I have the countdown timer still running at 10 hours and 40 minutes and counting, I'm leaving it up to see if it still changes tomorrow morning!

Heres hoping for luck!

Mikey

@AZRoboto:

5. Plans don't change at the last minute

Four words:
Warhammer: Age of Reckoning.

But, we'll have to see what happens tommorow.

Diomades

HMMMM he sent the email on July (7 month) 1+5 + 2+0+0+8= 16 ...1+6 =7 and at 7PM .....looks like something fishy is going on.

SoldierX25

I call fake.
1. 7PM
2. Not back to home page
3. No signature
4. It's an image
5. Plans don't change at the last minute
6. They wouldn't fly Bungie down there just to say "F U."
7. Microsoft knows that a Bungie announcement would sky rocket them.

Notice how there are 7 reasons to why this is fake...

AZRoboto

Didn't they just get out from under the big-guy MS as their producer, so they could become independent?

Who is this new asshole producer?

What a dick.

sir_carrot

@kommanderk: OK. Since you can't seem to process this simple knowledge (or because you're a masochist), how about this quote from an October '07 ABC News article:

Bungie will develop games exclusively for Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Windows PC platforms "for the foreseeable future," said Harold Ryan, Bungie's president and studio head, in an interview.

Will you go away now?

justhesh

The one thing I was really looking forward too about E3. I mean, the Final Fantasy for 360 thing is awesome, since I love the series, but...

I really wanted to see what they were planning on doing. I was hoping for something completely new and non-Halo related. Oh well.

Apparatus Ex Somnium Design

@kommanderk: Harold Ryan is the president of Bungie. Look at Luke's post. Plus, there was a article in Game Informer interviewing him were they identified him the president of Bungie.

Treecubed

@SG_Mahonay: 1) Unbunch panties.
2) Re-evaluate life situation.

I declare shenanigans and/or tomfoolery.

Medicine Seller [ZTF]

Obviously this is part of the play.

Strangely, biggest evidence is the fact that it was posted at 7:00pm.

And it's insanely unlikely for a publisher to do this at the last minute. Whether they announce something tomorrow or not I don't know. But I'm pretty sure it was all planned.

sailingtonorway

It is Microsoft's secret weapon.. besides, this builds suspense!!

ps: the new game is ONI 2!

Lyme

360 fanboy is pwning you guys on investigativeness:

[www.xbox360fanboy.com]

[blogs.mercurynews.com]

agdTinMan

@Mister Adequate: Bungie employees have confirmed that this isn't a joke on other forums.

Korey

The message was sent at 7. Seem like a coincidence. Also why would the timer stop right at 12 hours left. FUCKING MADNESS

JustJake

Countdown is continuing. We will know what's up at 7am Pacific, or possibly 07:07 or some such.

Plus Bungie have said "There will be delays".

I think it's all part of the plan.

Mister Adequate

I R SAD FAICED!

I was looking forward to the timer to end and the good stuff to be reveiled.

JustJake

@justhesh: yea OK, why am I wrong exactly? have you not seen bungies past hype machines for their games? and the fact that the guy listed on the letter is not their companies president?

please show me your proof? unless you are just another asshole posting on here today along with fallom

kommanderk

Hold up. Didn't Bungie leave Microsoft so they could MAKE THEIR OWN DECISIONS?

I had no idea that publishers had this much control over independent studios. That they could even cut a carefully planned announcement months in the making.

Korey

Bungie got cock blocked

kstrod20

You mean I got my panties in a bunch for no reason? Now what am I supposed to do...

SG_Mahonay

DAMN U PUBLISHERSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

maraxusofk

Remember before this was there the site said "There will be delays" this is all part of the campaign

ddollar

@kommanderk: Uh. The point is that you're wrong.

justhesh

@Fallom: @kommanderk: Lol @ you two. Internet diplomacy at its finest!

freakout

Wouldn't they have fixed the site to its original form if this was true.

Master_Achilles

@Luke Plunkett: Wow. They got to you too!!!

It's all a conspiracy!!!

JohnnyHundo

@PsycheE:

That's what I thought. If Microosft is the publisher, they may think they had enough bang for this E3 and thought they should shelve this big announcement for another show

LittleBigPlaneteer

@DontTouchMyDaughterYouFilthyGaijin:

QFT

Everyone knows MS still has publishing agreements with Bungie....so stop the dumb specualtino of other companies getting involved.

Microsoft saw that they easily won this years E3, so they decided to save this possibly MEGATON ANNOUNCEMENT for when they want to pull it out of their sleeves.

