Tag: bungie

Bungie’s “Keep It Clean” Teaser 2!


Bungie’s viral madness continues. While I just reported the first teaser for Bungie’s mysterious “Keep It Clean” project, another new teaser just went up. Like before, this one takes the form of a transcript. This one seems to affirm that there will be a squad involved in the action, which points it in the direction of a tactical shooter.

It looks a bit sci-fi now, with captains and ships and all. Take a look:

<\\> UNSC OFFICE OF NAVAL INTELLIGENCE
<\\> TAC-OPS LOGISTICS DATABASE [ONI.SEC.PRTCL-1A]

<\ * PRIORITY! * RESOURCE RE-ALLOCATION REQUEST

>> SENT: [DARE.V.500341(S1)]
>> RECEIVED: HEAVY CRUISER “SAY MY NAME” [SMN.ACTUAL]

\ PARTIAL VTT TRANSCRIPT AS FOLOWS…

[SMN.ACTUAL]: “The situation on the ground isn’t my concern.”
[DARE.V.500341(S1)]: “I understand, Admiral. But I need –”
[EXPLOSION (4.0098s)]
[SMN.UNKNOWN]:[UNITELLIGIBLE > PANIC(?)]
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “Empty archer pods six through twelve!”
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “Ready the MAC, and come about!”
[SMN.UNKNOWN]:[UNITELLIGIBLE > INSUBORDINATION(?)]
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “It may have passed us, Lieutenant, but it’s still in range.”
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “Come about. And shoot it in the ass.”
[EXPLOSION (2.3482s)]
[STATIC (3.8761s)]
[SMN.UNKNOWN]:[UNITELLIGIBLE > COMPLIANCE(?)]
[DARE.V.500341(S1)]: “Admiral, about my squad?”
[DARE.V.500341(S1)]: “I’ve forwarded their NCO’s name to your –”
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “Enough, Captain!”
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “If I survive this attack…”
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “I will deploy per my orders from Fleet HQ!”
[DARE.V.500341(S1)]: “Sir. I don’t report to Fleet.”
[DARE.V.500341(S1)]: “And the men I want? Now they don’t either.”
[DARE.V.500341(S1)]: “Please. Read my request.”
[STATIC (2.8179s)]
[EXPLOSION (3.0194s)]
[STATIC (7.4501s)]
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “Didn’t think you S1 types ever left your cave.”
[DARE.V.500341(S1)]: “Desperate times…”
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “Alright, Captain. You’ve got your squad.”
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “If I survive the attack.”
[EXPLOSION (2.9016s)]
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “And right now? That’ll take a genuine act of God.”
[DARE.V.500341(S1)]: “I’ll see what I can do.”

Analysing this, we get:

  • “HEAVY CRUISER “SAY MY NAME” [SMN.ACTUAL]”: Heavy Cruiser? Will have be a naval ship like in the high seas, or a spaceship?
  • “[SMN.ACTUAL]: “The situation on the ground isn’t my concern.”: Seems to hint that we have a spaceship involved, because if they were on the seas, the word “Land” would have been used.
  • “[DARE.V.500341(S1)]: “Admiral, about my squad?”: There we go, the squad. There’s a bit more squad discussion after that.
  • “[SMN.ACTUAL]: “Didn’t think you S1 types ever left your cave.”: Sort of hints at a special corps of some sort, like the SPARTANs from Halo. Wouldn’t be surprised if the squad ends up having pimped-out armour and special training and stuff.
  • [SMN.ACTUAL]: “If I survive the attack.”
    [EXPLOSION (2.9016s)]
    [SMN.ACTUAL]: “And right now? That’ll take a genuine act of God.”
    [DARE.V.500341(S1)]: “I’ll see what I can do.”
  • In that convo, I think we’re going to get the premise for the opening mission: save that Admiral! And of course, our squad will come in, battling all odds and saving the day.

Bungie’s Upto Something: “Keep It Clean” Teaser

Well, Bungie has been upto something for a while. After their fanciful liberation from big daddy Microsoft, they’ve been upto something. But what? Rumour has it that they’re working on 3 different games, while another says that they’re also working on a Halo game. Bungie did say, however, that they wanted to explore new IPs.

