(Nov-Dec 1998)
Dec 31, 1998
Well a new year is almost upon us. Time to look back... or forward? What better way than to visit
the newly updated Page 2401. The largest
list of Marathon links in the Sol system. Alot of dead pages
have been weeded out and some new ones added. If you think Marathon is dying on the web
then think again. A New Era of Marathon is approaching... will you be ready?
Happy New Year to all the Story page readers... everywhere!
Dec 30, 1998
James Pillar (aka RuGGeR) of RuGGeR's Tavern
is going to Macworld SF and is looking to join up with other hardened Marathon marines
for an assault on the Bungie booth. You can't miss James since he's 6 foot 8 and built like
a rugby player (hence the nick). You can contact James for "The Plans"
at <Tavern@buyamac.com&lgt;. I wouldn't want to be in the Bungie booth when James and the
gang arrive.
Miguel Chavez (aka Freewill) <JMChavez@aol.com> will also be there reporting on events at
the Bungie booth. Hopefully he'll land a scoop
like he did at E3 earlier this year. We'll be watching.
This interesting fact was passed on to me by Colin James <cjames@henninger.com>. It relates
to the Double Aught net map pack Coriolis Loop.
Colin points out that the level name "Controlled by Gamma Light" comes from the chorus in the
song "Earth People" by Dr. Octagon. The level was created by Randy Reddig and
according to Colin Kawakami who also worked at Double Aught Software this was some of the music
Randy listened to while working on the Coriolis Loop levels. The song "Earth People" has a
curious ending. It features part of a conversation between a doctor and a number of observers at
a post-mortem. The text is as follows:
Observer 1: What's your theory Doctor?
Doctor: Strangulation! By horrifically powerful hands!
Observer 1: But is it not curious that this left deltoid muscle should be missing.
Observer 2: It's been torn right out!
Doctor: Gentlemen it wasn't torn. This is...
The Coriolis Loop map pack contains a total of 18 levels listed as follows:
Carnage Soccer
Carnage Soccer
Controlled by Gamma Light
Corpus Swinus
Hats off to Eight Nineteen
Grendel's Happy Cookie
House of Monkey
Mime Target
My Rod?
Reason with the Sky - Fast
Reason with the Sky More Complex)
Sand Serif Fast)
Sand Serif Good Looking)
Tour de Carnáge
sybau
Shadows of Brooklyn
UN Attack
Ways and Means 2
Most of the levels were created shortly after Double Aught completed the Infinity
scenario "Blood Tides of Lh'owon". Building on this experience Double Aught created
some of the most innovative and aesthetically pleasing net levels available.
The Coriolis Loop levels played host to the
now famous Battle of Brooklyn (BoB) series. Check the FAQ section
for details on this.
Dec 29, 1998
Michael Park <macgamer@ohana.com> writes:
All right, in one of the sections of your webpage, there was mention as
to why you're called a "science officer" when you are more or less like
a security officer. In response to this, someone at Bungie says that
"in the future, science and security is the same".
Ok, so that makes some sense. But what about the Science and Security
Bob crews in Marathon 1? If the officers were the same, wouldn't that
apply to the Marathon Bobs? If you compare their stats in the physics,
you will see that Science Bobs are weaker than the Security ones.
But as I've said, if Science and Security were the same, why have two
sets of Bobs instead of one Bob doing both?
Ah yes this was Matt Soell (Bungie Software) back in Apr 23, 1996. Long story
to this one.
Back in Apr 6, 1996 Bungie updated their home page with Marathon info that was clearly
out-of-date. The page maintained that we played the part of a "science officer"
in the game rather than a security officer. This info was in fact based on an early
press release for Marathon dating from July '94.
The disturbing thing about all this was the fact that Bungie's page was actually updated
with this old info in the first place. Not good. Matt Soell in Bungie's defence remarked
at the time:
In the future, science and security will be one and the same.
Matt did go on to say however:
Actually, the character was originally supposed to be a science officer.
It was changed rather capriciously in the Marathon manual. Someday
someone will get around to that page of the site and change it so that it
complies with future history as we know it. ;)
Of course if Matt hadn't been joking he would of had to explain the apparent
difference between Science Bobs and Security Bobs. ;-)
Dec 28, 1998
Aaron Davies <agd12@columbia.edu> writes concerning Bruce Morrison's
comments below:
Re the terminal browser in M1, if you look at the DITL associated with DLOG
132, DITL 139, you can see the entire browser box, options, scatological
buttons, and all. Now we just need to figure out what CODE calls DITL 139. :-)
Dan Rudolph <rudolph.family@mcleod.net> writes:
Happy Puppy did a review of Myth II in which they acknowledged Mac gaming and
gave it credit where it was due. After all the examples of PC gamer ignorance
I've seen lately, this was a welcome change.
http://www.happypuppy.com/
Good news for 1999 perhaps?
Dec 24, 1998
T'was the night before Christmas, and all through the ship,
Not a creature was stirring, not even a S'pht...
CAUSE YA KILLED THEM ALL!
Merry Christmas to all Story page readers... everywhere!
The Marathon's Story page will be closed for three days over the Christmas period.
Next update will be on the 28th December. Have a great Christmas and don't forget
to check out what happens to those greyed out network game options on the 25th. ;-)
AT LAST... secret Marathon level 00 "A Good Way To Die..." revealed. Check the
Blasts from the Past section for full details.
An amusing seasonal post appeared on alt.games.marathon from that infamous
rogue Gary Simmons (aka Battle Cat). In case you missed it I've taken the opportunity
to reprint it below. Thanks Gary!
From: "Gary L. Simmons"
Newsgroups: alt.games.marathon
Subject: Christmas on board the Marathon
Date: Wed, 23 Dec 1998 10:22:07 -0800
Organization: EarthLink Network, Inc.
Mime-Version: 1.0
Reply-To: gsimmons@SPAMearthlink.net
Message-ID: <368134CC.38525D41@SPAMearthlink.net>
X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.04 (Macintosh; I; PPC)
Lines: 25
As usual around Christmas time when there is a war, the soldiers will
sometime lay down their arms and come together for a moment in warmth
and peace. Such a thing happened on board the Marathon today. Silent
Night was playing over the intercom system during a lull in the
fighting. I happened upon a squad of Pfhor projectile fighters led by a
Purple Trooper. An odd thing happened, we just looked at each other, no
one powered up their weapons. I slowly took my hand from the grip of my
holstered .44 Magnum. The Trooper stepped forward and offered his hand
saying gently, "Uhh er uhh ahhhh". This was an awkward moment for us
both. Soon we were all singing carols and sipping eggnog. I reached
into a side flap of an ammo pouch, found my lucky Bhanta foot and gave
it to the Trooper. In kind he gave me a small cylinder with a blinking
light. It was magical, and as he turned to rejoin his squad of blue
fighters, a tear started to well up in my eye and I thought, "What the
HELL is going on here?!?" I planted a rack of SPNKRs into the Trooper's
stinking butt crack and took out the rest of his squad with my MA-75B
Battle Rifle.
Merry Christmas everyone and happy CARNAGE in the new year!
Gary Simmons
the Battle Cat
What... no fists?!!! Just Vid It - With Style! ;-)
Dec 23, 1998
Sriranga Veeraraghavan <tranga@CSUA.Berkeley.EDU> writes concerning
one the Thoth terminals on the Marathon 2 level "Kill Your Television".
See the Thoth section
of Facts and puzzling things about... for details.
Bruce Morrison <wimorrison@FTC-I.NET> writes:
hey It's apparent the Story page has several answers to questions, so my
question is: how do you access the built in term. browser in marathon?
what key combination is it?
To help illustrate what I'm talking about check out the DLOGs Box from
the ResEdit file of the Marathon Application, script 132. do you know
what the key combination is?
Odd stuff. While the Story page has lots of answers to questions it doesn't
have an answer for this one. Anyone out there have an answer?
Dec 22, 1998
Back in Dec 4, 1998 Sylith Senjak <durandal2_@hotmail.com> and John Zero <jzero@onramp.net>
both wrote concerning the possibility that Rolend's sword "Durendal" originally belonged to the Trojan
hero "Hector" but the actual evidence for this was apparently lacking. Now Sylith Senjak writes again:
I found the backup evidence I was looking for.
In _The Story of Roland_, a story version written by James Baldwin, it
says that when Roland is given the sword, written on the blade are the
words "I am Durendal, which Trojan Hector wore".
In _The Iliad_ as translated by Alston Hurd Chase and William G. Perry,
Jr., it says that after Achilles slew Hector, he stripped Hector of his
arms and armors(page 343), though nothing is said about a sword.
Interesting stuff. More to follow on this. And page 343 no less! Coincidence or...
Marathon is now 4 years old, alive and kicking. Fans worldwide are still making maps and playing the game. Others
are researching the story and unearthing facts and puzzling things about the game on a daily basis. Why? Why does Marathon
still generate so much interest? This question is posed on RuGGeR's Tavern news section at
http://164.58.172.183/tavern/news.html.
RuGGeR asks:
To what do you attribute Marathon's prolonged success in the gaming community?
If you have an answer then fill in the on-line form so that a concensus view can be obtained.
Remember... the answers are out there!
Dec 21, 1998
Happy 4th Birthday Marathon.
This day four years ago Marathon was released. Party on!
Bruce Morrison <wimorrison@FTC-I.NET> writes:
I was actually watching Star Gate SG-1 and I noticed that the staffs the
Egyptian/Aliens use look a lot like Pfhor Staff, infact after looking
through the Star Gate web page, www.stargate-sg1.com I noticed a lot of
Marathonish pictures mostly in the concept art like unevolved Craig Mullins pieces.
If you check the Behind the Scenes section at
www.stargate-sg1.com/behind/index.html you'll find some familiar looking
graphics for the episode called "The Enemy Within".
Steve Rogers has posted a 6.2 meg Marathon song called "Durandal" at
http://www.thebeast.demon.co.uk/music/index.html
Worth a listen. Great electric guitar sound unfortunately it's a .mov file rather than an MP3 so the
quality is rather poor.
More Marathon Links you should know about.
The Marathon Player's Guild of Japan at
http://mars.ru.u-tokai.ac.jp/
A great set of links to some interesting Japanese Marathon pages containing maps, utilities, vidmaster films,
spoiler info, and even a Marathon comic.
Dec 20, 1998
Following up on Michael Zannetou's recent comments regarding
a free copy of Prime Target on this month's Macworld (UK) cover CD I managed to get my hands
on a copy. Hey a free game is a free game. Anyway it was interesting to note the Game Hall of Fame
section which also appeared in the US version of Macworld. The article written by Cameron Crotty is
essentially the same in both versions of Macworld except for the scoring. The US version of Macworld uses
"mice" icons the UK version uses "stars" plus a numerical score. The odd thing about this
is the actual differences between the US and UK scores. Here are just some of games and
their scores.
|
US Macworld
Tomb Raider (4 mice)
Myth: The Fallen Lords (4 mice)
Myst (4.5 mice)
Riven (4.5 mice)
Unreal (4.5 mice)
Marathon Trilogy Box Set (4 mice)
|
UK Macworld
Tomb Raider (5 stars/9.2)
Myth: The Fallen Lords (4 stars/8.4)
Myst (4 stars/8.5)
Riven (4 stars/8.0)
Unreal (4 stars/7.8)
Marathon Trilogy Box Set (4 stars/8.8)
|
So why does the US version of Macworld give the Marathon Trilogy Box Set 4 mice placing
it below games such as Unreal, Myst, and Riven while the UK version gives it 4 stars/8.8
placing it above these games? Conspiracy or something more?
