bungie posts

Yes, there are still a number of people who play the PC and Mac versions of Halo online. Indeed, since Microsoft shut down the original Xbox Live service for the first Xbox console, players of Gearbox Software's port of Bungie's first person shooter are the only ones now that can play the sci-fi first person shooter online. Now owners of Halo for the PC and Mac will be getting something extra if they purchase Halo: Reach, the upcoming and final Xbox 360 Halo game from Bungie.

According to the Bungie forums, owners of both the Mac and PC ports of Halo (that includes the Halo: Custom Edition from Gearbox) that still have their multiplayer key and have played the game in online multiplayer matches up until May 26,, 2010 will be able to use the key to get a tiny extra in Halo: Reach. The forum message from Bungie's Roger "Sawnose" Wolfso states, "The reward is a small 'visual flair', as was described during the last days of Halo 2 for players of that game." He adds, " ... it's just a little indication that people have been part of a certain Halo community for a while, and we wanted to give them a nod." Sorry owners of the PC port of Halo 2; you don't get anything as "Bungie wasn't involved in that port." More info on exactly how to use the key in the game will be revealed in the coming weeks.

[Via Giant Bomb and Joystiq]

Today's announcement that Activision Blizzard had signed a deal with Halo developer Bungie to release their next original game franchise for the next 10 years was surprising. However, Gamasutra reports that, according to Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter, the first game in that agreement is already "well along in its development"

How "well along" is it? Pachter believes that the first title in the new franchise is likely to be released "next year" with additional games in the series coming every two years after that. Pachter also says that this new agreement will not affect Activision's commitment to their Call of Duty shooter series. He states, "The majority of the 20 million people who bought Call of Duty have no idea who Infinity Ward is." If that studio does not develop any more games in the series, Pachter says Activision, "probably won't sell 20 million copies, but it will sell at least half that" of any future Call of Duty titles.

And could we get the first glimpse of the game at E3 this June? VG247.com quotes Bungie's Brian Jarrard as saying, "You know, we might be, but it's very important we don't lose sight of [Halo] Reach." Sounds like it's possible but don't hold your breath.

In the midst of their issues with current and ex-Infinity Ward team members, publisher Activision Blizzard made a major move today with their announcement that they will be the publisher for Halo creators Bungie for the next 10 years. The agreement will have the publisher release Bungie's next original game franchise which will be in the action genre but Bungie will retain full ownership of those games.

The big question: will those games be released for the PC? Bungie has been an Xbox/Xbox 360 exclusive developer for all of its Halo games under Microsoft, including this fall's Halo: Reach. Activision stated their agreement with Bungie for their new game franchise covers multiple platforms so there's a big chance that we could see Bungie's next game come to your hard drive.

Bungie is one of the most well know game developers in the world but for the past decade the studio has made first person shooter games in the Halo series for just one platform; Microsoft's Xbox/Xbox 360 game console. Their upcoming game Halo: Reach is scheduled to be the last Halo game for Bungie and perhaps the last game they make that will be exclusive to the Xbox platform.

Before the Halo series, however, Bungie was known as a multi-platform developer, making games for the Mac (the Marathon series) and the PC (the Myth series) and other consoles. So does that mean Bungie will embrace the PC and Mac platforms for their games beyond Halo: Reach? Industry Games posed that question to Bungie's community manager Brian Jarrard who stated, " . . . we're not looking at one particular piece of technology right now. All options are open right now, so long as we find the best possible fit for our creative vision and what this project is going to be."

The downloadable games industry has been booming of late and many game developers who have worked in major publishers and development houses have been moving into that space. The latest such small company to announce its presence is Moonshot Games, formed in part by three former members of Bungie Studios.

The game's well-designed web site has already launched but so far the company is keeping mum on what specific games they are working on. They are saying that Moonshot is "dedicated to exploring the uncharted spaces of high-quality downloadable games, bringing to those worlds our years of experience with AAA productions." We hope their games are as imaginative as their web site design.

Bungie and Microsoft's Halo series has evolved into much more than just a game franchise. The series, which has seen the first two FPS titles released for the PC, has expanded into comics, action figures and a number of successful novels. The Halo novels are about to get even more attention thanks to word of a new prequel trilogy.

The three novels from Tor Books will be written by Greg Bear, a multiple Hugo and Nebula award winning hard science fiction author of works like Blood Music, The Forge of God and others. The Bear-written Halo novel trilogy will focus on the Forerunners, the creators of the Halo artifacts. The first novel will be released in 2010.

[Via Halo.Bungie.Org]

It looks like Marvel Comics isn't done yet with creating comic books based on Bungie's Halo games. IGN reports that during a panel at the New York Comic Con, Marvel's editor-in-chief Joe Quesada revealed that they plan to release two more Halo mini-series later this year.

The first five issue mini-series, due out this summer, will be written by Peter David and drawn by Eric Nguyen. The second mini-series is due this winter and will be written by Fred Van Lente and drawn by Francis Portela. After releasing a graphic novel anthology of Halo short stories in 2006, Marvel launched the first issue of a planned four part mini-series, Halo Uprising, in 2007. However massive delays hit the series, in part because of changes to the story dictated by Bungie. Indeed the fourth and final issue of the series has still not shipped.

The game industry is still reeling from the news last month that Age of Empires creators Ensemble Studios will be shut down in a few months, thanks to a business decision by its owner Microsoft. While a number of Ensemble team members will reform and launch a new independent studio it's clear that team members still don't understand Microsoft's reasoning for Ensemble's shutdown.

Shacknews chatted with Ensemble's director of technology Dave Pottinger who openly states, "...it's Microsoft's right to decide where they wanna put their money. Personally we all disagree with the decision. " He added, "...it honestly doesn't make a lot of sense. But that's their prerogative." Pottinger says that while Microsoft supposedly has a plan to remain profitable with their game business even the huge success of their Age of Empires/Age of Mythology RTS game wasn't enough for Microsoft to keep Ensemble going. Pottinger still seems mystified at the decision, saying, "Yeah, I think we made, what, 700 million dollars total on the Age franchise"

Pottinger seems to know some plans Microsoft has for the future of the Age of Empires series but states, " ...I'm not really at liberty to discuss it. But it will carry on. It's a great franchise." He also talked about the recent revelation that Ensemble was working on a now cancelled MMO based on Bungie's Halo shooter series. Pottinger states that at one point Ensemble had about 40 people on the project but, "...the new bosses thought it wasn't the best idea anymore. It had actually been green-lit, and then it got cancelled after that."

Patch removes CD check from the original Halo: Combat Evolved for PC. Patches for the Halo Custom Edition and Dedicated Server are also available.

Download Halo v1.0.8.616 Patch (3 Mb)
Download Halo Dedicated Server v1.0.8.616 Patch (2 Mb)

Download Halo Custom Edition v1.0.8.616 Patch (3 Mb)
Download Halo Custom Edition Dedicated Server v1.0.8.616 Patch (2 Mb)

id Software holds its annual QuakeCon event in Dallas next week, Sony Online holds its annual Fan Faire later in August in Las Vegas and in October Blizzard plans to hold its latest BlizzCon installment. But could yet another developer hold their own fan driven event? Maybe. Eurogamer reports that Frank O'Connor, the head of Halo development at Microsoft Games Studios, hints that a HaloCon could be possible as well.

While O'Connor stressed that no such planning for an event has taken place yet, he did say, "You can do a HaloCon. Nothing on [the scale of Comic Con], but you could bring a few hundred people just to see a Halo thing." While Halo is mostly known as an Xbox/Xbox 360 game franchise the first two games in the series were ported over to the PC.