I think its a good call on their part.

kgetz3

@kommanderk: You misspelled douche.

Kidding.

But you did.

Spartan1308™

At least we can look forward to Wii Music.

james castle

Not announcing a new game at E3? Wow I must be in the twilight zone...

ichiban1081

hmmm seems to coincidental first that warning message now this, this is definetely part of bungies plans to build hype for the game. also like some pointed out look at the time 7.00pm... bungie is obsessed with the number 7.

Milkzhakes

@Fallom: My answer is you are a douch, go the fuck away

kommanderk

WTF?! What kind of stupid publisher would block a big announcment of their at E3? Whomever the publisher of this game is can go fuck themselves.

WPack911

@justhesh: and your point is? I know its on bungies site, but bungie isn't owned by Microsoft anymore, that and Harold Ryan isn't the president of the company like the letter says

kommanderk

@kommanderk: Answer the question

Fallom

Anyone remember how Shigeru Miyamoto said he could make Halo? Notice how the character that Bungie is showing is a plumber? Maybe they are going to make a platformer.

Treecubed

"For the last several months" Several = Seven!

I honestly believe the email but I'm enjoying the heat from this fire, so I'll keep adding to it.

savemeaquaman

@ShatteringLast:

Remember back to last weeks weekly update, at the end was this list:

"Major changes to the Halo 3 Online experience
Sweet Announcements
Poignant Clarifications
Certain-point-of-view Truths
Things you will love
Things you will argue about
Things you will make angry videos about "

Fishy to me. Again, numerous bungie employees have posted on b.net stating it isn't faked.

Mr Fortitude

It's all part of there plan.....

Pieman2

it's probably going to be guitar hero:master chief edition. it will come with a green guitar and a wearable spartan helmet. it will retail for 699 american dollars!

cephun

I think it would be funny if Sony was publishing this new Game.

But, in reality I hope it's something truly new and epic.

Chaospluto

@Mr Fortitude: You won.

3. The letter is an image, homepage_04 when previously the site was homepage_03. This means that chances are good it was planned.

03+04=07 i tried to access that on the server.. no deal, there are no images number 01,02,05,06,07,09,10.

Another 7.

sovietspartan

Maybe its Halo DS back from teh grave?

KirbyMorph

@DontTouchMyDaughterYouFilthyGaijin: Remember a couple years ago when Sony had that infamous Killzone E3? And then the very next year Nintendo totally owned E3. And now it's MS's turn. If they really did have some huge Bungie-related announcement, I don't see why they'd bother to "hold back".

dowingba

MSFT won't block it.

OR...maybe, they knew FFXIII was enough of a whammie for E3 and holding the news till...TGS?

PsycheE

Were it Microsoft, don't you think they'd be shouting from the rooftops about it? Subtlety is not their forte. They're not ones to keep quiet about anything.

Though, the whole "saving their load" theory holds some merit.

@kommanderk: Hey, the letter is on BUNGIE'S website.

justhesh

Some notes...

1) Stop quoting some old halopedia article. Harold Ryan is President of Bungie, he was FORMERLY a tester.

2) This is, as far as we're hearing from LA, in no way a hoax, a joke or a publicity stunt.

So stop whining.

Luke Plunkett

I call bullshit.

I mean come on, it just HAPPENS that they cant reveal the game anymore after a long countdown? Thats way too skeptical.

sadisticfreak432

@Fallom: i think you are needed elsewhere grammer nazi

kommanderk

Erm... Publicity stunt
That's one sure fire way to get interest sparked in a game, without Master Chief, the fans are not as interested. By leaking the "no chief" stories early, they can dampen the blow the fanboys outcrys may do by covering it over with a denied showing debacle to muffle their anguished cries

I love Halo but i'm still waiting for the "Combat Evolved" part to kick in...

Kingsandy

@kommanderk: Is English your first language?

Fallom

Fake

Piglatin02

NO. I actually think I might know what's going on here.

Yeah, we all heard about the possibility of Bungie going multiplatform but to my knowledge, they're still under conract with Microsoft to publish their next couple of games.

Now, lets think about how E3 went down this year.

1. Nintendo

complete fucking joke. they might as well not have even shown up. they'll sell their wii motion bs to soccermoms and trendy people and the ninty hardcore but they shouldn't even be included in these discussions anyways. they're not a videogame company anymore.

2. Sony

some PSN tweaks and updates, CG concept movies for PS3 games that aren't going to be out this year, and some pretty slick PSP titles. all in all though, nothing to write home about. dissapointing, actually.

