Bungie Sent All This Free Swag To The Gamer Whose XBox 360 Artwork Microsoft Destroyed
Remember Nathanial? Microsoft's repair center senseless erased the valuable signatures and cool artwork he had painstakingly collected on his XBox 360. When Bungie, the maker of Halo, saw what happened, they wanted to help—even though they had nothing to do with the calamity. They decided to ship Nathanial an awesome swag bag stuffed with signature-adorned freebies.
The bag contained:
- Legendary Edition Helmet signed by most-if not all-of the studio staff
- Halo 3 Soundtrack (two disc) signed by Marty O'Donnel (with "DO NOT ERASE!" written under his name)
- Bungie Jacket
- Bungie T-Shirt
- Halo 3 Messenger Bag
- Two Halo 3 Limited Edition Wireless Controllers (one covenant, one human)
- Halo 3 Faceplate and Skins for Xbox 360
- Four McFarlane Action Figures (MC, EVA Spartan, Brute Chieftan, Jackal Sniper)
- Halo Actionclix Preview pack (Target exclusive sticker on the front)
- Halo Actionclix Game Pack 4
- Halo 3 Wall Graffix
- Halo 3: Ghosts of Onyx Novel
- Halo Graphic Novel
- Halo 3 Wristband
- Halo 3 Hackeysack
And finally, to the staff of Bungie Studios:Thanks, Bungie, for showing us that gaming isn't just about blasting apart marauding alien invaders. No, it's about heart, too.I cannot thank you enough for the outpouring of support that you have lavished upon me in the aftermath of the release of my story. Long have I known of your dedication to your fans and community, but I find this single act of kindness mind boggling. Apart from the fact that a few of you had signatures adorning my console, you had no involvement in what occurred. As such, you have far surpassed any response I could have anticipated. I don't think I could ever repay you for this.
Thank you all for what you have done for me. I wish each and every one of you continued success in your future endeavors.
P.S. Marty, I love the soundtrack, and I promise you that I will do as you've requested and not erase any of it.
Nathanial's full letter and more pictures of the swag are posted on Hawty McBloggy.
Bungie Unscrews Previously Screwed Gamer [Hawty McBloggy]
PREVIOUSLY: Microsoft Scrubs All The Valuable Signatures And Artwork Off Your XBOX 360 Case
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Comments:
oy, didn't need two o' these
Bungie is consistently one of the best videogame companies to their fans. Kudo's bungie.
Man... I'm no fan of the 360 *the console itself, the gamebase is pretty tight :D!*, but this is just bad ass.
It's awesome to see stuff like this...
It's like an old friend just died, and you'll forever have the memories of him/her. But a new friend comes in and picks you back up....
Or something like that....... I don't know. I just think what Bungie did kicks ass :)
I was never any good at the Halo games, but with these kind of people making them, I think I should give them another try.
Doesn't SWAG mean "Stuff We All Get?" If so, where's my stuff too?
Wow. For a company to take it upon themselves to help make good on something that they had nothing to do with without even being asked. THATS how the customer service (and marketing) game is played.
The bar has been risen.
@discounteggroll: The difference here is that it isn't feasible for Bungie, who are the seemingly the only ones with heart working with Microsoft, to replace 360s. They can replace misplaced or destroyed Halo stuff because they created Halo.
All credit needs to go to Bungie and Bungie alone. Microsoft should continue to receive bad press due to their ineffectiveness at combating the RRoDs. Balance restored.
He should have just bought a new xbox and swapped the shell himself instead of taking the risk that MS would actually care about his little nerd trophy.
Wow. Now I want to buy Halo 3 just because BUNGIE is awesome.
nice to read about a happy ending for once :)
I always thought Bungie was one of the best, most customer-and-gamer-friendly companies out there. It's nice to see them living up to their repuation.
This is why I think a Best Company of America thing on Consumerist wouldn't be a bad idea either. Though so far the only companies I can think of with a good reputation are Newegg and Bungie.
Damn nice of them.
Now THERE's a company that knows that a little investment in GOOD P.R. (rather than screwing the customers and spending $$$$ on TV and radio ads to attempt to brainwash customers that they weren't screwed) can make a huge difference for your public perception.
And it was apparently Microsoft's screwup, not theirs. They saw an opportunity to offer up a few goodies to heal the pain of a loss related to their product from an obviously obsessed fan, and that's thinking smart. Nice work, Bungie!
@discounteggroll: You have to understand that Bungie as a company has always been known to be HUGELY linked to the gaming community. One of the two biggest fears that people had when Microsoft bought the company was that their connection with gamers as a whole was going to go the way of EA now that they where part of the "collective" While the second fear, that Bungie would be bullied by M$ to stop producing the Mac games they where well known for did come to pass, they continue to have a strong connection to the community.
Also a second thing I would like to point out is that Bungie is no longer part of Microsoft. So it isnt even as if Microsoft would have asked them to do it from them, Mircosofts only connection to Bungie now is with Halo.
And lastly to my knowledge, the kid had been collecting Bungie staff names, so it makes a hell of a lot of sense Bungie did something, though in no way did they have to show the outpouring they did.
This Bungie awesomeness contrasts to how nasty and deceptive Microsoft's tech support has treated this guy.
Isn't Bungie still owned by Microsoft?
Sigh. If only the X-Box division (or Microsoft itself) were run by the Bungie guys.
(Guys, who, it should be noted, started in the Mac community: it's in our genes to, well, give a damn about our customers/fans/zealots)
Bravo! Spread the word far and wide: Bungie earns mad propz!
Bungie was owned by Microsoft, which resulted in the Halo/XBox marriage.
According to wikipedia;
On October 5, 2007, Bungie announced that it had split with Microsoft and become a privately held independent company, Bungie LLC.
