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computers / comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action / Re: Sony gets jealous and buys Bungie

SubjectAuthor
* Sony gets jealous and buys BungieSpalls Hurgenson
`* Re: Sony gets jealous and buys BungieWerner P.
 `* Re: Sony gets jealous and buys BungieMetalGuru
  `- Re: Sony gets jealous and buys BungieSpalls Hurgenson

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Sony gets jealous and buys Bungie

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From: spallshu...@gmail.com (Spalls Hurgenson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action
Subject: Sony gets jealous and buys Bungie
Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2022 20:12:15 -0500
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 by: Spalls Hurgenson - Tue, 1 Feb 2022 01:12 UTC

Except maybe to the fanboys of certain franchises, this story isn't
really, in the overall scheme of game industry interactions, all that
important. Sony has entered into an agreement to buy Bungie, the
former developers of Halo and current publishers of the Destiny 2. A
larger publisher buying a smaller developer happens all the time in
the video game industry; it's hardly worth mentioning.

Except, happening so soon after the recent surprise announcement that
Microsoft was acquiring Activision, this news can't help but feel (at
least to me) that Sony, jealous of all the attention its rival has
been getting, is announcing its own engagement... and with its rival's
former partner too! The drama almost writes itself!

Of course this isn't what really happened; deals like this take months
and years to arrange, and Sony and Bungie were already figuring things
out long before Microsoft and Activision ever announced their upcoming
nuptials. It is possible that the reveal of this new merger was timed
to upstage the Microsoft/Activision news, but the deal itself
obviously isn't as sudden as it may appear. Even if it does seem that
way.

So it made me smile, and I thought I'd share my amusement here.

As to the acquisition itself, I've little comment. It's not as if this
is a new situation for Bungie; they've been owned by Microsoft,
partnered with Activision, and even tried to go it alone a couple of
times. If anything, it's a damning commentary on how difficult it is
for small and mid-sized developers to compete in the industry, which
sadly results in a calcification and lack of innovation in the hobby.
I was rather hopeful when I learned Bungie had freed itself from
Activision's shackles - was this to be a sign of a new resurgence in
mid-size developers re-filling a much needed gap in the market? But,
alas, no, it was not, and Bungie has acceded to the inevitable and
accepted a new overlord..

Still, I suppose it could be worse. I've a lot of gripes with Sony as
a corporation, but they do seem to be fairly 'hands off' when it comes
to its developers, and may be a better guardian for Bungie than had
the boys-from-Bellvue subsumed by some other big-name publisher. Had I
my druthers, Bungie would have remained independent, but neither will
I immediately assume the sky is falling just because they now are
controlled by Sony. We'll see how things turn out.

Re: Sony gets jealous and buys Bungie

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From: wer...@gmx.at (Werner P.)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action
Subject: Re: Sony gets jealous and buys Bungie
Date: Tue, 1 Feb 2022 08:17:04 +0100
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 by: Werner P. - Tue, 1 Feb 2022 07:17 UTC

Am 01.02.22 um 02:12 schrieb Spalls Hurgenson:
> Still, I suppose it could be worse. I've a lot of gripes with Sony as
> a corporation, but they do seem to be fairly 'hands off' when it comes
> to its developers
Yes and no, they close or sell off a studio from time to time to punish
them for
bad games or games which do not make the expectations (like the studio
which made drive club on the Ps4, which was the only studio which made
driving games in the entire sony studio catalog), but overall yes they
give them a ton of free reign.

Re: Sony gets jealous and buys Bungie

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Subject: Re: Sony gets jealous and buys Bungie
From: themetab...@gmail.com (MetalGuru)
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 by: MetalGuru - Tue, 1 Feb 2022 10:56 UTC

On Tuesday, February 1, 2022 at 2:17:06 AM UTC-5, Werner P. wrote:
> Am 01.02.22 um 02:12 schrieb Spalls Hurgenson:
> > Still, I suppose it could be worse. I've a lot of gripes with Sony as
> > a corporation, but they do seem to be fairly 'hands off' when it comes
> > to its developers

> Yes and no, they close or sell off a studio from time to time to punish
> them for
> bad games or games which do not make the expectations (like the studio
> which made drive club on the Ps4, which was the only studio which made
> driving games in the entire sony studio catalog), but overall yes they
> give them a ton of free reign.

Yeah, didn't they do the same thing to the studio who made the exclusive PS4 game "Days Gone"? I've actually played it but got bored half way in, it's probably the longest freaking game in the history of video games.

