Bungie mystery project: Halo prequel, Forerunner, or next-gen Marathon?

  • By thorsen-ink, GameSpot
  • Posted Jul 28, 2006 12:44 pm PT

Source: See below. The official story: See below. What we heard: Few things generate as much interest as a hot bowl of steaming Halo gossip. Small wonder, then, that ye olde Internet was abuzz this week with two big rumors regarding the next project from the sci-fi shooter's developer. First up is...

Source: See below.

The official story: See below.

What we heard: Few things generate as much interest as a hot bowl of steaming Halo gossip. Small wonder, then, that ye olde Internet was abuzz this week with two big rumors regarding the next project from the sci-fi shooter's developer.

First up is a post on the blog of Eric Nylund, author of the Halo novels Fall of Reach and First Strike. Though the message was posted on July 11, it fell below most people's radar...until a few days ago. That's when thousands of gamers stood up and took notice of the tantalizing clues Nylund had dropped--clues about a major new franchise coming from Microsoft Game Studios.

After talking a bit about his current project, the eagerly anticipated Gears of War, Nylund talks about his forthcoming project. "What am I working on next? Well, if you took all the best parts of your favorite games, and smashed them together at light speed with your favorite movies and books, you'd get something close to this," he said. "It's not announced yet, but as soon as Microsoft does, I can at least tell you the title, genre, and what particular thing makes this game goose-bump worthy. So stay tuned."

Nylund's comments and his Halo connection helped resurrect rumors that Bungie is working on a project called "Forerunner," a free-roaming action game set in the Halo universe before the events of Halo. Further weight was thrown behind the theory by an article on the less-than-reputable-but-often-accurate UK gaming site SPOnG. The site's editors claim to have learned that Bungie will be announcing a new IP at X06, its forthcoming European Xbox expo.

"Speaking to a Microsoft source close to the management of the entire Xbox 360 project today, we were told that, 'As far as things stand, Halo 3 is the last game [in the series].' ... A new game from Bungie, not Halo 4, will be announced soon and pre-production has begun." According to SPOnG, "Another trilogy, likely a prequel, will be announced at some point in the next 12 months."

Were that not enough brain candy for Halo-heads for one week, gaming blog Kotaku jumped on the bandwagon with its own theory--that the "new IP" will actually be a next-gen version of the shooter that started it all for the studio. "After all, Halo is a sort of sequel to the entire Marathon trilogy...the Master Chief even wears a more advanced version of the same [Mjolnir power] armor," said the site. "A prequel bridging Halo and Marathon would really be quite within Bungie's modus operandi." [EDITOR'S NOTE: The Marathon series took place at the end of the 28th century--more than 200 years after Halo, which is set in the mid-26th century.]

So what did Microsoft have to say about this big ol' ruckus? You can probably guess. "Microsoft does not comment on rumors or speculation," was the familiar refrain from the software behemoth's external PR representative.

[UPDATE] Now, it seems one of the above rumors might have been debunked. The proprietors of the fan site halo.bungie.org claim to have spoken with Nylund about the rumors his blog post helped generate. "Nylund's newest project has nothing whatsoever to do with Bungie," said the site in a Friday post. "That's straight from the horse's mouth (well, Nylund's, anyway - not really nice to call him a horse)."

However, as of press time, inquiries sent to Nylund directly by GameSpot had not been answered. But, although halo.bungie.org is "NOT affiliated with Bungie Studios," it has contacts inside the developer and a reputation for integrity on all things Halo-related--meaning Nylund's involvement now appears doubtful.

Bogus or not bogus?: See above.

152 Comments

  • ledzepmo

    Posted Jul 31, 2006 9:41 am PT

    all i need to know is when halo 3 is coming

  • L1qu1dSword posted Jul 31, 2006 8:29 am PT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    L1qu1dSword

    Posted Jul 31, 2006 8:29 am PT (hide)

    Andron666: "I never understood Halo.

    Hype is all there is.

    They better back it up with a really good game this time."

    Interesting then that you gave the PS2 version of Black a 9.3 Do you really think Black is even remotely as good as Halo? No characters, no story, no varying gameplay, No vehicles. Black was just a shoot-the-red-barrell fest from start to end. You are obviously a PS2 fanboy. And you love Kingdom Hearts too. What a godawful premise. Mixing characters from Square's decline in quality( post final fantasy 7) with children's cartoon characters to make a god awful RPG about fighting little blobs.

