| Feb 28, 2002 (Thursday) |
Pages 11-12 of the Marathon Scrapbook transcribed by Raul "REB" Bonilla <biomeca@hotmail.com> on the Story Forum.
Also on the Story Forum:
Damage Inc. for free?
Box copy of M2 rising in price
Calling all psychics
Another fav net map poll on bungie.net
Funny emails at Marathon Central
John
Nostalgia trip
How big is the Volunteers section?
Halo book a rip off?
poh-for?
| Feb 27, 2002 (Wednesday) |
Raul "REB" Bonilla <biomeca@hotmail.com> carries on transcribing the Marathon Scrapbook. Here are pages 9-10. An unfinished online version can be found here. And Raul's earlier transcribing can be here and here.
Matt Soell questions the
existence of a PDF version of the Scrapbook. Others question Matt?
Why is there no PDF version?
| Feb 26, 2002 (Tuesday) |
|
Quick update
In this Story forum post Hippieman [B.Org] <hippieman@bungie.org> reveals that there was a covert operation to create an online version of the Marathon Scrapbook. Check the following link: http://marathon.bungie.org/scrapbook/ Why the secrecy and what's this about seven errors in the Scrapbook? And did Bungie really give permission to do an on-inline version of this rare insight into their shocking past? And why all the spelling mistakes? Who edited the Scrapbook? And what really happened to the PDF version anyway? |
Raul "REB" Bonilla <biomeca@hotmail.com> has begun transcribing and posting the text of the Marathon Scrapbook to the Story forum. Check out pages 1-2 and 3-4. He's also on a mission to Soell to track down the PDF version of the Scrapbook. Wish him luck!
| Feb 25, 2002 (Monday) |
Brian Callahan <Marathoner777@aol.com> makes this interesting find:
I found this at Gamer Jargon (www.gamerjargon.com). Note the fifth definition.Bob, p.n.
1. short for Robert. 2. (n.) a low level NPC henchman who is seemingly indestructable because the GM rolls really well for it. 3. Any friendly NPC introduced by the GM with the clear intent of killing him off sometime later in the adventure. See also Red Shirt, Spunkmeyer. 4. a person of inderterminate but probably middle age, who does not work (noticeably), instead gaming as much or more than humanly possible. 5. (acronym) Born on Board.Addenda: We just keep getting more definitions for "Bob."
Addendum for Definition 2: This goes back to my frosh year at college when a ranger in an AD&D game had two NPC henchmen. They were both 3rd level fighters to our 6 - 8 level party. Bob and Joe had just hooked up with us when we came upon this huge, I forget what it was, but it was nasty. Joe was killed outright, but the thing kept missing Bob. By the end of the fight, the only ones left standing were Bob, the paladin's war horse, and my iddy biddy cleric who hid behind Bob. Our characters became convinced that Bob was actually some powerful multi-classed adventurer who would take us under his wing. Bob's luck held for the length of the campaign. [ME]
Addendum for Definition 3: This evolved from an adventure run by a friend of mine, in which the pilots of a starship were both named Bob and died quite horribly about five minutes into the session. Since then, Bob has become the name of choice for any NPC who's not going to be around long enough to think up a real name for. [DW]
Addendum for Definition 4: The "Bob" often vaguely resembles a hobbit or dwarf, and intentionally cultivates a esoteric sense of humor which isn't nearly as impressive if you aren't a sixteen year old weefle-gamer. The Bob is almost always a paleogamer, but rarely actually contributes much to any games he is in. I named this archetype the "Bob" because I have met THREE people so named who fit this description exactly. Brr. [LS]
Yet Another Addendum: Bungie Games, recently sold to Microsoft to work on Xbox games, had a trilogy of games under the Marathon title for the Macintosh. Marathon was one of the few first person shooters for the Macintosh. The title Marathon came from a generation ship carrying colonists in suspended animation to a distant planet. In the game the crew, who were there to get killed by evil aliens, were called "BOBs," which stood for "Born On Board." A favorite weapon built with the game editor was a BOB Gun, which shot screaming BOBs that expoded once they reached their target. [PG]
| Feb 23, 2002 (Saturday) |
Paul Browne <pbrowne@arc23.com> writes:
You've played Marathon in the future - Now play it in the past!http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1706686699
Interesting details in the description too about the historical battle.
Mmm... ;-)
Paul Gettle <email withheld on request> writes concerning the presence of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation image (from the Alien movies) in
the PC version of Marathon 2:
John Zero <jzero1@mindspring.com> wrote that as far as he knew "Weyland-Yutani is only known as "The Company" in the first two theatrical releases". This is technically true, however, both the name of the company and the logo in question, do apear in James Cameron's Director's Cut edition of the second film, Aliens. The Director's Cut features 17 minutes of aditional footage not included in the original theatrical release, including scenes of the colony on LV-426 before the the alien takeover. Of course the many parallels between Aliens and Marathon are so obvious that they almost need not be mentioned. Claustrophobic, dim colony coridors ocasionally lit by strobing lights, an alien threat that at first, apears only as a mere blip on a motion tracker, but, later when they do come within range, erupt into a geyser of yellow-colored goo with a well placed grenade-launcher shot, burst of autofire, or shotgun blast. Oddly , this is familiar to you, as if it were from an old dream, but you can't exactly remember...
