Also he swears a lot. But it's all done in the best possible taste!

Related links:

RUFUS on Marathon
RUFUS on Marathon 2
Infinity timelines page as featured in the video
"what the fuck is going on" = the 'ultimate question'

October 25, 2021 (Monday)

Late to the party...

Marathon | Reddit (aka r/Marathon) turned 13 yesterday.

Yes, r/Marathon is 13 years old having been created on Oct 24, 2008. Somewhat deceptive though as it was originally created as a Marathon running subreddit. The annexed Bungie version dates back to 2012.

Still a lot of water under the bridge since then and a lot of Marathon discussion.

Here are seven highlights that come to mind without even doing a search.

Baran's (aka zlatanbaranovic) interview with Greg Kirkpatrick.
It didn't turn out exactly as planned. Baran asked the r/Marathon community to post the questions they wanted him to ask Greg. Then Greg dropped in and began answering them directly himself. Funny how things work out. Here is Baran's actual interview after the event.

Baran's interview with Matt Soell.
To mark the 25th anniversary of Marathon, Matt Soell agreed to answer Baran's questions regarding his time at Bungie and his work on the Marathon series. To quote the late Kenny Everett... "It's all done in the best possible taste!"

Marathon Iceberg by orihaus.
While not the 'answer' to the 'ultimate question' it does depict the depths you have to go... to fully understand Marathon Infinity.

Marathon Tube Poster Recreation by hanz333
Don't have a Marathon poster? Then make one yourself. And then get it professionally framed. An original Marathon poster in its tube can cost $100s assuming you can find one. The Authenticity in Art Foundation have been notified.

Here is gorgeous pic of a well loved Marathon keychain.
One of the most coveted pieces of Marathon memorabilia out there.

Very good idea by Gopherofdoomies
Now you know how Tfear felt.

Am I wrong? by thunderchild120
For Homers everywhere!

Related links:

The Marathon Poster
The Marathon Keychain
What is the 'ultimate question' ?
Who are the Homers ?

October 24, 2021 (Sunday)

In the last update of duality.net or indeed doubleaught.com you may have noticed a reference to Marathon Infinity winning:

CNET Gamecenter's Best Macintosh Game for 1996

Why did it win? Who were the nominees? What was CNET Gamecenter?

Now you can find out on the Blasts from the Past section.

Related links:

duality.net - Duality development one web page at a time
doubleaught.com - award winning web design
Blasts from the Past - early Marathon, Bungie and Double Aught history
Tuncer Deniz shows Bungie's awards in 1996
Tuncer Deniz today

October 23, 2021 (Saturday)

Marathon Infinity - 25th Anniversary Edition.

Soli Deo Gloria Productions, LLC have released a 25th Anniversary Edition of Marathon Infinity for iOS (iPhone and iPad) to celebrate 25 years of Infinity.

The 25th Anniversary Edition brings new advanced lighting effects with bloom, static, and projectiles that illuminate dark walls and floors.

Now Immersionists can be better illuminated while they search for the 'answer' to the 'ultimate question'.

Also check out what Soli Deo Gloria has to say about... "What does it mean to be a Vidmaster?"

Rage hard... and Vid It With Style.

Related links:

Marathon for iOS
Marathon 2: Durandal for iOS
Marathon release dates
Vidmaster
Vid It With Style ?
Who are the Immersionists ?
What is the 'ultimate question' ?

October 22, 2021 (Friday)

Seven days to go...

The Secret History of Mac Gaming: Expanded Edition by Richard Moss is due to be released on October 29, 2021.

The original edition weighed in at 416 pages and covered "the creative little community of game developers and players who made the Macintosh a special, forward-thinking place for games in the 1980s and '90s - even as the rest of the world forgot it."

This newly-expanded edition "adds around 70 pages of extra content"... including the 'answer' to the 'ultimate question'.

Here's a double spread page preview of the chapter called Durandal (click the image to see a larger version).

But that's not all...

In a recent Facebook post on Bungie's Marathon fans Richard Moss writes:

"I'm planning a second volume of my book The Secret History of Mac Gaming,
of which one major component will be a community-focused/people's history
of the Mac gaming scene (ie how people played, modded, and talked about
Mac games in the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s)."

Probably going to need 700+ pages for that book.

Related links:

Blasts from the Past - early Marathon, Bungie and Double Aught history
Page 2401 - Marathon community in the 90s and early 2000s
What was Page 2401 ?
What is the 'ultimate question' ?

October 21, 2021 (Thursday)

And now back to Duality...

