It's Bungie's 20th anniversary! "We really couldn't have done it without you" urk wrote to their loyal fan-base in an official blog post, a precursor to a bundle of information and goodies from the developer. Of note is the forthcoming release of Marathon on Apple iOS devices, and the mysterious Bungie Aerospace, which we really know nothing about quite yet. Oh, and there's this awesome Red vs. Blue video as well.



Burn Bright. Burn Blue. [Bungie.net]...

The rumour mill is churning after an uncovered forum post revealed that Bungie's next game might just be an MMO set in a steampunk universe titled "Destiny". The post appeared to be an invite from Bungie to Seattle-based steampunk fans, who were to arrive at the developer's studio on June 3, in their favourite outfits, for a "steampunk game"....

In case you hadn't heard, Bungie are now in bed with Activision. And in case you've been living under a rock for the past few years, Blizzard, World of Warcraft creators, and Activision merged in 2008. Once upon a time, Bungie were working on a cancelled Halo MMO project under Microsoft, and lately there have been rumors of Bungie re-exploring a project in the genre....

So, Halo: Reach is here. This latest entry to the acclaimed franchise currently sports a 92/100 review average, encompassing over 60 reviews. Impressively, it made $US200 million in sales in the United States and Europe in the first 24 hours of its release. Oh, and within 24 hours of release the highest number of concurrent Halo 3 players was surpassed. Want more numbers? Here's how things panned out 5 days after it hit store shelves:
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It seems that developers are starting to get serious about making sure that the online experience they deliver is fun, and remains fun. We know EA Sports has some anti-rage-quit measures in mind for FIFA 2011, and now Bungie's Brian Jarrard has come out and let their intentions be known on the topic: "people who do this habitually will actually be penalised."
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Halo Reach is merely months away, with "Noble Team's epic, planetary battle" beginning on September 14th, in fact. Bungie has just let-loose the final trailer for the highly anticipated Xbox 360 shooter, which serves as a campaign trailer for you all to whet your appetite with. ...

Turn on your 360, throw in your Halo 3: ODST campaign disc and strap on your jetpack. Mepm dropped us a reminder on the forum that as of about 6 hours ago, while most of us were sleeping, the Halo: Reach beta went live! It only runs until May 19, so if you're a fan, don't waste anytime. Bungie sent a word of caution that "the download process may be subject to extended wait times. Server load is expected to be extremely high, especially during the first few hours and days of Beta availability. Please bear with us and stay tuned to Bungie.net for news and information."...

Live action trailers are all the rave right now. Microsoft have jumped on the band-wagon with this trailer for the fast approaching Halo Reach Beta. Apparently it's a short of the short, with the longer version making its way online during America's April 29th....

Marathon is relatively easy to forget amidst other classic shooters such as Wolfenstein and Doom, but it was a landmark title that continues to lead a massive following. Rumors surfaced in 2007 of Bungie reviving the title and pushing forward with a modern remake, yet not much more has been said since. Until now, that is. Bungie have re-registered the Marathon trademark, as of today. Keep your eyes and ears peeled, as we might just get a related announcement sometime this year....

Some Halo Reach beta footage has made its way onto the net thanks to Taiwan's Game News Network. I'm not a Halo fan, or a console FPS player, but it does look cool - it even has jet-packs...