Something is brewing at Bungie

According to blogger Dean Takahashi, "Everybody knows that Halo 3 is well underway at Microsoft’s Bungie unit. But there’s more going on inside the secretive game developer than just that one blockbuster project. Jason Jones, the project lead on the Halo games, and Chris Butcher, the top programmer, are both working on a different game. They are on a small project that is exploring something new beyond the Halo universe. These guys are the cream of the crop in terms of the key talent at Bungie. Without them, neither Halo nor Halo 2 would have happened.

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Microsoft Zune Gets Officially Announced

The official details for the Microsoft Zune player are here, and we've got the specs for you—most of which we've already known for a while now. The player will have a 30GB hard drive, built-in FM tuner, 3.0-inch screen, and 802.11 wireless. It will also come in three colors, black, brown and white.

Gizmodo

Peter Jackson on Halo

One of the correspondents from movie Site Aint it Cool News (Quint to be particular) got to sit down and chat with the Peter Jackson about his upcoming projects, one of which is Halo. You can find the interview here. Some tidbits that I found interesting were:

game-hawg

Philadelphia Man Kills Baby Over Video Game

In Philadelphia, a 25 year old man named Tyrone Spellman — who curiously goes by the name Anwar Salahuddin — punched his 17 month old daughter to death when she knocked over his console, causing him to disrupt the game.

Kotaku

NBA 2K7 Demo Available Now on Xbox Live Marketplace

K announced today that NBA 2K7 is now available as a playable Xbox 360 demo via Xbox Live Marketplace. For the first time, gamers can download the exclusive demo to play NBA 2K7 and enjoy a free preview of the highest rated NBA simulation video game series.

Xbox

Rumor: G.R.A.W. 360 Bundle Coming Soon?

Starting September 30th, a new 360 Premium bundle will arrive, featuring Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter and the XBLA arcade pack, featuring Geometry Wars Evoloved, Bejeweled 2 Deluxe, Wik: Fable of Souls, Hardwood Backgammon, Outpost Kaloki X and Texas Hold'Em.

Kotaku

Record number of titles for TGS '06

Official figures for this years' Tokyo Game Show reveal that 573 titles will be on display to the trade and public.

GamesIndustry.biz

NBA2K7: Signature Style Trailer

2K Sports released this excellent trailer of NBA2k7 showcasing some of the 300 "signature style moves" of the game. Excellent animation, as always.

Xboxyde

Nintendo Announces U.S. Launch Date and Price

Wii will be sold as an affordable, mass-consumer product at an MSRP in the US of just $249.99. The price includes one wireless Wii Remote controller, one Nunchuk™ controller and the groundbreaking collection of five different Wii Sports games on one disc, which anyone can play using simple physical movements, experienced or not.

Xbox

Wii Sports to include tennis, baseball, golf, bowling, and boxing

Wii Sports will be bundled free come November 19 when Wii launches for $250 stateside. That much we know. But how many mini-sports games will be included in the package title? While sources close to EGM (Oct issue, page 74) suggested that the game "is going to sport over 30 different games" and USA Today name dropped a basketball game (typo?), the official Wii Sports fact sheet only mentions tennis, baseball, golf, bowling, and boxing.

Joystiq

ANALYSIS: Wii Brings the Pack-In Back

The NY Times report that Wii Sports is being packed-in with Wii at launch is something of a turn-around in console launch dynamics. What does it signify for the industry as a whole?

Next Generation