Marathon's Story Page since 1995 marathon.bungie.org/story

Marathon's Story Page since 2019 marathon.bungie.org/story

Happy Marathon 2 for Windows 95 Demo day. Yes folks, on this day 27 years ago Bungie released the Marathon 2 for Windows 95 Demo. Little is known about the Marathon 2 for Windows 95 Demo. Indeed, when Bungie announced they were porting Marathon 2: Durandal to Windows 95 few people knew it was going to be an enhanced version of the Macintosh game. In a long forgotten interview with Marathon Magazine (December 1997) Jonas Eneroth described the work he did on porting Marathon 2 to Windows 95. "For M2 I re-designed the Win95 version, new textures, alignment, layout as well as clear up and create some bugs. Mostly UI stuff... Mostly." The Windows 95 Demo Read Me alluded to some of the changes. In a remote and now half-forgotten time, the human colony ship Marathon set out from Sol for Tau Ceti, 94 light years distant. The year 2794 found this fledgling colony in its seventh year, still suffering many hardships but striving for success. That year, humanity made First Contact with the Pfhor, a ruthless race of slavers. The Pfhor attack came swiftly and without warning. The Marathon was disabled in orbit and the colony overrun. Having been sent up to the Marathon in the first hours of the attack, you were the sole colonist left to face the onslaught. But you weren't entirely alone... Damaged, one of the Marathon's onboard synthetic intellects, Durandal, struggled to organize a defense of the stricken vessel. Welcome to NuMarathon. No one could be told what the Marathon 2 Windows 95 Demo was. You had to play it for yourself. If you could download it. Dancing through the wreckage of the Bungie computer core, DURANDAL WAS LAUGHING Image stolen from Jonas Eneroth's homepage at bungie.com

Jeoku continues his in-depth playthrough of Marathon with the Reginald Dujour (with cleaning up by Greg Kirkpatrick & Jason Jones) level Unpfhorgiven,  the third level of the Pfhor Chapter. Sources in the video include: Level Credits and Creator Comments. What's in a Name? Original level notes for Unpfhorgiven. Original Level Names. Missing Aliens. Marathon Shape Secrets. Marathon Scrapbook. Marathon Manual. Marathon Demo. Marathon Ads. Concept Art. Jeoku provides a nice tip for saving Bobs in the Pfhor detention center. I wonder if Jason Jones would approve? Jason wrote in January 1995: I shoot all bobs always on all levels; if a Pfhor kills a bob I feel like a failure. The flamethrower works especially well when clearing bob-jams on levels like Bob-B-Q, but watching the little suckers sky after a good SPNKRing is pretty gratifying, too, especially if they catch air off a ledge. The best, of course, is the detention center on the alien ship where they can't run away and they just sit there screaming "They're Everywhere!" and you just munch them. I save my rockets for that. It's too bad there are so many assimilated bobs in there, so you can't just shoot them one at a time. :) Air Bob! Want to know more about dissected Bob? Then check out The origin of Frog Blast The Vent Core section. Want to know more about Bob in his tighty whities? That's in the  "large adult entertainment section in the back..."

Some Marathon fans received a 'special' letter yesterday (28 July 2888). Apparently it read: Dear Weapon of Mass Consumption. We want to inform you that the production timeline for your MIDA T-Shirt (Strobe) remains on-track. We will ship to your door as quickly as possible once the order arrives to our Iowa warehouse in August. Please note that this schedule is subject to change pending unforeseen shipping circumstances (Nar privateers) and global supply chain disruptions (AI rampancy and/or orbital bombardment). The letter came from Bungie Aerospace Corporation. Which of course is a front for Traxus OffWorld Industries (you just don't know it yet).

Today on the Story page we eavesdrop on Traxus OffWorld Industries. What are they up to? What are they hiding? Follow us as we dig deeper into Traxus lore and meet the World Builders. You know the drill. Smash that puzzle box icon. Hit the Traxus button. And follow the White Rabbit down. NuMarathon NuHole

Woah! Lot's of folks writing in about yesterday's big reveal! Pirates in Marathon? Are we going to see a Pimps At Sea revival? The what? Please note that Christopher Barrett does not appear in this Bungie ViDoc... honest. Bungie's Pimps At Sea. Behind The Scenes. 2001 Back in June 17, 2023 attention was unfortunately drawn to a town called Marathon close to the geo coordinates found in the cryptic Tau Ceti colony graffiti DRUMS SIMULATION UNITE. Since then Marathon fans have been visiting Marathon much to the annoyance of the good town folk. Nothing to see there except... ... a rather bizarre store. Marathon, Iowa. Click to enlarge. Pirates in Marathon? Please don't go to Marathon, Iowa. Hey!  What's in the store?