Double Aught have been hard at work and are now heading to E3 to show a Duality Preview.
Duality is scheduled for a Christmas release.
duality.net gets a new web designer and a fresh new look.
What could go wrong?

Find out on duality.net

Related links:

doubleaught.com - award winning web design
Blasts from the Past - early Marathon, Bungie and Double Aught history
Marathon 2 Preview - on The Disc
Marathon 2 Preview - walkthrough (secrets and stuff... hush hush)

October 20, 2021 (Wednesday)

"The trippy, rave-y 90s project"... and the "ultra-rave energy of Infinity".

Thanks to Chlazza in a Story forum post for pointing out a recent article on Power of Seven the folks that did the theme music for Marathon 2: Durandal and Marathon Infinity. You can see it here.

One comment on the article reads:

I also frequented the http://marathon.bungie.org/... (crazy how that lives on!) archive, with dumps
of all the terminal text, while playing the Marathon 2 theme on loop. Those were the days!

And Peter Kirn THANK YOU THANK YOU for this post! I wonder what led you to make it? 25th
anniversary of Marathon Infinity? ;D

"crazy how that lives on!"... indeed.

Related links:

Power of Seven and Psykosonik
25th anniversary of Marathon Infinity
Marathon release dates
Marathon Music... and 'background voices' in the Marathon 2 theme
Marathon Music... and 'background voices' in the Marathon Infinity theme

October 18, 2021 (Monday)

Always sad to hear of the passing of a well known Marathon fan.

Sometimes we forget how much time has passed since 1994.

According to Curt Lewis on the Facebook page Bungie's Marathon fans Michael Garrison (aka CYBERNATOR) passed away a few months ago.

Curt has a nice write up of the days they played Marathon on Apple's campus wide network. Curt writes:

"Watching him play was funny. He was expressionless. You'd think he was working on a spreadsheet. He knew exactly where to go on the map to make the most use of the radar. "

Michael Garrison was a persistent winner when Bungie held their Marathon tournaments at MacWorld.

However a good deal of controversy dogged those tournaments. One day someone will write it all down for posterity.

For now... check out:

The Marathon Macworld Mayhem Tournament
The Marathon Macworld Mayhem 2 Tournament

RIP.

October 17, 2021 (Sunday)

And now on doubleaught.com...

Is this the end of doubleaught.com?

Find out on temporal-assassins

October 16, 2021 (Saturday)

Lots of folks writing in about having to spend yet another 25 years searching for the 'answer'.

"Nuts to this, I want the answer NOW."

Over the years numerous groups have evolved around the mythos that is Marathon Infinity.
Here is quick breakdown of those that are currently known.

Intellectuals

Intellectuals are a highly literate group who believe that like other great literary works of the 20th century the 'answer' is whatever you want it to be. If an 'answer' should ever be forthcoming it is unlikely that Intellectuals would ever agree with it. The genesis of Marathon intellectualism is believed to be this late 1997 usenet post.

Saviors

Saviors believe that someone (the Savior) will appear with the 'answer'. Savior faith is based on the simple belief that someone must have the 'answer'. A sub-group of Saviors believe that in 2046 a time vault will open and Greg Kirkpatrick will appear (Hari Seldon-like) to reveal the 'answer' or at least provide guidance for the next quarter century. However it has been repeatedly pointed out that Greg Kirkpatrick is still alive. Intellectuals disparagingly refer to Saviors as the Nar.

Historians

Historians believe that the 'answer' lies in the past. Somewhere buried in ancient long forgotten usenet posts and other archaic communication protocols lies the 'answer'. The adage goes that "Marathoners have had all of the necessary data for years, they only lacked the will and intellect to decipher it". A sub-group of Historians believe that Greg Kirkpatrick actually posted the 'answer' to the 'ultimate question'. However this mythical post has yet to be found. Intellectuals disparagingly refer to Historians as the Psychos.

Deconstructionists

Deconstructionists believe that the 'answer' can only be found by analysing and deconstructing every word of Infinity's story in search of meaning. However such efforts require a planetary sized network of computers. To date it has not been feasible to sacrifice such a network for this task. Deconstructionists wait for the birth of AI to begin their search for the Holy Grial.

Immersionists

Immersionists believe that the 'answer' can only be found by reading the terminals in-game and not on a page. Immersionists seek to identify with, understand, and experience the character's inner motivation and emotions. Only through complete immersion can the story be truly understood. A sub-group of Immersionists believe that there is an undiscovered path backwards in the game that if taken with a unique item will reveal a hidden secret with the 'answer'.

