Preaching to the Converted

What do you do when you've made a game, it becomes a hit and you are a red hot property of the highest proportions?

Sell out your fans, thats what.

At this point there should be a big red button with DON'T PANIC written on it somewhere in your vacinity. There is sound business sense involved here, that you will no doubt have experienced before in other entertainment mediums.

Now, I'm not a member of the gaming press fraternity, and I'm not afraid to tell people that the truth of the matter is: You don't matter. Companies want to make money, and thats it.

Gone are the days of bedroom programmers... happy, be-spectacled fellows hunched over a Commodore 64 at 2am eating a pizza and creating the next Duck Hunt. Companies control the gaming scene now, and they want money, stocks, shares and huge CEO bonuses each year.

Again - DON'T PANIC!





This benefits you and I quite well. Games are now mainstream in a way far exceeding the past, they're cheaper and above all higher quality. I bring you back to my first point though: when you are a suceess, how do you get more out of it?

You do as Bungie. Now they've announced their partnership with Activision and the gaming press cries blue murder, let me give you the real reason. You have to destroy to create.

Bungie games are going to be multiplatform and that gets them so much further both as house-hold name, and as a money making organisation. This can only be a good thing for US. I don't own a 360 anymore, after months of 3RLOD. While I'm not a Halo fan, I respect Bungie for its work on Marathon back in the day. Though I do not expect another Marathon or Halo to come out of this deal.

To create another Halo/Marathon game would be suicide for Bungie. Halo fans will shun it for not being Halo, critics will betrate it for being too much like Halo, and Marathon fans like myself will still be harping on about the good ol'days of the Pfhor.

Now, consider that anyone that truely liked Halo enough would have at some point bought either an Xbox or 360. These days there is not anyone waiting for that good reason to switch consoles. Both 360 and PS3 are far enough along for people to have made their choice. So Bungie are highly likely to push away from the old, to bring in the new. Goodbye twitch-happy Halo fans, and hello the future.

Bands do this all the time. Ever wonder why your favourite band tours with one that has a completely different sound? This is why. New people, from a different place that never would've expected they'd actually like you - that is, until you saw them.

So while this does reek of Bungie trying to take over the world a bit, I think its for the best. Who knows - they may even produce a good game yet!