Re: Matt- could you address this?
Posted By: Matt <matt@bungie.com>	Date: 8/29/00 5:24 p.m.
In Response To: Matt- could you address this? (Pico) Well, it happened like this. Last year the thinking was that Oni would ship around the end of '99, and the advertising schedule we made reflected that. As time went on it became obvious that the game wouldn't ship at the same time the ads would run. But we elected to run them anyway because we didn't think the schedule would slip so much. Sort of an impromptu teaser campaign, with additional ads to follow shortly thereafter. Besides, you usually can't cancel an ad without some sort of penalty. Magazines like getting paid thousands of dollars for ad space and aren't inclined to give you a 100% refund just because you're not gonna make your deadline. Might as well let them run. Then around the beginning of this year, as Oni's schedule had the last nebulous bits ironed out and Bungie's marketing department realized the game was not shipping in one or two more months, we made the decision to pull the ads. It would have been foolish, not to mention financially deleterious, to keep running full-page ads in magazines for the rest of the year when we did not have the flagship product featured in said ads available for purchase. We planned to restart the campaign closer to the launch date. Then we got bought by Microsoft, which threw everything into a tizzy for a few months. Many of the people who shared responsibility for the creation of our ads suddenly had a lot of other stuff on their minds. Now Take 2 is responsible for marketing Oni. They're as eager as anyone else for new screenshots, movies, etc. Everyone at BungieWest is working so hard on builds that there's literally no time for them to take screenshots. It's not quite as simple as some people seem to think it is; the challenge is making sure every shot says something and displays the game in its best possible light. Take 2 wants to make sure they have the best materials to build their marketing campaign. They are only now starting to get builds that allow them to start working on it. Alex mentioned he would FTP a new build up here today and if we get time and approval from the Oni guys I'd like to take some new screenshots for everyone's delectation. Cross your fingers. In other news, the lightmap stuff is finally in, and while I haven't seen it yet (waiting for that build......) Marty and Ryan both have, and they tell me the game looks really slick now. -Matt

Matt- could you address this?	Pico	8/24/00 12:14 p.m.
Re: Matt- could you address this?	codetoad	8/25/00 5:45 a.m.
Re: Matt- could you address this?	My modem is on fire	8/27/00 12:54 a.m.
Re: Matt- could you address this?	Matt	8/29/00 5:24 p.m.
Re: Matt- could you address this?	Nathan	8/29/00 9:13 p.m.
Re: Matt- could you address this?	Mark Levin	8/29/00 9:44 p.m.
Re: Matt- could you address this?	butcher	9/2/00 8:51 p.m.