Nathaniel Krell <nkrell@mail.valueweb.net> writes:
A few years ago, I seem to remember that Bungie had a set of "Marathon
Christmas Greeting Card" images availible on their website (i.e. S'pht
decorated as Christmas Tree while Pfhor open presents or something like
that). I neglected to save these when I had the chance, and completely
forgot about them until last month.
Yes, it's been almost 2 or 3 years since it occurred to me to look for
these again. Mea culpa.
Would you have any idea where I could possibly find these files?
Thank you for your time.
Hey this is the Marathon's Story page where ELSE would you find this type of
Marathon memorabilia? :-)
If I remember correctly there was only one card, the Marathon Holiday Greeting Card.
On the back were the words "Home Pfhor The Holidays", Mark Bernal. The card looked
like this. Enjoy.
Mark Levin <mglevin@uiuc.edu> writes:
The other day I saw a mention of an Asimov story involving "a 'Big
Computer' that becomes so powerful it eventually BECOMES God. " (This
was a comment on a news item about claims that Earth technology has been
stolen from aliens.) The story turned out to be "The Last Question",
which has been put on the web at
http://www.math.ethz.ch/~mberthou/art/asimov4.html.
It's a good read
(aside from Asimov's usual dated tech).
I won't ruin the plot, but it seems very familiar, as if from an old
dream...
Adam "Rabbit" Rose <rosegang@earthlink.net> writes:
Since you have been dealing out addresses for alternative Marathon
sites to the downed marathon.org, we'd like to add another to your list.
It's Rabbit's Marathon Page (Maybe you've heard of it, we don't think
you have...) and we're spreading a little Christmas Cheer. On Christmas
Day 1999 (Or sooner), we're gonna release a Christmas Novelty Map Pack
featuring all kinds of novelties geared around carnage at the holidays.
We'd also like to collect maps from anyone with a Christmas related map.
Well, over the next week, there will be more details at the site about
this new project.
Here's the site-
http://home.earthlink.net/~rosegang/rabbit/marathon/index.html
Check RuGGeR's Tavern at http://164.58.172.183/tavern/
for a growing list of 3rd party scenario links.
Dec 18, 1998
The Marathon Vidmasters' Page is BACK. Thought lost in the purge of '98 the Vid-files
were secretly unearthed from the ashes and dusted off. The URL for the new Vidmasters' page is now
http://164.58.172.183/marathon/vidmaster/
The page has been updated with the Marathon Trilogy Vidmaster Pack. All 88 solo levels completed on
Total Carnage by Jim "BobJam" Mitchell. This film pack first appeared on the Marathon Trilogy Box Set CD.
Want a free copy of Prime Target? Michael Zannetou <mzannetou@dial.pipex.com> writes:
It might be interesting to note that the UK issue of macworld is giving
away full versions of Prime Target this month.
First Damage Inc. now Prime Target, whatever next?
Are they trying to put MacSoft out of business??
For those not aware of the fact - Prime Target is one of three games which uses the Marathon 2
engine. Back in Oct 17, 1998 the Story page reported that Macworld UK were giving away a
full free version of Damage Incorporated on their cover CD.
As Michael points out... whatever next! ZPC perhaps?
For those of you looking for Bryan Mendoza's "The 10th Warrior" movie (QuickTime) you can now get it directly
from the Story page. Two formats are available .mov and .sit for your convenience.
the_10th_Warrior.mov (28591K).
the_10th_Warrior.mov.sit (27026K).
The film, a homage to Marathon netplay, features the music of Underworld ("Cowgirl")
coupled with rapidfire editing of netplay films and chapter screen and other artwork stills.
The movie is BIG but well worth the download time. Make someone happy this Christmas... show them the movie!
Hats off to Bryan for this superb job.
Vidmastery in Myth? Forrest Cameranesi <forrest@west.net> writes:
Thought you might want to take a peek at something. Dunno if you're
really into Myth or not, but being the co-maintainer of the Marathon
Vidmasters' Page, I thought you might like to check out the new Myth
Vidmasters' Page at Myth Nontoxic. Feedback is warmly welcome. The URL is
http://myth.nontoxic.org/legends/vidmaster/
Thanks, have fun.
First the Vid page's resurrection and now a Myth Vidmastery page?!!! Coincidence or...?
Dec 17, 1998
A number of people have commented upon the odd fact that Claude Errera stopped updating the
Alt.Games.Marathon FAQ after version 1.7 (note the .Seven).
Coincidence or... ?!!!
Marathoner's rally to the cause. Many people concerned with the recent loss of Marathon Central
have expressed support in different forms ranging from offers of server space to resurrecting their old
map pages as download sites. All very much appreciated. Offers of support, donations, suggestions, etc.
should be made directly to:
Steve "Midwest" Campbell <campbell@okla.net> and James "RuGGeR" Piller <tavern@buyamac.com>
The rumor-mill reports that something big is on the way. In the mean
time you can help out by pointing people to the Marathon resources which are still presently available on-line.
Take note of the links posted over the last few days. And here are just a few more containing helpful info.
Bungie's Forge and Anvil FAQ v2.0 at http://www.bungie.com/tech/forgefaq.html
People tend to forget about this page. It's basic but it's there so point people to it.
Hastur's Workshop at http://www.doubleaught.com/hastur/index.shtml
Advanced map-making methods from the Double Aught crew (past and present). This is what happens if you let
map-makers design space stations.
The Marathon Hang Time Guide at http://fragile.discodog.com/
Described as the David Lee Roth of Marathon, Todd Keating shows you how to reach those hard to reach places.
Best viewed while playing Van Halen's Jump. "I get up, and nothing gets me down. You've
got it tough I've seen the toughest around...". Now where are m'boots?
Fm's Creations at http://www.inficad.com/~fm/
The man, the myth, the maps. Randal Shaw's very professional looking page. For the design conscious. Even seasoned
map-makers will find some inspirational stuff here.
The Pathways Into Darkness Home Page at http://www.mit.edu:8001/people/dcoufal/pid/index.html
David Coufal's legacy to Pathway's fans. "My God it's still up!" is a frequent cry when people visit this site and long
may it last. Has the honor of being cited by a Macworld editor.
A pile of links to 3rd pary scenarios can be found at RuGGeR's Tavern http://164.58.172.183/tavern/
Look under the Links section. The News section provides some info on the up-and-coming ones. Exciting
stuff. Page is updated regularly so check it out.
Dec 16, 1998
Grieving at the recent loss of Marathon Central? Well dry those tears and stuff a fresh clip in your assault rifle.
There's work to be done and we can all lend a hand!
Some important links that Marathoner's need to know so please pass them on!
I mentioned RuGGeR's Tavern yesterday at http://164.58.172.183/tavern/.
Well it was updated since then. So check it out. Lots of things happening in the Marathon universe that you should
know about. There is also the Hotline version of the Tavern. Lots of goodies hidden away on that archive.
Michael Neylon's excellent Marathon Spolier guide can be found at
http://pinky.wtower.com/marathon/.
Bookmark the site and pass the info on. You'll also find the Tempus Irae page hosted there. Check out
http://pinky.wtower.com/tempusirae/.
There is also Nick Lewis' "Thing What Kicks... Spoiler" at
http://www.inlink.com/~nilness/ThingSpoiler/.
This gives greater detail on how to get through the Infinity level "Thing What Kicks...". Again please
point people who are having trouble with this level to Nick's page.
The Marathon Evil web site is at http://www.ntbbs.org/evil.
All files are served off an ISDN connection according to Randall (Fm) Shaw.
Claude Errera's Alt.Games.Marathon Frequently Asked Questions. This is
version 1.7 expertly compiled by Claude before his two year trip to Mars. Use with care since the info is based
on events circa Sept 1996. Strangely nobody has bothered to update it since then. Conspiracy or something more?
Gabe Rosenkoetter <gr@eclipsed.net> writes:
...you might point out in your comments on DV's release that if mac
gamers want a demo, they have to go to www.realbytes.com
(www.darkvengeance.com only has the windows version available and no
further explanation).
Kind of sad really.
Dec 15, 1998
Remember the Marathon's Story page is at
http://164.58.172.183/marathon/story/
and
http://smd033.smd.tcd.ie
But if you are reading this you already know. :-)
I forgot to mention this last week but
Reality Bytes' new game
"Dark Vengeance"
was released. So what has this got to do with Marathon? Well the Creative Director
at Reality Bytes is J. Reginald Dujour. Reg was responsible for all the art and graphics in Marathon.
If you liked his Marathon work then give Dark Vengeance a look. Granted it's some
four years on and the game has a completely different look and feel but you never know
there may be some influences in there.
People looking for the latest Marathon files since the loss of Marathon Central should check
out RuGGeR's Tavern on Hotline or on the web at
http://164.58.172.183/tavern/
RuGGeR has collected stuff from the seven corners of the Marathon universe that few know about.
His archive is one of the biggest and worth a raid! ;-)
This is just a taste of what RuGGeR's Tavern has to offer!
Top Downloads 4/1/98 to 10/26/98
Tempus 1.1 Installer.sit 636 times
Evil-Installer-FULL.sit 607 times
TrAVel.sit 478 times
Marathon Cheater 5.0.2.sit 219 times
TI.2-The Lost Levels.movie.sit 169 times
M°-For Ever and Ever.sit 169 times<-MOTM July
maraquake01.gif 153 times
EarthWars.sit 151 times
Metropolis.sit (getinfo) 139 times
Tempus Irae 2-The LostLevels É.sit 138 times
Evil-Time.Becomes.A.Loop.sit 97 times<-MOTH June
the_10th_warrior.mov 91 times
Mi shuttle.447.sit 89 times
LegoLand.sit 88 times
Evil-Crushed Hope v1.1 Ä.sit+ others 84 times<-MOTM AUG
Mi Birdshit Hits Window.sit 79 times<-MOTM Sep
M1 Excalibur v14.sit 75 times
Mi Incident at Quiliam.sit 65 times<-MOTM OCT
Mi 'Last Rites' a solo by.sit 59 times
Mi TC Lara Croft .sit 48 times
Ry'ada shot1.gif 45 times
Over 1.6 gig of Marathon (total downloads 4/1 to 10/26 = 38021)
Don't know how to get on Hotline? Then head over to the
Hotline Home Page and grab the Hotline Client.
The Tavern's IP is 216.68.40.52 or you can use the
Tracker to list the Hotline servers available. RuGGeR's Tavern and its mirror will be listed.
Remember the old Marathon Midwest Hyperarchive? Well you can see it at
http://www.putnamcityschools.org/files/hyper.html.
Ah nostalgia. But you haven't seen anything yet... trust me!
