Seven Errors in the Scrapbook Competition

Dan Rudolph <drudo7ph@iastate.edu> writes:

I was reading the Marathon Scrapbook to for what must have been the seventieth time, when I noticed something I had never noticed before. The second paragraph of the first page begins, "It was 1991 and Alexander Seropian was in his basement apartment in Chicago's Hyde Park, cheerfully blowing off classes at the university of Chicago."

The page goes on to tell about how he wrote GNOP!, then the seventh paragraph says "Alex distributed GNOP! as shareware via online services and the Internet."

However, the caption on the opposing page reads, "Bungie's first game, GNOP or pong spelled backwards. It was released as freeware in late 1990. Check out those amazing graphics!"

I'll ignore the poor grammar and the misspelling of GNOP! The big issue here is that it disagrees with the text on two counts. I went to the source, the about dialogue in GNOP! itself. It tells us that it is free and encourages us the pass it along to our friends. On the bottom, it says copyright, 1990. The caption, rather the the text was right on both counts.

This leads me to question the accuracy of the rest of book. How are we to know it's not a bunch of hazy recollections and made-up dates? Any re-assurance is appreciated.

Well done you've found one of seven deliberate errors in the Marathon Scrapbook. Matt Soell (Scrapbook editor) will no doubt be offering a special prize to the person who discovers all seven! Good luck. ;-)

The Seventh Error has been spotted! Mark Levin <mglevin@uiuc.edu> finds the seventh error in the Seven Errors in the Scrapbook Competition. Mark writes:

On page 3, Greg Kirkpatrick was said to have "recently suffered a direct blow to the head from a washing machine". Wasn't this actually a blow from a *dishwasher*?

Yes well spotted it was a dishwasher not a washing machine. :-) In Pathways Into Darkness if you happen to stumble across a dead Special Forces guy called Greg (Kirkpatrick) you'll find out that his death was caused as follows:

Those spider things were all around me, but
I didn't stop firing until I ran out of bullets.
Then something hit me like a dish washer-
it must have been one of those zombies.

If you enquire further Greg will say:

Yeah, like a dish washer dropped from three
stories or something. I don't even remember
getting hit before that. I was spanking them
until I died.

The dish washer incident is also mentioned in the PID Hint Book and you'll find a number of references to it on the Story page. It was a standing joke at Bungie when Greg was around.

Well done to Mark. That signed copy of the Scrapbook and other goodies will be winging their way to you shortly. Thanks to all those who took part. Remember in life... nothing is perfect! ;-)

Another Marathon Scrapbook error spotted. Terry McCall <Stuff333@macol.net> writes:

Just a guess, but concerning the Scrapbook, in the section about Marathon, One of the pictures on page 4 shows MW SF '95. To the right of it is a picture of the 1st Marathon in MW SF '94. Also, on page 9, it reads: Bungie formally announced Marathon to the world on July 25, 1994, in a press release titled "Marathon Takes Texture-Mapping Into Space." But In the paragraph below it, it reads" Bungie unveiled the reworked Marathon at the Boston MW Expo in August '95. I'm pretty sure that they didn't announce Marathon about a year before they showed it AND after they actually released it. around Jan 1995. (Unless that date is wrong)

Yes the date is wrong it should read "Boston MW Expo in August '94". Well done you've spotted the second of seven errors in the Marathon Scrapbook. Find the seventh error and win! All errors should be sent to the Story page. If the error is correct (i.e. a true error) then it will be passed on to Matt Soell. Only hardened Bungie/Marathon afficianados need apply. Have you got what it takes? Remember... they're out there!

And then there were six! Michael Watson <mike@milesmedia.net> finds the sixth error in the Seven Errors in the Scrapbook Competition. Michael writes:

On page 3, someone noticed the error of the MWSF 94 thing, and Marathon being demoed and all, and the tie into page 9, and all...

But did I miss something?

The pic on page 4 (with Jason and Alex) says they were at MWSF 95.

No way that's from MWSF 95. First, by this time, they had a different logo, as indicated on page 10's image of the Bungie booth, in 94 (MW Boston).

Also, I think that screen in the background is PiD. PiD had been long released by MWSF 95.

Yes well spotted. The pic was taken much earlier than MWSF 95. As Michael rightly points out the Bungie logo is wrong for the date. Bungie have in fact changed their logo three times. The last change ocurred just prior to Macworld Expo Boston '94. This has been Bungie's corporate logo ever since.

The Seventh Error has yet to be spotted! Spot that seventh error and win a signed copy of the Marathon Scrapbook and a pile of other Bungie goodies. It could be YOU!

A few people have also noted an editorial error on page 5. The error is in the line:

"Jason also created the aforementioned net level 'Mars Needs Women'..."

The word 'aforementioned' is used yet the level 'Mars Needs Women' had not been mentioned prior to this. This was caused by the removal of a section on net levels during beta testing in which 'Mars Needs Women' was mentioned. As a consequence the word 'aforementioned' should have been removed as well. While this is technically an error the Seven Errors in the Scrapbook Competition is actually looking for 'factual' errors. Like the five that have been already spotted. Sorry if this wasn't clear. Keep searching... they're out there! :-)

And then there were three! Daniel Godwin <tinkytoes@yahoo.com> finds the third error in the Seven Errors in the Scrapbook Competition. Daniel writes:

I've found another one of the problems in the scrapbook! December 14th was not a Saturday, in 1994! It was a Wednesday!

Well spotted. Daniel is referring to the line on page 11:

Marathon's last polygon was filled at 6:05 PM Saturday, December 14th.

This line is in fact taken from Bungie's secret terminal on "Ingue Ferroque"

Marathon is finished. We've slept <10 hours over the last
four days. We all put our hearts into this, not to mention
the 14 hour days for months on end, so we hope you like it.

Last polygon filled 6:05 PM Saturday, December 14.
Carnage ensued closely thereafter. Er, I mean sleep.

As Daniel correctly points out December 14th was a Wednesday not a Saturday in 1994. I guess Jason and Co. really did need their sleep. ;-)

And then there were five! A total of five errors have now been correctly identified in the Seven Errors in the Scrapbook Competition. Only two more to go. Spot the seventh and win that signed copy of the Scrapbook and a pile of other Bungie goodies. It could be YOU!

Joshua Inglima <jinglima@thinkpos.com> spotted the fifth error:

OK, The scrapbook says on page 27:

"The end result: a 25-level solo adventure..."

Aren't there 30 solo levels in Infinity?

Yes there are. 25 is a mistake. Marathon had 27 solo levels, Marathon 2 had 28, and Infinity had 30.

Michael Watson <mike@milesmedia.net> spotted the fourth error:

On page 29, in the 4th paragraph from the bottom it tell us that, like M2, no shipping date was announced. but it latter says how they were afraid it wouldn't ship on the announced date. Did I miss something here?

Ah yes a nice twisted error here. You have to think about it.