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Find me a single publisher who will fund a 20-30 person team on a Mac game for two or more years because a programmer told them to do so and I'll eat my words.

Find me a single publisher who will fund a 20-30 person team on a Mac game for two or more years because a programmer told them to do so and I'll eat my words.

Then a small company called Bungie Software(now Bungie Studios, owned by Microsoft) came out with Marathon. It didn't look all that different (at a glance) to Doom (well, IMHO it looked better, and you actually had to aim your weapons with no reticle). You could still shoot anything that moved, even civilians with no consequences (it wasn't until Marathon 2 that the NPCs started shooting back if you killed too many of them). However, suddenly you were immersed in this incredibly awesome, intricate story. IMnsHO, it had one of the best balances of gameplay and story and actually made the game really worth playing and replaying(the Doom games were great for stress relief, but not much more).

I wasn't much of a gamer then, and still am not one (being a Mac user has its drawbacks), but that set the standard for gaming for me. Give me a good story AND good gameplay and I will buy your game. I have and still do follow Bungie, even after Microsoft bought them, becuase they have always focused on excellent gameplay combined with an interesting story, and usually excellent replayability. The Marathon series had both, the Myth series had both, Oni (though it was finished by...RockStar?) had it, Halo had it, Halo 2 had it (though not quite the replayability of Halo).

Anyway, like I said I am not much of a gamer, but, with the exception of the Dead or Alive series, story does matter (DoA is strictly for stress relief). And Bungie has done admirably in these respects.

But i gotta say, alot of the messages are very cool, almost like Nintendo's ilovebees.com on a much smaller scale.

The ilovebees.com thing is actually from Bungie in regards to Halo 2. It's not like it's the first time they have pulled this stuff either, although admittedly it was never on this scale. For more general information on Bungie, including similar stuff (like box acronyms), and also Marathon and how it relates to Halo, see the Marathon Story Page.

Sorry for the broken link, what i really meant was http://bungie.com/SlideShow.aspx?Path=%2Fgames%2FH alo2&Slideshow=Screenshots&Slide=14&MSID=DBBC339A3 8474507BC2A79CE37EF9956.

They should have used Sleepy for the cameraman, he was badass. I was mostly awed by the awesome gameplay, dual weapons, etc. I strongly disagree that it looks like crap, it's a poor quality movie but the graphics themselves are much better than what you can see here, if you look at screenshots from http://bungie.com/SlideShow.aspx?Path=%2Fgames%2FH alo2&Slideshow=Screenshots&Slide=0&MSID=B6BC0A056B 9A462AA38C6886DC7D7BE9/ they're quite a bit better than what you can see there. I wish we had seen some different maps and more use of the warthog and ghost, but overall, it was damn cool. I shall be promptly moving in with my Xbox-owning friend.

Before that, Marathon (one of Bungie's first FPS games) had both bullet spray and weapon recoil in its pretty-impressive-for-the-time (1994, I think, around the time Doom II came out, a couple years before the first Quake game) physics model. I never played Pathways into Darkness, another FPS by Bungie from a year or so before Marathon came out, enough to know if it could do either of those, but even if it didn't, it wouldn't surprise me if someone else had already done it by then, or at least thought of it, although that's almost getting back in time as far as Wolf3D...

Back before Bungie were owned by The Borg (cheap shot -- sue me), they had a April Fool's prank going by the name of Pimps At Sea. So between this and Down And Out In The Magic Kingdom, I claim to have seen this before.

Personally, I'm waiting for Bungie's Pimps at Sea:

Lace up your platform shoes and pick up your diamond-studded whoop-ass cane - here comes a rival pimp bent on hijacking your hoes! Welcome to the world of Pimps At Sea, where you can hoist the jolliest of rogers and set sail for a different kind of booty.

Indeed, like Bungie.

I created levels for these games somewhere halfway through the 90s on my Mac. One of my PC friends also had great fun creating levels for these games, even though he couldn't play them on his own PC.

I don't think creating levels for games is fun nowadays, it's all become much to complex with those 3d engines, but maybe I shoud try again in he future.

The games can still be seen here(bungie.com):
- Marathon
- Marathon 2
- Marathon Infinity

Marathon Infinity shipped with the official tools used to create the series.

I created levels for these games somewhere halfway through the 90s on my Mac. One of my PC friends also had great fun creating levels for these games, even though he couldn't play them on his own PC.

