- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
Nice to finally see something from the guys at Bungie. And I guess I can forgive the amount of time it took to get here due to this (from the weekly update):Posted by: Frankie
July 23, 2004
It's been a busy, busy week. So busy in fact, and so crunchtacular, that basically nobody is really available to chat this week. Sorry. Don't yell/flame/freak out.
Sketch was out in New York being a muckety-muck all week, and I got roped into another classic Parsons travel-trap. It involves a passport, and some international shenanigans. Think sauerbraten.
It still saddens me that Bungie has lost control over a lot having to do with their games now, but I guess that shouldn't be much of a surprise as they are owned by a large corporation who, in the end, are just looking out for their own bottom line.
I think the thing that hurt the most is that we were used to the days of Bungie owned by Bungie making decisions based largely on Bungie's dedication to great games and great fans. We just have to remember now that Bungie is no longer Bungie owned by Bungie, but Bungie owned by Microsoft who is going to make decisions based on how to glean the most $ from the general populace and not worry if that steps on the feet of some of us old time / hardcore fans, whether or not "Bungie" agrees with those decisions.
We already saw some of the "compromises" forced by Microsoft with Halo ... the rushed delivery date and cutting of weapons etc that came along with that, the repetitive levels, no map editor, etc. My bet is that those "compromises" will continue and maybe even increase as Bungie becomes even more of a cash cow for Microsoft.
Sad ... yes, reality ... yes, reality forced somewhat by our own fault ... also yes. You want cheap games with quick turn-around times, you're going to have to deal with some of this corporate "stuph". And from the general clamour of "we can't wait for this game to come out NOW" and "how come games are so expensive" this seems to truly be the case.
For me, Halo was the best $350 I ever spent (had to get an XBOX to play it on) and if you factor in the amount of time I have played, it has probably been the cheapest form of enjoyment ever for me also.
So ... thanks as always to Bungie for a great game (Halo among others), thanks for trying to continue that tradition forward (Halo2 and beyond hopefully), and sorry that we all (including the guys at Bungie) have to put up with the large corporations in order to continue producing/receiving the greatness.