Maybe the campaign is more fun than multiplayer? Video from MLGPro:

Frankie does a good impression of Officer Barbrady while talking to Game Informer about the Microsoft-Bungie split:

GI: Are you at all surprised by the response to this?

O’Connor: Not really. It’s Microsoft, and that’s the big story, right? The Wall Street Journal doesn’t care about Bungie Studios, but it cares about Microsoft business, and that’s how they see it. So I’m not that surprised. I think the problem for some of those guys is when they actually talk to us and see what the real story is, it’s just not terribly controversial for either the platform or the business. It’s a nice, happy story where everyone makes out like a bandit.

If you’re looking for controversy, though, he does manage to refute Shane Kim‘s spartan comments about the financial impact of the deal, as well as Neill Blomkamp‘s statement that the Halo movie project is dead:

Fiscally speaking, we get a better share of profits because we own Bungie now, so our future IPs–or at least the things that we create in the future–we’ll do better from.

Another situation where some well-applied zero sum analysis shows that someone’s not telling the whole truth. Asked how much Microsoft would lose from publishing future third party Bungie projects, as opposed to first party, Kim said “none”. Now Frankie’s saying Bungie will get to keep more of their own revenue, which is entirely reasonable as an independent studio. They also get to cover their own costs, of course, which Microsoft no longer has to do.

There are only two ways to look at these opposing viewpoints. Either Bungie cost Microsoft as much as they made (very unlikely) or Kim is not being entirely factual when he says this deal has no financial impact on Microsoft.

Oh, and that Halo movie? Perhaps not as dead as was thought:

O’Connor: I haven’t seen that, but being declared dead is probably one studio’s viewpoint, and we still own the intellectual property, as far as Microsoft is concerned. Nobody can declare it dead except the owner of the IP.

Which, in this case, is Microsoft, and not Bungie.

Did Bungie seek independence because it wanted to work on non-Halo projects, projects Microsoft did not support? Not so, says Frankie:

O’Connor: You know, the funny thing about that is that Microsoft has always been supportive of us making new IPs–our timeline and the size of our studio has prevented any really serious branching, but we’ve always had people working on other ideas. It’s scheduling. We made Halo–a huge success–decided to make a Halo 2, and that pretty much guaranteed that we would be making a trilogy at that point, because we had a lot of story to tell.

Honestly, if we’d said to Microsoft after Halo 1, “We want to go make something different, would you support us?” they would have said, “Yes, of course. Just tell us what you need.” They’ve never stymied our creative endeavors. They’ve simply held us to the promises that we’d made to them–and those promises were Halo 1, Halo 2 and Halo 3. If we’d said we want to go off and make a puzzle game, they’d have supported us whole-heartedly, with the assumption that we’d make a good puzzle game.

One final thing: perhaps this will finally put to rest the Marathon-Halo connections people keep making:

O’Connor: There was no legal reason for that, but Bungie will continue to be coy about the relationship between Marathon and Halo. They do exist in separate universes and timelines, but I wouldn’t rule out any possible linkages.

That ought to do it.

Something Awful reviews Halo 3, and for once, it’s a real review (sort of) and not just an excuse to crack some poop jokes. Except, there are a few poop jokes.

Generally the review falls into the “single player is crap but multiplayer is good” except they also hated multiplayer. What do you expect? It’s Something Awful.

They do manage to slip in a couple of the PC-centric prejudices that seem to characterize many of the reviews, such as:

The weapons feel like toys and don’t have the responsiveness or feedback of a game like Half-Life 2.

I don’t know what kind of forced feedback controller they’re using on their PCs, but I really fail to see how the words responsiveness and feedback apply to weapons in Half-Life 2 (also a very good game) any more than Halo 3.

1Up interviews Bungie’s Brian “SketchFactor” Jarrard about the Bungie-Microsoft split. So far everyone who has spoken to the press is still on the same page; that this was a mutually beneficial deal, quickly and amicably agreed upon. Despite 1Up trying to press and find some conflict, no one will admit to any, even theoretical:

1UP: What if Microsoft had simply said “no, sorry, we’re keeping Bungie internal, that’s that?” Part of this deal seems to be covering Microsoft’s end — if they pushed you guys too hard, people would just leave, anyway.

Jarrard: It’s hard to say what could or would have happened. Who knows. But it’s definitely true that this newfound relationship with Microsoft will help to reinvigorate and energize many of our elder team members.

So, independence is like Viagra for videogames development. And what does “elder team members” mean. Composer Marty “The Elder” O’Donnell? Bungie founder Jason Jones?

Thanks for the heads-up on the article to DominoEffect.

The wave of new content continues, and it’s all thanks to you guys. It’s time to work together to make another great show happen!

Hello, is Amanda there? Amanda Huginkis?

We’re looking for voicemails this episode… but not these kind. 🙂 Call in with anything Halo-related that’s on your mind. If you’re drawing a blank, you can call in a custom game, forge variant, tale from the foxhole, multiplayer tip, single player tip, story comment on sierra 117, MLG update, Halo song, Halo joke, stuff like that. Just keep it under 3 minutes. What’s the number? 206-888-HALO.

Dude, I deflected a rocket with the hammer and it hit a guy flying out of the man cannon!

Got a cool story from Halo pwnage? Let us know! This was one of our favorite segments and we’re THRILLED to bring it back. Tell us about your coolest sticks, last minute wins, crazy flag caps, most impossible triple kills, etc. Be sure to leave us your gamertag so we can give you credit. And if you have a screen cap or film it on your file share, let us know so people can check it out. Talk about interactive podcasting!

Deadline is Tuesday night

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The Podtacular podcast is back with a huge blowout episode! Shiny new audio work, interviews with Bungie at the Halo 3 launch event, and talk about strategies, graphics, sound, and the story for Sierra 117. All wrapped up with more outtakes at the end. This week our guest is drive_c, the writer of “the night before Halo 3” that appeared on the front page of Podtacular recently. This show’s a little hefty at 1:15, but I hope you agree it’s worth the time.

You’ll notice this show is being released on Sunday. We’re going to do the best we can to let you depend on that day as the release day for all future episodes of Podtacular. Occasionally life will happen, but that’s the goal. What are you waiting for? Start listening!

More updates on Bungie’s amazing flight into freedom:

FiringSquad interviewed Frankie, but all they give you is a summary. It does say that Harold Ryan is now President of Bungie. He mentions a skunk works for new projects. Wonder if that’s where Jason Jones is spending his time, given that his only credit in Halo 3 was under “special thanks”.

Max Brenn at eFluxMedia speculates that Microsoft’s delays in approving projects contributed to the desire to breakup.