3. Microsoft

MAJOR updates to their dashboard interface (love em or hate em, the choice is yours!) great demonstrations of AAA titles coming out THIS year, and pretty much just continuing to refine and improve the quality of their platform. lets not forget about "The Announcement" either, probably the biggest loss of an exclusive title to ever
hit the industry aside from GTA.

Now, after seeing what the competition had to (rather didn't) have to offer, if you were Microsoft, would you pull back on a huge Bungie (possibly Halo) related announcement and save it for later? I mean, if Bungie had something of that magnitude it might steal some spotlight away from the other awesome games coming this year, which are more than enough to give MS a nice advantage over Sony and Nintendo as far as quality games go this holiday. If I were Microsoft, I would pull back a little bit. No reason to announce a huge game that might not even be that far into development when it could possibly take some hype away from other titles closer down the pipeline.

just my 2 cents

DontTouchMyDaughterYouFilthyGaijin

Their publisher should be kicked in the nuts.

Amazon_Chris

Kotaku you guys need to do your research. Harold Ryan is a testor not the president.

im pretty sure they are making a game for a diffrnet company, and since they have made a new mascot called the plumber it could even be nintendo.

they are going to make an anouncment and i think its going to be a big one

kommanderk

Halo! It's a me! Mario!

xiaNaix

So they bought their independence from MS so they could be pushed around by someone else. Ahhhh! What's that smell?

Spartan1308™

Its a hoax I'm calling it, I'm not really sure about this but I was not aware that Harold Ryan is the president of Bungie.

Belias

Yarrr, looks like we'll have to wait a little longer.

Suberus

halo.bungie.org contacted multiple Bungie employees about it and they confirmed it's not a joke.
[halo.bungie.org]

Then again, Bungie might still be pulling our legs, I wouldn't put it past them.

Archaos

@Moonshadow101: very well put.
If I didn't know any better I'd say YOU planed all of this and the Idea of "consoles" was actually made by you, and every moment you breath is to conceive ways to slowly corrupt the minds of our children into violent spasms of rage and whining until every adult with a child is forced to strangle themselfs by your grand design.
Need I say more.

(Greatest run-on of all time)

deathtastic

I really don't think this is real. I would just wait until 07:07:07 tomorrow

Neocorey

Damn MS.......I assume.

KaoKing

Guaranteed this will be leaked somehow by the end of the week.

dowingba

HA! Lies. It will be revealed tommorow, make no mistake *I hope*.

Sir_Crocidile

@Mr Fortitude:

... Go on...

I really hope that's the case. Aside from the Xbox announcements, the new Bungie reveal was one of the things I was most looking forward to seenig at e3.

ShatteringLast

Come on its going to be an epic battle-field type game with guns that shoot kittens. That or a new Marco Polo game hosted by Master Chief.

goldwings

@EGBTMagus: Who *wasn't* at Sony's press event? It's E3, everybody's already there and it's not like they have more than one conference at a time.

Fallom

@Moonshadow101: hahahaha that was perfect

AcE218

Huh, I wonder if its Sony. They were at Sony's press event today.

EGBTMagus

@Candlejack:

Well Bungie did sit in on Sony conference, probably doesn't mean anything but then again you never know.

Sparx

Remember Reggie promised a game for the Wii that would make core gamers very happy? What happened to it? Certainly isn't Animal Crossing. I wonder if this is related.

xiaNaix

Damn, What if this was Sony's kick on the knee to M$?

AngelMayLaugh

That sounds like a lie. Bungie certainly has the clout to override their publisher's decision.

Fallom

Ditch the publisher.

Zunnoab

@kumuasata:
Thats how Nintendo became so rich.

deathtastic

1. You don't start a small campaign (web site change and superintendant all over halo 3 mm) without first knowing damn sure everything is set.

2. The letter is posted at 7:00. The number 7 just happens to be bungies favorite number, because it is darker.

3. The letter is an image, homepage_04 when previously the site was homepage_03. This means that chances are good it was planned.

4. Just because I don't want it to be true.

Mr Fortitude

@OmegaKulu: My Guess?

Microsoft: Okay, so when Sony or Nintendo announce thier ground-breaking thing, we bust out Bungie.

Nintendo:*Crickets*
Sony:*Crickets*

Microsoft: Oh. Well, then.

Moonshadow101

Knowing the dark secrets that I do, I can completely understand why. No one wants to see Master Chief with a cowbell instead of a gun in the new Halo game.