Critics

Critics believe that the Infinity story is a "load of tosh" and as such has NO 'answer', "never had and never will". Infinity is simply the "incoherent ramblings" of game makers who "mistake themselves for writers". A sub-group of Critics blame the Marathon's Story page for encouraging Double Aught to write "incomprehensible drivel simply to placate its rabid fans".

Homers

Homers are not strictly a group per se. Homers have played Marathon Infinity and then spent 7 seconds thinking (the maximum length of a Homerian thought) about what it means and moved on. Homers have been immortalised in this classic mural. If you are a Homer... remember to scroll to the right... no your OTHER right.

What group are you in?

October 15, 2021 (Friday)

Happy 25th Birthday... Marathon Infinity.

Marathon Infinity was released on October 15, 1996. Twenty-five years ago today.

For 25 years Marathon fans have attempted to answer the 'ultimate question'.

Greg K:

Hello Hamish.

Hamish:

Who are you?

Greg K:

I am the Architect. I created Marathon Infinity. I've been waiting for you. You have many questions, and though the process has altered your consciousness, you remain irrevocably human. Ergo, some of my answers you will understand, and some of them you will not. Concordantly, while your first question may be the most pertinent, you may or may not realize it is also the most irrelevant.

Hamish:

What happens in Marathon Infinity?

Over the next 25 years Marathon fans will continue to search for the 'answer'.

Will you be here in... 2046 ?

October 14, 2021 (Thursday)

And now on doubleaught.com...

"Kill your enemies. Kill your friends' enemies. Kill your...

Double Aught finally add "friends" to their web page.

Find out who they were on... Them

October 12, 2021 (Tuesday)

Previously on doubleaught.com

The end of *GOOD TIMES*.
Is anyone working on Duality?
Do Double Aught have any friends?
Last polygon filled... at Hastur's Workshop.

And now on doubleaught.com... somebody set up us the bomb.

October 11, 2021 (Monday)

"My Own Private Thermopylae".

Thanks to Chris D in a Story forum post for pointing out that the Marathon level name "My Own Private Thermopylae" was used by a British TV presenter (Chris Packham) to describe his stance against those who would seek to silence his views on conservation and hunting.

"My own private Thermopylae. On Friday morning I was the victim of an arson attack on my home."

As Chris D rightly points out the exact quote "My own private Thermopylae" would appear to be the preserve of Marathon. One man's (or cyborg's) struggle against the many.

One wonders if Chris Packham is/was a Marathon fan.

For more information about this level name see the What's in a Name? and the Level Credits sections.

To quote Greg Kirpatrick (the creator of this level):

Don't we all wish at some point in our lives that we lived right before the
Golden Age of Athens? This level is as close as you'll ever come. It'll bring you
right to that ancient place where the battle was lopsided, where valor and courage
stood for more than the color of a man's blood.

And don't forget to check out the Vid Tips section of My Own Private Thermopylae for more tidbits from Greg Kirkpatrick.

This level was where the tide turned, where all ships floated with the rising tide (except Tfear's - his sank).

October 10, 2021 (Sunday)

Added the 9th iteration of Double Aught's Duality webpage.

How many more to go?

Hey... we are only getting started.

October 8, 2021 (Friday)

And then there were... screenshots.

The 8th iteration of Double Aught's Duality webpage finally added screenshots.

While these were considered to be the 'first' Duality screenshots ever released... they were not.

You have to look carefully to find the first.

October 6, 2021 (Wednesday)

This is the end of *GOOD TIMES*

Check out what happened to *GOOD TIMES* at Double Aught.

October 4, 2021 (Monday)

Added the 7th iteration of Double Aught's Duality webpage.

Check out the earlier Duality web page designs here.

October 2, 2021 (Saturday)

I tried to add *GOOD TIMES* to Double Aught's website archive page.

But it fought me long and hard. In the end I had to give up.

"Help me, Colin Kawakami. You're my only hope."

Check our Double Aught's earlier web page designs here.

September 30, 2021 (Thursday)

Added the 6th iteration of Double Aught's Duality webpage.

Check out the earlier Duality web page designs here.

September 29, 2021 (Wednesday)

A Marathon-like symbol in Foundation... or something more?

Old-school Marathoner Gabe Rosenkoetter in a Story forum post points out that there is a familiar looking image in Apple TV's new Foundation series. It appears 41 minutes into the second episode. You can see it below.

September 28, 2021 (Tuesday)

The Romans called it damnatio memoriae.

The Jjaro called it trih xeem.

Double Aught called it... reconstruction.

Phhht! Just like that.

September 26, 2021 (Sunday)

We have movement.

Added the 5th iteration of Double Aught's Duality webpage.

