Rampancy

I recieved an interesting e-mail from a gent named Russ Fagaly a few days ago, and I apologize for not getting it up sooner. It appears that there is another new Bungie-inspired developer on the scene:

Sphidia Software would like to announce the debut of their new website. Simple, elegant, and damn cool, the new site will provide a nice graphical space on the web for information and other fun stuff to be disseminated out to the masses. Founded in the depths of the Bungie fan community, Sphidia is working hard on their first product, a tactics based real time strategy gameentitled, Dynasty.

Thanks,
Russ Fagaly
Sphidia Software

(Links added) No7orious also makes note of this in our community forum. It appears from the information available that Sphidia may be somewhat farther along in the process than Island Four. I'll be fascinated to see what they come up with, and whether it offers new thought in gaming.

• Forum: I got this one from IMG: Sphidia Emerges

Just a quick heads-up to remind you that the Game Developer Conference begins tomorrow and will be going on until the 24th. Bungie isn't particularly represented, itself, except indirectly through Jason Allard and Seamus Blackley on the Xbox. Still, it should be interesting to watch and we may possibly get a new tidbit or two. Stay tuned.

As promised a few days ago, PlanetXbox has posted up their Halo Impressions article. Here are a few choice cuts:

...Pressing one of the six pressure sensitive buttons on the control pad the soldier hit the alien over the head with the butt of his rifle, knocking him out. The melee attack shown is currently being tweaked to simply stun aliens when used in close combat where the enemy is aware of your position...

...From here the soldier continued to discover a large hologram figure that outlined the structure of the island's underground mine, which ended the demo...

...The gameplay itself was well paced. With console shooters developers have often made things too fast, which brings on a feeling of disorientation and nausea as the player tries to spin around quickly and dart through halls. In Halo the pace was just a little bit slower, allowing me to carefully plan my attack on the enemy and not find myself turning around endlessly to find all those pesky enemies...

The article describes many of the same things that the others have - the drive in the jeep with NPC gunner blazing away, among other experiences - but some of the statements they make about the game should help to assuage the fears that some in our community have been expressing. Read on!

I've got a few more items to share with you this morning. Take a gander:

• GamePro - Their own hands-on preview. As with other articles, the presence of a secondary melee capability is confirmed. (Thanks goes to both HBO and BloodBeard for informing us of this article)

• GameWeek - A three paragraph summary. These poor guys were situated next to the Bungie booth at E3 last year, and everyone (including us) got a good yelling-at for using their display computers to browse the 'Net and report to the forums. I'm almost surprised they gave Halo a mention! ;-)

• Action Vault - Among other things, they had a bit of encouragement for PC and Mac gamers:

  ...When Bungie Software was acquired by Microsoft, it was not unexpected to learn that the lead development platform had changed to the Xbox, and that the PC and Mac versions would arrive some months after the console's debut. It's never easy for anxious fans to await a game's release on their platform, but Bungie appears committed to making Halo a unique and compelling experience for computer gamers as well. If what we played and heard was any indication, the wait for Halo on the PC should be worth it...

• Happy Puppy - These guys didn't actually get to play Halo, because it was the most crowded area of the floor!

  ...Though I must reserve judgement until I get to play the game (at length) myself, I did watch the reactions of other players, and the fact that it is the only game I couldn’t get my hands on at the event is a clear indication of its drawing power. If you’re a big fan of shooting games, keep an eye out for Halo this fall...

There's a goodly bit of discussion going on in our community forum. Take a look, and add your $0.02 if you've got something to say!