......wait.....shit!

/lame comment of the night.

Dragoona

@Candlejack:
Sony apologizes for the delay to Marathon.

enewtabie

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't Bungie in an exclusive publishing deal with Microsoft for the foreseaable future?

Yaponvezos

Fission mailed.

Sorry, all of you 13-year old Bungie fans.

FoxyGaz

They could always just...you know... leak it.

Guvnah

Personally, i would guess that, what ever it is, it just too far in terms of time line to start hyping up the project.

OmegaKulu

What publisher would have a reason to abruptly change their plans?

Yaywalter

@argh:

seconded. though theres nothing else blizz can possibly announce now to arouse my interest as much as sc2 or d3.. other than sc3 and d4.

Spiral

It either wasn't ready or it was lame.

karmaghost

Pretty much prevents the publisher being Microsoft...

CanaryWundaboy

That's a pretty big disappointment. I wonder why their publisher doesn't want them to unveil it.

zeldarooles

Nintendo ... new pub is Nintendo!

They are working on a more gritty Mario game for the "core"!

EnigmaNemesis

Ugh, that seriously sucks.

I was really looking forward to this.

Cheebahawk

What a shame. I was looking forward to Super Halo World or Halo Sunshine. With other spinoffs as Halo Kart, and such lol

:]

kumuasata

Ouch. Glad I'm not a hardcore Bungie follower. If Blizzard pulled something like this I'd freak out.

argh

lol. Well at least they came out and say it. Mad props to them. Hope it's something not halo like and totally new and exciting.

macr0planet

Possible publishers in my eyes:
- EA
- Ubisoft
- Sony (LOL I said it *SCNR*)

Possible games in my eyes:
- Completely new IP. Nothing else is possible.

I'm keeping my eyes peeled! Wide open! Awesome announcement inbound.

Candlejack

Dang.

Also, I was literally a second from hitting "send" on a tip regarding this. Double dang.

Bort

Bastards...Damn publishers, one would think you would let the publisher know about this type of reveal prior to LETTING IT BE PUT ON THE INTERNET, stupid move Bungie.

ghnvt

Maybe this is part of their plan.

...please!

MetalGearMax

I don't think Bungie would have gone through their usual fake website stuff just to shitcan it at the last minute. I'm guessing this is legit.

Yeah, it is weird, but it's not unprecedented for "unexpected developments" to have an effect on scheduled information releases - back in January the same thing happened when Warner went Blu-Ray and Toshiba cancelled the HD DVD presser a few days later.

KaneRobot

People realize, I hope, that whether they tell us now or in a week that the game won't be out for months, whatever it may be. Patience is a virtue.

justhesh

Damnit, this was the one thing besides Fallout 3 I was really looking forward to this E3. Boo-urns.

Strangelove

Metroid Dread.... It's gotta be.

>:[

RWHC

Aww man, got me all excited for nothing. Microsoft obviously wants to use this announcement down the track, they already had a bombshell this week with FFXIII so they can use the new bungie game to peak interest when they have a lull.

el_rezzo

@AZRoboto: Likely true,but who knows maybe the fact there press conference aside from Gears and 2 games available on the PS3 was a little to casual and JRPG heavy.And feared the pr backlash of they're premier "hardcore" studio doing a cutsy janitor clean up platformer.

xIvSlowDeath420

@Mr Fortitude: Exactly. There's NO WAY the publisher is unprofessional enough to yank it last second after a build up like that, they would have done it anyway. Also, Bungie employees are of course going to say it's not a joke.. What are you expecting, for them to say it is a joke?

Hopefully this is a gag.

GiantEnemyCrab

This E3 gets worse and worse. I hope they don't even have one next year.

Placentasaurus

What the hell Bungie!

Quicksilver4648

all part of the plan.

Kajiba

Sent at 7:00 PM. A Bungie shenanigan trademark.

I call amazing shenanigans tomorrow anyway!

Don't listen to the cancellation announcement!

CarbonFalcon

Please make the sevens stop! Someone think of the children!!

SG_Mahonay

@dowingba: Encyclopedia, we've got this case cracked wide open!

justhesh

Another 7 guys.... you wont believe this.

The speech? the actual message?

Formatted to be 7 lines.

Sort of

Like

This

Message....

sovietspartan

that sucks

pumpkinpunker

@justhesh: October 7th?!

dowingba

@Zips: I feel like a fool. It probably is viral marketing. Meanies. :)

Zunnoab

@letsgetacid: ANOUNCEMENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED

there is your 7

sovietspartan

You guys realize this has been planned for days/weeks now? They (Bungie or whomever is in charge of this marketing strategy) has said that you "will be disappointed" in the announcement.