September 23, 2021 (Thursday)

Added the 4th iteration of Double Aught's Duality webpage.

Check out the earlier Duality web page designs here.

Also check out the Double Aught section on Blasts from the Past for all your Double Aught goodness.

September 21, 2021 (Tuesday)

Added... the page that never was to Double Aught's website archive page.

Check our Double Aught's earlier web page designs here.

Also check out the Double Aught section on Blasts from the Past for all your Double Aught goodness.

September 19, 2021 (Sunday)

26 years ago... today... let's go...

September 17, 2021 (Friday)

Added the 3rd iteration of Double Aught's Duality webpage.

Check out duality.net for older pages.

September 11, 2021 (Saturday)

So what is a poly?

Find out at duality.net

September 10, 2021 (Friday)

Thanks to Tycho in a Story forun post for getting Double Aught's oo5 web page design working as it did back in February 1997.

Check our Double Aught's earlier web page designs here.

Also check out the Double Aught section on Blasts from the Past for all your Double Aught goodness.

September 9, 2021 (Thursday)

Added the 5th iteration of Double Aught's web page... designated... connekt.

September 1, 2021 (Wednesday)

A new month... a new section.

Over the years I have got a lot of questions about Duality.

Do you have the Duality beta?
What was Duality's story?
Where is the Duality soundtrack?
What really happened at E3?
What was the Duality Anti-Glossary?
Who/what were the "infestation"?
What alien race lived in the ring before the humans?
What was Kwalt?
What was Operation Kwisachz?
etc... etc.

But the most frequently asked question by far has been:

Do you have the duality.net web pages?

So I have added a duality.net section to Blasts from the Past.

Mark Levin <haveblue@mac.com> writes about old Bungie code:

Bungie just posted this article about their internal coding practices, and while the whole thing is an interesting read, there's one bit at the beginning with a slightly surprising name in it:

"The "static" keyword performs a bunch of different jobs in C++, including declaring incredibly dangerous static function-local variables.

You should use the more specific wrapper keywords in cseries_declarations.h, such as static_global, static_local, etc.
This allows us to audit dangerous static function-locals efficiently."

Is Destiny 2 still using a descendant of Jason Jones' cseries library, which at this point would be at least 30 years old? It’s almost certainly not using any of the actual original code, which would have been written in plain C against the early 90s Mac Toolbox, but it's fun to think about the lineage.

August 28, 2021 (Saturday)

Remember THIS?

What was the Bungie Webmaster Poetry Slam and Hootenanny?

Why was this a watershed moment in Bungie history?

Who was the Bungie Webmaster?

WOULD YOU LIKE TO KNOW MORE?    YES   /   NO

August 15, 2021 (Sunday)

Happy August 15

August 15 holds a special place in the Marathon calendar.

But why?

And who were Hastur and Grendal?

And whatever happened to Randy Reddig?

WOULD YOU LIKE TO KNOW MORE?    YES   /   NO

July 24, 2021 (Saturday)

Added the 4th iteration of Double Aught's web page. Check out oo4

July 22, 2021 (Thursday)

Read what the Internet Professional Publishers Association (IPPA) had to say about Double Aught's web site.

July 10, 2021 (Saturday)

Thanks to Mark Levin in a Story forum post for pointing out that Pathways Into Darkness v2.0 for Mac OS X has been released on the Mac App Store.
This updated version takes full advantage of the new M1 processor.

July 7, 2021 (Wednesday)

Happy Bungie Day.

As is the tradition General-RADIX creates a new piece of art to mark the day.
And check out his artwork for 2020,   2019 and perhaps even 2018.

Thanks to Jeoku for sending in this Blast from the Past from the year 2000. Those guys were young back then. Where are they now?

June 29, 2021 (Tuesday)

It's November 4, 1996 and Double Aught adds Hastur's Workshop to their web page.

You can see it... here .

June 17, 2021 (Thursday)

Jeff Nosanov writes to point out that there is a Marathon reference in the Halo Infinite multiplayer video from e3 2021

June 6, 2021 (Sunday)

Wait what? Another update on the PID page? What's up with that? Are the the rumours true?

Check out the tale of the Cedar Box, the Flashlight, the Silver Medal and the mysterious war hero.

Pyramid entry is on your left.

<------- no your other left.

June 5, 2021 (Saturday)

The PID page has been updated with more stuff from the Archives.

<------- click on the pyramid to enter. But remember... lasciate ogni speranza, voi ch'entrate.

June 3, 2021 (Thursday)

Added Double Aught's 3rd web page design from October 13, 1996.
Just two days before the release of Marathon Infinity.
But in true ydnar fashion you had to know where to look for it.

