So how tough is it to be an up and coming game developer after years and years of... well, being up and coming? Harder than one might think.
However, things seemed to have turned out all right so far for Bungie Software, which earlier this year became Bungie Studios, part of Microsoft's gaming division. Still, it wasn't always this easy.
Kudos to Zin, who pointed out a brief discussion regarding Bungie's acquisition of Microsoft, and the handling of that righteous endeavor. The topic is more or less about keeping it real, and how that works in today's dog eat dog development world... an interesting read.
A terrifyingly open and plain-spoken Matt dropped by our forum to answer a large basket of questions about the current workings of Bungie. He talks about hirings, b.net, the future of the Myth series, the Bungie West team, fanfests (as in there will be more and better, ) and many other things. Definitely worth reading.
However, he doesn't mention the wall-hugging hippos--and he also says he can't talk about Chris Butcher's impending horrible doom. The connection seems obvious...
There are rumors coming from XBox.IGN that the entire Microsoft Games Group will likely be moving to the Millenium Park. Here's the short blurb, shamelessly ripped from their news:
Things are active all over. A post at bungie.net by Bungie's Yeroen speaks of an online team at Bungie, and hints at things to come for the website and Bungie's online community services. Among the to-do list are the filling of two jobs at Bungie (the web engineer and interface designer positions, I would imagine... definitely worth checking out), and perhaps even a resurrection of the Bungie Store.
Former Halo Creative Developer and current graduate school student Nathan E. Bitner posted his response to the buyout of Bungie by Microsoft earlier this year in a post on the forum at halo.bungie.org.
An excerpt:
No, he's not back at Bungie...but he is back at the halo.bungie.org forum. And he's a shadowy government operative now, apparently. Find out all the details, including whether or not he's decided Shataan was right all along, at the links below.
As Mumbles pointed out on RHL (HAPPY NOW? ;), Bungie has posted a pair of new job openings at their main site. The two openings, for an Interface Designer and a 3D Environment Artist, come complete with all the information you'd need to apply, so if either appeal to you, be sure to check them out.