Category: Rampancy

… and to Windows and Linux as well. Appleswitch at Source.bungie.org reports that a Mac OS X conversion of the Marathon sequel scenario Rubicon, appropriately called Marathon: Rubicon X, has been released. It requires the latest version of the cross-platform Aleph One engine. Rubicon was originally released in 2001. The X conversion features new high…

Xbox.com yesterday put up an item apparently naming South African director of commercials and short films Neill Blomkamp as director of the Halo film. Several other sites, including HBO and GameDailyBiz, picked up on the item before Xbox.com pulled it. There is no mention of the item at all at Bungie.net. If the item is…

Yesterday I responded to Ozymandias’ reasons why he couldn’t endorse modchipping for adding new functionality, such as that supported by the excellent Xbox Media Center software, because it would harm Microsoft’s business model, in which they subsidize the hardware and depend on you buying software and accessories. The assumption here is that every hacker who…

Yesterday I mentioned Ozymandias’ blog entry where he lists several reasons why an Xbox owner might want to modchip his console, as well as why he, in his own personal opinion, apart from being a Microsoft employee, could not approve of such actions. The first was fairly clean-cut: because it enables piracy. Fair enough. Ozymandias…

The latest Bungie Spotlight is on former community member, current Bungie staffer Cunbelin, and his contributions to Halo 3: Well My most recent item was to remake the classic human crate, better, faster, stronger! Well better at least. I’ve got a long list of those kinds of items both to be brought up to the…

At first glance, this story probably will inspire a lot of “duh, so what” responses. After all, modchips are used to do lots of things to your Xbox console, nearly all of which Microsoft doesn’t want you to do. They can let you play illegally copied games. They can let you modify your Xbox in…

If you need any more proof that what goes around, comes around– usually to end up smacking you in the face when you turn around– read this story at Joystiq alleging that not making Halo 4 would be stupid. I saw the story linked at HBO. Interestingly enough, the only citation in the Joystiq story…

Spong says its sources at Microsoft indicate that a new, non-Halo Bungie game will be announced at X06 very soon: Speaking to a Microsoft source close to the management of the entire Xbox 360 project today, we were told that, “As far as things stand, Halo 3 is the last game [in the series] and…

We’re extremely late in mentioning this article, but Gamasutra did an interview with Wideload Games founder Alexander “The Man” Seropian last month as Part 2 of their Tour of Chicago. Seropian’s post-Bungie startup is based there, as Bungie was prior to the Microsoft buyout. The article talks about things Seropian likes to do besides playing…

Those who’ve complained that Rampancy hasn’t updated in quite some time are quite correct. While I’ve no excuse, I do have a reason, and the reason is that the most recent bit of information about Halo 3 has slowed to a trickle, and that trickle has now been over-analyzed, much as two boys with twigs…

Gravemind is not an easy character to figure out. From his initial appearance on the scene, as the rumored “big plant thingy” players who downloaded the leaked French copies of Halo 2 reported seeing, to his cliffhanger-inducing interrogation of Cortana, not much was revealed about him. Some fans can even be forgiving for questioning whether…

MBO pointed out an unusual Gamasutra postmortem article from last summer which I don’t remember seeing before. It’s not on a game itself, but of an update to a game. In this case, the 1.5 and 1.5.1 updates to Myth II produced by Project Magma. It’s a two-parter; one details what went right and the…

One of the best total conversions for Marathon, Tempus Irae, has gotten an Aleph One facelift: new high resolution textures, alternate soundtracks, netmaps, even a sequel– the works. Check it out at source.bungie.org.

Aleph One, the open-sourced version of Marathon for Windows, Linux and Mac OS, has a new release out. The HD QuickTime version of the Halo 3 trailer documentary is back up at Microsoft. KP profiles known Cortana-hater Jillybean at Bungie.net. Peter Moore told Major Nelson the Xbox 360 will get an update to add another…

Bungie gave the community a gift of a seven minute documentary about the making of a two minute trailer for Halo 3, and the repayment they get? Gawkers looking over their shoulders, pointing at the screens being worked on by Bungie employees and proclaiming one or more “new species”. Keep in mind, this is the…

A power loss at Bungie didn’t stop Frankie from doing a Weekly Update– although it did end up necessitating an ASCII Mister Chief. This week’s update is more about Halo 2 playlists and music than about Halo 3 though, as it has some notes about the next PLAY! concert in Philadelphia as well as the…

In the wake of rumors that the Halo movie will be pushed back from its rumored 2007 release date due to its rumored lack of a director and rumored delay of the rumored principal photography that was rumored to have taken place somewhere in New Zealand about now, but allegedly hasn’t, several readers suggested I…

The Video Games Live website now has a trailer up to show the “fun, energy, interactivity and excitement of the show”. It’s availble in WMV (hires) and MOV (lores) formats. The next VGL is 8 PM at the Merriam Theatre in Philadelphia on June 3, 2006. Tickets are on sale now. The VGL website has…

This week’s Halo 3 Weekly Update by Frankie has more about Halo 2 than Halo 3, but that’s no reason not to read it. At least, not a good reason. There’s good news and bad news. The good news is, Halo 2 for Vista won’t require DirectX 10. The bad news is, the Clan playlist…

Larry ‘Major Nelson’ Hyrb has confirmed on his blog recent rumors that the Xbox 360 is getting a major update over Xbox Live sometime soon, perhaps next week. New features include background downloading and booting directly to the dashboard. More details will be in his podcast this Sunday.