Can you find the path to... Prague .

June 2, 2021 (Wednesday)

Marathon board game... sort of.

Eric Salzman <esalzman5@gmail.com> writes:

I'm creating a board game that drips with my leftover Marathon memories.

Wormwood is the title of the game and is based on a large cooperative scenario that I created for
Marathon: Durandal back in 1995, called Operation: Wormwood, (which is probably floating around
somewhere on the internet). I'm currently in the testing phase of the board game and still
getting marketing images and such put into place, but do have a couple links that might be
of interest for your audience.

Wormwood at TheGameCrafter (publisher)
https://www.thegamecrafter.com/games/wormwood

Wormwood at Boardgamegeek.com
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/303959/wormwood

I've attached the first sneak peak at the initiative cards I've created for the game.
Obviously, those who know Bungie and Marathon will recognize the tip of the hat in the character names. ;)

Eric Salzman's 8-level solo scenario Operation Wormwood is available in its original format or as an Aleph One/SDL conversion here.
There is also a 10-level sequel.

June 1, 2021 (Tuesday)

Back on April 9, ukimalefu posted a link to a framed Japanese ad for the Windows 95 version of Marathon 2.
I have added this to the Bungie's Marathon Ads section along with the English version of the same ad.
Now you can read what the original said.

May 30, 2021 (Sunday)

For your viewing pleasure...

I have added Double Aught's 2nd web page design.
This was released just 4 days after the site went live on October 3, 1996.

It was originally designated as... ~maschine .

May 29, 2021 (Saturday)

Well I thought this one was lost...

Back in February 1997 Computer Gaming World magazine published a list of 1,001 Tips & Cheats for a vast range of games. Included in this list was a cheat code for Marathon and Marathon 2 (Macintosh).

This was the cheat code to end all cheat codes. Programmed by Bungie to release all secrets in the game and make you invincible. Apparently it was left in Marathon Infinity as legacy code and could imbue you with God-like powers.

Well that was the theory anyway... but since the code was lost few could test it.

Until now.

Added   "The Cheat Code to end all Cheat Codes   to the   Blast from the Pasts   section.

But remember what Bungie said about cheaters.

Cheaters don't really win,
and winners don't really cheat,
Unless you're talking politics.

May 28, 2021 (Friday)

No. I remember now. It was
here. Yeah, that's it. This
was the place.

Found a box in the archives marked DO NOT OPEN at MIDNIGHT... so I opened... at.

May 27, 2021 (Thursday)

Theoretically, testing Rampancy should be easily accomplished...

Click if you dare... random link... of the day.

May 26, 2021 (Wednesday)

Remember the painting Homesick Pfhor?
Well it seems to have gone missing.
So I added it to the Blast from the Pasts section so we wouldn't forget.

WHERE AM I
Click if you dare... random link... of the day.

May 25, 2021 (Tuesday)

Added The Escapist review of the Marathon series and its influence on Halo entitled "From '94 to Infinity: Before Halo"
to the Blast from the Pasts section. It appeared in Volume 1, Issue 7 of The Escapist back in 2005.

Click if you dare... random link... of the day.

We are leaving behind many F'lickta to keep
the links clean and working.

Yeah... right.

May 24, 2021 (Monday)

What to save and throw away?

No... I had to keep.... everything!

Click if you dare... random link... of the day.

May 23, 2021 (Sunday)

How deep does the Story page go?

The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.

And so the Story page grew to where I no longer remember why half this stuff is here.

Click if you dare... random link... of the day.

May 22, 2021 (Saturday)

A 24 year old mystery... solved.

Thanks to President People in a Story forum post for solving this one. See the ck on infinity section for more details.

One less puzzle to solve before we can escape the hangar created by the masters of obfuscation and obscurification (oo).

To escape. To escape.

May 21, 2021 (Friday)

So former Bungie employee Stefan Sinclair (aka "My modem is on fire") sold his Bungie game collection on eBay for charity. He wrote:

Thank you for checking out my auction! I'm a former Bungie employee from the
Myth / Oni / Halo era, and current Big Brothers Big Sisters volunteer, auctioning
off my Bungie games collection to benefit Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Texas.

Here is list of the some of the prices obtained. I have also included his comments describing some of the items.

Minotaur: The Labyrinths of Crete.     (shrink wrapped copy)     Sold for $1,425.00

This game really belongs in a museum, especially as that's likely to be one of the few places you will be able to find a classic Mac capable of playing it (not that you'd ever even think of removing the shrink wrap and exposing the 3.5" floppy disks to the 21st century's atmosphere).

