Tiny Diggers – An iPad Construction Truck Game for Kids Age 2-5

Living in an area with lots of high-tech companies like Novell, I’ve witnessed much of what the tech industry’s excesses have brought to pass. Vacant campuses, cracked and overgrown parking lots, and lots and lots of layoffs. Microsoft seems to live in some alternate reality where the tech bubble never imploded. Playing FIFA on a big screen in the lunch room. Coolers stocked with piles of refreshing beverages. A cafeteria that boasts some of the best hot and spicy teriyaki chicken. Microsoft employees don’t even clock in or out. It’s obvious that Microsoft is a culture all its own.

When playing Halo 3 alpha builds is a routine experience, it is definitely outside the normal space-time continuum. I should also stress that Bungie is a completely separate entity from the rest of Microsoft. Security is not only a priority, it’s martial law over there. Their building is completely separate from any other Microsoft building or campus. And not even other members of the Xbox team are allowed into Bungie. Basically, if you’re not a Bungie employee, you’re gonna get bounced (unless you’re Peter Moore).

For those of us outside of Microsoft, fans of the Halo series feel a certain sense of mystique whenever Halo and the number 3 are used in the same sentence. Ears perk up as others move in a little bit closer to see if there might be some nugget of Halo 3 lore they’ve not yet devoured ravenously. But in Redmond, it’s very much a part of everyday life. These are the high priests of gaming, and Bungie are the bishops. Mere mention by a MS acolyte of the holy canon within earshot of unwashed infidels will get strange, uncomfortale looks from their fellow employees. The kind of look a Scientologist would get from his fellows if he mentioned Xenu.

The mere probability of catching a whiff of Bungies rarified air sends shivers up our spines. But if there’s one thing Microsoft is good at, it’s maintaining the great and terrible balance between releasing too many or too few details. Their press embargoes are strict, their NDA’s… draconian. But ultimately, it seems to work.

Take Crackdown, for instance. The general consensus has been that this is an awful game. Why else would they be packaging the Halo 3 beta with it? Well, that’s why they’ve released a demo. That’s also why they’ve invited people from the blogging/podcasting community to preview Crackdown. It’s the perfect event. We’ve been able to see Crackdown on its own terms, completely separate from the hype storm that is Halo 3.

But within the realm of Microsoft, one of the last bastions of free soda and no-time-clock schedules, there is no storm, only the cold, steely looks of a people and culture determined not to let slip the sacred tenets of their faith.