MS claims it cut the Bungie announcements to make conference shorter (and lamer)

[Tieno]

Via 1up via joystick via Los Angeles Times

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3168848

Details of next Halo project trimmed to make press conference shorter.
By 1UP Staff, 07/17/2008
It appears that time constraints may have had something to do with Microsoft's cancellation of Bungie's E3 announcement. Joystiq reports that the Los Angeles Times interviewed Xbox VP Don Mattrick, who told the newspaper that the decision to cut Bungie's big reveal was made to save time. It seems the press conference was originally planned for a whopping two and a half hours, but Mattrick wanted it trimmed to a lean 90 minutes. As Joystiq notes, cutting the next big Halo project to make room for such games as You're in the Movies is a questionable decision at best.

So this explains why Microsoft didn't present it at the press conference, but why nix the countdown clock on Bungie.net? Speculation says it's to keep attention on the Final Fantasy XIII score, but another megaton certainly wouldn't hurt a fairly humdrum E3. Mattrick says that the company feels that "we could do this game more justice with a dedicated event." We may be seeing what Bungie has up its sleeves after the E3 dust settles.

[cool breeze]

It probably wasn't Oni 2, so no one would give a shit anyone.

[Human Snorenado]

Whatever, it's all part of the conspiracy to keep E3 as lame as possible so no one cares when it's killed in the next couple of years.  It's working, too.  Imagine how much lamer this E3 would have been if there had been no FF XIII announcement.

[duckman2000]

If that's true, Bungie has got to be fucking hating Matrick right now. Wasn't there a shit ton of work put into the whole thing? I'm not buying that excuse.

[Human Snorenado]

Does anyone know if/when there's going to be an X08?  Or something in Europe?  I dunno.  Whatever, videogames suck.

[bud]

another halo game

[duckman2000]

another halo game

But this one was a reasonably massive action game with 128 players!

[MCD]

like i said, he was probably disgusted by how it looked.

[Tieno]

another halo game

I'm happy with either, considering Bungie is working on a new IP (superintendent stuff) and a new Halo game/expansion. The last BWU claimed we'd see major changes to the Halo 3 online.

[Bocsius]

They don't want to show it until they're reasonably sure it's a Haze-killer.

[tiesto]

Wow, the MS conference already felt like the longest thing ever...

[Grecco]

Sounds like Bull.

[JustinP]

another halo game

But this one was a reasonably massive action game with 128 players!

this is actually along the lines of what i was thinking caused them to pull it.  as if they were announcing a large scale MP game but didn't want to announce something that would seem lesser than MAG.  not saying bungie isn't capable of outdoing MAG, but it could have been something as simple as "well we can't announce a 150 player game when sony just announced a 256 player game." 

they'll just wait till they have more to show so they can make the biggest splash possible. 

[drohne]

i really don't get this. obviously mattrick's explanation is a lie, but microsoft should be going out of their way to get along with bungie -- and suggesting that they weren't worth conference time after cancelling their little countdown amounts to a public snub

edit: the mag theory is absurd

a. since when have bungie of all developers been sensitive about player counts
b. mag isn't capable of overshadowing halo

[Tieno]

another halo game

But this one was a reasonably massive action game with 128 players!

this is actually along the lines of what i was thinking caused them to pull it.  as if they were announcing a large scale MP game but didn't want to announce something that would seem lesser than MAG.  not saying bungie isn't capable of outdoing MAG, but it could have been something as simple as "well we can't announce a 150 player game when sony just announced a 256 player game." 

they'll just wait till they have more to show so they can make the biggest splash possible. 

Bungie likes their Halo matchmaking model and p2p stuff for the huge playerbase they draw (so does MS), I doubt they're making a large MP game and/or I doubt that the major change to halo 3 online is going to be that.
Besides, the new IP suggests a more humorous title.

[JustinP]

another halo game

But this one was a reasonably massive action game with 128 players!

this is actually along the lines of what i was thinking caused them to pull it.  as if they were announcing a large scale MP game but didn't want to announce something that would seem lesser than MAG.  not saying bungie isn't capable of outdoing MAG, but it could have been something as simple as "well we can't announce a 150 player game when sony just announced a 256 player game." 

they'll just wait till they have more to show so they can make the biggest splash possible. 

Bungie likes their Halo matchmaking model and p2p stuff for the huge playerbase they draw (so does MS), I doubt they're making a large MP game and/or I doubt that the major change to halo 3 online is going to be that.
Besides, the new IP suggests a more humorous title.

they wouldn't really need to ditch a matchmaking model.  and microsoft had already talked about how they were developing a large scale multiplayer system using p2p. 

