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Former Destiny design director Joseph Staten returns to Microsoft
Joseph Staten, original holder of the Halo Bible and design director at Bungie, has returned to Microsoft, according to his LinkedIn profile page. In September, Bungie announced Staten was exiting his role as design director on Destiny; leaving the company after 15 years of service to tackle "new creative challenges." Bungie is set to launch its next franchise, a ten-year plan called Destiny, with Activision as its publishing partner later this year. According to Staten's LinkedIn profile, his new role at Microsoft Studios will be as Senior Creative Director. In a statement to Joystiq, Microsoft noted that Staten's role will be to shape the "franchise strategy for some Microsoft Studios titles." The publisher also clarified that Staten "is not working directly on the next Halo title." The Halo franchise is continuing in a new direction with developer 343 Industries at the helm. "We're thrilled to welcome Joseph back to the Microsoft Studios family. Over the past 15 years at Bungie, Joseph has been a key creative force behind some of gaming's most iconic and celebrated franchises, including Myth II, ONI and virtually every "Halo" game leading up to Halo: Reach." Microsoft's prepared statement said. "As a senior creative director, Joseph will help create the world's best entertainment on Xbox."
Destiny Design Director Joseph Staten leaves Bungie after 15 years
Joseph Staten, Destiny's writer and design director, is leaving Bungie. According to an announcement posted to Bungie's official site, Staten is "leaving to tackle new creative challenges." For his sake, we hope those challenges don't include real-life hostile aliens. During Staten's 15-year stay at Bungie, he was both creative lead and writer for the Halo series, and he spent the last four years on Destiny. Destiny, published by Activision, is slated to launch in 2014, and while Staten won't be around to see it ship he noted that he will be cheering on the rest of the development team when it does. Read Staten's full goodbye note below.
Bungie considered fantasy, modern settings for Destiny
You're probably at least semi-interested in Bungie's always-online console shooter called Destiny, yeah? Would you still be interested if it featured a stock fantasy or modern-day setting instead of far-future sci-fi? That was a distinct possibility, according to a piece at OXM. Bungie writer and design director Joseph Staten said the team ultimately gravitated toward a mix of sci-fi and fantasy "because it gave [them] this freedom." "Fantasy brings us this texture that we can wrap around sci-fi, which is really appealing, especially if you're an artist who's just been stuck making straight up space armour for ten years," Staten explains. "A bit of cloth is very refreshing." Head to OXM for the full write-up, and have a look past the cut for a four-minute trailer that introduces Destiny's setting and backstory.
Bungie's Destiny coming in 2013, features microtransactions and subscriptions
Bungie's long-rumored MMO project has been outed by the Los Angeles Times in its coverage of a games industry lawsuit. According to the article, the company is developing a new IP called Destiny consisting primarily of sci-fi first-person shooter titles, the first of which will launch in 2013 on the Xbox 360. The title will be sold at retail but will also feature DLC, microtransactions, and subscriptions. But is it an MMO? That's still to be determined; the company hasn't released details. Eurogamer has put together a piece summarizing various Bungie comments on the Destiny series, including hints at persistence and a long-term commitment from both fans and developers. "I can't get into specifics, but we're definitely looking at building a universe that people want to spend time in," community director Brian Jarrard said in April of 2010. Bungie's Joseph Staten also commented on the IP at GDC 2010. "Wouldn't it be great if we could make a world that was always there for you," he said.
Bungie on developing the character of Master Chief
Speaking to IndustryGamers, Bungie's Joseph Staten shared some insight on the studio's character choices for Halo's enigmatic Master Chief. According to Staten, it was a conscious design choice to keep players in the dark about specific details from the Chief's life. It helped immerse players in the role, said Staten, adding, "The less players knew about the Chief, we believed, the more they would feel like the Chief." Staten shared a few other details, notably that Cortana began solely as a "functional design requirement," namely a guide for the player; however, as she evolved, said Staten, she grew to highlight the Chief's humanity. Check out the full article for more on Bungie's design choices, including how the team introduced themes of loneliness and abandonment in order to help players "feel the weight of the Chief's heavy responsibilities" throughout the series.
