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June 19, 2000
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[News Flash! 0630 EST] Microsoft Buys Bungie
By Nick dePlume, Publisher and Editor in Chief | Email
Over the course of the past week, rumors were spreading that Microsoft
Corporation was planning to purchase game developer Bungie Software, which
had supported the Mac since it was first founded. DailyRadar.com
reported today that it was official. Bungie will be a wholly owned subsidiary
of Microsoft -- an independent studio within Microsoft Games. Game publisher
Take2 Interactive will be the owner of games such as Oni and Myth, and will
market the PC and Mac versions of them under the Gathering of Developers
company.
The deal, which closes today for an undisclosed sum, is complex. Take2
Interactive purchased 19.9% of Bungie last year and, as a result, needed
to be convinced to part with its stake in Bungie for the deal to go through.
Take2 is selling its stake in Bungie to Microsoft immediately (no doubt
at a significant profit) but is also gaining complete rights, in perpetuity,
to the Oni and Myth franchises -- all existing titles and
titles in development, as well as future titles in the franchises, are
now Take2 properties. That includes the game engines, trademarks and copyrights
for the games. Further, Take2 gains the right to create two games based
on the Halo engine. The PC versions of these titles will be published
under Take2's Gathering of Developers brand (remember that the company
bought out GoD earlier this year), while the console SKUs will be released
under the Rockstar Games brand. What Take2 will do with these new properties
is all "T.B.D.," according to Rockstar's Donovan. [DailyRadar.com]
DailyRadar.com also provided this diagram
to illustrate the ownership of the situation.
What is Microsoft getting out of this? Halo, first off. Bungie's game
development teams, led by co-founder Jason Jones, will assist in development
for Microsoft's upcoming Xbox console. More importantly, what is Bungie
getting out of this? Bungie founders have described this has being the perfect
opportunity to develop for for a brand new -- and supposedly well-designed
-- console system. Bungie will maintain its own culture and identity within
Microsoft. Despite the focus on Xbox, Bungie's founders may decide to continue
Mac and PC development.
Despite this, many Bungie fans find themselves saying, "Why, Bungie,
why?" Early this morning, the venerable Marathon
Story page was completely blank, with only this quote from Bungie's
game Marathon: "There are obviously many things which we do not understand,
and may never be able to."
Links: 5
Things You Must Know About Microsoft's Buying Bungie | Interview
with Jason Jones at DailyRadar.com
Press
Release | Q&A
with Bungie's Doug Zartman | Doug
Zartman to Leave Bungie
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June 16, 2000
AOL One-Way Wireless Beta Test Able to Support Macs?
By Jade Hansen, Contributing Editor | Email
Earlier this month, Think Secret reported on America Online's announcement
to beta testers that Macintosh clients would no longer be supported for
AOL's forthcoming One-Way Wireless service, which is comprised of AOL Mail
by Phone and AOL Mail Alerts. AOL Mail by Phone allows you to listen to
your email when you are unable to get to a computer, by dialing a toll-free
number. AOL Mail Alerts will page you when an important email arrives in
your AOL inbox.
The news that Macs would not be supported spurred articles at MacAddict.com
and several other top Mac news sites. In response, we received this report
from an anonymous source.
Currently, when you enter AOL keyword oneway beta, it gives you
the dialog, "This requires AOL for Windows version 4.0 or higher,"
yet, the system requirements for the tests currently are:
AOL Mail Alerts
- America Online software for Windows version 4.0 32-bit or higher
- An active AOL Account
- A pager or cellular phone with alphanumeric text messaging service
AOL Mail by Phone
- An active AOL Account
- A telephone
What does the user's computer have to do with receiving an alert through
their pager/cell phone or calling AOL's system to have your email read
to you? What I believe they missed is actually the fact that the email
received states the problem lies with accessing the AOL Alerts and AOL
Mail by Phone web sites rather than the features themselves. I, personally,
had these problems originally (since I was using AOL 3), but solved the
problem by running AOL 5.
Despite all of this, I'm still able to have both services work for me.
I receive mail alerts through my cell phone and I'm able to call the 877
number to access that email. The whole "problem" lies with AOL's
inability to create a website that will run on both platforms? Stupid.
Plus, like the system requirements so kindly point out, only
the AOL Mail Alerts program currently requires a Windows AOL 4.0 client
or higher, so why can't Mac users at least be able to access AOL Mail by
Phone? I'm starting to think there is more behind this than what AOL is
leading us to believe. Why would AOL stop service for Mac users if the
service works? Their known issues never did state and continue to not
say anything regarding these 16-bit Mac issues.
Geek pop culture at big g media.
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