The Webmaster, fabled "helper" from Bungie of old, has returned. Only a year between this episode and the last. Note to new Bungie.net readers: The Webmaster is a cantankerous, beer-addled misfit who wears a gorilla suit and expecting sensible, polite answers from him is akin to gouging out your own eyes with frozen carrots. If you are easily offended, or frankly, if you are difficult to offend, then you should consider leaving now. If you wish, for some bizarre reason to email him, then he can be contacted at: webmaster@bungie.com.

I have noticed that on the CD for M2 and Marathon Infinity there are 69 items on each CD! Is that a sick joke or it just happened that way?
-- Jim Pochas

Jim-

Do I have to spell everything out for you? 69 can be sparated into the component numbers 6 and 9.

6 + 9 = 14.

14 / 2 (Marathon sequels) = 7.

Now do you understand?

It's simple numerology, not rocket science. Is it a sick joke? Maybe - if you think the idea of Bungie subtly and slowly assuming complete control of the entire universe is FUNNY.

Myth will be the coolest game ever made... Can't Wait.. :)
-- Mike Williams

Mike-

Well, duh.

Okay I need to ask you a question... A very serious question... Would you rather KILL A BOB or win the Nobel prize? I know what *I'd* choose!
-- Mark Ellison

Mark -

Killing Bobs and winning Nobel Prizes are not mutually exclusive activities.

Having already killed innumerable Bobs, we are now bringing our considerable powers of persuasion to bear on the Nobel Prize Committee. We're certain we'll eventually receive the recognition we deserve. Then, of course, there's that MacArthur "Genius Grant" we have coming....

Dear Web-guy,
What do you do with a drunken sailor?

Thank you,
Zimmerman-Huycke family

Listen-

What you guys do with drunken sailors in the privacy of your own home is your business.

The best advice I can give you is to do what feels right, even if it involves a bottle of nitroglycerine labelled "Orange Juice - Shake Well."

Was the Infinity level "Electric Sheep" named after the Philip K. Dick novel "Do Andriods Dream of Electric Sheep?"
-- Michael Lamb

Michael-

Yes, the name of the level is quite obviously derived from the title of Philip K. Dick's novel. The rumor circulating on Usenet that the level was named in honor of a bizarre "toy" used by certain members of the Double Aught Software team is groundless, and pretty sick if you ask us. Those guys don't need to resort to electric sheep.

YEAH!
-- TheKing

Hi King-

I'm glad you agree. I think.

(Don't print this on the web page, lest you wreak havoc in the civilized world.)

Is this "Marathon: Dr'ate'r" thing for real, or is it made up? Tell me the truth, or I won't buy Marathon Infinity.
-- Tyler L.

Tyler-

As you can see, I've printed this letter on the Letters page. I like wreaking havoc. It gives me a warm fuzzy feeling inside. Although that might just be my liver failing again.

Regarding this "Marathon Dr'ate'r" thing...proof positive that not everything you see on the Net is true. (No, really. Sometimes people lie.) Some guy grabbed some screen shots from another game, pasted in a few Marathon aliens, and a hoax was born.

Several hawk-eyed people have noticed that "drater" is "retard" spelled backwards. Whoa. Somebody stop me. Big Yux. Hoo-ha.

The sky was dark at the Bungie website. The once glorious and beautiful masterpieces of Marathon 2 and Infinity had falled into disrepair and were growing old. Nothing new lay on the horizon except publishings of other companies games and a rumor of a 3D tick-tack-toe game. Sadly, I began to turn my head away in hopelessness and dispair.

Sudenly a brilliant light flashed across the sky! Bursting from the seemingly desolate Bungie HQ was the glorious tidings: THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF MYTH HAD ARRIVED! All other games withered away in comparrison to it's revealed majesty!

Oh what a man of little faith was I. How could I have ever doubted you, Bungie? I beg you: Forgive me, I have sinned! I pledge my eternal support to you from now to forevermore!

By the way, I would do ANYTHING, even eat live slugs to be a beta tester for Myth. How can I sign up for this?

-- Gifford Ransom

Gifford-

Last time we posted a message asking for beta-testers, the results were staggering. We took the message down after a day or two becuase too many people were applying. As far as I know, there's still a surplus of people who want to be beta testers.

If and when we decide that we need some more testers, there will probably be an application you can fill out right here on this site. We'll review your qualifications and send out boxes of live slugs to candidates who look like they've got The Right Stuff. Those who consume the live slugs without gagging will be admitted to the pantheon of Bungie Beta-Testers.

In the meantime, you can do everyone at Bungie a big favor by NOT sending us tons of e-mail asking to be a beta-tester, when Myth will enter beta-testing, etc. If we need beta-testers, we'll ask for them.

YOUR WEB SITE HAS BEEN VOTED THE SUCKIEST WEB SITE OF THE DAY BY ME. WE WILL SEND YOU A LOGO SO YOU CAN PUT IT ON THE WEB SITE (BECAUSE IIT SUCKS SO BAD)

MARATHON IS THE WORST GAME IN THE EXISTENCE OF THE ENTIRE WORLD

pONG IS BETTER THAN MARATHON

*-blam!-

Hi There-

I'm sorry you feel our web site sucks. Let me guess: it's our careless mix of uppercase and lowercase text. Or our mulish insistence on following basic rules of punctuation. I knew it would come back to haunt us.

Hope you're studying hard out there at UCDavis. Perhaps you could spend a little more of your parents' money to buy a clue.

I know you're big into the Carnage scene and will undoubtedly think me a panzy, but for those of us who have young nephews that we like to play computer games with, will Myth offer the ability to lower/eliminate the level of gore? It appears to be substantial from the screen shots.

If not, please consider adding this feature. While I don't mind the gore, it certainly we preclude quite a few sales.

Wade Williams

Wade-

Fear not; Myth will include a feature that allows the user to remove the bouncing guts and blood-soaked grassland, thus reinforcing the modern American habit of viewing all-out war as just another video game.

A Hiku to Marathon

Hear the common loon,
Kill the Pfhor, run down the hall,
frog blast the Vent Core.

-- Peter Hessler

Peter-

It's "haiku." Other than that, nice job.

I'd consider initiating a Marathon Poetry contest, but I just know there's bound to be some Rod McKuen-wannabe who'd send in a 10,000-line epic poem about how the protagonist of the Marathon games discovers his inner savage through wholesale slaughter. That stuff scares me.

I've noted over the years Bungie's ongoing infatuation with Latin... Have you ever considered doing an entire game in Latin? Myth would be perfect. Semper ubi sub ubi my friends.

-- Mike McNamara

Mike-

Forget Latin - all the text in Myth will be written in Linear A, the oldest written language known to man. This limits the scope of the game somewhat (not to mention the audience) but you just don't get that same degree of detail in lesser games.

Question: What do I have to do when someone on the street is running straight towards me, yelling "frog blast the vent core"???

-- Student of the K.U.Leuven

I think the answer is obvious: retreat to a safe distance and fire at will.

HELP ME. I AM BEING KIDNAPPED BY ALIENS! i NEED YOU TO ALERT THE GENERAL PUBLIC. ALIENS DO EXIST. I DONT HAVE VERY MUCH TIME I NEED HEL

-- Christopher

Whoops.

I vist your web page alot...I love your games...even though i've only played the Marathon 2 demo...I really wanted Marathon Infinity but I dont have enough money to buy it...untill I found out about a guy that got's this plan to buy Marathon Infinity.. with about ten other guys...the plan is so simple that I am even tempted to join...but that would mean that you guys would get ripped off an these guys (plus me) would only have to pay 20 bucks for the game...If I told you how they were going to do it so you could stop it...what would I get?? And I dont wanna hear about gratitude...Make me an offer...and maybe out of the kindness of my heart I'll tell you...but if not I'll be playing your game...and this guy might strike again if this sounds illegal...it probably is...well I just thought that I'd let you know...

-- Captain Anonymous

Howdy Cap'n-

So let me get this straight: you want us to PAY YOU to NOT PIRATE our game.

Gosh, that's clever. Tell you what: send us your full name and address and we'll send you a BIG FAT CHECK. Really.

Do you guys ever Ding-a-long-lang your Dang-a-long-ling-longs? (not to be confused with ling-ling)

Some members of our programming staff do this all too often. When they're not playing with the Electric Sheep, that is.

I have just one question for you:
Why did you do it?

-- Mike Hannon

Mike-

Because we can.

Do you guys have any pre-made extra physics models that us Win95 users can play, or can we use the Mac models and maps, etc.

P.S.Is your glass half empty or half full?

-- Nick Orlowski

Nick-

While the file formats of Mac and Windows95 maps and physics models are similar, they are distinctly different, and not interchangeable.

With any luck, some enterprising hacker will remedy this unfortunate situation by writing a conversion utility. Any takers?

PS - The glass is completely empty. And broken.

If you count every number from 1 to infinity and I count every even number from 2 to infinty, who gets there first?

Also, is the Map making contest only for solo levels, or are net levels included (the description is unclear)?

I saw a Marathon Electronics truck yesterday. Their symbol looks very similar to the Marathon symbol and they are based in Chicago, should i notify the copywrite authorities?

--Jaime

Jaime-

Your first question haunts my waking hours...when I think about it, which is not at all. Your mind powers will not work on me, boy.

A single net map can be entered in the Mapmaking contest in lieu of a single-player map.

And no, don't notify the "copywrite" authorities. We'll deal with those Marathon Electronics people in our own special way. However, we've forwarded your letter to the spelling authorities. Go quietly and they'll be easy on you.

So I got Infinity the other day(week?) and someone came by my place to tell me that there were 30 messages on the machine from people trying to find me(three from work, the last one a final goodbye). I haven't beat the new scenario just yet, but since the catheter was chafing (don't ask) and I had to stop to go to the can for a minute anyway, i just thought I'd write and say thank you for what has become for now my life's sole activity.

I also skimmed the newsletter in the box, can hardly wait to see Weekend Warrior (yadda yadda...) Just wondering about the party you had in there -- I'm on the north siude of chi-town, a Bungie fanatic, and knew nothing of it...oh well, keep it up, we need more people like you all in the world to keep putting out amazing stuff.

Oh yeah, I'm thinking once I stop doing this all the time and figure out the best way to live on unemployment, I'm starting a career as a repetitive letter writer to politicians/celebs. Any suggestions on who to start with?

-- Bid Daddy

Hey, Big Daddy-

Glad you're enjoying Infinity. We kinda like it ourselves.

