Ok, definitely put this one in the Crack Pipe category. But recently a story ran on MacCentral that Contraband Entertainment had announced a new secret project in development for the Macintosh platform that they dubbed Heroin 4 U .
Contraband Entertainment, one might recall, is a company headed by Bill Burger Heineman and features other former Mumbo Jumbo developers. Several of those returned to Contraband after Myth 3's release and the subsequent closure of MJ. Contraband is doing development for a lot of different platforms, including Windows, the GBA and the PlayStation 2. They've also ported first person games to the Mac before (Hexen, Hexen II). They also list the Xbox among the platforms they can develop for, although there are currently no Xbox platform titles on their project schedule.
Is it possible this secret project is the Mac port of Halo?
One might assume that the Windows port could be more easily done in-house, given the Xbox's wintel heritage. Doing so might upset Bungie's other development efforts minimally.
Well, to be honest, there's no information to confirm or deny it; it's just a raw speculation. But giving the job to an outfit like Contraband would, in some vague sense, keep the job in the Bungie extended family, while freeing up Bungie proper to work on other projects. And in the vacuum created by the lack of official information, this story sneaks right in there like a whiff of Mary Jane from underneath the boys' room door. Stay tuned, if for nothing else but the hangover.
Comments
Anonymous (not verified)
ummmmm no
Considering Bold/Destineer (Peter Tampte!?!?) is headed by an ex-bungie guy, and they are Microsoft's Mac porter/publisher, there is absolutly no reason to consider anyone else.
narcogen
not necessarily
In reply to: ummmmm noanon wrote on Tuesday, 06/18/2002 - 11:34 pm:
: Considering Bold/Destineer (Peter Tampte!?!?) is headed by
: an ex-bungie guy, and they are Microsoft's Mac
: porter/publisher, there is absolutly no reason to consider
: anyone else.
If that were the case, they'd have announced that Bold was doing the port along time ago. But they haven't.
Aside from that, Bold has yet to ship a title AFAIK. As tight as they might be with MS/Bungie, they might want an experienced Mac porting house to do the work. That would include outfits like Westlake, which was considered a possibility early on.
I'll admit, I considered this possibility to be extremely unlikely and labeled it as such, but I think if it was really so definite that Bold was doing it we'd have known about it long ago.
Even if Bold *does* end up getting it, I think the delay means that at least that other ways of getting the job done were considered-- either other porting houses, or having Bungie do it internally.
Any way it turns out, I expect we'll know soon.
Narcogen
Anonymous (not verified)
Re: not necessarily
In reply to: not necessarilynarcogen wrote on Wednesday, 06/19/2002 - 9:50 am:
: If that were the case, they'd have announced that Bold was
: doing the port along time ago. But they haven't.
Not true at all! None of Bold's ports were announced until they were FC. And why announce a mac publisher/porter if you havnt done the same for PC. I am not saying the decision has been made to use bold but it's the only one that makes any sense.
:
: Aside from that, Bold has yet to ship a title AFAIK. As
: tight as they might be with MS/Bungie, they might want an
: experienced Mac porting house to do the work. That would
: include outfits like Westlake, which was considered a
: possibility early on.
:
Links LS2000 and 2002 and Age of Empires 2were done by Bold/Destineer. I love westlake (hell I used to beta test for em) but a port is not that difficult if you know how to port that language/API, and therefore no huge reason to choose westlake over anyone else. If the game used an engine that only westlake had good experiences with (like Unreal tech) i would be saying otherwise right now.
: I'll admit, I considered this possibility to be extremely
: unlikely and labeled it as such, but I think if it was
: really so definite that Bold was doing it we'd have known
: about it long ago.
:
: Even if Bold *does* end up getting it, I think the delay
: means that at least that other ways of getting the job done
: were considered-- either other porting houses, or having
: Bungie do it internally.
This I sort of agree with. I am sure that Bungie wants to do it internally if possible, and if other options werent considered then thats just bad business. Bold has an exclusivity deal with Microsoft that they get first pick on any game that Microsoft wishes to bring to the mac.
:
: Any way it turns out, I expect we'll know soon.