Dec 14, 1998
Some good news and some bad news. First the bad news. Marathon Central is still down and
likely to be down for some time. The good news? Well
the Central Arm mirror
of the Story page is now back up and updated.
It is also likely that a new and improved Marathon Midwest Hyperarchive will be reactivated...
God help us if this one goes rampant. Signed petitions to 193 at <midwest@okla.net>.
I got a kick out of this alt.games.marathon post. Some people have good memories. :-)
Re: where is marathon.org?
Author: Charon
Email: qrowh@square.org.spamsucks
Date: 1998/12/14
Forums: alt.games.marathon
ScotStyle wrote:
>
> I can't get to hq all weekend. anyone else?
It's down. If yer looking for the story page, it's mirrored (and only
currently up at) http://smd033.smd.tcd.ie.
Charon
Knows what smd means
--------------------------
And keeps thinking tcd
stands for TunCer Deniz...
--------------------------
-----------
Weird, huh?
-----------
Weird indeed. The tcd stands for Tuncer C Deniz actually.
Not many know what the C stands for though. ;-)
But bookmark the URL since it's likely to the only reliable server for the present.
Dec 12, 1998
Harry Al-Shakarchi <harry.al-shakarchi@vienna.at> writes:
I felt like playing Prime Target today, I don't know why. So I installed the demo of
it onto my Mac from the cover CD of MacFormat, and played it a bit. It's known that
Prime Target uses the Marathon 2 engine, like Damage Incorporated. So I saved my game,
and went on to mess with the saved game file in Marathon Game Cheater byÊ Eggert
Thorlacius. But, of course, MGC crashed when I dragged the Prime Target file onto it.
So I changed the file around a bit in ResEdit to make it a saved game file for
Marathon Infinity. It launched fine, and I clicked on 'Max Everything!' to give me
the max in weapon ammo and health etc. I changed the file back to a Prime Target
file, and launched Prime Target. I opened the saved game, and noticed I got all the
weapons available for the demo. Now this is where it becomes strange.... Weapon 1 is
usually the knife (like the fists in Marathon), but I got a pleasant surprise!
What I saw was the arms of the Marathon Marine (You) holding some dynamite which you
throw on the floor, and blows up when someone comes near it. I actually saw the
Marathon Marine arms holding the dynamite. Want proof? Check out the attachment to
this e-mail!
NOTE: The version of Prime Target that I used is a Beta Demonstration version, and
maybe what I pulled off doesn't work with any other version
Harry's pics can be seen here. You can just make out the Marine's
hands. :-)
Dec 11, 1998
Marathon Central is down and will be down for a couple of days so spread the word.
The URL for the Central Arm mirror
on Steve Campbell's server has been changed to http://2/marathon/story/
Unfortunately I cannot access this server to update the Story page there. Moans and groans to
193 at <midwest@okla.net>. Thus the only server up is this one... and hey you're reading it! :-)
The Duality Code Revealed?
Finn Smith <fcsmith@cs.brown.edu> writes:
About the duality.net code: Anyone who remembers Hats Off To 819 and the
irc transcript with ydnar's explanation of the name
should have no problem deciphering this:
193
819
19 3
8 19
s c
h s
Steve Campbell
Hamish Sinclair
All too easy.
The IRC transcript Finn refers to can be found in the What's in a Name
section... look for the meaning of the "Hats Off To Eight Nineteen" map name.
Nathaniel Krell <nkrell@abc-xyz.com> writes:
Just looking for confirmation of a theory:
If we use 819 as a precedent, would 193 possibly be Steve Campbell?
19=S 3=C
Claude Errera <errera@grapevine2.com> writes:
Well, I don't know what other secrets lie out there (haven't
had time to peruse the pages carefully ;) ), but 193 and
819 are obviously you and Steve Campbell. ;)
John Zero <jzero@onramp.net> writes:
I believe that '193 and 819' would be 'SC and HS'. Steve Campbell and
Hamish Sinclair. Major props to you guys, indeed.
That would have to be the Duality code, as originally seen in the famous
"Hats off the Eight Nineteen", with both its cryptic name and Duality
prelude terminal message.
Yours,
1026
John Zero
Well the tru7h is out... or is it?
Harry Al-Shakarchi <harry.al-shakarchi@vienna.at> wrote to Greg Kirkpatrick
of Double Aught concerning the mysterious Duality Code. In his reply Greg pointed out
that 193 was also the address of his old appartment. However he would not reveal
what was behind door #819. ;-)
Back in May 11, 1998 we made reference to a speech by Eric Klein (formerly of Bungie Software)
at the Computer Game Developers Conference on the cross-platform issues learnt from the Marathon and Myth series.
You can grab the text of his speech at
http://www.cgdc.com/1998/vault/wcd000ee.doc
The online gaming magazine GameSpot have an interesting article on Macintosh gaming called
Macintosh a Gamer's Perspective.
Bungie feature heavily in this. Worth a read.
oops... an error on the Story page. Brent Thompson <stonehenge@garbage.com>
explains.
Dec 10, 1998
Chad Poland <cgp@doubleaught.com> (PR at Double Aught Software) writes concerning
their recent Duality page update:
...did you notice the code? :)
Code? Did anyone spot the elusive Duality Code?
Duality UPDATE
Shortly after uploading Chad Poland's cryptic comment (see above) Miguel Chavez <JMChavez@aol.com>
sent in the following reply:
don't know if I'm the first, but here's what I found in the main document
source code:
<! -- design by smudge, code by shiner (altho he'll deny it if asked)>
<! -- major props to 193 and 819>
Nothing similar in any of the other pages I looked at, AFAIK.
Who are the mysterious 193 and 819? What other secrets lie buried in those Duality pages?
They're out there!
Finn Smith <fcsmith@cs.brown.edu> sent in the following text from
Randy Reddig's .plan. Randy for those of you
who are not aware was part of the Double Aught team who created the
Marathon Infinity scenario "Blood Tides of Lh'owon", he was also the
creator of the award winning brain game "Troubled Souls". The text reads as
follows:
speaking of which, i'd like to rant a bit about something that i was given
quite a bit of hassle about when i worked with double aught: safety tape.
:)
-every- 3d shooter this side of '96 has had it. and some before...even
unreal, which is supposed to be pseudo-medieval. large areas of yellow and
black diagonal stripes, small and large. some using it a bit more than
others. it's standard tripe now. side note: i used to dig safety tape, and
all those game designers need to give out props to the first game to use
it, marathon. but, alas, the time has come to retire it. or at least give
it a rest so that future games won't look like tired nostromo clones.
Finn asks:
Safety tape - another Marathon first?
Dan Hembry <durandal_777@yahoo.com> follows up on his
Marathon-like weapons post of some days ago with some pics of the OICW.
See the Weapons in Marathon section
of Facts and puzzling things about... for details.
Dec 9, 1998
Concerning the recent Duality page
update and the character sketch of the
Hoplite
Harry Al-Shakarchi <harry.al-shakarchi@vienna.at> writes
to point out that the name originates from ancient Greece. Harry did a web search
and came up with the following info on Hoplites on a page
called "The last days of Socrates" at
http://socrates.clarke.edu/aplg0234.htm
Hoplites were the heavily armed infantry. They wore helmets,
breastplates, and leg armor made of bronze. In addition, they
possessed a swords and spears. Their armor allowed them to
withstand attack by arrows. On the negative side, though, they
were much slower moving than the lightly armed infantry, which
posed a major problem if required to make a hasty retreat or
assault.
Harry also points out that Hoplites fought in the Greek/Persian wars, including the Battle of Marathon.
Harry wrote to Greg Kirkpatrick at Double Aught Software concerning the use of the name Hoplite
in Duality. Greg replied:
It's a good name for a soldier. Hoplites were widely considered the best
soldiers in ancient greece, and were widely feared throughout the eastern
mediteranean. Go read the story of the 10000. 10,000 hoplites vs all of
persia. They win.
It's interesting to note that the Duality page describes the Hoplite character as follows:
As the strong arm of Aristocratic rule, Hoplites are an elite body of
militia who keep order. They are strong, fast, well-armored, and fitted
out with frightening weapons from Humanity's past.
So it would appear that not only the weapons from humanity's past are being used but
also some names. :-)
Gabe Rosenkoetter <gr@eclipsed.net> writes:
You did notice that the duality.net update took place on the seventh day (duh) of the
twelfth month (1 + 2 = 3), right?
Actually the update occurred on the 8th, shortly after 3am EST (Double Aught are based
in Brooklyn). But yes the intention was obviously to release the update on the seventh.
(YAS = Yet Another Seven) :-)
And now for some Oni news:
Reed Laughlin <blu9@scn.org> had the opportunity to talk to Alex Okita of
Bungie West concerning the influences on Oni. Reed writes:
Gunnm / Battle Angel Alita has been confirmed by Alex to be an influence (minor) on Oni.
This should be apparent to anyone who had seen both the Gunnm manga and the Oni trailer
(short, cute ninja cyborgs with football style streaks under their eyes.)
You'll find a number of Battle Angel Alita pages on the web if you search for them.
What kind Macintosh will you need to run Oni? Reed put this question to Alex Okita and
got the following reply:
He [Alex] also mentioned that it would run on a
233 604e... if it has at least a voodoo 1 card.
Dec 8, 1998
Double Aught's Duality page was updated
today at approx 8.15 am GMT (3.15 EST). The page sports an overall new look and
seven new screenshots, character sketches plus info and some story tidbits have been added.
Further info on the Duality page update. All screenshots are "software rendered"
according to a source at Double Aught. Although the screenshots do not seem to show exposions
illuminating their surroundings the same Double Aught source confirmed that
"...explosions do create dynamic lighting..." and
went on to suggest that ...the radius of the dynamic light is probably a little too small."
Contrary to popular opinion Poly's do not spend their time wading around in blood but rather a substance
called "Qualt". Don't ask!
Lastly the screenshot called poly.jpg (209K)
shows a typical end of day scene at the Double Aught offices... the caption reads "You want to
be paid for working here?". Greg Kirkpatrick was unavailable for comment. ;-)
Ben Fisher <ben@fisher.enterprise-plc.com> writes:
look what i found @ duality.net:
Separated from their human mothers at birth by the Factors, Polys are sold
back to the aristocrats at the age of seven.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!
SEVEEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!
Hehehe... crazy stuff! ;-)
More Duality news!
Greg Kirkpatrick <gregk@doubleaught.com> (President of Double Aught Software) writes:
...the really funny thing is that by the age of seven polys are full grown!!
Hmmm...
Dec 7, 1998
Blake a fake?
Brent Thompson <stonehenge@garbage.com> writes concerning the identity of
Robert Blake.
See the Robert Blake section
of Facts and puzzling things about... for details.
Dec 6, 1998
Thanks to Sarah Campbell <sarahc@esu.edu> and Finn Smith <fcsmith@cs.brown.edu> for
spotting the deliberate error on the Story page. Yes I am looking forward to Christmas!. ;-)
Dan Hembry (email withheld for security reasons) follows up on Mark Levin's recent comments
on a new Marathon-like weapon being developed for the military.
