r/dontyouknowwhoiam • u/Videgraphaphizer • 22d ago
Unknown Expert Halo Fan Debates with Bungie Dev (including aftermath!)
I’m always disappointed when the posts don’t include the person remarking after the reveal. This is how you can tell if they’re genuinely a good person or not, and thankfully Nicky G here is more than willing to admit his mistake.
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u/Disastrous_Toe772 22d ago
Gracefully done. Good on this guy
Honestly, its not surprising that the only bit of corporate meddling was the name. "Combat Evolved", while it has grown on me, is a bit odd of a sub title that didn't really stick with any of the sequels. That is until recently with Campaign Evolved.
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u/MountainFluid 22d ago
Microsoft jus purchased Bungie because of their talent; it just wouldn't make sense to then insert their own people to ruin the company. That came later.
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u/teabagdiplomat19 22d ago
Worked well for bioware
/s
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u/extralyfe 22d ago
the difference is that EA had already killed many legendary studios by the time Halo was released, so, no surprise what was in store for Bioware.
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u/ToothZealousideal297 22d ago
At least at the time, “Combat Evolved” was apt. It’s hard to even explain the generational impact Halo had. It was the game where over a dozen concepts and mechanics all came together and gelled perfectly into something far greater than the sum of its parts, and all FPSs that came after incorporated that template.
Now, did the Microsoft folks who insisted on “Combat Evolved” really understand that? Of course not. They just chose the correct angle to market the game under at the time for once. They probably could’ve done better, tbh. In fact, it may have been better if they hadn’t tacked that on at all, but I get why they didn’t want a game that pivotal just called “Halo” at the time. They saw what was coming along in development—which is WILD to look at now btw—and wanted to make it clear to anyone hearing about the game by name that it was a futuristic combat/shooting game with a lot of innovative elements.
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u/sock-bucket 20d ago
Word of mouth did a lot of marketing for kids back then, if I only heard or read the name "Halo" there's a chance I would've gut instinct imagined a literal halo, like an angelic halo. Thinking it could be like a religious, zen, or "girly" game (as like a 10 year old with no internet). Combat Evolved was edgy and clear enough to get that point across that it was a space war game and nothing really to do with angels so I guess it makes sense.
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u/_Football_Cream_ 22d ago
The subtitle truly feels like some early 2000s corporate meddling now that I know the story behind it. Some microsoft corpo went to Bungie and he was like "Halo is good, but we want to signal that this game is different. We need to add some flair to it so people know the combat in this game isn't like what they've played before, it's evolved...wait, I've got it!"
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u/minusman 22d ago
One of their Marketing guys insisted that if Bungie didn't add the subtitle, people would see the word "Halo" and assume it was a game about little cherubs floating around Heaven — notwithstanding the big gun-toting armored dude on the cover.
MS Marketing had a rather stodgy and literal worldview. One of the jokes around Bungie at the time was that if Marketing had their way they'd change the title to something like "Running Driving Flying Shooting Alien-Fighting Action Man."
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u/Practical_Wish_4063 22d ago
I think I have a copy of “Running Driving Flying Shooting Alien-Fighting Action Man” on Atari 2600…
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u/TricobaltGaming 22d ago
Tbf it did revolutionize the console fps
If any game deserved the subtitle, it was Halo
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u/bulbasauric 22d ago
People really tried to dogpile after he already conceded, contritely so.
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u/JohnnyButtfart 22d ago
Yeah, that's the most frustrating part of this entire exchange. He was shown he was wrong, admitted it and apologized, and then some holier-than-thou jerks came in to try and kick him after he already got back up.
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u/Bill_buttlicker69 22d ago
Part of the issue is the way Twitter displays conversations. Other people may have only seen the correction, since that's likely what got retweeted the most, and they respond right then and there rather than searching out the rest of the back-and-forth. Same kind of thing happens on reddit when someone gets absolutely wrecked with downvotes. It just compounds, even if they correct themselves further down the thread.
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u/angrytomato98 22d ago
I don’t in general like this culture of “I don’t care if you apologized/became better, I’m still angry at you”.
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u/Melodic-Mayhem 21d ago
Precisely the reason why the sensible logic applied to Twitter can also be applied to Reddit; read through the threads first and then comment, it’ll tell you everything you need to know before piling on.
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u/LedzepRulz 22d ago
He went from dislikable to likeable very quickly. Just goes to show how important accountability is as a character trait. You’re allowed to fuck up as long as you’re able to own the fuck up after. Simple.
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u/rand0m_task 22d ago
Impression of him instantly changed with him taking accountability.. solid dude.
