Chronique:BWU 30/07/2010

Posted by urk at 7/30/2010 1:50 PM PDT

Last week I dropped nearly 20,000 words to keep all you demanding mother suckers satisfied. This week, I'm reigning it back in. I'll admit it – I just can't keep pace with Grand Master Sketch. Besides, we just unleashed an epic cinematic trailer, "The Battle Begins," and it should keep you occupied well into the weekend. What more do you want!

Soon you'll be seeing this spot making an appearance on the magical picture box that dominates your living room. Those who lamented the short running time should note that it's crafted and cut precisely to commercial length. Sixty seconds is all the time we had to work with. It's really for the best anyway. Any additional footage and we'd be treading heavy into full on Spoiler Country.

And, of course, we're not done yet. 46 days to go. I hear we've got incoming. Embargoes are being lifted as we speak and tons of new Halo: Reach information and multimedia should be hitting the web right now. Someone even told me you might be seeing some footage from the Sanctuary remake, Asylum, soon. Yup, it's on the disk and why yes, it is still super fun.

Achievement Unlocked![modifier]

But since I know you crave even more immediate Halo: Reach information, I'm going to take Sketch and Luke's monumental achievement from a few weeks back and crank it up to full on blow out mode. (Which, oddly enough, is exactly where Urk Junior's been taking his diapers these past few days.)

1. Completed the Campaign on Normal difficulty.

2. Completed the Campaign on Heroic difficulty.

3. Completed the Campaign on Legendary difficulty.

4. Completed every mission in Halo: Reach alone, on Legendary.

5. Completed the 2nd mission on Normal or harder.

6. Completed the 3rd mission on Normal or harder.

7. Completed the 4th mission on Normal or harder.

8. Completed the 5th mission on Normal or harder.

9. Completed the 6th mission on Normal or harder.

10. Completed the 7th mission on Normal or harder.

11. Completed the 8th mission on Normal or harder.

12. Completed the 9th mission on Normal or harder.

13. Completed the 10th mission on Normal or harder.

14. Cleared the 2nd mission without setting foot in a drivable vehicle.

15. Killed 2 vehicles at once with the Target Locator in the 3rd mission.

16. Hijacked a Banshee during the Reach Campaign.

17. Killed the Elite Zealot before he escaped during the 5th mission.

18. Performed an Assassination against an Elite to survive a fall that would've been fatal.

19. Destroyed the Corvette's engines & escort in under 3 minutes in the 6th mission on Heroic or harder.

20. Finished the 9th mission on Legendary with the Scorpion intact.

21. Earned a Triple Kill while Jetpacking in Campaign, Firefight or Matchmaking.

22. Killed 7 Moa during the 2nd mission of the Campaign.

23. Killed 3 of the anti-aircraft batteries during the 8th mission.

24. Used a Health Pack to replenish life after taking body damage.

25. Performed an Assassination on an enemy.

26. Killed 10 enemies in a Firefight or Campaign session with the M6G pistol.

27. Killed 10 enemies in a Firefight or Campaign session with the DMR.

28. Traded weapons with an AI ally in Campaign.

29. Killed 10 enemies in Firefight or Campaign with a supercombine explosion.

30. Let a teammate spawn on you 5 times in an Invasion Matchmaking game.

31. Earned a First Strike Medal in a Matchmaking game.

32. Won a game of Invasion in the 1st phase.

33. Earned a Killing Spree in multiplayer Matchmaking.

34. Earned a Killionaire medal in Firefight.

35. As an Elite, killed 5 Spartan players in Matchmaking.

36. Scored 15,000 points in Score Attack Firefight Matchmaking.

37. Scored 50,000 points in a Firefight game.

38. Scored 200,000 points in a Firefight game.

39. Scored 1,000,000 points in a Firefight game.

40. Completed a Firefight set on Legendary without dying.

41. Purchased an item from the Armory that required the rank of Lt. Colonel.

42. Reached the rank of Corporal in the UNSC.

43. Reached the rank of Captain in the UNSC.

44. Used the File Browser to upload a file to your File Share.

45. Completed all of the Daily Challenges in a given day.

46. Purchased an item from the Armory.

47. Recommended a file to someone.

48. Advanced a Commendation to a Silver state.

49. Completed a Weekly Challenge.

Competent Cartographers[modifier]

While I've been keeping myself busy by trying to achieve mediocrity in Halo: Reach's fully upgraded Forge mode, some of the rest of the team has been building some awesome spaces in their new found spare time. I asked them to submit a few of their fancy creations so you could take a little look-see.