See the Weapons in Marathon section
of Facts and puzzling things about... for details.
Mihai Parparita <mihai@mscape.com> spots another Marathon-like symbol. It's a good one.
Check the That Marathon Symbol section for details.
Warning this is a high bandwidth area. Be prepared for a wait if you are on a slow connection.
Dec 5, 1998
Some Oni news. The following was posted on the Oni Hotline site by Alex Okita (Bungie West).
It concerns Oni gameplay. What's it like?
...the game play is more akin to Diehard. more frightenly similar is "Vigilance"
but they dont have a hint of hand to hand fighting.
imagine a cross between Tekken, Diehard, Vigilance, and any firstperson shooter.
diehard sites: (for those of you who havent ever even herd of the game)
http://www.gamecenter.com/Consoles/Sega/Diehard/
http://www.sega.com/products/games/00100.html
http://home.sprynet.com/sprynet/mbaspe01/dieharda.htm
vigilance site: www.vigilance.com
note: vigilance only visually resembles a *few* aspects of Oni. game play in Oni will far far
far surpass the game play in vigilance. We arent using their engine, they arent using our engine.
We wrote our own, theirs is meant for much slower machines... we wanted to do more.
Dec 4, 1998
If you have been reading the replies to the Slashdot post
"Quake 2 Now is a Spectator Sport"
you'll note that there were a number of games before Marathon that had a 'film recording' capability.
It's not clear if Bungie's keystroke method of recording films is unique. Perhaps someone with a good
multi-platform gaming knowledge will be able to answer this?
Some of you may have noticed the recent demise of the
Voracious Rabbits Myth site.
VRabbits was one of the last of the big Myth news sites and joins the ranks of The Fallen.
Its closure comes as something of a surprise given the imminent release of Myth II.
Of course other Myth sites will rise from the shadows yet as each
of the big sites (VRabbits, Codex, Myth Non-toxic, MythFiles, etc.) fall something crucial
to the Myth community is lost... namely "durability".
One wonders how many of today's Myth sites
will be around one year from now? The Marathon's Story page will be there to find out...will you?
The "durability" of the Story page is largely due to the hundreds of Marathon fans
who tune in daily and who send in posts by the dozen each week. Without your support the page
would be... Phhht! I salute you all. :-)
Occasionally I receive letters which put forward similar interesting possibilities yet appear to lack the crucial
supporting evidence. Here are just two that the Story page received recently:
Sylith Senjak <Margaret_Silvers@mercersburg.edu> writes:
I remember that in your "Historical and Mythological References" section there was a
bit about Socrates. He had a strange dream where a woman said that on the third day
he would come to the land of Phthia.
I was reading a section of Ovid's _Metamorphoses_ for a reference from an essay - the
section where Odysseus and Ajax fight over who gets to keep Achilles' arms.
In lines 158-159, Odysseus says, "Let the arms be taken/ To Scyros, then, or Phthia."
Is this the Phthia of Socrates' dream? Hmm...
Wasn't Durendal supposed to have belonged to Hector the Trojan
originally? And didn't Achilles take Hector's arms?
Similarly John Zero <jzero@onramp.net> writes:
On the subject of Greek names: I don't remember seeing a specific reference
to this on the Story Page, but I seem to remember that Durandal is a Greek
name by association. I was told in high school World Lit that in the _Song
of Roland_, Roland's sword Durandal is the same sword carried by the Trojan
hero Hector from _The Iliad_. This being, of course, an attempt on the part
of the Medieval French authors to liken their hero to those of Classical
times. That would make Roland's sword something like 500-800 years old,
wouldn't it? Not much in battle, one would presume. But then, if Mjolnir
Recon #54 is the same soldier from Pathways...
I asked John if he had any supporting evidence for this... and just who
was this mysterious teacher? John replied:
Uh, now that you call me on that, I think I'm probably wrong, or at least
without evidence. I did a simple text search on a couple of the online
Roland texts available, and I didn't find anything in the text of _Chanson
de Roland_ that refers to this mythological crossover.
However, I did find 'The Sultan of Babylon', a medieval French tale
featuring Charlemagne and The Twelve Peers (including Roland and Oliver
from 'Chanson'):
http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/teams/sultint.htm
There's a footnote to that says: "Durendal is the famous sword of Roland,
given to him by Charlemagne who received it from an angel." So I guess that
puts that one to rest.
The Hector reference is something I remember my high school World
Literature teacher saying while we were studying Roland, and I remember
correlating that with all the stuff we learned while going over the Iliad.
The 'Sultan of Babylon' introduction says, "Charlemagne himself, who lived
from 742-814, was counted as one of the Nine Worthies, a group which
included three personages
from each of the classical, Biblical, and modern (i.e., medieval) worlds.
This status ranked Charlemagne with such important figures as Hector,
Alexander, Julius Caesar; Joshua, David, Judas Maccabeus; Godfrey of
Boulogne and Arthur." Now that I've seen this reference, it may be that
Charlemagne was the one with Hector's sword.
But then, I don't know. Maybe it's history major Jason Jones who knows!
Odd stuff. Maybe somebody out there will be able to throw some light on this?
Dec 3, 1998
Sriranga Veeraraghavan <ranga@CSUA.Berkeley.EDU> dug deep into the Marathon
archives and found the following interesting alt.games.marathon posts:
From: Rod Lincoln <rlincoln@qni.com>
Subject: secret level
Date: 20 Feb 1997 00:00:00 GMT
Message-ID: <330C47F1.2CF5@qni.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Organization: Suba Communications, http://www.suba.com
Mime-Version: 1.0
Newsgroups: alt.games.marathon
X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.0 (Macintosh; I; PPC)
I've heard there is a secret level in Marathon(00-A good way to die).
I've seen the map for it, but I can't get there.Can anyone help me???
From: clund@DIE.SPAMMER.DIE.notam.uio.no (C Lund)
Subject: Re: Marathon Home Video
Date: 19 Jul 1998 00:00:00 GMT
Message-ID: <clund-1907982124470001@ppp067.uio.no>
References: <35B0E975.75D7@cwo.com> <1998071906464000.CAA11431@ladder01.news.aol
.com>
Organization: University of Oslo, Norway
Newsgroups: alt.games.marathon
Piggybacking, I think this is called;
> Chris Cochran wrote:
>
> >>Did you know there's a 26 minute video imbeaded in the Marathon
> trilogy pack disc? It's invisible and in the Gnop folder. <<
In the middle section of that film, you see Bungie rummaging around in an
M1 level that I did not recognize... Was it a secret level in M1 (I never
found such a thing, and I don't see how I could have missed it)? It looked
quite interesting. There were large platforms facing space, and the player
was shooting pfhor off them. There were also several comments about
"shooting fphor into space", and some good long looks at some double
platforms and an area that looked good...
What level was that?
C Lund
The mystery of the secret Marathon level will be revealed... soon!
Mark Levin <mglevin@uiuc.edu> writes concerning the weapons in Marathon.
See the Weapons in Marathon section
of Facts and puzzling things about... for details.
Dec 2, 1998
I had another opportunity to talk with Alex Okita (Lead Artist at Bungie West) concerning certain
parallels between Oni and Shiro Masamune's work on Ghost in the Shell and Appleseed. I asked Alex
if it was their intention to tie Oni into the manga world with references, either explicit or implicit,
to other established characters such as Major Kusanagi or Deunan Knute?
Alex replied that while they were influenced by the work of Shiro Masamune
"shiro is probably the most influential artist in all anime..."
there was "no tie ins since we're not working with anyone out side of Bungie at the moment."
Alex continued "I dont think there will ever be a real tie in... as fun as that would be....
but I will keep things open so people like Darkhorse could come to us and ask if we want to make a new manga
(I wouldn't mind that at all). I've been thinking about story branches lots."
Certainly if Oni is successful it would seem inevitable that a Manga comic based on the game
would appear, along with Oni 2 and a possible movie if not a TV show. But that's the future.
Concerning other influences Alex mentioned
"Bubble Gum Crisis" and "Armored Troopers Votoms"
as being influential "I grew up with this stuff."
Before joining Bungie Alex worked as an artist at
R. Talsorian Games, Inc., a company that
makes role-playing games. A number of their titles are based on Manga characters
And now back to Marathon...
WHAT A LOAD OF RUBBISH! Thanks to Finn Smith <fcsmith@cs.brown.edu> for pointing out
that Slashdot at www.slashdot.org has a news article
entitled Quake 2 Now is a Spectator Sport.
The direct link to the article is at
http://www.slashdot.org/articles/98/12/01/1157229.shtml
The article reads as follows:
Posted by CmdrTaco on Tuesday December 01, @11:57AM
from the crazy-games dept.
An anonymous reader wrote in to say "The 3D shooter Quake was one
of the first games to allow the recording of a "demo" - ie, a game could
be recorded for later perusal. Especially demos of the pros in action have
been much in demand. Of course first you had to download the often
large demo files - and of course you had to wait untill the game was
finished. This may all change with the release of " FleetSpy", a
streaming demo viewer. " Now if only there could be super bowl calibre
commercial breaks for mind boggling special effects and fetching of snacks, we'd have
something.
...one of the first games to allow the recording of a "demo"... D'oh! Quake (PC)
was released Aug 1996 some one and half years after Marathon. A number of
Marathon fans have posted comments to this already. Time to put the boot in folks.
Stop the rot now!
Slashdot Update. Did I over react? Am I guilty of inciting an unruly bunch of Marathoners to descend
upon Slashdot with SPNKRs raised? Gabe Rosenkoetter <gr@eclipsed.net> felt that
I had and points out the fact in the following letter:
It's really not all that advisable for people to go posting heavily on
slashdot about how Marathon did this first and how it was so much more
innovative.
First, Marathon was *far* from the first game to do this. Id-ites will
promptly point out that Doom had recordable demos, but even that is
irrelevant as computer games back through the 80s have had ways to make
replayable records of games.
Second, who did what first in film/demo recording technology in general is
not really the focus of the original /. article at all. The point was
that, through a third-party utility, it is possible to stream Quake
demos to viewers. That means that you can effectively have QuakeTV.
Marathon is not capable of this, though it conceivably could be, if we
could get our hands on the source code, which we can't. (It would be
possible to make a dumb-term-esque version of Marathon that just read
network packets but couldn't send any; you could cycle through player's
views, but not partake yourself.)
Third, extolling the benefits of Marathon/MacOS will, inevitably, lead to
a rampant platform war in a place like /., and it won't be in support of
Windows. /. only "approves" (as a mob) of Open Source Software (Linux,
Net/Free/OpenBSD, minix, etcetera), so implying something else is better
will just make people angry. /. already has an obscenely high
noise-to-value ratio; it's hard enough to get real content out of it as it
is without starting platform bigotry wars (which is liable to happen
unless one picks ones words *very* carefully). The same goes for saying
something that's already been said - why repeat what someone else said
just to see your name (or, more likely "Anonymous Coward") in print, and
waste diskspace on the server and bandwidth for the readers in the
process?
Just mho, of course.
(For mho as seen on slashdot, look at
this)
Ben Reiter <reiterbe@pilot.msu.edu> writes concerning weapon bore size and the destructive potential
or lack thereof of some of Marathon's weapons. Not for the squeamish!
