Bungie's cord
Nowadays when you think Bungie, you think the Halo series. Thinking about Halo also implies Microsoft and the Xbox: the first game sold nearly as many copies as the Xbox itself, the second game is one of the most played online console games of all time and the as-yet unreleased third title has more hype surrounding it than a Star Wars movie, a Steve Jobs keynote and a season finale episode of Lost all rolled into one. So for some people it's a great surprise to find that if you go back ten years and look at Bungie's history, you'll find that the company started developing games on Tuncer Deniz, founder of Mac gaming fansite Inside Mac Games, was project lead on Myth II and from this position he got to see first hand how Bungie founders Alex Seropian and Jason Jones worked. In an interesting posting on his blog, he talks about one situation where Jason refused to back down and add resource harvesting to Myth II - the end result was a game that was much more fun because it ignored the established norm set up by Command & Conquer and its clones. Jason's focus towards a goal of making the game as fun as possible has meant that Myth II is still a popular online game today, eight years after its release and several years after Bungie pulled the support plug.
Finally, for your viewing pleasure, Tuncer managed to dig up a "home video" of Bungie's Marathon team (five or six guys) fooling around and swearing (ohmygosh!) in front of the camera. It's strange to think that the developers in that video had no idea that in under a decade they would release two titles that would sell a combined 14 million units, in the process defining Microsoft's entry into console gaming.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
KilgoreTrout XL @ May 30th 2006 12:44PM
And they've yet to release their masterpiece, in development for nearly a decade:
Pimps at Sea: Avast me Bitches!
RaDd @ May 30th 2006 12:54PM
I remember Marathon!!! That game was awesome!!
Marathon series ruled... @ May 30th 2006 12:59PM
If you enjoy Halo then you should download the free open source version of Marathon. The game is a blast and I see it now as the Beta for Halo. A great deal of weapons and mosters and BOBs can be found in Halo with just slight changes. Bungie has been working on the Halo universe for 13 years as the Marathon was the begining for the Halo series.
I bought all 3 Marathon games as they came out. Made my own maps and downloaded other users maps. Multiplayer ruled! Single player ruled. Unlike other FPS at the time. Marathon actually had a story that was presented through terminals. Rampant AI Durandal ruled.
IanC @ May 30th 2006 12:59PM
no need for that toy computers comment.
Conrad Quilty-Harper @ May 30th 2006 1:03PM
IanC - click the link on the "toy computers" comment.
Geist @ May 30th 2006 1:11PM
And now they're trapped in an endless cycle of Halo sequels. Poor bastards.
jigzat @ May 30th 2006 1:19PM
Yeah that toy comment is out of place. I'm a mac user (not a mac Fanboy) and i love reading joystiq but lately i have been reading a lot of mac "plataformist" joystiq auspiced comments. Now i reallize why some mac user hate non mac users. There is a lot of cheap talk people out there.
Conrad Quilty-Harper @ May 30th 2006 1:26PM
You have to be kidding me. I write for a The Unofficial Apple Weblog! It was a J - O - K - E! Does being a Mac owner automatically imply that you cannot make jokes about being a Mac owner?
Sense @ May 30th 2006 1:30PM
Before my old VAIO broke down, I downloaded the original Marathon games. Unfortunately, without a desk and a real mouse (it was a laptop), it was unplayable. Whenever I finally pick up a new computer, it's my plan to go through the series first thing. I really love the Halo universe. I've heard that Marathon is *technically* a different universe, though. I'd still love to play it.
jabbertrack @ May 30th 2006 1:36PM
I grew up in a Mac household and you can imagine the torture as a little gamer... waiting for ports, going with Dad to Mac Expo hoping for something sweet...
Bungie was my savior... Marathon was SUPER fun, Marathon 2 kicked BUTT and the Myth series was GREAT. I had people over all the time to play on our 'network' at home.
They were shocked that the network used existing phone lines!
Then I got older, moved out, and got a PC
ill trooper @ May 30th 2006 1:46PM
"Toy computers" makes me think of low-cost lowest-common denominator Windows machines like Dell, Gateway, or HP... Not Macs. But anyway...
'Marathon' was a good game for it's time - look where it lead to: Halo and Halo 2. Not really my thing, but good games and massive successes. But I wonder if Bungie can bring us something else? I mean, the only advances Halo has made from Marathon in ten years have been more in-depth multi-player, and higher-detail graphics. But no real new, different game.
Of course I acknowledge the progress. I'm just saying if they could have done Halo ten years ago, they would have. Is Bungie a one-trick pony (an amazing, wildly dynamic online juggernaut of a pony, but still, the same pony) that is unable to think beyond the 'Master Chief' mode? And really, why should they? No one seems to want anything else at this point.
Let's see a new game to complement the success of Halo and Halo online. Something different.
because resources aren't fun... @ May 30th 2006 1:46PM
Right, it was Jones' concentration on making the game as fun as possible (unlike Command and Conquer, which clearly was designed to be only 20% as fun as possible) that keeps Myth II going today.
I know Bungie did some great stuff. Some great stuff that if people had noticed at the time would have led them to realizing Halo wasn't much of an advance in any way but gameplay.
But statements like the above comments on fun vs. resources just don't make sense.