Hey, guess what? People are disappointed at this. It was all planned. Whether or not there will be a big reveal during E3 or not is of real no matter. They could still be going on with some viral marketing thing, it could be a hoax, it could be real, and it could have been planned for a while now (which it sounds like it has been).

And if there is something with the number "7", maybe some big reveal will come on 7-17, the last day of the show.

Zips

Has anyone been able to comment on the blind item? It looks like it is frozen at 79 comments.

And because it is, I'm retyping my comment here:

I call bullshit on the whole thing. And sometimes I seriously wish Bungie would just announce "it", instead of being so arcane about everything.

hodayathink: I like neo-noir lesbians

Uh, check out the page head on this page:
[209.85.141.104]
"Welcome to Bungie Studios : The Tru7h. The Whole Tru7h. And Nothing but the Tru7h.
"

d3ath_fly

KEEP IT CLEAN
PLEASE REMAIN CALM
THERE WILL BE DELAYS

Count the syllables. It goes up by one each time. So should we wait for a couple more for 7?

letsgetacid

"Publisher" meaning who?

fenderfuel08

@Ratfoot_Revived: The superintendant is Thurgood from the PJs, right?

justhesh

@Mr Fortitude: That's 7 items right there

d3ath_fly

@KaneRobot: so that begs the question...

what major announcement affected Bungie (or Microsoft) so harshly that they'd cancel something like this?

frank0127

Seriously look at what the superintendent has been saying.
KEEP IT CLEAN
PLEASE REMAIN CALM
THERE WILL BE DELAYS
They had this thing planned all along.

Ratfoot_Revived

I still think its the squad based halo game mentioned in the rumors. MS decided not to announce it since there were no major surprises from the competition.

lc204

@kumuasata:
Yea, but then that'll lead to Master Chief Cooking, Halo Fit, Covenant Crossing, Big Brute Academy, and the Flood training/raising simulators. Each of which comes with their own peripheral.

Darkest Daze

@xiaNaix:

If only that were in any way likely.

(Although I would still be disappointed since I don't yet own a Wii.)

CarbonFalcon

Thats what you get for leaving MGS.

balls187 upside yo head

Looks like Bungie was working on a massive multiplayer FPS and Sony's had better stats.

FoxHoundADAM

Also of note is that some Bungie forum members noticed a change on the main page after the letter went up - [www.bungie.net]

The side lettering changed. Rather odd that they'd go about the trouble of changing that just to add a letter, eh?

Zips

Sorry, I'm not trying to "keep up broken hopes" or anything, but this is OBVIOUSLY part of the countdown. First of all, knowing Bungies association with 7, there's no way they would post this at exactly 7 to add fuel to the fire.

Second, They wouldn't post this on the overlay of the countdown. They would have taken it down completely.

It's just... so obvious.

If it were a legit takedown, they wouldn't leave room for speculation.

QuackerJacks

@Placentasaurus: "This E3 gets worse and worse" Well, maybe because of Nintendo. I will admit I think Nintendo has put up the worst E3 showing I've ever seen, with Wii Sports 2 as their big game and such. The Wiimote add-on, the voice chat sensor... I was like really, from the people who made the N64 and SNES, was that it? Just a casual Wiimote Demo game and an uneccesary add on(My Wiimote sensor bar works just fine, thanks?) I am totally unimpressed.

This news about the Bungie announcement being held back just makes it all worse. Maybe you're right, this totally is the worst E3 ever.

fenderfuel08

@Luke Plunkett: Holy crap! Crack that whip.

FoxyGaz

<-Hardcore Bungie fan who doesn't know what to think...

Ima go finish Bioshock now (no jokes!).

Ragnarok_Comes

@tomassetti13: Impressive. The 7s people are finding seemed coincidental, but I think your find may hold a little water.

Or, its just possible that the number 7 is just VERY common throughout all we do as humans. I mean, it is God's number right?

Roll 2 dice, what's the most commonly rolled number? 7. How many days in a week? 7. I could go on...

AryzonaBay

@tomassetti13: NICE! good find man!

d3ath_fly

This isn't fake. Don't expect an announcement at E3. Bungie just likes the number 7. Don't look too much into the apology letter.

kojirodensetsu

If it is viral, I think it's an odd choice.

BUT....

