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Fear and Loathing in HTML
Posted By: Matt <matt@bungie.com>Date: 5/28/02 5:56 p.m.

Hello All-

I spent the three-day weekend offline, so I've got a lot of catching up to do, and it struck me that maybe I should say a bunch of things in one post rather than posting to a bunch of threads that everyone else got bored with last week.

First, it's nice to be back. Many thanks to everyone who came to the FanFest. I somehow managed to forget to thank Miguel Chavez, even though his tireless energy, sense of humor and willingness to go beyond the pale are an integral part of every FanFest. Last year he wore a suit; this year he carved out the hair on the back of his head in the shape of the Seventh Column logo. This terrified passers-by who saw Miguel's noggin through the window of the Milky Way restaurant where we dined the night before the FanFest. I guess the word is getting around.

Regarding the whole MS PR guy interview on Shacknews and its consequent fallout, you probably know what I'm going to say. Indeed, some of you have said it already. But since I get to make official public pronouncements on Bungie's behalf, here it comes again.

It's pretty obvious when you read that interview that it's a word-for-word transcription of someone trying to figure out the safe thing to say. He even says "I don’t know if I’ve told you anything different than what we've been saying..." at the end. He doesn't have a clear message and is feeling his way through the interview with the aid of somewhat leading questions. If he was closer to the project, he wouldn't have sounded so circumspect and negative. I spent a lot of time pestering people about the status of Mac/PC Halo in the days leading up to E3, and while I knew I couldn't say anything substantial at the show, I also knew exactly where the project stood. PC Halo may seem an abstract concept for an indefinite future to the PR folks because we haven't given them anything to say about it yet, but it is very real to those of us personally involved in making it happen.

Work on PC Halo continues. When we're ready and able to say more, we will. That it didn't happen during E3 is a drag, but the lack of an E3 announcement doesn't MEAN anything except that we haven't gotten much faster in 11 years.

As for Phoenix and/or other Bungie stuff that everyone expected to see on the show floor, allow me to state the obvious and say that it just wasn't ready. I remember making this point a long time ago in an interview or chat that was logged and posted, but I'll reiterate: one of the good things about working for Microsoft is that we are no longer forced to schedule development around E3 in order to get press/money. Some of you might remember all the hot air that burst forth back in the day when I said something to the effect of "After we got back from E3, we had to pull all the cheap hacks out and make the game actually do all the stuff we were faking at the show." We don't have to worry about making a splash at E3 to attract orders from distributors. We don't have to play those games anymore. If something isn't ready to show, we don't have to show it. This time we weren't ready, so we made the call not to show anything. We actually made that decision several months ago. There will be other times, other events.

But what about all those websites and magazines with their inside sources who promised a big debut and an Xmas launch date? You know, because "Microsoft needs a bunch of Xboxes under the tree this year" or whatever the rationale was. I could have said "That's a bunch of crap; we're not showing anything." In fact, if you read between the lines of what I did post, that's pretty much what I wanted you to take away. Unfortunately, the posts in which I explicitly say "that's not going to happen" tend to get filtered in a very strange way through the media, and I decided I didn't want to deal with the crap that would result. No "Bungie Cancels Xmas Release; Future of Xbox in Jeopardy" headlines for me! Besides, I thought it would be a good life lesson for the more imaginative/gullible press folks. I always get a cheap thrill when other people have to eat their words. (Hi, stagnant!) Trust me: if a major announcement is in the wings, I'm not going to sit on my hands while the press drops all the hints. :-)

-Matt


Message Index




Replies:

Fear and Loathing in HTMLMatt 5/28/02 5:56 p.m.
     Phew!!!!AgenteJohnson 5/28/02 6:22 p.m.
     waving razor sharp hunting in your eyePfhoenix 5/28/02 6:26 p.m.
           Re: waving razor sharp hunting in your eyeMatt 5/28/02 7:21 p.m.
                 Eh...vector40 5/28/02 8:55 p.m.
     Re: Fear and Loathing in HTMLShishka 5/28/02 6:30 p.m.
           Re: Fear and Loathing in HTMLPfhoenix 5/28/02 6:34 p.m.
                 Re: Fear and Loathing in HTMLShishka 5/28/02 6:46 p.m.
                       Re: Fear and Loathing in HTMLMark Levin 5/28/02 7:10 p.m.
                             Re: Fear and Loathing in HTMLcandyman 5/28/02 7:16 p.m.
                                   Re: Fear and Loathing in HTMLoldmano'theC 5/28/02 7:42 p.m.
                                   Slurpslurpslurpslurp!! *NM*MakeMineRed 5/29/02 1:50 p.m.
                 Re: Fear and Loathing in HTMLvector40 5/28/02 8:57 p.m.
     Thanks, Matt! *NM*mnemesis 5/28/02 6:37 p.m.
     thanks, matt! *NM**Ar-Isildur of *WP* 5/28/02 8:19 p.m.
     Slow...vector40 5/28/02 8:57 p.m.
     Re: Fear and Loathing in HTMLXBOX 5/28/02 9:08 p.m.
           sigh... *NM**Ar-Isildur of *WP* 5/28/02 9:10 p.m.
           Re: Fear and Loathing in HTMLDa Loaph 5/28/02 9:34 p.m.
           Re: Fear and Loathing in HTMLStormsinger 5/28/02 10:42 p.m.
           No Halo and no answer make XBOX go something....This Side Up 5/29/02 12:51 p.m.
           Re: Fear and Loathing in HTMLAsmodeus 5/29/02 1:36 p.m.
           You are a complete and total moronSmasher 6/19/02 1:05 a.m.
                 Re: You are a complete and total moronSmasher 6/19/02 1:07 a.m.
                 Re: You are a complete and total moronLouis Wu 6/19/02 8:47 a.m.
                       Re: You are a complete and total moronDeanero 6/19/02 9:17 a.m.
                             Re: You are a complete and total moronLouis Wu 6/19/02 9:25 a.m.
                                   Re: You are a complete and total moronRoger Wilco 6/19/02 12:21 p.m.
                 Re: You are a complete and total moronAsmodeus 6/19/02 11:40 a.m.
                       DOH!Louis Wu 6/19/02 11:52 a.m.
                             Re: DOH!*Ar-Isildur of *WP* 6/19/02 3:44 p.m.
                                   Re: DOH!vector40 6/19/02 7:13 p.m.
                 Re: You are a complete and total moronPanZer 6/19/02 5:45 p.m.
                       Re: You are a complete and total moron *NM*Uriel 6/20/02 12:55 a.m.
     Re: Fear and Loathing in HTMLNarcogen 5/29/02 3:48 a.m.
           Re: Fear and Loathing in HTML...what he said!Brian Josselyn 5/29/02 3:51 a.m.
           Re: Fear and Loathing in HTMLMark Levin 5/29/02 4:45 a.m.
                 to err is marketing; to forgive, public relationsNarcogen 5/29/02 10:14 a.m.
                       Re: to err is marketing; to forgive, public relatiKellen Squire 5/29/02 9:55 p.m.
                             Re: to err is marketing; to forgive, public relativector40 5/29/02 11:50 p.m.
     Re: Fear and Loathing in HTMLThe Mattster 5/29/02 6:03 p.m.
           Re: Fear and Loathing in HTMLNunya biz 5/30/02 7:42 a.m.
                 Re: Fear and Loathing in HTMLvector40 5/30/02 10:26 a.m.
                       Re: Fear and Loathing in HTMLStormsinger 5/30/02 10:33 a.m.
     Thanks Matt !!! *NM* *NM*Anzio 5/29/02 11:14 p.m.



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