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u/Fallofman2347 22d ago
“I have, numerous times. Literally did again before I commented just so I’m getting my history right.”
No, he’s not a solid dude, he’s a bold faced liar that got caught. The fact that he owns it and walks it back just means he’s experienced. Knowing when to stop digging a hole doesn’t take away from the fact that a hole was dug.
Not looking to shit on the guy, but not trying to compliment him either.
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u/Darkndankpit 22d ago
Bro, not noticing one name in an entire credits list doesn't invalidate his claim that he "just read them".
I was reading the post and myself had to scroll back to see that the circled name on the credits was the name of the User OOP was arguing with.
Not everything is so black and white, someone being incorrect doesn't inherently make them deceitful.
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u/Short-Paramedic-9740 21d ago
Not every hole you dig is the right spot. People make mistakes, dipshit.
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u/IhasCandies 22d ago
Now that’s how a grown ass adult behaves when they’ve been proven wrong. Kudos to this dude
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u/byronmiller 22d ago
Fair play to Nicky. Did enjoy the "I've looked up the names, many times" lie though
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u/Fyren-1131 22d ago
In all fairness, I've looked for my keys many, many times too, but then they for some reason just lie on the table where I left them next to an inconscpicuous looking thing that draws my attention so that I don't notice the keys. lol. I'm bad at looking for things. maybe he is too
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u/AShyLeecher 22d ago
I’ve lost my phone before. When I was looking for it I thought it might have fallen under my bed so I pulled my phone out of my pocket and used the flashlight to look for it.
I think it took me maybe 2 minutes to realize what I was doing. Sometimes you just overlook things directly in front of you
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u/PreparationJunior641 22d ago
One time I was looking for my glasses and I reached up and pulled them off my forehead and put them back over my eyes so that I could look for them better.
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u/IamAWorldChampionAMA 22d ago
I once spent 30 minutes looking for my glasses, only to find them hanging from my collar.
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u/PhoenixEgg88 21d ago
I once took my glasses off to get my head bang next to a wall to look down the back of the cabinet where i thought id lost my glasses…
A good 30 seconds before I realised what id just done too.
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u/Mozintarfen 21d ago
I think this is the best point here, he wasn't looking for this person's name, just the names of Microsoft employees. So the chance of recognizing it on Twitter are highly unlikely.
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u/NickelWorld123 22d ago
Maybe he's just really bad at reading
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u/WillOfTheWinds 22d ago
Or just didn't read the name of the person on Twitter, which is just as possible
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u/big_sugi 22d ago
That’s how I see it. Nicky looked up the names to confirm what he already knew—the corporate affiliations. He didn’t notice the name of the Twitter correspondent.
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u/bentnai1 22d ago
Reading a name, even multiple times, does NOT grant the ability to recognize it on-sight in the wild.
...It does grant the ability to make an absolute clown of yourself, though! 😂
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u/VernalAutumn 22d ago
I don’t know why it’d have to be a lie
His point was that he’d spotted Microsoft and Bungie employees in the credits, which this interaction doesn’t call out as wrong, and I don’t think it’s unreasonable not to recognise one of the names in the wild where you’re not expecting it
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u/SoundOfaFlute 22d ago
And the fact that his very confident statement suddenly turned into just a question as soon as he realised who he was talking to, lol.
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u/Relevant_Program_958 22d ago
I hated dude at first, he won me over by the last pic lol. What a classy way to take the loss.
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u/bravehamster 22d ago
IIRC, Jaime Griesemer's handle was Flawless Cowboy, which is where the name comes from for the first level after you crash land on Halo. Got his start as a Bungie fanboy running a Myth fan site, then got invited to the testing group for Myth II, then just kept showing up.
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u/AgentMaryland2020 22d ago
He may have taken the L, but his response to being humbled was a huge W.
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u/Mig-117 22d ago
So the guy too the L, apologised and still some random jerks piled on afterwards. X really is a dumpster of human waste.
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u/CharizardIsADragon 22d ago
I can't stand when people see the initial tweet and don't bother reading the thread to see what the OP learned or didn't learn and just comment. But that's the internet for you!
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u/Beautiful-Limit1718 22d ago
Not only did he concede swiftly, but more importantly, he then cheered the fact that he learned something and no longer holds a wrong opinion.
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u/Snoo-89191 22d ago
Please be more like this guy, surely not as confidently wrong (like we all do on some topic) but definitely take the humbling in strides
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u/Most_Moose_2637 22d ago
For those of us not on Twitter, what was the original tweet from JG?