[Tieno]

While it seems the superintendent character doesn't fit the Halo universe, the theme of the countdown pics for the announcement, with the code and the text is very reminiscent of it. Either it is in the Halo universe or it could be to Halo as Halo is to Marathon.
Looks like an AI character (possibly on the shield world we see at the end of halo 3), who's had too much time alone.

[BlueTsunami]

Oh god, is MAG really starting to be touted as a "Halo killer"?

[Tieno]

It also seems the there would have been a 60s teaser at the end of MS conference (so before the Sony conference), followed by a dedicated Bungie conference. If they had pulled the showing because MS was deathly afraid of a 256player CG trailer promise of playstation potential trumping whatever the Bungie announcement would be, then this makes it less likely.


http://gamerush.zoomshare.com/files/news/002616_Bungie_had_knock_em_down_teaser_trailer_planned.htm
Today, details are coming in about what Bungie intended to reveal at Microsoft’s E3 press conference. While specific information about its upcoming Halo project remain a secret, the developer reportedly planned to show a sixty second “knock’em down” teaser trailer, only to have it pulled at the last minute.

“Bungie had a sixty second knock’em down teaser trailer made that was going to unveil the game and it was going to be the close to Microsoft media keynote at E3,” Jacob Metcalf explained. “This was going to be followed up by Bungie doing their separate press event later on in the week on Wednesday to show off the new game.”

“Microsoft has never really explained why they prevented Bungie from going on with their media event on Wednesday at E3. It has to be a new Halo game since if it was an new IP Microsoft would not have their hands on the control of the brand and would not have had the power to silence Bungie about it.”

Bungie informed fans that plans had been changed on Tuesday, later promising something “further down the road.” Meanwhile, Microsoft maintains that the announcement was held back for a “more dedicated event.”

“So soon Bungie and Microsoft will come to terms about when and how Microsoft is going to unveil this new Bungie developed Halo game and then show it to the public,” he said.

[BobFromPikeCreek]

I think they just want to spread their shit out. FFXIII created a big enough buzz already for their E3 showing.

[JustinP]

Oh god, is MAG really starting to be touted as a "Halo killer"?

you'd have to be pretty dumb to think anyone here was saying that.  you and wicked laharl win the award for worst reading comprehension. 

[BlueTsunami]

I would have bad reading comprehension if I said that I read your post, which I didn't. I referencing drohne's post. Don't worry dfyb, you don't have to be the official punching bag for Sony on Evilbore.

And only in the minds of the delusional will a CG video with super cool and awesome bullet points amount for anything. E3 05 (or was it 06') hasn't taught some people anything.

[AdmiralViscen]

I just don't see why "too many big guns" is a good enough reason to totally shit on one of your most important devs. They took all of Bungie's work and fanservice and flushed it down the toilet.

[y2kev]

Bungie is a whore to MS now. They know the whore is leaving them shortly, but they get to use the whore contractually for two more goes. And, despite what Bungie might feel about their community, ultimately nothing will happen to game sales because most people have no idea what's going on anyway. The extent of the COMMUNITY DAMAGE is GhaleonEB resigning as Xbot MVP 

So yeah. Bungie is a mail order bride. I wouldn't be shocked to see them crap out two games quickly to get away from MS. They are very obviously going multiplatform, or, at the very least, into Xbox 360 games not published by Microsoft.

[AdmiralViscen]

I'm not talking about the fans, I'm talking about MS giving a big F U to Bungie instead of trying to keep them in the fold even while being independent.

[cool breeze]

 I hope that if there is another E3, they have longer conferences.  E3 is really only good now for 1up podcasts and Press Conferences.  No real big need for a show floor or anything like that.  2+ hour conferences that show off everything they are planning to do and have enough time to show all the stage demos there and then.  I wish Sony had more time to have an infamous stage demo.  I wish Microsoft had more time to do Banjo stage demo.  I wish Nintendo had more time to show off a game.  It should break down like this: Talk about what they are about and that bullshit in the first bits (keep it under 10 minutes), sales data/dick stroking (keep it under 5 unless it is done in LBP), show a reel of games coming out for the system(s) (under 5 minutes), then for the next hour or two just have stage demos of games.  10-20 minutes each.

[y2kev]

I'm not talking about the fans, I'm talking about MS giving a big F U to Bungie instead of trying to keep them in the fold even while being independent.

Yeah, I think MS had to be reading the tea leaves or something. Them wanting to be independent in the first place was probably a sign of tension...over what I'm not sure though, especially if Bungie is already making another Halo game.

