Microsoft and Bungie agree to start seeing other people.

REDMOND, Wash. — Oct. 5, 2007 — Microsoft Corp. today announced a plan for Bungie Studios, the developers of the “Halo^®” franchise, to embark on a path to become an independent company. Microsoft will retain an equity interest in Bungie, at the same time continuing its long-standing publishing agreement between Microsoft Game Studios and Bungie for the Microsoft-owned “Halo” intellectual property as well as other future properties developed by Bungie.

The critically acclaimed Xbox 360^®-exclusive “Halo 3” achieved $300 million in global sales in its first week. Released on Tuesday, Sept. 25, “Halo 3” is the fastest-selling video game ever and already one of the most successful entertainment properties in history.

“Our collaboration with Bungie has resulted in ‘Halo’ becoming an enduring mainstream hit,” said Shane Kim, corporate vice president of Microsoft Game Studios. “While we are supporting Bungie’s desire to return to its independent roots, we will continue to invest in our ‘Halo’ entertainment property with Bungie and other partners, such as Peter Jackson, on a new interactive series set in the ‘Halo’ universe. We look forward to great success with Bungie as our long-term relationship continues to evolve through ‘Halo’-related titles and new IP created by Bungie.”

“This exciting evolution of our relationship with Microsoft will enable us to expand both creatively and organizationally in our mission to create world-class games,” said Harold Ryan, studio head for Bungie. “We will continue to develop with our primary focus on Microsoft^® platforms; we greatly value our mutually prosperous relationship with our publisher, Microsoft Game Studios; and we look forward to continuing that affiliation through ‘Halo’ and beyond.”

Bungie Studios will remain in its current location in Kirkland, Wash.

Cyberball 2072 impressions

Hey Microsoft... Why don't you just come to my house and kick me in the balls? It feels like you already did. First my Xbox 360 dies just before the long awaited (for me anyway) Cyberball 2072 gets released and right in the middle of playing Bioshock. That turns out to be ok because a friend of mine let me use his 360 because he didn't have a screen to play it on. So with glee on Wednesday morning I fired up the old 360 and downloaded Cyberball 2072 before work. I played a quick game and was immediately concerned that nothing extra was done -- no enhanced graphics, or play modes. However, it was the exact game from the arcades that I dropped so many quarters into. I went to work feeling excited because I couldn't wait to go home and play someone online. That is what the game is about after all. I remember facing off against savvy opponents in the arcade and dreading seeing certain people playing the game, knowing it was going to be a tough battle. I got home last night and loaded up the game then clicked on mulitplayer for the first time. Well guess what? The only mode available in multiplayer is CoOP! What the hell were they thinking? This game was announced a long time ago and I assumed it was taking this long to come out because they were either doing extra stuff or tweaking multiplayer. It looks like they were just sitting on their asses doing jack-squat. What's wrong Microsoft was it too technically difficult to get head to head multiplayer working in a twenty year old game? That's odd because games like APF 2k8 run great head to head. Maybe you just ran out of funds because you had to spend so much money fixing all the crapped out 360s you have been selling everyone.

Lots of sites like to give out numeric reviews, well here is mine: -1.