Sorry you weren't invited to the party, but when you walk around talking about your catheter all the time, you're pretty much asking to be ostracized. Try keeping it in your pants for a couple months and your social life just might improve. Plus you won't make that ugly crunching sound when you walk into walls.

I am loathe to name any public figure for you to harass via the mail, since I have no desire to be tried as an accomplice when your inevitable stalking trial commences. However, if you insist, I would suggest contacting Dr. Jack Kevorkian at your earliest convenience.

Bungie Says:

"MacWorld Expo

January 7-10, 1997 in San Franscisco, California

We'll definitely be there...but what will we be showing?"

O.K., I give up. What will you be showing? :)

-- Ken Skidmore

Ken-

That was a rhetorical question.

But since you want an answer, I'll oblige: at MacWorld SF '97, we'll be showing our new line of casual and intimate women's apparel. The secret word for 1997 is "pastels."

I was looking through your letters and noticed that you said you were capable of MIND CONTROL. How do you do that? Are you in affiliation with extraterristrial life? Do you communicate with other worldly forces? Is this some subservient plot to scare little kids? Do you guys convervese regularly with the voices in your heads? Does the Bungie corporation plot to commence to engage a force of mind control experts to wage an armegeddon of pain and terror and bring about the unholy, complete, apocolyptic annaihilation of the Earth? Cool. See ya!

-- Sally Foster

Sally-

Your cheerful subservience has been noted. You've got the right attitude. After we stage our coup to take over the universe, this may entitle you to an extra chocolate ration!

And let this be a lesson to those of you who think we're kidding about this mind-control stuff.

this has been bugging me for a while now, and i though that with your vast array of knowledge, maybe you could offer some insight into this: if you drank a whole lot of water and you jumped off a building, would you pop when you hit the ground?

-- britt mceachern

Britt-

There's only one way to find out. God speed.

Okay. Let's say you have this guy who wants to write computer games in those long winter months when there's nothin to do way out in the stiks. (I did mention he lives way out in the stiks didn't I?) But he is totally clueless as where to start to get his illustrious programming career going. He likes Macs and hopes to someday make a game that will destroy Bungie and is millions of times better than Marathon or even Abuse.

-- medusa

Medusa-

He hopes to destroy Bungie, eh? I guess that means that his quest is doomed from the start. What a drag.

You are my favorite game company, bar none. The whole Marathon series rocks. Unfortunately, I don't personally own a computer. Is there any way to enjoy the action and thrills of Marathon with everyday objects found in the home?

-- Satirist

Satirist-

We get this question a lot, and it's about time I answered it in public. The answer is yes! Those of you who aren't lucky enough to have computer access can still replicate all the exhilaration and excitement of a Marathon net game.

Most of the weapons used in the Marathon games can be approximated using easily-obtainable items (various legnths/diameters of PVC or steel tubing, propellants, uh, borrowed from your local university Chem lab, etc.). Your own home or office can become a simple but effective net game arena. Friends, coworkers and family pets can double as scurrilous Pfhor warriors or plain old net game opponents. The fun just won't stop! (until the cops show up)

With the fact that I have had Infinity back-ordered for 2 months and will have it on the 15th... I'd like to have a little fun with anvil. Is there any chance you could get me some shots of the crew that I could put in??? One from all the primary dirrections would do... I can fill in the rest. The point of all this?? I think all your loyal customers would enjoy blowing away those responsible for rendering them socialy inept. It might even help that guy that wanted the 12 step marathon recovery program. Jus thought I'd ask.

-- Rob Phelan

Rob-

You'll be the first against the wall when the revolution comes.

INSTRUMENT

The base beats and my limbs pump in a strange ritual. Harder and harder I pump and gyrate to the pulsing beat.

Infinity.

Swirling and swaying around and around. Jump, jump. I begin to sweat, but I hardly notice. What if they don't come?

Now I notice.

Pump more, gyrate more. From the top of the precipice the beat pulses outward, calling. Vid!

At the final pulse I reach my hands towards the heavens and cry for Odin's son to wield me.

Thunder. A distant voice booms, "Blast the vent core!"

Lighting flashes. Thor has come and I have become Mjolnir.

My legs pulse to a different beat, one more base, more instinctive. Running. Blasting. Carrying the skull.

Be thee ware goblins. Beware Glamdring. Beware Foe Hammer. The gods have come to strike you down.

-- Bruce E. Strange

Bruce-

You played a lot of Dungeons & Dragons as a kid, didn't you?

And you seem to have a real fixation with this pumping and gyrating stuff.

Your surname is apt. Get help.

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY MIND!!!!!!!??? An entire year of constant Marathon playing has reduced my psyche to a blasted battlefield littered with dead Bobs and dismembered Pfhor bodies. I can't even THINK anymore! Isn't there a law against mind control or somthing? Oh well, I don't really mind being a Mara-Zombie. I've just got one question, my pfriend tells me that you guys are working on a rehash of the original Marathon, only with animations n' stuff in the terms and in place of the chapter screen. He says it's called Marathon Gold, is this true, or should I beat him over the head repeatedly with a rubber chicken for spreading lies and deceit?

-- Chris Reid

Chris-

It's not true. Your "friend" lied to you.

I think we both know what this means.

Get the chicken.

I love Infinity! I was one of those lucky souls to get my copy a day before the published release date, and I haven't stopped playing it since. My only concern is that since it is called "Infinity" instead of, say, "Marathon 3," that there aren't going to be any more. Please tell me this isn't true and that you already have another in the works!

-- Ben Everson

Ben-

Imagine a painting of a horse, a marvellous white stallion. This stallion happens to be lying in a crumpled heap on the ground, dead. And Bungie employees are standing around it in a semicircle, beating the horse with various blunt objects. The painting is titled "Marathon 4."

Well, okay, that's overstating things. We're very proud of the Marathon series, but it's not the only thing we can do. Rather than getting into a rut and spitting out a new Marathon game every year, we're going to try some new stuff.

Some gut-wrenchingly cool new stuff.

Stand back and prepare to be amazed.

Dear Bungie,

I like the Wizard of Oz. I like the Tin Man.

-- Todd Lester

Todd-

I once knew someone who felt the way you do. These days they keep him in a windowless compound west of Memphis, pumped full of Thorazine and drooling on himself, wearing nothing but leather chaps and a gap-toothed grin.

And now, the moment you've all been dreading...

The winning entries in the

frog blast The Vent Core Joke Contest

Two weeks and dozens of rotten jokes later, our humble humor contest draws to a close. Resounding success or abysmal failure? You be the judge.

The rules were simple: send us an actually funny joke with "frog blast The Vent Core!" as the punchline. Despite the overwhelming simplicity of the rules, many of you managed to ignore them completely. Especially the bit about making the joke funny.

Submissions were judged earlier today, Friday, November 1, 1996. The judges (a panel of Bungie staffers willing to suffer anything if it would give them an excuse to not work for half an hour) handed in their ballots, which were tallied by the humble and entirely trustworthy Bungie Webmaster.

Third Prize (a Bucket O' Guts from Moo and Oink) goes to...

Arend. C. Miller

Arend drags this one out a lot longer than he has to, and the very last words in the joke are not "frog blast the vent core," but his joke is funnier than most so he got the votes.

Arend wins the Bucket O' Guts from Moo and Oink. Although we may have problems sending that through the mail, so we might offer him an alternate prize instead.

Once there was this boy. He was the only son of a rich man. Before the boy's first day of school, the man told him that if he tried his best, and got good grades, that he would buy him anything.

The boy's first report card came, and it was filled with A+'s. The man told his son that he was proud of him, and asked him what he wanted most out of anything in the world. The boy told his dad, that he wanted nothing more than to frog blast the vent core. His father, not knowing what to do, nodded, and got him nothing.

The boy's second grade report card came, and again he got straight A's. The man told his son that he was proud of him, and asked him what he wanted most out of anything in the world. The boy told his dad, that he wanted nothing more than to frog blast the vent core. His father, still not knowing what to do, nodded, and got him nothing.

His third grade report card came, and he maintained his 4.0 average. The man told his son that he was proud of him, and asked him what he wanted most out of anything in the world. The boy told his dad, that he wanted nothing more than to frog blast the vent core. His father, not knowing what to do, nodded, and got him nothing.

When his 4th grade report card came, he again achieved perfection. The man told his son that he was proud of him, and asked him what he wanted most out of anything in the world. The boy told his dad, that he wanted nothing more than to frog blast the vent core. His father, again not knowing what to do, nodded, and got him nothing.

His 5th grade report card came, once again he got straight A's. The man told his son that he was proud of him, and asked him what he wanted most out of anything in the world. The boy told his dad, that he wanted nothing more than to frog blast the vent core. His father, again not knowing what to do, nodded, and got him nothing.

His 6th grade report card came, To everyone's surprise, he got all A's. The man told his son that he was proud of him, and asked him what he wanted most out of anything in the world. The boy told his dad, that he wanted nothing more than to frog blast the vent core. His father, again not knowing what to do, nodded, and got him nothing.

His 7th grade report card came, he again achieved perfection. The man told his son that he was proud of him, and asked him what he wanted most out of anything in the world. The boy told his dad, that he wanted nothing more than to frog blast the vent core. His father, again not knowing what to do, nodded, and got him nothing.

His 8th grade report card came, but he got all A's. The man told his son that he was proud of him, and asked him what he wanted most out of anything in the world. The boy told his dad, that he wanted nothing more than to frog blast the vent core. His father, again not knowing what to do, nodded, and got him nothing.

His 9th grade report card came, and he got straight A's. The man told his son that he was proud of him, and asked him what he wanted most out of anything in the world. The boy told his dad, that he wanted nothing more than to frog blast the vent core. His father, again not knowing what to do, nodded, and got him nothing.

His 10th grade report card came, he again achieved perfection. The man told his son that he was proud of him, and asked him what he wanted most out of anything in the world. The boy told his dad, that he wanted nothing more than to frog blast the vent core. His father, again not knowing what to do, nodded, and got him nothing.

His 11th grade report card came, and he was a 4.0 student again. The man told his son that he was proud of him, and asked him what he wanted most out of anything in the world. The boy told his dad, that he wanted nothing more than to frog blast the vent core. His father, again not knowing what to do, nodded, and got him nothing.

