Halopedia:Bungie Weekly Update 03-24-06

This is the Bungie Weekly Update of March 24th, 2006.

Bungie Update
Horribly short and empty update this week. Why? Because nothing much happened. Sometimes nothing much happens. Then folks read the update and send me hate mail. So I will save them the typing with some example default hate mails:

"Frankie u suck u r a noob anyways fix cheating because I am a legit level 32."

"WTF just put up screenshots of ur new game u nub."

"You call that an update u suck u suck at updating update sucker."

"Halo? Spraylo is more like it. This game doesn't need skill.Put the pistol back in or I will cancel my live account."

"why r u so ghey u ghey lamer?"

If you were planning on sending or posting something like (or exactly) those, you're already taken care of. We pre-typed your hate mail for you! Service with a smile. That's what we promote here.

Anyway, for those of you who actually understand that the Weekly Update is just a place to communicate actual events or happenings, this is what did go down this week. Oh and once more, for the record, lots of people work long hours to address cheating and yes, we know it sucks. We take it seriously and we work hard to fight it.

NinjaOnFire is back on Monday! Hurrah! Chicks love him, guys want to be like him and hobos shave his skin off in the night to make "street-bacon." As he rattles his way back on the railroads of the northwest, we're keeping a spot warm for him here at Bungie.

Who is NinjaOnFire? He's our matchmaking playlist DJ. Both he and Sketch are responsible for mixing things up in matchmaking for your playing pleasure and keeping the available Gametypes fresh. Ninja is returning from an extended vacation in Hawaii, where he's been resting up after nine solid months of kids calling him a "noob" and demanding that he "fix their levels because they are a legit 34."

We'll have a lot more news about upcoming playlist changes, including when you can expect them and what form they're going to take. But don't worry, they'll all be cool.

Last week's announcement about the Halo Graphic Novel was greeted with some aplomb. It's fun to watch readers speculate about things like Sgt. Johnson's escape from the Flood, and what the subject matter in the other stories actually contains.

One funny theory in our forums was the idea that because this is an anthology, it's not really a graphic novel. To reiterate - there is one main story. The other three are shorter and very different in tone and content. I wish we could share some more of the art with you and in fact, we will shortly. Hopefully in the form of some wallpapers and other goodies.

Eric Nylund, who's working away on the next Halo novel, got a lot of attention when Amazon.com listed the title of the new book as "Ghosts of Coral." Coral, as you'll recall, was the name of a planet in the "Conversations from the Universe" extra in the Halo 2 special edition. Well, before you all burn too many brain cells conspiring to figure out what Ghosts of Coral actually refers to - we should point out that it's just a working title, and at this point doesn't refer to any particular plot point. The name of the final novel is of course subject to change.

The book publishing industry just needs a title to work with until the book gets closer to publication. Did you know, for example that "The Davinci Code" was originally titled, "Senseless Churchstabber McEvilton" before finally settling on that catchier name.

When we announced that Marty's long-awaited (some would say fabled) Halo 2 soundtrack, Volume 2, would finally be released on April 25th, there was much rejoicing. When Sumthing Music (the distributor of the soundtrack) showed off the newest track listing, it contained the following list:


 * 1) Prologue
 * 2) Cairo Suite
 * 3) Mombasa Suite
 * 4) Unyielding
 * 5) Mausoleum Suite
 * 6) Unforgotten
 * 7) Delta Halo Suite
 * 8) Sacred Icon Suite
 * 9) Reclaimer (featuring Steve Vai)
 * 10) High Charity Suite
 * 11) Finale
 * 12) Epilogue

So everyone freaked out and they were all, "OMG they deleted half the tracks!" But Marty, as we've explained in pretentious music critic terms a zillion times before, wanted to deliver the Vol. 2 soundtrack in a suite form that would aurally "replay" the game structure more than the original Vol. 1. So the suites contain the following pieces (suites and individual tracks are bolded). You dig?

Halo 2 Soundtrack Volume 2 70:06 (total running time)

Prologue 2:35

Rising :20

Cloistered Expectancy :25

Weight of Failure 1:50

Cairo Suite 9:42

Cold Blue Light 1:54

Waking Spartan 3:36

Jeweled Hull 2:03

Chill Exposure 2:09

Mombasa Suite 6:41

Metropole 1:29

Broken Gates 2:47

Encounter 2:25

Unyielding 3:04

Mausoleum Suite 8:10

Destroyer's Invocation 4:36

Falling Up 1:49

Infected 1:16

Shudder :29

Unforgotten 2:09

Delta Halo Suite 11:26

Penance 2:32

Wage 2:42

Leonidas 2:28

Dust and Bones 3:44

Sacred Icon Suite 7:26

Cortege 3:38

Opening Volley :28

Veins of Stone 3:20

Reclaimer 3:03

High Charity Suite 8:27

Rue and Woe 1:30

Respite 2:17

Antediluvia 2:22

Pursuit of Truth 2:18

Finale 3:10

Great Journey 1:15

Thermopylae Soon 1:55

Epilogue 3:49

Beholden 1:03

Road to Voi 2:19

Subsume :27 ...

And that folks, is a musical odyssey undertaken with grace, fortitude and a glass-frail delicacy that demands utter immersion in the aural quiddity.

In other, less pretentious news, we're signing and shipping limited edition Mylar prints. They're really, really cool and will be available at the Bungie store in a few weeks. They are prints of a fantastic illustration by our own Eddie Smith. It shows the Chief in the midst of battle with an irate and humongous Scarab. Don't worry, he wins.

Eddie will be getting carpal tunnel syndrome as he signs each of the 500 prints, which we then have to package back up and send back to the Bungie store. Still, at least you'll know they were touched by human hands. And this is what it looks like:



We don't like to comment on rumors and speculation, but I did get a lot of mail recently about a certain magazine story and a website's "concept image" from "Halo 3." I can tell you that nothing you read unless it comes from Microsoft or us is either official or to be blunt, necessarily true. In fact, none of the recent stories contained anything other than rampant speculation and the alleged "Halo 3" concept art - was actually a Mullins painting - from Halo 2. It's been available for about two years now…

Rest assured, when we're ready to talk about our next project, you'll know it and it'll be right here on Bungie.net.

Earlier this week, we ran shots of a cool HP Halo 2 case mod and invited readers to share theirs. A few of you took us up on the offer and sent in your case mods. One of these, by Chris Parsons was actually a body mod. Another, by Nathan Myers is an oldie, but a goodie and is also a 360. David Antunes' is sweet, but his photos don't do it justice.







And last, but not least, here's my Mister Chief casemod.