**This story originally appeared on July 16th, 2008**

By now, you've likely seen the front page message from Bungie President Harold Ryan, but in case you just returned from an exhaustive trip living in the wilderness, his original message is viewable below:


As upset and frustrated as we know folks are, we hope it's at least a small comfort that our fans know we share their disappointment. A metric ton of man hours went into getting something ready to show and it's disappointing to not be able to share it. But, the upside is that it's all stuff you'll still see further down the road.

As much as fans wanted to believe otherwise, this is in fact, the truth and not a cruel hoax or prank. E3 is winding down and there are no plans to make a surprise announcement later this week.

Top Questions we've received on this matter:

1. OMG! The announce was posted at 7! This is all part of the plan.

The news was broken to us shortly before 7 p.m. and we decided to keep with tradition to make a clean break.

2. Why leave the splash page up if it's not happening?

We left the splash page up for the folks who didn't see the message or were planning on tuning in the following morning before the news vanished into Bungie.net's ether.

3. But Harold Ryan is only a TESTER this has to be fake!

Harold was a tester, but assumed the position of President a while ago. Crazy Wiki's and their misinformation.

A couple of far lower priority side effects of us not making our announcement are that the Podcast we recorded and the E3: Livin' the Dream mockumentary Sketch and I were filming have hit some snags. The Podcast will be filed away in the "archives" and will be anachronistically released at a later date. The video experience, E3: Livin' the Dream, cannot be salvaged at this time.