On today's Story page we bring you the tru7h behind those missing MIDA pages. Why did Bungie remove them? We dig deep into MIDA lore to bring you the significance of ROANOKE and the JOLI ROUGE. Yar, there be pirates heading to Tau Ceti! It's MIDA time! You know the drill. Smash that puzzle box icon. Hit the MIDA button. And follow the White Rabbit down. NuMarathon NuHole

Happy Marathon Announcement Day! Yes folks, on this day 29 years ago Bungie announced they would soon be shipping their new action-adventure game, Marathon. The press release revealed: Marathon is set far in the future on a colony ship in outer space. A science officer on the mission, you are the last hope for defending the ship as hostile and intelligent aliens prepare to destroy every living thing. Yes, you were going to be a science officer! I had the opportunity to raise this with Matt Soell (Bungie Software) back in Apr 23, 1996. He replied: "In the future, science and security will be one and the same. Actually, the character was originally supposed to be a science officer. It was changed rather capriciously in the Marathon manual." One reason to always read the manual! Marathon, Marathon... so good Bungie announced it twice! On September 19, 1994 Bungie announced they would soon be shipping their new action-adventure game, Marathon. The press release revealed: Marathon is set in the future on a colony ship in outer space. A science officer on the mission, you are the last hope for defending the ship as hostile and intelligent aliens prepare to destroy every living thing. If you are getting that déjà vu feeling don't worry the timeline will be reset again shortly. (circumstances are cyclical) But I digress. Today is also... Happy Marathon Attack Day! Yes folks, on this day 771 years from now the U.E.S.C. Marathon will be attacked by hostile alien forces. ref Welcome To The Floor; Population You. July 25, 2794. Where will you be... hiding? Bob hiding in the 'imposible room' on Arrival.

If you have been following the deep dive into MIDA's ANTI:REV+ issue 4673c then you will have noticed common themes such the comfort cage, consume, work and happiness. These themes are similar to those used in the 1971 American science fiction film THX 1138, co-written and directed by George Lucas in his directorial debut. The opening title is shown below. The film depicts a totalitarian future where emotions are suppressed by drugs and people are treated as commodities. A high level of control is exerted upon the populace through constant surveillance and the ever-present faceless android police. The state-sanctioned deity OMM 0000 takes confessions and offers blessings: "Let us be thankful we have commerce. Buy more. Buy more now. Buy more and be happy." and "Let us be thankful we have an occupation to fill. Work hard; increase production; prevent accidents, and be happy." The film's aesthetics are stark whites with high visibility contrasting colors. Some stills from the film. Page 19 of MIDA's ezine sums it up nicely. why think don't resist consumeworkconsume huddledhappymasses Be Happy.

