June 29, 2012 (Friday)   174:14:28:11

Thanks to Phil <electriccartilage@gmail.com> for spotting an error in one of the terminals.
Terminal 0: 2nd Message on By Committee to be specific. All fixed now. Go read the newly
restored text... lost for almost a decade. Errors... they're everywhere... can't stand 'em.

June 22, 2012 (Friday)   181:5:27:28

Bob Williamson <cockatiel41@yahoo.com> writes:

If you play M1A1 in Aleph One and look on some of the cryo-stoage unit wall textures,
you'll see a torn-up tag that says "H. SINCLAIR 819".

Well I for one never knew this so I guess I'm going to have to fire up M1A1 and take a look-see.

June 20, 2012 (Wednesday)   183:2:14:34

PerseusSpartacus <perseusspartacus@gmail.com> writes concerning the original level
names. See the Original Level Names section for details.

Matt Soell <matt@wideload.com> (formerly of Bungie Software) writes concerning the
original level names. See the Original Level Names section for details.

June 10, 2012 (Sunday)   193:2:33:36

Fakes and composites. They're everywhere. Can't stand 'em.

In a Story forum post,  GrimCleaver raises an interesting point about some of the official
screenshots. See the Official Marathon Screenshots section for details.

June 6, 2012 (Wednesday)   197:4:3:44

Marathon writeup on The Register

UK IT news site The Register has a regular feature on retro games, and today they cover
the Marathon series. The author is Tony Smith, creator of the solo scenario Origin of Species.
Thanks to Hopper for the heads up.

June 1, 2012 (Friday)   202:14:13:9

And then there were three!

Soli Deo Gloria Productions have released Marathon Infinity for iOS. This completes the
Marathon Trilogy for iOS devices. All games are in Universal format and free.
Thanks to baile045 <bailey.smith28@yahoo.com> for the heads up.

On the Story forum, therealmathias <mathias.duszynski@gmail.com> posts a video
of his unboxing of the Marathon Trilogy Box Set. Factory sealed Box Sets are rare and the
whole thing is done with a certain amount of reverence.
A factory sealed Marathon Trilogy Box Set was snapped up on eBay recently for US $79.95.

May 22, 2012 (Tuesday)   212:4:54:4

Thanks to all those who wrote in with the big news of the day reported first in the L.A. Times.

As a result of the lawsuit between Activision Publishing Inc. and former Call of Duty developers,
Bungie's 2010 contact with Activision has now been made public. Apart from details about
their next game entitled "Destiny", the contract provides for Bungie to operate a small
prototype team to develop a future 'action-shooter interactive entertainment software
product tentatively known as "Marathon" (see section 8.3.ii-v). The contract also specifies
that 'Activision shall have a right of first negotiation to publish and distribute
Marathon...' (see section 8.4.c.2). A number of conditions have to be meet for
"Marathon" to be developed.

No other details are available. Other than the use of the name "Marathon", it is not clear
if this is an extension to the Marathon trilogy or a re-working of the original games.
In December 2014, Marathon will celebrate its 20th anniversary. It is possible that Bungie
are working to release something Marathon-related to mark the event. I guess we will have
to wait and see.

May 20, 2012 (Sunday)   214:3:28:1

Probably a record... Super Marathon went for US $370.00 and the Pippin went for US $515.55.
Who said interest in Marathon was dead?

May 13, 2012 (Sunday)   221:5:40:21

Space Hero. Or Space Dust!

So goes the blurb for Super Marathon for the Pippin, a games console designed by Apple and
and produced by Bandai in 1995. Very rare to find a copy of Super Marathon for sale and
even rarer to find a working Pippin. However, you can now get both on eBay.

For more details about this version of Marathon see the Super Marathon section.

May 12, 2012 (Saturday)   222:5:57:16

Happy Birthday to the Story forum. Eleven years old today. Party hat time!
Thanks to poena.dare <mstorysclm@mlcsmith.com> for remembering...
but then again how could he forget? Happy Birthday Mr. Smith. :)

On the subject of remembering... remember the Nar in Marathon? That alien race who
speak entirely in metaphor and fly coal-powered interstellar battlewagons. See the
Marathon Scrapbook for more details and also the Pfhor Ship section for... even more details.
Well now PerseusSpartacus <perseusspartacus@gmail.com> in a Story forum post points
out that there is a river in England called the Nar. I'll let you decide the relevance of this
nugget of information. ;)

Thanks to Phil <electriccartilage@gmail.com> for pointing out that the Greg Kirkpatrick's
comments about his level 'Charon Doesn't Make Change' were not complete. Oops... not good to
truncate the words of the Toolator. All fixed now... phew.

May 10, 2012 (Thursday)   224:6:37:26

Simon Araque <johnshortcutt@gmail.com> writes concerning the terminal on the
secret Infinity net map, called "Hats Off to 819":

The Description of the character, known as "Nicodeem", is exactly the same as the
Description of the "Last Precursor" from Halo: Cryptum (Four Arms, Narrow Chest,
Three Meters High; with a Resemblance to an Arthrophod), one of the recently-released
novels that expand the Universe of Halo before H4's release.

Simon is referring to this description in the "Hats Off to 819" terminal:

Nicodeem, lord apparent of Onlai and junior autocrat, shivered in the easterly
wind. he tugged at his cloak absently and scanned the street a second time,
turning his back into the wind and wrapping all four arms around his narrow
chest. Nicodeem hunched his shoulders and tried to hide his nearly three meters
of height in the lengthening shadows.

So we have four arms, narrow chest and three meters high. Coincidence or something more?

On the Story forum, your chance to grab a bunch of Marathon and Marathon-related memorabilia.