    Mistwalker is going to completely own Square.

  • L1qu1dSword

    Posted Jul 31, 2006 8:21 am PT

    i am eagerly waiting for halo 3. i can't beleive that video was from in-game graphics. sony allways tries to dress their games to look better then they really are.

  • kmwamala

    Posted Jul 31, 2006 7:49 am PT

    Ok great i guess

  • amirkalloe

    Posted Jul 31, 2006 7:31 am PT

    great news bungie

  • Spartan1017

    Posted Jul 31, 2006 6:57 am PT

    huh

  • Andron666

    Posted Jul 31, 2006 5:29 am PT

    I never understood Halo.

    Hype is all there is.

    They better back it up with a really good game this time.

  • mattxavier

    Posted Jul 30, 2006 8:04 pm PT

    So much for Halo3 being the last game.

  • Digital-Devil

    Posted Jul 30, 2006 3:16 pm PT

    121212121211121
    if BUNGIE say's no than it is NO

  • Xa31nov1s

    Posted Jul 30, 2006 2:28 pm PT

    Halo 3 might be the END of the trilogy, but they also said that it's only the end of THIS story arc. More Halo related games? Most likely.

  • 121212121211121

    Posted Jul 30, 2006 1:33 pm PT

    Not bogus, Iv'e heard something like this was going to be made I quite franakly I'm very excited.

  • vaejas

    Posted Jul 30, 2006 12:52 pm PT

    "if you took all the best parts of your favorite games, and smashed them together at light speed with your favorite movies and books, you'd get something close to this"

    Assuming you survived the explosion.
    It would look pretty cool from orbit.

  • eaadams122

    Posted Jul 30, 2006 12:05 pm PT

    How hard would it be to take the original Halo and Halo2, update the textures and models and release it for the 360?

    As a Christmass suprise or PS3 parry.

  • ryokinshin6x3

    Posted Jul 30, 2006 8:13 am PT

    nxt gen marathon would be kik ass, halo isnt the only great game on xb360, a lot of ppl bought it for games lik graw, oblivion and upcoming gears of war

  • solidusScott

    Posted Jul 30, 2006 7:57 am PT

    what a load of crap. halo is garbage.

  • relset

    Posted Jul 30, 2006 7:53 am PT

    ahhh.this halo madness never ends!

  • bobreturns

    Posted Jul 30, 2006 5:02 am PT

    a prequel would be awsome

  • X-Bob

    Posted Jul 29, 2006 11:43 pm PT

    Prequel to Halo?
    Hope it can tell the building of halos.

  • goatmeal

    Posted Jul 29, 2006 10:33 pm PT

    Dear Bungie,

    Please bring back the Myth series. Please!

    Respectfully,

    Me

  • ShinkoItansha

    Posted Jul 29, 2006 10:20 pm PT

    Marathon was one of the things that made me a gamer for life. I would love to see a new entry in the series. I mean, it's been what, 10 years? 15?

  • Derrick245

    Posted Jul 29, 2006 10:17 pm PT

    i think this is pretty cool

  • Derrick245

    Posted Jul 29, 2006 10:16 pm PT

    this sounds pretty awsome

  • Destroyeron13

    Posted Jul 29, 2006 5:27 pm PT

    I want Forerunner project.

  • kmart_43210

    Posted Jul 29, 2006 5:24 pm PT

    A Halo MMOG sounds cool...

  • gamepunk86

    Posted Jul 29, 2006 4:34 pm PT

    bungie making a game that isn't halo? *gasp* can they do it? we shall see if they'll walk away from a franchise that gives them (and ms) so much money.

  • Spartan874

    Posted Jul 29, 2006 2:17 pm PT

    sweet

  • MoreCowbell6924

    Posted Jul 29, 2006 2:06 pm PT

    interesting, its too bad they probably wont end up making that "forerunner" game I think it would be pretty cool. Another Marathon game might be cool, but I havent played the other ones. Too bad this isn't really what Nylund was talkin about.