If it's not, it's the biggest string of coincidences ever. They gave out the gamerpics and themes on Bungie Day. The Weekly Update says people will make angry videos. The cryptic messages have said "There will be delays." and "Remain clam." The letter goes up at 7.

On their forums, they've only commented in only one thread that I could find out of the 50+ threads in more than one forum. Why only one? Why in only one of their forums - which interestingly is the Halo 3 forum and NOT the Bungie Community forum.

And in that ONE thread, TWO guys posted (Stosh and Archonos, if you are familiar) and they both say simply "It's not fake." Why say the exact same thing twice in one thread if you aren't going to post anywhere else. And one was a response to the first.

It's al just so very odd, and if it isn't planned, it's REALLY odd.

lionkitten

Word count (not counting 15, 2008, and 7:00pm, obviously) = 98, 98 is divisible by 7 14 times with nothing left over.

Total number of characters in the body (not including header or outro)? 539. 539 is also divisible by 7, guess how many times?

77.

This is so obviously fake...

Do that math your self if you want:

From: Harold Ryan
Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2008 7:00PM
Subject: E3 Announce
For the last several months, we've been building toward a reveal of something exciting that Bungie is working on. We were looking forward to sharing that with our fan community during the week of E3. However, those plans were just changed by our publisher. We realize that many of our fans are disappointed by this turn of events; members of the Bungie team share that disappointment. When the right time comes, we look forward to sharing this exciting announcement with you. Until then, we appreciate your continued support and patience.
Harold Ryan
President
Bungie LLC

tomassetti13

@DontTouchMyDaughterYouFilthyGaijin:

I absolutely agree. Also, for the record in case no one's said it, the guy that runs halo.bungie.org says unequivocally it's NOT a stunt, and there really is a hold by MS to not have an announcement.

WTF is "Halo Blue?" If the announcement is related to that, isn't that coming in September? So, it wouldn't make sense to hold that, would it, since that's only a couple months away? Must be something else.

mcmurder

I think that this is some of the best viral marketing in a LONG time. Every Bungie employee was prepped for it, and have scattered to different sites to say it's real. The 7:00 thing is no coincidence. There are 7 lines in the email, they would have gone back to their original homepage if it was truly real, the email is an image, it's labeled as such, Bungie is too saavy to let something like this happen. I'll admit, them removing the teaser images from Halo 3 was a good step, but this is all a ruse, and, if anything, it makes me MORE excited for the announcement. Well played Bungie, mission accomplished!

The Magnificen7

@Diomades: Um... The game is scheduled to come out 4-5 months from now. I wouldn't call that last minute.

Neocorey

This is planned. And I call the news: Master Cheif in FF XIII. ;-)

Mordochai

It's a trap!

Snuffbox

@tomassetti13: HAHA! Same.

d3ath_fly

@AryzonaBay:

The thing that leads me to think this is not coincidence pertains to how the message was written. Most of the sentences seemed drawn out, unnecessary wording, and just plain weird looking. Originally I wasn't going to bother, but when I read it a second time, the message felt so odd to say out loud that I felt that something is in there. "Fan Community" could just be Community, "The Week of E3" could just be referred to as "This week", etc.

Another thing that leads me to believe it was fake was how Harold Ryan referred to himself as "president", one word. I've never seen him referred to, or any Bungie employee for that matter, as president. Harold Ryan has refereed to himself, and has been referred as by others, "Studio Manager".

All this speculation I have and I'm not even a fan of Halo. Think the game's generic as hell... I just love puzzles. :D

tomassetti13

On the side of the image on the homepage it used to say "Death Angel" in cryptic writing, but now it's different. Maybe a new Oni game?

d3ath_fly

We asked how he was and Marty replied "I'm quite calm."

Remain calm? Hmmmmmmm

If you don't know, Marty wrote all the Halo music and is audio director for Bungie.

lionkitten

GUYS. I just sneezed SEVEN TIMES.

phinehas

Marty O'Donnell just posted on the boards, and he's being cryptic. Seems like he gave an answer, but not really an answer. I'll come back if he posts again. We all asked him questions....

lionkitten

Well none the less, I'll be waking up just shy of 10 am EST (7 am PST) to see what happens when that countdown ends at 07:07:07 because i still have it running

Mikey

@Zips: Hmm very fishy indeed. I think that cinches it. Bungie are known for this sort of ridiculously elaborate internet trickery, and there are just simply way too many fishy things about this letter.

dowingba

No! I don't believe that Bungie is faking this. I think that really are gonna not shot this. But I am real pissed at these unnamed publishers. In fact, if I find out it is EA, I will light a few hundred joints in the EA HQ's air vents and get them all stoned.

michaelleung

It would be unfortunate if some 'hacker' somehow got the trailer and info, and it um.. somehow leaked onto the net..