I couldn't care less about Bungie though, the only game of theirs that I've played was ONI eons ago.

Re: Sony gets jealous and buys Bungie

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From: spallshu...@gmail.com (Spalls Hurgenson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action
Subject: Re: Sony gets jealous and buys Bungie
Date: Tue, 01 Feb 2022 10:53:28 -0500
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 by: Spalls Hurgenson - Tue, 1 Feb 2022 15:53 UTC

On Tue, 1 Feb 2022 02:56:17 -0800 (PST), MetalGuru
<themetabaron@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Am 01.02.22 um 02:12 schrieb Spalls Hurgenson:

>I couldn't care less about Bungie though, the only game of theirs
>that I've played was ONI eons ago.

I sort of have a soft spot for Bungie, but not because of its better
known titles like "Halo" or "Destiny" or even "Marathon". My best
memories of them are for "Myth: The Fallen Lords".

Does anyone else remember this game?* I consider it the high water
mark for the company. It was - in the end - a fairly niche game, but
it was /quality/ throughout. Except for the fact that the gameplay
didn't have broad-spectrum appeal - it was a 'real-time-tactics' game
that had you maneuvering small squads of soldiers from a top-down
viewpoint - I'd be hard-pressed to find any fault with the title.

Do you remember its intro?* The game was released in 1997, and while
full-screen video was no longer a novelty, it still was something of a
prestige feature. "Myth" differentiated itself, however, by using
traditionally hand-drawn animation rather than the usual C-list actors
filmed against grainy blue-screen, and that four or five minutes of
anime-style cartoon was almost worth the price of admission itself
(all the more when you remember that anime itself was still hard to
get back then).

Do you remember its soundtrack?* It was almost dirgeful, but with the
tiniest bit of hopefulness threaded through it; a perfect
accompaniment to a tale about humanity's last stand against
Armageddon. Halo's "Truth and Reconciliation" may be more recognizable
and easier to listen to, but the tunes in Myth beat it in character.

The gameplay; do you remember that?* It was rock-solid, with a good
selection of units on both sides, some solid AI and physics and level
design that promoted entertaining battles. The desperate maneuvering
of your bowmen to get them before your line of swordsmen, the furious
charge of your barbarians, the joyful exuberance - and explosions! -
that came when using your dwarf sappers. The game was a challenge, but
a fun one.

It's engine was impressive for its time too, remember?* It used a 3D
battlefield with rolling hills and modeled structures, combined with
highly-detailed sprites for the units. In fact, for the longest time I
thought the units themselves were 3D models, so detailed were they.
Explosions would rip up the battlefield and chunks of the fallen would
fly across the screen, powered by an impressive physics engine.

The game was followed by two sequels (remember?*:). "Myth II:
Soulblighter" was a more polished continuation of the story and was as
fun to play, but lacked the freshness of the first game, and suffered
a bit (but not too much) from 'kitchen sink' syndrome. It was a solid
title and had I to chose to play only a single mission from any of the
three games, I'd probably pick one from "Myth II". But I prefer the
original for its novelty and bleaker storyline.

"Myth III: The Wolf Age" was created by an entirely new team and while
it was still a largely satisfying game, it lacked the character and
balance of its predecessor. It was trying too many new things while
still trying to retain all of what made the old games so good, and
this conflict resulted in a poorer product.

Bungie was also extremely generous to its fans, supporting (and even
hosting) mods to the original games. It wasn't unique in this, but
there was - at the time - a trend for some publishers to crack down on
third-party mods and Bungie's openness was refreshing.

When I learned about Bungie leaving Microsoft - and, similarly, when
they separated from Activision - one of the first things that crossed
my mind was, "Oh good, maybe this means we'll finally get a proper
Myth sequel". Alas, in both instances it never happened, and I can't
imagine even Sony financing a game with such a limited market.

So, yeah, I have some fondness for Bungie, or at least the
Bungie-of-old. I might not be thrilled with all of their games but
they are a company capable of creating products of real quality, and -
in an industry dominated by companies that too often preferentiate
main-stream appeal over artistry, I'm happy to see them chugging
along, even if it does mean occasionally bowing their head to an
overlord like Microsoft or Sony. And who knows, maybe one day we will
get another sequel to"Myth." So long as Bungie survives, there's
always hope.

------------------
* A silly question; I'm sure many of you do. But just watch, I'm going
to be asking it again and again and again.

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