"I want you to find a friend of mine. I must know if he is dead. His name is Bernhard Strauss." Durandal.  Marathon.  No Artificial Colors (Terminal 1: 'Unfinished' message).  December 21, 1994. Jeoku continues his in-depth playthrough of Marathon with the Tuncer Deniz & Greg Kirkpatrick level No Artificial Colors,  the second level of the Pfhor Chapter. Sources in the video include: What's in a Name? Original level notes for No Artificial Colors. Level Credits and Creator Comments. Bernhard Strauss. Map Writing. According to the Marathon Scrapbook: An uncredited Tuncer Deniz designed the solo level "No Artificial Colors" and the net levels "What Goes Up, Must Come Down" and "Waldo World Arena" (originally titled "Arema" but bowdlerized by Greg Kirkpatrick to save America's youth). ref No credit for Tuncer Deniz in the Marathon manual. ref The opening part of No Artificial Colors shares a similarity with the net level E Equals MC What!!!! by Greg Kirkpatrick. ref  You need to see it for yourself. Our mission on No Artificial Colors is to find the elusive Bernhard Strauss. The Marathon's Science Director. More specifically Durandal wants us to rescue him... assuming he is still alive. ref Back in June 5, 1996 I wrote the following to Matt Soell (Bungie Software): In Marathon the Bobs are colored green, yellow, red and blue. Somewhere along the way they seem to have got roles i.e., Green = Crew Yellow = Science Red = Engineering Blue = Security Is this Bungie's role designation? Was this intentional? The colors are suspciously like those in Star Trek. Just curious. Matt replied: The colors on the Bobs uniforms had nothing to do with Star Trek, that's for sure. There were three different colors of Fighter uniforms; why not different crew uniforms? The role designation was ours, and it was done because originally the Bobs were planned as having a bit more to do than run around yelling "They're Everywhere!" and eating lead. Time ran out, and we didn't get a chance to do that until M2. So yellow Bobs were originally planned to be Science. Quick someone tell Jeoku before it's too... NOOO... Jeoku killed Strauss!!! Interesting to note that Bernhard Strauss is referred to in the Marathon ARG lore. There is a U.E.S.C. MARATHON memo from Dr Bernhard H Strauss, DSc (Doctor of Science) dated 17 Columba 459. The date 17 Columba 459 is a Martian date based on the Utopian Calendar by Shaun Moss. His website has a datetime converter. At midday UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) on November 14, 2472 the Martian date is 17 Columba 459. This is two days before the launch of the UESC Marathon. ref Strauss' title is Head of AI Management and Systems Improvement. In the original game he is referred to as the Marathon's first Science Director. ref The memo discusses rampancy and how to handle a rampant AI. There is also a list all the AIs that were destined for the Tau Ceti colony, as well as the ship's three AIs (Durandal, Leela and Tycho). Oddly in the Marathon ARG, Bernhard Strauss has a middle name beginning with H. In the original game Bernhard Strauss has no middle name or at least we are not told that he does. While we never find out the fate of Bernhard Strauss in Marathon we are told by Durandal in the second game (Marathon 2: Durandal) that he died. ref Of course the UESC don't know that. I wonder what they will find on Tau Ceti IV.

July 22, 2023 Saturday 07.22.2023

What are we waiting for again? According to the Bungie Store the Marathon T-Shirts are more than a month out. Apparently they got stopped in the Jovian system. All pigs-n-pies. dream mTakers fakers mass-made desires desire their masses sever their your threads or dance     dance       dance

July 21, 2023 Friday 07.21.2023

Happy Halo Day. Yes folk, on this day 24 years ago Jason Jones unveiled Halo at the Macworld Expo in New York City during Steve Jobs' keynote address. Halo was expected to ship in 2000 on both Macintosh and Windows platforms. Coming soon for Windows and Mac OS. Halo is a trademark and Bungie is a registered trademark of Bungie Software Products Corporation. © 1999 Bungie Software Products Corporation. All rights reserved. What happened next is a story for another day. A Macintosh version of Halo was eventually released on December 12, 2003. It was even better than the Xbox version according to the press release. The game features many enhancements over the critically acclaimed and best-selling Xbox version, including 16-person online multiplayer mayhem, better graphics, new vehicles, new weapon, new maps, customizable multiplayer games and the precision of playing with a mouse and keyboard. Still played to this day by those who know. Happy Sack Day! Also on this day 24 years ago Bungie released the Mac Action Sack. "Action Sack For Those That Lack"  proclaimed the press release. The Macworld Bungie booth was awash with Sack and Mom jokes. The after party was HUGE! Historical Monument No. 7 was worshipped accordingly.  Don't ask! Got Sack?