His 12th grade report card came, he again achieved perfection. The man told his son that he was especially proud of himfor graduating with high honors, and asked him what he wanted most out of anything in the world. The boy told his dad, that he wanted nothing more than to frog blast the vent core. His father, again not knowing what to do, nodded, and got him nothing.

Well, the boy continued through college, and always told his dad he wanted to frog blast the vent core. He got married, gave his dad grandkids, and still only asked to frog blast the vent core. His father still had no idea what the boy wanted.

Then, the boy suddenly came ill with a mysterious form of cancer. On his deathbed, his father asked what he most wanted in the world for his last few days. Again, he said he wanted to frog blast the vent core. His father, finally decided it was time to ask what it meant.

His son replied ....."Well, dad, .....Ugggghh"

AND HE DIED.

Second Prize (a Bungie T-Shirt) goes to...

Matt Segur

Matt places with a longish piece in the classic tradition of the story joke, scoring big for his blatant cynicism and casual attitude toward extreme violence.

A drug dealer, a priest, and a computer game programmer walked into a bar one day. The bartender looked at the drug dealer and said "You drug-dealing worm! You prey on the weak and keep the people down by giving them drugs to distract them from the everyday horror of their pitiful existences! I have more respect for the deformed rat that subsists in the county morgue by eating chemical-laden autopsy remains than I do for you!" And with that, he stamped his 300 lb. bulk down upon the drug dealer's gold inlaid suede platform shoe.

The drug dealer shouted "You radge @#$%! I don't gotta listen to this bucket o -blam!-e," and ran out.

The bartender then turned to the priest and said "You preaching dog! You prey on the weak and keep the people down by giving them religion to distract them from the everyday horror of their pitiful existences! I have more respect for the ascaris worm slowly working its way through my lung than for I do for you!" And with that, he stamped his 300 lb. bulk down upon the priest's shiny black patton leather shoe.

The priest screamed "May the Lord forgive you! You'll burn with the other sinners in the hands of your angry God!" and ran out.

Then the programmer said "Save it, I know what you're about to say. I'm a game-programming rodent. I prey on the weak and keep the people down by giving them computer games to distract them from the everyday horror of their pitiful existences. You have more respect for the dog that eats the buckets of guts thrown out in the gutter by Moo and Oink the butchers than you do for me. I'm on my way out. Just don't step on my gleaming white running shoes."

But the bartender grinned, slowly shook his head, and roughly pulled the programmer to his chest. He whispered into the programmer's ear, and the programmer frantically pulled free and ran for the door.

The patrons were bemused by the programmer's sudden terror, but they understood when green chunks of the exploding bartender's synthetic flesh ripped through their bodies, killing every last one of them. And just as the orgy of gruesome death ensued, they each heard the bartender repeat in a bloodcurdling scream his final words to the programmer:

"frog blast THE VENT CORE!"

...And First Prize (a copy of Marathon Infinity) goes to...

Jesse Peterson

In marked contrast to the other two winners, Jesse's joke is short, direct and to the point. This alone endeared him to our jedges, who had long since passed the breaking point. We can all learn a little from young Jesse Peterson.

teller: *ahem* Knock, Knock

victim: Who's there!?

teller: Interupting Bob.

victim: Interupti-

teller: frog blast THE VENT CORE!

Honorable Mentions

These folks didn't win anything, but we feel compelled to mention them:

JasonG69@aol.com, for his truly repulsive joke which hinged on the gastrointestinal traumas of certain key Bungie staffersParadox, for his piece about the "Trouser pilot"(?) and two midgetsBen Van Dusen, for the "bell-ringer" story, which got a couple votes from our judgesJustin Mayer, for his limerick describing the dangers of consorting with prostitutesDug Stanat, for "what did the New Zealander say when Jaque Shirac (or however the hell you spell the guy's name) conducted another @#$%^&* nuclear test?"And finally, Thomas Fisher, for his remarkably short entry, which was:

A master of minimalist Dada, Thomas will no doubt be hailed as a genius 100 years down the road.

Have you ever played the Phfor language backwards? It sounds like they're singing "I'm a Dole man." Is this some cosmic coincidence or do you have a closet Republican lurking deep in the bowels of Bungie?

-- Scott Jorgensen

Scott-

It actually refers to the Pfhor's fondness for Dole pineapple juice, the real reason behind their attempt to enslave humanity.

Of course, the "Dole MAN" appelation might actually be a subtle reference to everyone's favorite South American dictator, Manuel "Pineapple Face" Noriega.

Best not to question the political leanings of game designers.

I just received the T-shirt that I ordered from you guys, and it's great. However, why are they only available in X-Large? I take a Large myself, so it doesn't look too bad on me. But I'm sure that there are a lot of Medium and even Small sized Marathon players out there. Do you really want people of all shapes and sizes walking around in X-Large T-shirts? Have you no fashion morals? Can you imagine what life would be like if everybody walked around in Levi's Big Jeans(TM)? Frightening, isn't it! Granted, Marathon shirts are infinitely cooler than Levi's Big Jeans (which isn't saying much), but I can just imagine some smaller sized Marathon player blowing away in the wind because his X-Large T-shirt filled up like a balloon and carried him off. Of course, the free advertising you would get from that would probably be worth it, and it's much cheaper that renting a blimp... Hey! So *that's* why you did it!

-- Karl J. von Laudermann

Karl-

If we could develop a garment that allowed the wearer to ride the wind like some freakish Valkyrie, we wouldn't be in the software business. We'd be soaring along the Chicago lakefront, dropping water balloons on yuppies.

Our t-shirts are only available in extra-large because keeping track of different shirt sizes (we used to offer Large shirts as well) was more trouble than it was worth. Only making Extra-Large shirts ensures that no one ever gets the wrong size.

Dear Bungie,

I have seen a news clip from Mac Gamers Ledge stating that you and GT Interacive have made a game based on Zombie Software's game engine called ZPC. Is there any truth to this?

-- Toby Harcomb

-- Toby Harcomb

Toby-

There's a nugget of truth buried somewhere under a pile of misinformation. Here's the real story:

A company known as Zombie licensed Bungie's Marathon 2 engine.They used it to create a game called ZPC, which will be distributed by GT Interactive.We didn't really have much to do with the game apart from letting Zombie use the M2 engine.

For all intents and purposes, ZPC is a Zombie game, and questions or comments about it should be directed to Zombie, not us.

Looking at the screen shots of Weekend Warrior makes me so excited that I just want to go out and eat a chicken gizzard!

Mike Roca, Jr.

Mike-

You sound like the sort of guy who'd be a real laff riot at a cocktail party.

Look us up next time you're in Chicago and we'll take you on a tour of the stockyards. Or if we're busy, maybe we'll just give you a few bucks and send you down the street to Moo and Oink, "The Butcher Shop Where Parts Is Parts."

I just have to thank you guys for delivering Marathon Infinity. When I first called to [pre]order it, nobody knew what I was talking about, but they happily took the order number (from your web page) and my credit card number. I figured my order might have disappeared from there. Ha, you sure showed me. Not only did it come, but it arrived here on the 14th, in spite of the fact it shipped on the 15th. I'm impressed. What other company alters the laws of nature for their customers?

-- Kenneth C. Schalk

Kenneth-

One of the great things about Anvil is that, if you know the codes, you can edit real-world physics as well. Thus, we were actually able to rip a hole in the fabric of the space-time continuum (what a great phrase) to get the game to our customers before its release.

Faceless, uncaring corporate behemoth? I think not.

Hello Bungie.

Don't you think it's time you told me why the cyborg in Marathon 2 has the name "Mjolnir". Being from Denmark, I recognize this word from old scandinavian mythology. "Mjolnir" is the hammer/weapon used by one of the strongest gods of "Valhalla", "Thor". I want to know how you found this word, and why it's in the game.

Greetings from Denmark :)

-- Lars Sorensen

Lars-

You're right: it IS time we told you. It seems pointless to hide it any longer. The truth is out.

Believe it or not, some of that obscure Scandanavian mythology actually made its way across the pond. I suppose he's old hat to you Danes, but Thor is a comic-book sensation over here. (At least he used to be.)

Why are those words in Marathon? When you've got a couple game designers with a passion for classical literature and mythology, it's easy for a few names from Norse legends to work their way into the game.

I don't usually go for dirty jokes but you've captured my curiosity; what is the frog blast the Vent Core joke? Please tell me!

-- Michael Lamb

Michael-

Judging from the mail I got about it, there are a lot of people out there who haven't heard the "frog blast The Vent Core" joke. That's a shame.

I'm not going to just come out and give away the joke; that's no fun at all. No suffering involved whatsoever.

So here's what I'll do: send in a joke with "frog blast The Vent Core" as the punchline, and you might win a free copy of Marathon Infinity. Second prize will be a t-shirt. Third prize is a Bucket O' Guts from Moo and Oink, or something.

Rules are as follows:

SUBMISSION: Submit all jokes to joke@bungie.comCONTENT: No restrictions. Be creative. Don't be boring ("What did the Assimilated Bob say to the Armageddon Beast?") or you'll get the Bucket O' Guts.STRUCTURE: Joke must have "frog blast The Vent Core" as the punchline. Other than that, no restrictions: it can be a knock-knock joke, a limerick (good luck) or a "Two nuns and a pack mule are riding a monorail to Vegas...." story-type joke.JUDGING: Submissions will be judged by a random selection of Bungie staffers. Winners will be announced Friday, November 1, 1996, on this page.

I was wondering if you guys are going to set up a page and make a program that will allow you to connect and play Marathon Infin. over the net with 8 people. And it would be nice if instead of a hulk spanking me you could get Jenny Mcarthy to do it.

-- Larry Lantrip

Larry-

You'll probably never play Marathon over the Internet; Marathon was never designed for Internet play, and adding that capability would be a time-consuming process.

We were trying to help out with the Jenny McCarthy thing, since she's from around here, but I guess she's working on some stupid TV show and can't be bothered to spank anyone. I guess you'll just have to keep spanking yourself.

Please accept my humble apologies. Earlier today, I emailed you complaining that the grid would not go small enough in Forge. I have discovered that you can set the exact coordinates for a point, giving me absolute control. Please forgive my rash insolence, i swear to buy every Bungie product from now until Infinity.

-- Jaime

Jaime-

I'm glad you worked it out. Let's put this ugly incident behind us and move forward.

I need to know if I can place an order for one of your products WITHOUT a credit card. If you want my money, say yes. You see, I am one of those CRAZY people who like to avoid financial ruin.

