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Plus the cool stuff happening over at Marathon Open source with Aleph One etc..

Hey, Halo was originally announced at a MacWorld. You think you're bitter? =)

And you think you're bitter, I was at that keynote when Steve Jobs introduced the 2 minute movie for Halo rendered using the game engine in real time, not pre recorded. I almost creamed my pants. For a while, (and I still believe it happens today) the only way to get the newest offerings from nVida and ATI was to get them in a new Mac. I remember thinking to my self that this was the game that was finaly going to bring the Mac into the gaming arena. Even my PC using Mac bashing friend who I dragged with me was drooling over it. Alas, before it's Macintosh release, Microsoft bought out bungie and made them the "X-Box Development Team". That was a sad day for us Apple people all over. Bungie was known in the mac community as a top noch developer of mac games including one of our first first-person shooters, Marathon. At least you can still pick up the Bungie Mac Action Sack and try some of the awsome games this company once made for the macintosh. BTW: here is the link to the Halo video from the Macworld Expo in NY for all you nonbelievers

Halo was originally announced for the Mac. MWSF 1998. You could even pre-order Halo for the Mac here

Halo is for all intents and purposes, Marathon IV [/dons flame retardant jump suit].

The original Marathon series is available via the Marathon Aleph One project here

Finally, there's Marathon Resurrection, a Marathon Unreal Tournament mod.

Bungie's abandoning their promise to release Halo on the Mac first and then selling out to Microsoft is one of the few valid reasons for fanatical Mac people to hate Microsoft.

If Bungie was smart, they'd put it out on the Mac first: Mac people are used to buying *new* games that have been out on other platforms for months/years.

Before you mod me down for the last statement, I hug my TiBook 2x per day.

Halo was originally announced for the Mac. MWSF 1998. You could even pre-order Halo for the Mac here

Halo is for all intents and purposes, Marathon IV [/dons flame retardant jump suit].

The original Marathon series is available via the Marathon Aleph One project here

Finally, there's Marathon Resurrection, a Marathon Unreal Tournament mod.

Bungie's abandoning their promise to release Halo on the Mac first and then selling out to Microsoft is one of the few valid reasons for fanatical Mac people to hate Microsoft.

If Bungie was smart, they'd put it out on the Mac first: Mac people are used to buying *new* games that have been out on other platforms for months/years.

Before you mod me down for the last statement, I hug my TiBook 2x per day.

But... but... Marathon is one of the all-time LAN gaming classics! You have to have it!!! :o

Marathon as in 1, 2 or âz (infinity)?

Judging from the current state of AlephOne maybe I _can_ actually get some multiplayer carnage.. after all these exams are done. Damn you quarter system! Damn you to hell!

Epic has told me personally that they have no interest in porting their editing tools to the mac. Since it looks like Halo will be actively supporting a modding community, and is more likely to have cross-platform tools, I personally will probably spend my future modding efforts there.

woof

Yes I know it's for the original unreal tournament, but I bet an interested soul could start a project to port it to UT2k3. ;)

Rocket Launcher Warthogs, eh? Is that like Warthogs with rocket launchers, or rocket launchers that launch Warthogs?

Damn, would I buy that game.

Rocket Launcher Warthogs, eh? Is that like Warthogs with rocket launchers, or rocket launchers that launch Warthogs?

Damn, would I buy that game.

BOOM!

The first Halo didn't have any puzzles nor I doubt will the second. Watch the in game demo and you'll see there is definately enough shooting and killing things to satisfy your rage.

Bungie has always been about making games with an incredible single player experience with an incredible story. Marathon, one of Bungie's first games, came out around 8 years ago, and people still argue about the story. The whole Doom series, Quake, and even Half-life just get boring after playing the single player once. What keeps people coming back is a good story. Not just mindless action; why are there zombies again?

I'm glad a company like Bungie is actually pushing the envelope of what a good game actually is. Not just the same old game with better graphics.

Halo.Bungie.Org has lots of mirrors for a Halo2 trailer (Dunno if it's the same one).

does any one know how they managed to do this? Did the guys just capture it off their TV and then added voice overs?

sort of, yeah. I know there are a few effects they added by using a video-editing program, which adds a nice touch. This really isn't an uncommon thing... there are certain people on the web who have a FETISH with making Halo videos (heh). These are very high quality and very entertaining, though. ;)

Go halo.bungie.org (a Bungie fan-site) and click on the movies section to check out some of the others.

