Phoenix, resurrected? Minotaur, reconstructed? Myth or Oni, re-acquired?

Something entirely new, a pristine page in the big book of Bungie, ready to be filled with gaming goodness?

What can it be?

Anyway, assume you get to ask one question - no follow-ups or multiple questions in one sentence - and that it will be answered. What would it be?

People who blow their wad on stuff like, "Boxers or briefs?" will be first into the slingshot when the time comes (yes, I'm looking RIGHT AT YOU, Psyrixx).

Could the movie still happen? What do I know? I guess it could, but with Halo 3 right around the corner, and what I would imagine severe-brain-fatigue at Bungie after so many years of Halo Halo Halo... I have to be honest and express my desire that someone at Bungie (Jason Jones is the usual suspect) has been visiting the local library and reading some new and interesting tales that will inspire the group to create something fresh. For us Halo fans, the movie would never have matched all our wishes and dreams for something so visually and emotionally visceral: your Rosebud moment is my Jump The Shark. A parallel opinion is the cynical take on music-hero worship: Is it better that Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, and Janis Joplin died so early in their lives, at the peak of their careers, then to see them age into out-of-touch entertainers desperately trying to connect with the masses through guest-shots on American Idol?

That doesn't mean Microsoft themselves won't pursue it if possible, and damn Bungie's input if any is forthcoming. But ugh, can you imagine? I don't want to.

Below the fold there be more commentary, and actual VIDEO!

Below is the youtube link of the entire Halo portion of the concert I filmed off my digital camera. I'm actually impressed I got as good a vid as I did. They played the full Halo theme, and as a cool bonus they ended it with the Halo 3 trailer music: "Finish The Fight" If I had to criticize, the video in the background was basically just a pastiche of cutscenes, with not terribly strong links to the music as it played. Don't get me wrong... where there was a flourish - or any kind of emotional tug, the video followed suit, but in general, if you were an avid Halo player, the scenes did not really match the music. Too bad they couldn't have generated some custom vid that did a better job. I would have even preferred a medley of different Halo tunes with scenes of the levels the music was used in. Still, it's a minor quibble, and when they got to Halo 3, since the music was meant to follow the trailer, there was no issue there. Well, except for Tommy himself showing up with a Steinberger guitar strapped on. It would've been nice if we actually heard the guitar, but it really didn't sound all that good. Whoever was running the board didn't get a clean enough sound. Anyway, near the end you can hear me laugh when "Bungie" flashes across the screen, mainly because it was at that moment that I realize that in a twisted fashion, the concert is one giant 'attract' event for the forthcoming Halo 3. No other video/music composition in the concert ended with the developer logo and upcoming release date teaser. It was quite funny.

I don't mean to speak ill of Tommy and actually wish to give him major props for specifically giving all attendees permission to take pics and video and spread the wealth! He's eager for everyone to get a taste of the concert. Thanks Tommy for understanding the power of internet pic/video sharing. Many other symphonic pieces were played - Warcraft, Medal of Honor (with a very visceral *real life* montage of the horror that was WWII), Final Fantasy, Metal Gear Solid, Kingdom Hearts, Advent Rising (a game that came and went, but the music, composed by Tommy himself, easily surpassed the game's own failings), and we were even treated to the incredible Martin Leung, the Video Game Pianist that's all over youtube. His skill is unmatched, and to think he did it all with no sheet music!

My thanks to Mr. Louis Wu for his assistance in navigating around Yale and letting us bum some nice seats up on the balcony! And of course he's offering the video over at HBO at the best resolution possible.

Noguchi has been "making a pony." Since he always speaks in metaphor I was annoyed, until he explained that he literally called a new tool/command, xsync-pony - which basically speeds up the "propping" of a build of the game to a clean Xbox 360 devkit, by eliminating code and objects that you do not need to run the current build. Which saves artists and designers a heck of a lot of time.

If you are a long time Bungie fan, you know that a common happening in our community occurs soon after Bungie releases a game... someone figures out how to hack the code in the game to see all the innards... and Bungie has a rep for leaving loose strands of code, graphics, models, maps, etc., that when discovered by us lowly fans reveals quite a bit about how the game came to fruition... what was tried and what wasn't tried, etc.

But now Noguchi's evil contraption may change all that. It seems that with just a flip of the switch, a game can be 'purged' of all older assets that are not used in the current build of the game. Great for them, but not fair to us!

Nothing's definitive though so we'll have to see how it all sorts out in the future.

I'm very very interested to see how this gets pulled off.

As for the actual Xbox game, I'm not done with it, though I sense I'm just a few levels away from completion.

The highlights they note are really all that we've come to expect from Bungie/Wideload... an attention to detail beyond just actual gameplay. There is wit aplenty, and the mantra, coined by Jaime back during the development of Halo 2, of '30 seconds of gameplay repeated over and over' (often misunderstood by some as an excuse for level repetition) is fully embraced in Stubbs.

Those of you planning to purchase the Xbox version of the game when it debuts this Monday, the 17th, feel free to email me a pic of you holding the game or posing it in some creative (non-filthy of course!) manner, I'll post the pic here if it's funny/compelling enough.

Once I get mine, I'll be sure to write a review. Halo 1 and 2 have spoiled me and my itch for the fabled First Person Shooter genre. I wonder how quickly I'll forget all that as I play a game that's Third Person and not quite a shooter. It's my one concern based on previous looks at the game.

