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Subject: Matt's Halo Update - September 21, 2001
Date: Fri, 21 Sep 2001 17:31:05 -0700
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From: "Matt Soell" <msoell@microsoft.com>
To: <halo@bungie.org>
X-OriginalArrivalTime: 22 Sep 2001 00:34:02.0464 (UTC) 
FILETIME=[47130600:01C142FE]


An eerie calm settles over Bungie HQ as we approach the moment when we
start calling them "release candidates" instead of just "builds."  A
sense of quiet contemplation sets in, and the silence of employees hard
at work is only broken by the occasional cry of "DIIIIIIIIIIIIIINK!" as
a rocket launcher or sniper rifle does its dirty work.  This is what
Bungie is all about.

- The Bear fixed a longstanding bug that allowed vehicles to push bipeds
through the map.  We fixed a few geometry issues as well; nothing major
though.

- Still fine-tuning performance and optimizing things all over the place
for the benefit of our framerate, which is (in Hardy's words) "very
playable, and only getting better."

- There's a lot of multiplayer "testing" going on at any given moment,
and some heated rivalries have emerged as a result.  One group of people
dubbed themselves the Halo Dream Team.  Some claim this name refers to
their dream of one day winning a match.

- Just because Marty is "done" doesn't mean he can't stay here until 2
in the morning adding 131 new Covenant Elite pain and death sounds to
the game. Jay claims that he and Marty have added 15,500 unique pieces
of audio to Halo at one time or another over the last four months; he
figures that works out to ten sounds an hour, or one new sound every six
minutes, every day for the last four months.  Marty said, "It's an
incredible, ridiculous workload, like doing sound for ten really complex
feature films at once...like ten Star Wars movies all in a row."  At
this point Joseph interrupted Marty's philosophical reverie with a cry
of "Hey George Lucas, could you shut up for a second and help me with
this sound problem over here?"  It's this sort of team spirit that has
propelled Bungie to the forefront of the industry.

- There are many elements of Halo we haven't discussed in public - and
we don't intend to start until long after everyone has played the game,
lest we spoil a cool surprise for someone.  So it's understandable that
I haven't said anything about the many easter eggs in Halo.  I'm not
about to start either - but I will say that it pays to look around.  And
you haven't really won Halo until you've won it on the highest
difficulty level.

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