The Marathon Vidmasters' page gets on update.
Jeffrey (Sidoh) Lindquist <jeffquist@go.com> completes the Marathon Infinity Vidmaster Challenge.
Thirty four films in all. Some highlights include the Full Vid Challenge (1-2-3), Hang Brain Fists Only,
Son of Grendal completed with almost no hits taken, and much more. Check the
Vid page for details.
Nicolas (aka Grasshopper) <rowland@us.inter.net> writes concerning the new #marathon IRC channel on the
irc.utchat.com network:
I'm writing to you about channel #marathon on irc.utchat.com. As you may or may not know, I registered this channel a few months ago, basicaly when M:R started picking up a bit of momentum. While my original thought was for it to be used mostly for joining and gathering net games, I've found that (at least on other channels) people like to simply "hang out" and chat.
You'll need an IRC client to visit this channel.
On the Story Forum over the last few days:
The seven algorithm
Real Marathon fan fiction?
Favorite Infinity net map poll on bungie.net
Bob fiction
Jjaro at Tau Ceti theory
Marathon Interim Art Gallery is back up!
This thread went to the dogs
To copy or not to copy... that is the question
| Feb 18, 2002 (Monday) |
The Story page will be closed until Saturday for stock taking and rogue star identification. Of course the Story Forum is always open for Marathon discussion. Don't forget to keep an eye on eBay for that Marathon keychain. You never know when the second one will show up. ;-)
John Zero <jzero1@mindspring.com> writes concerning the PC version of Marathon 2:
I was doing my usual patrol of the local used book emporium, scouting for cheap software. I happened to score a pretty cherry copy of M2 for Windows. I'm not sure if there are CD variations, but this one's the kind with the virtually blank gray + black CD.So, I brought 'er home and decided to look in on the "Arrival" duplication in Waterloo Waterpark. I split the map up with Map Splitter, and after browsing L00 with Forge, I happened to look through the Terminal Picts ResEdit file that Map Splitter makes.
The attached GIF shows, at Resource #10004, what I believe to be the logo of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation, the famous corporate entity from the Alien movie series. As far as I know, Weyland-Yutani is only known as "The Company" in the first two theatrical releases, and the name and logo are only shown in Alien3.
I don't know what terminal in M2 Win uses this pic, and I don't really know how to find out. But as far as I can tell, this pic isn't anywhere in the Mac version of M2.
Could it be true? Did Bungie use an Aliens image in the PC version of Marathon 2? Grab that shrinkwrapped copy on eBay and find out the tru7h!
| Feb 16, 2002 (Saturday) |
Paul Browne <pbrowne@arc23.com> writes with the subject header "Marathon music":
If you have it, go play the song Hymn by Moby.Is it just me or.......
I'll leave you to investigate this one.
On the Story Forum:
Matt Soell comes through!
Halo tea pot (not on eBay)
"Profiteering sucks" says Matt
Marathon fan fiction?
Marathon wood carvings
What did Leela get that she deserved?
A Halo 12-month wall calendar starting on...?
| Feb 14, 2002 (Thursday) |
There is rather long thread on the Story Forum regarding plot ideas for a Marathon 4 (or Marathon 3). In one post Steve Levinson <levinson@ece.rochester.edu> made this insightful comment about the rogue star Durandal refers to at the end of Marathon 2:
Comet vs. A Rogue StarPosted By: Steve Levinson <levinson@ece.rochester.edu>
Date: 2/13/02 5:13 p.m.In Response To: Re: A quick question/poll for Marathon fanatics... (NeutronBomb)
Warning - some spoilers below.
: "There is a rogue star that has been
: passing through our galaxy for nearly a
: millennia.": I always assumed this was referring to the comet that went across
: the sky every 1,000 years in Myth, and heralded the coming of a
: great evil force, the Leveler.As much fun as it might be to try to tie Myth into the Marathon universe, not only are they very different stories - one based on mysticism and the other on science fiction - but a rogue star is a very different thing from a comet. A comet is a part of our own solar system that consists of rock and ice, and has a very eliptical orbit around the sun, which is why they make periodic appearances. A rogue star is truly a nuclear furnace that probably originated in another galaxy altogether and, through some cataclysm such as a colision with another galaxy, was thrown out of its galaxy to wander the universe on its own. Periodically, such stars are attracted by the gravitational pulls of other galaxies, occasionally being captured in the process, but often passing right through them.