July 20, 2023 Thursday 07.20.2023

NuMarathon... NuMIDA... NuHuddie... NuSign... All Nu. Coming... soon™

July 19, 2023 Wednesday 07.19.2023

And then there were... three. Mark Bernal creates a third piece of new Marathon artwork. This one was posted on the The Fourth Curtain Discord. Thanks to Jeoku for the heads up. Robert by Mark Bernal (July 17, 2023) Describing this piece Mark Bernal writes: What is this deranged imposter for? Two toes, malformed teeth, what a blast to sketch today while "Revisiting the Marathon" during breakfast. Pencil on Bristol paper approx. 8" x 5" Details about assimilated Bobs can be found on God Will Sort The Dead... If you can't read the small print in the image then check out the Pic Text section for enhanced interpretation. Want to know more about assimilated Bobs, Doug "Voice of Bob" Zartman, Marathon Bob, Microsoft Bob and whose Bob was bigger? Then check out The origin of Frog Blast The Vent Core section. According to Doug Zartman (SirLoin) The Fourth Curtain will be talking to Christopher Barrett, Game Director on Marathon... soon™. Chris will no doubt be telling us about Bungie's plans for Iowa and Tau Ceti IV. Directors... They're Everywhere! Marathon now has a Gameplay Design Director. Andrew Witts recently joined Bungie as Marathon Gameplay Design Director. What does a Marathon Gameplay Design Director do? Well according to Bungie's job ad they will "create exciting action experiences, visceral weapons and abilities, compelling mastery builds, and fun, challenging AI combatants." Fun, challenging AI combatants!!!

July 18, 2023 Tuesday 07.18.2023

It's MIDA time! You know the drill. Smash that puzzle box icon. Hit the MIDA button. And follow the White Rabbit down.

July 17, 2023 Monday 07.17.2023

Back in June 23, 2023 (last month, feels like a year) we pointed out that Mark Bernal (former Bungie artist who worked on Marathon 2: Durandal) had created a new piece of Marathon artwork under the title "Revisiting the Marathon". Now Jeoku points out that Mark has created another piece on Linkedin. S'pht (compiler) from Marathon 2: Durandal Concerning the image Mark writes: I compiled this drawing on my journey to "Revisiting the Marathon". Pencil on Bristol paper approx. 11" x 10" Compiled... get it? If Mark continues making more pieces like this we will have to start the Mark Bernal Marathon Art gallery. It has started... ...the Marathon Announcement Trailer hasn't been out two months (feels like two years) and we're making guns! Over on r/marathon wakko45 has 3D printed the Sniper Rifle used by White.Rabbit (Traxus contracted Runner) from the trailer. Impressive work given that all he had to work on were a few images. No doubt we will be seeing these for sale in the Bungie Store... soon™. Some assembly required. Marathon is set some 400 years after the events in Marathon so we might expect that weapons are now manufactured out of plastics by underpaid AIs rather than by... ...underpaid laborers toiling for a thinly-veiled government-owned arms manufacturing machine (oiled with the blood of the underclasses, by the way) which exists solely to line the pockets of the greedy bureaucrats who run the military/industrial complex. Marathon 2:Durandal manual, page 16. November 21, 1995.

July 16, 2023 Sunday 07.16.2023

"Who among you will write their names across the stars? " Bungie Inc.  Marathon.  May 24, 2023. Done and... done! Durandal writes the name of Tycho across the surface of a nameless moon. "Fatum Iustum Stultorum" ref Right who's next? Back in October 22, 2021 we reported on the soon to be released The Secret History of Mac Gaming: Expanded Edition by Richard Moss. The book covers the "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." It has a section covering Marathon. Thanks to Jeoku for sending in two pages from the Marathon section of the 2018 edition featuring a funny story from Matt Soell (Bungie Software) from 1995. You can read it below. NASA has landed! Just chillin...

July 15, 2023 Saturday 07.15.2023

RuisuteTV on Marathon Discord went all  'Rick Deckard'  on Bungie's Somewhere In The Heavens - ViDoc.  Enhance, Stop, Track Right, Stop, Enhance... The results were... well see for yourself. Click to enlarge The text on this screen reads: My hope is that we also have other systems that keep players engaged throughout the whole season (and not rely solely on the Power progression of the BIOS)    • Rank    • Battlepass    • Black Market      Upgrades    • Zone & Weapon      Mastery This screen shows some concept art. Click to enlarge However the most interesting find by RuisuteTV was this screen. Click to enlarge Not the actual image itself but the text on the arm of the suits _ʌW.2K65™ . Quite unique you might think. But RuisuteTV found this image on Dribbble. Click to enlarge Note the text  _ʌW.2K65™ . The image is by R▲ (theraa, a Russian designer) and was posted on Dribbble on September 8, 2017. Dribbble, founded in 2009, is a community for designers worldwide to find inspiration, grow their portfolios, connect with top talent, and find new opportunities. Given that the text is identical one wonders if R▲ did some/is doing work for Bungie or did someone at Bungie borrow his text idea? Or perhaps both borrowed it from somewhere else? The line  THE SLEEPER MUST AWAKEN  is a Dune quote so not Marathon-related. R▲ also creates some interesting typography. Click to enlarge His t-shirt graphic has a UESC vibe going on.