-- Morgan Catha

Morgan-

Of course, financial ruin existed long before credit cards came on the scene. There was that whole stock market crash in the late twenties, for example...wealthy men became paupers in an instant, and threw themselves out of high-rise windows in despair. What a glorious day.

Anyway, the answer to your question is yes, we do accept payment which is not in the modern and convenient plastic format. For the full details of how to get your cash, checks and money orders into Bungie's loving embrace, check out the Bungie Store Policy page.

I have some third class physiscs models and I'm planning to get some other stuff. I can supply your company with ALL third class stuff!

PLEASE RESPOND!

I'm using my dad's web browser so contact me at:

Miko1120@aol.com (male)

Miko-

Whatever this "third-class stuff" is, it doesn't sound legal. I hope for your sake that the DEA doesn't read this Letters page.

We stopped doing that "third-class stuff" years ago.

Why did you make it so hard to find the 'credits' terminal on 'All Roads lead to Sol'?

-- Richard Mortimer

Richard-

In case you couln't tell from the rest of that level, we're sadists.

I refer to my 15-year-old son who ordered Marathon Infinity way back when from your favorite mail-order catalog. Ever since September, he has been calling MWH and getting the same dog and pony show every time; to wit, "7 to 10 more days, sonny." Do you guys have ANY idea what it's like to live with a frothing, seething bundle of hormones who has no idea what the word PATIENCE means? DO YOU???? I am about to lose my mind! I'm begging you: please, please, please ship Marathon Infinity to MWH ASAP; otherwise, I'm sending my son to you, C.O.D.

Love and kisses,
Mom
Deb Martin

Hi Mom-

Marathon Infinity is now shipping, and if your son hasn't received his copy already, he will soon.

"Frothing, seething bundle of hormones who has no idea what the word patience means," eh? Sounds like a couple of our programmers.

If you have already shipped your son to us, please be advised that we will be forced to refuse delivery, and he may smell somewhat ripe by the time he gets back to you. Shipping just isn't as quick and reliable as it used to be.

so...

did you guys actually ship any infinity boxes out, or was this all just a clever bungie ruse?

macwarehouse says they won't have any till mid november. macmall says the end of november - at the earliest. no computer store in central nj has even heard of it.

i'd love to buy it. shame i can't find it.

-- James Flynn

James-

You've either gotta find some better software stores, or else get out of Jersey.

Marathon Infinity IS out, and we're shipping as many out as we can. Plenty of mail-order houses and civilized software stores have it in stock. And of course, you can order it from the Bungie Store, where it's lining the shelves.

Interested parties at Pothole Industries inquire as to the nature of your opinion on our Grand Master, Lee Marvin.

Furthermore, while we can certainly understand why more mundane things like "lacrosse" are not mentioned on the Stuff That Rocks list, we'd like to know the reason for Lee Marvin's mysterious absence.

-- fear

Fear-

Lee Marvin? Pshaw. Burt Young is The Man.

Kill! Maim! Destroy! Kill! Rip! Shoot! Burn! Rip! Maim! Kill! Destroy! Shoot! Kill! Shoot! Maim! Burn! Kill! Rip! Smash! Disintegrate! Mash! Burn! Rip! Kill! Kill! Rip! Vaporize! Torch! Smash! Spank! Tozzzt! Burn! Smile! Kill! Shoot! Burn! Maim! (8-=Adam Thorp

Adam Thorp

Adam-

You kids grow up so fast these days.

It seems that the letters to the webmaster section hasn't been updated in weeks. Have terrorists taken over your company and forced you to watch reruns of "I love Lucy"?

Or have you just been playing Marathon all day?

-- Mike Roca

Mike, and everyone else for that matter-

Yeesh! I take a little time off to go visit Ma and Pa Webmaster back in Jersey, and all of a sudden everyone's throwing a hissy fit.

But that's in the past. Like Thorin the Dwarf, I have returned. Whether I shall be slaughtered in a Battle of Five Armies remains to be seen.

Okay, so I get the new MacWorld, and I'm flippin' through it... what? HEY! what's this!?!?! It seems that Bungie ... mumble . . making new game ... all floors + ceilings + walls 3D ... *itch* ... all the people 're three-d....really cool new technol... arf...

what's about this new game you're working on, if it's true? And if you are really making this game, hows abouts a page about what it'l be, with maybe a couple beta, alpha, ...whatever, screenshots? And maybe a demo in a long while when it's near completion?

-- George Henry

George-

The magazine was no doubt referring to Weekend Warrior. Check out the link for the early screenshots you requested.

Look, Abuse rocks. I haven't been this impressed since the Marathon 1 demo. So, can I have it free?

-- Shery Safianoff

Shery-

Look, your letter was funny. I haven't laughed so hard since I started answering e-mail on this web site.

I'm not going to send you free product, but I thought you'd want to know that you really brightened my day.

Are you guys ever going to do anything other than action games? Not that there's anything wrong with them, I'm just wondering.

Also, if you were driving at the speed of light and you turned on your headlights, what would happen?

-- Ellen

Ellen-

Subscribers to Inside Mac Games magazine already know about our upcoming Virtual Reality Tic-Tac-Toe game. It's like the Xs and Os are right there in front of you. Totally immersive.

In general, all of our games combine a mixture of action and puzzles, rather than being all out blast-fests. That's probably the direction we'll continue to move in. People seem to like it.

If you were driving at the speed of light and turned on your headlights, Steven Wright would suddenly appear at the helm of a Imperial Star Destroyer and blast your cheap American car into subatomic particles for stealing his jokes.

I think you should add Lacrosse into your "Stuff That Rocks" list in the Marathon Manual. It's an awesome game that not many people know about.

Patrick "Eagle" O'Reilly

Patrick-

While we appreciate your suggestion, we like to reserve the "Stuff That Rocks" section of the manual for things we actually use and activities we actually do. None of us play lacrosse.

However, because we care about our customers, we'd like to take a little space here on our Web site to help promote lacrosse. Our good friend Patrick tells us that it's an awesome game that not many people know about, and we'd like to help him increase public awareness.

Would you like to know a little more about what lacrosse is like? Here's a fun Lacrosse experiment that YOU can do!

NOTE: Don't worry about teams or keeping score;

this is just an experiment to give you the flavor of the game.

Go find a big stick and a hard rubber ball.Get a group of friends and go to a park or similar open space.Use the stick to hit the ball. Aim for your friends.Repeat until you run out of friends.

Which quote for the assimilated BOBs does Bungie endorse:
My original belief - "hogmen of Bendore!!!"
My brother's original - "Don't mess with the Marine Corps!!!"
Or Our current consensus - "Wrong Plasma Vent Core!!!"

-- Michael Boeddiker

Michael-

We endorse "frog blast The Vent Core!" Accept no substitutions.

What exactly does frog blast the Vent Core Mean??

-- Rob

Rob-

"frog blast The Vent Core!" is actually the punchline to a really dirty joke. Those of you out there who've heard it will know why we can't print it here.

Bungietypes-

I have my nice little life history for you to enjoy.

February, 1992: Met girl (Dawn.) Said "wow" to this new acquisition.
Sometime in 1994: Saw DOOM on a PC in a department store. Said "wow."
March, 1995: Bought Mac Performa. Said "wow" to this new acquisition.
April, 1995: Bought Marathon. Played Marathon. Went into shock. Said "What's DOOM?"
December, 1995: Bought Marathon2. Lost ability to function as a contributing member of society.
December 1995-August, 1996: carnage, carnage, carnage.
August, 1996: Lost girl. She said something about addiction. I said "who's Dawn?"
Addiction Ruins Lives!

Any plans on starting a 12-step program for types like myself?

-- Shawn M Coomey

Shawn-

Sorry, we haven't started any Marathon 12-step programs for the hopelessly addicted. We WANT absolute control over your mind, remember? That's a GOOD thing.

How did you wind up becoming Bungie's web master anyway???

Trevor Tallman

Trevor-

Back in the good old days, you could just hang around a company's offices pestering people until someone finally broke down and gave you a job. Nowadays it's a little tougher, especially here in Illinois where they've enacted anti-stalking laws to prevent that kind of behavior.

Why is Forge not Pfhorge?

Morgan Catha

Morgan-

We've seen pfhar too many Pfhysics and Map pfhiles pfhilled with that "pfh" gag, and pfhrankly we pfheel it's a bit much. Everyone thinks it's pfhunny at pfhirst, but after the pfhourth or pfhifth iteration one pfhinds it pfhairly pfhormulaic.

1. In M1 I downloaded a physics model from MHNW that is a Rand-Univac rotary mini gun based on the rotary cannon found on the Cobra Attack helicopter. I changed the physics and sighted it in for O° dead on at a scale 1000yds. and upt the magazine capacity to 800 rounds per chain. This weapon makes M1 very enjoyable and much more realistic. Can models for M1 be reconfigured for M2­p;this gun would should be helpful in nearly every M2 level.

2. Also, I'd like to get one of the big purple hulks to give me a spankin'. I'll pay for it. I'd also like him to call me names using very harsh language. Is this possible?

Robert A.M. Stephens

Robert-

You can't use Anvil to convert a Marathon physics model to an M2 or Infinity physics model. However, you can open the Physics Model with one of the shareware physics editors for Marathon, copy the values for the different variables, and then manually enter those values into a new Physics Model using Anvil.

As for being spanked by a Hulk, we must regretfully inform you that we no longer offer that particular service. (Meddling cops!)

Why did you guys release Marathon 2 on the Windows 95 Platform? My friends and I feel dirty and violated.

-- Justin Taber

Justin-

We released Marathon 2 for Windows 95 because a good number of Windows 95 users were clamoring for it.

As for you and your friends feeling dirty and violated, there's not much we can do to help. The only advice I can give you is to avoid people who fantasize about being spanked by a Hulk.

I've heard the rumor mill running about the next Bungie game, and am not requesting anything about that. But I did hear about a racing game. All I will say is that a better type of racing game would be like the Atari Lynx game BattleWheels (Corny name, and a dead system, but the game was awesome). If you're unfamiliar with the game, basically it's a destruct-o derby where you customize cars with weapons and armor and all that stuff, and you kill everyone else. The best part about the game would be if it were networkable, especially with everyone running their own custom car. Oh yeah, if I'm sorta on the right track for a cool game, make sure you can jump out of the car(I love running people over=)

-- Tom

Tom-

I would happily pass your suggestions for a better racing game on to our programmers, but since we're not working on a racing game that would be kind of pointless.