They complied. Nice guys, eh? Check out some of their handiwork:

Before you get too wound up, I should note that even though I'm putting these creations on display, it does not mean that you'll see these maps making their way into matchmaking. Even though these were lovingly crafted by our employees and testers, they're still put through the same rigors our expertly crafted multiplayer spaces demand. If they make the grade, you'll likely see more of them down the line. I'll make sure to show 'em off. If not…they go to the great garbage bin in the sky box.

Relegated Revenant[modifier]

I planned on blowing out the Revenant a bit today, too. Yup, it's the cherry red Covenant vehicle "powered by a violent thunderstorm" (that also fires hadoukens). Sketch wants to save it for later. Maybe he knows something I don't. Wonder if my wife is having a second baby. That'd be something.

Anyway, maybe it'll make an appearance next week. No promises.

Don't Make the Internet a Promise…[modifier]

It was a beautiful dream. A podcast for each and every month this year. Alas, it just wasn't meant to be. But we have a good excuse! The podcast rig is actually stuffed in a box, somewhere out there, in transit, on the way to…

…Our New Studio![modifier]

While it's no secret that we're saying goodbye to beautiful downtown Kirkland, the departure is anything but teary-eyed. Last week we treated ourselves to a sneak peek and explored the new space.

For a number of reasons, this move has been a long time coming. First and foremost, we're huge. We're literally bursting out of this awesome space we've called home in Kirkland these last few years. But for me personally, the best part about the guided tour was the realization that we'd finally have more than two urinals to share between 150 dudes. Do the math. Yeah.

And though it's no full on studio tour, replete with Starbucks fireside chats and glimmering championship belts, our very own artist extraordinaire Jason Sussman took the time to snap some shots during our rendezvous with relocation and we thought you might want to browse 'em yourself. Sketch has been talking a mean streak about giving you the video tour, but for now, these will have to do.

Into the Great Wide Open

Moving On Up

It's full of light!

Tickets, please.

Explore the Space!

Pillars of Awesome

Overlook

For a lot of folks at Bungie, 434 Kirkland Way wasn't just a place where we came to work every day, it was our home away from home. This building houses a lot of memories – a significant portion of our time spent creating the Halo universe and developing Halo games happened right here between these walls. This, to quote every single celebrity ever to grace MTV Cribs, is literally where the magic happened.

So, it's with somewhat heavy hearts that we watch the movers break it all down, box it all up, and move it all to our new digs in Bellevue. She was a good ship. She will be missed.

But although this is where the magic happened, this isn't our first relocation. We're no strangers to shifts in time zones and space. Regardless of the work environment we find ourselves in, our team remains intact, ensuring that Bungie's future is indeed bright.

And that magic? We're boxing it up and bringing it with us to Bellevue.

NON FACETE NOBIS CALCITRARE VESTRVM PERINAEVN

See you on the other side, Seventh Column.

Blame Stosh[modifier]

I hear Stosh is moving into his own swank office in Bellevue. One of the spacious, glass numbers on the upper mezzanine right next to Harold. Our little guy is all growed up! To celebrate, let's light some candles, Bungie style!

[Élément indisponible]

Blame Jandro[modifier]

Speaking of Bungie style, Jandro sent me a sweet snippet of animation he cooked up late one night. To set it up, here's a little story:

"So, as cinematics is one of the last teams to roll off the project, we often end up having many late nights to ourselves where our own madness gets the best of us during the AM hours while the rest of the team is at home fast asleep. One of these evenings birthed this video. Dave Lieber is the mastermind behind this and for morale of the rest of the team decided (or just felt possessed) to create this thing. Just one of the many things that get created in cinematics land that are completely pointless to the game, but just as important to help keep us making awesome -blam!-."

Naughty words don't work on Bungie.net, Jandro…but hyperlinks do!

RAWk!

Blame David Allen[modifier]

I don't know what's going on in the picture below, but David Allen said he'd trade me all those sweet shots of the Forge World maps if I ran it. So:

Totally worth it.

And that's totally it for us today. Bon voyage. See you next week.