And this rogue star has a planet - a "ruined world" associated with it! Imagine what we could find there. Was the world ruined by the cataclysm that started the star on its journey, or was it ruined by war? What artifacts of ancient civilizations might we find here? Could there still be evil lurking in the shadows? Yes, I know that the new planet idea has been used in other scenarios, but these had some tie-in to the Marathon universe - the progenitors of the Pfhor in Marathon Evil and the progenitors of the S'pht in Pfh'Joueur. This rogue world would be from outside of our galaxy with no connection to our own. To put things in perspective, the nearest galaxy to our own is 10 times farther from us than the center of our own - I doubt that the Pfhor have been there. Lot's of possibilities . . .
Also on the Story Forum:
bloodhound and hammer
There is no path
100 MB Pimps at Sea movie
The Jason Jones interview for sale... cheap
Shrinkwrapped copy of Marathon Infinity going for... peanuts
Something about an industrial furnace... I'll say no more
This must be some crazy code to the...
| Feb 11, 2002 (Monday) |
OK let's see.. on the Story Forum:
Five shrinkwrapped copies of Infinity on eBay... yes FIVE!
Marathon 4 plot ideas
Marathon baddies poll at Fileball
Another Appleworks version of the Marathon Story
A Marathon like PC... create one yourself
Favorite M2 net level poll reaches 100 votes
PID + Hint Book go for $20
| Feb 9, 2002 (Saturday) |
On the Story Forum:
What's up with that blank space?
Hi! My name is... ?
"one of the ten" Marathon riddle... solved
Weapon of the future?
Take the Hippie Challenge (tm)
Myth server code goes Open Source
Favorite M2 net level poll at bungie.net
Life... Marathon style!
| Feb 7, 2002 (Thursday) |
Simon Marek <imarek@ihug.com.au> writes:
A year or so back, while reading the Marathon Story on your webpage, I copied and pasted all the text into Appleworks, so that when I was finished I would be able to read it again without going online. I also got the 'puzzling things about...' sections, but since they get updated regularly, they will be out of date at the moment. Anyway, the reason I'm writing is to let you know that on a new Bungie website I created I have uploaded the .txt files of the Marathon Story (Marathon 1, 2, and Inf.).The site can be found at http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~imarek/crocodile_bungie
Once I've finished revamping the site the .txt files will be available at
http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~imarek/crocodile_bungie/mediaonestory.html
Nice site. Grab your Marathon Story text from here. :-)
On the Story Forum:
Jen Taylor and Matt Soell... making...
Marathon/Halo cartoon
Another Marathon riddle for you
Bungie rip-off artists?
Damn he's at it again!
Whoa! Popular bungie.net poll
| Feb 6, 2002 (Wednesday) |
Thanks to Raul "REB" Bonilla <biomeca@hotmail.com> in this Story forum post we now have a transcript of the Nar homeworld description from the Marathon Scrapbook (Trilogy Box Set). Here's the text:
A great deal of effort went into enriching the storyline. Consider the following excerpts from Rob McLee's extensive history of the Nar, an alien race that the player never encounters over the course of the game:"The Nar sprang into being exactly one week after the Universe sprang into being. They are an ageless race of immortal beings who, in the four billion odd years of their existence, have yet to develop a written language. This tends to hinder their scientific endeavor as they speak entirely in metaphor."The entire Nar homeworld has been developed. That is to say that the entire surface of the planet has a three story building built on it. In other words, the Nar homeworld is encased in a three story structure that covers every square inch of the planet's surface. On the lowest level (or "ground floor") we have the nar - the laborers and foot soldiers of the Nar. Living on the next level (or "mezzanine") are the C'Nar - the artisans and artificers of the Nar. A the highest level (living proof that filth rises to the top on any medium) are the Cf'Nar and the CFN Kommandoes - the Cf'Nar are the "Ruling Elite" of the Nar (mostly managers or scientific research facilities and heads of huge industrial combines) and the CFN Kommandoes are Warriors and Leaders of distinction, though the CFN Kommandoes usually go up to "the Roof" to hone their Martial Arts and tend the sod."
You can read more about the Nar by Rob McLees's including their 'Grand Endeavor' on
The Pfhor Ship section of the Story page. Time for a Nar section methinks.
I know a number of people have been looking for this so it's worth pointing out that there
is an auction on eBay for a
boxed copy of Pathways Into Darkness
which includes... the very rare Official Hint Guide. A little piece of PID memorabilia for you.
I'd be surprised if this goes for less than $20.
| Feb 5, 2002 (Tuesday) |
Andy Evanson <ajevanson@wwdb.org> writes concerning a Marathon symbol like sighting:
Don't know if this counts as a Marathon sighting --It's Talking Alien Attack, by New Entertainment (basically an electronic clone of Milton Bradley's classic Battleship game). I saw this in Toys 'R' Us today; the front of the package showed the red unit turned so that its blue symbol had its thickest part towards the bottom of the box.
