Bungie.net Downtime

Sorry for the short notice, but all Bungie web sites will be going offline for a short period of time sometime between 2pm and 8pm PDT today for critical maintenance. Also, during this period you may notice longer response times from the servers occassionally.

You have questions, they have answers

As you may or may not know, two of our Halo 2 animators at Bungie both hail from Canada and thus have earned the nickname "The Cananimators." You might recall them from the Get tactical, Marines! story last month in which they went out and fired a bunch of guns in the name of research. When they're not busy creating animations, playing Halo 2 ladder games, watching hockey, drinking beer or participating in some other Canadian pastime, both guys make an effort to support our fan community.

Thus a new content feature is born -
Ask the Cananimators!

The Cananimators are here for you and they are ready to answer your questions.

The first installment will be published in 2 weeks or so which means we've got a little time to get our first batch of questions from all of you. Visit the question database to submit your question.

The "Ask the Cananimators" question database can be found here.

Approximately every 2 weeks, the Canucks will go through and pick out questions that are worthy of their responses. The questions and answers will be posted on Bungie.net and we'll reset the database and do it all over again. We'll keep this going until we either run out of questions, the guys can't take it anymore, or this feature becomes a giant flaming failure.

Before you submit your questions, here are a few things to keep in mind to help increase the chances that your question gets answered:

1. You can ask all you want but every Halo 2 secret that's still a secret will continue to remain a secret.

2. You're not limited to just Halo 2 questions. Please, give us some variety. Want to know what they had for lunch? How bad General Tso's Army beat them in Halo 2? Which hockey team will take the cup? Ask away!

3. Don't spam the question list. One or two entries per person is the limit. If you start asking tons of questions we'll just ignore you and you'll be on the blacklist.

So that's it! Get your questions ready and head over to the database. We'll post the first installment in about 2 weeks.

Pre-Order Halo for PC, get stuff

It's been up for a little while now but it's worth pointing out for any of our readers who may not have heard. Pre-order campaigns for the PC version of Halo have begun and you can score some cool bonus goodies depending on where you decide to purchase the game. While I'm sure there are other promotions out there, two worth noting are over at EB Games and Gamestop. Pre-order the game at EB and you'll get a free copy of the latest Halo novel, "Halo: The Flood." Gamestop customers will be rewarded with a free exclusive Master Chief figure (the same ones you've seen before on our webcam). Halo for PC is right around the corner. Are you ready?

Halo PC Coverage

Yesterday our own Michel Bastien, along with Randy Pitchford of Gearbox, played hosts to a special Halo PC LAN party for some members of the gaming press. You can check out some of the early impressions over at IGN as well as Gamespot. (note - you'll have to be a Gamespot complete member to see their gameplay videos). Halo for PC is expected to ship in September. Stay tuned to Bungie.net for the latest news as we get closer to the game's release.

We Want You (well, sort of)

We've got another new job opening here in Bungie land this week. At this rate we're going to need to knock down some walls or something to fit everyone in here! (unless someone doesn't mind sharing the Webmaster's closet) We've got big plans for the next evolution of Bungie.net and we need someone who can help deliver high quality content to our fans. Could you be that someone? Check out the job posting for more details.

3 Million Strong... and Growing

Today Microsoft and Bungie officially announced that Halo for Xbox has surpassed over 3 million copies worldwide. Woohoo! Thanks to all our Fans for pushing Halo to new heights. You can read the full press release over at Xbox.com.

Play Halo on PC, win money

The PC version of Halo has officially been added to the roster of games for this year's $30,000 CPL Winter 2003 Championships. This is it, the chance you've been waiting for. Become a professional cyber-athlete and play Halo for a living!

Here's the official word from the folks over in marketing:

July 14, 2003

Halo for Windows Tournaments at the CPL Winter Games

Microsoft Game Studios and Bungie Studios today announced that Halo for Windows tournaments will be at the CPL Pentium 4 Processor Winter 2003 Championships, taking place December 16-20 at the Hyatt Regency in Dallas. The winning team will take home $30,000.

Launched June 1997, the CPL was the first organization to advance computer game competitions to the level of a professional sport. Today, the CPL is the global leader in competitive computer gaming, having held live tournaments on five continents. The CPL has also sanctioned a large number of qualifying tournaments held in over thirty countries. Online registration for the Winter 2003 event is expected to open on Friday, August 1, 2003. For more information about the Halo tournaments at the CPL Winter 2003 Championships, head to http://www.thecpl.com/.

Halo, the critically acclaimed best-selling Xbox game, is coming to Windows gamers for the first time with new features previously unavailable, including online multiplayer support, new maps, vehicles and weapons. Halo is optimized for the PC with the precision offered by mouse-and-keyboard support and full support for high-end hardware including graphic resolutions up to 1600 by 1200. Halo's online multiplayer feature will enable players to battle it out with fellow gamers worldwide in a variety of individual and team-based games. Currently in development by Gearbox Studios in conjunction with Bungie Studios, Halo for Windows is slated for release this summer. For more information, please visit the official site here.

