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Recall the Pathways into Darkness mod for D3 based on the old Bungie game from 1993?
http://rampancy.net/reviews/pathwaysredux

I just wish the likes of Nobuo Uematsu, Martin O'Donnell, Michael Salvatori, James Horner and the like would release the scores. I'd learn to play an instrument if I could recreate my favorite movie and game scores.

I can't agree more. It usually isn't too hard to find sheet music for popular movie scores, but up until recently video game music has been harder to find. I know that as far as the Halo series goes, fans have worked to re-create a lot of the score as sheet music, much of which is available on Rampancy and Google. I think that Marty may have even released a couple of pieces which you can buy/download from various places as well.

By doing exactly what they have done. Handing over the franchise to other studios.

Ensemble is making the RTS.

Wingnut will make a new Halo series after Halo 3.

Bungie is finishing Halo 3.

That means that MS gets what it wants-- a continuation to their sole system-selling franchise.

Bungie is freed up to make non-Halo games if it chooses.

http://rampancy.net/blog/narcogen/28092006/the_pas sing_of_the_torch

Also, for the record, Halo and Marathon are not connected. They take place in separate universes, but cover similar themes, and there are some references in the new game to the old one (namely, the logo for the Pillar of Autumn is the same as the logo for the Marathon colony ship).

We already have force-feedback controllers that either suck,

This is because of patents...

There was another game the Bungie people were working on after Halo - that being the mysterious 'Phoenix'.

Nobody outside Bungie really knows what sort of game it was, but according to Matt Soell, "the game formerly known as Phoenix has indeed been shelved. The consensus was that we could finish the game but we would not be happy with the result. If the team didn't think they'd enjoy the game as designed, they could not seriously expect others to enjoy it."

Who knows how many other game ideas they've been having...

Bungie.org

Rampancy.net

Don't worry, there are plenty of great sites left!

1. Bungie no longer owns Oni. Oni is owned by Take 2/GoD. This was part of the deal of the MS buyout. In exchange for Take 2's shares of Bungie, they got Oni and the Myth games. Take 2 is currently developing Myth 3.

2. Microsoft bought Bungie because they (MS) needed a killer app for the xBox when it comes out. That killer app is Halo, which IMNSHO will be one of the best games ever created, and will probably ship with the xBox. However, it will be followed later by the Mac/PC version(after the initial xBox sales)...sorry, a linux version if HIGHLY unlikely to come out of MS. :(

BTW, the opening of the source of Marathon 2 is pretty old news, but still very good news. The aptly named Aleph One project is awesome and doing a great job keeping the Marathon universe alive. Here's a few sites of interest:

Marathon.bungie.org - Tons of Marathon info including links to the story page, the Aleph One project, and many many user created maps and scenarios.

HBO - Lots of Halo information. This game is going to ROCK!!!

Rampancy.net - A Bungie community site that primarily focuses on Halo but covers all things Bungie.

Hope this info is useful to some of you. :) I hold Bungie in very high esteem because they have always made quality games with excellent plots (well, since PiD at least...)

out.

"We've spoken to a couple people here who've made snarfy comments about us not using an MS server for b.net and we've ignored them."

Sounds a fair bit different than what Inside Mac Games reported, doesn't it? Sure, you can translate that to mean "M$ is unhappy", but he never actually SAID that. It's just people falling prey to a media organization (insidemacgames in this case) who are buttering up their stories with scandal and comments that scare people.

It increases page views (heck, how many of you visited the url given in the story?), and that's all they're trying to do.

I think a lot of people, including IMG are over-reacting to Mr. Soell's comments. His original forum post at Rampancy.net only indicated that a few people made some "snarfy comments." It is not like Microsoft in general is in a state of discontent because Bungie Studios is using Linux to power their Bungie.net servers.

Honestly, I doubt Microsoft in general really cares, as long as the product works and makes them money. Granted they don't make much if anything off of Bungie.net, but the people who use it are the same people who are going to buy Halo when it is released.

So, I guess the point is: there is no need to over-react because a couple of OS fanatics made a few remarks...people here do it all of the time...

In fact, OS X RULES AND ALL OTHER OSs STINK!!

btw, that was sarcasm.

out.

By the way, that chat is going on at rampancy.net for those who want to check it out.

It's been going on for a while now, but I'm sure a transcript will be available eventualy.