UPDATE: Another thumbs-up review, this time from the folks at Gaming Horizon.

And hey, no glasses? What, you trying to go legit or something Matt? :)

Thanks to a heads up by Roger Wilco at the HBO forums.

"Stubbs the Zombie is based on a previous Bungie engine. In the history of Bungie (and now Wideload) technical sequels, what sets this game apart from past attempts?"

I'll give you a hint. My answer is sarcastic and smarmy.

"The team is running out of space and is relocating to maintain team camaraderie that they've had since moving from Chicago."

What�s the plot of the game?

The game follows the exploits of Stubbs, a Zombie, as he embarks on a quest for true love and brutal revenge in Punchbowl, Pennsylvania, a city of the future built in the 1950s.

How did you come up with this idea?

It was a collaborative effort by our small internal prototyping team. We started with a bunch of ideas and spent some time developing the most promising ones. Ultimately the team picked Stubbs the Zombie as the game that would become Wideload's first project.

How many prototypes did you create before deciding this was the game you were going to make?

We created a couple dozen prototypes. We chose Stubbs the Zombie because of the gameplay potential and the depth of Stubbs as the main character. It helped that we had an opportunity to use the Halo engine and a lot of good ideas for building the game with that technology.

We also liked it because it allowed us to do something new with a somewhat moribund genre. Zombies are popular adversaries because they're easy to make as long as you adhere to the mythology: they're slow, they're dumb, they only attack by biting, etc. We kept the basic idea of a brain-eating dead guy but chose to not limit ourselves to what had been done before. That made it a lot more interesting.

Why did you decide on a retro 50�s theme?

It�s not just retro � it�s Retro-Futurist! Punchbowl exists in the 1950s, but it's designed to be a model city � an example of the miracles that await humanity in the year 2000. Some elements of retro-futurism, like flying cars and personal robots, are now seen as amusingly naive; others are surprisingly accurate. Punchbowl incorporates all of these things � it's connected to the familiar, but it gives our designers a tremendous amount of creative freedom.

Why make the main character a zombie?

When dead men crawl out of their graves and start gobbling the flesh of the living, you have to consider the possibility that everything you thought you knew is worthless. Nothing says "total breakdown of natural law" like zombies, and that sort of imminent chaos is an attractive starting point for a game. Besides, zombies have been painted as the enemy for far too long. We're giving equal time to their side of the story.

What makes the Stubbs character compelling to players?

Stubbs has a lot of really cool abilities that evolve into interesting gameplay dynamics. Stubbs can tear off his own hand and send it into areas he can't reach himself. The hand can also possess other characters, giving you access to their weapons and abilities. It really opens a lot of doors gameplay-wise. Personality-wise, he's a good man who was wronged all his life; only in death does he gain the ability to turn his losing streak around. He's the ultimate underdog, and everyone likes an underdog.

What has been the most challenging part of developing this game?

When you tread new ground, you often have to make up your own rules and hope they work out. We got lucky in that sense that our early design decisions held up quite well as we moved into production.

How does this game take advantage of the Halo engine?

We utilize all the technical majesty of the rendering engine, AI and core game systems, and then we crank them all to eleven.

How are you finding working on the Halo engine for your game?

The Halo engine is phenomenal, and the tools allow us to do some really cool things. The underlying technology is robust enough to power a game that is very different from Halo, and Wideload programmers have added their own special sauce where appropriate (to the graphics and AI systems, for example).

How are you improving upon or changing the Halo engine for the game?

AI is the most labor-intensive work. Getting a horde of zombies to go about their brain-eating business in a rewarding and enjoyable way is a tough task.

What do you think players will most enjoy about the game?

The combination of chaotic action, stealth gameplay, strategic use of Zombie hordes and a healthy dose of dark humor.

What�s the game�s release date?

Summer 2005

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Thanks Alex, and all the fine folks at Wideload. We look forward to an exhilarating summer of hot, decaying flesh and cool, refreshing brains. While the rest of us wait for the release date, eyes twitching and mouth watering, we can at least satiate ourselves with the following:

(NOTE: UPDATED 04-03-2006)
The comments are now locked, because 343 is a good number and this post needs to be cleaned up and started again at a later date. Check this post for a new start on the acronyms.

(WACCSMD and WUBNMH have never been publicly acknowledged as correctly solved, but perhaps we can get some input here and finally nail those down ;-))

So, the one in the title of this post is from (you guessed it) the Limited Collectors Edition Halo 2 box. The ones that have been solved over the years have a certain 'Bungie' feel to them, so think a bit and take a guess. First one right gets automatic street cred and bragging rights, which ain't half bad. ;-)

Update: According to an official source, WUBNMH is correct except for one word.
Update 2: Max Hoberman, dashing Multiplayer Lead at Bungie, checks in with the following:

"I got your official confirmation right here. WACCSMD has been translated correctly. Foul mouthed Bungie!

TATRTSTS. Ah, that's a good guess, very much in the spirit of things. But it's wrong :-)

And yes, Mr. Sharumpe's suggestion is correct about EGATFIBGBCSIMAW being an acronym on the soundtrack.

MRTEFCFY is damn tough to crack. But I'll give you a clue. It came up in a conversation recently due to a certain completely unexpected relationship between Myth: TFL and Halo 2."

He also goes on to mention:

"The 15 letter one is a clue to a puzzle of sorts."