We're also not working on a sequel to Pathways Into Darkness, or a knock-off of the latest flavor-of-the-week 3D game. Just so you know.

But if you want to keep believing the rumors, go right ahead. Every time Matt reads about "the new Bungie racing game" on Usenet, he gets this funny look on his face like he's having an embolism. Breaks me up every time.

Why would MacWareHouse habitually print alpha and beta pictures of Marathon and title them screenshots from Marathon 1 and/or 2?

-- Brian Smith

Brian-

It's part of their continuing campaign to drive us all insane. I guess they did a survey and found that insane people tend to spend more money or something. They probably get a lot of repeat business from people who fantasize about being spanked by computer game characters.

WhY Are U SuCh A PuNk.

-- relm420

Hey man, I may be a punk, but at least I can afford a keyboard with a working Caps Lock key.

Why are there common loons singing on the home planet of the S'pht?

-- Finn Smith

Finn-

Just to prove that no matter how far you travel in this life, even to the remotest edges of the galaxy, you will always be surrounded by common loons.

Subtle but profound, eh?

Is the sole purpose of your job to make pages that say "Infinity is really cool" and insult people who send you mail?

David Snyder

David-

What is that, some kind of trick question?

I was at Macworld Boston and loved your booth. All except for the lack of chairs. So I took it upon myself to find a nice chair and prevent Carpal Tunnel for at least myself and anyone else above 4'9". So I went and got a chair. EVERYONE at Bungie said ok to the idea of a chair. I mean oh no the kids got a chair, what harm can it bring.Well for the first day everything was fine. Then I came back the next day and saw "my" chair behind the counter and asked one of you guys if I could again use my chair. The answer was again yes, Of course. But then about 5 minutes later Pam comes along and sees that I have a chair. She then decides that the chair is blocking the isle and must be put back behind the counter. This I find to be not only an insult to my intelligence but downright rude. I mean the lines already filled up half the isle what is another half an inch anyway? It just seemed to me that she was a little rude. Maybe it is b/c I am only a teenager and we seem to have a bad rap in this world(Which of course you will dominate someday) and I don't like how some people treat us as inferiors. So Pam get a clue and everybody else keep up the good work and keep the carnage comin..

-- Nick Lamb

Nick-

I felt compelled to take up your cause, so I asked the crew that went to MacWorld Boston this year about your letter. None of them could remember telling anyone it was okay to bring chairs to the booth.

I wanted to ask Pam about it, but she was busy going through our registered user database, scribbling down addresses and muttering something about "getting rid of the stinkin' teenagers once and for all." I didn't want to pursue it.

Just between us, I think you should be glad she just put the chair behind the counter. Usually when Pam grabs a chair out of your hands it's a signal that she's about to do her Ethel-Merman-as-Lion-Tamer impression. You really don't want to be around for that. Doug almost lost an eye once.

MERV GRIFFEN!

-- Taggarts

Exactly.

I was just wondering if you could notify me when the Windows 95 Marathon 2 demo comes out.

SkaterTrash

Skater-

You can stay informed of all the news in the world of Bungie (including release notifications for games, demos and upgrade patches) by subscribing to the Bungie News mailing list. Check out this page to find out how.

I read an article in the july issue of PC Gamer about the BeBox and followed it up at http://www.be.com. I was impressed. I would like to know if you plan to write or port games for the be computer.

rayer

Some of us think the BeBox is an intriguing platform, but there are presently no definite plans to develop games for it.

I'm a professional level designer. I was wondering your position on distributing scenarios as shareware (for money). Do I have to buy a distribution packet? It doesn't do me much good if I can't sell my own creations.

-- Kris Norberg

Kris-

You can charge a shareware fee if you like, although I think the bulk of Marathon players are so used to trading maps back and forth, free of any charge, that not too many of them will pay for it.

On the other hand, it's illegal to distribute a full version of the game (app, maps, shapes and sounds), even if it is hacked or modified. Those are our creations, not yours, and we will cheerfully enforce the copyright laws if necessary.

I registered my Marathon 2 like you told me to. Did I win the Power 120?

(Actually, I am just checking up to see if you still held the drawing.)

-- Craig Doran

Craig-

Yes, we did hold our much-vaunted drawing this month. The Power120 went to Mark B. from Mokena, Illinois.

Those of you who are not named Mark B., do not despair. If you sent in your registration info, you should be in our database, and you'll be eligible for any future drawings we might hold.

I know you probably get this question a million times, but what the phrik are those !@#$ Assim. Bobs mumbling about? "frog blast event tore!"

Kris Norberg

Kris-

That's "frog blast THE vent core!" to you, buddy.

Will Marathon Infinity be like Marathon 2 in that the CD is not required to play, just that the files need to be transferred to the local HD? (I have a PowerBook 5300)

P.S. About ruling the world. I'll beat you to it.

-- Stormcrow

Stormcrow-

You won't need the Infinity CD in the drive to play. You can copy the files to your hard drive without worry.

P.S. About beating us to the complete and total domination of Planet Earth:

Fat Chance.

I am desperately seeking info on tournaments for Marathon for the upcoming MacWorld Expo in Boston. I've surfed everywhere and can't find anything...and I don't believe in phones anymore. Can you help me?

-- Kevin

Kevin-

I can't help you with your refusal to acknowledge the existence of telephones. That sort of thing requires professional help, and I'm just the Bungie Webmaster.

As far as tournaments during MacWorld Boston next week, there are none. Not that we know of anyway.

On the bright side, any tournaments that people tell us about will be advertised on the Bungie Events page.

What's goin on in da kitchen??

-- Tal Senior

Tal-

Last time I checked, Dinah was in the kitchen, along with an unidentified third party. It sounded almost like they were strumming the old banjo we keep in there.

I think I'll skip the requisite poetry and get right down to a *gasp* practical question. Will there be a port of Marathon Infinity to Win95? And will it be relatively soon after the Mac release (seeing as it's based on the M2 engine which is (almost) ported already)?

Todd Bangerter

Todd-

There are no definite plans to port the other Marathon games to Windows 95, although we will certainly try if the demand exists.

I was reading the old letters to the webmaster, and came across a reference to Harlan Ellison. Has he been a big influence on you? When I first tried a demo version of Marathon (and latter when I purchased it and M2), I couldn't get over the idea that Aliens--the second movie--served as an inspiration of sorts. I can't help but feel a bit like Sigourney Weaver or one of the Marines when I strap myself in for a bit of game play.

My other question is-- What exactly is ambient sounds? I have all the sound options turned on, so I know it works. Are the ambient sounds the sounds that give the game added "atmosphere"? (like the bird calls in the distance, that at-times annoying drip-drip-drip, and explosion in the distance?)

-- Mark Deschamps

Mark-

You're right; Aliens was definitely an influence on the Marathon games. Certainly more of an influence than Harlan Ellison, who is more of an influence on the WebMaster, truth be told. (Oddly enough, another James Cameron film - Terminator - was based on a couple of Outer Limits episodes scripted by Mr. Ellison.)

You're also right about the ambient sounds; they are the background noises, tagged to specific areas, which help to build up atmosphere in the game.

Hi Bungie I got a question for ya.

I am 15 years old and would like to know if you plan on releasing Marathon Infinity before I hit 90 and my pubic hair turns gray and falls out?

-- Ray Wakefield

Ray-

The bad news is that yes, we are waiting until all of your pubic hair falls out before releasing Marathon Infinity.

The good news is that this will happen much sooner than you think.

WHERE'S MARATHON INFINITY!! I WANT THE GAME NOW!!! IF I DON'T GET IT IN THE NEXT 24 HOURS MY HEAD WILL EXPLODE!!!!!!!!

-- Damon Holmes

Dear Friends-

We received young Damon's letter last week. It galvanized the entire office. Artists, programmers, level designers, beta testers and marketing masters dropped all their other projects and came together as one incredible creative machine and pulled a frantic all-nighter, trying desperately to get Marathon Infinity into the hands of our Canadian friend before the unthinkable happened.

Sadly, we failed. A call to Damon's domicile the next morning confirmed our worst fears: Damon's head had exploded. We spoke briefly with Damon's mother, who informed us that our efforts, though valiant, were too little, too late.

Bungie Headquarters was quiet that day. I suppose we were all wondering the same thing: whether we could have saved young Damon's life had we worked just a little harder. Those kind of thoughts lead to depression and inertia, however, and we couldn't afford to let ourselves sink in the quicksand of despair. To take our minds off the tragedy, we started up a net game with a beta of Marathon Infinity.

The hours that followed were among the most pleasant we have ever spent at the office. We reveled in the carnage of a Marathon net game, shrieking with glee when someone shot yet another SPNKR missile at Matt's feet and sent him careening across the arena, giggling madly as we bifurcated Jay's spine with SMG projectiles. Slowly, we all came to realize that Damon's death was not in vain, because it had brought us all together for the common goal of getting Infinity out as soon as possible, and though we hadn't quite achieved that goal, we were closer to it now than we had been twenty-four hours earlier. We vowed to keep Damon's dream alive, and we're still working late into the night, every night, to make sure the world will not be without Marathon Infinity much longer.

If you'd like to mark Damon's passing with quiet dignity, may we humbly suggest that you eschew the tired cliches of flowers and Hallmark cards. Rather, you can remember Damon by purchasing a copy of Marathon Infinity, and playing it until carpal tunnel syndrome shrivels your hands into useless gobs of flesh and bone dangling at the ends of your arms.

Damon would have wanted it that way.

I noticed that the gore was toned way down in M2, i.e., smaller corpses and less mess on hard deaths. Was this just done to give the game classier look, or was it the result of complaints about the violence in Marathon 1? I don't consider myself a sadist, but I kind of liked watching Bob's Intestines oozing out all over the floor. Maybe you should consider an adjustable bloodiness rate next time?

-- Richard Henzel

Richard-

It certainly wasn't a matter of toning down blood and guts due to customer complaints (as Doug Zartman's recent Soapbox article should make clear). There was no conscious effort to get rid of the gore; if anything, people have commented that deaths in Marathon 2 are bloodier.

1. What font do you use in the Manuals for Marathon I & II?

2. Do you know where (or from which kind of shops) I can get hold of the Bungie T-Shirts?

-- Kim Foo-Jones

Kim-

The font in the Marathon manuals is BankGothic.

You can get hold of Bungie t-shirts from the Bungie Store.

