Bungie reaffirms faithfulness to Xbox 360

by Ross Miller { Dec 7th 2007 at 4:55PM }

While still asserting its independence by moving out of the house, Halo creator Bungie has again told the world that it's still happy with Microsoft and does its best to call at least once a day (*regularity of phone calls unconfirmed). In an chat with EuroGamer, writing lead Frank O'Connor said, "We have no plans to work on any other platforms beyond [Xbox] 360 at this time." The moderator of the LiveText interview made note (perhaps jokingly) that O'Connor "wrote that before he actually saw the first question."

Production director Jonty Barnes clarified the situation. "We're really focused on continuing our collaboration in making the best games we can, and that right now is on 360," he said. "It's our hope this relationship continues to be our strongest one, as we have a lot of respect for the people we have worked with at Microsoft." Of course, with Microsoft having right of first refusal on all Bungie projects, having a negative work relationship would cause unnecessary stress and tension - can we get Dr. Phil on speed dial, just in case?

Tags: bungie, halo, microsoft

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Martin @ Dec 7th 2007 4:58PM

So Microsoft's the bitch and Bungie's the butch, eh? That picture tells it all.

SharpBlade @ Dec 7th 2007 6:59PM

The only b!tch this gen is the PS3..

Jevanzz @ Dec 7th 2007 7:12PM

@ SharpBlade

If that's the case, then X360 is the skanky ho that overcharges, then continues to break your lampshade and steal your watch when she leaves.

gonk @ Dec 7th 2007 8:34PM

what

Platinum_Skeet @ Dec 8th 2007 9:11PM

@Jevanzz

Isn't that PS3 with it's $600 pricetag? When the 60 gb $399 gives you more for less...

If you're going to make a comeback atleast make one that holds weight...

Slaziman (B-B-BRUSHED WITH FAAAAME) @ Dec 7th 2007 5:16PM

HEEEEEEEEEEEEYLOOOOOOOOOOW

deaftly @ Dec 7th 2007 5:26PM

God only knooooowwwsss
Right behind me everywhere I goooooo

toLkKi @ Dec 7th 2007 5:58PM

oh oh oh disappear the light is fading

Obie @ Dec 7th 2007 5:22PM

I haven't touched H3 since I got COD4, Orange box and Galaxy...I will check out the game again once those new maps are free...should be a fun time to come back.

ScottyGEE32 @ Dec 7th 2007 5:28PM

Oh I thought this thread was about Bungie's commitments with the 360 post halo 3...But if I misread the topic and its actually: "stupidly post what games you play and which ones you don't" I play halo 3 and mass effect because I also feel everyone needs to know what I do to make myself feel special or rebellious or with the crowd sometimes.

I look forward to this supposed new IP and thankfully I know it'll be on the 360 (if its good ;p)

Noshino @ Dec 7th 2007 5:32PM

thankfully I know it'll be on the 360 (if its bad ;p)

rv @ Dec 7th 2007 5:54PM

@Noshino- ZING! Thats the best joke ever, dude! Seriously, I would've never thought of that. Not only was it funny, it convinced me to throw out my 360. Its outside my window 3 stories down now. You are the ultimate WINNER!

moo083 @ Dec 7th 2007 5:33PM

I'm a bit sad since people were hoping Bungie pulling away wasn't a pointless publicity stunt. Or have they actually explained their reasoning. What could they not do as part of MS that they can do now? To me, it seems the only thing would be to make games for something other than Xbox 360. Doesn't have to be PS3 or Wii, but DS or Mac would be cool. Considering that at their roots they are a Mac company, its really sad that they shun the mac community, especially considering how many of us own macs nowadays. I mean look at the people who make all the gaming blogs. I here them referencing their Macs enough to where I can tell its probably most of them.

Silent Xenocide @ Dec 7th 2007 6:13PM

Whatever Macs are gay go buy Vista.

moo083 @ Dec 7th 2007 6:23PM

You know, I'm sure your right. I should probably just throw out my machine and get an OS that overpriced and inefficient when compared to its predecessor.

Oh wait thats right. Your some obnoxious homophobic kid who still uses gay as an insult. I have several gay friends, so I'll just treat it as a compliment. Never mind, I guess I shouldn't throw my computer away.

You know, as a programmer by trade who suffers through using windows everyday, I'm sure my opinion counts for something, whereas you probably haven't even touched a mac. You might wanna try being an intelligent human being for one second in your life. Seriously, if you go to a reasonable college in CS, you will likely be told by your professors how stupid Windows is. I had most of my professors tell me this, and the others were just apathetic.

I'm not going to see someone make a pro-pc post and make a post telling them that their OS of choice sucks. You might wanna try the same. Or else, maybe you don't want to have any friends at any point that have any intelligence.