Interview: Bungie discusses Activision, its 'new universe,' and what happens to Reach
If it seems like all you've read about today is Bungie, well ... that's probably not far from the truth. Whether it's information about the highly anticipated Halo Reach beta – whose early "friends and family" access began today (giveaway here!) – to some unique Halo Reach swag to the news that the now independent developer has partnered with headline hogger Activision, it's Bungie's world today. We spoke with Bungie's Brian Jarrard and Joseph Staten about everything from their choice of Activision, to their plans to support Reach post-release, to their transmedia plans for this "new universe" they keep talking about. Read on for the entire interview! Joystiq: What would you tell fans that worry about Activision's annualized business model and how that might affect the culture at Bungie? Brian Jarrard: The great news is that whatever business model Activision might have internally or applied to their first-party studios or their other properties isn't really relevant to our partnership and our plans for what we're going to do with our next, big universe. We have a specific deal that really allows Bungie to focus on what's most important to us which is remaining an independent company and owning our new IP and having creative control to really execute our vision of how we want this universe to play out over the next 10 years. We already have those plans pencilled in; we've already gone through a schedule with real dates and, sort of, real stuff with Activision at the outset of these discussions and we both have a plan that we agree on and that's exactly what Bungie's vision is for our next big universe. Did you guys seriously consider relationships with any other publishers before signing on with Activision? Joseph Staten: Sure, absolutely. We've been in negotiations with Activision for about nine months but we've certainly been planning for this conversation since we spun out from Microsoft in 2007. Over the years, I guess, we really talked to ... imagine any major publisher that you can think of and we've probably talked to them over the years. Activision, at the end of the day, was far and away the best deal.
Bungie & BioWare discuss franchise maintenance at GDC
As part of the GamesBeat "fireside chat" series during GDC 2010, Bungie's Joseph Staten and BioWare's Ray Muzyka discussed some of the challenges with maintaining big, huge franchises with Spike TV's Geoff Keighley. Staten noted that Bungie originally "had absolutely no 10-year plan" for the Halo franchise. Now, for Bungie's next project -- the one that isn't part of the Halo franchise -- Staten said that "the responsible thing to do" is to "create something with legs," adding that it's easier to secure funding with a project that has long term potential for investors. Muzyka added that it's important to create a product that keeps players emotionally engaged, so that they anticipate the next installment. When asked about how consumer feedback affects the development of a franchise, Muzyka pointed to the many changes that BioWare made to the various game mechanics and systems of Mass Effect when creating Mass Effect 2. "You've got to listen to fans," said Muzyka, "really, the changes you saw in the second game came from the feedback" from the first Mass Effect.
Bungie reveals new Halo 3: ODST campaign level, 'Kizingo Boulevard'
Save for the one story mission we saw at E3 2009 and the character introduction trailer, Halo 3:ODST's single-player campaign hasn't seen heavy exposure from developer Bungie. That all changed last night, when GTTV got a hold of design director Paul Bertone, who revealed "Kizingo Boulevard," a tank-based level that follows an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper from "kind of in the middle of the story." Later in the episode, Bungie's creative director, Joe Staten, teased a bit of info regarding next year's Halo: Reach, saying, "We're really excited about telling a story with more Spartans in it." Host Geoff Keighley pushes Staten on squad-based Halo rumors and receives an interesting answer: "Without any of the baggage of sort of squad-based combat, I think that would be a safe assumption." Maybe we'll finally find out what happened to Linda, Fred, and Kelly! ... we did not just write that. %Gallery-64703%
Halo 3: ODST controller pics hold clues into New Mombasa mysteries
prepare to drop ,,, into our gallery of controller pics At a press event last night, Bungie's Joseph Staten teased that the Halo 3: ODST controller's cryptic text should provide some clues into the mysteries of New Mombasa (if he did his job correctly, he said). Since our ability to decipher Bungie's clues has always left something to be desired (what's a Master Chief?), we thought we'd take some close-ups and ask The Internet to give it a shot.So, The Internet, tell us: what secrets does this controller hold? We'll scrub through your comments and pluck out the best theories, so grab your magnifying glasses and deerstalker caps and get to work!%Gallery-64818%
Halo: Contact Harvest lands #3 on NY Times list
See, mom? Video games do encourage reading. The novel Halo: Contact Harvest, which was released October 30, has this week landed on The New York Times' Best Sellers list for Paperback Trade Fiction, just behind Gabriel García Márquez's Love in the Time of Cholera and Sara Gruen's Water for Elephants. Contact Harvest was written by Bungie's Joseph Staten and tells of the human race's first encounter with the Covenant. Next week's bestseller list has already been tabulated it seems, as the Paperback Trade Fiction list for November 25 places Contact Harvest in the number four slot, swapping places with Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner.
New Halo novel Contact Harvest debuts Oct. 30th
Sergeant A.J. Johnson is easily one of Halo's most iconic characters, and we're sure fans will be delighted to know that the latest novel in the franchise centers around the charismatic character. Oh, and we should probably mention that the book is officially debuting next month. The book will be released on October 30th to be exact, one day shy of Halloween, though so far we have failed to make any significant connections to ghosts and goblins.The novel is penned by Bungie lead writer Joeseph Staten. Halo fans will also recognize Staten as the voice actor for many of the series grunts. In a way, players have been killing Staten for years. We wonder how he feels about that. We're sure he'll feel better if everyone buys the book.