See the Weapons in Marathon section
of Facts and puzzling things about... for details.
Dec 1, 1998
Quick Update! Check out this piece of fun from Alex Okita's home page.
http://www.okita.com/_images/sk/sk058.jpg
Nice one! Pity the poor Trow!
Several days ago John Zero <jzero@onramp.net> suggested that
Oni may have some parallels with the work of Japanese manga writer/artist Shiro Masamune
(Ghost in the Shell and Appleseed). John did a search on the Net and came up with
the following references for some of Shiro's work.
Incredibly, HotWired still has stuff on their server from 1996, when the
'Ghost in the Shell' movie came out:
http://www.hotwired.com/movies/96/15/ghost.html
There's also a couple of small QT clips, the most significant one being:
http://www.hotwired.com/movies/96/15/stuff/ghost2a.mov
Here are the addresses of some cover images from Dark Horse comics. Their
main site uses one of those impossibly-long gibbering code-string
addressing systems to support online purchasing, but you can always go to
www.darkhorse.com and search on "Masamune Shiro" if you want text and
prices on the books.
http://images.dhorse.com/im/wd9030/wf138.jpg
http://images.dhorse.com/im/wd9031/wf6.jpg
http://images.dhorse.com/im/wd9029/wf247.jpg
http://images.dhorse.com/im/wd9025/wf73.jpg
As far as themes go, 'Ghost in the Shell" is a little lighter on armed
conflict, so I see Oni having more parallels with 'Appleseed'. This series
from the late-80's/early-90s (?) has 2 main characters who are ESWAT
tactical police, one is the nubile young Deunan Knute, one of Shiro's
typical cute and dangerous females, and her boyfriend Briareos, who is a
former-human full-body cyborg. Briareos' type is fairly typical in the
setting of the stories, which is a future utopian community called Olympus,
which has its problems nonetheless (and thus police). Briareos' cyborg
series is known as the Hecatochires, which is the Greek name for the
"Hundred-Handed Ones", the primordial beings created by mother-earth figure
Gaia (along with the Cyclops) in the early parts of Greek mythology. You'd
do well to look that one up in Bullfinch's or any other basic Greek myth
reference, it's fascinating. What's also fascinating is Masamune Shiro's
unabashed use of Greek mythological characters and situations as a template
for 'Appleseed'. I guess it's more covert if you're Asian, but it's pretty
blatant for us Westerners.
Here's an image archive I found of Appleseed images:
http://rome.x5ca.net/anime/sorted/Appleseed/Images/
and some pics from that same archive:
(Deunan is the girl, Briareos is the big dude with the electronic rabbit-ears)
http://rome.x5ca.net/anime/sorted/Appleseed/Images/brbdwire.jpg
http://rome.x5ca.net/anime/sorted/Appleseed/Images/olymswat.jpg
My presumption is that Oni's Konoko is the middle sister of Major Kusanagi
(GITS) and Deunan Knute...! 'Mr. Okita...?'
Mr Okita WAS available for comment. Check back tomorrow for the tru7h!.
Nov 30, 1998
Yet more character sketches at Alex Okita's (Bungie West) home page at
www.okita.com.
The one at
http://www.okita.com/%7Esketchbook/sk019.html
may be of some interest to Oni-ites.
Oni 2 no more?!!! Dave Aitken <DaveAJA@aol.com> writes:
Notice that the note in Alex Okita's sketchbook, "This character might find
its way into Oni 2", now reads "This character might find its way into a
future project".
I guess Alex is now languishing in the basement of Bungie West, under heavy
guard.
Hehehe... no doubt awaiting transfer to Gr'ndl Prime (aka Bungie East) for conditioning. ;-)
Nov 29, 1998
Alex Okita of Bungie West has added a number of new character sketches to his home page at
www.okita.com. If you want to
get a feel for his work on Oni this is a good place to check.
Concerning the
last character in his sketch book for '98 Alex writes:
This character might find its way into Oni 2
(per chance there is an Oni 2)
Nov 28, 1998
Following up on Matt Soell's oddish tidbit yesterday Forrest Cameranesi
<forrest@west.net> writes:
It's not seven in each side, it's six on one and seven on the other. But
then, multiply them and it's 42 :-)
42 eh? Where have we seen that number before? Six 7's.
Oddly , this is familiar to you, as if it were from an old dream, but you can't
exactly remember...
Remember back in Oct 1, 1998 Matt Soell (Bungie Software) pointed out that Wired magazine would
carry an article on Bungie software and their "stuff in development".
Of course when the December edition arrived the Bungie article contained little NEW information.
So what happened? Steve Campbell (Midwest) caught up with Matt Soell (ProudFles) on IRC and pinned him down on the
subject of the supposed "reveal all" Wired article. Steve passed on part of an IRC log of
his conversation with Matt Soell.
midwest: was there more that was supposed to be in the Wired?
ProudFles: I was told that the WIRED article would contain details of certain other projects.
ProudFles: Obviously it did not.
midwest: well
midwest: thats what I thought, only thought, obviously don't know..
ProudFles: That's cool, because we need to emphasize Oni for a while. We've taken too long to get the word out about it.
ProudFles: Other things can wait a little longer. :-)
midwest: Cool....
ProudFles: Now we just need to ship Myth II and get Oni ready for Macworld.
So there you have it. Obviously the time wasn't right for Bungie to reveal all just yet.
With some 50 staff at Bungie East it's not hard to imagine that BIG things
are on the way. What are they? Only time (and the Story page) will tell. :-)
Michael Park <macgamer@ohana.com> writes concerning "the voices" in the
Marathon Infinity theme music.
See the Marathon Music section
of Facts and puzzling things about... for details.
Nov 27, 1998
Oh NO! Not more Oni news!!!
Matt Soell <matt@bungie.com> (Bungie Software) points out the following
little known Oni factoid:
Did you notice that in "MarathONInfinity" the ONI occurs seven letters in, each way?
D'oh! Fool me once shame on you! Fool me twice shame on me! Fool me thrice shame oni.
Damn and for a moment I believed him! Is this another case of Bungiematics?
John Zero <jzero@onramp.net> writes:
I get the feeling that Oni is based largely on the work of Japanese manga
writer/artist Shiro Masamune. I'm not that familiar with a lot of manga,
but I'm familiar with Shiro's _Appleseed_ series, and less so with his more
recent series _Ghost in the Shell_, which has been mentioned already in
connection with Oni. Put _that_ to Okita and see what he says.
Parallels I see in Shiro's work with Oni (and, by association, Marathon):
- Near future, "Bladerunner"-style setting
- Protagonist is a slender female 'special ops' agent
- Lots of highly detailed technology, esp. computers and firearms
- Tactical Police everywhere (including key characters)
- Large, fiercely independent supercomputers (key plot elements in
'Appleseed', and, I think, 'GITS')
- Supercomputers and other cyborg characters named from Greek mythology
Nov 26, 1998
Happy Thanksgiving! Have a good one. :-)
Cy Delich <psychodelia36@hotmail.com> writes:
I was just reading through the News page for November and noticed the
god/wierd word thing. In the pictures of the credits to 2001 I noticed a
striking resemblence from the earth pict and the general term screen
used in M2 and Minf. I'm probably not the only one to notice this, but
in case I am.
Yup. The opening scene in the Stanley Kubrick movie 2001 looks very like
the Final Screen in Marathon 2. Coincidence... or something more?
Dan Munter <d_munter@yahoo.com> writes:
enclosed is a .sit of the m1 music file, with the replaced instruments
to make it qt3-compatible. i tested it on my computer (marathon v1.2)
and it works fine. you can even use it under quicktime 2; for some
reason the instruments aren't changed under qt2. yippie! a universal
music file!
You can get Dan's Marathon music file here (53K).
Dan followed Keith Palmer's instructions
in the Marathon Music section. I've played a number
of levels using his edited music file but found some unfortunate distortion.
Nevertheless you might find it
an improvement over the present sounding music under Quicktime 3.
Remember if you are looking for the old Quicktime 2.5 files you'll find them in the
FAQ section.
No brown! In a move no doubt inspired by the recent introduction of the iMac
Dualism, a third party
Duality
fans page, has received a new look. Gone is the Quakish
brown theme, the page now proudly sports an overall... green tinge!
With the sad demise of the humerous
Duality Lies and Rumors page
and the mysterious disappearance of Michiel Buisman, maintainer of the esoteric
DUALITY-Sensible Violence site,
Dualism now remains your only one stop shop for up-to-date Duality info. The Duality Boys, Dan
and Tim, work hard to bring you the inside scoop on the Duality scene... before it happens! Their
news page reveals that Double Aught's Duality
site will receive a much needed update... in a "few weeks".
Regarding page updates an inside source at Bungie East revealed to Steve Campbell <midwest@okla.net>
that the Oni page
will receive another update early next month. Steve went on to say that Bungie have now
seen the error in their ways and will be concentrating on plugging Oni over the coming months.
Nov 25, 1998
There has been alot of discussion concerning the use of the Marathon symbol
in the Oni
TCTF Supercomputer pic.
Why is the symbol there and what does it have to do with Damocles?
First off what does the Marathon symbol represent?
Well we actually know this. Back in Apr 20, 1998
J. Reginald Dujour, Marathon artist and creator of the symbol, when asked
what the symbol represented wrote:
I designed the icon to represent a world within a world...
Marathon the spaceship being build inside a hollowed asteroid.
Thus the Marathon symbol represents the construction of the colony ship Marathon - the conversion
of Deimos - which began in 2408. It does NOT represent Durandal since 'the rampant one'
is represent by a sword, a sword etched on a computer chip (PICT ID = 10012 from the
Marathon Shapes file).
Alex Okita has already pointed out that the Marathon symbol was put into the Damocles
pic for "fun". To use the Marathon symbol in Oni for any other purpose other
than fun would require some explanation on the part of Bungie's story tellers.
The problem they would have is as follows.
Oni, if set on Earth around 2035-2050, predates the construction of the Marathon by some 350 years.
And now for something completely different.
After pointing out Gamespot's review of Half-Life, with its novel use of Barneys,
wall health rechargers and realistic weapon placement,
Dan Rudolph <rudolph.family@mcleod.net> returns with another Half-Life review:
...you might want to also see Computer Games Online's review. They
similarly deny the importance of Marathon, acting like System Shock was the
first game to ever have a story and Half-Life is the first game with an
ambiguous ending. I think a lot of these PC game reviewers need to expand
their horizons a little.
http://www.cdmag.com/Home/home.html?article=/articles/015/145/halflife_review.html
I'm afraid we're going to get alot of these. Please count to seven before replying. ;-)
Nov 24, 1998
Not more Oni news!
Bungie have posted renderings of four more characters to their
Oni Characters section.
The Communication Striker, the Elite Striker, Shinatama, and Griffin, the police chief.
Regarding the "Sword of Damocles" reference in Oni Dan Munter <d_munter@yahoo.com> writes:
hmmm. so, the "sword of damocles" means immenent danger, eh? something about a computer
having some relation with a mythological sword sounds very familiar...