Bungie was founded in 1991 with two goals: to develop games that combine brilliant technology, beautiful art, intelligent stories and deep gameplay, and then sell enough of those games to achieve the real goal of total world domination. Over the last 10 years it produced games like the Marathon Trilogy and the first two Myth games, hailed as classics by critics and gamers around the world. "Halo: Combat Evolved," its latest game, has achieved phenomenal success on the Microsoft Xbox video game system. More information on Bungie can be found at Bungie.net.

Microsoft Game Studios is a leading worldwide publisher and developer of games for the Windows PC gaming, Xbox video game system and online platforms. Comprising a network of top developers, Microsoft Game Studios is committed to creating innovative and diverse game portfolios for the PC (http://www.microsoft.com/games/), including such franchises as Age of Empires, Flight Simulator and Zoo Tycoon; Xbox (http://www.xbox.com/), including such franchises as Halo, Project Gotham Racing and NFL Fever; and Zone.com (http://www.zone.com/), the official games channel for the MSN network and home to such hits as Bejeweled and OutSmart.

Tru7h & Reconciliation Updates

Not to be outdone by our friends over at HBO, we've updated our Halo site with the beginnings of a new dialog archive. This section contains some of the lesser heard dialog segments found in Halo. Check out the monstrous archive over at HBO for even more! Also new to the site is the Halo 2 outtakes section which features a few voice outtakes recorded during the creation of the Halo 2 E3 demo. And finally, we've also added a .pdf version of the Halo manual to the FAQ/INFO section. Hey, better late than never, right? Enjoy!

Join Us

Planning and building the successor to the existing Bungie.net is a LOT of work! So much so that we've decided to bring in outside help. A new job opening has been added to Bungie.com to bolster our forces. The Contract Graphic Artist/Illustrator will play an integral part in the future of Bungie.net and get a chance to help out with some really cool stuff. Are you the person we've been looking for? See the job posting for the requirements and application instructions.

The Webmaster was sitting at a bar when...

Maybe he was delusional. But it was a funny story anyway and I thought it made a cool comic. Enjoy!

What do you think?

Behind the scenes at Bungie HQ, we're working on our secret plans for the future of Bungie.net. With Halo PC and Halo 2 both offering online play along with our already impressive growth, the future possibilities are very exciting. As we continue to outline our own plans, I wanted to ask for feedback from you, our loyal Community. After all, this site is built for and used by YOU.

Here's how you can help - Send us your comments and feedback on the current version of Bungie.net and the 7th Column. To help keep things focused, please answer the following questions in addition to anything else you'd like to add:

1. What do you like the most about Bungie.net? What do you like the least?

2. What features do you like? What content do you like?

note: Features are things like forums, messaging, etc.. Content refers to actual pages such as screenshots, FAQs, etc..

3. Are you a founder or member of a 7th Column Chapter? (if no, you can skip the next question)

4. Please put the following 7th Column features in order, ranked highest to lowest, with the highest feature being the one you use the most and find the most valuable/necessary.

• Forums
• Events Calendar
• News System
• Chapter Databases
• Themes
• Polls

5. What types of new CONTENT would you like to see? i.e. Halo character biographies, backstory information, Bungie employee bios, etc...

6. What types of new FEATURES would you like to see?

Please feel free to add anything else to this that you'd like to pass along!

Once you've got your thoughts together, please put them into an email and send them to:
[email protected]

The window of opportunity is short, please have your feedback submitted by 7/14. That's one week.

As a special bonus, anyone who submits a legitimate response will be entered into a random drawing to win prizes. "Legitimate" responses are those that actually address the questions above and provide useful feedback. Only responses received by 7/14 will be included in the prize drawing. "Winners" will be chosen completely at random and have nothing to do with whether or not you give Bungie.net a glowing review or rip it aprt. Also, you may remain anonymous, just make sure your email is valid so we can notify you if you win.

Yes, this is a shameful way of bribing you to help us. =)

Thanks for your patronage at Bungie.net and we look forward to creating an even richer online world for our Community to grow and prosper.

Halo PC Update

The long awaited release of the PC version of Halo is drawing closer and closer. After the big unvieling at E3 and a series of follow-up interviews, things have been rather quiet. Too quiet. In an effort to give our community the info they desire, I cornered Producer Michel Bastien to find out how things are going. Here's what he passed along....

Halo for PC Development Update

Over a month ago, the world got to play Halo on PC for the first time in a long, long while at the Electronic Entertainment Expo. You guys know all about our showing on the expo floor: Timberland and Gephyrophobia, two new multiplayer environments, the Banshee in multiplayer (wasn’t that a blast?!) and the new Rocket Launcher Warthog. Since then, we’ve continued our development work with Gearbox Software...

In the last 5 weeks or so, we’ve been focused on two main development challenges: unleashing the full power of our sparkling new network architecture to kick-ass on the Internet and making sure we deliver a solid experience on a wide range of hardware configuration and systems. The progress on both fronts is very good and we are on track to hit our current schedule. While I can’t confirm a release date yet (hang tight – it’s coming very soon), I can confirm that we are internally working towards a solid release date.