[Tieno]

Bungie is a whore to MS now. They know the whore is leaving them shortly, but they get to use the whore contractually for two more goes. And, despite what Bungie might feel about their community, ultimately nothing will happen to game sales because most people have no idea what's going on anyway. The extent of the COMMUNITY DAMAGE is GhaleonEB resigning as Xbot MVP 

So yeah. Bungie is a mail order bride. I wouldn't be shocked to see them crap out two games quickly to get away from MS. They are very obviously going multiplatform, or, at the very least, into Xbox 360 games not published by Microsoft.

It was my impression the two games deal was regarding Halo games, the first right to refusal is about other games Bungie makes for the next couple of years.

[y2kev]

If that's true, then I'm very surprised. That means they've got to produce two more major Halo games? Yikes. I thought them going independent was to get away from that. Plus, with Frank leaving Bungie for MS, I would have figured MS would be taking care of that stuff now.

And I guess it would depend on the number of years. A couple (meaning two) would be worthless as games take longer to develop than that.

[Tieno]

Well, I don't think the people within Bungie have the deep enough pockets to pay full price for a majority share to get their studio back...they're worth alot more now.
But they've never really slagged on making Halo, they love doing that, just not only that...which they are since they're working on at least two games now (one of which is a Halo game). From all I've read and heard on the podcasts it seems the independence had a lot to do with the atmosphere in the studio, being in charge of your own fate and of course getting a bigger cut of a big hit. Now while MS payed only 40million $ for Bungie, now they're much more worth than that and I believe some people within Bungie bought back a majority. MS still has a minority % of Bungie, I think, and they made a deal with MS in order to get 'their studio' back but of course under heavy conditions, you just don't get back independence magically, for free, even if you're Bungie.
Bungie/Frankie made it pretty clear they'd be making games with MS and for 360 for a long time. What changed is that there's even less oversight from MS and they pay for working cost of running the studio themselves and they feel more ownership of their studio.

[Tieno]

nvm, made a new thread

[Tabasco]

If that's true, then I'm very surprised. That means they've got to produce two more major Halo games? Yikes. I thought them going independent was to get away from that. Plus, with Frank leaving Bungie for MS, I would have figured MS would be taking care of that stuff now.

And I guess it would depend on the number of years. A couple (meaning two) would be worthless as games take longer to develop than that.

As awesome as Frankie is, he can't write code.  MS announced just a couple months ago they were staffing for internal development, so any Halo game coming from MGS is years away.

[duckman2000]

If that's true, then I'm very surprised. That means they've got to produce two more major Halo games? Yikes. I thought them going independent was to get away from that. Plus, with Frank leaving Bungie for MS, I would have figured MS would be taking care of that stuff now.

And I guess it would depend on the number of years. A couple (meaning two) would be worthless as games take longer to develop than that.

As awesome as Frankie is, he can't write code.

Not story either, for that matter. Oh man, let's see how many blunt baseline references to religion and blockbuster sci-fi we can pack in this here epic story of maniacal, WMD-packing terrorists vs the free world. Can't blame them, though; dorksters across the world like basic shit they can solve simply by going to pappy's church and overhearing some Hare Krishnas chanting outside the local meatshop.

Halo
Halo 2

[y2kev]

If that's true, then I'm very surprised. That means they've got to produce two more major Halo games? Yikes. I thought them going independent was to get away from that. Plus, with Frank leaving Bungie for MS, I would have figured MS would be taking care of that stuff now.

And I guess it would depend on the number of years. A couple (meaning two) would be worthless as games take longer to develop than that.

As awesome as Frankie is, he can't write code.  MS announced just a couple months ago they were staffing for internal development, so any Halo game coming from MGS is years away.

Yeah, I figured. But I figured he'd be at the helm of any MGS Halo ventures...and Bungie would be doing something else.

[Tieno]

If that's true, then I'm very surprised. That means they've got to produce two more major Halo games? Yikes. I thought them going independent was to get away from that. Plus, with Frank leaving Bungie for MS, I would have figured MS would be taking care of that stuff now.

And I guess it would depend on the number of years. A couple (meaning two) would be worthless as games take longer to develop than that.

As awesome as Frankie is, he can't write code.  MS announced just a couple months ago they were staffing for internal development, so any Halo game coming from MGS is years away.

Yeah, I figured. But I figured he'd be at the helm of any MGS Halo ventures...and Bungie would be doing something else.

Frankie doesn't have any design experience afaik, he was the head of the story team (books, ARGs, PR, games, terminals, etc).