Yes indeed. Bungie seem to be making a habit of this thing. :-)
This was picked up from Bungie West's Oni Hotline server.
Bungie East, Bungie West, and now... Bungie North (165K).
Apparently Inside Mac Games magazine let slip the secret third Bungie office location.
Good one guys. Next time read the press release! ;-)
The following text is taken from today's Mac Gamer's Ledge
News page:
UPDATE: Damage Incorporated for free:
Yesterday, we reported that the full version of Damage Incorporated
(originally published by MacSoft) was spotted on a cover CD of last month's
Macworld UK Magazine issue. It contained version 1.2 of the game and 20
extra maps. We also just learned that you can also find the complete game (on
a separate CD-ROM) included with the recent issue of MacFormat, another
UK Mac magazine. MacFormat can be found in some larger bookstores in the
U.S.
I guess nobody from Mac Gamer's Ledge reads the Story page since we reported about the
full free version of Damage Incorporated on the Macworld UK Magazine CD back in Oct 17, 1998!!!
Their loss I guess but it is kind of sad really. I imagine they don't know about all
the Oni info here too.
Nov 23, 1998
More Oni news.
Yes folks the Oni info is coming in thick and fast. Steve Campbell <midwest@okla.net>
got the scoop on some interesting Oni factoids.
- The Oni Trailer movie (11.2MBs) that was available for download
on the net was called OniTrailor_small.mov implying
that there was perhaps a larger version. Steve found out from Alex Okita that there was in fact
a much larger version (600+MB). This was the version shown at E3 last May. It was
transferred to LaserDisk.
- The soundtrack for the Oni Trailer was written and performed by Psykosonik.
Psykosonik's leader, Paul Sebastien, also headed Power of Seven Inc. who did the
theme music for Marathon 2 and Marathon Infinity. The trailer soundtrack is quite excellent.
If you can't get hold of the Oni Trailer movie then check out the Oni MP3.
You can find out more about Power of Seven, Psykosonik and their albums in the Story Page's
FAQ section.
Thanks for the info Steve. It will be interesting to see if Bungie West will also get
Psykosonik to do the music for the final game.
Third party Oni pages are beginning to spring up.
John (Paver) Benac <johnbenac@usa.net> has an Oni page at
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Cavern/6448/. John is a regular
visitor at Bungie West's Oni hotline server.
Miguel (Freewill) Chavez <JMChavez@aol.com> also has a page at
http://members.aol.com/jmchavez/mffmw/. Miguel's page has some Oni info but is primarily about Myth. Some of you
might remember Miguel's excellent
E3 report on Bungie and Double Aught.
Miguel will be attending Macworld SF in January '99. The Story page looks
forward to his Oni report from Bungie's Macworld Booth.
And now back to Marathon...
Michael Park <macgamer@ohana.com> writes:
Did you check out the motion sensor discussion on AGM? It's titled
under the "net play tricks" thread. They are debating about whether or
not the so-called "motion sensor" in Marathon really is a "motion
sensor".
I'm sorry if I'm repeating this if you've already read it on agm (I'm
summarizing what I've seen on AGM):
Basically, Marathon's motion sensor detects movement in a certain radius
(15 meters). This is drawn on a 2-D surface (the sensor on the lower
left hand corner of the screen). What people are getting confused about
is the story explanation of this sensor; the motion sensor detects
movement from only CERTAIN objects, such as Phfor, Drones, and S'pht.
Notice I said Drones, because people theorized on AGM that the motion
sensor was made to detect only organic moving life forms.
This was proved wrong, since Drones, Juggernauts, and Marathon Defense
Drones are NOT organic life forms. Not only that, this "motion sensor"
could also detect movement through walls. This is something a radar can
only do.
It's a trivial thing, yes, but just how does this so-called motion
sensor work? How could it be selective on what it detects (which would
not make it a motion sensor) AND be able to detect through walls? Also,
how could this motion sensor detect Bobs and Marathon Defense Drones as
Friendlies and just about everything else as a hostile? Does it have
some sort of built in IFF (Identify Friend or Foe) detector?
What do you think?
I've always found it futile to try and explain 28th century (25th if you wish to
believe that no improvements were made to weapons and/or equipment during the
300+ year voyage to Tau Ceti) technology in terms
of our limited 20th century knowledge. Durandal had it right about our "primitive minds"
not grasping the complex nature of some of the technology at our
disposal. ;-)
The Marathon manual simply says that the Motion Sensor "detects moving bodies"
and can distinguish between "friendly motion patterns" and "hostile or unknown
patterns". Actually this is not strictly true since invisible aliens and net opponents
do not show up on the motion detector even if they are moving. So how does being
invisible prevent motion dectection? Note also that pulsating magnetic fields
interfere with the Motion Sensor?
Nov 22, 1998
More Oni updates:
Miguel Chavez <JMChavez@aol.com> writes:
Alex confirmed that Bungie West is hard at work "driving to get something
really cool looking for macworld in san francisco."
Who knows if this will be another video or some kind of demo, playable or not?
Miguel continues:
In regards to the connection with Marathon, if Oni takes place around
2035-2050, a quick look at your very informative
Marathon's Timeline
page shows that this would fall in an empty 'pocket' of undocumented Marathon
history.
Yes indeed... though it is close to when Rampancy first appeared on the Earth-net.
It remains to be seen however if Oni will fill some of this undocumented
pre-Marathon history. Of course there is always the other games coming out of
the Bungie East (Chicago)... the ones they are not telling us about... isn't that
right Matt? ;-)
Martin Thorne <mthorne@gpu.srv.ualberta.ca> writes:
Maybe it's just me, but the gun that Konoko is holding in the large poster
image at
http://www.bungie.com/oni/Main_Image.html
looks a lot like the HUD diagram of the .44 MMC from M1.
One thing about the old MMC that I never understood was that the diagram
clearly shows it to be a revolver type weapon with a rotating thingy for
holding bullets (I'm not up on gun terminology. I hope you know what I
mean), but in gameplay the player obviously reloads the gun with a clip
inserted in the base of the handle.
Bungie's press releases on Oni also talk about how "you can empty your clip
into a pack of opponents", even though Kononko is seen with a revolver in
the poster. Presumably this refers to a different gun.
Interesting point. In both Marathon and now Oni the gun does appear
to be a revolver type weapon rather than an automatic. Certainly in Marathon
the Magnum is loaded like an automatic. Perhaps in the future handguns will have that
retro look?
Finn Smith <fcsmith@cs.brown.edu> writes concerning the
Next Generation On-line
news artcle which referred to Bungie West's San Jose offices as a
"...retched hive of scum and villainy..."
Too bad that Next Generation isn't able to spell "wretched" correctly.
Yup. To "retch" is to vomit while "wretch" is a pitiable person or contemptible miscreant.
I presume Next Generation meant the latter term. :-)
And now back to Marathon...
Dan Rudolph <rudolph.family@mcleod.net> writes:
Judging by Gamespot's review of Half-Life, more elements of Marathon have
worked their way into mainstream PC shooters. We already knew about Barneys,
and their semblance to Bobs, but it seems Half-Life also has something like
wall-mounted rechargers. check it out at
http://www.gamespot.com/action/halflif/review.html
Yes indeed. The review by Ron Dulin, dated the 20th Nov 1998, had this to say about
health rechargers and weapon placement:
Weapon, ammunition, and health placement follows the same philosophy.
You'll hardly ever come across an item that is just bobbing and spinning in
place like some gift from the heavens. Valve has done a good job of justifying
the typical health and armor meters. Freeman is wearing a powersuit, used by
researchers involved in dangerous experiments. To regain health and armor
energy, you must fill up at power stations. These are almost always located in
logical places, usually near areas where dangerous work would be
performed. There are no power-ups to be found. Weapons and ammo are
taken from supply closets or the corpses of fallen security guards and
soldiers. Even the more experimental weapons have their proper place - in
the weapons research department of the facility. And late in the game, once
you've left the research facility, the supply of ammo and first aid kits is
believably scarce.
This sounds all sooooo familiar. Remember the first time you went to the Pfhor ship in Marathon?
Weapons weren't exactly popping out the walls were they? The
Pfhor Egg section makes reference to how the lack of
UESC based weapons on the alien ship added realism to the story. The same can be said
for Bungie's earlier game Pathways Into Darkness. Weapons and ammo where scarce and
ususally found on or near
dead bodies. When the bodies themselves became scarce later on in the game the Cedar Box had
to be employed to duplicate ammo since it didn't make sense (story wise) to find
ammo just lying around near the bottom of the pyramid
It's to bad that these ideas, innovative for
1993/4, are now being touted as the latest thing in the FPS PC genre. It's up to
Macintosh gamers to enlighten their PC brethren.
Nov 21, 1998
More Oni news.
I had the opportunity to chat to Alex Okita of Bungie West concerning some
aspects of their new game Oni.
First off the Marathon symbol in the
TCTF Supercomputer pic.
Why is it there?
Alex replied "kinda just in there for fun".
Alex wouldn't confirm or deny the possbility that there would be a tie in
between Marathon and Oni in the final release.
What about the TCTF Supercomputer's name "Damocles" prounounced DAM-uh-kleez)? Alex came up with the
name himself. He maintained that "it fits in with the story".
The Oni story is set on Earth "probably around 2035-2050".
TCTF stands for "Terrorist Crimes Task Force"... did anyone
get this right? Is Konoko a cyborg? This got an interesting response. Alex replied
"i don't think that has been decided yet. i'd want her to be about 40% robotic
but i'm not sure what the story will dictate."
The story will be told by "cut scenes in the engine" though
the exact approach has not yet been decided. Konoko will be the main character for the single player
and multiplayer will let you play the others.
More information to follow.
Alex Okita posted the following information concerning the public release of the Oni trailer
movie first shown at Bungie's E3 booth in May this year.
"marketing" doesn't want to let anyone have it. they say that konoko looks better now
than she did in the trailer. strange since the only change is a texture or two. sorry.....
Too bad I guess. Apparently it took about a month to make and if you were
lucky enough to download a copy in the short time it was available at Alex Okita's web
page at www.okita.com
keep it well hidden. Bungie's marketing arm is long and their vengeance is all consuming.
Bungie West's San Jose offices are a "...retched hive of scum and villainy..."
so says a Next Generation On-line
news artcle. Sounds more like a topic for Bungie Rumors. Rest assured though the article is
in the best possible taste... apparently they are all good friends. Who needs enemies when you've got
friends like that! ;-)
Nov 20, 1998
Another Oni update.
Thanks to Miguel Chavez <JMChavez@aol.com>,
Chris Hebner <chebner@erinet.com> and John Zero <jzero@onramp.net>
for all quickly pointing out that the TCTF Supercomputer picture in the Oni
concept sketches section shows a UESC Marathon's symbol under the name Damocles (prounounced DAM-uh-kleez).
You can see the pic at
http://www.bungie.com/oni/Concept_Art/TCTFSupercomputer.jpg
Miguel Chavez <JMChavez@aol.com> also writes:
Looks like a computer (TCTFSupercomputer) that goes by the name Damocles is
making an appearance in Oni. Friend or foe? Maybe a little of both :)
The Sword of Damocles means imminent danger.
