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Posted by Frankie at 9/9/2005 2:31 PM PDT

Weekly Update, September 9th, 2005

News about how much money our Fight the Flood T-Shirts have made so far, a little bit of info about an upcoming concert and a couple of snippets about our move. It's going to be a busy week next week.

Wow. You guys rock. All of you. You know how much money YOU raised so far?

$120, 450 and climbing. That's DONATION. That's what is going directly to the American Red Cross to aid those affected by Hurricane Katrina. And more is coming in every day.

This figure is a testament to your generosity and caring.

That cash is going straight where it's needed. It is buying food, getting water, shipping blankets, evacuating people, bringing in generators and pumping out flooded streets.

Part of me had hoped that the trouble would be receding along with the flood waters, but it's really not. The deterioration is visible and it's taking a toll on the victims, the rescuers and the foundations of the cities affected. Remember that it's not just new Orleans. What's baffling to me is that we're here, almost two weeks later and people are still being rescued. It's mind-boggling. And tragic. If you haven't bought a T-Shirt yet, do it now. If you did, get another, or donate directly to the Red Cross.

Also, I should point out – this entire project was driven by Brian Jarrard, Pete Parsons and Lorraine McLees. All I did was type stuff. They're the heroes here. They love being called heroes. HEROES!!! Ha, ha, sorry guys, I know you wanted to be anon, but you deserve the props. So eat it.

I got a lot of mail from folks about www.origenxbox360.com which as far as I can tell, is some kind of viral marketing thing, and maybe even an ilovebees style ARG. Thing is, that's all I know about it. I got the same info as you – six plums (that's what they look like to me) a stick man, an MSN Messenger icon and two rabbits. I think they might be hares. The only thing I've noticed is that if you switch between .org and .com, the image pops to the right a couple of pixels. I'm helping! And I swear, I really DON'T know what this is.

MOVIE!

Nothing much happening on the movie front this week, although Rob has been hard at work finishing the last bits of the movie companion. That means that if a Halo movie comes out, and Master Chief has a wisecracking porcupine sidekick, then something went terribly wrong in the document.

The movie industry is licking its self-inflicted wounds from one of their worst summers in recent memory. The good news is that our movie is ages away; the bad news is that next summer you will see 45 wacky adult sex comedies and fourteen penguin movies.

MOVE!

We're moving. The new Kirkland HQ is finished, and ready for business. We're all moving next week, starting Monday and everyone should be ensconced in their new cubicle by Thursday or so. We plan to celebrate by eating Dutch Babies. The delicious baked pancake treat, that is, not infants in clogs.

MUSIC!

Marty O'Donnell is very excited, and not just because he found new Toupee Glue. Nope. The Video Games Live concert series is picking up pace and coming to our home town of Seattle. Or at least the biggest town nearby. The concert series features a live orchestra and choir performing major works from major games. Including of course, Halo.

It hits Seattle on Saturday October 29 at 8PM at The Paramount Theater in Seattle. You can get more information by clicking on the link below. Bungie will be there, probably in significant numbers and maybe even available to sign stuff, so if you make it there, keep an eye out for us.

Video Games Live Concert Info

The full list of bangin' choonz you will here goes something like this, but there may be additions or subtractions depending on the schedule for the night you choose.

Mario, Zelda, Halo, Metal Gear Solid, Warcraft, Myst, Castlevania, Medal of Honor™, God of War, Kingdom Hearts, Sonic, Tron, Tomb Raider, Advent Rising, Headhunter, Beyond Good & Evil, Tom Clancy Montage (Splinter Cell, Ghost Recon, Rainbow Six, EverQuest II and a special retro arcade segment that goes from Pong to Donkey Kong!

Right now, I am humming the underground music from Mario. Dun-dun-dun-dun dun-dun. Barra-barra-barra. Deedlee-dum-dum-dum-dum-dum-da-da-dum-dum-dum-dum.

Oh no. Now the underwater tune…! Get out of my MIND!!!!

SECRET VISITOR!

Not so secret really. HBO's Claude Errera, aka Louis Wu, is coming to visit. He's coming to our open house event, where we proudly show off our new Kirkland digs. Luckily, he won't be able to do any spying, because all the stuff regarding our new project is packed up or hidden.

SECRET PROJECT!

Coming along nicely thank you very much.

MATCHMAKING PLAYLISTS!

The additions and changes we made to the matchmaking playlist were pretty much universally well received. One complaint that we did hear a lot of however, was team splitting in multi-team games. Folks joining up in small groups are often distributed to other teams. This is a normal, expected behavior of unranked playlists, but it appears to be worse because there are more teams for you to be placed on. In a game of two teams, more often than not, you end up on the same team as your buddies because of the normal distribution of players.

That said, this is still in a trial phase, so we may look at ways to play around with it if it proves popular enough to become a permanent fixture. More news next week. Until then, buy more T-Shirts!

Oh, one last thing - we're working on a charity auction for Katrina victims with HBO - this is the original Mister Chief we're going to be auctioning. It's horrible and it's painted on nice paper with magic markers. I got buzzed out of my mind coloring it in.