If the above link doesn't work, try
On the Story Forum:
Nine new Halo books coming?
F'lickta... German origin?
Well I'm definitely going to bid for this!
Low poll counts at Bungie?
WTF CFN?
I'm addicted or what?
A number of people have enquired about the ninth Nar reference. What is CFN? Well first off the reference to CFN
appears in "Feel the Noise (Terminal 2)":
A Pfhor assault ship carrying the 723rd
Aggressor Squadron was badly damaged and
forced to land on Lh'owon. The 723rd is an
air armor division from Epsilon Euobea,
with a long history of successful ground
actions against the Nar's elite CFN units.
Exactly what a CFN unit stands for I'll let you speculate on. :-)
| Feb 4, 2002 (Monday) |
|
Quick update
The ninth Nar reference spotted by Kanen Faud'r in this Story fourm post. It appears in the secret terminal on "Where the Twist Flops" (Terminal 2).
'85 TOYOTA COROLLA, CFN assault craft, CFN is a Nar reference.
"Which is your favorite Marathon network map? Tom rightly wonders why now? |
SuperBob in Marathon 2? Yes but only in the Windows version it seems. Elmer <guemes@evilemail.com> writes:
there is a bob on the 4th level of m2.win95..that can withstand the attack of a cyborg at point blank range..usually a bob will go down after the first projectile hits him..but this bob does not..he may only if you[player shoot him, or he is taken out by stray fire or from a pfhor fighter]..otherwise he fights the cyborg until the baddy blows up..and then the bob will die..only from the explosion of the cyborg when [it] dies..also the cyborg apears to be able to roll through the bob while fighting.. i looked at the level in Obed and if i remember correctly the super.bob is assigned to different polygon number as the rest of his buddies..there are two levels in that area[the upstairs and the bottom of the vent shaft] i think he is assigned to the bottom area and appears in the upper area..?! i dont know how or why it works out this way..but it makes for and interesting situation.
Elmer sent in a pic of SuperBob (98K).
On the Story Forum:
Common plot elements
Odd stuff at the Conversatron
Bungie rip-off?
Durandal song(s)
Yeah... what about Rubicon?
Because Bob don't run
Hey we got some stats going here
Let's get some closure
| Feb 2, 2002 (Saturday) |
Following up on yesterday's comment from Max "Yeroen" Hoberman <max@bungie.com> that the whole point of Bungie's Seventh Column is to promote LAN play Andrew Nagy rightly pointed out that Oni didn't have LAN play yet it had a Chapter Theme. Max provided this defence:
Oni featured our groundbreaking Wait Your Turn multiplayer technology.
Double standards then at Bungie? In an obvious attempt to avoid the tru7h Bungie now have a poll asking you Which theme would you like to see next? on their site. Pathways Into Darkness is presently getting hammered by the Halo crowd. So Bungie are off the hook (i.e. no PID theme) unless you make it #1 in the poll. Aye but that's democracy for you.
Seven days ago I posed the Narsh Test:
Test your Marathon knowledge with the Narsh Test. How many references to the Nar are there in the Marathon series? To make it easy you can exclude references in the Marathon Scrapbook or on the Story page, keep it strictly to the games. If the Nar are referred to more than once in a terminal it counts as one reference. So how many Nar references are there?
So far eight Nar references have been found... the ninth remains a mystery. Who will find the six for nine things? Where are all the Marathon Story heroes?
| Feb 1, 2002 (Friday) |
Well it's official Bungie will NOT be developing a Pathways Into Darkness LAN patch. So there will NOT be a PID Chapter Theme for their Seventh Column site. Sad but true! Max "Yeroen" Hoberman <max@bungie.com> in a Story forum post passed on the bad news. But he went to say that he has an "Internet playable version of Minotaur".
| Jan 31, 2002 (Thursday) |
Mentioned on the Story forum earlier today:
No Pathways Into Darkness Chapter Theme for Bungie's Seventh Column site?!!! That's right folks Bungie snubs PID. Air your displeasure by writing to <7thcol@bungie.com> and ask Yeroen and the Candyman to make this wrong right.
Bungie endorses defacing of NYC public property?!!! Aye... Matt Soell in an extraordinary call-to-arms asks all those with "sack" to emulate the Sackmasters who defaced a NYC statue in 2000. I'm sure Mayor Michael Bloomberg will have something to say about this when his office finds out.
Where are all the Marathon Story gurus? Playing Halo?
So far only eight Nar references have been found in the Narsh Test:
Curiouser and Curiouser... (Terminal 1 text and pic)
Feel the Noise (Terminal 2 text and pic)
All Roads Lead To Sol... (Secret Bungie Terminal Jason Jones' text and Nar pic in Ryan's credits)
M2 Final Screen
Thing What Kicks. . . (Terminal 1 text and pic)
By Committee (Terminal 0: 2nd Message text)
Ex Cathedra (Map text "The NAR")
All Roads Lead To Sol... (Map text "723rd KICKS WUSSY NAR BUTT!")
