Apr 26, 2003 (Saturday)

Matt Soell calls it quits!

Yesterday Matt Soell posted the following to the HBO forum.

Come in Number 7, Your Time is Up.
Posted By: Matt <matt@bungie.com>
Date: 4/25/03 4:00 p.m.

Even with eight years' experience in the fine art of Damage and Spin, I'm having a hard time figuring out a good way of saying this. Might as well just say it: today is my last day at Bungie.

Before the juicy conspiracy theories start, I'd like to state for the record that there's no intrigue or drama behind this decision. No political machinations, no long-simmering rivalries, no epic struggle between the forces of light and dark. My reasons for leaving are pretty mundane. It's just time for me to do something different.

The rest of the community team will be picking up my slack, and they're committed to doing cool stuff for you guys. With any luck, you won't even realize I'm gone.

Working at Bungie is probably the best thing that's happened to me. I've learned a lot and enjoyed myself immensely. I've had the honor of working with some of the most intelligent, creative, fun people on the planet. I got to contribute (in my own tiny way) to a great company's products and culture. I'll always be proud of the work we've done. Not too many people get to say that about their jobs, ever.

When I started at Bungie, my job title was The Man in the Online Asbestos Suit. Now I'm the Community Guy. Things have changed. Getting paid to watch them change is nice work if you can get it. Working at Bungie wouldn't be half as cool if we didn't have a fan community with such dedication, energy, imagination and wit. You honor us with your presence. Thank you for making my job so much fun.

"We'll meet again, don't know where, don't know when..."

-Matt Soell
Community Guy/Keeper of the Bungie Way
1/16/95 - 4/25/03

Three days before his announcement Matt was observed on the Bungie Webcam holding up a very rare copy of the Marathon keychain. Perhaps a final salute to Bungie fans.

Apr 8, 2003 (Tuesday)

Matthew Lewis Carroll Smith (aka poena.dare) <mlcs> writes:

Bungie Sightings is proud to have an exclusive interview with Alain Roy, former Bungie networking coder. In the interview we have a revealing talk about the ancient Bungie, coding Marathon, and what may or may not be on the horizon for distributed computing and games. Be sure to alert your readers to this stimulating and intriguing interview.

Bungie Sightings - http://bs.bungie.org/

Aaron Gaponoff <eaten_by_fungus@lycos.com> writes concerning an Iraqi war picture:

Saw a picture in the NY Times today, that immediately reminded me of the Garrison chapter screen. Just like to share. Heh, maybe Craig Mullins is a war photographer on his spare time?

Eric Peterson <FreeZeR147@charter.net> writes:

I read through 'The Number Seven' page yesterday and started to play around with weapon timing. If I counted correctly, get a fully loaded AR (bullets and grenades) and simply hold down both primary and secondary fire.

Open the third primary reload, the secondary reloads also.

Coincidence, considering all of the other 7s and 3s that went into this weapon?

Try it and see...

Mar 20, 2003 (Thursday)

Mike Yocom <pfhreak@mac.com> writes:

Concerning the discussion on Marathon's Story about firing weapons in a vacuum:

http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/rocketl.html

"A conventional bullet has oxidizer inside the shell, it does not require atmospheric oxygen in order to fire. However, conventional handgun lubrication oil will boil away in vacuum, leaving a gummy mess. Unless special lubrication is used, the handgun is likely to jam."

Some caveats on the following rambling: I haven't checked on whether or not this statement is true, but I have found everything else on this site to be pretty accurate. Also, I'm no firearms expert, so I don't know if rifles need lubrication oil or not, but I can't see any reason why not. I'm also not sure if it would need special oil, or could use the same oil as a pistol. So this may all be in the same vein as claiming the world is flat...

Maybe not all human weapons have vacuum-friendly oil. It would make sense to put such oil in the .44/.45 Magnum, the standard firearm for the crew of a space ship. The KKV-7 having such oil would also make sense because that would give the crew a fully automatic weapon to use in space if they needed it, if it was on the Marathon. (Did the KKV-7's inclusion in Infinity ever get explained? I know the manual entry for the shotgun mentions that Durandal found its design specs in the Marathon's computer)

Maybe vacuum-friendly oil is expensive enough that it wasn't included on all weapons, including the MA-75, a "... toy designed to impress aging pompous generals."

Colin Ferguson <fearlessson@yahoo.com> writes:

I noticed that the song from the Halo Sound track "On a Pale Horse" is also the name of a Piers Anthony novel. In that novel there is a line "Death is dead, long live death." This is similar to Bungie's official response to Phoenix questions: "Phoenix is dead, long live Phoenix." I also noted that in the novel, in a Latin American civil war zone, there is a soldier claiming that he is hunting "Seventh Communists." Sounds a bit like "Seventh Columnists," does it not? I asked Marty O'Donnell about this and have made a copy of my question and his reply:

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3/18/2003 11:51 PM PST, by Fearless Son
Q Maestro in Chief, sir,

Fact: There is a track on the Halo Sound track called "On a Pale Horse," sir.

Fact: The official response to direct questions about Phoenix is "Phoenix is dead, long live Phoenix," sir.

Are these references to the first book in Piers Anthony's Incarnations of Immortality series, sir? More importantly, does that series have any plot or inspirational references that would send people (like me) on the Marathon's/Halo's Story pages into a rabid reading frenzy as we feverishly and painstakingly search the collected works of Piers Anthony looking for the slightest connection with Bungie games, sir?

A Marty the Elder says: Piers Anthony...hmmm it appears that what was once hidden has been exposed, what was lost is now found...

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Could Bungie be drawing some serious inspiration from Piers Anthony? We better find out...

Mar 17, 2003 (Monday)

Well it was 7 days since the last Story page update and now it's the 17th of the 3rd month. Happy St. Patrick's Day to ye all! Have a good one. Green chips... delicious chips...

Mar 10, 2003 (Monday)

Secrets still in Marathon Infinity? Well maybe not a totally new secret but certainly one that is not well documented. Check this post in the Story forum today.

Get your Marathon manuals here. At last all four Marathon manuals in PDF format. For your viewing pleasure.

I want my TBS.

What's in a name? Oh wait... we did this a long time ago.

And someone wants to know the ultimate question.