For the younger users: O'Donnell used to be the big music guy at Bungie from 1999-2014 (IIRC), most famously composing the soundtrack of the Halo series and Destiny. However, he was suddenly fired 'without cause' in his words a decade ago and Bungie further went out of their way to try to financially screw him over. In hindsight, it's very hard to not assume that he was purged as part of the drive to homogenize politics across gaming studios which was kicking into high gear in the early-to-mid-2010s, as he was (and is) an outspoken conservative.
Well, now he's running for the Republican nomination in NV's 3rd Congressional district. At a glance it seems like a competitive swing district; it was last held by the GOP in 2018, more recently won by non-landslide margins by the Democrat Susie Lee, and presently rated with a Partisan Voting Index of D+1. So probably (hopefully) not insurmountable for O'Donnell if he takes the Republican nomination.
Between this, Sweet Baby Inc. Streisanding itself by trying to suppress that Steam curator, and Maya Kramer re-emerging as a Sweet Baby consultant, it sure feels like I've seen an unusual number of gaming-related blasts from the past in the last few weeks.
Heh, I recently replayed the Halo games and noted just how much O'Donnell's music helped bring the original trilogy and ODST to life. O'Donnell really showed out with the ODST and Halo 3 soundtracks -- those are absolutely epic-tier musical scores. Going from that to Halo 4 where the soundtrack basically was generic nothingness until the final flight segment toward the Composer where the music actually felt like it fit with the series.
It's nice to know that O'Donnell is trying to make a difference in the real world beyond the awesome music he's composed over the years. Bungie is nothing but an ESG husk these days, so even if he did stick around they wouldn't have deserved his talents.
I'd like to think that's just some pablum he's spouting to appease moderate normie sorts, who seem to be the deciding element in the district where he's running. A guy who was purged for his conservative politics should certainly know better and AFAIK he's never been shy about his conservative beliefs before and after being fired from Bungie over it (indeed, sticking to his guns most probably was what cost him his old job in the first place). He's also at least mildly attuned to the culture war, I remember him posting about boycotting Gilette and going over to Dollar Shave Club instead a few years ago when the furor over that toxic masculinity ad was still fresh.
Gotta keep in mind his district is very purple, presently held by a Democrat and the last few elections there were decided by thin margins. It's very much not an R+20 district where he can afford to reveal his power level in full, go 'yes the Democrats are evil parasites who are ruining this country on purpose and I would love to skin them alive on livestream' and still romp to victory.
Industries are committing suicide over politics; some willingly, some forced. There's at least a chance to save the ones that don't wish to go along with the bullshit.
Game background music from late 1990s to early 2010 was fire. Seems these days.. video game background music seems too generic and bland. The music, along with many aspects of gaming lost its soul along with many things in the past.
Feel free to contradict me, but the last great Video Game OST was Doom 2016. Far Cry 5 got close with the "Hope County Choir" stuff, but that wasn't the full soundtrack, and even it had some issues due to clearly being written by lefties ("Your truth" isn't a phrase that belongs in any lexicon.)
He was never with 343 to my awareness. He stayed with Bungie as they left Microsoft (343 was what remained there). He was fired by Bungie just as Destiny was going out the door in part because they wanted to claim that Paul McCartney was the primary composer of that game (of course, a bald-faced lie).
He was a company founder and partial owner, and had to be stripped of his voting power and title in order to get to firing him. Something they managed to do in a span of hours. It was very shady and almost certainly illegal. He sued them for it, and won big.
He was a company founder and partial owner, and had to be stripped of his voting power and title in order to get to firing him. Something they managed to do in a span of hours. It was very shady and almost certainly illegal. He sued them for it, and won big.
What the hell. Rank sociopathy. At least the good guy won in the end.
Reminds me of some id software exec blatantly lying about Mick Gordon on reddit over the Doom Eternal soundtrack. I'm not sure how that ended up, but almost everything he tried to pin on Mick for delaying the project was knowingly false. And the Eternal soundtrack still isn't officially out, so I can't add The Only One They Fear Is You to any playlists.
I never heard Salvatori presented as anything by Bungie but a jobber. He had been the lesser composer (working underneath Martin) at Bungie for years before Destiny, and stayed with the company during the Microsoft exodus. It boggles my mind that Bungie would suddenly want or try to present him as anything else because I reckon they never actually treated him that well.
No, it was Paul McCartney (of Beatles / Wings fame). Activision likely pushed for them to have a 'big' name associated with the game, and the new-guard at Bungie seemed gaga over the idea as well. Given the music that made it into the game, it is very obvious to my ear O'Donnell was the primary composer. The beef as I understood it then was that Bungie was pushing for giving McCartney top billing despite all of his contributions being vague and without direct attribution song to song. I still have no clue what music or musical themes are supposed to have been his, though I admit I stopped caring about Bungie during the early phases of Destiny so if they've revealed that information since, very well.
The music sounds like O'Donnell music, you can draw a straight line from Halo (especially ODST) to Destiny very easily. They have to convince me it was otherwise and I certainly didn't see it at the time.
343 had/has an unofficial rule of not hiring ex-bungie guys. My guess is they know they are shit at making games and they don’t want ex-bungie guys coming back and taking over.
For the younger users: O'Donnell used to be the big music guy at Bungie from 1999-2014 (IIRC), most famously composing the soundtrack of the Halo series and Destiny. However, he was suddenly fired 'without cause' in his words a decade ago and Bungie further went out of their way to try to financially screw him over. In hindsight, it's very hard to not assume that he was purged as part of the drive to homogenize politics across gaming studios which was kicking into high gear in the early-to-mid-2010s, as he was (and is) an outspoken conservative.