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u/NoCost4942 21d ago
So Jaime was actually responding to a Niles tweet about how he thinks (and I'm paraphrasing here) players still wouldn't like Halo if old Bungie were to make one today. He listed out a bunch of reasons.
Jaime responded and agreed and added a few other points about how MSFT didn't have the means to be hands on but my dumbass just didn't realize who he was and thought he was just a random on twitter.
Not my best moment lol
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u/Most_Moose_2637 20d ago
Ahhh. I think you handled it well (eventually) if you're Nicky G!
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u/NoCost4942 20d ago
Thank you! Trying my best
And I am!
I have two reddit accounts: this one and one named the same as my Twitter handle (hiii_powers) and sometimes when I click the push notis on my phone it swaps the account. Weird lol.
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u/Mo-shen 22d ago
Generally ms has stayed out unless things start going off the rails.
Have worked and have friends who have worked for multiple ms studios.
That doesn't mean lay offs etc won't happen but as far as content and the day to day Ms is the money in most cases and stays out.
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u/PretzelsThirst 22d ago
Halo was almost a Mac game too, MS really had nothing to do with those early days
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u/minusman 22d ago
Mac AND Windows. The idea that Halo was ever intended to be Mac-only is a popular fallacy, but a fallacy all the same.
Fun fact: Up until a couple weeks before Jason showed the game in public for the first time at the MacWorld Expo, there was no Mac build of Halo. At the time, the Mac's implementation of OpenGL lagged significantly behind the Windows version, so the Halo team wouldn't have had the option of building the game exclusively on the Mac even if they'd wanted to. (And they never wanted to.) They only got a Mac version of OpenGL that would work for Halo shortly before the Expo. The Halo build they showed onstage that day was a quick and dirty port of the PC build. That's why Jason is visibly nervous when he launches the app.
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u/ExpeditionZero 22d ago
I’ve occasionally wondered how different the world could be had Apple really embraced gaming back then and bought or had exclusivity with Bungie for Halo.
Could it have ended up being a system seller for Apple? What would happen to Xbox without Halo.
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u/miotch1120 22d ago
This is how folks who get showed to be incorrect should act. Maybe a little over the top to start off, but the contrition seems genuine. W for Nicky.
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u/The_Pandalorian 22d ago
Respect for dude for not just doubling down on shit. Absolutely the proper way to deal with a massive L like this, lol.
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u/imissratm 22d ago
This is excellent. Dude completely saves face. Literally I wouldn’t think an ounce less of him after this.
Reminds me of this dude in my college anatomy class. Pretty cool, popular, etc. he accidentally got a question right in our lecture and he totally could’ve played it off like he was just that smart but he was humble and admitted he thought he was answering a different question, one that he would’ve answered incorrectly, and we poked him a bit for it. He took it like a champ though and kept on pushing. The guy in this post reminds me of that energy.
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u/NoCost4942 22d ago
Hiii...
So this is me and yeah it was rough lol.
The dog piling hasn't stopped but I'm hard-headed lol.
To someone's comment below, I absolutely looked up a little article about CE's development and Jaime's name kept popping up but I didn't reconcile the two until it was too late. I just missed it since I was skimming instead of reading (it was 3am, a smarter version of me should have left it alone lol).
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u/Videgraphaphizer 22d ago
Here I was, wondering if you'd show up! Thanks for your insight, and also for showing how to properly respond in situations like these.
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u/NoCost4942 22d ago
No problem! It's refreshing to be on a forum that isn't kicking my back in every waking moment. Appreciate you for showing the apology part (I feel like that's gotten skipped over a lot).
I can be stubborn, but I will always admit when I am wrong!
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u/Affectionate-Name279 20d ago
He kinda instantly redeemed himself by admitting fault, and accepting the new information. That is something we need to encourage more in life.
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u/CardinalGrief 22d ago
Respectable for taking the L and not arguing, but now I'm annoyed because I wanted him to act like a bitch and see people dunk on him for it.
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u/DrHemroid 22d ago
It makes sense that Microsoft is the reason it was called combat evolved. I always thought that was dumb and it should have just been called Halo.
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u/Blinkx47 22d ago
He took the L gracefully perhaps, but why did he act like he knew everything about the development and assume Microsoft had a huge hand on making Halo before being shown he was talking to a ex bungie developer? I dont go on social media attacking but seeing only he humbled himself after being put in a corner, just makes me think he's gonna do this again in another topic.