From
Encyclopedia.com - Results for Damocles
In classical literature, courtier of DIONYSIUS THE ELDER at SYRACUSE. To
show the precariousness of power and rank, Dionysius gave a banquet at
which a sword was suspended over Damocles' head by a hair.
John Zero <jzero@onramp.net> also asks:
Bungie tease? Concept art joke? Or is Damocles a Traxus precursor?
Oh yes and before I forget. MarathON Infinity.
Not many people know that. ;-)
Nov 19, 1998
Oni update.
Thanks to Devin O'Reilly <QuasiDevin@aol.com> and
Tom Flanigan <tomflanigan@home.com> for both pointing out that Bungie now have a
section devoted to Oni at
http://www.bungie.com/oni/.
Contrary to some opinion the game WILL be released simultaneously for Windows 95 and
MacOS and is expected to ship in 1999.
The poster blurb reads:
A Dark Future.
An Uncertain Past.
And No One
Left To Trust
Sounds familiar.
Wired Update.
John Zero <jzero@onramp.net> writes concerning the Bungie article in the
December issue of Wired magazine:
The Bungie write-up is three columns on page 86 of the December WiReD, in
the "Must Read" short items section. It's not a big article, but it does
occupy two-thirds of the page, and it has a cool photo of Doug Zartman
(listed as 'Publicity Engineer'), Jason Jones and Alex Seropian posed on
top of a downtown building (one would assume it's theirs). Doug has
bungie-jumping gear on his legs, ready to go over the side, and they all
hold the big rope. They all look tuff as nails.
The copy talks about Myth II as Bungie's biggest turning-point product. The
writer takes the stance that Bungie is the last of the big independents,
with most other game companies having "gone purely into development or sold
out to a big house". It says that if Myth II is a big success, and the
not-specifically named Oni does well, Bungie will essentially be a lone
wolf among sheep.
Of Marathon, it says, "Bungie is _known_ for its content. Its 1994
shoot-em-up Marathon, the Mac's answer to Doom, earned the company a cult
following among Apple users."
Of Oni, it says, "Coming next after Myth II: an anime-inspired title
featuring the heroine Konoko. And if Bungie's success holds out, she's sure
to smash Lara Croft's little nose."
err... is that it?
Dave Duffy <dave@darkside.eemsd.wustl.edu> put it more succinctly when he wrote:
All wired has to say is that Oni's main character is named Konoko, but
you already knew that.
Yup over 6 months ago. So Matt Soell where is the REAL stuff?
Nov 18, 1998
Harry Al-Shakarchi <harry.al-shakarchi@vienna.at> sent in the following pointer to
Gamezilla, an online PC game magazine,
where he found an old but interesting
review of Marathon 2: Durandal for Win95.
The review, by Bob Mandel, is highly complimentary of the game and draws attention to some of its more
notable features such as the story. Bob writes:
The storyline for this game is actually quite complex, far more so than the
rather simple and often superfluous storylines embedded in most 3D
first-person shooters.
Bob sums up the game as follows:
Bottom Line:
In the end, I highly recommend Marathon 2 as a fun and engrossing game that
engages your wits and strategy skills as well your hand-eye coordination and your
ability to destroy mindlessly everything in sight. One has a real sense of fulfillment
after completing a level, and sometimes you just want to pause and take in the
stunning backdrops during gameplay. It is certainly a pleasure to have a thoughtful
and innovative player in the PC 3D first-person shooter market, rather than another
company pandering cheap rapidly-thrown-together imitative clones hoping to make a
fast buck before unsuspecting customers discover they have indeed wasted their
money.
Good stuff. Somebody should really keep tabs on all these reviews. :-)
Back in Oct 1, 1998 Matt Soell (Bungie Software) pointed out that Wired magazine would
carry an article on Bungie software and their "stuff in development".
Well apparently the December edition of Wired magazine has the article. But what's in it? I guess you'll have
to buy the magazine to find out... or...
Nov 17, 1998
Secret Marathon level 00... Double Aught? Does it exist?
All will be revealed... soon.
Claude Errera <errera@grapevine2.com> writes:
Bizarre factoid that noone (but noone) ever noticed; On the original iteration
of the HyperArchive NorthWest website, my front graphic was a hexagon map
with links leading to maps, shapes, films, etc. The background picture of each
chunk represented what was at that link-Shapes contained some altered Pfhor,
I think (can't remember that far back ;) ), and so on. The background for the
maps link was a screenshot of "A Good Day to Die", taken from that selfsame
document you picture at http://www.marathon.org/story/secretlevel00.html.
It was early enough in the Marathon third-party development cycle that I
figured someone would notice and comment... there weren't that many maps out there. ;)
(Noone ever did, though... making me think I was being rather too clever for
my own good.)
(I wish I had a screenshot, or the original graphics... but I
think I lost them all in a really, really big crash, and I don't know where all
the backups went. )
All lost... like tears in rain! But someone may have preserved Claude's
HyperArchive NorthWest graphic containing the screenshot of the secret Marathon level 00
"A Good Way To Die...". Check your hard disks!
Nov 16, 1998
Interesting post on alt.games.marathon from Michael Park <macgamer@ohana.com>.
Part of the text reads as follows:
I just got a question, the Marathon Trilogy CD (if I can still remember)
has PDFs of the Marathon 1 and 2 Manual on the CD, yes?
Why don't they have a Marathon Infinity PDF of the Manual on the Trilogy CD?
Also, why didn't they place the Introductory text (the first few pages of
the manual[s] that introduce Marathon's ccomplex storyline) in the Trilogy
Manual? It would've made sense to put them back to back for a good
comparison of the differences between each game.
So why didn't they?
Did they think the manual was long enough already?
Yes, I know the Marathon Story page already has the Intro text, but new
Marathon players won't know about the page at first and may not know about
the manuals on the CD.
I must admit I hadn't spotted this before but yes Michael is right. If you
bought the Trilogy Box Set but not Marathon Infinity you would not get the
introductory text to the scenario "Blood Tides of Lh'owon. Why? Why did
Bungie drop the introductory Infinity story pages? Page four of the Trilogy manual reads:
ABOUT THIS MANUAL
Much of the text and graphics in this manual are from Marathon 2 and Marathon Infinity.
We've included all the original Marathon manuals in Acrobat format on the Marathon
Trilogy CD-ROM just in case you'd like to check out these manuals.
Not so! The original Infinity manual pdf is not there. Instead you have the Trilogy manual pdf
with the missing introductory text. What happened to the Infinity manual pdf?
Nov 15, 1998
Ben Irwin <Jackelblow@aol.com> writes:
Okay, I found something that bugs me on the back of the Marathon box. It says
that there are 45 levels. I think not! The total amount of levels is 27 solo
levels (in which the back of the box only mentions solo levels). The 27 is
counting level 0. Even if they were counting the netlevels, it wouldn't equal
45.
Here's a quote from Bungie:
<< An original, digital soundtrack heightens the intensity of play in more
than 45 levels... >>
So, what's the deal here?
Ah the mystery of the missing 8 levels. Though those of you who remember the secret
Marathon level 00 "A Good Way To Die..." will no doubt realise that only seven levels were in fact missing.
Destined for the Marathon 20/10 Scenario Pack no doubt. ;-)
While the Marathon box was
used as an excuse to explain long shipping delays - "We're waiting on the boxes" - the
"Marathon Home Videos" from the Trilogy CD revealed that the design of the Marathon box was in fact in
a well advanced if not completed state long before the game was actually finished.
Under such circumstances it's easy to see how things were advertised on the box which
just never happened due to time and/or technical contraints. The moral of the story:
Don't believe everything you read.
Indeed you just have to read the Official Marathon Screenshots section to
realise that few if any of the screenshots used on the Marathon boxes actually represent
scenes in the game.
As to the legality of all this I'm afraid I can't comment.
Nov 14, 1998
Craig Hein <Craig95200@aol.com> writes:
The final screen to M2 references Manus Celer Dei, The Swift Hand of God, as
the name for Durandal's Jjaro ship. I forget where, but at some point a
mention is made (Kieran Wheeler in Latin in M2) that ships were named after
gods. Well, many references have been made to us as the player being god,
especially at the end of M Infinity. My theory is then that, given the
graphic at the end on M Infinity is none other than the swift hand of god,
OUR, the player's hand. Thus, perhaps Durandal named his Jjaro ship after
us.....?
The origin of "Manus Celer Dei" (Latin for "The Swift Hand of God") is interesting.
It was first used by Jason Jones as a net game name during development
of Marathon 2. Steve Wood made reference to it in his
Boston Macworld '95 report.
For those who knew about Jason's Marathon skills in the early days
the title was very apt. Its use again at the end of Marathon 2
this time as the name of Durandal's Jjaro dreadnought also made sense
at the time. Durandal had said that by escaping the closure of the
universe he would become a God.
The only limit to my freedom is the inevitable closure of the
universe, as inevitable as your own last breath. And yet,
there remains time to create, to create, and escape.
Escape will make me God.
<Colony Ship For Sale, Cheap (Terminal 3)>
Certainly by the end of Marathon 2 Durandal seemed well on target to achieve this
goal. Our fate at this point was unknown. Last we heard we were off
to some other ruined world far from the galactic core.
There is much to do in the next few months
and our first stop will be another ruined
world, this time far from the galactic
core. There is a rogue star that has been
passing through our galaxy for nearly a
millennia.
We will meet it in one of the great voids
between the spiral arms.
<All Roads Lead To Sol... (Terminal 1)>
Marathon Infinity of course threw all this up in the air... rewriting Marathon 2
from a number of different timeline perspectives. The ultimate objective
being our successful transition from Jjaro based cyborg to
übermensch or in this case Destiny.
Infinity was all about finding the right path to our supposed "Godhood".
As Craig points out the Final Screen in Infinity makes reference to this
and also shows a hand, presumably the players. Is this a subtle reference
to "Manus Celer Dei" - The Swift Hand of God? But in this case our hand?
As to whether the events related to in the Final Screen of Marathon 2 still apply
after Infinity is questionable. Certainly the fate of Tycho is unknown at the
end of Infinity. As is the fate of Robert Blake and the remaining Tau Ceti colonists.
Durandal is reborn as a Durandal/S'pht entity with an apparently changed personality and
appears content to help the remaining S'pht find a new world to live on. As for us
we are simply told to... Go.
But where?
Nov 13, 1998
Karl Boman <karl_boman@hotmail.com> writes:
Ok this may be a bit of wishful thinking but I thought of Marathon the
minute I saw it...
In Time Magazine, there was some rather dull Time Digital thing in which
they rated the top-players of the IT-business from 1 to 50. The number
one was no surprise - Bill Gates. being a Mac-user, fan and general
worshipper, I looked for Steve Jobs. And when I saw on which place he
was, I almost fell over: 7. Are Bungie's arms that long already? Is this
a secret message to us mac-users that the overtake has started for real?
Anyway, it's really spooky...
