Turns out Aerospace is a [url=http://www.bungie.net/projects/aerospace/]Indie Game Developer 1-Up program, intended to help Indie Game Developers integrate their game statistics with the Bungie.net platform.[/url] Not as fancy or shiny as I was hoping, but maybe they plan to expand on it. (It's in the dropdown now) [quote][Original thread:][/quote] (Please note that I'm not a part of Bungie, so all of this is purely my own thinkin') [b]Updated: June 26th 2010[/b] [quote][url=http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=62232410]Detailed update on a bunch of things. Important read![/url][/quote] So to add to a bunch of theories and ideas flying around about what Aerospace might or will be, I've posted my thoughts before on what I think it will end up being. I've previously said this regarding what I believe Bungie Aerospace is: [quote][url=http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=61582390&postRepeater1-p=1#61597052][b]Posted by:[/b] SonicJohn[/url] Calling it: I think Bungie Aerospace will be Bungie's own Social Network, complete with clan-support for the new-IP, cross-platform statistics, new-IP-related news, community-content spotlight, interviews, ViDocs, and perhaps even downloadable/purchasable old Bungie games like Gnop!, Myth and Marathon. I just think it will be the central hub network for Bungie's next game, and I think it will have a heavy focus on community content. I'm not sure what this would mean for Bungie.net as far as its function goes, but I definitely feel like the plan is to have all of their future games' content offsite so that it doesn't clutter Bnet. So yeah, them's my thoughts.[/quote] There was one core thing that was bugging me about this idea, and that was that it didn't really offer anything that Bnet didn't already have or could do. Then ingenuity struck. [quote][b]Bungie Aerospace could connect the players of the new multi-platform IP together. From Xbox gamers, to PS3, PC and iPhone gamers, or even Facebook gamers.[/b][/quote] Here's how: [b]Step 1.[/b] [quote]Think big. What's the next logical step for the games industry? Well, there's social-gaming on Facebook. There's the hugely successful SmartPhone market. There's the [i]hugely[/i] successful World of Warcraft MMO. And then there's the past 10 years of experience developing the FPS "Halo". Valve has also released Steam on Playstation 3, allowing PS3 and PC gamers to play together. Bungie are also now independent from Microsoft: a 3rd-party developer. They can do what they want. Then there's step 7: World Domination. How can you dominate the world in this current game climate? You connect everyone together through a singular hub. [url=http://mmohuts.com/editorials/console-mmorpgs-never-make-sense]It's been reported previously[/url] that the entire gaming population of the Xbox and PS3 online markets is around 65 million, whereas PC gamers have over 100 million users worldwide. What if you were to combine those numbers together? You'd make quite a hefty number, that's for sure. That's where Bungie Aerospace comes in. "Aerospace" gives connotations of a world in the clouds and above. The idea of an untainted area of the world as-yet unclaimed. A place that covers the planet. Globally dominating, you might say. So there's the big idea. Makes games for as absolutely many markets as possible and connect them all to Aerospace. Also expand on Player Investment (as seen in Reach's Armoury) to the extent of having affordable and attractive micro-transactions payments for content like costumes, weapons, quests, etc, as opposed to monthly payments. Keeps everyone happy! I'm sure you can see where they could go with this.[/quote] [b]Step 2.[/b] [quote]Convince major publisher, Activision, of multi-platform games of a new business venture that could revolutionize how games and gamers connect together over each platform. Sign 10-year contract.[/quote] [b]Step 3.[/b] [quote]Hire! Hire! Hire! This is no easy task. Developing for multiple platforms is something that Bungie is yet to do, and specifically the Playstation. They're familiar with iOS, PC and Xbox development, so that's all in the bag, and Android/Blackberry development isn't too difficult to pick up and learn (if you're familiar with their codebase already, that is). But the PS3 devkit? Yeah, that's some superbly complicated stuff right there. Not to mention expensive. You'll want the absolute best and most experienced people to ensure success.[/quote] [b]Step 4.[/b] [quote]Start getting servers set up and internally test connections via each platform you're going to be connecting. It's been said before (and I've personally had it explained to me before) that is it entirely possible to connect Xbox and Playstation gamers together, and it has been done before, but never commercially, and that's all down directly to Sony and Microsoft: they'd never allow direct connections. So what do you do? You make a proxy server.[/quote] [b]Step 5.[/b] [quote]Why not also make that a social-network to boot? Bungie have said that they are moving away from weekly updates and the Comm Chatter, so it can be assumed that news will come from Aerospace in the future. Feeding gamers news directly to their games? We've seen Bungie do that with the notifications that pop up in Reach occasionally, so why not make room for that as a full feature?[/quote] [b]Step 6.[/b] [quote]Blister ahead with developing both the game, and Bungie Aerospace. Both would be completely essentially for eachother to survive and be successful.[/quote] [b]Step 7.[/b] [quote]Release game. Be super awesome and successful. Win over entire gaming population of the planet. Die happy.[/quote] [quote][/quote] [b]Additional Reading:[/b] 1. [url=http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=62158426&viewreplies=true&postRepeater1-p=2]*Mouse/Keyboard VS Controller Solutions *Bungie.net's WLID-requirement Login Concerns *Microsoft & Sony's disagreements? *Social Interaction (same functionality as Raptr) *Musing over comparable UNSC, Covenant, Flood, Forerunner Factions for new IP[/url] 2. [url=http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=62158426&viewreplies=true&postRepeater1-p=3]*Migrate Bungie.net WLID userbase to automatic Aerospace account? *Aerospace not the same functionality as Steam.[/url] [quote][/quote] I've spent some good few months thinking about this, and I believe this is my final conclusion on the matter. I look forward to July 7th to see how close I am to the target. Should be interesting! What are your thoughts? [Edited on 06.30.2011 4:57 PM PDT]