July 14, 2023 Friday 07.14.2023

Thanks to Gopherofdoomies <ewesleylill@gmail.com> in a Story forum post for pointing out an error on the Marathon Timeline. The Misriah Massacre entry was whacked. A whole generation of Marathon fans have grown up believing a falsehood. Probably explains why MIDA are the way they are in 2888. Or maybe they are the way they are in 2888 because we corrected the error. Oh no.... The Butterfly Effect How did Bernhard Strauss delay the onset of the second stage of Rampancy? By using on old 1990s software trick? Nicholas Martin <nicholas.martin@gmail.com> writes in about the fourth terminal on Never Burn Money. Specifically the opening part: WARNING: CORE OS (AF44+2DEB) MOD DATE LATER THAN CURRENT DATE/TIME and puts forward a plausible theory on how to delay the second stage. Check the Rampancy section for details. It also has implications for The Fourth Terminal on Never Burn Money section as well. Nicholas also posted this to r/marathon. Bernhard Strauss will be pleased when he reads the Story page in the 25th century. Oh no...

July 13, 2023 Thursday 07.14.2023

On today's episode of the Marathon's Story page we ride along with the MIDA boys. The characters and events depicted in this picture are entirely fictitious, any similarity to names or incidents is entirely coincidental. Getting to know them better we ask the tough questions. Why are they disrupting the status quo? Who are the boneless bureaucrats? Why do new MIDA hide in the shadows? What does UESC really stand for? Yes folks, it's another deep dive into the lore of MIDA. Are MIDA good or bad? You know the drill. Smash that puzzle box icon. Hit the MIDA button. And follow the White Rabbit down.

July 12, 2023 Wednesday 07.12.2023

"There is a problem in Marathon when playing on "Total Carnage" difficulty level where you can pick up an infinite number of the same weapon." Jason Jones.  2nd eWorld Conference Transcript.  February 7, 1995. Marathon Infinite. Jeoku continues his in-depth playthrough of Marathon with the Jason Jones level Pfhor Your Eyes Only...,  the first level of the Pfhor Chapter. Sources in the video include: Original level notes for Pfhor Your Eyes Only. What's in a Name? Level Credits and Creator Comments. The Pfhor Ship. Jason Jones explains the Total Carnage problem. Leela tells us about the Enforcer. system error 0xfded. system error 0xFFBD. Weapons in Marathon. Jeoku gives us our first look at the U.E.S.C. Marathon from the Pfhor ship. And tells us it's shaped like a hollow potato?!!! Iritscen cheats his way in the Marathon Demo to show us the alien weapon's system error 0xFFBD and the PIRATED COPLAND BETA ammo. Oh... and NAPALM CANNISTERS. But we have already mentioned that before so we are just repeating ourselves again. In the video Jeoku notes that the motion sensor doesn't work very well on the Pfhor ship. This is because the Pfhor levels are set to magnetic as well as low gravity (environment flag settings in the map file). While it is not mentioned in the Marathon manual, Durandal does tell us about it later in the game. If you have come to rely on the motion sensor to tell you where the aliens are this loss in function on the Pfhor ship adds an extra layer of creepiness to these levels. Thanks to Xavier on the Marathon Discord for showing us what happens when you don't wash your hands on the Marathon. Always wash your hands when you're done... or else! While it is not mentioned in the Marathon manual, Durandal does tell us about it later in the game... mind the door!

