NEWS - Monday, March 7, 2011

Bungie Backtracks on MMO Claims
Developer Bungie has backtracked on claims made during a GDC presentation last week that the company was working on a massively multiplayer action title.
The description had been offered by network engineer David Aldridge in a session entitled "I Shot You First: Networking the Gameplay of Halo: Reach" but a post on the developers website claims that it had just been a joke.
"Tired of pretending that hes not a -blam!-in rock star from Mars, David Aldridge inhaled a huge hit of David Aldridge at GDC yesterday," read the blog entry. "Subsequently, his face melted off and children wept over his exploded body. After the childish tears, gelatinous gibs, and acrid smoke cleared, an industrious journalist noticed the final slide from Davids GDC deck which apparently proclaimed that we were hiring for a massively...multiplayer action game. Ruh oh.
"Now, in rehearsal Aldridge was convinced that everybody got the joke. It was all in the delivery, he assured us, and he was certain it was clear that he was playfully riffing off of the recent rumors. Unfortunately, most people cant figure David out - they cant process him. And we dont expect them to. You cant process David Aldridge with a normal brain. Youd need tiger blood and Adonis DNA."
The presentations slide had led to reams of speculation as to whether or not the company could be working with Blizzard as part of the ten-year Activision deal, signed last year - but the developer seems keen to give nothing away.
Source: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/