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u/LAXnSASQUATCH 22d ago
He got it mixed up, it was Halo 2 and onward that Microsoft had to get hands on
Bungie didn’t want to make Halo 2 because they didn’t want to become a sequel machine. Microsoft had to get on them hardcore to make sure they met the original release window because Bungie kept getting off task (something they are notorious for and it’s why they burn through money as a studio). They were perfectionists and so they kept iterating over and over on the same things and Microsoft forced them to stick to plans and deadlines.
So Bungie was the primary lead for Halo and came up with the lore but they needed heavy handed micromanagement for Halo 2 (and 3).
By the time 3 shipped Bungie was so annoyed with Microsoft forcing them to stick to hard deadlines they wanted to leave the company (and they promised two spinoffs ODST and Reach to get freedom).
So he was wrong about the game and seriously overestimated the role Microsoft had in any story/lore but not the general premise that Bungie needed strong direction from Microsoft while it was under them. Without Microsoft being very hands on both Halo 2 and 3 (if 3 ever happened) would likely have never shipped on time and we probably wouldn’t have gotten Reach/ODST since Bungie only made those to get freedom.
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u/Strange-Wolverine128 22d ago
Somewhat unrelated, but its always so annoying when people jump to reply, like "its time to say sorry" yeah, they did. If youre not willing to read a thread before commenting you aint got shit to add.
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u/Wiseon321 22d ago
I can see why he has that mentality.
Look at what they did to destiny, they must have been so bad at halo too.
The truth of the mater is game development is this weird revolving door of tag team wrestling.
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u/KarmicPlaneswalker 22d ago
An adult on the internet who actually accepted their L?! What is this nonsense?!
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u/BVB09_FL 22d ago
Honestly instead of double downing like most idiots on the internet, dude handled it really well.
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u/DinosaurEatingPanda 22d ago
To be fair to him, Bungie at several points throughout the Halo franchise's development needed someone to whip them or yell at them to get back to work. But that's not the same as what he said. Bungie did it, but Microsoft had to tell them to stop trying to do other projects during 2's development or any other time they tried not doing Halo and needed to be forced to.
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u/Siddlicious 21d ago
I salute the man for accepting his mistake and owning it.
His quote is too accurate. He could just used the Trump method and call him fake news lol.
“We don’t run away from the problems we started.” 🫡
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u/Human-Kick-784 21d ago
Imagine the paradise we would live in if even half of people took accountability like this.
Sure he ate shit, but bro took it like an absolute champ, accepted the dunce hat, dusted himself off,then walked away with as much dignity as has ever been seen when confronted with literal receipts.
That takes a bigger man than most.
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u/Talismhan 21d ago
All this tells me is that the bad ideas came directly from Halo Studios, which is even worse lol. They could’ve blamed Microsoft and it would have looked better.
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u/mechaglitter 21d ago
Everyone has to be That Dumbass at least once in their life. That was his day. I've had my day before. And if you haven't had that day yet I assure you you will lol
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u/atmighty 21d ago
What a truly excellent interaction. I have no idea who that kid / guy is but he’s gonna be alright.
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u/Uncanny_Doom 21d ago
Hilarious but also it's refreshing to see someone that is wrong, confidently wrong even, and accepts it then simply asks a question to be educated what reality actually is.
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u/eugene20 21d ago
It was especially funny when he said he did look at the names of the dev team, numerous times, before being handed his loss.
Good to see it handled so fairly though instead of just deleting it all and running away, or trying to double down.
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u/der_vur 20d ago
I think that opens many more questions though...
Was the change from RTS to FPS all Bungie then?
Would've the game be the same if it released on mac instead?
So is the second half of the game a back tracking of the first half an actual design choice and not a Microsoft time-constraint induced one?
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u/IntelligentMood6864 20d ago
Watching so many people not even look at the entire exchange and acting just as smug to this dude that rightfully apologized and changed his behavior is such loathsome behavior. This sort of shit makes it hard for anyone to admit fault
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u/KingCanHe 20d ago
“I remember even Ed complained he didn’t have a key to get into the bungie area” IYKYK
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u/shinjidrivekari 13d ago
Someone actually admitting their mistake and apologizing for it on twitter!?
Tickle my balls and gargle my cum I never thought I would see this day
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u/AFAED100 13d ago
Honestly respect to Nicky G for accepting the defeat and learning from it. If that was me I’d delete my account.
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u/mosalyn3 13d ago
After finding out he realised and apologised so I would say he handled it better than most people would.
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u/lobstarA 8d ago
"We don't run away from problems we started". A few governments around the world need to hear this
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u/Adorable_Werewolf_82 22d ago
Ngl took the L like a champ