On the design side, you’ve seen it with Timberland – our new environments show an understanding of what game play elements are making the Halo multiplayer experience the insane fun it is. And it’s been our focus: create compelling environments that amplify these elements. For those who played the game at E3, think about all the opportunities to show off your driving skills, think about all the cool snipping spots or how well team-based game play will work on Timberland. We’ve been applying that same thought process and refinements to the other new multiplayer maps and they are coming along quite nicely.

In the upcoming weeks, you can expect to learn much more details about one or two other new maps. You can also expect a bunch of new screenshots to whet your appetite for this new content just a tiny little bit more. Hey, why don’t you take a couple of minutes and visit our forums and tell me what you'd like to see in a screenshot. Not that we’re running out of inspiration (you know, a Fuel Rod flipping a Rocket Launcher Warthog while it was firing at three guys fighting is inspiring, after all) but if there’s a recurring theme, we’ll shoot it for you guys!

In the shorter term, a couple of guys and I have been spending the week in Plano, TX working with the Gearbox team. We always have a blast working on site. Evening play test sessions = fun.

Enjoy!
-mbastien

Stay tuned to Bungie.net for the latest info on Halo PC. And, if you haven't been there, be sure to check out our Halo PC screenshot collection

Halo PC @ GenCon

It's time to break out your fantasy costumes... GenCon is coming. This convention, dubbed the "Best Event in Gaming," is taking over Indianapolis from July 24-27 with thousands of booths, special events and some celebrity appearances. What does this have to do with Bungie? Well, one of the traditions at GenCon is a huge LAN area for players to frag each other 24 hours a day for the duration of the show. One of the games available this year just happens to be Halo PC. It gets better... Not only will you be able to jump in and play all the Halo PC you want, but there will also be an official tournament resulting in a rather nice grand prize!

The official tournament details are still being worked out but there will be a series of qualifying rounds on Thursday and Friday with the finals taking place on Saturday.

Pre-registration for GenCon has already passed but you can still show up and register at the door. A few of us Bungie folk will be there to represent so stop by and say hello. (we'll be the ones without Orc or Klingon costumes on). I'll post more details about the actual tournament once they're available. See you in Indy!

Pre-Order Halo Figures

The upcoming Halo figures are now available for pre-order in the Bungie Store. Master Chief, Cortana and the Warthog are all part of the first wave which is being released in August. The new Bungie stickers are also now available for purchase. Shop til you drop.

Halo Action Figures Update

As we speak, the packaging for the Master Chief action figure is being printed, his pieces are rolling out of JoyRide's factory in China, getting assembled then painted!

The first assortment of Halo action figures will feature the Master Chief, Cortana and the Warthog light reconnaissance vehicle. The Master Chief action figure has 18 points of articulation and stands approximately 7.5 inches tall. He will be packaged with an assault rifle, pistol and sniper rifle. The translucent Cortana figurine stands about 6 inches tall, 7 with her light-up base. The Warthog has approximately a 5 inch wheelbase and is 7.75 inches long bumper to bumper. Though the Warthog is not to scale with the large Master Chief, it will be packaged with three little action figures (two Halo Marines and one Master Chief); one to man the rear-mounted light anti-aircraft gun, the other to sit in the passenger seat armed with an assault rifle, and the other to take the driver's seat.

This first round of Halo goodies will hit the stores early August! The Bungie Store will also be able to take pre-orders. Stay tuned!

The Boards Behind the Story

In conjunction with todays 'Making of the Halo 2 Demo' story focusing on cinematics, we've updated the storyboards section over at T&R with a few more panels from the E3 Demo. Enjoy!

Help Wanted

We've got a new job opening up today over at Bungie.com (you know, the other Bungie site, the one nobody visits). We're looking for someone to help us with the next iteration of Bungie.net. Are you the one for the job?

FanFest 2003 T-Shirts Available

The Official FanFest 2003 t-shirt was recently added to the Bungie Store for your purchasing pleasure. There were only a limited amount left over from the event so if you want one, act quickly. When they're gone, they're gone!

Pillar of Art - Update

Details were released today regarding the gallery showing for the Pillar of Art fan art contest that recently took place over at HBO. Next Saturday, July 5, all entries will be on display at the Selkirk Gallery in New York. A LAN party is being scheduled following the showing. If you live in the area, head over to halo.bungie.org to sign up and get more info!

FanFest Documentary - Update

As I mentioned in the FanFest Flashback story, a full blown documentary is in the works from Mr.Smiley. He and his team are still working their magic on the hours of footage they captured but they recently finished 'Episode 0' which pays tribute to the famed RedvsBlue series and hints at what's to come.

A Windows Media and Quicktime version is available. (Right click, 'save as') Check it out!

Episode One should be released very soon. Stay tuned.

Freshen up your Chapter

We've got two new themes for all you Founders out there who are looking to spice up the visuals in your Chapter. A big shout out goes to gholsbane for the "Warrior" theme and to poenadare for "Revolution." (Better late than never, right guys? =) If you've got an idea for a theme that's worthy of the 7th Column, download the theme builder and get to work! If is passes our rigorous inspection process we'll add it to the list of official 7th Column Themes!