'Halo' creator Bungie Studios rallies aid for hurricane victims
- by Joshua Rouse: A&E Editor

Bungie Studios, developers of the highly successful Xbox video game franchise “Halo,” are doing their part to help victims of Hurricane Katrina.

On Aug. 31 Bungie Studios employee Brian Jarrard, a.k.a. SketchFactor, broke the news on the Bungie’s Web site front page with a plea for any Bungie fans to help out. He posted, “It’s not often that we stray from topics related to Halo but in this case we felt the need to rally the members of the Bungie Underground Army to lend a hand to help those who have suffered through this disaster.”

On Sept. 2, “content monkey” Frankie posted on the Bungie Weekly Update that Bungie studios would be selling “Fight the Flood!” T-shirts for $19.99. About $15 will go to the Hurricane Relief Fund through the American Red Cross.

Frankie has been the self-proclaimed goof of Bungie Studios, but he does not believe this is a laughing matter: “I know this is serious stuff, but that’s the point. If it wasn’t that bad, we wouldn’t be doing this.”

The shirts have a Master Chief, the hero of the “Halo” games, kicking a “Flood,” a parasitic life form of “Halo.” On the bottom, “FIGHT THE FLOOD!” is printed in gray letters.

According to the Sept. 2 update, sometime this month Bungie Studios will be holding an online auction with all proceeds going to the Hurricane Relief Fund. Frankie posted that all sorts of items will be available.

“We’ll have all sorts of awesome things to bid on but some of the biggies include large Master Chief statues (signed by the team), the original “Fight the Flood” concept artwork signed by Bungie artists, a “Jam Board” which is a piece of foam core that’s been put on the wall for our artists to doodle, sign, write, customize however they want – this will be a 100% unique and totally original piece, and plenty of signed game posters, Xbox game discs  and more.”

Bungie Studios was founded in May 1991, but this has been the first major disaster they have collected relief funds for. In 2001, they were bought out by Microsoft and released the popular Xbox game “Halo: Combat Evolved.” In Nov. 2004, Bungie Studios released its highly anticipated sequel, “Halo 2” to record setting sales.

Bungie Studios has always been close to the fans throughout each game development. Now they are even closer as they try to do what they can to help New Orleans recover.

According to a posting by Frankie, even though the company has received praise for its efforts, “ultimately it’s you, our fans, who are making the real difference.”

The “Fight the Flood” T-shirt” is for sale on the Bungie store Web site at http://bungiestore.com. with a minimum of $15 in proceeds donated to the American Red Cross.