I bet the publisher would be upset.. but the Bungie fans would be happy..

Not suggesting anything Bungie.

Vanguarde

I'm calling Shinanigans!!

If they were not going to announce anything, why hasn't the Bungie.net site go back to normal??

I'm sure we'll hear something at the end of E3!

freemonk

@michaelleung:

You're going to reward the publisher for pissing you off?

That's quite the odd thing to do.

And how exactly would one go about lighting a few hundred joints in a vent? I think it'd be pretty hard. By the time you lit the 4th one I'd be willing to bet you'd be sidetracked by the way the light from the lighter glistens off of the sheet metal.

tomassetti13

@QuiLink:
Stop spamming all messageboards!!!

Garo

Microsoft XBOX 360 ELITE ULTIMATE BUNDLE PACK! 34 GAMES
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QuiLink

Microsoft XBOX 360 ELITE ULTIMATE BUNDLE PACK! 34 GAMES

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QuiLink

obviously it's a fake otherwise it wouldn't be in Jpeg form. heck, it wouldn't be in that email form. it's not an email, it's an update to the website.
has anyone taken a look at the page source code? there are two hidden input fields and one has a ton of what looks like encrypted code... it appears to me to be an encrypted URL.
I'm thinking something similar to what you'd find in the "not Pr0n" game. somehow using the information given it seems like we should be able to decrypt that. The page works just fine if you remove it, so they want us to see that.
if this is the case, they've given us several potential clues for deciphering this:
•#of lines of text = 7
•sent at 7:00PM aka 19:00
•"timer" 00:12:00:00 (I suspect possibly some sort of pattern for decryption)
•in the source there is a note that says "server = 5" at this point I think that is nothing
•some of the wording is very cryptic for the "intended" message could be some textual clues

maybe some math type nerds can figure it out, this is not my forte.
or maybe I'm way off on this one... but those input fields are very suspicious.

mr_deadpool

What's going on @ ilovebees (dot) com? Anyone who knows more than me, please comment.

Mordochai

This is weird.
Devs are seen at Sony's conference, and now this.
D'you think Sony upstaged them on something?

david78

According to 1Up this is not a joke, the publisher is Microsoft and the reason for the postponement is they don't want Gears 2 to overshadow the Bungie title (or the other way round...).
[www.1up.com]

Maybe they announce it at GC next month in Leipzig?

Starsky

This is a strange way to go about your business. And when Bungie do strange it's normally a PR stunt.

Doesn't mean the annoucement is not cancelled, but I think Bungie probably intended to start all these conspiracy theories to build hype.

IronsUK

Damn you Bungie. I wanted my plumber game thingy!

Wanted to lay down some pipe.

Bow chicka bow wow.

Zen Grenadier

This E3 keeps getting worse and worse.

akif24

I can't figure anything out... I'm completely convinced it's a fake. the server tag that I mentioned earlier was "server = 5" sometimes I've gotten it to show up as "server = 8" why would they have a comment in their html code that varies? maybe this is some sort of really complex website administration that I don't understand, but from my understanding, that isn't typical.
The secret is in deciphering that hidden line.

mr_deadpool

I can't.... believe this... what? No.... NO!
I'm bloody pissed! Damn it Microsoft, DAMN IT!

Zeouterlimits

Guys, as an ASP developer, I can tell you those hidden fields don't mean anything. They are standard for ASP.NET pages (i.e. with an aspx extension). Don't read anything into it, they just carry the "view state" for controls on the page.

Qube

Why is everyone bitching about how "This E3 sucks!".

I have liked what I've seen so far.

1:1 Wii controls? Awesome.
FFXIII on 360? Awesome.
Rumor and speculation on a possible new Bungie game? Awesome.
New Xbox Dashboard? We'll see.

Look. We still have the whole week. There are plenty of good games coming out. I think everyone is getting spoilt by developers, so we demand more and more, more often. Just chill, I'm sure we will see some cool stuff by the end of the week.

Tycoonalex1337

No announcement on Sgt Johnson & Captain Price's Super Awesome Space Adventure? AWWWWW!

Salen

"Members of the Bungie team share that disappointment"

Basically, Bungie are saying that they are pissed off for not being allowed to reveal their new game. What does it all mean? That when the Microsoft exclusivity ends they will go multiformat!