Who will find the ninth Nar reference? Test your Marathon knowledge in the Narsh Test.
Also on the Story forum Claude Errera pleads...
"he canny take no more". With over 7 GBs of
Marathon Art submitted already to the Marathon Art Gallery
he's flooded (that's a Halo spoiler BTW). Stop sending him Marathon Art. Yes that means YOU!
| Jan 29, 2002 (Tuesday) |
Finn Smith <fcs@modcult.org> writes concerning a Doug "They're Everwhere!" Zartman sighting:
doug z. proponent of space colonizationCheck out the letters in response to the E. O. Wilson interview:
http://www.salon.com/people/letters/2002/01/22/chomsky/index1.html
Here's part of Doug's letter:
Finally, the statement that our species will survive until the sun dies is the best argument for establishing our species on planets orbiting other suns. We can no more imagine traveling to other suns now than a Spaniard in 1491 could imagine sailing west to the Indies. But that is exactly what humans do, ever since the first band of Homo erectus left Africa.
Of course we know the tru7h. Doug just wants to get out into space to shoot Pfhor! ;-)
Inspiration or... ? Raul "REB" Bonilla <biomeca@hotmail.com> received an interesting communication
the other day about a 1982 arcade game called "Lost Tomb". Here's part of the description he
posted to the
Story forum:
The shot is nighttime, in a jungle.From twinkling stars, a parachutist lands atop an ancient South American pyramid.
"You have just landed on a pyramid in the darkest Amazon....lock & load, mate."
The above is from a 1982 arcade game called "Lost Tomb," which was developed and distributed by Stern,
You can find out more info about this early game including a pic of the cabinet marquee on the Story forum here. All strangely familiar to you... as if it were from an old dream, but you can't exactly remember...
The Narsh Test over? No sir! People have found only eight Nar references so far. So how many more reference
are there in the Marathon series? Test your Marathon knowledge in the Narsh Test.
| Jan 28, 2002 (Monday) |
|
Quick update
Whoa! It seems I have been accused of double counting in the Narsh Test. A number of people have pointed out that I said that if "the Nar are referred to more than once in a terminal it counts as one reference" yet I have counted "Feel the Noise (Terminal 2)" twice. True, though technically one is text and the other is a pic. Yet if taken to this extreme we would have to count "Curiouser and Curiouser... (Terminal 1)" twice since the pic is most likely depicting the Nar. The same is true of the "Thing What Kicks. . . (Terminal 1)" since the pic is of Robnar the Nar High Seer. So in the interests of fairness we'll count Nar references in either text or a pic in the SAME terminal as ONE reference. Here's the corrected list of Nar references... so far:
Curiouser and Curiouser... (Terminal 1 text and pic) Eight references... how many more? Test your Marathon knowledge take the Narsh Test. |
The Marathon Art Gallery goes LIVE!. Presently it only contains
the work of Craig Mullins but it's sure to expand as people begin to send in Marathon art.
Claude Errera <errera@bungie.org> the man behind the project had this to
say about
the opening of the MAG. Got Art? Then send it in to Claude at <errera@bungie.org> or simply
drop him a line to say "thanks". :-)
So far nine Nar references have been found in the Narsh Test:
Curiouser and Curiouser... (Terminal 1 text)
Feel the Noise (Terminal 2 text)
Feel the Noise (Terminal 2 pic text "Gaze in Stunned Disbelief at the Tool of Our Destruction.")
All Roads Lead To Sol... (Secret Bungie Terminal Jason Jones' text)
M2 Final Screen
Thing What Kicks. . . (Terminal 1 text)
By Committee (Terminal 0: 2nd Message text)
Ex Cathedra (Map text "The NAR")
All Roads Lead To Sol... (Map text "723rd KICKS WUSSY NAR BUTT!")
Who will find the tenth reference? Test your Marathon knowledge in the Narsh Test.
On the Story Forum:
Marathon Art musings
Germans, Americans, alien creature crash landed on Earth... PID right?
GURPS Marathon updated
Marathon-quasi related cartoon
Mac Gaming Gurus Book on eBay
My God! It's full of pages.
The Big Blam!
Some old Soul text
| Jan 27, 2002 (Sunday) |
|
Quick update #2
Another two Nar references spotted on the Story forum. Make eight in total. Are there more? Test your Marathon knowledge. Are you up for the Narsh Test? |
|
Quick update #1
Six Nar references spotted so far in the Narsh Test. But how may more. Seven? Eight? More? Test your Marathon knowledge. |
Test your Marathon knowledge with the Narsh Test. How many references to the Nar are there in the Marathon series?
To make it easy you can exclude references in the Marathon Scrapbook or on the Story page, keep it strictly to the games.
If the Nar are referred to more than once in a terminal it counts as one reference. So how many Nar references are there?
