Funny how, in a world filled with mortgage payments, corporate downsizing, car repairs, and the ever-mounting environmental problem caused by mountains of AOL disks, it would be a rumor about a game company that finally gave us a bleeding ulcer. Yes, we're still going on about that Bungie thing; as we mentioned yesterday, scary references to a buyout by Microsoft started floating around the 'net a few days ago, and since then we've been popping antacids like they were Pez. Even though it's still "just" a rumor, the very thought of such a cool formerly Mac-only game company being assimilated by the Redmond Borg is enough to make our spleens hurt.

See, it's hard to keep telling ourselves that it's only a rumor given how many people have written in to confirm our worst fears. Several viewers claim to have first-hand knowledge of Microsoft execs flying into Chicago to seal the deal at Bungie HQ. Worse yet, faithful viewer Stephen White (who's been following this rumor since its humble beginnings as an anonymous discussion group posting last week) notes that an authority no less than Tuncer Deniz himself is lending credence to the story. Tuncer, for the uninitiated, founded Inside Mac Games magazine many years ago, became friends with Bungie during the development of Marathon, left the publication to work for them during the Myth years, and is now back at his old post at IMG. We'd have to guess that he's about as "inside" as it gets without actually working at Bungie in some high-ranking executive capacity. And his recent posts to the IMG forum were worrisome, at best, stating that big news on the subject was coming soon, referring to this current Monday as "D-Day," and predicting that IMG's forum would explode with activity immediately thereafter. Even more ominous is the way in which all those posts have since been deleted...

So, we'll have to wait until at least Monday to learn the truth, but from where we're standing, it doesn't look good. On the plus side, Microsoft's never been one to turn down a potential revenue stream, so the rumors of the cancellation of Mac versions of Halo and Oni in the event of a buyout are pretty darn unlikely, given how much development's already been done. It just means that when you buy Halo next year, it'll have Microsoft's logo on the box-- truly a disturbing thought. And as for anything to come after Halo, well, we wouldn't hold our breath for a Mac version, assuming this buyout becomes reality. So we guess we'll just keep chowing down on the Rolaids until Monday...