I don't get the hype over the Halo 3 trailer. It's just a movie. It doesn't give even a hint of what Halo 3 might bring.
oe @ May 30th 2006 2:05PM
Pathways Into Darkness was an amazing game. Pre-Marathon, combining RPG elements with a FPS for maybe the first time...
Bungie, please remake Pathways Into Darkness, I will buy it at release and even pick up an xbox360 to play it on. Next-gen PID would be awesome.
LunarDuality @ May 30th 2006 2:14PM
I too look forward to what Bungie has in store for us after the Halo Trilogy is complete. I'm sure there will be Halo spin-offs but what will be their next "new" project be, I wonder?
But there is no arguing (whether you like it or not) with 3,333,333,333 individual multiplayer sessions since the launch of Halo 2. Yes, 3 BILLION.
Concerned citizen @ May 30th 2006 2:18PM
I´ve always played Fps games on the PC so I never really liked Halo, but I will keep my eyes peeled for Halo 3 since I can´t afford a PC with top notch graphics. (they could add support for mouse and keyboard tough, but that´s never gonna happen.)
let´s hope Bungie doesn´t wait until Halo 15, before they make something new, because those guys used to be very creative.(played Marathon too, didn´t noticed it was their work.)
Geoff @ May 30th 2006 3:08PM
Myth II is awesome. I happen to be playing threw it again right now. Here is a nice OS X port of Myth II called Project Magma that works great. I found out about it on TUAW.
http://projectmagma.net/what/
Also, I find it funny that Macs are toys because they don't play games. Arguably a console is a toy because it only plays games or other forms of entertainment. Macs run the programs like Photoshop and Illustrator that help make the cool visuals in the games.
Anyway, Bungie is awesome.
gh0st @ May 30th 2006 3:10PM
WTF??!?!
What is up with the "toy computers" jab?
Funny? Oh yes, Smithers...oh yes...
BUT do you not know a Mac user? You have just made a fatal mistake. These guys make 'jihadist' seem like "somewhat opinionated". I fear you are soon to feel the shock and confusion that some Danes recently experienced.
Man, you journalist need to start watching this type of thing.
(and before you start hatin' I was playing text based (Ok, if you count |, -, X and > they did have graphical content) dungeon crawlers on an Apple II before the Mac was a glimmer in Jobs' eye, no hate for the box here...the fanatics, that is another story, no hate but enjoy the sillyness)
I am one of the biggest Halo fans you will come across (let's not talk about Halo 2, it is hard for me to not fall into a jilted lover mindset and get all cooky...)
At the same time I am very anxious to see what they do next. (again, Halo 2 had a big effect on this and stopped my "just keep making Halos" short-sightedness, but Bungie is one of those groups...you want to see what they do next, good/bad, who knows, but it will be interesting).
Big Ed @ May 30th 2006 3:26PM
Duh. Anyone one with at least a little knowledge of Bungie would know they developed games for the Mac. Tell me Conrad, is there any other point to this article besides a cheap shot at Macs?
Gamer Jay @ May 30th 2006 3:45PM
For anyone that thinks that Bungie is going to be stuck doing Halo for the rest of their existence, you should know that they mentioned a trilogy for the video game series at E3. This means that the third Halo title would be their last. Of course, who knows if they would break their promise or start some spin-off titles. I tend to believe their words and think they'll come up with another great franchise property in the not-too-distant future.
Brian @ May 30th 2006 4:33PM
O...M...G
GUYS! Conrad WAS NOT making a jab at macs, jeez. He WRITES for TUAW, and if you actually looked back, he's written a TON of pro-mac posts on Joystiq only to have the comments in those posts rapidly degenerate into OS bashing. If you guys actually paid attention before firing off hasty comments, you wouldn't look like the dumb idiots you do now.
You made me ashamed to be a Mac user..even if it was only for 5 minutes.
because resources aren't fun... @ May 31st 2006 3:24AM
Gamer Jay: There's no Bungie left. There's just Jones.
Everyone else has left, to Wideload and WildTangent and other places.
As to it being a trilogy, that's just for today. This is a freakin' cash cow. When Halo 3 comes out, they'll take a break and start on Halo 4, unless Halo 3 doesn't make money.
3.3billion is a lot of plays. Assuming 4 people per game, that means that the average Halo 2 buyer has played about 1900 times since they bought it. If they bought it on the first day, they have played it 3 times a day, every day. If there are 8 people per game, then it's about 3800 plays a person, 6 times a day, every day.
This numbers are possible, I'll give them that. But I can't imagine most owners play Halo 2 more than every 3rd day, which really means they're playing it 20 times in a row every 3rd day.
Wild Homes @ May 31st 2006 9:50AM
Conrad, that was a fun post, and I thought the toy computer comment was linked to a funny article. Sorry about the rabid fanboys, you might want to have a doctor take a look at that bite. Bungie have changed in the way everything in the industry changed in the last ten years: it's all become marketing and big business and sequels and profit margins. do we really need a hundred-post talkback to make this point?
a more useful waste of our time would be to petition LucasArts to bring Star Wars Jedi Power Battles (the Dreamcast version, please, with some LIVE co-op play) to XBLA, even if it means temporarily breaking the 50mb rule.