Certainly hope so!
narcogen
Re: not necessarily
In reply to: Re: not necessarilyanon again wrote on Wednesday, 06/19/2002 - 5:30 pm:
: narcogen wrote on Wednesday, 06/19/2002 - 9:50 am:
:
: : If that were the case, they'd have announced that Bold
: was
: : doing the port along time ago. But they haven't.
:
: Not true at all! None of Bold's ports were announced until
: they were FC. And why announce a mac publisher/porter if you
: havnt done the same for PC. I am not saying the decision has
: been made to use bold but it's the only one that makes any
: sense.
I'm still not convinced. I'm not aware of an exclusivities in Bold's agreement (although there might be some). The argument that they'd want to announce the PC and Mac porters at the same time makes sense-- but then again, I'm not alleging that they've announced it, I'm alleging they *haven't*.
Also, a company like Contraband would be in a position both to port to the Mac *and* to Windows. Bold was set up to port MS' Windows titles to the Mac, not port Xbox titles to Windows.
Doesn't mean they couldn't do it-- and doesn't mean they aren't the best choice.
But people here, there, and everywhere have been chomping at the bit to know who will be doing this work. If there was only one choice that made sense, they'd have announced it already.
Yes, for others of Bold's titles they waited to make announcements until a later stage in the work. With regards to that, I'd just say that most, if not all of those titles, were not anywhere near as eagerly anticipated as Halo has been and will be-- nobody really would have been interested to know nine months in advance that Bold would be porting Links 2002.
: :
: : Aside from that, Bold has yet to ship a title AFAIK.
: As
: : tight as they might be with MS/Bungie, they might want
: an
: : experienced Mac porting house to do the work. That
: would
: : include outfits like Westlake, which was considered a
: : possibility early on.
: :
: Links LS2000 and 2002 and Age of Empires 2were done by
: Bold/Destineer. I love westlake (hell I used to beta test
: for em) but a port is not that difficult if you know how to
: port that language/API, and therefore no huge reason to
: choose westlake over anyone else. If the game used an engine
: that only westlake had good experiences with (like Unreal
: tech) i would be saying otherwise right now.
I'll admit that if Halo used an existing engine Westlake had experience with that would definitely tip the scales in your favor.
But I've seen too many crappy ports to say that there's no reason to choose Westlake over anybody else.
:
: : I'll admit, I considered this possibility to be
: extremely
: : unlikely and labeled it as such, but I think if it was
: : really so definite that Bold was doing it we'd have
: known
: : about it long ago.
:
: :
: : Even if Bold *does* end up getting it, I think the
: delay
: : means that at least that other ways of getting the job
: done
: : were considered-- either other porting houses, or
: having
: : Bungie do it internally.
:
: This I sort of agree with. I am sure that Bungie wants to
: do it internally if possible, and if other options werent
: considered then thats just bad business. Bold has an
: exclusivity deal with Microsoft that they get first pick on
: any game that Microsoft wishes to bring to the mac.
They do?
Have an URL for that? I don't remember seeing it, if it's true I'd certainly want to mention it here and post a link. I'll go looking myself right now...
: :
: : Any way it turns out, I expect we'll know soon.
:
: Certainly hope so!
Looks that way...
Narcogen
Anonymous (not verified)
Re: not necessarily
In reply to: Re: not necessarilynarcogen wrote on Wednesday, 06/19/2002 - 10:01 pm:
: Also, a company like Contraband would be in a position
: both to port to the Mac *and* to Windows. Bold was set up to
: port MS' Windows titles to the Mac, not port Xbox titles to
: Windows.
:
: Doesn't mean they couldn't do it-- and doesn't mean they
: aren't the best choice.
:
: But people here, there, and everywhere have been chomping
: at the bit to know who will be doing this work. If there was
: only one choice that made sense, they'd have announced it
: already.
---------------
i'll just end your fun narc and say that 'heroin 4 u' is not mac halo. it's something else, just definitely not halo. sorry guys.
oh and - for the record only 3 of the m3 team went to contraband. most everyone else filtered out to other companies. not that you asked, i'm just sharing =D
iggy@contrabandent.com
narcogen
hey iggy!