July 11, 2023 Tuesday 07.11.2023

"But you cannot hide from your own past; such delusions belong to the humans alone." Tycho.  Marathon.  Blaspheme Quarantine (Terminal 3).  December 21, 1994. Back in 2002... yes 2002... yes over 20 years ago... Colin Brent who had worked on Pathways Into Darkness and also the early development of Marathon gave an account of those bygone days in a Story forum post. Colin wrote: "In the inital Marathon, Jason had been knocking around a couple of different ideas about having a space oriented adventure. I'm the one who came up with the idea for using Deimos ("Panic"), the smaller of Mars' two moons as a ship. In fact, I had pushed hard to get Marathon renamed Deimos, but Alex had just finished his first marathon race and was very gungho about keeping the name. I had also plotted out a sequence of events that would take you to the surface of Mars and then to the other moon Phobos in a sequel game." So Marathon might have been called Deimos. But Deimos was called Marathon. Fast forward to January 2023 when we featured a piece of concept art by lobolabo a 3D artist from Osaka, Japan entitled Asteroid Ship. So what I hear you say. There are bazillion asteroid ship pics out there now! Yes, but we didn't show you a close-up of G-4 Sunbathing Landing Station. Click image for bigger size. More pics of the Asteroid Ship can be found on lobolabo's Artstation page.

July 10, 2023 Monday 07.10.2023

"We pledge that our games will effectively help our customers avoid work, put their personal lives in stasis and test their self-esteem to its core - and afterwards, they will swear it was worth it." Bungie Software.  Bungie's second website.  October 12, 1995. Bungie's  'commitment to humanity'  was enshrined on their second website back in October 1995. Their website page source revealed the tru7h... Bungie Intergalactic Software Bungie are run by aliens. Find out what Traxus OffWorld Industries' commitment to humanity is as we drill deep into Traxus lore. And ask yourself this... who is pulling their strings? You know the drill. Click the puzzle boxes icon. Open the Traxus box. And follow the White Rabbit down.

July 9, 2023 Sunday 07.09.2023

Exploring a lost colony on the mysterious planet of Tau Ceti IV, Runners - working solo or as part of three-person crews - will fight for survival, for riches, and for fame. Bungie.  Bungie Unveils PlayStation Surprises.  May 24, 2023. Apparently "three-person crews" were all the rage back in the day. With names like "The Irrationals" and "The Black Avengers". You can run, but you can't hide!     But the one that really pegged my weirdo-detector was this one. "Blessed are the Murderous." Welcome to the lost colony of Tau Ceti IV. No one gets out alive!

July 8, 2023 Saturday 07.08.2023

Thanks to Risk on the Marathon 'Iowa' Discord for pointing out this scene from a 2009 reboot of a long cherished boomer series. NO... not Marathon. 0:07 Ah the subtleties of the Marathon Discord brethren. Everything is polysemy. If you are confused... well what can I say... Welcome to Marathon. Opinions about the 2009 reboot vary from "a pile of shite" (latin term) to "a non-stop roller coaster ride of a movie". Let's see how Marathon fairs in the 21th century. On the subject of Marathon baconicsynergy on the Marathon 'Looter Shooter' Discord has come up with a new game type for old Marathon and also a way to practice for new Marathon. A 'Two for the Price of One' thing. Basically you fire up Marathon Infinity, do Command-Option Begin Game, choose Carroll Street Station (Double Aught's local subway station), collect as much ammo (loot) as you can and extract out before you die. Throw in a few extra players and you have PvPvE. And don't forget the faster you run the more oxygen you will use. You can play it solo or against other players competitively (teams or every runner for themselves). The winner is the person/team who extracts out with the most ammo (loot). ...who among you will write their names across the stars? The plot goes something like this: In Marathon Infinity, you find yourself caught in a web of ever-shifting allegiances. Durandal UESC, Tycho Traxus, the Pfhor MIDA; each is a power, with its own agenda and its own uses for you. There are loose ends that need to be tied in the Lh'owon Tau Ceti system, and you've got a reputation for getting things done. You can't be sure who the enemy is anymore. The only thing you can be sure of is a swift and bloody end if you let your guard down... Marathon Infinity Manual, page 18 The extraction terminal is a doozy so don't forget to record the text and send it to the Story page for forensic analysis. Do not attempt to do this yourself. Unfortunately baconicsynergy didn't patent his game idea so someone else is going to make a billion dollar franchise out of it. Meanwhile... back on the Marathon 'Iowa' Discord. HEY!.... IT SAYS IOWA! I can't stand it, I know you planned it