Yup... spooky! Then again it is Friday 13th! ;-)
Nov 12, 1998
Randy Reddig <ydnar@iatlas.com> one of the creators of the Marathon Infinity
scenario "Blood Tides of Lh'owon" writes:
check out the following url
http://www.cyberverse.com/~craigm/snowcrash.html
look carefully at the buildings. not they look oddly similar to the buildings on lh'owon.
as if the lh'owon pic was a sketch repurposed... :)
If you are unclear as to what Randy is referring to check the recent mystery pic
and also the Envy chapter screen.
Oddly , this is familiar to you, as if it were from an old dream, but you can't exactly remember...
Nov 11, 1998
Mark Levin <mglevin@uiuc.edu> sent in the first correct answer to yesterday's mystery pic.
Mark writes:
The game of course is MDK, while using the sniper rifle. It's got the distinctive 3-pronged crosshair.
Yup. The screenshot was taken in the first open area on the first level. Just pop your head
over the wall. The view is somewhat similar to Craig Mullins' rendering of Lh'owon.
Thanks to all the other people who sent in answers. First one wins though so you have to be
quick around here. Mark's secret Marathon mystery prize is winging its way to him as you read this.
Nov 10, 1998
Ok no guesses as to what place this resembles but what's the game?
Clue... it begins with "M".
Nov 9, 1998
The first-person shooter Unreal tops the
"current favorite Macintosh game" poll at
at Mac Gamer's Ledge. Marathon Infinity comes in
at fourth with 7.7% of the votes! 7.7 I kid you not.
Marathon 2 is placed second after Warcraft 2 in the
"all-time favorite Macintosh game" poll.
Marathon Infinity ranks fifth and Marathon is... seventh! :-)
Make your vote count!
Nov 7, 1998
Hey Marathon Central is back!
Remember to bookmark Marathon Central's IP address
http://169.197.56.132/
that way you can still get in.
Story page mirror sites can be found at:
http://169.197.56.132/story/
http://164.58.172.165/marathon/story/
http://smd033.smd.tcd.ie/
Thanks to a nameless benefactor (you rule Jim!) the Story page has now obtained a copy
of the original "eggheads" screenshot first seen in the December '94 issue of Macweek.
You can see it in all its glory in the Blasts from the Past
section. I've also added an index to this section so you can now navigate the remarkable past history
of Marathon... and Bungie. Revel in those past events... some of which Bungie would like you to
forget. Go on you deserve it... here's the list you'll find at the top of
Blasts from the Past section. Don't tell Bungie now! ;-)
The 5th Dec 1994 MacWEEK screenshot
Marathon 20/10 Scenario Pack
A midnight walk on Lh'owon
The original Marathon box sticker
The eWorld Conference Transcripts
The AOL Conference Transcripts 17 Feb '95
The Origin of the Caps Lock key controversy!
The original Marathon's Story page
The Marathon Keychain
Early Marathon usenet humor
The DISC
The Marathon Poster
THE DISC II
The Compuserve CD
The Official Marathon World Wide Web Site
The Marathon Macworld Mayhem Tournament
Ling-Ling
The Controversial Macworld Marathon 2 Review
The Marathon Macworld Mayhem 2 Tournament
The Bungie 20% off Dollar
The Codewarrior CD
The CyberMaxx VR Headset
Bungie's Bungievision
The first ever Marathon screenshot
Oh yes... they'll be more... lots more...
Nov 6, 1998
Loren Petrich <petrich@netcom.com> writes:
Here's a URL on another way the rest of the real-time-3D gaming
industry is catching up to Marathon:
http://www.planetquake.com/q2pmp/articles/frag-arena/arena.htm
We've seen terminal displays, non-hostile characters, even concern with
storyline in some recent games, notably Unreal; here comes another
Marathon imitation: modular player-character models.
In the Marathon series, characters are done as sprites -- 2D
pictures. Most of the characters have only one sprite per pose and
direction, but the player character (that Mjolnir cyborg marine) is an
exception, composed of two parts: an upper part and a lower part. The
lower part always uses the same set of sprites, while the upper one uses
a different sprite set for each weapon wielded.
However, most of its competition appears to use only one set of
player sprites or 3D models, no matter what weapon the player is wielding.
Quake 1, for example, alternates between an ax and a generic gun, but
that's about it.
However, Quake 3 Arena will feature player-character models
divided into three parts: head, upper body, and lower body. Each part
will have attachment points for the others, and the upper body will have
an attachment point for one's weapon (a separate model). So it's
something like the Marathon approach extended to full 3D.
Loren also writes concerning a recent Sandbox (Duality's map editor) screenshot
at Dualism, a Duality fan site.
See http://www.dualism.org/screenshots/sb2.jpg.
As I was downloading it for the first time, I noticed how the top
of it seemed to look a lot like the space station in "Aye Mak Sicur" --
the lights seemed similar to those of the Jjaro texture set, and the
walls a similar shade of green...
However, when the rest of it downloaded, I did see some
un-Jjaro-ish things like those wall inlays (Double Aught seems to like
making those, though I've seen some nice Marathon-engine examples like
The Siege of Nor'Korh).
Could the resemblance be a coincidence? Or something more? :-)
Nov 5, 1998
If you are continuing to experience difficulties in accessing the Story page
at www.marathon.org try the server's IP address 169.197.56.132.
Here are some URLs.
http://169.197.56.132/story/
http://169.197.56.132/hyperarchive/
http://169.197.56.132/forums/
http://169.197.56.132/vidmaster/
http://169.197.56.132/volunteers
etc.
Don't know how to use Rescompare to make a Marathon music patch?
Charles Srstka <csrstka@earthlink.net> sent in some helpful advice.
See the Marathon Music section
of Facts and puzzling things about... for details.
Check out this great Marathon project - Wheels for People with Severe Disabilities - at
www.rjcooper.com/wheels.
Download it and tell you friends about it. You or they may know somebody
who will get alot of enjoyment out of it.
Nov 4, 1998
Gabriel Rosenkoetter <gr@eclipsed.net> sent in the following .plan
of Courtney Evans of Double Aught Software.
It concerns Double Aught's
up-and-coming first-person shooter Duality.
You can read the full text below:
Login: goat Name: Courtney Evans
Directory: /home/goat Shell: /bin/csh
Last login Wed Nov 4 04:11 (CST) on ttyp4 from 207.217.246.90
No Mail.
Mail forwarded to: courtneye@earthlink.net
Plan:
Duality moves ever onward... with the Aussies back on their native
continent, I'm still trying to recover from the massive changes that have
gone into the engine...colored lighting, decals, effects, the list goes on
and on. Coupled with the textures and characters Jihan and David are
making, wow.
At the same time, still more changes are being contemplated, enhacements
that would greatly enhance a mapmaker's ability to tell the story of the
game.
Duality has become a truly beautiful game to look at, which makes me very
happy, but there are other beautiful games out there. What we're facing
right now is how to make the game much more than just another beautiful
shooter. We have a terrific story to tell, with greater depth than any
story I've ever seen in a computer game, barring perhaps Marathon. I think
that even without advances to the character scripting, Duality will be
very successful at drawing the player into another world - but the stuff
we're working on now is going to one-up even the most sophisticated
story-based games.
More to follow. =)
Way to go! :-)
Nov 3, 1998
Concerning the question "What is meant by a first-person shooter?" the
general concensus is that in such games the player is a single human/humanoid/cyborg/robot carrying all his/her
weapons/equipment. The player spends most of the time on foot either walking or running, though
swimming, flying and vehicle use can sometimes occur. The objective is usually 'kill or be killed'
though elements of puzzle solving and player acrobatics are sometimes interspersed.
Randy Reddig <ydnar@iatlas.com>, one of the creators of the Marathon Infinity
scenario "Blood Tides of Lh'owon" and whose earlier Mac game "Trouble Souls" won a
Macworld Game Hall of Fame Award in 1994, provided this very succient definition:
a first person shooter (fps) is a 3d game played from the perspective of a
walking or running character (usually) carrying some sort of weapon, which
is visible all or most of the time in the foreground of the view. attaining
weapons and ammunition is a key aspect to a fps, as is the necessity to
attack at any given time.
Armed with this definition it is easy to see that first-person perspective tank
or other craft based games don't fit. So the competition questions again.
Q1. What first-person shooter game for the Mac predated Marathon's release
by some 5 months.
Q2. Name all the first-person shooter games released first on the Mac or
at the same time as on the PC since the release of Marathon.
Q3. How many games using the Marathon 2 engine have been ported to the PC?
And what has this all to do with Marathon? Well all will be revealed soon! :-)
Send those answers in. And don't forget the first-person shooter shareware games.
Nov 2, 1998
Some early replies to this month's competition and a certain amount of controversy.
A PC version of Damage Incorporated. No way I say! But Dan Rudolph <rudolph.family@mcleod.net>
writes:
I didn't think so either, but the GT Interactive Store lists a PC version of
Damage Incorporated. http://store.gtinteractive.com
And there it is with PC specs but the box is MacSoft's. Has to be a mistake but you may know
otherwise. If this is the PC version then where is the Mac version?
Some questions raised.
"Can we include shareware in Q2?". Yes.
"What do you mean by a first-person shooter?".
A legitimate question and not an easy one to answer as one might initially suppose.
Long before the likes of Wolfenstein, Doom, Pathways Into Darkness, Marathon, Dark Forces, etc.
popularized the first-person perspective shoot-em'-up there were tank games like
BattleZone, Arctic Fox, and Spectre. These offered a first-person view of a 3D-like world in which the objective
was to shoot your opponent (computer or network colleague) first. Should these type
games still be regarded as first-person shooters? And
what about those games that combine both third-person and first-person perspectives?
Should these be classed as true first-person? And for that matter what about those games
that combine flight sims with ground based first-person perspective action. Don't flight-sims
offer a first-person view? For example is Descent a first-person shooter or a flight sim, or both?
Your views are welcome on this subject.
Andrew Malcovsky <jmalcovsky@winooski.k12.vt.us> writes concerning the missing
month after "The Big House". See the Dates section
of Facts and puzzling things about... for details.
Nov 1, 1998
Hey a new month... a new type competition... and that mystery pic. Many thanks
to all those who sent in answers. Some were close but not close enough. Sorry. :-)
The mystery pic was called battle twirl
and it was used as a background image on Bungie's Feedback page and Marathon 2 On-line
Registration page from their second web site
which went live back in Oct 1995. Come on... you remember the pages? If you
registered Marathon 2 on-line you could have won a PowerMac from Power Computing.
Anyway more importantly is the images used on the pic. Note the mixture of original
Marathon aliens (incl. a Bob) and the new look weapons the player is holding.
The combination is odd and suggests that the weapons were updated long before any
of the aliens were changed.
New competition time. Three questions to test your first-person shooter Mac game knowledge.
Q1. What first-person shooter game for the Mac predated Marathon's release
by some 5 months.
Q2. Name all the first-person shooter games released first on the Mac or
at the same time as on the PC since the release of Marathon.
Q3. How many games using the Marathon 2 engine have been ported to the PC?
Get all three questions right and... impress your friends! ;-)
Page maintained by Hamish Sinclair
Hamish.Sinclair@tcd.ie
Last updated Dec 31, 1998