A promotional image for the first Bungie Day
Bungie Day, which occurs on July 7, is a holiday created by Bungie Studios to celebrate their long standing infatuation with the number Seven. The date, when shortened, is 7/7. Bungie Day was originally meant to happen on dates where the month, day, and year are all composed of ones and sevens, but has since opted to celebrate it every July 7.
Celebration
Bungie celebrated the first Bungie Day on July 7, 2007. They celebrated in a number of different ways, mostly for the benefit of the public. Since the day fell on a Saturday, it is likely that most Bungie employees were not actually working in the office that day. Coincidentally, many calendars show Saturday as the seventh day of the week, with Sunday as the first.
Bungie.net
The 2007 Bungie Day was celebrated on Bungie.net in the form of a post detailing newly announced material for the then upcoming Halo 3, including an online multiplayer battle, 3-D movie/screenshots of the recently revealed CQB armor, and the EVA armor along with canon information about their background and development. Background information on the Brute Chopper vehicle was also included.
Xbox Live
2007: Xbox Live also saw some celebration from Bungie Studios in the form of free downloadable content from the Xbox Live Marketplace. All new gamer pics and a new dashboard theme (titled Bungie Day 2007 Theme and Bungie Day 2007 Picture Pack) were available to download (free of charge) until 0900 (GSM) the following Sunday. In addition, the Halo 2 Blastacular pack, originally a download that cost $4.00, became permanently free. It was also announced that the maps included in Blastacular Pack (Desolation and Tombstone) would be fully added to the Matchmaking system for Halo 2 in the coming weeks (at this time there were still a few matchmaking playlists that did not include these maps).
2008: Bungie released free gamer pictures and a dashboard theme which were only available during Bungie Day, the free downloadable Halo 3 map Cold Storage was released and the price of the Legendary map pack was reduced from 800 Microsoft Points to 600 Microsoft Points. There was also a special playlist added dubbed "Icy Treats," that was a seven player free for all only on Cold Storage with a variety of different game types.
2009: Bungie launched a version of the 7 on the 7th where players were able to get Recon armor. The playlist was a 4v4 game on community made maps. The playlist was called "Bungie vs World." Bungie was on for a full twenty-four hours and if you played with them and won, your team won Recon armor. Recon was additionally given away for random accomplishments (This information can be found here). This information was stated in the Bungie podcast released on 6/24/2009 and a post made hours before the playlist began (1 am PDT).
2010: Rooster Teeth Productions, with guidance from Bungie, released a Red vs Blue public service announcement (PSA) exclusively showcasing the Halo: Reach remake of classic multiplayer level Blood Gulch. The video also features a new armor ability; the Hologram, the return of the Missile Warthog, and teases the new immensely large playable area outside the confines of the main canyon of Blood Gulch (Forge World). Bungie also gave every Halo 3 player their highly coveted Bungie Armor for the day.
The picture for Bungie vs the World.
2011: Bungie had allowed the community to turn on the Eternal Flaming Helmet and the Bungie nameplate, as well as adding the Bungie day playlist, in which the player received 777 credits from the slot machine for every game played. Bungie also hosted a Bungie vs. The World Steaktacular where the player had the opportunity to verse a team of Bungie employees and, if they scored a Steaktacular, Bungie would send them two steaks.[1]
Trivia
- Bungie Day shares its date with Tanabata, a Japanese festival.
- Bungie Day always takes place on 7/7 in each given year, this is a reference to Bungie's obsession with the number 7.
Gallery
External links
- 7/7/07 Bungie.net Post
- 7/3/08 Bungie.Net Post (Outlining Bungie Day 08)
- 7/7/08 Bungie.Net Post