Well
I'll be damned, never thought it would turn out to be true.
I'll take my word-filled slice of humble pie on the patio, thanks.
The whispers and omens of Halo developer, Bungie Studios departing from Microsoft were true. Microsoft announced today it will spin its record-breaking development team back into the wild. "Our collaboration with Bungie has resulted in Halo becoming an enduring mainstream hit," said Shane Kim, corporate veep of Microsoft Game …
...A good thing! Forcing a decent load of developers (and they are decent) to sit down and make a series of over-hyped run of the mill shooters which for some reason seem to make consoletards ejaculate in their pants when the name is mentioned, is a bad thing. Now they're freed from the oppressive bonds of Microsoft. Perhaps they'll produce something for the PS3 that equates to what Bioshock was for the XBox 360. (I.e. Probably the best FPS/Story game developed for that platform.)
Microsoft bought the leading 3D/animation company SOFTIMAGE in 1994 and sold it to Avid four years later. Now Bungie. I explain this phenomenon here:
"Bungie: Creative ’sharks’ can’t survive at Microsoft"
http://counternotions.com/2007/10/05/bungie-creative-sharks-cant-survive-at-microsoft/
That's harsh man. I went from MS to Bungie and loved it there. Bouncing back to MS, but I sure will miss most of the guys. (which, btw, include tons of new MS and fresh blood).
Just because we have projects to work on, we're told what to write, doesn't mean we dont have creative sides.
I just dont tell you what I write, or anyone else for that fact, because if I did, people would yell: "HE's a microsoft employee writing *nix code!!" and articles would get published for silly things like that. I love my job and love my side projects. I will keep doing this till I retire.