Pimps at Sea
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Pimps at Sea is an April Fool joke that was started on Bungie Studios' website in 2001 and been added to on each subsequent April Fool's Day. Pimps at Sea is supposedly a combination of action and real-time strategy and claims to have the most complex economic system ever to appear in a game. As such, it is possible that Pimps is a spoof of Sid Meier's Pirates!, a classic game that shares a similar theme. The storyline centers around the player, a pimp of the sea. The player can create custom prostitutes from characters of other games, and then put them out on the streets (or canals, as it may be).
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[edit] Media
Several multimedia additions have been made to add to the Pimps at Sea mythos, making it one of Bungie's more popular April Fool's jokes. Some of the more well-known (and beloved) additions included:
- A video tour of the making of Pimps, from the perspective of a couple of programmers who had been working on the game. Highlights included a mention of "mermaid sea bitches" and several Bungie employees singing the supposed theme song for the game.
- The Pimpwheel, a Photoshopped picture of the $200 Steel Battalion controller is said to have been designed "exclusively" for Pimps at Sea. Alterations included topping one joystick with a massive diamond to turn it into a throttle, and putting a miniature ship's steering wheel on the other.
Bungie used Pimps at Sea extensively during the secrecy surrounding the development of Halo 3, up to that title's official announcement. References to Pimps included a job listing suggesting applicants be able to display knowledge of pirates. A snippet from the "Weekly What's Update" at Bungie.net, written by Frankie (head news lackey), even went so far as to say the studio's next project had a very pimpy/piratey feel to it. Internet rumor, of course, turned to the possibility that Pimps at Sea could have been Bungie's next project. The update was later edited out, possibly confirming Pimps at Sea once again to be an April Fool's joke. In a more recent Weekly Update, a video tour of Bungie's new studios included a brief shot of a dry erase board, listing Pimps at Sea as being Bungie's next project, although the mention was only meant as comedy.
[edit] Recent releases
On April 1, 2007, a Pimps at Sea movie was revealed to be in post-production. It was scheduled to be released in the summer, although this may conflict with the similarly nautically themed "Pirates of the Caribbean". Nothing has been heard of it since, clearly showing it was another April fool's joke.
It is highly likely that Pimps at Sea will return for many more April Fools to come, as it joins Bungie's already large stable of running gags and characters, including their 7-Step Plan for World Domination, and the chronically drunken webmaster - who has a penchant for both gorilla suits and bashing the grammar of those who dare to email him.
[edit] Other uses
On 30 November 2006, known Bungie employees (New001, Gouki7, Evil Otto, Abe Froman SK, Frankie, Stosh) as well as other Microsoft staff and Xbox live members were showing up on Xbox.com:
- "Playing Pimps At Sea (Alpha)"
- "Sailing, Yarr!"
Bungie has since confirmed in their weekly update on December 1 that Pimps at Sea is the codename for the Halo 3 alpha, which was undergoing testing by select Microsoft employees on Xbox Live. [1]. The name for the Halo 3 Beta, however was just "Halo 3 Beta" when seen online.
According to Bungie, February 18 is Pimps at Sea Day. [2]
In the Halo 3 level "The Storm", if the player manages to get inside a shipwreck, a poster for Pimps at Sea is on the wall. The text reads "Sheik of the Sea".
Two pirate-themed files were put onto the "Bungie Favorites" section of Halo 3. One being a "Forge" for sandtrap called Seven Seas and the other being a pirate-themed gametype for custom games (infection)
[edit] Plunder
Plunder, a downloadable real-time strategy game, was announced in Electronic Gaming Monthly's April 2008 issue. "I'm pretty sure the impetus behind [a game about pirates] and sailing ships came from thinking about Pimps at Sea," admitted Certain Affinity founder and Bungie alumni Max Hoberman. "But not a lot more than that."[1]
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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