• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

Bungie Co-Founder gives interview for the first time in 11 years

Urk bring back the Friday weekly updates please. The new QA sessions kinda blow compared to the updates from the past. I can't be the only one who thinks this either.
 
Good interview. Jones seems like a very down-to-earth guy. Nice to see the mythology of the pistol broken down, though Urk has done that here on NeoGAF before! I hope we get some insight as to the philosophies of Destiny, like what are the core combat principles (etc). Looking forward to part 2 and 3.
 
Jones did PR for Halo. He introduced it at MacWorld on stage alongside Steve Jobs. In this case, though, McCaffrey had been interested in talking to Jones for a pretty long time, and with Jones at E3, the opportunity finally presented itself.

(Jones did tell us that we only get to use him once for PR, so I'm totally not counting this!)

Well, you did manage to get him on stage at the Sony conference...
 
Well, you did manage to get him on stage at the Sony conference...

NOOOOOOO JONES!

You know, re-watching the e3 presentation after seeing the direct-feed, you can see all the mistakes and rough edges, but it really is awesome Jason came out for this reveal, and it's also awesome that they did everything live right there. Bravo, guys.
 
NOOOOOOO JONES!

You know, re-watching the e3 presentation after seeing the direct-feed, you can see all the mistakes and rough edges, but it really is awesome Jason came out for this reveal, and it's also awesome that they did everything live right there. Bravo, guys.

Yeah. It was a real treat not only seeing the first Destiny gameplay, but having Jones out to be one of the guys presenting it. Totally respect his desire to just make the games and not be out in front of them, but I do enjoy hearing from him.
 
I played and beat Halo 3, Halo Reach and Halo 4, and I'm just now realizing that I've never actually played a single game from Jason Jones. I'm very excited that my first Jones game will be Destiny. :)
 
The Pistol hate was stupid and because of the hate they changed Halo for the worst. The weapon balance was perfect in Halo 1. Pistol was a jack of all trades master of none weapon. Sniper beat it long range and the shotgun beat it in close combat. The only people that cried about the pistol or people who got styled on by a guy pistol dancing.

Or some of us wanted rounds that were more than Team SWAT in Halo 1 just under a guise of deathmatch balance.

AKA: There's other weapons in the game but why use them when the pistol outclasses nearly all of them easily and handily.

It needed to be nerfed, and the whiners about the nerf can't see why.
 
Or some of us wanted rounds that were more than Team SWAT in Halo 1 just under a guise of deathmatch balance.

AKA: There's other weapons in the game but why use them when the pistol outclasses nearly all of them easily and handily.

It needed to be nerfed, and the whiners about the nerf can't see why.
Most everything was at its most powerful in CE. Rockets had huge splash, shotgun had range, vehicles would literally kill you at the slightest tap, grenade had a huge radius and frags could also instakill.

The irony is that with the system changes made to later games, and with the toning down of other elements, the BR and DMR are more powerful in those games than the pistol was in CE. The people who whined about the pistol just wanted automatic spraying, because that was the only weapon type that served little offensive use in CE's tighter weapon set.
 
So has he really just been working on what Bungies post Halo game was going to be since halo 2? Thats kind of nuts.

Would love to hear about what that was like during the first few years when whatever small team he had was tossing things against the wall and seeing what they wanted to do.
 
Or some of us wanted rounds that were more than Team SWAT in Halo 1 just under a guise of deathmatch balance.

AKA: There's other weapons in the game but why use them when the pistol outclasses nearly all of them easily and handily.

It needed to be nerfed, and the whiners about the nerf can't see why.

Shotgun, sniper and rocket launcher were still really useful in their own niche. And with stun added to the plasma pistol in Halo 2 (or 3, can't really remember), that weapon would have been useful as well
 
Shotgun, sniper and rocket launcher were still really useful in their own niche. And with stun added to the plasma pistol in Halo 2 (or 3, can't really remember), that weapon would have been useful as well

the plasma rifle was extremely powerful as well. as an aside though I don't think I've ever seen a single person who spouts uninformed shit about The Sandbox (lol) of CE have their mind changed
 
I'm curious how much (if any) has Activision's dev teams helped with the creation of Destiny? I don't expect alot but I wouldn't be shocked if a programmer offered a tiny bit of code here and there.

I'm not sure how MP works but it would be neat if one of Activision's teams did a map pack for that game sometime. It could be used a selling point for the map pack, actually.
 
The weapon imbalances were what made Halo CE such an awesome LAN party game you could just have fun with. I think the larger scale of competitiveness the Internet brought with it forced them to kill that local fun vibe. It did lose something in that transition though, but it gained too.
 
Or some of us wanted rounds that were more than Team SWAT in Halo 1 just under a guise of deathmatch balance.

AKA: There's other weapons in the game but why use them when the pistol outclasses nearly all of them easily and handily.

It needed to be nerfed, and the whiners about the nerf can't see why.

The sniper was more dominant than the pistol when in the right hands. Sniper was one shot kill in the upper chest or above. From my experience the pistol only dominated midrange fights. Shotgun destroyed pistol in close quarters. The Pistol was always over blown imo and learning how to move around and jump and shoot cut down its effectiveness in close battles, especially against the ar or rocket launcher which had some weird properties, especially when you jump and fire it. Also learning how fast bullets can be shot from the pistol can help you better throw off a guy's aim.
 
