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It looks like the new Bungie.net forums are powered by IdealBB 1.5, a Windows-based online collaboration system developed by Ideal Science. (Their company is linked from the bottom of the forum pages.)
It looks like the new Bungie.net forums are powered by IdealBB 1.5, a Windows-based online collaboration system developed by Ideal Science. (Their company is linked from the bottom of the forum pages.)
Users of the new Bungie.net site might find one thing to be problematic- linking their Xbox Live GamerTag. Although Bungie.net allows you to choose whether or not to display your GamerTag if it is linked, you can't actually link it there if it isn't already. To do that, you have to sign in to Xbox.com using the same Passport you use for Bungie.net.
If you haven't logged into Xbox.com lately, you may find some changes there, too-- users are being prompted with a message that they need to "migrate to the new version of our website", and if they log in with the same Passport account they used earlier, that they can keep their previous account settings. However, this doesn't appear to be working for everyone. At least one user (okay, me) has received an error message that only states "There was an error attempting to migrate your account." which isn't very helpful or informative. However, keep in mind, that was from Xbox.com, not Bungie.net.
SketchFactor has posted about this issue in this forum thread.
Those of you with truly nothing better to do may remember that my Christmas wish to Bungie was a flexible statistics system, linked to Xbox Live, that would have hooks that external fansites could link to in order to develop their own customized leader boards.
Well, the latter might still be a pipe dream, but it definitely looks like the new Bungie.net is going to support Xbox Live statistics; there's nothing on the page now, but it is linked from the new features story and it appears in the floating navigation bar at the bottom of the screen, between games and community.
Looks like the new-look Bungie.net is open now for real, and looks like there are a few things to poke around and find.
One is a new video called Can o'Whoop Ass; you can see it on the new videos page.
Another is the link to "webcams" in the Inside Bungie section; looks like two more cams in addition to the original have been added. However, one seems to be pointing at what looks like a kitchen windowsill full of bonsai trees and a fan, while the other appears to be pointing at a Billy Talent album cover.
There are also new forums. The new forums support avatars, thread locking, stickies, and polls, although the new rules are rather draconian: no bad jokes and the use of any variation of the word n00b is punishable by death. You've been warned.
UPDATE: Now there are two new stories on the front page, also. One is a more detailed list of the new site's features, and the other is a retrospective on the Origins of Halo. The latter article, while it summarizes things that a lot of longtime community members already know, is interesting because it's the first time the Mac roots of Halo have been discussed by Bungie since shortly after the buyout, and it also explicitly about a lot of the removed features, such as the elevation map, ambient life, and some of the Covenant vehicles.
Well, Bungie.net isn't down anymore, but it does appear that something has changed. Loading the canonical names www.bungie.net or www.bungie.com now brings you to the Seventh Column site. The links for Truth and Reconciliation, the Myth Vault and the official Halo 2 site from that page seem to be down. Halo Babies mentioned they saw the new site, but then noticed that it wasn't actually ready yet. Passport login appears to be working.
Frankie's thirteenth Bungie Update, originally at Sector 7, is now in our Halo 2 Updates Archive.
Bungie Depot
Next week, we're doing something cool on the site. Tune in Tuesday for a small surprise. It should be cool – a little thing that the community team has whipped up.
The Griespit
Jaime has been very busy, finalizing Ghost and Warthog handling so the sound guys can work with confidence. The need to make sure that sound ties in correctly with motion is obvious, and all of the sampling, including the gravel on tires recording done with the poor Subaru Outback we abused, is ready to be applied and processed. The Ghosts in particular (in my opinion) are starting to sound brilliantly "alien" and cool.
Jaime has also been finishing up the connections between rooms for one of the early levels with Paul and Dave. He wouldn't elaborate on which level, BUT I can reveal that you might have seen something like it already.
Jaime is also figuring how CENSORED will work on (gasp!) a new CENSORED!
When he wasn't doing that thing we can't talk about, he was working on new triggers for combat dialog. So that Marines and others will say cool stuff when they're supposed to, and won't just blabber away when they're not supposed to.
But one of the coolest things Jaime was doing this week was adjusting the scale, type and shape of damage done by a new weapon. I've tried this one before Jaime's ministrations and it is BRUTAL. And no, that's not a pun on the word Brute. It's just a vicious bone hammering bastard of a weapon.
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The Animation Station
John Butkus has been animating his ass, or perhaps more properly, his elbow off. Monday and Tuesday he was going through older (Halo 2) elite/marine animations and just making sure they worked with all weapons when sitting in various vehicle passenger seats. Weird stuff happens with weapons in different scenarios, and as new ones are introduced, it's important to make sure that they look cool under all circumstances. John had a busy week, though...and probably created somewhere in the region of about 80 unique moves. His aforementioned elbow is killing me and he says, "my eyes feel like someone has thrown sand in them, but I wouldn't have it any other way."
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Our Princess is in another Castle
Alta, the Bungie Princess, is working on secret goodies as well as a certain annual tradeshow, as she tells it herself, "This week has been chaos! In addition to taking care of the boys as usual, I have been busy working with some different people on some cool things that will start showing up as we get closer to launch. Fans will love what we have in store."
But back to the tradeshow, as Alta continues, "E3 is right around the corner…so I have been dashing around making arrangements for that. We have some cool stuff planned and I am wrapping up details for a mystery guest at Fanfest. There is definitely a buzz around the studio with E3 coming up and the countdown to Halo 2 launch. In the mean time I am just going to get as much time in the sun (yes sun in Seattle) as possible before the true chaos hits. That’s all for me this week. Cheers!"
Achronos has posted on Bungie.net again about the site, which they expect to be down for perhaps as long as 6 hours on Monday morning starting at 8 Pacific. This covers all official Bungie websites.
Bungie is having another Bungie Fan Fest at E3 this year, but there are only 50 spots, so go and register-- quick! For details, read SketchFactor's post on the Fest.
Nice big, juicy update at Sector 7 this week. Frankie promises to talk about dialog, sound effects, animation and Xbox Live, but also mentions how Jaime "Flawless Cowboy" Griesemer is down in the Griespit working on CENSORED and how "something cool" is going to happen on Bungie.net next week; in fact, Monday April 12 is marked with a red X on Mister Chief's calendar, so maybe everybody should check on Bungie.net then. Or perhaps Mister Chief is just hoping to win that date with One One Se7en.
If you had an account on the old Bungie.net system and want to link it to a Passport account so you can keep your nickname, you have been warned: your last chance to do so is before this Sunday at 5 PM. After that, the non-Passport accounts will be deleted. Check Achronos' post at Bungie.net for the details.
Editor's note: this probably means that Bungie is a step closer to revealing what they've been working on for the new Bungie.net.
Last Friday's Frankie Update, the twelfth so far, is now in our Halo 2 Updates archive.
Bungie games never die, but they do live on in websites that use frames. You have been warned.
However, if you're in the mood for a blast from the past, check out the Pathways Into Darkness page at Bungie.org, where Hamish Sinclair, who maintains that page as well as the compendious and excellent Marathon Story Page, has added information on the A1 demo version of Pathways Into Darkness that was released way back in July of 1993 before MacWorld Boston that year.
For those who don't know, Pathways was a precursor to Marathon, a less sophisticated first-person shooter/adventure game in a pseudo three-dimensional world. The latest update to the PID page details the levels and features in that demo that were removed or changed before the game's final release.