DreamWorks and Activision have a pretty cool, kid friendly title on their hands with Bee Movie the Game for the Xbox 360. The demo showed up on the Marketplace and in my quest to find ultra kid friendly titles, I decided to give this one a try.

My daughter tends to be more of a watch first an try later, so I'll have to see if she wants to give the controls a try. I have to say this, its a bit of a challenge. I'm not sure if the controls were just off a bit, but I did my best and at times I did not see the next clue to proceed. I felt like I was a bit stuck and my daughter was about to throw in the towel at one point.

Lucky for me I kept at it and passed the few obstacles that got in my way. In the end I beat the demo and a code for something flashed on the screen for an offer and then went away. The game is fun and puts you into the movie for the most part. Its fairly straight forward, just follow on screen clues and cross your fingers that you'll make it along. Might be a tad hard for the very young gamer still.

Published October 5, 2007 - Xbox.Com

REDMOND, Wash. — Microsoft Corp. today announced a plan for Bungie Studios, the developers of the Halo franchise, to embark on a path to become an independent company. Microsoft will retain an equity interest in Bungie at the same time, continuing its long standing publishing agreement between Microsoft Game Studios and Bungie for the Microsoft owned Halo intellectual property as well as other future properties developed by Bungie. 

The critically acclaimed Xbox 360™ exclusive Halo® 3 achieved $300 million in global sales in its first week. Released on Tuesday, September 25, Halo 3 is the fastest-selling videogame ever and already one of the most successful entertainment properties in history.

"Our collaboration with Bungie has resulted in Halo becoming an enduring mainstream hit," said Shane Kim, corporate vice president of Microsoft Game Studios. "While we are supporting Bungie's desire to return to its independent roots, we will continue to invest in our Halo entertainment property with Bungie and other partners, such as Peter Jackson, on a new interactive series set in the Halo universe. We look forward to great success with Bungie as our long-term relationship continues to evolve through Halo-related titles and new IP created by Bungie."

"This exciting evolution of our relationship with Microsoft will enable us to expand both creatively and organizationally in our mission to create world-class games," said Harold Ryan, studio head for Bungie. "We will continue to develop with our primary focus on Microsoft's platforms, we greatly value our mutually prosperous relationship with our publisher, Microsoft Game Studios, and we look forward to continuing that affiliation through Halo and beyond."

Bungie Studios will remain in its current location in Kirkland, Washington.

Microsoft announced today that Halo 3 has racked up an impressive $300 million in sales Worldwide for the first week alone and this adds to the impressive launch of $170 million in sales in the U.S. within the first 24 hours of the game's release, which marked not just the biggest video game launch, but the biggest entertainment launch in history. Sales for the Xbox 360 console have doubled and Xbox Live activity is growing in leaps and bounds.

So have you heard that Bungie & Microsoft could be splitting up now? Say What? At first the rumor sounds like a crazy story and this would never happen, just look at what the two have done so far together. Perhaps that is what Bungie is thinking about and this could possibly happen after all.

Now the facts are that Microsoft owns Bungie and they would need to be sold to part ways. The developers could decide to leave the Bungie (Microsoft) for other companies and projects, which could be bad news for sure. What ever is going on, it appears to be more fact that fiction as both sides remain tight lipped and stand with no comment.

Perhaps this is growing pains along the lines of Disney & Pixar and things will be smoothed over and both parties will remain happy. It's possible Bungie could break to develop more projects on their own and be required to present them to Microsoft, giving them first right to refusal. This could be a win for both sides. Till then its just a rumor and the real facts right now are Bungie and Microsoft have set the bar high with the release of Halo 3 and all the options available in this title.