should gaming companies start adding professional writers to their teams?

I think so, but I'm biased. Maybe the more sophisticated and intelligent gamers (the kind who play Halo, for example) consider plot to be essential, but the game industry won't recognize the need for professional writers until gamers start voting with their wallets.

What kind of background do you have?

I grew up on the Space Coast of Florida, near Cape Canaveral. My Dad worked on the Gemini and Apollo programs, so I have always been exposed to astronomy, science fiction, and science in general. My formal education is in the biological sciences. I've found that very useful in my writing.

I started out as a freelance writer in the tabletop RPG field. Creating characters and settings is part of RPG design, so I had the requisite skills to get started when I came to Xbox, but console games are very different. I've learned a great deal over the last couple of years, and it's gotten more interesting and more fun all the time. There are down sides, and bad days, but I probably can't get a lot of sympathy from you guys. ;-)

What do you play RPG wise?

I've always been partial to genres set in modern and future times: superheroes, spies, science fiction, etc.. In days gone by I played a lot of Champions. I've played almost every sci-fi RPG - even Traveller, way back in the "little black book" era. Oh, and I used to play a good deal of Battletech, which was a great bonus, considering that one of my first assignments at Microsoft was to write web content for Mechwarrior 4.

Do you think there is enough interest to make the Halo universe into an RPG?

I think Halo fans are eager for products that give them more access to the Halo Universe, (like novels for example) but that doesn't mean every good idea will actually become a product. We do pay attention to what fans are saying on sites like HBO, though.

What books are you currently reading?

Jennifer Government by Max Barry; No Logo by Naomi Klein; Lost Languages by Andrew Robinson; Bite Me! An Unofficial Guide to Buffy the Vampire Slayer by Nikki Stafford; Beyond the Gate: the Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to Stargate SG-1 by Keith Topping; and I just finished reading GURPS: Alpha Centauri by Jon F. Zeigler, a role playing book based on the award-winning computer game Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri.

How much do you play Halo, and are you any good?

We play two games a day, on average, and I'm definitely the worst player in my group. Eric routinely beats me 15 to... a very small number. I have no idea if I'm any good compared to "normal" people, but I'd like to think that several hundred games of Halo have imparted some degree of skill...

What other games do you play?

The Collective's Buffy the Vampire Slayer game is incredibly cool, though I'm still not able to defeat the Dark Slayer! It has enormous amounts of dialogue, cleverly integrated into the game. They got Chris Golden to write the plot, which was a smart move that paid off. SSX and SSX Tricky are two all-time favorites - I like the way the characters interact during races, and the fact that EA included biographical data and interviews. They also used great voice talent, and had good direction, which is something I'd like to see many game studios get better at.

Are you a big Buckaroo Banzai fan?

Yes, I'm a Buckaroo fan from way back, and I own the banzai-institute.net domain (where you'll find my website). My girlfriend is an even bigger fan, though, and has all the original press kit material, Banzai promotional items from the premiere, the BB viewmaster set, and all the World Watch One newsletters! We both own original copies of the very rare novel, which was recently reprinted, and which you should go buy.

I've been meaning to do something really cool with the root home page of the domain, but time has been scarce.

Since you've touched a number of games I'd like to hear your opinion of Bungie community compared to other games' fan base.

Halo fans are incredible; so much energy and attention to detail. I know that I've got to do a great job on everything, because you guys will see the flaws right away. I'm a Halo fan too!

How well did Bungie have the Halo story developed before you arrived on the scene?

Halo had been in development for a long time before I came along. I had nothing to do with the storyline of the Halo game, though some things I wrote were included in the backstory/descriptions in the manual. My work on the scripts was a case of being in the right place at the right time. It was a chance to be involved in such a cool project, of course I jumped at it.

OK, this may be bordering on Things You Cannot Talk About: Did Bungie have a fully fleshed out idea of where the Master Chief came from and how the SPARTAN program worked when you arrived on the scene?

Bungie had mapped out everything they thought was relevant to the events of the game. That didn't include the Master Chief's childhood and the entire history of the SPARTAN program. There's a huge gap between what's needed for a good game and what's needed for a good novel. When we decided to go ahead with Halo fiction, we needed to fill in that gap.

What part of the Halo Universe that you contributed to are you most proud of?

Tough question... Two things: Technical data on the creation of AI beings (it's discussed briefly on page 235 of Halo: The Fall of Reach), and Dr. Catherine Halsey.

Do you have any physical facts about the Halo bible you can tell us?

You wouldn't want to drop it on your foot.

What other cool Halo stuff can we expect to see in the future?

Well, of course you've gotten the first look at the Halo action figures from Toy Fair by now. They rock! We've had the prototypes in the office, and I can't wait to get mine. I need Cortana on my desk guarding my PC from hackers while the Master Chief watches from atop the CPU for more tangible threats. HooYa!

Joyride has done a great job for us, and you can all thank Doug Zartman at our end for shepherding the process along. Halo: The Fall of Reach has done very well too, thanks to the efforts of Eric Trautmann championing the idea of a novel line in the first place, and of course the very talented author, Eric Nylund. We'll see the publication of the next Halo novel in Spring, Halo: The Flood, and more great Halo products are in the works. Can't say more. Sorry!

Do we have lots of plot goodies to look forward to with Halo 2 and beyond?

I'm looking forward to Halo 2 with as much anticipation as any of you. I think we can all rest assured that Bungie will deliver the goodies. Yum!

[At this point an excessively happy intern rushed into the room and feverishly blurted out, "Mr. Boren, Mr. Boren, Fox wants to make Joe Millionaire into an Xbox game. You need to get to Eric's office, NOW!" Brannon rose and I took my cue to conclude the interview.]

Thanks so much for your time!

My pleasure.

I was left to my own devices to find my way out of the building. I would have lingered, but I knew the Halo Story Bible wasn't kept there. Besides, the muffled screams of Doug Zartman coming from a room nearby was creeping me out. I resigned myself to dreaming of Louis Wu's Extrodinary Goat Milk Cocktails in the future.

Now where was that bus stop?