Don't forget to include where the reference occurs. You can post your answers to the Story forum
here or email them in. Have fun.
| Jan 24, 2002 (Thursday) |
Back in Sept 15, 1997 Story page readers made the connection between Glen Cook's "The Black Company" and Bungie's yet to be released game "Myth". The rest you could say is history. Now some four years on Rob "Noctavis" Swenson" <rob@penandsword.com> writes:
Just a small Halo tidbit... Bungie has before mentioned how The "Black Company" series influenced them for Myth. Perhaps it influenced them a little for Halo as well, since a character in the second book is named "The Monitor". He is the captain of the guard contingent which guards the area where the Dominator lies, buried alive. The Lady - the person employing the Black Company - does not want her husband raised from the grave, like she and the Taken (the analogue for the Fallen in Myth) were.343 Guilty Spark also refers to himself as the "Monitor", in Halo.
As Thoth would say: circumstances are cyclical.
Find out what the Soul
has and
had to say.
| Jan 23, 2002 (Wednesday) |
On the Story Forum:
Soul questioning
Into Darkness 70's group oddities
The Interim Marathon Art Gallery
Marathon Scenario News update
Marathon Infinity CD goes for $10.50 was $1
TV Shows in the UESC
Marathon:PID... with opening movie!?
Marathon Wallpaper
Marathon Artwork
| Jan 22, 2002 (Tuesday) |
Pascal L (aka tru7h) <tampako@hotmail.com> writes concerning a game called "Escape from Jason Whong" which contains a character which is familiar to you... like in an old dream:
its an little shareware pac-man style game
the interesting part is the animation of the player's sprite (hacked right out of marathon)http://homepage.mac.com/donkeypunchsw/whong.html
sends you to the company's homepage where you can dowload it failing that just look at the screen shot of the game play
According to the Read Me the game was released in 2000 by Donkey Punch Software.
| Jan 21, 2002 (Monday) |
Then and now. An eight year old puzzle on the Pathways Into Darkness page.
| Jan 20, 2002 (Sunday) |
At Macworld Boston August 1994 Bungie were running Marathon on a PowerMac 8100 using a CyberMaxx VR Headset along a toy gun (it was virtual reality remember). Now thanks to Claude Errera <errera@bungie.org>, who visited Bungie Studios recently, we can now see some pics of this gun.
The ADB Automatic Assault rifle with Grenade Option (full gun with ADB cable)
The ADB Automatic Assault rifle with Grenade Option (close up)
Property of the U.E.S.C. Marathon label
Close up of firing options (single shot, 3 shot burst, 20 shot round, full battle action)
According to Dan Meltz, who was at the Bungie booth, the ADB adaptor was jury rigged specifically and wasn't particularly hardy, and was carefully protected throughout the show. To find out more about Marathon and the CyberMaxx VR Headset check the Blasts from the Past section. Oh yeah Bungie were selling Marathon for $35 at Macworld. It was done they were just waiting for the boxes. And the rest they say is history.
| Jan 19, 2002 (Saturday) |
Another update on the Pathways Into Darkness. More movies to download and if you want links to the two versions of the PID demo we got'em.
On the Story Forum:
Soell is back... oh wait... I meant SOUL!
Help an old guy out with an old Mac
Who really made post 7777?
Marathon sounds... They're Everywhere!
Marathon Infinity for $1
What did Bungie do with all those Points?
Tattoos... They're Every... oh wait... I've used that already
| Jan 18, 2002 (Friday) |
Doug Zartman reveals the tru7h about The Stalker on the Pathways Into Darkness.
On the Story Forum:
Infinity Timeline Chart
New stuff at the Marathon Archives
Little deedely bobs?
What would Durandal sound like?
Looking for network films
Would I lie?
How many is seven?
PID riddles now
| Jan 17, 2002 (Thursday) |
How big a Marathon fan are you? Some people bake Marathon cookies, others get a Marathon haircut, but Phil "MCD" Saulnier got a Marathon tattoo (see also the close up). According to Claude Errera <errera@bungie.org>, who sent in the pics, the tattoo is real (a needle and ink job) and not a transfer. So how far would you go?
Disappearing secrets. Why history repeats itself. And why it's always good to say "probably".
Aye it can mean only one thing... the
Pathways Into Darkness page must have been updated.
| Jan 16, 2002 (Wednesday) |
The Pathways Into Darkness page has been updated today with a little known undocumented feature. Surprising the things that are discovered, lost, and then rediscovered. :-)
| Jan 15, 2002 (Tuesday) |
It must be the silly season. On the Story Forum we have Matt Soell (Bungie Studios) talking about toting your own hose and someone baked a gingerbread Marathon symbol. Brings a new meaning to cookie. If the image link doesn't work you can see it here. And could this be the origin of the Marathon Symbol?