July 7, 2023 Friday 07.07.2023

Happy Bungie Day. Every year the Story page recounts the origin of Bungie Day so that people don't 4GET. So you have to go way back into the myths of time to February 24, 2000. It was reported that the Bungie Events calendar on bungie.net had an entry dated Fri, July 7th 2000 7:07 AM CST called Bungie Day. This is the first known reference to Bungie Day. It was entered into events calendar by yeroen (aka Max Hoberman). As fate would have it a BIG thing would happen between February 24, 2000 and July 7, 2000. NO... the Jjaro did not arrive! Microsoft acquired Bungie Software on June 19, 2000. The Bungie FAQ explaining what was happening failed to mention that Bungie Day was cancelled as the staff were either relocating to Redmond, Washington or were being let go. Not a great start to what has now become a fun day around the world. Oh and the Bungie Events banner had to go! No more 'all night benders' at new Bungie (Bungie Studios). No more walking up staring at the stars and wondering "Where the hell's my roof?" One good thing though... Mom jokes increased three fold. Matt Soell presents Life at Microsoft during Bungie FanFest IV January 12, 2001. For Bungie Day in 2001 Proud Flesh (aka Matt Soell) provided some advice to fans on how to celebrate Bungie Day responsibly. Wise words. Have a Happy - but Safe - Bungie Day! Soulblighter hits on Konoko but a jealous Elite Striker is going to stop it Mjolnir Recon number 54 tells another joke that Master Chief doesn't get. Loner Bob drinks to 4GET. The last human survivor of the original Tau Ceti colony. A surly dwarf spit-polishes another dwarven ale mug and remembers Myrgard. Admiral Tfear is all out of bubblegum. Artwork by Ian McConville (2001)

July 6, 2023 Thursday 07.06.2023

"So let me get this straight I've been reading the Story page for near on 30 years and Frederick Pohl has a 1994 story about an AI on the Martian net that goes insane AND I'm just finding this out NOW?" err... no this is the seventh time this has been found but we... 4GET. 1... 2... 3... 4... 5... 6...    7. (circumstances are cyclical) A question on Marathon Discord... ...made me recall the Blackout at the start of the second decade of the 21st century. One seventh of the Story page records (2007-2010) were wiped out. Phhht! Just like that. Stuff like the Greg Kirkpatrick interview explaining Marathon Infinity and Destiny (like Halo) being originally set in the Marathon universe. All gone. Destiny Awaits. Halo 3: ODST (September 2009) See You Starside. Halo Reach. Closing credits. (September 2010) At least in the third decade of the 21st century Bungie are actually going to create a game set in the Marathon universe. Third time lucky? Waiting for Marathon. But I digress. Also lost in the Blackout was... system error 0xfded. Marathon HUD when you pick up the Alien Weapon What did it mean? The whole 'system error 0xfded' explanation page... gone. Now for the second time we give you the meaning of system error 0xfded. And for the first time we give you the inside scoop on system error 0xFFBD. This is deep lore folks. Hush hush...

July 5, 2023 Wednesday 07.05.2023

Following up on yesterday's Sam Worthington reveal we dig deeper into his 2018 film The Titan. Sam Worthington in The Titan (2018) The film is about a soldier (Sam Worthington) who takes part in a military/NATO/NASA medical program to genetically and surgically alter humans so that they can survive on Saturn's moon Titan. It is loosely based on the 1976 novel Man Plus by Frederick Pohl. Pohl's novel won the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1977. The story is about an astronaut who undergoes cybernetic enhancement to operate in the harsh Martian environment so that humans can colonize Mars. The following is a quote from the book. If one does all these things to a human being, what is left is no longer precisely a human being. It is a man plus large elements of hardware. The man has become a cybernetic organism: a Cyborg. It was originally serialised in three parts in the magazine Fantasy & Science Fiction in 1976 (April, May and June issues). Frederick Pohl did a sequel to Man Plus called Mars Plus with Thomas T. Thomas. Part of the cover blurb reads. Fifty years after the colonization of Mars the Martian computer net, upon which all Martian life depends, develops a mind of its own and it's in a very bad mood?!!! Mars Plus has an AI called Lethe. The following is a quote from the book. An artificial intelligence, even a caged one—no, especially a caged one—was not made any saner by having its sensorium interrupted at random. With that kind of treatment, Lethe's world-view must be somewhere between that of a toddler and a psychopath by now. Mars Plus was first published in June 1994...