Also, you might want to look at Microsoft from an ethical standpoint. It really makes a huge difference. You should HATE Halo. I mean, it was originally shown to the public during Steve Jobs' keynote in 1999. It was originally a Mac and PC (but Mac first and foremost) game. The mac is responsible for so many things, it might fry your tiny little head.

Please, just try and have some intelligence for once in your life. Please!!!

Silent Xenocide @ Dec 7th 2007 6:30PM

Geeze maybe I'll just put a /sarcasm next time. And I used a Mac all throughout school, and I see no ethical problems.

moo083 @ Dec 7th 2007 6:37PM

You know, I think a /sarcasm would be appropriate cause I have seen so many kids who are so ignorant about this stuff it makes me sick. I mean, go ahead, use what you want, but to insult anything else is just ignorant.

As for the ethical issues comment, the list of inethical things MS has done grows daily. Take for instance the fact that they wanted to sell Windows XP Ultra limited edition to third world countries instead of using a free alternative. This means they are locked in to using Windows later on whether they want to or not. Or buying Bungie which probably helped damage gaming on the mac. Can't MS make their own good games? Or that they are trying to compete OOXML with ODF. ODF came first. Why did they need a competitor? Why not just use the standard. And then claim its going to be open only to take control of it at the last second.

There are a lot of places MS bullies the industry. There are a lot of ethical complaints to be had.

Jeff @ Dec 7th 2007 7:33PM

Yeah. So many gamers own macs.

No, dick. Trendy fucks and people who want to be trendy fucks own macs. People with serious tasks (such as headshots) use PCs.

moo083 @ Dec 7th 2007 7:50PM

jeff: yet another blind idiot who probably doesn't know anything about macs. I've been using macs and been a gamer for years (more than 10)

Spartacus @ Dec 7th 2007 8:12PM

Good Lord, you're one of those self righteous Mac lovers...

Look, you claim to be a programmer, then go on to say something like "an OS that overpriced and inefficient when compared to its predecessor". There has NEVER been an OS in the HISTORY of the computer (Mac or PC) that costs less or is more efficient than its predacessor. Yes, Vista is a hog, but that's because it is a more powerful OS than XP. I don't hear people complaining that Crysis requires more system resources than Wolfenstein 3D nor that Photoshop CS3 costs more than CS2.

And you have issues with MS because of ethics? You do realize that businesses exist out of very basic principle of greed, right? Show me a for-profit company that exists for the wellfare of the community first and foremost. If they exist, they are few and far inbetween and Apple certainly isn't one of them. Does MS make a ton of money? Hell yes. They also contribute a huge amount every year to charities. Get off the "M$ is the devil" koolaid.

Sora267 @ Dec 7th 2007 9:26PM

"Considering that at their roots they are a Mac company, its really sad that they shun the >>>mac community

Daniel H @ Dec 7th 2007 9:28PM

Ookay, it didn't post all the way -_-
What I was TRYING to say:
"Considering that at their roots they are a Mac company, its really sad that they shun the >>>mac community

moo083 @ Dec 7th 2007 10:21PM

ok. I'm not a fanatic. I just don't like people telling me something i like is gay. Thats offensive and i wont just take it. Go use what os you want. But for someone to tell me that the os i use is just for the trendy kids, they probably dont know much about how os's work. When i said xp was faster, i meant that apps ran 10% slower in vista. And btw, crysis has significantly higher minimum requirments in vista than xp.

But i wasnt even comparing windows and mac. Remember that. I'm happy to use windows as a tool. I just dont enjoy using it. I dont hate it either though. I just prefer os x.

Mr.ESC @ Dec 7th 2007 11:06PM

People with serious tasks (such as headshots) use PCs.

Haha damn rite.

1up for ya Jeff haha I lol'd.

Spartacus @ Dec 8th 2007 2:52AM

Yes, I know Vista is "slower" (less efficient) than XP. I made that quite clear in my last post. XP ran "slower" than Win 98 too and Win 95 ran "slower" than 3.11- why? Because each progression of OS's had more background apps running and required more processes each cycle from the CPU. Of course each new iteration of Windows has had much more power and overall usability and productivity than its predacessor, but all that comes at a cost of PC resources. But the idea is that hardware progresses much faster than OS's- while a new version of Windows only comes out every 4-6 years, every 18 months processing power doubles. So yes, Vista runs "slower" (you say 10%), but in 6 months CPUs will be out that are 25% faster than today's, which more than make up for the performance hit of Vista AND you get all the new bells and whistles that XP doesn't.

Example: The new search function of the start menu. 100x more powerful than the one found in XP. You can literally find any file on your HDD in seconds which would've taken 2-5 minutes (with mixed results) with XP. Security is better on Vista. Graphics are better with AeroGlass and 3D flip and you get more functions and features such as the sidebar and connectivity and streaming built into the OS (similar to XP media center).

