So you thought Bill in a sweater was scary? Well, if you're a fan of Mac games, there's a rumor going around that's about a kajillion times worse. Microsoft has been messing with the Mac platform for a long time now, and for the most part we at AtAT have rolled with the punches, but this time it's all-out war. They can threaten the cancellation of Mac Office, they can try to kill QuickTime, they can force-feed Internet Explorer to the Mac OS like so much steroid-laden grain-- but once they start screwing with the development of Bungie's games, it's time to lay the smackdown on Redmond, John Woo style.

Bungie, as you are no doubt aware, is one of the premiere games developers on this or any other planet. The company is responsible for the entire Marathon series and both incarnations of Myth: The Fallen Lords. Right now those wacky codemeisters are cranking full-speed to finish Oni, its upcoming anime-style action-adventure title, and continuing to plod away at Halo, the next-generation 3D multiplayer experience that's so gorgeous, it literally brought tears to the eyes of Yours Truly when it was first shown to the world at last summer's Macworld Expo. Bungie started as a Mac-only developer, and while more recent titles have always been cross-platform, the company has remained staunchly loyal to the Mac community even as other developers jumped ship for Windowsville.

Which is why this rumor over at FatBabies, first pointed out to us by a faithful viewer sporting the appropriate moniker of Doomsday, has us all in a tizzy. The word around the water cooler is that Microsoft either is buying or has already bought Bungie, and may coerce its new wholly-owned-subsidiary to scrap development of Halo for all platforms except its new-fangled X-Box thingy. Since we've seen zero comment from Bungie on the matter, we don't find ourselves believing this whole nightmare scenario-- especially since Bungie is still a private company, so there's no real chance of a hostile takeover. And since the Bungie folks are twelve shades of cool, we just can't see them selling out so horribly. Still, you can bet we'll be on edge until this rumor is put to bed once and for all. If by some terrifying twist of fate it turns out to be true, we'll be hitching to the Pacific Northwest with a SPNKR-X17 SSM Rocket Launcher slung over one shoulder.

UPDATE: Those fun-loving folks over at Mac Gamer's Ledge have posted Bungie's official "no comment" comment on the rumor: "Well, you gotta understand that there have been countless rumors of people buying us over the years - Eidos, GT, Acclaim - and we've developed a policy of not fueling those mills by commenting on the rumors. In general, if you haven't heard something from us, it isn't true." While it's not an outright denial, it's enough to let us get to sleep tonight...