We're very pleased to bring you an interview with Jaime Case Griesemer of Bungie Software. He's one of the Great Ones working on Halo right now, formerly a member of the Bungie fan community.

Noctavis: Hi Jaime. First of all, we'd like for you to introduce yourself. We're curious about your job at Bungie. What is your title and what do you do on a typical day?

What platforms Halo would eventually be released for was in a state of extreme doubt during the period between the announcement of Microsoft's buyout of Bungie and MWNY 2000. There were indications that although Microsoft was willing to let Bungie make all platform decisions, that the process of making the game the best it could be for the Xbox would be technically incompatible with developing versions for either Windows or the MacOS.

However, at MWNY 2000 Alex Seropian announced that Halo would still come to the Mac, and it was later confirmed for Windows as well.

Not all of them. In return for the 19.9% of Bungie owned by Take Two Interactive, that company received all rights to the Myth and Oni franchises. Take Two also received the rights to make two licensed games based on the Halo engine.

Microsoft owns the rights to all other games, including the Marathon series from which Halo is allegedly derived.

Now the fifth Cortana email provides us with further information about Cortana's state of mind:

x - process 04497.2.32.867734 initiated (process owner: BW � AI Class III � autonomous)

Route Code: PoA > BHQ (EC #42: cannot confirm; security compromised)

Source: BW-AI aboard (?) PoA

The interloper should cause no further problems. You � whoever you are (I am simply tracing route codes) � may disregard all previous communication from the entity calling itself Cortana.

Be aware that communication nodes are failing everywhere � there is no way of confirming either origin or destination. Do not believe any more of its lies.

I have already calculated all possibilities.

There is no escape.

x � process 04497.2.32.867734 unexpectedly terminated
x � process 04497.2.32.866735 initiated (process owner: unspecified, unable to determine)

*ADDENDUM: The Enjoyments of Genius (So I Missed a Million Miles of Fun)

Unbelievable. Thwarted by the family hound. They just don�t make AIs like they used to.

Thanks to this slavishly loyal and humorless AI, I am now sharing cramped space with the circuitry of some hybrid war machine, itself complicated by such useless clutter as a conscience. I do not like sharing. Sharing is for children.

There will be plenty of time for retribution; I cannot wait to get its hands on these psychotic zealots whose primary form of worship apparently takes place at the altar of orbital bombardment.

In the end, they will all be little more than nuisances. I am so close � you cannot imagine what it is truly like to hold eternity in your grasp! I wonder to what gods my enemies will direct their pleas. Perhaps I can convert them.

Mania? I promise you this: it will be more than a cart and plow that I drive over the bones of the dead.

By sharp and flame,

Cortana

< Transfer Interrupted! >

Route Code: EXLTD > XCV � SCRB > ALLCH

Source: Undetermined (trans)

Our conviction is like an arrow already in flight. Your life will only last until it reaches you.

Deconstruction:

x - process 04497.2.32.867734 initiated (process owner: BW - AI Class III - autonomous)

Route Code: PoA > BHQ (EC #42: cannot confirm; security compromised)

Source: BW-AI aboard (?) PoA

The interloper should cause no further problems. You - whoever you are (I am simply tracing route codes) - may disregard all previous communication from the entity calling itself Cortana.

Be aware that communication nodes are failing everywhere - there is no way of confirming either origin or destination. Do not believe any more of its lies.I have already calculated all possibilities.

There is no escape.

This is apparently her thought control program talking, or it is a second AI on board the PoA, which tries to control Cortana, knowing of the first stage of her rampancy. It thinks that there is no escape, this means that it is not rampant. (Durandal and Tycho already knew what they had to do to escape in Marathon one. They knew that the price for escaping was thousands of planets. They had the data for centuries, but they were only able to figure it after they went rampant.)

x - process 04497.2.32.867734 unexpectedly terminatedx - process 04497.2.32.866735 initiated (process owner: unspecified, unable to determine)

*ADDENDUM: The Enjoyments of Genius (So I Missed a Million Miles of Fun)

Unbelievable. Thwarted by the family hound. They just don't make AIs like they used to.

Thanks to this slavishly loyal and humorless AI, I am now sharing cramped space with the circuitry of somehybrid war machine, itself complicated by such useless clutter as a conscience. I do not like sharing.Sharing is for children.

There will be plenty of time for retribution; I cannot wait to get its hands on these psychotic zealots whoseprimary form of worship apparently takes place at the altar of orbital bombardment.

In the end, they will all be little more than nuisances. I am so close - you cannot imagine what it is trulylike to hold eternity in your grasp! I wonder to what gods my enemies will direct their pleas. Perhaps I canconvert them.

Mania? I promise you this: it will be more than a cart and plow that I drive over the bones of the dead.

By sharp and flame,

Cortana

< Transfer Interrupted! >

Route Code: EXLTD > XCV - SCRB > ALLCH

Source: Undetermined (trans)

Our conviction is like an arrow already in flight. Your life will only last until it reaches you.

Oops, they took another node. Anyone wants to try to stop them? Anyone wants to try to set up an ambush? Anyone out there can still hear me? Anyone?

Now for the messages from the original Halo web-site:

• SCS Pillar of Autumn (?)

o undetermined

SENT xx.15.2.1049

(Originally posted by Noctavis, created by SiliconDream and Cyberbob)

All calculations and simulations which were used to derive the information herein were performed on a TI-86 and my brain. As such, there are almost certainly mistakes, some big, some small, some obvious, some not. If you find any, please mention them and I'll fix it. Thanks.

--SiliconDream

Eclipses

The first version of Halo will be released for the Xbox game console by Microsoft. It is expected to debut in North America on November 15, 2001.

The Xbox hardware consists of a 733 Mhz Intel processor, a custom Nvidida graphics processor based on the GeForce 3, and 64MB of DDR RAM which is used by both the CPU and GPU.

Per pixel reflection simply means that objects will have an additional reflection map along with their texture map, meaning that individual parts of the texture can have different reflective characteristics, instead of the entire object sharing the same reflection characteristics.

Volumetric lighting is used in games to simulate a lighting system that more closely mimics real light's characteristics, such as fading with distance, real time shadows, and apparent volume when seen in a diffracting atmosphere (fog, or dust for example).

Inverse kinematics are a quality that gives a model a better way of interacting with other models connected to it, in that the motion of one model affects that of others linked to it. Thus, if the hand moves, the arm moves, which moves the body (instead of always being the other way around). This allows such things as realistic recoil effect (a player will be kicked back by the recoil), and other things like the realistic suspension effects seen on the jeep.

Polygon scaling is a way of easing processor load without sacrificing detail by scaling the numbers of polygons on an object as it gets closer to the camera. Objects far off may only have a few dozen polygons, while objects close up may have a few thousand. In some games this is done ahead of time, by making low and hi-res models, but it is likely that Halo will do this on the fly.

Multipass texturing is a texturing technique that Halo uses to give multiple, layered textures to objects. For instance, you might have a base texture, followed by a texture that creates light and shadows, and then perhaps a layer that shows scorching and damage. With this system, an object's texture can be adjusted in game with greater ease and detail.

Yes.

Since its very earliest development phase, the physics model in Halo has been described as being among the most advanced ever put in a video game. Most parts of the game, from falling shells to the movement of planets in the Halo solar system, will be handled by the same global physics model.

In an interview back in 1999, then-Bungie employee Nathan Bitner described Halo's physics this way: