Plan for World Domination

Bungie, with aid of The Seventh Column, (Bungie's underground army) is currently in the process of taking over the world. However, all plans, diabolical or otherwise, need steps. Bungie's plan, of course, has Seven steps, and progress is coming along nicely. Bungie is currently on *Step 7: Take over World. Shoot enemies into sun with giant slingshot*.

## Step 1

**☑** *Start independent gaming software company.*

In May 1991, Alex Seropian officially founded Bungie Software Products Corporation in Chicago, IL, to publish *Operation: Desert Storm* (1991).

## Step 2

**☑** *Dominate Mac platform: Launch assault on Windows platform.*

Bungie's first four games launched on the Mac from 1991-1994: *Operation: Desert Storm* (1991), *Minotaur: The Labyrinths of Crete* (1992), *Pathways Into Darkness* (1993), *Marathon* (1994), and *Marathon 2: Durandal* (1995). In 1996, a port of *Marathon 2* was released on the Windows platform.

## Step 3

**☑** *Announce killer gaming title*.

This is in reference to *Halo: Combat Evolved* (2001) and Bungie trying to decide on a name for their game. Originally, a branding company was hired to come in and help create one. They came up with hundreds of names and it was decided that the name of the game would be "Covenant." Paul Russel, an artist, didn't like the name because it "sounded like a bad '80s Hair Band" and came up with five or six alternatives, one of which was "Halo."

(Hi! Paul Russel here! There wasn’t a whiteboard, that was created for the vidoc mentioned below, the name ideas were printed out on two pages, stapled, and distributed, we discussed each at length. I suggested only the one name “halo”, because “it’s a giant ring in space that the covenant worship as a sacred object”. After the first meeting, Nathan Bitner rolled over to my desk and said, “I liked halo and put it in the meeting notes for the next round.” I think I missed the second meeting, but two weeks later there were milk crates from an ad agency with logos that said “halo”. They were all terrible so I gave Lorraine a sketch that she used to create the final logo you know. That’s it! Hope this helps!)

No one liked the name at first because it was too religious and too on the nose because of the ring world setting, but Russel wrote it on a whiteboard wall. Jason Jones, co-founder of Bungie, was leaning toward "Red-Shift" but decided that "Halo" would be the name. As a compromise to Microsoft, Bungie said that they could add a subtitle, so "Combat Evolved" was added to explain the futuristic setting and shooting the game featured.

Names on the whiteboard included (names with \_ indicate that there was more to the name that could be transcribed):

1. *Age of Aquarius*
2. *Chaos*
3. *Covenant*
4. *The Crystal Palace*
5. *Ellipsis*
6. *Flare*
7. *Free Fall*
8. *Halo*
9. *Hard Vacuum*
10. *Hostile Environment*
11. *\_ Island One*
12. *K3*
13. Provocation
14. *Pulse*
15. *Red-Shift*
16. *Resonance*
17. *Santa Machine*
18. *Starship\_*
19. *Visionary*

## Step 4

**☑** *Acquire strangely addictive Chinese food company.\**

Ming Choy was a Chinese food company in Chicago that would deliver food to the Bungie offices often. While Bungie never officially acquired the company, they did acquire enough food to sustain the business for several years.

\*There is a debate on if "company" should be included in Step 4. In the *Halo 3: Essentials* DVD featurette, "7 Steps to World Domination/Cortana Chronicles," the word "company" isn't included in Step 4, however, on Bungie's website, "company" was included.

## Step 5

**☑** *Recover Ling-Ling's head.*

Ling-Ling (specifically, her head contained in a jar of formaldehyde), is hidden somewhere in Bungie's offices.

## Step 6

**☑** *Stage bloody coup of new parent company.*

When Bungie moved to Microsoft's Millennium campus, they felt that it stifled their creativity, so in 2004 Microsoft built them a separate building in Kirkland away from the campus. This helped reinforce the idea that Bungie wanted to become independent again, and in 2007, Bungie and Microsoft separated.

## Step 7

**☐** *Take over World. Shoot enemies into sun with giant slingshot.*

In progress...

## Sources

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 YouTube - Halo Archiver - Halo 3 Essential Disc 2: "7 Steps to World Domination/Cortana Chronicles". VOB