  • arsefacex

    Posted Jul 29, 2006 1:33 pm PT

    This is funny because Halo's story sux so badly that they should make a prequel to fix the story. lmao

  • classic_rocker4

    Posted Jul 29, 2006 12:21 pm PT

    i really hope its a huge prequel before halo. like if we could play with the forunners and see what happened to them.

  • bacomonk

    Posted Jul 29, 2006 10:25 am PT

    This is old news anyway.

    They're supposed to be working on Project Orion too.

  • AceCometh

    Posted Jul 29, 2006 10:05 am PT

    As good as the Halo series has been thus far, I'm very interested in what new IP's they'll be dishing out in the near future.

  • Bravelionheart7

    Posted Jul 29, 2006 10:03 am PT

    MrNib: Yes, because we all -love- Oni.

  • themidgethotel

    Posted Jul 29, 2006 9:26 am PT

    Bogus minus the Bogus

  • TheGravy02

    Posted Jul 29, 2006 9:21 am PT

    A Halo prequel would be awesome... I wanna be able to choose which spartan to play as

  • SUPRAMAN84

    Posted Jul 29, 2006 9:01 am PT

    To that guy who asked whether or not I would get a 360 if Halo 3 were with it, I still would buy it without Halo 3. But anyways, I'm very excited for Bungie's next project. I've always hoped they would make an MMO with thousands in an online war. That would be awesome.

  • fmxflyboy18

    Posted Jul 29, 2006 8:38 am PT

    halo 3 will be one of the greatest games you will have ever played cause just think about it this is the last of the trilogy and all that cool stuff that you heard was gonna be in halo2 but it wasnt well guess what? they were savin all that cool stuff for halo3 im talkin bout being able to fly 8men into combat while piloting a pelican and seing what its like fighting in handtohand combat with an elite. drivin a quad in halo3 will also be possible. ya see bungie is settin to come out with a bang and a bang they will have. and also all your quesstions about the halo universe will be awsnered in halo3 like im always wonderin who are the forerunners are they aliens? i personnaly belive their human and the covenant are gonna be pretty surprised.

  • PerfectDark0Fan

    Posted Jul 29, 2006 5:25 am PT

    Its hard to say that Bungie is the best FPS company since im a Rare lover but they are. I can't wait to find out what they are developing after Halo 3.

  • anamnawshad

    Posted Jul 29, 2006 3:19 am PT

    I think this is BS

  • inYuashiaZero

    Posted Jul 29, 2006 12:44 am PT

    whats the point. its disceted like 300 times. rumors are just rumors. how ever if u want to play marathon
    trilogyrelease.bungie.org
    found it by following the links

  • Digital-Devil

    Posted Jul 28, 2006 11:51 pm PT

    I just think it would be nice to see Bungie can make games that DONT relate to Halo
    I would like to think they are better than a single game

  • stevo1588

    Posted Jul 28, 2006 11:28 pm PT

    A new Marathon would be the coolest thing in what roughly amounts to ever.

  • Zoard

    Posted Jul 28, 2006 10:17 pm PT

    sounds alike like star wars for starting in the late part of the series then working on the prequel... not cool in my opinion

  • SamuelLJackson4

    Posted Jul 28, 2006 9:04 pm PT

    What the hell ever happened to Orion?

  • Ghost_Warrior

    Posted Jul 28, 2006 8:12 pm PT

    I would either like to see a next-gen Marathon game or something competely new from Bungie. And I can't wait to see what Eric Nylund's next project is, if its even half as good as he says it will be.

  • CCDANMAN

    Posted Jul 28, 2006 7:46 pm PT

    Bungie makes the coolest games, can't wait to see this one.

  • X_Facter

    Posted Jul 28, 2006 7:32 pm PT

    even when it ends it will never be forgotten

  • gmrscore-addict

    Posted Jul 28, 2006 7:23 pm PT

    hopfuly not bogus!

  • Digital-Devil

    Posted Jul 28, 2006 7:08 pm PT

    I'd like to see them make more than Halo myself
    Only so much MC can do

  • surferjon01

    Posted Jul 28, 2006 7:02 pm PT

    I'd like to see what else Bungie can put out.

  • ZZoMBiE13

    Posted Jul 28, 2006 6:44 pm PT

    I wish they would make an RTS game in the Halo universe. Outside of the known "cannon". Just Earth, Covenant, and Flood factions fighting a massive war.

    Just a thought.

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