Hey guys. Guess what? Bungie is a buzzing hive of activity these days. Development continues apace on our next project! What does that mean? That means a lot, actually. And we’re still not saying what that project actually is, other than that it’s a video game. But there’s a progress measure anyone can understand.

Anyway, I sort of miss the halcyon days of concepting - the phase of development where you come up with all your ideas, for gameplay, story, location, planning, technology, tools and so on. Because back then, it was all just “Hey you know what would be sweet? If you could do this thing with that thing to make that other thing explode.”

But in development proper, it’s work, work, work. Hard, practical work with results. Simplified, that means building locations, graphics, objects – programming working code, and enduring the long-haul process of putting together the game we designed.

The cool thing of course, is that we are very much in the world of HD flat panels alive with color and surprises. I can walk by a monitor now and see hard results. Animation. Lighting. Crazy new shader effects. Technical possibilities that boggle the mind. Occasionally, I will hear world-shaking noises coming from Marty’s studio.

I just saw something on a character designer’s screen that made me pee, just a little. And then in a team meeting, something that might make you poo, just a little.

Lots of things will change from now on. Things will go wrong. Stuff will break. Ideas will be tossed out and replaced with new better ones. Hot new technologies will show up just when we thought we had the cutting edge version of something, but one thing is absolutely certain: Noguchi’s desk will accumulate so much matter (read: garbage) that it will cause warping in the space time continuum, and possibly damage our physics modeling. See Fig 1.

Fig 1 . Noguchi’s desk in relation to other gravitational forces.

Noguchi’s desk accretion disk is the best possible measure of progress. Right now, it’s already starting to collapse under its own mass. Things are still changing on the game. We’ll probably change some subtle story parameters. We’ll probably add new features. But with all the raw materials we need to put our next project together, you can almost hear the clanking and hammering.

I think we have something that everyone is excited about – a great story, tools for artists and engineers to work with – great ideas for designers to implement, stunning new technology – and I think it’s going to be something truly great. Many, many moons from now, you can tell me if I was right or not.

What is it you ask? What is this “next project” that Frankie keeps teasing us with? Oh, if I only had a shiny doubloon and a fur coat for every time someone asked me that, I’d be able to buy myself a new jewel-handled walking cane and a platinum eyepatch.

Because that’s how I roll, son.

So things are progressing nicely in the studio. Marty promises a swift resolution to the Halo 2 Soundtrack Vol. 2 delay, and we’ll bring you more news about that the second we’re able. Most of the hurdles regarding the Halo 2 Soundtrack, Vol.2 have been resolved, and if we all cross all of our fingers simultaneously and grit our teefs, it may be available early next year. Marty promises to reveal a track list very shortly too. Trivia: Did you know that yours truly came up with the track names for Vols 1 & 2? Well, with Marty’s assistance.

Also, in light of the recent cancellations of the Video Games Live concert, we’d just like to point out that we’re STILL going to the Seattle one, and in some force. Keep an eye out for us there if you’re going. There may even be a couple of us at the Vancouver one.

So Doug, one of our test-supremos got in a huge stack of finished retail Xbox360s for his department. Having nothing better to do with them, he loaded up some Xbox Live Arcade stuff. Yesterday, a crowd gathered around his desk like one around a recently arrived meteor. That analogy is apt, because the crowd was rapt by Geometry Wars 2. An old-school shooter – think a cross between Asteroids and Robotron. It’s the follow up to the mini-game hidden in Project Gotham 2 (for the original Xbox), and it is an ENORMOUS time suck. It’s like a Fireworks display

It’s only a matter of time before they take these boxes away from us.

Jeremiah is working on TWO important new Playlist updates. You can read about them on our forums , but a quick digest is this:

Insane Team playlist. This one is just for fun – basically team rules, but insane variations, like plasma pistol only beatdown festivals on Lockout. Or all-invisible sniping on Backwash. You get the idea. Jeremiah is looking for a name for that one. I can see the hardcore players seething about this right now, but it’s not ranked, so it should be fun for folks like me – that is to say easily distracted spazzes.

The other one will be a little more surgical. Single weapons on map. All shotguns, all swords, all Brute Shots, all Needlers, for example. I love that type of game, although I’m sure there are a few variants I won’t be too fond of.

Jeremiah is looking for suggestions (inlcuding possible names for the playlists) so go check it out.

Our Auction of sweet Bungie stuff is still going on (for about another five days) and you should go here to bid on very collectible schwag.

Oh and today, we played against a bunch of Dutch kids for a sort of belated Humpday challenge, including the current World Champion. They had host. Guess what happened? Anyway, we’ll recap the horror next week. Enjoy your weekends.

And finally, someone asked me if they could buy a Mister Chief original. Why sure. Just click here and drive up the price . It's all for charity anyway!