"If you give a man a fusion pistol you protect him for a day. But if you teach him how to make his OWN fusion pistol, and put a shield regenerator next to an ammo stash, you defend him for at least two levels."

Still, I'd rather get Mrs. Paul's than go out and catch my own fish.

-- John Bryan

John-

And they say poetry is dead.

Ok, what is that floating skull thing we see in one of the infinity screen shots? is it a new creature, a weapon, scenery or is it just there for the fun of it??

-- Rob Kottmeier

Rob-

The skull is...a skull.

It's there because the screenshot was taken from a 'Kill The Man With The Ball' net game, which is sort of a cross between Hot Potato, Dodgeball, and the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. In the Marathon universe, sporting-goods stores are few and far between, so it's a bit easier to play using a human skull. Pragmatism in action.

You said:

Power of Seven is doing the theme song for Marathon Infinity.

What style of music is this?

-- John White

John-

It's somewhat along the lines of Yanni, with a bit of John Tesh thrown in. Lots of strings. It's got a sort of rhumba/salsa tempo, and the "Infinity...CHA CHA CHA" chorus is the catchiest thing you'll ever hear.

Just kidding. What style do you think it is? It's that hard-rock/techno/industrial blend that they demonstrated to great effect in the Marathon 2 theme song.

Hidden on the Marathon 1 CD-ROM, I found pre-release alpha/beta versions of Marathon (one prototype was based on the Pathways engine). Was that intentional?

-- Michael Barter

Michael-

Yes it was. We thought some people might be interested in seeing how the game evolved, so we put those on the CD as an added easter egg.

Just to let you know, there is an error in the URL in the Bungie Store that takes you to fill out an order. As is, it is 'http://store.bungie.com2.shtml'. I don't think there should be an 's' on the end of 'http'.

-- Ramsey Lubbat

Ramsey-

The "https" is intentional; in fact, it is necessary. The link takes you to our secure Web server, which uses SSL-encryption to allow safe transmission of private data like credit card numbers via the Internet. Without the "s" at the end, the link goes nowhere.

I have a question for you. Though I'm not sure if you can answer it or even if you're the right person to ask. Can you give me a lists of all the cheat codes for Marathon and Marathon 2 Durandal? Or can you tell me where to find such a list?

Neil Holyoak

Neil-

Sure thing. Here is a complete list of all the cheat codes in Marathon and Marathon 2:

Feel free to repost these codes to any newsgroup or Web site.

I know it might be a bit late to code this but you should look into putting something higher than Total Carnage in Marathon Infinity, say,"Death to Ye All!" (I know but TC does get boring after a while even, with just a pistol :-)

-- Kyjel Shaytolmae

Not a bad idea. We'll set it up so that every level is completely flooded with lava, and every few seconds a random floor polygon in whatever room you happen to be in will slam into the ceiling with lethal force. And all the aliens will fire juggernaut ordinance.

You're right, I think we do need to add this. :)

When/where is the next Marathon tournament going to be held? Will you be holding one at Macworld Expo in Boston, and if so, what do I do to get in? Will there be team games where I can bring my friends and crush other groups?

Plus, what happens if you make a perfect clone of yourself and then kill the clone? Is it murder or suicide?

-- Patrick Hearon

Patrick-

We're probably not going to be holding a tournament at next month's MacWorld Boston show. We'll be showing several new products, and it just doesn't make much sense to dedicate all six of our machines to one game.

If you make a clone of yourself and then kill it, it's neither murder nor suicide; it's just fantastically stupid.

Will the Bobs (any Bobs) in Infinity make a different sound if you shoot them it the buttocks instead of anywhere else?

-- Steve

Steve-

Ya know, there's such a thing as being too realistic.

However, if you feel this sort of distinction is really important, come down to the office sometime. We'll fire a magnum into your buttocks and see what kind of "different sounds" you make.

When will you have the Marathon Infinity demo? Also, what is the Bungie 1-800 number?

-- Jared

Jared-

We'll post the demo as soon as it's done. Our toll-free number is 1-800-295-0060. This number is for orders only; if you want technical support, you need to call our office at (312) 563-6200.

Sorry to bother you with such trivial matters, but I haven't found an answer anywhere else...

Is Marathon 2 available on disk? By disk I mean simple, archaic 1.44 MB not-so-floppy? (OK, OK... I haven't entered the CD-ROM age yet.) Anyway, I'll order the thing if it is.

The Marathon series is by far the best-engineered buncha games I've run across. Good work! (Your WWW pages aren't so shabby, either...) Viva la Mac!

-- Michael Thompson Isaac

Michael-

Unfortunately, Marathon 2 isn't available on diskette. To put it on diskettes would mean either severely crippling the game, or else figuring out a way to stuff twenty-odd diskettes into the slim, oddly-shaped Marathon 2 box. Neither of these options is acceptable to us.

Remember that you don't need a CD-ROM to play Marathon 2. If you can get the game onto your hard drive through some other method (copying it via a ZIP disk or over a network connection), you can play the game just fine.

Whose doing the theme for M3? What was that snake like thing in the M1 Manual that had 3 eyes in a row? Looks cool is it perhaps a Jjaro guardian?

-- Kyjel Shaytolmae

Kyjel-

Power of Seven is doing the theme song for Marathon Infinity.

The "snake-like thing" was known as a hound.

Several questions for you.

Firstly, what other mac games do you play at Bungie? Do you go for other arcade games, or for less carnage-intensive games such as Myst?

Second, what do you think of the various independent Marathon scenarios (Devil In A Blue Dress, Operation Tantalus etc) currently available?

And last, will your future games be sticking with the first-person if-it-moves-liquidise-it idea, or will you be doing strategy, adventure or something else next?

-- Nick Bousfields

Nick-

To answer your questions in the order asked:

1) What other Mac games? :)

Seriously, we play just about everything. We don't limit ourselves to a single genre.

2) We think independent scenarios for Marathon are cool. We hope that the release of Forge and Anvil will open the floodgates for several more third-party scenarios.

3) Without getting too specific, I think it's safe to say that Bungie won't be limiting its efforts to any single genre, first-person shoot-em-up or otherwise.

Hey,

I was wondering how you guys do the graphics for your games... Are those created beforehand or are they created on-the-fly using toolbox calls?

-- David Ritter

David-

The short answer is: the graphics are created beforehand.

Do you guys have a tech support e-mail address?

-- Mark Conahan

Mark-

Indeed we do. It's support@bungie.com.

I was just floating around the web and decided to look at the new Infinity screen shots. I have a question: any plans for releasing M2, or anything at all, for the Sony Playstation?

-- Michael E. Gaines

Mike-

The PlayStation is indeed really cool. We're investigating the possibility of publishing on it, but right now we don't have anything definite to say about it. If we do decide to bring our games to other platforms, you'll hear it here first.

On the Marathon 2 CD there are two songs the Marathon theme song and the Bob Jingle Bells. Are there any songs on the Marathon 1 CD, and will there be any songs on the Marathon Infinity CD?

-- Tilton (a Marathon Junkie)

Tilton-

The first Marathon CD does contain the background music heard during the game. We haven't burned the Marathon Infinity CDs yet (because it's not done, natch), but I wouldn't be surprised if some sort of audio goodie made its way on there.

Is the Marathon Infinity going to be the last Marathon?

-- Brian Towne

Brian-

Infinity will certainly be the last Marathon game we'll do in the forseeable future. It's meant to fill in some of the holes left in the first two games. After Infinity is done, we have a few other projects lined up. :) That's not to say that there will never be another Marathon game under any circumstances, but there are a few other things we want to do, and we don't want to beat the whole Marathon thing into the ground.

Why do you guys always pick on Matt?

-- Jeff Cedeno

Jeff-

Because he's an easy target.

Your web site is really cool, do you use BBEdit? Or do you use something else, like PageMill or HotMetal? You should add some JavaScript or cgi stuff, that would make it cooler...

-- Sam Miller

Sam-

We do use BBEdit for the bulk of the work on this site. Presently, most of the WYSIWYG HTML editors aren't good for much except quick and dirty mock-ups of pages (at least in this webmaster's opinion).

We're working on some CGIs which should make this site a bit more interesting. Keep your eyes peeled.

How do you guys manage to kick so much ass, and make games that kick so much ass at the same time?

-- Ray Wakefield

Ray-

Bungie Software Products Corporation was founded to chew bubblegum and kick ass. Tragically, we ran out of bubblegum. I guess you could say we're dedicated individuals.

So, If you gave Yoda a bong would he grow long hair?!?! I have been pondering this question all day. Another Question.... do you guys ever come on the IRC???

-- Jason Favor

Jason-

Remember: winners don't use drugs. They use The Force.

We do show up on IRC from time to time; generally, we're too busy working to chat idly. There is an interesting cadre of people on #marathon, and we wish we could hang out there more often.

When is Bungie going to take over the world?

-- Mike Roca, Jr.

Mike-

Well if we just came right out and TOLD everyone, it wouldn't be a surprise, would it?!

Just think of us as your Big Brother.

Do you have any games that will run on a 68030?

C-- hristian Carlson

Christian-

Technically, all our games will run on '030 processors; they just may not run as fast as you'd like them to.

Pathways Into Darkness runs well on '030s. Marathon and Marathon 2 do as well, although they are much more processor-intensive games and are best experienced on an '040 or Power Macintosh.

Hey,

Does Bungie plan to include QD3D support with any future release of Marathon 2 or Infinity? You've always supported new technologies, and this one would make marathon REALLY fun.

-- Mike McHargue

Mike-

QuickDraw 3D is a way-cool technology, and while it won't be a part of Marathon Infinity, we're looking into using it in future titles.

Will the PC version of Marathon 2 run as well and look as good on a PC as it would on a equally fast Mac?

-- Reehex

Reehex-

Yes. We're trying to make the two versions indistinguishable from one another, and so far it looks like we're succeeding.

Dear sirs,

I have been playing Marathon 2 for some time on a PowerMac 7100/80. I'm looking for a video card that would aid in faster play with mor colors and details. Any advisement you could give me would be greatly appreciated. I am currently looking at a Thunder IV GX.

-- Philip Speller

Philip-

Unfortunately, most video cards don't offer Marathon players any kind of performance increase. Because Marathon is designed to take advantage of the Mac's on-board video, it won't work at all when used with some third-party video cards. The best advice I can give in such cases is to invest in a cache card, which will speed up your computer's performance in general (although it won't be a night-and-day difference). Although since the 7100/80 comes with a cache card, this wouldn't do you any good. In a situation like that, the only real option is to buy a faster Mac.