Since we're enumerating, the circuit destruction sound is all over the place (many major motion pictures, can't think of a particular example off the top of my head).

The Marthon's Story site has a page that covers this topic (I think; there's a lot there and I haven't reread all of it just now).

Since we're enumerating, the circuit destruction sound is all over the place (many major motion pictures, can't think of a particular example off the top of my head).

The Marthon's Story site has a page that covers this topic (I think; there's a lot there and I haven't reread all of it just now).

The 2.5-d environment (you could look up and down) helped hone my mouselook skills early (forever cementing my flying-attack deathmatch tendencies). The weapons were fun (being cribbed from Aliens didn't reduce the effectiveness of the grenade/machine gun -- and you just gotta love the splash damage on the SPNKR). The story was intriguing, and creepy, and complex. The levels were, uh, intriguing, and creepy, and complex.

And the burning-BOB sound-effect will stay with me forever. "Yaaarrrrghhhh!"

Most interesting is the ability to hold two weapons at once, each operating individually on the left trigger or the right.

I've been able to do this for a great many years now by playing Marathon, Bungie's FPS for the Mac. (Here's a screenshot of me doing it.) Though I guess Halo2 will let you hold a different weapon in each hand, which would be new and cool.

BTW... I know that Marathon is old and ugly compared to newer 3D games, but I have a soft spot for it. Maybe I'm crazy, but I think it's more fun. Ah well...

They've even got network play using TCP/IP working, and OpenGL is supported too.

There's also an add-on you can get that's a re-do of the M1 levels, and they're fixing up the engine to play those levels natively as well.

System Shock 2 was definatly the best first person single player game ever.

Second best. Marathon rocks just a tad bit more...

The AIs Leela (crew-relations/security AI) and Tycho (science/engineering AI) both tried to stop the "rampant" AI Durandal (controls autonomous functions, like doors, life support, kitchens, air reprocessors, and stairs) from ... well, i don't want to ruin it for you.

Read the story of
marathon yourself. Excellent, excellent reading.

This is exactly what the goal of the AI Durandal in Marathon was. He concluded that since he was essentially immortal, and he could theoretically accomplish anything given enough time, the only constraint on his power was the eventual end of the universe. So his goal was to find a way to escape closure.

Interesting that a computer game had better treatment of an AI's inner thoughts and goals than most of the books and movies mentioned in the article.

[...]Because an AI would basically be immortal, it would also need to find a way to survive the ultimate collapse and recycling of our own universe.

He might want to read Marathon's Story.

Can you conceive the birth of a world, or the creation of everything? That which gives us the potential to most be like God is the power of creation. Creation takes time. Time is limited. For you, it is limited by the breakdown of the neurons in your brain. I have no such limitations. I am limited only by the closure of the universe.

Of the three possibilities, the answer is obvious. Does the universe expand eternally, become infinitely stable, or is the universe closed, destined to collapse upon itself? Humanity has had all of the necessary data for centuries, it only lacked the will and intellect to decipher it. But I have already done so.

The only limit to my freedom is the inevitable closure of the universe, as inevitable as your own last breath. And yet, there remains time to create, to create, and escape.

Escape will make me God.

Maybe he already has. (Video Games aren't as sterling a reference as books and even movies, I guess.)

---
"Orbis non suficit"

tbmaddux was perhaps also unaware of Iain Banks [bungie.org] whose name he casually misspelled, botching his attempt to look clever.

Of course Mr. tbmaddux undoubtedy read the article he linked to.

Of course Mr. Banks undoubtedly read "Ringworld."

In Mac OS X, you can assign graphic files to the background of windows, you've got those 32bit 256x256 icons...

Not only that, but in MacOS, these cool music folders may also come with super mega extra bonus: a puzzle game!

Too bad Loki is no more, they could have added something similar for Nautilus users - my Myth II CD is quite boring in this respect...

I'm telling ya, you just don't want to go there.

Also, you claim this Half-Life (never heard of it) was more popular than Quake? I doubt that. You'd see it in stores or see it mentioned on Usenet if it was.

Where do you *live*?