I don't think creating levels for games is fun nowadays, it's all become much to complex with those 3d engines, but maybe I shoud try again in he future.

The games can still be seen here(bungie.com):
- Marathon
- Marathon 2
- Marathon Infinity

Marathon Infinity shipped with the official tools used to create the series.

I created levels for these games somewhere halfway through the 90s on my Mac. One of my PC friends also had great fun creating levels for these games, even though he couldn't play them on his own PC.

I don't think creating levels for games is fun nowadays, it's all become much to complex with those 3d engines, but maybe I shoud try again in he future.

The games can still be seen here(bungie.com):
- Marathon
- Marathon 2
- Marathon Infinity

Marathon Infinity shipped with the official tools used to create the series.

You can kind of see it in these pictures of Marathon, Marathon 2 and Marathon Infinity.

(And while not a game, the paint program "Painter" came in a metal paint can. Corel owns that product now, so it probably ships in a well-sealed container so as not to let the crapload of bugs out until you open the box at home.)

You can kind of see it in these pictures of Marathon, Marathon 2 and Marathon Infinity.

(And while not a game, the paint program "Painter" came in a metal paint can. Corel owns that product now, so it probably ships in a well-sealed container so as not to let the crapload of bugs out until you open the box at home.)

You can kind of see it in these pictures of Marathon, Marathon 2 and Marathon Infinity.

(And while not a game, the paint program "Painter" came in a metal paint can. Corel owns that product now, so it probably ships in a well-sealed container so as not to let the crapload of bugs out until you open the box at home.)

If you can find it, I think you'd both like Marathon. Really more of a puzzle than a FPS--it's not nearly as competitive as, say, Unreal--it has a nice blend of "How do I open that door" with twitch fragging. I would often clear a level, and then go back to figure out all the puzzles. Really, one of the best games of it's class, although now the graphics are dated. It gave a Mac-gamer hope in a dark day...but I'm not going to believe Halo is actually shipping for the Mac until I install it.

(Marathon also was available for the PC, but not nearly as widely known as it was on the Mac. And, good luck finding it, especially for the PC--but I'll warrant any Mac user from 98 still has a copy lying around somewhere.)

What followed was an RPG game (of which the name slips my mind)and another game (which I believed involved tank warfare.)

No, but they might have this one:

Pimps at Sea

Pimps At Sea is where it's at.

Did you try Oni? I personally loved the game, and it sounds like it would meet your wishes.

Cheers,

Ethelred

I remember seeing Doom on my buddy's crappy Packard Bell PC and being really jealous that there was nothing like that for the Mac. Fortunately the good folks at Bungie came out with Marathon and I could take out all my frustrations by killing nasty Pfhor and saving witless BOBs.

I remember seeing Doom on my buddy's crappy Packard Bell PC and being really jealous that there was nothing like that for the Mac. Fortunately the good folks at Bungie came out with Marathon and I could take out all my frustrations by killing nasty Pfhor and saving witless BOBs.

Many of your ideas have been implemented well. The idea of formation, terrain and maneuver have been the very foundation of the Myth series. It becomes very much a tactical game rather than a strategy game.

Combining the RTS elements within other genres has also been covered. The half-life mod Natural Selection puts one player in a commanding RTS style view, while other players act as their peons.

I remember watching a video of Halo when it was being developed by Bungie Studios, for MacOS / Windows. It looked awesome! My roommate has an XBox & Halo, but I don't really enjoy it that much. The graphics & gameplay look good, but I need my keyboard & mouse for FPS games.

My dream of playing Halo on a PC is back :-)

achronos@bungie.com
achronos@bungie.com

And maybe, just maybe, when you say 'a person employed by Bungie' you mean "a huge jackass." What employee of a company even puts their email out for public consumption? It's getting spam botted today! Whee!!!

achronos@bungie.com
achronos@bungie.com

IIRC, grenade hopping was first seen in Bungie's Marathon. The were some powerups and other goodies that could only be reached with grenade jumps or even (mostly suicidal) rocket jumps.

IIRC, grenade hopping was first seen in Bungie's Marathon. The were some powerups and other goodies that could only be reached with grenade jumps or even (mostly suicidal) rocket jumps.

How many games has Bungie brought out since 1999 when Oni and Halo were announced?

