Get Mugged At The New Bungie Store
Devin Olsen points out in the HBO forum that some new items have popped up at the recently-reopened Bungie Store, including a new titanium coffee tumbler. It seems KP tipped him off.
Death by intelligence.
Halo 2 Developers Are Wired
According to SketchFactor and Louis Wu at HBO, there's a massive 9-page feature on the Halo 2 development team in this month's issue of Wired. HBO promises scans once the issue is off the shelves.
Playing Halo 2 With Red Vs Blue
guS and Burnie have written up their own compendious Halo 2 Preview based on their trip to Bungie, complete with photos of themselves and other Bungie staff and fans, and a nice rundown on maps, vehicles and weapons.
Rampancy IRC Channel and the Seventh Column IRC network at Subnova
Rampancy.net is now hosting a node of the IRC network run by Subnova, which hosts channels for Bungie fans, and is the official IRC network for the Seventh Column. Channels include #hbo (http://halo.bungie.org) #rampancy (http://rampancy.net), #subnova (http://subnova.com) and #7thColumn, among others.
You may connect to this network using the server name rampancy.net and port number 6667, which is a standard IRC port.
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The Gun Pointed At The Head Of Microsoft
Microsoft employee Andy Pennell asks in his blog whether or not the launch of Halo 2 on November 9 will affect Microsoft's overall corporate productivity. Although XBL won't work on the company's network, apparently System Link games and tunnelers do. In fact, one of the comments on Andy's blog mentions a tunneler we seem to have missed before now: Xlink Kai.
Seventh Column Set To Return
Bungie.net will be down for a bit on the 23rd, according to SketchFactor, so that Bungie.net can be upgraded to pave the way for the new 7th Column site. Cool new things are afoot, stay tuned!
The Bones Make Them Crunchy
Looks like bentllama has been fooling around in Fable when he isn't undergoing crunch time on Halo 2. I wonder if pancakes make you evil or good...
NYT Bemoans Lack Of Originality In Games
The New York Times has put up an article on how true innovation is lacking in today's videogames-- but holds up Halo as an exception to the rule. Editor's Note: Free registration required, or use the login/pass rampancy/rampant.
That's Not The Sound Of Silence
Marty O'Donnell has been interviewed by Electronic Gaming Monthly; the three-page article is online at 1Up.com. Fun fact: Halo 2 has about 15,000 lines of random combat dialogue. So far.
While most of Bungie has been mum lately about the single player campaign, Marty does reiterate how his sound work is contributing to it, and what Bungie is trying to do in the second game:
Bungie Collates Weekly Update Q&A Session
The impromptu interview that SketchFactor and Frankie conducted with fans last weekend has been collected on a question & answer page that serves as last week's update.
Bungie Update: Ask Frankie And SketchFactor
This week's Bungie Update took a slightly different format: Frankie and SketchFactor offered a question and answer session (excepting those on the story or campaign mode).
September 17, 2004. Originally at Bungie.net.
Bungie Weekly Update : Special Q&A Edition
For the latest Weekly Update we decided to mix things up a bit and try something a little different. With poor Frankie stranded in LA going on his fourth day without sleep and everyone else in the studio madly crunching away on the game, a traditional update looked very unlikely. So, instead of Frankie's usual insightful and witty commentary on the latest happenings within the studio, the forums were used to take questions from Bungie.net members. The flood gates were opened around noon and within 2 hours we had over 16 pages of questions. Then, for the next hour, Frankie and myself went into New Mombasa and did our best to answer as many questions as we could.
To make things easier to digest for those who weren't here to experience it live yesterday, I'm recapping the whole thing here in this handy top story. And, as an added bonus, I'm even going back and answering a few additional questions! (though obviously there are dozens and dozens that we can't or won't be able to answer just yet...)
So, without further ado, here's the special Q&A addition of the Bungie Weekly Update!
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KPaul asks: Does Shishka still have that evil look in his eye despite the fact that he's working at his dream job?
A
Shishka is as evil as ever.. in fact, he's got a new nickname courtesy of Frankie : Evil Lord British (look it up). Though his eyes are now mere narrow slits due to his lack of sleep and being overworked like a kid in a Cathy Lee sweatshop.
Q
TRfeuer asks: uhmmm...exactly how many guns will be usable in multiplayer?
A
We're not able to give a specific quantity for this, but if you do some research with all the coverage from the recent Beta, you'll see quite a few covered. (the latest reveals are things like the Covenant Carbine, the Covenant "Beam Rifle" (aka Cov Sniper Rifle), the Brute Shot, Magnum (pistol), etc..)
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Sticky Fingaz asks: Can I block the plasma sword?
A
No, you can dodge it, but there's no block button. Quick horizontal dodging is essential. And you need to remember that they can dart at you vertically very quickly.
Backstage Passes All Over The World
The Xbox Live Backstage Pass contest as announced earlier was only valid in North America; of course, the contest itself is worldwide, but each country gets its own page:
Return Of The Bungie Store
The Bungie Store is back according to Bungie.net; not everything shown is available yet; Frankie calls the selection "compact and bijou", which we'll assume he's doing to prove he knows French. One thing they do have, though: flaming ninja t-shirts.
Win An Xbox Live Backstage Pass To Play Halo 2
Microsoft today announced the Xbox Live™ Backstage Pass Sweepstakes featuring Halo® 2, which will give 20 lucky winners from around the world the chance to play Halo 2 multiplayer before the most anticipated game of the year hits store shelves in North America on November 9, 2004. With over a million members, Xbox Live is the premier destination for online console gamers. In order to be eligible for the sweepstakes, gamers must have a valid Xbox Live account as of October 15. Winners will be drawn on October 22 and will receive a three-day/two-night trip for the winner and one guest to Bungie Studios in Redmond, Washington to play Halo 2 multiplayer. Package includes round-trip air transportation to Seattle, Washington, hotel accommodations, roundtrip airport transfers, meals and a tour of Bungie Studios. For more information and official rules, please visit http://www.xbox.com/en-US/news/backstagepasssweepstakes.htm
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