Hey guys,
Let me be really clear about this: there is no intentional political message in Halo2, anti-Bush or otherwise.
While I tried to be mindful of folks' sensitivities as I wrote its story, I knew that the game was going to scrutinized by a large, diverse audience, and would, therefore, be interpreted (or mis-interpreted, as the case may be) any number of different ways.
The EW journalist chose to include one of my examples of possible misinterpretation in the article, but not all of them. Most importantly, the journalist left out my closing statement: "Look, you can read anything into the story that you like - call a damning condemnation of the Bush Admnistration's adventure in the Middle-East, for example. But you'd be wrong."
In retrospect, It would have been best to give no example at all, but hindsight is 20-20.
Long story short: while we didn't water-down Halo2's story in an impossible effort to make it inoffensive to everyone, we were nonetheless careful not to do anything that would be patently offensive regardless of someone's perspective (e.g. reward people for injuring or killing the game's female characters, something most folks would agree is offensive, full-stop).
Halo2's story is non-partisan. Any meaning you ascribe to it is yours alone.
And remember, at the end of the day, whatever some journalist says I said really doesn't matter. The proof is in the pudding. Play the game, and I think you'll see it's just that: a fun game with a good story.
Thanks,
Joseph Staten
Director of Cinematics
Bungie Studios