I'm not an MS salesman, and I dont hate Macs. I do agree that a LOT of people who own Macs bought them because they are more of a fashion item than other electronics, but I also know graphic design people and video editors who use them for practical reasons. So I don't think OS X or Leopard or Tiger or Jaguar or whatever Steve is calling his software these days is teh gay, I just think you don't quite understand the basic principles of computing technology- hardware becomes faster and more powerful in order for software to utilize it. I don't need a quad core CPU with 4GB of low latency RAM to run Windows 95 and a word processing program. I need it to run Vista on a dual monitor setup running Quake on one screen and 4 other programs on the other. To do this I need an OS that can utilize 4 GB of RAM (needs to be 64bit) and can efficiently split up the workload of these demanding programs to all 4 cores of the CPU. Windows 95 can't do this even though it "runs faster" than Vista in single core, single thread applications.

The fact is Vista is a better OS than XP. It's more stable, has a lot more functions and is more intelligent. But like all new software, it requires a bit more horsepower to run it. This is not a radically new concept in the computing world.

moo083 @ Dec 8th 2007 3:24AM

I don't think you understand exactly what I'm saying. While most new OS's do more, hence using more CPU, they do not make applications you run in them slower. Or they shouldn't. When I got the new Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, it actually increased the speed of a lot of apps since Apple optimized the OS. Same thing happens in the Linux world too. In Windows Vista, apps were noticeably slower. Thats not to say its not because of some nice features, but it simply points to poor optimization. If Microsoft just did a complete rewrite of the entire OS like Apple did with Mac OS X, things would be a lot more efficient, but I guess they are too paranoid about backwards compatibility. As far as I understand it, even the Vista kernel shares code from the old code base.

So in summary, using more CPU cycles is not what I was talking about. Giving less CPU cycles to apps is exactly what I am talking about.

ill trooper @ Dec 8th 2007 4:01AM

Silent Xenocide, Jeff: EAT FUCK IN THE MOUTH

Signed,

Mac user for 23 years

ThornedVenom @ Dec 8th 2007 12:57PM

Mac users are gamers all right... they just buy consoles on the side.

I'd rather use Linux than Mac: at least WINE makes it worth something.

moo083 @ Dec 8th 2007 1:02PM

Uh....you realize Macs have CrossOver, which IS WINE...

Spartacus @ Dec 8th 2007 1:32PM

moo083,

I understand what you're saying, but I think people have blown it way out of proportion. I'm not going to argue that Vista is more optimized than XP, it isn't and probably for the reasons you mentioned along with cost of development and time of development it would take to overhaul the OS (remember Vista WAS going to bring a new, more efficient file system to the PC upgrading from NTSC or the even older FAT32, but the feature was scrapped due to time contraints). What I will argue is that the difference is hardly noticeable. When my laptop loaded Photoshop CS2 in about 6 seconds on XP, it might take about 7 now on Vista. Everyday apps like Word, PowerPoint, IE or Firefox etc I wouln't be able to tell a difference unless I had a stopwatch. What I CAN tell a difference in is stability and ease of use. So yeah, while I would love Vista to be more optimized, the pros far outweigh the cons and none but the most hardcore running benchmark tests will really see any glaring differences in application start up and run times.

Mac OS's are great sets of software, I'm not denying that. But Macs are not leaps and bounds ahead of PC's. They have their adantages and their disadvantages. Price would definitely be one of their disadvantages along with general compatability and upgradability. But they are great for graphic design and video editing software. But for most general computing, a PC is just as good and offers more bang for the buck as well as giving the consumer much more options, manufacturers and configurations.

Synner @ Dec 8th 2007 5:24PM

Yes the all of %4 of you that own macs should be catered to because the weinie in the turtleneck makes you feel so special about your PC.

Shagittarius @ Dec 7th 2007 5:34PM

HALO PS3 confirmed.

Mr.ESC @ Dec 7th 2007 5:44PM

Is that a joke?

hydralisk456 @ Dec 7th 2007 5:47PM

Well, since it's been well established that M$ owns Halo, I think not. Plus, why would PS3 owners even want Halo?

Will @ Dec 7th 2007 5:51PM

I heard Halo 4 is a PS3 exclusive!

Mr.ESC @ Dec 7th 2007 5:53PM

That's why I asked if it was a joke, it wasn't funny.

Ignoring the obvious fact that MS owns Halo,a Halo 3 port for the Ps3 with K/M compatibility would be great for all of us gamers that have a PS3 and don't like Final Fantasy and don't want to wait for MGS4.

(I don't have a PS3,I think I will never have one because I'm quiting gaming next year)

Akamaru @ Dec 7th 2007 5:57PM

Ugh, I shudder at the thought of "OMG teh HaloeZ" coming anywhere near my console of choice.

Mr Khan @ Dec 7th 2007 6:13PM

Quitting gaming? I've heard that before

I have a friend whose "quit" more times than i can count, always claiming that he can't any longer for some reason or other, right now he's a WoW-head who has freshly purchased a 360

Sadly, however, i have a friend who has the same problem with cigarettes...