The sniper was more dominant than the pistol when in the right hands. Sniper was one shot kill in the upper chest or above. From my experience the pistol only dominated midrange fights. Shotgun destroyed pistol in close quarters. The Pistol was always over blown imo and learning how to move around and jump and shoot cut down its effectiveness in close battles, especially against the ar or rocket launcher which had some weird properties, especially when you jump and fire it. Also learning how fast bullets can be shot from the pistol can help you better throw off a guy's aim.

but a guy from Bungie said that everyone just constantly 3sk'ed each other across Blood Gulch!
 
Great interview. The tone of it makes me think that destiny will be very systemic, and that we still have a lot to see about the game.

Oh Myth, if only they still had the rights to that and the drive to actually make it.

I just found my old Myth 2 disc, I think I need to replay it...
 
Wow, 80+ posts in the thread and the worst I get is two people complaining about the interview being broken into three parts? On NeoGAF??? Hehe, I really should bookmark this thread and come back to it whenever I'm having a bad day.

Anyway, thanks to everyone for the kind words. This really was an interview that I'd been trying to get for the entire 10+ years I've been in this business and covering Bungie. I couldn't ask Jason about everything -- I was lucky enough to get a bit over an hour with him, but that's not nearly enough to make up for 11+ years of Jason Jones silence -- but I'm glad you all enjoyed part 1.

And to those two posters who complained about this being broken into three parts, I'll say what I said on Twitter to those same complaints: we have data that shows beyond a shadow of a doubt that if I posted the entire 4,500+ word interview in one article -- whether on one page or making it multiple pages -- that an astoundingly small percentage of people would read even half of it, let alone the whole thing. That's why it's broken up -- I want people to read everything Jason had to say!
 
I, for one, couldn't care less about it being broken up into three parts. I kind of like it, actually. Gives me time to digest and mull over each segment.
 
Not me, I'd prefer one interview split into different pages if need be.

I don't understand why he's so reclusive though? I can understand if it's because of genuine shyness or social anxiety but he seems comfortable with press and being on stage when he needs to be.
 
Not me, I'd prefer one interview split into different pages if need be.

I don't understand why he's so reclusive though? I can understand if it's because of genuine shyness or social anxiety but he seems comfortable with press and being on stage when he needs to be.

I don't know that he's actually reclusive so much as he doesn't feel the need to be in the spotlight. He let's the PR guys do what they're supposed to do while he does the work that he's supposed to do, which is manage the company.

I'm tempted to say he's like the anti-Cliffy B, except I don't think Cliffy B has ever been that high on the totem pole (could totally be wrong though as I've never paid attention to what Cliffy's positions have actually been).
 
Not me, I'd prefer one interview split into different pages if need be.

I don't understand why he's so reclusive though? I can understand if it's because of genuine shyness or social anxiety but he seems comfortable with press and being on stage when he needs to be.


Probably because he doesn't exist. I mean just look at his name "Jason Jones". That's right up there with Bruce Banner, J. Jonah Jameson, Peter Parker, Reed Richards...
 
ugh that video

"I'll take point." *groans*

if i was playing co-op and someone said "i'll take point" i'd defriend them instantly
 
Wow, 80+ posts in the thread and the worst I get is two people complaining about the interview being broken into three parts? On NeoGAF??? Hehe, I really should bookmark this thread and come back to it whenever I'm having a bad day.

Anyway, thanks to everyone for the kind words. This really was an interview that I'd been trying to get for the entire 10+ years I've been in this business and covering Bungie. I couldn't ask Jason about everything -- I was lucky enough to get a bit over an hour with him, but that's not nearly enough to make up for 11+ years of Jason Jones silence -- but I'm glad you all enjoyed part 1.

And to those two posters who complained about this being broken into three parts, I'll say what I said on Twitter to those same complaints: we have data that shows beyond a shadow of a doubt that if I posted the entire 4,500+ word interview in one article -- whether on one page or making it multiple pages -- that an astoundingly small percentage of people would read even half of it, let alone the whole thing. That's why it's broken up -- I want people to read everything Jason had to say!

Really good job Ryan, looking for the other two parts.
 
ugh that video

"I'll take point." *groans*

if i was playing co-op and someone said "i'll take point" i'd defriend them instantly

Sounds like you've never played an MMO - there is a concept of players having different roles i.e. the tank is the one who pulls bad guys.
 
Wow, 80+ posts in the thread and the worst I get is two people complaining about the interview being broken into three parts? On NeoGAF??? Hehe, I really should bookmark this thread and come back to it whenever I'm having a bad day.

Anyway, thanks to everyone for the kind words. This really was an interview that I'd been trying to get for the entire 10+ years I've been in this business and covering Bungie. I couldn't ask Jason about everything -- I was lucky enough to get a bit over an hour with him, but that's not nearly enough to make up for 11+ years of Jason Jones silence -- but I'm glad you all enjoyed part 1.

And to those two posters who complained about this being broken into three parts, I'll say what I said on Twitter to those same complaints: we have data that shows beyond a shadow of a doubt that if I posted the entire 4,500+ word interview in one article -- whether on one page or making it multiple pages -- that an astoundingly small percentage of people would read even half of it, let alone the whole thing. That's why it's broken up -- I want people to read everything Jason had to say!
Thanks for your great work. I don't mind it being split.
 
Top Bottom