@y2julio: "yes because people that visit the consumerist visit all the other gawker media sites."
You mean everyone doesn't like reading 100 stories per day about video gaming?
@wav3form: Troll.
Anyway, major love for Bungie, and major respect as well. Gamer loyalty, when won, is fierce and profitable. Bungie didn't exactly need extra love from the gaming community, but they went out and got it anyway -- people will remember that.
ROCK ON.
Seriously.. that's beyond cool. I wish I was still a gamer, but I do own Halo and Halo 2, so I supported them back then.
This is great stuff.
Bungie is an awesome company. They really pay attention to their fans, what their fans want, and I figured this kid was going to get hooked up with something sweet.
It's great to see Bungie throw some stuff where it will be appreciated, instead of giving more to Gizmodo where they break it all like children.
I was interested, once, in becoming a customer and buying some of their products. I lost interest when they said "screw you" to all the PC/Mac gamers (they made great Mac games) and tied their games to consoles. Now, I know consoles are well-liked by many, but they never caught on with me, and talking about how you're going to make all these great platform-neutral products and then reneging on your word is not how you get customers.
Wow, that's awesome. I love hearing stories like these. Go Bungie!
Heh. Let's see Microsoft come anywhere near comparing to Bungie's generosity on this. You know, assuming that Microsoft makes any effort at all.
@rdldr1: Wow. I wonder how much the Bungie people had to pay Microsoft in order to spin off their company again (only five months ago at that!).
I revered Bungie for their Marathon FPS on the Mac, a pre-cursor to Halo IMHO.
sorry if it wasn't apparent, but I was simply applauding bungie for their impressive service. They definitely went above and beyond, and yes this gives them sick brownie points. Knowing this, I would not buy any bungie product over a non-bungie product simply because they did anything "nice" for their customer. Comparing bungie to MS it isn't exactly fair either, but knowing that they have always respected and supported the people who support them makes me feel very good.
Not impressed. Just buying advertising and the Consumerist was just so happy to provide the free space.
@Buran:
do I wish they stayed with Mac? absolutely. I have had and currently still use powerhouse macs that would kill to run insane resource-hungry games. Unfortunately, you can bring a game to an OS, but you can't make it run (poor use of a metaphor, I know). Apple didn't bite (hard enough), and so it dehydrated
MS did take a nibble, and so a new era was created
leave it to the mac fanbois to try to pull some positive p.r. out of this. let me help you out a little:
bungie =/= mac
yes, marathon was one of the best games ever made. yes, halo is completely derivative of marathon. no, apple was not smart enough to retain the talent.
& nathaniel: you lucky s.o.b. bungie misdelivered a box...if you give me your address, i'll be happy to drop it off for you. =P
@mac-phisto: Not sure if you mean me, but I'm not a fangirl by any means. I just expect companies to do what they promise they will.
There are plenty of companies that have made very workable mac games. Including Bungie, in the past. If Bungie said it was going to keep doing that there was every reason to believe them. Instead they chose to abandon a lucrative potential market (there are people who are far more zealotlike about their Macs than I, and many of them have a lot more money than I do) after saying they'd be releasing games for them.
If you can't do it, don't say you will.
@mac-phisto: huh?
1) Bungie was never "owned" by Apple. They just made Mac and PC games and where somewhat devoted to the Apple platform before the buyout. So its stupid to make a comment of Apple not being smart enough to retain the talent when they never owned it to begin with.
If anything Microsoft was smart enough to buy a very talented game company to put stuff on a system that still is very much shunned by all but North American game houses.
2) Staff at Bungie have NEVER been happy with working with Microsoft even AFTER they where bought by them. It was business pure and simple and it hurt them creatively. It sparked some real bad feelings internally in the company over "betraying "their platform." Likewise the move cancled a bunch of games they had been planning since Microsoft basically shut down all production not related to the xbox.
3) where in gods name did your comment even come from, there was no fanboi idolatry ANYWHERE in the thread, and its hard NOT to mention Bungies roots when talking about them since their love affair for gamers goes back to their Mac days. Seriously grow a thick skin and shut up.
Wow, nice of Bungie to do Microsoft's work for them. Good work!
Wow, if Bungie did this for him, imagine what Microsoft (who was the party that actually did something wrong) is going to do! *rolls eyes*
Very nice of them too send that stuff. Of course free is the right price. Who buys that kinda crap. Man, it's a game play it and be done with it. Blows my mind why people buy useless garbage like this stuff
Great article about the Bungie people from Wired a few months ago. At this point, they were still part of MS. Fascinating to read what goes into their game testing.
@thirdbase: So you can safely say you've never bought any merchandise tied to any hobby of yours? You must live a very spartan life.
...pun not intended.
@Falconfire: you're telling me to grow a thick skin? you came up with a 3 point argument (albeit a poorly constructed one) to quite a harmless statement directed (in jest) at our resident steve jobs, Trai_Dep.
-2 on reading comprehension. i didn't say apple owned them & i don't remember mentioning microsoft once. & -3 on sarcasm detection. you must be from the south.
@Buran: no, it wasn't directed at you. i also wish that mac had more games to offer. perhaps now that the hardware differences have melted away, more developers will be more inclined to develop for the platform.
Man, I should do something retarded like sending off an item with sentimental value so I can get cool shit too!
i gotta admit.... that's pretty damn cool of them!
awesome!
That is really sweet! (wipes away tear)
awesome story, Bungie should really get props for being a company that cares about its gamers. unfortunately they build their games to play on a console created by a game with the morals of a corrupt politico.
RROD's and dead 360's that aren't repaired under warranty, MSoft does nothing
Some erased signatures and doodling...bungie sends him a gargantuan apology basket (and they weren't even involved with the erasure)
the scale isn't tipped, its broken in fucking half