July 4, 2023 Tuesday 07.04.2023

Happy Fourth of July to all our colonial readers! Bungie Software. Inside Bungie banner. July 4, 1996 Thanks to the Guchi boys (aka The Crazy 77) for their help in translating the Sekiguchi Genetics website. What has the actor Sam Worthington got to do with Marathon? Find out as we unravel the threads of Sekiguchi Genetics. You know the drill. Click the puzzle boxes icon. Open the Sekiguchi box. And follow the White Rabbit down.

July 3, 2023 Monday 07.03.2023

"You have intelligent questions. We have witty answers." Bungie Software.  Letters to the WebMaster.  April, 1996. Decisions... decisions... "Enough with the boomer  ████  give us more Marathon lore." "Who is Jason Jones?" "Why was there no Sekiguchi t-shirt?" I'll answer the easy one... The Sekiguchi t-shirt was a Japanese exclusive. Only available through the Japanese Bungie Store. It's called regionalization folks. No Sekiguchi t-shirt for gaijin. Sorry. Over here in Europe at the European Bungie Store (eu.bungiestore.com) there was a European exclusive Marathon t-shirt. It's called regionalization folks. And no the eu does not stand for Europa though based on the shipping times you might think it. On the back of the European exclusive Marathon t-shirt was the text  "Here's your Marathon!"  and on the front... Well see for yourself.

July 2, 2023 Sunday 07.02.2023

"...the ability to look and fire up and down." Bungie. Press Release, September 19, 1994. ref Today... Marathonland goes blooey! The 'Sucker' Trap on Bigger Guns Nearby... by Jason Jones! And there's nothing I can do Jeoku continues his in-depth playthrough of Marathon with the Greg Kirkpatrick level Neither High nor Low,  the fourth and last level of the Durandal Chapter. Sources in the video include: Original level notes for Neither High nor Low. Level Credits and Creator Comments. What's in a Name? The Marathon Manual (SPNKR-X17 SSM Launcher (Lazyboy)) The Marathon Art of Craig Mullins Map Writing. Open windows to space on Neither High nor Low. The Hypervision works really well on Neither High nor Low unlike Bigger Guns Nearby where it turns the S'pht (compilers) almost invisible. No S'pht on Neither High nor Low so you can see the Pfhor (in red), ammo (in green) and weapons (also in green), including the Tozt.25 Flame Unit high up in a dark alcove. Thank you Greg Kirkpatrick. The Hypervision on Bigger Guns Nearby will turn the S'pht blue (see above)... and there's nothing you can do! Thank you Jason Jones! This is also the level where you find out that in Marathon you can look up and down (sorry couldn't resist that). Pfhor Fighters on Neither High nor Low? I must have missed those! Greg left us one map annotation on Neither High nor Low, namely Core Center. The level is designed around this central core area. Finally here is a better pic of the map writing on this level back in the day when it was first discovered. Greg versus Jason... it's ON!

July 1, 2023 Saturday 07.01.2023

Meanwhile...   "Hello, my name is Andy and I bought all five." "I mean... how could I choose?  What if I chose the wrong one?  How could I live with myself?"           "Hello, my name is Olivia and I bought all five." "All I remember were the dots!  The green dots!  What did they mean?  They must mean something?  Right?  The dots...  the dots..."           "Hello, my name is Bob and I bought all five." "It was the way they did it.  They removed them one at a time.  Real...  slow...  like.  It felt like someone had pulled my shirt over my head and poured water over it.  I couldn't breathe!"           "Hello, my name is Emma and I bought all five." "I only wanted one... just one.  Put I couldn't help myself.  They're worse than the tobacco companies.  People should be warned!" Do not click   "Hello, my name is Elliot and I bought all five." "It all started with the Story page.  It sucked me in.  Promising me the tru7h.  Lies...  all lies... " Do not click   "Hello, my name is Hamish and I bought all... NOOOOOOO."         According to Marathoners Anonymous... "FOMO referrals have increased seven-fold since June 1st.  It has only been one month! This is just the tip of the iceberg. The worst is yet to come. But don't worry we have a seat here for you... beside Hamish." Bungie's Events banner from 1996. Back in the day when a Bungie event was a 'beerfest' and an 'all night bender'. And when you awoke two days later your brain was like... Frog Blast the Vent Core! Got to love the old stuff. And least we forget... on this day 24 years ago Bungie announced the Mac Action Sack. What happened twenty days later changed the world. NO... the Jjaro did not arrive! Got Sack?