Joseph Staten

Infobox Writer
name = Joseph Staten


imagesize = 250px
caption = Staten (left) with Eric Nylund (right) at Comic-Con International 2007
genre = Science fiction
notableworks = ""

Joseph Staten is a bestselling American writer born in San Francisco, California. He currently works for game developer Bungie, and has worked at the company since 1998. His first novel, "", reached #3 on "The New York Times" bestseller list in the first week of its release.

The son of a theologian, Staten originally planned on becoming an actor, but joined Bungie in 1998. Staten served as director of cinematics for Bungie's games including the "Halo" trilogy, writing mission scripts and movie dialogue for the titles. Staten has also been involved in managing the expansion of the "Halo" franchise to other game studios and producers, including Peter Jackson's Wingnut Interactive.

Biography

Early life and education

Joseph Staten is the son of a minister who is a professor of theology and philosophy of religion. He entered Northwestern University in 1990 with the intention of becoming an actor. Realizing he wasn't material to be a leading man, he dropped the idea, but stayed with theater. After graduation Staten intended on getting his Master's degree at the University of Chicago and joining the Central Intelligence Agency. Having completed his masters, and being rejected by the CIA, Staten dropped the idea of entering the foreign service and helped his family at their winery in in Sonoma Valley.cite web| last=Perry| first=Douglass| title=The Halo Harvest Interview, Part 1| url=http://www.gametap.com/articles/gamefeatures/the_halo_harvest_interview_part_1-10292007| date=2007-10-29| publisher=GameTap| accessdate=2008-04-22] Eventually, Staten met some of game developer Bungie's staff playing multiplayer games of "Myth" and joined the staff in 1998.cite web| last=| first=| title=Meet The Team| url=http://www.bungie.net/Inside/MeetTheTeam.aspx?Person=staten| date=2008-04-01| publisher=Bungie| accessdate=2008-04-22]

Bungie

Staten's former role at Bungie was director of cinematics, and was responsible for the in-game movies for Bungie's "", "Halo 2" and "Halo 3".cite web| author=O'Connor, Frank| title=Halo: Contact Harvest| url=http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&cid=12430| date=2007-05-10| work=Bungie.net| accessdate=2008-04-22] cite web| last=Lu| first=Cathy| title=Halo's Big Grunt| url=http://www.northwestern.edu/magazine/summer2006/feature/halo.html| date=2006-07-01| publisher=Northwestern Magazine| accessdate=2008-04-22] Work on the games at "crunch time" involved 80 hour weeks and stretches without sleep maxing out at 72 hours. Staten worked alongside three other staff writers at Bungie, each with a separate role: Frank O'Connor developed "Halo 3"'s combat dialogue, Rob McLees focused on "Halo" canon and working with licensing partners, Luke Smith interacted with the fans online, and Staten developed the cinematics and missions scripts. [cite web|author=Croal, N'Gai|date=2008-01-15|url=http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/levelup/archive/2008/01/15/the-joseph-staten-interview-part-i.aspx|title=The Joseph Staten Interview, Part I|work=Newsweek|accessdate=2008-07-12] In addition to his writing contributions, Staten lends his voice to small aliens known as Grunts in all three video games.

Though previous "Halo" novels had been written by professional writers like Eric Nylund and William C. Dietz, Staten was chosen by Tor Books to write the fifth "Halo" novelization, entitled "".cite web| last=Johnson | first=Stephen | title=EXCLUSIVE: Joseph Staten Interview| url=http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/680487/EXCLUSIVE_Joseph_Staten_Interview.html| date=2007-10-31| publisher=G4 TV| accessdate=2008-04-22] As Tor's chief editor Eric Raab noted, "who better to tell the tale" of humanity's encounter with the alien Covenant, the series' antagonists than Staten, who had "intimate knowledge" of the series' story. [cite news|author=Tor Books|date=2007-11-04|title=Tor Books Debuts Halo: Contact Harvest Today|publisher=PR Newswire|page=1] "Contact Harvest" would end up reaching a top spot of #3 on the "New York Times" bestseller list. [cite web|url=http://www.gamedaily.com/games/halo-3/xbox-360/game-news/halo-contact-harvest-becomes-new-york-times-bestseller-in-first-week/5186/18598/|title=Halo: Contact Harvest Becomes New York Times Bestseller in First Week|date=2007-11-19|author=Brightman, James|publisher=Game Daily|accessdate=2008-01-15] The novel also appeared on the "USA Today" bestseller's list at the same time. [cite web|author=Beradini, César|date=2007-11-19|url=http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/15135/Halo-Contact-Harvest-Debuts-on-NY-Times-Bestseller-List/|title=Halo: Contact Harvest Debuts on NY Times Bestseller List|publisher=Team Xbox|accessdate=2008-01-14] Reviewers noted that despite being an unproven writer, Staten had succeeded in crafting an excellent novel.cite web|author=Clausen, Joel|date=2007-12-01|url=http://www.planetxbox360.com/index.php/articledetails/show/3147/3|title=Book Review: Contact Harvest|publisher=PlanetXbox360|accessdate=2008-01-20]

Staten has played an important role in the development of offshoots the the "Halo" franchise, and has traveled to New Zealand several times to work with Peter Jackson and Weta Workshop. [cite news|author=Fritz, Ben|date=2005-10-09|title=The Jackson brain trust hooks up with 'Halo'|work=Chicago Tribune|page=30] Staten is currently assisting with the fiction of Ensemble Studios title "Halo Wars", and the now-postponed "Halo" film. In interviews, Staten has explained that the game's protagonist, the Master Chief, would serve as a supporting character rather than who the film would focus on. [cite web|author=Caron, Frank|date=2008-01-18|url=http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars/2008/01/16/bungie-writing-director-joseph-staten-talks-halo-film|title=Bungie writing director Joseph Staten talks Halo film|publisher=ArsTechnica|accessdate=2008-06-29] Staten is married with two children. Staten is currently working on undisclosed projects at Bungie.

References

External links

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