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Microsoft snagged Bungie just days before Apple
Jobs was reportedly "furious" when Microsoft announced the acquisition, according to former Redmond executive Ed Fries. "He was mad at Ballmer and phoned him up and was angry because we'd just bought the premier Mac game developer and made them an Xbox developer." Ballmer tasked Fries with defusing the situation, and he cooled Jobs off by promising that certain PC games would be ported to Mac -- no specific titles were mentioned in the interview. "It was a pretty strange time," Fries added.
User Comments: 56
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woah! Apple missed a great opportunity there, I'm guessing Steve Jobs didn't really think about the gaming platform that much back then; had he known Bungie would be so successful with their Halo series he would have acquired them in a heartbeat. This just goes to show you that sometimes opportunities only present themselves once in a lifetime; and if you miss them once; they're gone forever.
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hee hee.... 'Furious', Yeah Jobs, lots of people get "Furious" when your 400 pound products start breaking after the warranty has run out.
Git
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I, for one, am glad MSFT snapped up Bungie; I don't want a PC that's overpriced just because it's shaped like a Spartan helmet.
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citac said:
meh Score Board Microsoft +1 Apple + 50 so far and counting, btw im a microsoft man just Apple has been slowly kicking ass for a while, look at market share + steam engine = they dont need to buy this gaming company. Microsoft needs to crush apple before they take over.
PLEASE!!!! Macs are overpriced crap! the OSX is supercilious and pretentious compared to Windows Vista 64 bit (with atleast 4gb)and Windows 7. Apple is riding the IPODPHONEPAD wave and thats it! they failed as a computer company once and STEVE will fail again! FAIL I SAY FAIL.
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Thats strange, I would have never guessed that situation. But as an apple fan nowadays, I am still glad Microsoft got that deal, because bungie brought so much to xbox!
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Whos play games on Mac anyways!!??
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Its strange that apple would even want a gaming franchise. They do not even have a gaming platform to release games to. I guess their computers could run games. Halo works so well with the xbox though.
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can you spell owned ?
or pwnd if you're leet :P -
I loved the first and second Halo games(didn't like the ending of the 3rd so don't follow them anymore), I played them ALOT =) so I'm glad that Microsoft got Bungie instead of apple because I doubt apple would have pushed Bungie to make an iconic sci fi first person shooter alot of people know of and love today.
I'm sure I read anoth article on techspot about something very similar happening with first Sony Playstation. Nintendo wanted Sony to design and build a Playstation(wasn't called this then) for them and then nintendo were going to turn the design plans over to sharp I think so Sony kept the plans and went to work 'manufacturing' the Sony Playstation, another nice story =)
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freythman said:
madboyv1 said:To think what could have been: Halo on your iphone...
I both laugh and shudder from the concept of that.
I would cry myself to sleep every night if that happened.
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I think it all worked out for the best. Had Xbox not had Halo....it would've went to way of the Dreamcast. In the end consumers win with Sony and Microsoft competing in the console world.
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I wonder what halo would have turned out to be under Apple influence and the xbox wouldnt be as popular i think.
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"iHalo' just sounds bad.
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haha Jobs just wanna wait it out and possibly negotiate a lower price probably but MS saw it and went for it. sometimes you just have to watch out other potential buys instead assuming the world revolves around you Jobs. i'm trying to replace the word Bungie with a good used car, i think it's the exact same situation
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In the long run, this might be a mixed-blessing for Apple. Seeing as how they are just now entering the games market and are riding the crest of their ultra-trendy wave, they can probably just invest in social media, free to play, or other "lite" versions of games rather than the more capital intensive "AAA" version that Bungie represents.
Both companies need to recognize who their core demographic is. With Apple, it's more image-savvy people (women) who don't care for serious gaming. Windows, on the other hand, has more of a "core gamer" demographic as its customer base. Microsoft seems to be recognizing this trend (belatedly, again) with their oft-revamped Games for Windows program. If Apple is truly the visionary company they often prove themselves to be, they should see the writing on the wall and invest in more casual, trendy-friendly gaming. I personally think they are on the right track by concentrating on providing the best, sleekest, most hip platform on which games can be played, and letting others worry about developing the content itself. That being said, they can probably afford to invest a bit in the content-generation business as well.
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Halo Touch?
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the first game which I ever played and finished is halo.....I love play it again and again even I don't have 2nd and 3rd. waiting for it N pc to support for it....wow.
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cardriverx said:
In some alternate universe, Apple bought bungie, and as a result a Mac is the thing to buy if you are a gamer. Man, that would be horrible.
what i see here though, is no one is going to spend the extra cash for an apple computer just to play a game, especially when Halo was just coming out. People may shell out as much as $400 dollars for a PS3 if there is a title they want, but over 1200 for a decent enough apple? I think not.
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Wow. Imagine what would have happened if Bungie was bought by Apple instead of Microsoft. I remember Halo being in development for years. It was supposed to be the first massive online only game...and then eventually Bungie released it as Halo. Microsoft might not have had the XBox without the initial release and success of Halo.
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Get over it and do it yourself, if you cared about bringing gaming to macs then not getting bungie would just be a minor speed bump.
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It's better this way,imagine if Halo was Mac only game? Xbox version would never even be under consideration,less the PC variant
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treeski said:
I've never gotten serious about console gaming, but Halo is always fun when I'm hangin out and friends' places, so I'm happy it ended up on the Xbox. Good job Microsoft
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I hate that apple wants to be EVERYWHERE. Well i don't mind phones, mp3 players, but even games?? FOR PC!? Man, the world is going crazy. Go back to your normal job, Job.
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I think this story is a bit exaggerated. They are just dramatizing what really happened. What do you think?
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@klepto12 - Bungie split with MS (while MS owns the Halo IP) because of differences of opinion. They had "differences of opinion" on halo and it reached a point they were going to walk away from each other while there still civil.
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