Pathways Into Darkness.     (shrink wrapped copy)     Sold for $338.33

This game was an early, but significant milestone in Bungie's path toward world domination. No serious Bungie fan's game collection is complete without Pathways into Darkness. And this one is still brand new in the box!

Marathon.     (shrink wrapped copy)     $800.00

This game is the one that made me want to become a game developer. The first time I witnessed grad-students in the university's computer lab playing networked Marathon on Quadra Macs, my mind was blown having just witnessed the future of 3-D shooters, as Marathon is the spiritual predecessor to Halo in every sense.

Marathon 2: Durandal (Mac version).     (shrink wrapped copy)     $500.00

No true vid-master's Bungie game collection is complete without Marathon 2 : Durandal.

Marathon Infinity.     (shrink wrapped copy)     $372.00

In the late 1990s, months of playing networked Marathon Infinity was causing me to have dreams in the Marathon universe... the kind that cause you to wake up sweaty and screaming with your heart racing as you manage to awaken just before an opponent's fusion pistol overcharge impacts with your cranium. Sometimes they still happen. For that reason, I recommend leaving this game title safely sealed in its original shrink-wrapped packaging.

Marathon Trilogy Box Set.     (Open and used)     $500.00

This is my personal copy of the Marathon Trilogy Box Set. Not gonna lie, there are possibly trace amounts of game developer crunch-mode sweat and take-out food in this, but it's 100% fully functional and 777% awesome and collectible.

Bungie Mac Action Sack.     (New)     $179.50

Still housed in its original packaging, this Mac Action Sack is looks and even feels like the treasure from bygone days that it is.

Marathon: The Strategy Strategy Guide.     (like new)     $38.00

Fun fact: after writing this book, the author Tuncer Deniz went on to work at Bungie as a producer on the Myth franchise.

Oh and...

Marathon 2: Durandal (Win95 version).     (shrink wrapped copy)     $63.00

That says a lot.

May 20, 2021 (Thursday)

Added more information about ck on infinity.

May 18, 2021 (Tuesday)

On the Story forum Aaron Freed writes about Pfhor gender.
Are they all male?
What is the Hindmost?
Added this to The Pfhor section.

May 16, 2021 (Sunday)

Thanks to treellama (yea, I checked it twice) Double Aught's Hastur's Workshop breathes new life. This was originally dutifully saved by Gary Simmons (aka the Battle Cat) back in the day.

Check out the The Citadel of Antiquity for the BattleCat's Litterbox site as well. Preserving the past... one byte at a time

On the subject of preserving the past and antiquities I have added the long awaited ck on infinity to the Blasts from the Past section. Did lilbuddha leave us a message?

May 15, 2021 (Saturday)

On the subject of textures I occasionally get asked "Where are Mark Bernal's initials?"

His what?

The Marathon Scrapbook states:

Mark revamped and created a large portion of the textures,
making them not only useful individually but also as a unified group.
(He managed to hide his initials in one of the switch textures.)

They were found of course and posted to the Story page but over time they have been lost... until now.

Check out the Mark Bernal's initials section.

May 14, 2021 (Friday)

A number of people have commented that there are legacy textures in the terminals graphics of Marathon 2 not just Marathon Infinity.

Yes indeed. Check the Textures section for details.

May 6, 2021 (Thursday)

Added an old Bungie Order Form from early 1994 to the Blasts from the Past section. Thanks to Jeoku for this one.

May 4, 2021 (Tuesday)

Thanks to Jeoku for sending in a scan of Bungie's Spring 1995 catalogue "More Things From Bungie To Waste Your Money On".
This has been added to the Blasts from the Past section. Because all those moments will be lost in time...

Jenko also sent in a scan of the now very rare Official Hint Book for Pathways Into Darkness.
This has been added to the Pathways Into Darkness page.

Don't forget to check out Jeoku's YouTube channel for a lot (and I mean A LOT) of Myth content and some recent videos on Operation: Desert Storm and Minotaur: The Labyrinths of Crete.

Apr 30, 2021 (Friday)

Want to take a break from understanding quantum decoherence? Then head on over to reddit Marathon (r/Marathon) for a very good idea. <Made me chuckle>.

As sirblastalot remarked:

Nah man it's cool, if we start getting our asses kicked we'll just deploy the Trih'Xeem. That never goes wrong.

Apr 29, 2021 (Thursday)

sirblastalot writes concerning the Final Screen on Marathon Infinity and the line... But you were dead a thousand times.
See the You section for details.

As one professor remarked... explaining Marathon Infinity is like explaining Schrödinger's cat. "The only difference is there is no cat."