On a more serious note Callie21V <callie21v@hotmail.com> compiled a
list of the best underrated scenarios for the ultimate
Marathon CD. Reminds me of Marathon Gold. Oh wait that was from the silly season in 1998. ;-)
More weapon problems on the
Pathways Into Darkness page.
| Jan 14, 2002 (Monday) |
M-Class (full name pending) transcribes the final part of of the Jason Jones interview from "Tricks of the Mac Game Programming Gurus". Jason answers questions on texture mapping, Marathon's network capabilities, and frequent rewrites. You can read it here courtesy of M-class.
The first PID movie is up on the
Pathways Into Darkness page.
| Jan 13, 2002 (Sunday) |
M-Class (full name pending) continues his transcribing of the Jason Jones interview from "Tricks of the Mac Game Programming Gurus". Jason answers questions on Marathon's lighting effects, the rendering engine, and the development tools. You can read it all here thanks to M-class.
On the Story Forum:
Don't cry for me SiliconDream
Marathon Riddle solved quick
Rare shrinkwrapped copy of M2 for PC
Map of the Year?
Marathon Marbles?
Tricks of the Mac Game Programming Gurus for sale
Maybe it's a clue
Who the hell was Yoyoboy? Find out on the
Pathways Into Darkness page today.
| Jan 12, 2002 (Saturday) |
Yet more updates on the Pathways Into Darkness page. And some tweaking too. Not bad for a game eight and half years old.
Scott Jaeger <meatlog@mail.divide0.net> writes:
I was browsing the Story page and noticed that someone noted a possible connection between the level name 'Rise Robot Rise' and the musical act 'Rise Robots Rise'.I actually had this CD for a while.. I gave it away to someone as a bonus in an ebay auction... I spent 25 cents on it, and while it was some musically decent material, I just couldn't get into it.
This band's output was released on TVT Records, known for their collections of old TV show themes, "predictable" business practices, and their purchase of the Wax Trax! records catalog in 1993.
At the same time, Psykosonik was releasing their own output through Wax Trax/TVT (their self-titled album and related singles were among the last releases to carry the lone wax trax name before the TVT occupation)...the name psykosonik means nothing but "power of seven" to me.
I'm not sure if the absorption of the wax trax catalog had anything to do with bungie's usage of the level name "rise robot rise"... however, TVT made it a regular practice to include promotional postcards in all of their releases from that time, hocking their own bands in addition to the leftovers from wax trax. In addition, most of the wax trax catalogue was reissued en masse in 1993, carrying brand-new tvt logos on the back, and in some cases, slightly damaged layout.
Two additional items lend some sort of thought to this theory:
It has been known that certain members of chicago-era Bungie are at least somewhat familiar with the band Ministry; a group with incredibly strong ties to Wax Trax! and the general style of music that the label specialized in.
Wax Trax! itself was based out of Chicago. It was once mighty... the pillar of an entire musical scene. They had several stores, mailorder... all of the goods. Given the attitudes of the initial Bungie staff, it wouldn't surprise me to find out that one or more has had more than a passing interest in the label's product.
So.. there exists several different possibilities to connect Rise Robots Rise to Bungie through their label's other music. Who knows.
Interesting point. Of course we have to remember that the Marathon Infinity scenario from which the level "Rise Robot Rise" comes from was created by the New York based company Double Aught. Then again Greg Kirkpatrick the founder was originally an employee of Bungie in Chicago.
| Jan 11, 2002 (Friday) |
Blast from the past! Thanks to M-Class (full name pending) in this Story page forum thread we can now bring you the first few pages of the nine page Jason Jones interview from "Tricks of the Mac Game Programming Gurus". The interview dates from 1995 and is mainly concerned with Marathon programming.
Matt Soell SLANDERS the Bungie Webmaster... oh wait!... can that be done? ;-)
Anyway in Matt's latest bungie.net update called "Wanted: Weirdness" he writes:
Who will help us keep the Webmaster so drunk that he can't walk, thereby cutting our nation's violent crime rate in half?
Yeah right Matt... who keeps brains in a jar? ;-)
Whoa! The Pathways Into Darkness page gets updated again. Eight and half years
on and people are still playing and discussing it. Find out why on the PID page.
| Jan 10, 2002 (Thursday) |
Andy Evanson <ajevanson@wwdb.org> writes:
Here's another example of the Marathon symbol cropping up in the "real world" (depending on your definition of reality) ... Centegra Health System. They're located in the Chicago vicinity, not all that far from Bungie's original battlegrounds.
M-Class (full name pending) in a series of Story forum
posts begins to transcribe
the interview with Jason Jones in the now out-of-print book "Tricks of the Mac Game Programming Gurus".
Definitely worth a read if you're a Marathon fan.
