Bungie.net's got an interview with the redoubtable Mat Noguchi, Bungie tools programmer and behind-the-scenes guy. It sheds all sorts of light on things that should be of interest to any fan; check it out.

Halo 2 and other future Bungie titles to make it past the Xbox to the Mac and/or PC?

Could be.

Thanks to HBO for the linkage.

Matt Soell at Bungie.net has posted the second part of their article about the making of the Halo 2 Trailer. In this installment features Marty O'Donnell and Jay Weinland talking about the audio aspects of the trailer.

The latest Bungie Comic explores the relationship between Joe, Marty... and nothing.

Also noted by HBO's Louis Wu.

Matt Soell posted at Bungie.net today that it was Alex The Man Seropian's last official day at Bungie today.

GameSpy is running a four part article on Mac gaming and porting (one, two, three and four to come), starting with the roots of the Mac community in earlier Apple hardware, like the Apple IIe and vintage games like Wizardry (ah, the memories) through ports of Windows games like Doom, Mac originals like Myst, and up to the current process of porting games from OS 7/8/9.x to the very different underpinnings of OS X.

Halo gets a mention, even though it isn't yet out for the Mac:

Speaking of Halo, during that excruciating wait for DOOM, a small company in Chicago had plans of their own, plans that would include World Domination. But more on that later.

The later in this case comes in History Lesson Six of part 2, which is devoted to Bungie and mentions Pathways Into Darkness as well as the Marathon and Myth franchises.

Part 3 will focus on shareware, and Part 4 on porting houses. Halo may get another mention there if they mention Westlake Interactive, which they surely will.

As our unofficial countdown indicates, the Forerunners.org website is now online. If you have a Bungie-related website you'd like hosted, these guys are the ticket. You get all sorts of luxuries for free, including web space, e-mail, and forums. Sound good? Click here for more information.

First off, Matt just marked his seventh year, seventh month and seventh day at Bungie; yes, it's Matt's Bungieversary; he posted it himself at Bungie.net.

And seemingly as gift on this occasion to the ranks of rabid Halofen, he's offered a few words of encouragement in the HBO forum. In response to demands that the Halo Updates be resurrected for Halo 2, he said:

I think the forthcoming trailer is going to be a lot cooler than any silly little update I could write, but those little missives will reappear one of these Fridays.

So, not only a trailer (12 days now) but also Halo 2 Updates sometime in the future. Woo hoo!

Well, I don't know if they strapped him down to a slab of gold and aimed a laser at his private parts, but somehow Ryan Mhaddy Matthews over at The Junkyard was able to make him talk: they've done a spotlight on Louis Wu. Among the tidbits:

I don't actually PLAY games enough to have a niche, if that's what the question is about... (too much time updating gaming websites to actually play a lot).

Well, there's a shocker. We're surprised he has time for activities like eating and sleeping.

Bungie has five job offers currently listed; 3D Environment Artist, Game Producer, Lead Animator, Character Animator, and Mission Designer. The requirements and responsibilities can be seen at the Bungie Jobs page. Interestingly enough, though, Louis Wu spotted a sixth position, this one for a Studio Manager - not listed at Bungie.com, but at Gamasutra.

(You'll need a Gamasutra account to view the listing; if you can't be bothered to register for one, feel free to use this info:
Email: vector40@aol.com
Passord: 693819 )

Love 'em or hate 'em, they won't go away... not yet, anyway. There's another Bungie comic by David Candyman Candland up at Bungie.net. In any case, I'm sure the special place that Jaime Case Griesemer refers to must be Rampancy's new Halo 2 forum. Or, at least, in our dreams it is.

Steve Campbell of Bungie.org fame has put a notice on his new site, Forerunners.org, that it is close to opening:

Bungie org was the very best time of my life since I came online in late 1995. It was our intent in the beginning to represent each and every Bungie game made. To this day Bungie Org's purpose still stands strong. Now, with the help of some talented fans, and with some freebies from Matt Soell at Bungie, we are very close to opening up the next generation of Bungie fan web sites, The Forerunners Network. The Forerunners Network is a group of servers that are controlled, maintained and created by the fans. Their two cents of what they enjoy about the Bungie games they play. There are no rules, no guidelines and no restrictions.

Check out Forerunners.org for the complete announcement, and we'll keep an eye out for when the site launches officially.

We're mirroring two of the four Making Of Halo videos that were recently posted at HBO; the one featuring Alex Seropian and Hamilton Chu, and the one featuring Steve Abeyta and Shikai Wang.