Apr 28, 2021 (Wednesday)

(circumstances are cyclical)

Marathon Infinity discourse tends to occur in iterations. With each iteration (about 4 years) we learn a little more. Building on the knowledge of those who have come before.

So over the years we had some excellent community initiatives such as Volunteers and Tour of Duty and also individual analyses such as Philtron's.

A vast network of fans across the globe continue to forensically dissect Infinity's story searching for meaning to answer the ultimate question.

So... as we enter the next iteration one thing is certain. Marathon Infinity has... durability.

Apr 18, 2021 (Sunday)

So here I am after 20+ years later playing through multiple versions of Marathon Infinity for a 'super secret project' and I get stuck on "Thing What Kicks..."   again!!!   Don't get me wrong I use to know the solution to this vexing switch puzzle... many years ago.   Come on how hard can it be? But Durandal's terminal sucks you into an iterative logic loop that is hard to break out of. Thanks Greg. So I am wandering around looking to see what I did or shouldn't have done when I remember...

The Thing What Kicks... Spoiler.

Yes folks... the only Marathon level to have its own dedicated Spoiler page. Now sadly long gone.

No worries... fire up the Jjaro boxers and let's bring this puppy back.

Ah yes... The Care and Feeding of Switches.

Apr 17, 2021 (Saturday)

Thanks to Aaron Freed <aaronjfreed@gmail.com> in a Story forum post for putting together a very useful side by side comparison of the textures used in Marathon 2 and Marathon Infinity.

This has been added to a new section on the Story page called...   Textures.

To misquote Greg Kirkpatrick... "textures tell stories".

Apr 13, 2021 (Tuesday)

In a Story forum post President People makes an interesting observation about the Forge splash screen and the Rorschach test-like Infinity terminal pic posted a few days ago.

If you rotate the Forge splash screen you get the same (or very similar) image as the one in the Infinity terminal pic.

Of course this begs the question what is the original pic these two images are based on?

Apr 11, 2021 (Sunday)

The Rorschach test for Marathoners.

What do you see?

Apr 10, 2021 (Saturday)

Marathon Iceberg by orihaus.

Saw this this on r/Marathon a subReddit about Marathon.
The Marathon Iceberg pic is a pretty amazing piece of work. Hats off to orihaus for this one.

How deep do you go?

Apr 9, 2021 (Friday)

Aleph One 1.4 is available from https://alephone.lhowon.org

This update provides a number of new features, including:

•   Adds new high frame rate interpolation. Choose 30 fps for authentic classic play, 60 fps or 120 fps capped, or unlimited fps
•   Restores some retro/nostalgia features in the software renderer: every-other-line mode, and 8-bit color

Thanks to treellama and the rest of the Aleph One team for continuing to offer the classic look, feel and sound of the original games.

If you want the bells and whistles just turn them on.

Apr 8, 2021 (Thursday)

Two Blasts from the Past on the Story forum.

ukimalefu posts an image of a Japanese poster for the Window 95 version of Marathon 2.

Sharkie Lino posts a video on YouTube of a nice haul of old Marathon memorabilia .

Ah the nostalgia. Check them out.

Apr 3, 2021 (Saturday)

Curiouser and Curiouser...

Marathon the game that keeps on giving... even after 25 years.

See the Latin in Marathon 2 section for more details.

Apr 2, 2021 (Friday)

Thought you knew all the latin in Marathon 2?

I did... until now.

See the Latin in Marathon 2 section for details. Note this section was last updated on Jan 22, 1998.

Apr 1, 2021 (Thursday)

Never Eat Yellow Snow

I occasionally get asked why Marathon starts out on the first level of Pathway Into Darkness?

To those... I recount the tale of... Never Eat Yellow Snow.

Mar 31, 2021 (Wednesday)

On the subject of porting Marathon 2 to Windows 95 I had the opportunity to ask Matt Soell (Bungie Software) the following question shortly after the announcement:

Q.     Will M2 Win95 have a slightly altered story to reflect the fact that PC users have not
played Marathon? Specifically do you forsee a section on the Marathon's Story page along
the lines of Marathon 2 Windows 95 text changes?

A.     "I think an additional page of background info in the M2 Win95 manual is a far more
likely proposition. Otherwise we get into the realm of alternate realities and stuff like
that, which would probably be as much of a pain for us as it would be for you."

Alternate realities? I think they call this... foreshadowing.

Marathon Infinity was released 7 months later.

Mar 30, 2021 (Tuesday)

Happy TBWSAF Day.

Yes folks... on this day 25 years ago Bungie announced that they were porting Marathon 2 to Windows 95. The rest they say is... history.