It Dices! It Slices! The Pathways Into Darkness
gets yet another update. Why? Read the PID page and maybe you'll find out.
| Jan 9, 2002 (Wednesday) |
Andrew Nagy in a Story forum post notes that eBay has a copy of the now rare book "Tricks of the Mac Game Programming Gurus", published in 1995. Of relevance to Marathon fans is the fact that it contains an interesting interview with Jason Jones. It's nine pages long and in it Jason reveals some Marathon programming details. Here's a small piece from the interview:
Q: To get back to the coding issues, you mention lots of 68K assembly language. Do you have a ballpark idea of what percentage of Marathon is in 68K assembly?A: Not that much of the whole program itself - I would say five percent at the very bottom. It's located in the texture-mappig routines. Maybe even less that that; it's probably more like two percent, but that is a lot of assembly because Marathon is a very big project. The assembly code probably took me two weeks, off and on, to finish. Which is a realy high investment for a pretty small part of the project, but you have to do it to make the program run faster.
Q: It sounds like Marathon was written in C.
A: Right. The entire thing is written in C.
Also on the Story Forum:
"Christmas Aboard the Marathon" evolution
What's wrong with being called Cuban?
New maps at the Marathon Archives
Marathon: Jigsaw
Is this a Marathon logo?
| Jan 7, 2002 (Monday) |
On the Story Forum:
Halo Story page at HBO goes live
Bungie.org three years old
Something to hide?
Rare boxed copy of PID for auction
Grab a piece of Mac gaming nostalgia
Easter egg on Waterloo Waterpark
| Jan 5, 2002 (Saturday) |
Blast from the past! Below is an interesting post from Jason Jones regarding his (early) views on game saving. As you know in Pathways Into Darkness and in the Marathon series it is only possible to save at certain spots on any given level. Not everyone was happy with this method but in a comp.sys.mac.games post dating from 1993 Jason defends the method. Worth a read for this early insight into Bungie gaming.
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.games From: jon3@quads.uchicago.edu (Jason Jones) Subject: Re: PiD gripes Message-ID: <1993Sep3.193614.22907@midway.uchicago.edu> Sender: news@uchinews.uchicago.edu (News System) Reply-To: jon3@midway.uchicago.edu Organization: University of Chicago References: <265aan$6qh@phakt.usc.edu> Date: Fri, 3 Sep 1993 19:36:14 GMT Lines: 41 In article <265aan$6qh@phakt.usc.edu> edju@phakt.usc.edu (Chilvarous and Confused) writes: >root@spss.com (SuperUser) wrote: > >> So, where exactly is the challenge in this? Any moron could make it through the >> game by just fighting a monster over and over again, with no real fear of dying. >> Because he can always easily fight the monster again. Where is the fear of >> death with such a game? > > According to your line of reasoning, there should be NO option to save >the game at all! I'm interested in feedback on this, but here are the reasons Bungie changed the saved game system for Pathways between the demo and the release version: It is too easy to save in the demo. Nobody thinks about saving-- they just do it. If you could save like this in the release version, it would be too easy to brick yourself in a corner: "Uh, I don't know why I saved with 0.2 vitality with that bone four inches from my nose." (trust me, it's been done). Or even worse, "Yea, sure I saved after I drank that Red Potion-- but it didn't seem to do anything, what do you mean I need it?!" The save dialog forces people to THINK about what they are doing, and better yet it easily supports (and even encourages) players to keep multiple saved games around without having to resort to the Finder. The save runes (as someone previously said) allow an additional level of difficulty to be added to the game, but more importantly they make dying mean something in the release version. In the demo, dying was meaningless: if you died, you just reverted to the game you had saved a few minutes (or seconds) previously. In the release version, dying sets you back. So you don't want to die. IMHO, this makes game is more exciting when you're in a dangerous situation. jason.
On the Story Forum:
What if Bill Gates was shot?
Don't open the box!
Jason Jones speaking after Steve Jobs?
Rare versions of Marathon Infinity surface
Forerunners.org... soon(TM)
What if the Pfhor used Pattern Buffers
| Jan 2, 2002 (Wednesday) |
Harry Al-Shakarchi <tomeone@bungie.org> writes:
http://www.davidjoost.com/We all know this guy, don't we? :)
In case you don't... David Joost was Bungie's first (and only) sales director back in the days of Myth. From his
Bio page
David has recently helped launch the "new" MacPlay for United Developers and the
BOLD games label for
Destineer Studios.
There are some interesting sales figures on his
Success Stories page. For
example the Marathon Trilogy Box Set sold 30,000 units during its product life. Now shrinkwrapped copies of the TBS
go for around $70 on eBay.
On the Story Forum:
Rampancy released
All 3 Marathons for less than $7?
Marathon Riddles... are back!
GURPS Marathon
Musicians... they're everywhere?
Sleeping on the job
| Jan 1, 2002 (Tuesday) |
Happy New Year to all the Story page readers... everywhere!
Seven days to Macworld.
Lets hope we don't forget our roots.
Page maintained by Hamish Sinclair
Hamish.Sinclair@tcd.ie
Last updated Feb 28, 2002