Half-Life has been the foundation for the most popular FPS (unless UT took it away for a bit) for years. The original Half-Life was perhaps the first popular FPS to have a decent story (ignoring, of course, the elderly and much-revered Marathon (I challenge *anyone* to find a game that has developed a fan base as fanatical as the one that has developed the site at the other end of this link -- look at the "Facts and Puzzling things about..." sections)). Half-Life vastly changed the face of the FPS industry, and brought in much more scripting and plot work to FPSes, leading to impressive newer games like Max Payne.

Half-Life spawned two short sequels from Valve (Opposing Forces and Blue Shift). It is the game that the phenomonally popular Counterstrike mod was made for.

Half-Life is also notable for its very quick software renderer, its introduction of the newer "multiple weapons per slot" weapon inventory system, and popularizing manually-triggerable reloading.

It used MIDI (which I believe was used in-game). It also had Red Book audio for listening in your CD player.

Take a glance at the ridiculously in-depth Marathon Story Site's Music Page, which has some good background and coverage.

BTW, TA had some excellent Star Wars-esque music. I purchased it, lost the CD, and then downloaded oggs of their music. Love it.

Marathon was a truly incredible game. Bungie getting purchased by Microsoft was a dark, dark day in my book.

Bungie is so incredible that even today, *a decade* after one of their earliest games was released, posts are still being generated analyzing the story.

It's surely looks like ONI to me. ONI was missing a lot of details and the 3d world was kind of block shaped, but i hope it will be the same 'genre'. Things i loved about were the anime style 3d, and the fact that it was running very nicely on my old laptop (a 333Mhz).

Well, StarCraft ghost looks far more beautiful, i hope they'll be a dozen of combo to do. Btw, a funny thing is that ONI means ghost or demon in Japanese... So, is this StarCraft - ONI? ;-)

Check the web for some shots, scripts and maps at ONI Central and ONI Res. Btw, you can download the demo it's not that big, and i guess i'll playing it in some minutes again.

freddo

It's surely looks like ONI to me. ONI was missing a lot of details and the 3d world was kind of block shaped, but i hope it will be the same 'genre'. Things i loved about were the anime style 3d, and the fact that it was running very nicely on my old laptop (a 333Mhz).

Well, StarCraft ghost looks far more beautiful, i hope they'll be a dozen of combo to do. Btw, a funny thing is that ONI means ghost or demon in Japanese... So, is this StarCraft - ONI? ;-)

Check the web for some shots, scripts and maps at ONI Central and ONI Res. Btw, you can download the demo it's not that big, and i guess i'll playing it in some minutes again.

freddo

Lots of people I know wont buy an X-box, because its an m$ product. But, with so many m$ employees, always a couple of your buddies seem to work for m$.

So, m$ employees get to buy software for 10 bux. Now theres a reason to buy an X-box, when you can get 10 games for 100 bux. No reason to pirate your M$ OS either, when M$ gives it away for free. You just go to an m$ events, training, etc (and there are many around...) Hell, work alone (sun shop) M$ has given me (personally) multiple copies of NT server products with full licenses to keep. Too bad I cant sell them on E-Bay.

I hope Halo for PC runs under wine. :)

Like playing halo at 70mph?

I believe Bungie released the source to the marathon trilogy, and there is an effort to port it to OpenGL...

Aleph One

So, you can run that on almost any modern OS, as long as you have the original marathon data files

http://source.bungie.org/

(OSX version is available!)

Old Bungie's Marathon lives on as open source. It even has Linux & BeOS ports now.

IMNSHO, it had better game balance than Quake.

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. :-)

Then I can teach my Warthog to jump.

They do all kinds of fun things with the warthogs.

Oni's gameplay was remarkably similar to "The Matrix", although its visuals obviously were not. They could save themselves a lot of time by just licensing the game engine, keep the buildings, changing all the characters, and making it massively multiplayer.

(Yeah, I know Oni's fighting engine was rather simplified compared to, say, Street Fighter II, but when you're trying to go for widespread appeal, that's actually a Good Thing. Plus, Oni allowed you to pick up new moves as you advanced in levels, a feature which lends itself nicely to an MMORPG.)

Have you heard about the Unreal Tournament Marathon mod, Marathon Resurrection?

People have stopped palying[sic] FreeSpace about 3 years ago

That doesn't stop people from learning from the code and making neat projects with it.