I am not sure where to go to get this answer, not even sure if you are the person to talk to. However, I cannot get the "background music" to work on Marathon. It is running on a Macintosh 6300 CD with a 1.2gb harddrive, 16MB of Ram and a 100Mhz processor. Any ideas??

-- Kris Andersen

Kris-

To hear Marathon's soundtrack, you'll need the following three extensions:

SoundManager3.0
QuickTime 2.0
QuickTime Musical Instruments

If you are missing any of these (QuickTime Musical Instruments is notoriously hard to find), you can find them on:

--Apple's System 7.5 CD-ROM
--Any issue of the Inside Mac Games CD-ROM
--Various online services and ftp sites (try ftp.info.apple.com or ftp.support.apple.com)

You could also bring a floppy or two down to your friendly neighborhood Apple dealer and ask him/her to copy the files you need. Most will do it free of charge.

Once you have the requisite extensions installed in your Extensions folder, click once on the Marathon application to highlight it, then select Get Info from the File menu at the top of the screen. At the bottom of the window that pops up is a box titled "Memory Requirements." Change Marathon's Preferred Memory Size to 5000K or so. (Certain systems may require a bit more, but 5000 usually works.)

The Background Music option should now be enabled in Marathon's Preferences Menu.

I would like to know if you guys at Bungie have available merchandise like hats, shirts and stuff.

-- Paul Ford

Paul-

We do have t-shirts. We're in the middle of changing the way orders are taken on this site; expect the online debut of the Bungie Store in short order, which will include t-shirts, hint books and other doo-dads as well as all our games.

In the meantime, you can find out about the different styles of t-shirts we sell by calling our Sales line, toll free: 1-800-295-0060.

1) Will there be a Marathon theme (a song like the one for Marathon 2) for Marathon Infinity?
2) Will there be any background music during the levels?
3) Who did the music for the Marathon 2's theme?
4) What is being said in the background of the Marathon song? It sounds a bit like a launch sequence or something.

-- Jared Falvo

Jared-

1) Yes, there will be a Marathon Infinity theme song. It's done already. It's cool.
2) There won't be any background music during the levels. We'll stick with ambient sounds.
3) The music was composed by a group called Power of Seven.
4) The only word in the Marathon 2 theme is "Marathon."

Hey there,

I have been a fan of the Marathon games ever since my first netting session with my cousin Dana. I have gotten totally hooked on the games and wanted to know if there was any way shape or form to become more involved with the Marathon series, whether it be beta testing or whatever. If there is any way it would be possible to become a beta tester how would I go about doing that.

I have also pondered for some time now, about how does one get involved with a company like Bungie? Upon graduating from college does one just apply to a gaming software company in high hopes that one will become a Mac gaming guru and work on project as incredibly awsome and successful as the Marathon series???

Your loyal fan and Marathon guru,

-- John Wilson

John-

You can fill out an application to become a Bungie Beta Tester right here on this Web site. Remember: many are called, but few are chosen.

As for your second question, it's hard to give a pat answer. In many ways, getting into the entertainment software industry is a matter of luck: knowing the right people, being in the right place at the right time. But when all is said and done, it's like any other job: you see the Help Wanted ad in the paper and apply, and if you're right for the job, you're hired. If you'd rather be your own boss, you write your own software and start your own company. Bungie was founded by a couple of guys who thought they'd be better off working for themselves rather than slaving away in the coding dungeons of some monolithic corporation. Only five years down the road, they've proven themselves correct.

Okay, two questions:

First, is there now or will there soon be a demo of Marathon Infinity for the Macintosh?

Secondly, are they called "Vacuum Bobs" because they suck?

-- Jeff A. Harrell

Jeff-

There will soon be a demo of Marathon Infinity.

They are called Vacuum Bobs because they're equipped for airless environments. Or is it because their little heads are completely empty? It's hard to tell sometimes....

I got a question for ya:

If you put a slinky on an escalator, would it go forever?

-- Frank Caratozzolo

Frank-

A fascinating proposition. For the betterment of all humanity, I hereby direct you to proceed to the nearest shopping mall and place Slinkies on all the escalators. If at all possible, place multiple Slinkies on each escalator; an armada of ten or twenty should suffice. Monitor their movements closely. If Mall Security threatens you, tell them you're doing important research for a new Marathon Physics Model. Don't let them push you around, either. We can't let The Man hold us down forever.

All the world thanks you, little warlord.

What kind of font do You use for the Marathon logo?

-- adrian

That would be Modula Tall.

Hey, y'know the graphics in M2... did you make them by pixel- clicking in Photoshop, or rendering in Studio Pro, or what? I always wanted to know that!

-- Richard C. Henry

Richard-

It was a combination of Photoshop and StudioPro, as well as a few custom apps we wrote ourselves.

Is there a way a registered customer can purchase additional network serial numbers without buying the whole game again? If so, how should I go about doing this? Love the game... just need more people on the network to kill!

-- Robert Wright

Robert-

You can buy additional network-only serial numbers from us directly. Marathon numbers are $14; Marathon 2 numbers are $15. You can call our Salespeople at (800) 295-0060 to order.

You stated that there is a wave motion cannon in Marathon II as an idea that wasn't put in the game, is there a way I can put it in the game?

-- John G. Doak

John-

Since the artwork, physics and various other details of the Wave Motion Cannon were never fully completed, there's no way to put one into the game.

What exactly WERE the Wave Cannon and Armageddon Beast supposed to do?

-- Matt

Matt-

The Wave Motion Cannon was supposed to help you kill things. The Armageddon Beast was a Thing that was supposed to kill you....

Hi I am going to be at MacWorld 96' Boston and I would like to know if you (Bungie) are going to have a Marathon Mayhem Tournament like you did in California?

-- Alex King

Alex-

Right now we don't have a tournament planned for the MacWorld show or anywhere else. If that changes, you'll be able to find out on the Bungie Events page.

COMING SOON: Detailed info on Marathon net games and tournaments in your neck of the woods.

Could anyone tell me if there is a demo version of ABUSE? It sounds like fun, but I want to try it first.

-- Brian Cameron

Brian-

There's no Abuse demo yet, although one is in the works. We'll put it on this site as soon as its done.

A long time ago, in a news group far away, Matt mentioned something about the possibility of Marathon coming out for "next generation systems like the Sony Playstation" (not a direct quote). Is this idea still being kicked around or has it been dropped. Just curious.

-- Michael Welsh

Mike-

It's still being kicked around. If there are any new developments on that front, you'll read about it here first.

Now if only Matt would stop posting to the newsgroups....

What ever happened to WebChat? I really liked it, and I'm sad to see it's gone!

-- Mark and Luke

Mark and Luke-

We're working on a better alternative, which will hopefully make its debut appearance on this site in short order. Keep an eye on us.

Can I get Marathon 2 on 3.5" disks, or can I get it only on CD-Rom?

-- Matthew Davidson

Matt-

Unfortunately, Marathon 2 does not exist on any format other than CD-ROM. To ship the game on floppies, we would either have to cripple the game severely or figure out a way to pack thirty-odd floppies into the Marathon 2 box. Neither of these sounded acceptable to us, so we bit the bullet and made M2 a CD-only game.

You can still play the game on machines without CD-ROMs; just borrow a CD-ROM drive or set up a network connection to a machine that has one, and copy the Marathon 2 file to your hard drive.

Hi! I'm a devoted Bungie fan, and I've been wondering, why are the Bungie web pages black? Is it in protest of the Internet Censorship Act, or just because it looks cool?

-- Bob

Bob-

We did it mainly because it looks cool, although we firmly believe that any attempts to regulate freedom of speech on the Internet will cause more problems than they solve.

I was screwing around with Apple Audio CD Player, and noticed Marathon 2 had two tracks. I played the first, it was the theme song to M2. I played the second, it was what seemed to be Jingle Bobs. Why is that in there?

-- Shamu

Shamu-

Because the Windy City Bob Chorus just loves to get into the holiday spirit.

I'm sure that I am not the first person to ask you, but I was wondering if you could give me a bit of information about the release of Marathon Infinity. If I call the 1-800 # for bungie, will I be able to place an order, and they will send it as soon as it is available?

-- Andy Bradfield

Andy-

In a word, yes. Our sales people will be happy to take your name and phone number now, and contact you when the game is released.

Will Marathon 1 and 2 be playable on the Pippin? Will you be releasing Pippin-compatible versions of your games?

-- Satirist

Satirist-

They won't be playable right out of the box, but creating a Pippin version won't be too hard. We are talking to the Pippin people about this right now.

You [EXPLETIVE DELETED] [EXPLETIVE DELETED]s have gone and done it now. You said you wouldn't create Marathon for PC. [EXPLETIVE DELETED] liars! What have I to hold above the PC gamer's heads now, huh you [EXPLETIVE DELETED]s?!?!

[EXPLETIVE DELETED] [EXPLETIVE DELETED][EXPLETIVE DELETED] [EXPLETIVE DELETED] [EXPLETIVE DELETED] [EXPLETIVE DELETED]!!!! BURN IN Hell [EXPLETIVE DELETED]!!!!!!!!

You know, I was actaully gonna buy the Marathon/Marathon2 Bundle. But not now! You [EXPLETIVE DELETED]s ain't getting any of my money. I'll [EXPLETIVE DELETED] use a copy from a friend.

You're gonna die, [EXPLETIVE DELETED]! I'm comin' outta the booth!

have fun in [EXPLETIVE DELETED] [EXPLETIVE DELETED] with Satan and his 11 foot [EXPLETIVE DELETED] up your [EXPLETIVE DELETED] [EXPLETIVE DELETED]!

-- muaddib

All I have to say is it's too bad this site has so many younger viewers; otherwise I'd have left all the cuss words in and everyone could see how silly you sound. Alas.

Looking forward to infinity! i have one question. How stable is the Map editor going to be? All the current shareware editors are VERY finnicky and unstable. Load MarathonX-Crash, Load MarathonX-crash, repeat until no crashes.

-- Darin Hughes

Darin-

That's why we're releasing ours. :)

This is probably a stupid queston, but do you guys need any beta testers for Marathon Infinity?

Jason Brizzi

Jason-

We're still accepting applications for our expanding beta-tester list. Send a message to beta_testers@bungie.com and you'll get on the waiting list.

