Bungie

Bungie was started in 1991 by Alexander Seropian in Chicago. Originally, he set up his company to release the game Operation: Desert Storm, but instead released Bungie’s first game Gnop! It was a Pong clone (notice that Gnop! Is Pong spelled backwards) and was shareware and a couple users did send $15 dollars for the source code.

Working solely on the Macintosh, Seropian teamed up with Jason Jones. Back in the early 90’s, the Mac was easier to program for and both programmers were familiar with the platform.

After publishing Desert Storm (which sold 2500 copies), Alexander was looking for something else to publish. Jason had an almost complete dungeon-RPG game programmed. In 1992, Bungie released Minotaur: The Labyrinths of Crete. This was a combination of the RPG and adventure game with sharply detailed graphics, but what set itself apart was the use of networking. Though this limited their Mac user audience, Minotaur sold 2500 copies and gained a hardcore, cult following.

In 1993, Bungie released a sequel to Minotaur called Pathways Into Darkness. This 3D game won many awards, including Mac Games Adventure Game of the year.

With some moderate success under their belt, Bungie moved from a small apartment to a converted mission and begun work on Marathon. Released in 1994, Marathon featured networked play, full 3D movement, state-of-the-art graphics and advanced AI characters that helped the player.

In Marathon, you play a lone security guard on the Starship Marathon that’s hurtling through space in the distant future. You fight off boarding aliens as you try to stay alive. Does that storyline and technical info sound familiar?

Without a pause, Bungie started work on Marathon 2: Durandal in 1995. The Marathon sequel was released in November that same year. The villain Al Durandal kidnaps the hero and forces him to battle an alien race. More than just a sequel, it was a stretch in technology, story, and gameplay. It included game modes like King of the Hill, Kill the Man With the Ball, and Tag, and let you play the single-player campaign cooperatively. Okay, sounding familiar now?

Marathon 2 was also the first Bungie game to be transferred to the PC and then compatible with Windows 95. Bungie revenue’s rose over 500%. In 1996, Bungie turned subsidiary publisher by releasing Crack Dot Com-developed shooter, Abuse. In that same year, they published Marathon: Infinity for the Mac. The last new Marathon game featured built-in editing tools for the creation of levels and scenarios.

So it was time to move on. Their next game was a mix of Real Time Strategy with tactical elements. Myth: The Fallen Lords quick rose to success in 1997 with awesome 3D graphics, online play, and fast gameplay. Currently, Myth has sold over 350,000 copies and is still being played by the thousands. Then, when things couldn’t be topped, they released Myth 2: Soulblighter, which had even more impressive graphics and better online play (due to Bungie.net’s standard setting networking).

After the success of this game, Bungie made a necessary move to a different office, giving them more space to hire more employees. They also created Bungie Studios West, who started work on Oni, a multiplatform third-person action game.

Also, in 1997, Bungie released the Marathon Action Pack, which was a complete collection of all three Marathon titles and bundled with user created mods and levels.

The year 1999 will be remembered forever. First, Bungie formed a partnership with Take Two Interactive who bought 19.9% share in Bungie. This gave Bungie more cash and allowed them to work on Oni with more manpower. At the Macworld show in 1999, Bungie demoed footage of a sci-fi shooter based on a mysterious alien ring thingie. It was tremendous and with all the features—networked play, hug environments—its seemed improbably this game would see final packaging.

The Take Two partnership didn’t last long. Microsoft acquired the Halo game, the company and the employees and the right to bring Halo exclusively to the Xbox. Take Two kept the Oni rights and Myth and Bungie left Chicago for good to set up shop in Redmond, Washington. Go figure.

So on November 15th, 2001, Bungie let Halo go to the consumers. And the consumers loved it. The killer Xbox app won people over by graphics and quickly won gamers over by the compelling storyline. Forget Goldeneye, Doom, Quake; Halo had won it’s place in FPS history…and it had the top spot quickly.

So Halo 2 was announced in 2002 by a teaser trailer of Master Chief diving Earthward from a spaceship. Actual gameplay footage was shown at E3 in 2003. After strategic delays, Halo 2 was finally released in 2005. Adding stronger gameplay and AI and more intense battles and environments, Halo 2 kept the series going as if it had never let up steam.

Then, when the Expansion pack was released the same year, you got a lot more added to your Halo 2 gameplay experience with more levels, mods, and special features.

1991

Gnop!

Operation: Desert Storm

1992

Minotaur: The Labyrinths of Crete

1993

Minotaur: Paths Into Darkness

1994

Marathon

1995

Marathon 2: Durandal

1996

Marathon: Infinity

Abuse (developed by Crack Dot Com)

1997

Myth: The Fallen Lords

Myth 2: Soulblighter

Marathon Action Pack

2001

Oni (published by Take 2)

Halo

2005

Halo 2

Halo 2 Expansion Pack

Halo Multipack (Halo, Halo 2, Halo 2 Expansion)

Halo 3 (hopefully!)

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