Oh the profanity!

Mar 28, 2021 (Sunday)

So with only two days to go before the 25 year anniversary of the historic announcement of the porting of Marathon 2 to Windows 95 some folks are replaying these long forgotten official Bungie levels.

Back in the day the Story page had a section detailing the Undiscovered Secrets of the Windows 95 version of Marathon 2. But it was sadly never completed.

Andrew Milnthorpe now unearths another undiscovered secret on the Windows 95 version of What About Bob?

Mar 21, 2021 (Sunday)

Every so often I get an email from a Story page reader trying to recall a story they vaguely remember about a Lead Box and a German submarine off the coast of Africa or somewhere. The details of what they recall vary widely but for some reason they cannot remember what it was about or why they should even recall it.

Enough said. The Lead Box story is of course from the mind of Matt Soell.

And you can read it here.

Mar 17, 2021 (Wednesday)

Mar 4, 2021 (Thursday)

Thanks to David Cornwell <floatingskull@gmail.com> for writing in to point out that today is 26.2th anniversary of the release of the original Marathon on the MacOS.
He sent in the following pic:

He goes on to say:

Please note that it falls on March 4 (pfhor), which could be represented as 3+4, which is 7.
Coincidence? I think not! ;)

Ah... just like the old days. :)

Feb 24, 2021 (Wednesday)

On the Story forum it's nostalgia time.

General-RADIX posts a link to scans of an old Marathon Infinity review in MacFormat issue 43.

Lion O Cyborg lets us know that Before Halo Part 2 is out containing a retrospective of Marathon 1. Direct link on YouTube is here.

Tim "Mordeir" Branin lets us know that Marathon is mentioned in an Outside Xbox Video entitled "7 Failed Videogames That Were Too Ahead of Their Time". Direct link on YouTube is here.

Feb 11, 2021 (Thursday)

Thanks to Jeoku for sending in more scans of manuals and other documentation from some of Bungie's older games.
I have added these to the Story page for completeness.

Minotaur Manual
Actually the second version of a Minotaur Manual scan on the Story page. You can see the first one here.
Minotaur contains the first use of the name "Durandal" in a Bungie game.

Minotaur Manual Read Me
Contains the first reference to "BLAM!"?

In-game instructions and information for Operation: Desert Storm

Jan 23, 2021 (Saturday)

Hey... YOU. Yes you. If you are reading this then you are one of the last seven Story page readers.

Thought the PID Story page was dead? Misplaced your Yellow Crystal? Well no worries. You can read the latest update here. Thanks to Jeoku for sending in a scanned version of the original PID manual with the password protection codes. Yes... those secret codes... which when pieced together reveal a secret yet untold.

Jeoku also sent in a scan of the Operation: Desert Storm! manual. You can see it here. It's BIG so go make yourself a cup of tea.

Now if you are one of the last seven readers of the Story page you'll remember that we did a comprehensive walk-through of this game some time ago and revealed the long lost secret buried beneath the sands of the final level. That's right. You know the one.

Now if you are asking yourself what "comprehensive walk-through?" What "long lost secret buried beneath the sands?" Then ask yourself this... am I really one of the seven... and where's my overcoat?

Jan 3, 2021 (Sunday)

Some light humour for the first Sunday of 2021. And a little competition.

And in case you are wondering... there are actually 3 ways you can play the opening part of "One thousand thousand slimy things".

About this level Chris Geisel (Doubleaught) wrote:

No one can figure out how Greg convinced the troopers to run all the way into the fortress, up the stairs, and keep going. Normally the monsters just aren't that smart. Anyway, it is one of the most enjoyable ones to play,

Very enjoyable indeed.

If you don't have Infinity you can grab it here. Thanks to all the folks who still make this possible even today.

Enjoy.

Jan 2, 2021 (Saturday)

Thanks to those of you who wrote in pointing out that 2021 will be the 25th anniversary of Marathon Infinity.

Yes folks, Marathon Infinity was released on October 15, 1996. Marathon Infinity will be 25 years old on that date.

Do you know what kind of hat I'm wearing?

A party hat; you don't get one.

For the chosen few who still follow...the hard path of thought... Marathon Infinity remains an enigma, elusive, that one mystery we have not solved.

Perhaps in the next 25 years we will all get to wear party hats.

Jan 1, 2021 (Friday)

Happy New Year to all Story page readers... everywhere!

And to start the year off... here is a little blast from the past I found while digging around in the Story page archive.

Mac Hall's "Things That Hoot" created for Inside Mac Games.

And... it is still available at IMG here.