*** The Bungie Newsletter ****
Volume 3
September 28th, 1998
Welcome to the latest edition of the Bungie Newsletter. As we come closer
to finishing up Myth II: Soulblighter, important developments related to
the game are starting to pile up. For all the news you need to know, read
on...
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Table of Contents
1. Bungie's Version of Resource Management
2. Fear & Loathing - The Editors
3. Myth II: Soulblighter Supports lots of Hardware
4. No Blood for the Masses
5. Myth II: Soulblighter gets European Support from GTI
6. Upcoming: Tournaments at MacWorld San Francisco
8. Hear from our Sound Guys
9. What's next from Bungie?
10. How to (un)subscribe to the Bungie Mail List
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1. Bungie's Version of Resource Management
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These days everyone knows that the rainforests and spotted owls are
endangered natural resources, but few realize that the nation's supply of
CD-ROM plastic is also dangerously
low. Bungie Software, in a bold new initiative, has come up with a
solution: recycling real-time strategy game CDs. Since RTS is one of the
most popular genres in computer gaming, reclaiming the plastic from RTS
CDs will prevent the clear-cutting of whole forests of plastic trees.
When a PC gamer sends us their CD for StarCraft(tm), Age of Empires(tm)
or Total Annihilation(tm), they'll get $10 off the price of pre-ordering
Myth II: Soulblighter. Regularly $49.99, they'll get one of the first
copies off the line for $39.99. Macintosh gamers can bolster precious
stocks of plastic by sending in their Command and Conquer(tm) and
WarCraft II(tm) CDs. The
same terms apply.
For instructions on how to save the Earth and save big on Myth II:
Soulblighter go to https://www.bungie.com/store and fill out the
pre-order form. Then print the screen with your information, and send it
along with the original CD of your game to the indicated address.
2. Fear & Loathing - The Editors
--------------------------------
Isn't it better to use the tools than to be one? That's exactly what you
can do when Myth II comes out. We'll be including Fear & Loathing - the
very tools our map designers use - in the retail package.
Fear is the tag editor, which allows users to manipulate the many
cross-platform data files, or tags, that control the characteristics of
units, objects, sounds and most other elements in the Myth world.
Loathing is the map editor, which unites a user's map texture with the 3D
mesh that makes it into a terrain, and governs the placement of units,
sound sources and other game elements on that terrain. Together these
tools allow a user to create an entirely new Myth world from scratch, or
modify existing Myth levels into bizarre permutations of the originals.
One of our designers used his daily allotted free time (about 20 minutes)
to make exploding chickens shoot out of the dwarves' butts. Just imagine
what you'll think of. Plus, all the cool new maps you make can be traded
on the net as plug-ins and used on bungie.net too!
3. Myth II: Soulblighter to Support Hardware
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Myth: The Fallen Lords was the first real-time strategy game to take
advantage of true 3D hardware acceleration. With Myth II: Soulblighter,
hardware support is even more impressive than with its predecessor... 3D
audio support brings disturbingly realistic blood-curdling screams into
your home from any angle, while 3D graphics show you the curdling blood
in stunning detail. It's an all-out assault on the senses!
Myth II: Soulblighter utilizes Glide for 3Dfx, Redline for Rendition,
Rave for ATI, and Direct 3D to pick up an enormous variety of 3D hardware
boards. But the support doesn't end there. In addition to 3D graphics
acceleration, Myth II: Soulblighter will support the 3D audio features in
Creative Labs Environmental Audio cards as well as Aureal 3D's A3D
chipset.
4. No Blood for the Masses
--------------------------
Being sensitive to the corruption of our youth today, Bungie has taken a
unique step to bring our gaming experience to as wide an audience as
possible. With the release of Myth II: Soulblighter, Bungie has
perfected the "No-Blood" option which eliminates the Animated Gore that
is so prevalent in the game. With the no-blood option enabled, sprays of
blood are replaced by showers of stars, and explosions will scatter bits
of armor, but not limbs and heads, over the battlefield
While acknowledging that although the gore in the Myth series is somewhat
comical, Bungie's sales director David Joost said, "being a parent
myself, it makes me feel good that we're able to offer our products with
a feature that parents can use to be proactive in what their children are
exposed to." Users will have the ability to choose whether they want the
gore or not and can password protect the no-blood setting.
5. Myth II: Soulblighter gets European Support from GTI
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All of our fans in Europe will be happy to learn that Bungie's selected
GT Interactive Europe, Ltd. as our European distribution partner for Myth
II: Soulblighter. Highlights of the deal will ensure a timely release in
Europe and quality localized versions of the game. GTI will be handling
all EC countries including France, Germany, Italy, Scandinavia, Spain and
the UK. Bungie has also committed to assuring compatibility among all
the localized versions across bungie.net. As we all know, carnage is
quickly becoming one of this country's fastest growing export businesses.
6. Upcoming: Tournaments at MacWorld San Francisco
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Not content to sit at home in front of the couch all day, Bungie has
arranged for a sojourn to the bay area to show off the latest and
greatest (which certainly includes Myth II and possibly some surprises)
at the annual MacWorld convention.
In addition to showing the latest and selling our wares, there will be
tournaments sponsored by show management for fans to participate in. For
more info check out this page: http://www.macworldexpo.com
8. Hear from our Sound Guys
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Bungie continues to enjoy a successful relationship with our beloved
sound engineers at Total Audio (It's amazing how well you can get along
with someone once you've gotten the pictures developed). This month
we've featured them on our web site with an interview about the
intricacies of audio design for computer games. Check it out at
http://www.bungie.com/mythii/
9. What's next from Bungie?
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Y'all may be surprised to learn that the blokes at Bungie have had their
hands full for the last year with more than just Myth II: Soulblighter.
Look for a big announcement about our new stuff soon.
10. How to (un)subscribe to/from the Bungie Mail List
------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from the bungie news list send an email to:
listserv@bungie.com and include the following in the message area:
unsubscribe bungie-news
To subscribe send a similar message with this in the body:
subscribe bungie-news
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