I have a questions about your game development. I saw a couple references to Metrowerks and C/C++, so I'm guessing that you code in C (with CodeWarrior) with a sprinkling of assembler for the slicker graphics stuff. Is this correct?

Bryan Horling

Bryan-

You're mostly right; we do use assembly for the speed-intensive graphic stuff, but the C code is written in Macintosh Programmer's Workshop. Having CodeWarrior around has definitely helped, though.

Hi Bungie.

I have a list of great general questions for the greatest sw company of all.

1. Why is there no sights patch for M2 as there was for M1?
2. WHAT EXACTLY will "The Patch for M2" actually do?
3. Will M2 Maps be compatible with Marathon Infinity? If not, will the editor open/convert them?
4. Whos the Greg Bear Fan? (Forge of God, Anvil of Stars?)
5. Do you get much work done with the Program running in the office?
6. Who do you like shooting best?
7. Will the graphics performance improve again in Infinity or just be different?
8. Will there be a TANK in Marathon Infinity? If yes, will it have laser sighting and auto target aquisition?
9. Will there be any new weapons?
10. Should I buy a new set of underpants, just incase, before I get M-Infinity?

Peer Schmitz

Peer-

Yowza. Okay, here goes:

1. Because no one's written a sight patch yet.
2. The patch will fix bugs. It won't add any features.
3. Yes.
4. The tools were named Forge and Anvil because those are fairly accurate descriptions of their functions. None of us have any particular affinity for Greg Bear. Harlan Ellison rules, though.
5. We get tons of work done...but then, we play net games for a living. :)
6. We don't have a preference. One body sailing across the Thunderdome is just as good as another.
7. Graphics performance will remain essentially the same, since it already pushes the limits of the engine.
8. No tanks in Marathon Infinity.
9. We're still not sure whether Infinity will have any new weapons.
10. We leave the underpants issue to your personal discretion.

Will Bungie be at COMDEX in Chicago June 3rd?

-- AK

We've got a rather hectic schedule already, and I'm not sure we'll be able to make COMDEX. You'll always be able to find out what trade shows we're attending on the Bungie Events page.

I was looking through one of the files in Marathon 2 with Norton Disk Editor and I found what seems to be a list of all the weapons. Included were the fist, pistol, shotgun, ma-75b, rocket launcher, alien weapon, napalm unit, and wave cannon. Whats a wave cannon, and why havent I see any in home or network play?

-- Jonas Meyer

Jonas-

The Wave Motion Cannon was a weapon idea we toyed with in the first Marathon. It, like the Armageddon Beast, was never fully realized

Bungie,what the deal with those alien ship textures in Marathon 2? Is it some kind of joke or did you guys just have a 70's flashback?

-- Ty Klein

Ty-

So you're saying you don't think Durandal has good taste?

He is rampant, you know....

Who did the graffiti-esque illustrations for your web page? Is there some sort of higher order to them that my puny mind is unable to comprehend?

-- Matt Segur

Matt-

The art was provided by Bungie's crack art team.

As for a higher order, I'm not at liberty to say. But if you were to save the image of Ling-Ling's Head, BinHex it five times and open up the resulting file with HexEdit, who knows what sort of secret message you might find?

Am I the only person to get scared playing Marathon 2 on Lh'owon?

-- Kris Hauser

Kris-

Nope. :)

When I bought Marathon 2 I saw that it said it required a 68040 or higher processor to run. It was fine with me because I had a PowerMac, but I decided to test it on my LCIII (25 MHz 68030) anyways. It worked! Very slowly - I could only get smooth play if I really dumbed it down, but it ran and could probably be useful on a network game. Now, I have no accelerators, but I do have a 68882 math co-processor, but unless you made provisions for a co-processor that would be added to a 68030 machine (which would be strange on a game that did bot support that processor) it would not have much of an effect. So, are you lying to us just so no one would be dissapointed in the speed on a 68030, or is their some kind of conflict that I was lucky enough to avoid.

-- Bob Zwaska

Bob-

While Marathon 2 will run on '030 processors, we felt that the game suffered on machines without the power of an '040 or higher processor. You can play M2 on a slow machine, but we can't guarantee that it will be as much fun as playing on a Power Mac.

When will we see a patch for Marathon 2?

-- Sam Exe

Sam-

As soon as it's done. When the programmers finish with it, it'll go up on this Web site.

Bungie could you tell me if in Marathon are you, the player, the 10th military Mjolnir Mark IV cyborg?

-- Alex James Blakesley

Alex-

Ah, but we already have. ;)

I defer now to the independent authority on the subject.

Hey there, I know that your Map Editor is included with the new Marathon Infinty, but will it be avaiable (as freeware or shareware) to those of uswho have already spent all our money on Bungie stuff? From your description of it, it seems really cool.

-- G,

What Up, G-

Right now, the plan is simply to release Forge as a commercial product (ie as a part of the Marathon Infinity package). There are no plans to release the editor by itself as a shareware or freeware application.

What app(or apps) did you use to create your graphics(sprites and textures) in MI & MII?

-- SHall15448

We mainly used Photoshop and Strata StudioPro, as well as a few in-house tools.

Will there ever be a Pathways Into Darkness 2?

-- Nick Bousfield

Nick-

We probably won't ever do a sequel to Pathways; we have far more interesting things in the works. Stay tuned.

Are there any plans for a Marathon comic book or even a movie. The plot is cetainly good enough!

-- Peter Marks

Peter-

We've been approached by a number of different people in the entertainment industry who are interested in buying the rights to the Marathon storyline. So far, none of them have given us the impression that they could do a good job. We wouldn't want the final product to be anything less than amazing, so unless we find the right people (are you listening, James Cameron?) you probably won't see a Marathon movie anytime soon.

When is Marathon 2 for Windows 95 coming out? Are there any release dates???

-- Martin

Martin-

We're pretty wary of giving out release dates for upcoming products. Once a date is set, all of nature conspires against us in a frenzied effort to delay the product. If a game isn't out when we said it would be, we get a lot of unpleasant e-mail. We don't like unpleasant e-mail, so we don't give out release dates any more. 'Nuff said.

Once the game is done and at the duplicators, we'll probably announce a release date. What this means is that we probably won't announce a release date until just a few weeks before the product appears.

Any and all updates will appear first on the Bungie Events page.

For network games does each player need to buy their own copy of M2 or can I show off the game to my friends with my copy alone using appletalk?

-- Alan Davis

Alan-

Each copy of Marathon (and M2) comes with two different serial numbers: a full-version number and a network-only serial number. If you install the full serial number, you can play the single-player scenarios as well as the network game. The network-only serial number, as you might have guessed, only allows you to participate in network games.

What this means is that you can set up a two-player net game (via AppleTalk) right out of the box by installing the full serial number on your copy of the game and giving thenetwork serial number to a friend. If that friend wants to play the single-player scenario, he or she would need to buy a separate copy, but net play shouldn't be a problem.

Why can't you switch views during movie replays and is this going to be fixed? It's damn annoying that you can't because I love watching the guy I slaughtered.

-- Guy_Fitzgerald

Guy-

We're working on this one; it'll be fixed in the update patch for M2.

Can I buy stock in Bungie?

-- Matt Jones

Matt-

Currently Bungie is a privately-held company, which means that no stock is available. If that ever changes, you'll see it here.

Do you bungie jump a lot?

-- dratclif

No, although a few of us have jumped out of planes once or twice.

Does Marathon 2 not have any music besides the opener?

-- Michael Long

Michael-

You're right; apart from the opening track, there's no music in Marathon 2. We thought ambient sounds would be much cooler.

That was easy enough. Let's try another one.

Did you write Mara II in CodeWarrior or in Symantec C?

-- Valery Golovko

Valery-

Neither. We used MPW C, which can be purchased directly from Apple. Certain processor-hungry functions were written in assembly language to achieve maximum speed.

Say, Bungie, that "Minotaur" games sure looks cool. You say it's "out of print, for now!". Does that mean we're going to see some cool sequel or update to it? If so, I'd buy it! (Yeah, like all I need is another Bungie game...)

-- Ian J. Ball

Ian-

All I can say at this point is that Minotaur will probably not be out of print forever. Check this page for further updates.

Just how many units of Marathon and Marathon II have been sold to date?

How many network serial numbers? How much money has Bungie made as a result of Marathon games? Just curious.

-- Chris Cooper

Chris-

We don't give out detailed sales information; suffice it to say that Bungie's games have done well enough to turn a two-man basement operation into a full-time business that occupies an entire floor of a Chicago office building. And we're only getting bigger. :)

Okay I know there are codes for Marathon2 but I can't figure any out -except for the any level thing- So what I want to know is would you please tell me the codes.... its not like I haven't beat the game its just that with codes I can more easily check out my maps that I make..

-- Sean Raymond

Sean-

For whatever reason, this question refuses to die. But I'll answer it again because I'm a nice person.

There are no codes in Marathon or Marathon 2. No codes. No invincibility, no infinite ammo, no 'God mode.' No codes at all.

The level select function doesn't really count as a code; it's more of an undocumented feature. But there are no codes in the traditional sense of cute words you type in to get loads of goodies.

So, this page I found says, "General questions will be given a higher priority than specififc ones." The written text continues to state that a question concerning a possible job at Bungie is better than one concerning a Mac Plus not running Marathon...So that's my question. As an aspiring high school student beginning to look at colleges, what kind of courses/job training should I look for?

-- Michael Dawe

Michael-

While there are no hard and fast guidelines to follow for getting a job in the software industry, you should keep in mind that what you can do is more important than who you know or what school you went to. The games you've written, or art you've created, will be a much more accurate reflection of talent than words on a resume.

The founders of Bungie Software majored in Math and Classical Literature. Programming games was a labor of love, not something they studied in school. It is because of their personal devotion that Bungie has become the success it is today. Determination is probably the most important asset you can have; everything else follows naturally.

How could a person, like myself, get a job testing new games for Bungie?

-- Luke Pauls

Luke-

Until recently, all beta-testing was handled in-house. We're in the middle of expanding the beta program, and we'll be looking for more testers soon.

Interested individuals can submit their names for consideration by sending an email to beta_testers@bungie.com. Include your full name, address, and phone number, as well as any specific qualifications you might have.

Remember, you're only submitting your name; there's no guarantee we'll call you. But you'll have a much better chance of being a Bungie beta-tester than people who don't apply.

Who is Ling Ling?

-- DURANDAL23

We get this question a lot.