Well, now he's running for the Republican nomination in NV's 3rd Congressional district. At a glance it seems like a competitive swing district; it was last held by the GOP in 2018, more recently won by non-landslide margins by the Democrat Susie Lee, and presently rated with a Partisan Voting Index of D+1. So probably (hopefully) not insurmountable for O'Donnell if he takes the Republican nomination.
Between this, Sweet Baby Inc. Streisanding itself by trying to suppress that Steam curator, and Maya Kramer re-emerging as a Sweet Baby consultant, it sure feels like I've seen an unusual number of gaming-related blasts from the past in the last few weeks.
Edit: Also, here's O'Donnell's official campaign website.
Haha thank you! Was gonna ask if he was that dude that was fired mysteriously back in the day
Heh, I recently replayed the Halo games and noted just how much O'Donnell's music helped bring the original trilogy and ODST to life. O'Donnell really showed out with the ODST and Halo 3 soundtracks -- those are absolutely epic-tier musical scores. Going from that to Halo 4 where the soundtrack basically was generic nothingness until the final flight segment toward the Composer where the music actually felt like it fit with the series.
It's nice to know that O'Donnell is trying to make a difference in the real world beyond the awesome music he's composed over the years. Bungie is nothing but an ESG husk these days, so even if he did stick around they wouldn't have deserved his talents.
O'Donnell seems like a great guy. He really stood out to me when watching this Crowbcat video on Halo. I definitely hope he has some success.
I'd like to think that's just some pablum he's spouting to appease moderate normie sorts, who seem to be the deciding element in the district where he's running. A guy who was purged for his conservative politics should certainly know better and AFAIK he's never been shy about his conservative beliefs before and after being fired from Bungie over it (indeed, sticking to his guns most probably was what cost him his old job in the first place). He's also at least mildly attuned to the culture war, I remember him posting about boycotting Gilette and going over to Dollar Shave Club instead a few years ago when the furor over that toxic masculinity ad was still fresh.
Gotta keep in mind his district is very purple, presently held by a Democrat and the last few elections there were decided by thin margins. It's very much not an R+20 district where he can afford to reveal his power level in full, go 'yes the Democrats are evil parasites who are ruining this country on purpose and I would love to skin them alive on livestream' and still romp to victory.
Don't threaten me with a good time.
Sometimes you have to wear the mask of the normie, but that is my optimism speaking.
To be honest, he could win if he uses the same genius that came up with the Halo OST for his campaign music.
Industries are committing suicide over politics; some willingly, some forced. There's at least a chance to save the ones that don't wish to go along with the bullshit.
Marty: "this is legendary composer Sierra 117, can anybody hear me?"
"Isolate that signal! Mr O'Donnell, do you mind telling me what you're doing in the United States Congress?"
Marty: "Sir..."
..."finishing this fight".
roll credits
Duh-duh-duh-duuuuh di-duh-duh-di-duhhhh~ duh-duh-di-DUH duh-duh-duh (gaelic cello kicks in)
His entrance should have monks singing slowly.
Game background music from late 1990s to early 2010 was fire. Seems these days.. video game background music seems too generic and bland. The music, along with many aspects of gaming lost its soul along with many things in the past.
Feel free to contradict me, but the last great Video Game OST was Doom 2016. Far Cry 5 got close with the "Hope County Choir" stuff, but that wasn't the full soundtrack, and even it had some issues due to clearly being written by lefties ("Your truth" isn't a phrase that belongs in any lexicon.)
I want this O'Donnell to replace the turtle boy O'Donnell.
He was never with 343 to my awareness. He stayed with Bungie as they left Microsoft (343 was what remained there). He was fired by Bungie just as Destiny was going out the door in part because they wanted to claim that Paul McCartney was the primary composer of that game (of course, a bald-faced lie).
He was a company founder and partial owner, and had to be stripped of his voting power and title in order to get to firing him. Something they managed to do in a span of hours. It was very shady and almost certainly illegal. He sued them for it, and won big.
What the hell. Rank sociopathy. At least the good guy won in the end.
Reminds me of some id software exec blatantly lying about Mick Gordon on reddit over the Doom Eternal soundtrack. I'm not sure how that ended up, but almost everything he tried to pin on Mick for delaying the project was knowingly false. And the Eternal soundtrack still isn't officially out, so I can't add The Only One They Fear Is You to any playlists.
I thought it was Michael Salvatori
I never heard Salvatori presented as anything by Bungie but a jobber. He had been the lesser composer (working underneath Martin) at Bungie for years before Destiny, and stayed with the company during the Microsoft exodus. It boggles my mind that Bungie would suddenly want or try to present him as anything else because I reckon they never actually treated him that well.
No, it was Paul McCartney (of Beatles / Wings fame). Activision likely pushed for them to have a 'big' name associated with the game, and the new-guard at Bungie seemed gaga over the idea as well. Given the music that made it into the game, it is very obvious to my ear O'Donnell was the primary composer. The beef as I understood it then was that Bungie was pushing for giving McCartney top billing despite all of his contributions being vague and without direct attribution song to song. I still have no clue what music or musical themes are supposed to have been his, though I admit I stopped caring about Bungie during the early phases of Destiny so if they've revealed that information since, very well.
The music sounds like O'Donnell music, you can draw a straight line from Halo (especially ODST) to Destiny very easily. They have to convince me it was otherwise and I certainly didn't see it at the time.
343 had/has an unofficial rule of not hiring ex-bungie guys. My guess is they know they are shit at making games and they don’t want ex-bungie guys coming back and taking over.
343 deserves all the hate they get.