In reply to: Re: not necessarilyiggy wrote on Friday, 06/21/2002 - 7:15 pm:
: ---------------
:
: i'll just end your fun narc and say that 'heroin 4 u' is
: not mac halo. it's something else, just definitely not
: halo. sorry guys.
:
Darn, man :) See, that is exactly how NOT to build up buzz around a new product :)
So... something else? What kind of something else ?
:D
Narcogen
narcogen
interesting fact-- westlake ported AoE2
In reply to: Re: not necessarilyJust a note. Check apple's site here:
http://www.apple.com/games/articles/2001/07/destineer/index2.html
And you'll see that Destineer actually does NO porting.
Westlake ported AoE2.
Green Dragon ported Links 2002.
And that's all Destineer as published so far.
So the question becomes not whether or not Bold/Destineer will publish Mac/PC Halo, since they just might.
But it seems that no matter who publishes it, someone else will port it-- and that might just as easily be Contraband or Westlake or Omni Group or somebody else.
And it might be natural to assume that, in order to cause a little stir, a company like Contraband might announce, under a secret code name, their intent to do certain work before the publisher was ready to announce it-- westlake also does this.
anon again wrote on Wednesday, 06/19/2002 - 5:30 pm:
: narcogen wrote on Wednesday, 06/19/2002 - 9:50 am:
:
: : If that were the case, they'd have announced that Bold
: was
: : doing the port along time ago. But they haven't.
:
: Not true at all! None of Bold's ports were announced until
: they were FC. And why announce a mac publisher/porter if you
: havnt done the same for PC. I am not saying the decision has
: been made to use bold but it's the only one that makes any
: sense.
: :
: : Aside from that, Bold has yet to ship a title AFAIK.
: As
: : tight as they might be with MS/Bungie, they might want
: an
: : experienced Mac porting house to do the work. That
: would
: : include outfits like Westlake, which was considered a
: : possibility early on.
: :
: Links LS2000 and 2002 and Age of Empires 2were done by
: Bold/Destineer. I love westlake (hell I used to beta test
: for em) but a port is not that difficult if you know how to
: port that language/API, and therefore no huge reason to
: choose westlake over anyone else. If the game used an engine
: that only westlake had good experiences with (like Unreal
: tech) i would be saying otherwise right now.
:
: : I'll admit, I considered this possibility to be
: extremely
: : unlikely and labeled it as such, but I think if it was
: : really so definite that Bold was doing it we'd have
: known
: : about it long ago.
:
: :
: : Even if Bold *does* end up getting it, I think the
: delay
: : means that at least that other ways of getting the job
: done
: : were considered-- either other porting houses, or
: having
: : Bungie do it internally.
:
: This I sort of agree with. I am sure that Bungie wants to
: do it internally if possible, and if other options werent
: considered then thats just bad business. Bold has an
: exclusivity deal with Microsoft that they get first pick on
: any game that Microsoft wishes to bring to the mac.
: :
: : Any way it turns out, I expect we'll know soon.
:
: Certainly hope so!
Narcogen
nimrod
Re: interesting fact-- westlake ported AoE2
In reply to: interesting fact-- westlake ported AoE2But remember that when Destineer was announced, they said that they would also be doing development - making their own game, using their own tech (I think). But you're right, they've never actually done any porting (of a released game).
I'm sceptical that Microsoft would go for Contraband, I mean Westlake is a safer bet in that they have a longer history of porting. Contraband haven't done nearly as many ports.
narcogen wrote on Wednesday, 06/19/2002 - 10:08 pm:
: Just a note. Check apple's site here:
:
:
: http://www.apple.com/games/articles/2001/07/destineer/index2.html
:
: And you'll see that Destineer actually does NO porting.
:
: Westlake ported AoE2.
:
: Green Dragon ported Links 2002.
:
: And that's all Destineer as published so far.
:
: So the question becomes not whether or not Bold/Destineer
: will publish Mac/PC Halo, since they just might.
:
: But it seems that no matter who publishes it, someone else
: will port it-- and that might just as easily be Contraband
: or Westlake or Omni Group or somebody else.
:
: And it might be natural to assume that, in order to cause
: a little stir, a company like Contraband might announce,
: under a secret code name, their intent to do certain work
: before the publisher was ready to announce it-- westlake
: also does this.