One and a half: Halo for Xbox and Oni (through Take Two/GoD).

How many new games have been announced since 1999?

One: the sequel to Halo.

Is the first Halo on Mac or PC four years after they were announced? Nope, and it may be five years before they do.

How exactly are they starting revolutions any more?

bungie.net which is no defunct (after M$ shut it down).

Myth II product page on Bungie's web site.

Maybe we can expect to see Halo finally! Go Bungie!

Disclaimer: This post suffers from Rose Colored Glasses Syndrome (RCGS), a sometimes deadly disorder associated with blind devotion to particular software companies beyond all evidence to the contrary. Please give as much as you can afford to the RCGS support outlet near you. With your help, we can eradicate this dread disease.

Perhaps you'd be interested in Pimps At Sea? Bungie Studios has an incredible Turn Them Out (tm) technology that will let you import characters from other games... and pimp them! I'll take one Pikachu, and one giant octopus, please.

Who wouldn't love a rock-solid game engine, running a great storyline, compiled specifically for their box's specs?

Go. Play it. Have fun. :-)

Myth: The Fallen Lords from the now defunct Bungie Software is still being played online five years after it came out. They took the server down, and another one was made by the fans. There are probably thousands of fan-made mods out there, with new ones still being made.
Old games don't die, they just get old.

Hi, Microsoft already did something quite like this!

Cruel? Yes. True? Hardly. I claim Shenanigans on you, sir!

Compared to the PC, it's a higher ratio? Really?
Have you seen the volume of crappy PC games to
crappy Mac ones? Ratios work both ways.

I'll take a Marathon or an EV
over Mortyr pretty much any day
of the week.

That's not to say all PC games are bad, Hell I
just finished Jedi Knight II and it rocked.

Right, I'm going to sic the Webmaster on you.

Pathways Into Darkness was their second game. It's all on Bungie's history page.

To the Bungie Webmaster to get you answers. Please!:
webmaster@bungie.com

Frog Blast the Vent door

( Because he provides such good answers...)

To the Bungie Webmaster to get you answers. Please!:
webmaster@bungie.com

Frog Blast the Vent door

( Because he provides such good answers...)

I used to have a Macintosh, so when everyone was talking about Duke Nukem and Quake and all that I was left out in the cold, but then Marathon came along. I used to go to my friend's house and play his shoot 'em up games on his PC, so I knew the type, but Marathon just blew them all away. I even snuck a copy to our high school computer lab and setup some network games for us "geeks" while the rest of the class was still working on their assignments. It was the coolest game as far as fluidity of game play and ease of use. If Halo follows in that tradition then it must be pretty good. It's unfortunate though that it's only released on the XBox as of yet, I mean it's a shame that the first release is going to be tainted by the "blue screen of death."

On a side note, Bungie has a cool product page with a little more info.

It's called Myth

(TFL, obviously :-)

Just as long as id doesn't forget about those of us who dig good, fun, singleplayer gameplay, as opposed to ho hum multiplayer. Don't tease me with release date shenanigans or release yesterday's product without doing something interesting to it.

Oh, and I ain't suckin' nothing down, neither.

DD

Actually... Aleph One: The (originally Macintosh) game Marathon by Bungie, released under the GPL. Now available for Macintosh, MacOSX, Linux, Windows, and even BeOS.

No, that would be Halo. Unfortunately, it'll never make it to the PC :(

These guys blow the competition out of the water AND they've been around for over ten years! So why the weren't they mentioned?

Give me a break here, these guys have put out much better stuff than Westwood, iD AND Blizzard (yes, I feel that Myth is better than Starcraft, and no, I'm not trolling).

Why run stories about established developers? Why not mention some of the newer guys like Sphidia (these guys are making a game called Dynasty) and Island Four (not much there, you might want to check here.)

I guess that despite all the nice graphics that have occured since then, the most important element in making a game is the gameplay. Some games that look gorgeous seem to have let the gameplay fall to a secondary position, while other games that are fairly old still get thousands of players a day.

It will be nice when gameplay and graphics get combined.

Is this possibly what happened to Bungee when Microsoft bought them out? The making of Halo could have very well put them in the same position Yamauchi talks of in making such grapically advanced software. This would put companies like Microsoft in the drivers seat. They definitely could afford to put out these games and reap the benifits afterwards. Don't know how much I like that Idea.