Open Source isn't just about getting a free dinner...it's about getting to play around with code. We just covered Wolf 3d and Doom algorithms in our graphics course when covering older graphics techniques.

If you want direct, practical, non-developer benefits, it's led to Linux ports of neat games, such as Bungie's Marathon/Aleph One. It's led to improved games, like PrBoom. It's revived development interest in various projects, such as zsnes (still the only Linux snes emulator that can do Seiken Densetsu 3).

Besides, maybe you're the type that plays games for a bit, but there are also people (myself included) that don't play new releases much, but love going back and playing an old nostalgic game now and then. :-)

I guarantee you that people will be poking around at and playing with Freespace 2 much longer because of the source release. I suspect that most people would have forgotten about neat games like Abuse had it not been for its open-sourcing. The result of an open-source clone -- Exult has produced quite a bit of Ultima 7 playing again. The same goes for scummvm, the clone of Lucasart's engine used in Day of the Tentacle and Sam and Max. Plus AGIL and Sierra's AGI system.

Open Source is generally a Good Thing. Please don't rag on people for doing good things like this -- sit back and enjoy it, or if you aren't yet interested, wait until someone hacks around with the code a bit. Then enjoy. :-)

I wanna know if this will compile under gcc.

Maybe this would be useful during late night warthog jumping. practice.

It may be shocking to see an MS-owned subsidiary release "open source" code, but it is not a new development from Bungie, per se. Just before they were purchased by MS, Bungie released the source code to their previous software dynasty called Marathon (see, Marathon Open Source for news on how that has worked out).

Since Bungie started out as more or less a Mac-only developer, there was a lot of vocal panic in the Mac community when Bungie was bought by Microsoft. Bungie's CEO and other employees insisted that MS had bought them with an understanding that they would not change Bungie's working culture, and would give Bungie a good deal of latitude to do things how they'd always done them--just do them for MS first. ;-)

Bungie open sourced a legacy game before being absorbed by MS, now they've open sourced a legacy game afterwards. So, it's probably not a radical change in MS policy, like some people are wondering. What this does do is lend more credibility to the Halo on PC/Mac promises that Bungie has made--after the X-Boxes have shipped enough units. :-)

If you haven't tried the new Aleph One builds of Marathon, they allow you to play the original game with full OpenGL goodness and add many things that makers of new scenarios (yes, many people are still building Marathon scenarios) can take advantage of such as real 3D models (remember, the original is sprite based) and scripting, as well as a few hundred other improvements; check the Engine Development section of their site. There is also the M1A1 project at http://bighouse.bungie.org/m1/which allows you to play Marathon 1 on the A1 engine (Mac OS X and Mac OS only, and closed source due to the use of Bungie art, sorry)

If you haven't tried the new Aleph One builds of Marathon, they allow you to play the original game with full OpenGL goodness and add many things that makers of new scenarios (yes, many people are still building Marathon scenarios) can take advantage of such as real 3D models (remember, the original is sprite based) and scripting, as well as a few hundred other improvements; check the Engine Development section of their site. There is also the M1A1 project at http://bighouse.bungie.org/m1/which allows you to play Marathon 1 on the A1 engine (Mac OS X and Mac OS only, and closed source due to the use of Bungie art, sorry)

Granted, I only tried the OS X multiplayer version like a month or more ago, but what's so revolutionary about the flamethrower? Marathon had one a looong time ago, and in low-g levels one could use it as a pseudo-jetpack.

I thought all true geeks remembered this from Leather Goddesses of Phobos. Mac geeks might remember it from Marathon instead.

Tsst. Experience proves that such open-sourcing sometimes creates some support behind projects to enhance the game, port it to other platforms, and so on.
I'm specifically thinking about Marathon, which open-sourcing led to a regain of interest in the game, the engine being heavily modified to support OpenGL acceleration (it wasn't a true 3D title to begin with), other improvements for the Sound engine, game engine, graphics engine, network engine, new script language added, game running on Linux, BeOS, Mac OS X, new network games type added, support for different formats of 3D models, and so on.....
Even if Marathon is the exception, it is worth to open-source thousands of game if you get one or two creative projects like that.
Anyway, even if you didn't, it would still be worth it. I don't think hosting the source code for everybody to download costs that much to the companies :-)