This looks like it. Bungie has released something of a teaser on their site, which looks like a pseudo-ARG-viral-marketing thing. Like always it’s something all serious-looking and dangerous and stuff. The image above says “Keep It Clean” in a rather fractured kind of way. And below is this transcript of mystery:

<\\> UNSC OFFICE OF NAVAL INTELLIGENCE

<\\> CLASSIFIED SIGNALS ARCHIVE [ONI.SEC.PRTCL-1A]

<\ OPENED PER OFFICIAL REQUEST [DARE.V.500341(S1)]

\ SOURCE: URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE A.I. [SUPERINTENDENT]

\ RECIPIENT: PROWLER “TOKYO RULES” [COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]
>> NOTATION KEYWORD SEARCH: “EMERGENCY” “DATA” “CORRUPTION”
>> (…) ~ QUERY RUNNING
>> (..)
>> (.)   \ VTT TRANSCRIPT AS FOLOWS…

[SUPERINTENDENT]: “METROPOLITAN EMERGENCY!”
[SUPERINTENDENT]: “METROPOLITAN EMERGENCY!”
[SUPERINTENDENT]: “METROPOLITAN EMER–!”
[COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: “We know. Personnel are en route. Can you–”
[SUPERINTENDENT]: “DETOUR! PROCEED WITH CAUTION!”
[COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: “–put Kinsler on the line?”
[SUPERINTENDENT]: [UNITELLIGIBLE > DOG GROWLING(?)]
[COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: “Sorry, what?”
[SUPERINTENDENT]: “BE A HERO! REPORT VIOLATORS!”
[COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: “Oh, come on… ”
[SUPERINTENDENT]: “METROPOLITAN EMER–!”
[COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: “Listen. We have a report of core data corruption.”
[COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: “I need you to upload your–”
[SUPERINTENDENT]: “PARDON OUR DUST!”
[SUPERINTENDENT]: “YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK!”
[COMM.DUTY.OFFICER] “–logs for the last twenty-four hours!”
[SUPERINTENDENT]: “KEEP IT CLEAN!”
[SUPERINTENDENT]: “KEEP IT CLEAN!”
[SUPERINTENDENT]: “KEEP IT CLEAN!”
[COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: [UNINTELLIGIBLE > PROFANITY (?)]
[COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: “We’re sending a team, alright?”
[COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: “Until they arrive, all additional comm needs to route through me.”
[COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: “Repeat and acknowledge.”
[SUPERINTENDENT]: “OBEY POSTED LIMITS!”
[SUPERINTENDENT]: “YIELD TO UPHILL TRAFFIC!”
[COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: “I’ll take that as a ‘yes’…”
[SUPERINTENDENT]: “PLEASE REMAIN CALM!”

\ ~ QUERY COMPLETE

\ ARCHIVE CLOSED \>

I have no idea what that is supposed to mean. If we’re going to look at hints:

  • “Metropolitain Emergency” can probably hint at an urban disaster, of some sort.
  • “We’re sending a team”: a Gears of Wars-style squad or some sort of a tactical team in general?
  • “URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE A.I. [SUPERINTENDENT: An AI, possibly added for humorous effect, but maybe a funny villain like GLaDOS?
  • “RECIPIENT: PROWLER “TOKYO RULES” [COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]”: Japanese setting? Is this Metropolis mentioned above Tokyo? Or maybe it’s just a Japanese Comm. Duty Officer?
  • ““YIELD TO UPHILL TRAFFIC!”: I have no idea what this is supposed to mean. But it just has to be a clue.

Whatever this is, I have my eyes on it. All this looks very intriguing. Hell, I’m a sucker for viral marketing!

Gearbox Working on Halo 4 for Next Xbox?!

Gearbox Logo

One of the industry’s best upcoming FPS studios, Gearbox Software has been long rumoured to be working on a secret project that is “bigger” than anything they’ve ever tried. Since this is the team that made the entire Brothers in Arms series, the Halo PC port and many awesome expansions of Half-Life, this is something.

Rumour has it that they’re working on nothing but a Halo 4. Apparently the fight isn’t quite finished. Supposedly, the game is in development for a next-generation Xbox console. It should be noted that while we don’t have any announcements of a new console generation, we haven’t even heard talks about anything like that.

The rumour comes from the Official XBox Magazine, and there doesn’t seem to be any hard verification. Still, it doesn’t seem unbelievable or contradictory. Gearbox only has one product on their plate, Borderlands and Bungie announced that they’re done with the Halo franchise.

In any case, Microsoft milking out the Halo franchise definitely isn’t news, what will all that promotion during Halo 3‘s launch. What is news is the weird, outlandish rumour. So is Microsoft working on a next-gen Xbox? How powerful is it? Is Gearbox actually working on a sequel to Halo 3? Will it come anytime before 2015? Questions galore.

We have no doubt that Microsoft has an answer to them all. ‘Microsoft does not respond to rumors’ or some such.

GamePro: Microsoft may buy Epic Games

Gears of War does an illegal operation
Think independent game developers, and Epic comes to mind. One of the industry’s veterans, Epic is known for their Unreal franchise, as well as their famed Gears of War. But GamePro magazine predicts that this is about to change and monster publisher Microsoft Games will buy Epic eventually.

To find out more on the diabolical deal of doom, hit the jump!
Continue reading “GamePro: Microsoft may buy Epic Games”