Andronix

I have a very hard time believing that Bungie's phantom publisher decided at the last minute that they couldn't reveal whatever it is they'd been teasing. They should've cleared the reveal before teasing it on their website. Now they look like jerks, and I think deservedly so.

MSUSteve

There was Bungie staff at the front row of Sony's presser yesterday... something to think about.

SpeedNut

Ok im convinced this is fake. Go to the bungie forums and people are finding all sorts of stuff about this new "homepage" like hidden text on the sides and such...

DarkHavoc99

Checked out the Source Code on their page..

intensitytx

7 chipmunks twirlin' on a branch, eatin' lots of sunflowers on my uncle's ranch!

Ed_209

HALO 4! Hopefully a new franchise for bungie - which involves a pogo stick.

DanteIX

As much as they want to be independant, I know Microsoft wouldn't have hushed their announcment like this. Hell, it probably would've been part of the MS press conference.

mindf1ow

@mr_deadpool: Hrrmmmm.

Tepoz

@Neocorey: Not much time in game development terms.

Word on the street about Bungies announcement was that they rushed to get something together and ready just a few weeks ago to announce their new game, so it doesn't surprise me that they were blocked so close to announcement day.

Diomades

@Qube:

Sorry Qube, didn't realize someone explained it already.

You Cannot Untoast

@mr_deadpool: Those hidden fields are viewstates, which are used by the ASP.NET engine. Nothing to do with this assumed conspiracy.

You Cannot Untoast

@DontTouchMyDaughterYouFilthyGaijin

How can you say Nintendo isn't a videogame company anymore? They're the only one of the big three that is a videogame company.

skrame ☆

@Erwin: Whoops. Must have somehow clicked the comment window, typed a period, and hit submit. Wow. I'm that good.

Oh well, might as well say something. Boo to cockblocking, etc. Hmm. I can be deeper... This is... bad. Damn. Oh well, don't have much else to say... I like Halo. I like movies too. Yeah. Have you ever noticed the homo-erotic undertones in the Outsiders? Pretty clear if you think about it. Why though? I don't know. Well, S. E. Hinton is female, so who knows? It's not Sailor Moon lesbian undertones, but it seems pretty clear to me. Maybe I'm just reading too much into this. What was the point of this? Oh, Bungie block. Right...

It's bad.

Erwin

@SpeedNut: There was Bungie staff at the front row of Sony's presser yesterday... something to think about.

Major Nelson was at Sony's presser also. It means nothing. People from rival companies always attend each-other's showings.

KaneRobot

@frank0127: what major announcement affected Bungie (or Microsoft) so harshly that they'd cancel something like this?

I think it's the opposite - they were so pleased with how everything went that they decided to save this announcement for later. It just wasn't needed right now.

KaneRobot

.

Erwin

Well.. FWIW, if you click on the link that takes you to the letter posting, it's not there anymore.

I still think this is some Bungie joke, they're always doing crazy shit like this.

jello44

Oh and yes, Bungie is locked into an exclusive publishing contract with Microsoft even though they are independent. It was an agreement as part of their whole splitting deal.

jlmatthe

You can all stop coming up with theories.. I guess due to everybody's response of, "It would just be the old homepage if it was true!" Bungie has the regular old front page up.

Happy?

... I'm not :(

jlmatthe

so who could possibly be the publisher? Nintendo? Sony? Microsoft again? EA?

Hulkamaniac

Gosh damn those jedi mind tricks

n1n3CAL

Well, Bungie just posted on their site that they really did have to "shelve" the E3 announcement, and that it is all true. Check it out.

[www.bungie.net]

xAnarChisTx

@kommanderk: Actually, yes, Harold Ryan is the studio head and president. He started out as a tester at MS and then went to work for them on Bungie's stuff. He then became the studio head and President. Jason Jones still seems to be the main man, but being the founder from way back, he seems to like to do a bit more on developing the games and that's where Harold Ryan comes in taking over the presidential duties, business things you wouldn't have time to worry about if you wanted to actually work on the games you were making. At least that is my assumption as to how it works, regardless, he is the President. Look at any of the documentaries that came with any of the special editions of Halo 3, he is always listed as studio head.

fearing

Missing Microsoft now aren't ya Bungie ;)

JamesR87

@tomassetti13: Yeah, didn't think that one through, did I? Cross out the word joint, and write Asbestos.

michaelleung

mario fps, GOOMBA's BEWARE!!!!!!!!

freespeech