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Marathon is the first major game developed by Bungie. Yeah, that Bungie. This is the game that essentially cemented their status as a major development studio. Prior to Marathon Bungie managed some success with smaller games. Their first two success were Gnop!, which was a freeware pong clone that sold custom skins for around $15, and Operation: Desert Storm, a top down tank game where you fought your way to Baghdad and then killed Saddam Husein's giant head. Marathon however is a pseudo3D FPS much like Doom. It was also their first major commercial success. The game centers around the UESC Marathon, a space station in the Tau Ceti solar system that has been attacked and overrun by aliens. Your job is to shoot them. Marathon came out on December 21, 1994. Two years after Doom had solidified first person shooters as a genre (although at the time FPSs were still mainly referred to as "DoomClones"). However it's relatively unknown in the PC gaming world unlike Doom and Duke Nukem 3D. This is mostly due to it not being released on PC; It was MacOS only until it's sequel: Marathon 2: Durandal. Official ports of the game came later in various collections and boxed sets of what would become the Marathon Trilogy, but PC gamers still seemed to pass over this, at the time, rather unique FPS. What makes Marathon so interesting as a piece of gaming history is the innovations it brought to the FPS genre, and to games in general. Unlike Doom and many other action games where story was present but pushed aside in order to get to the action quicker, Marathon had the story be revealed as part of the game play. Marathon doesn't have cut scenes or major info dumps between levels. It's story and mission objectives are revealed via computer screens that the player finds along his way. Even then the story isn't only relegated to the mission terminals; there are other hidden computer monitors that hold background info and data files of various characters to be found that reveal the whole story. Beyond just the aesthetic Marathon also has many technical innovations. The biggest one? Mouselook. Marathon was the first commercial computer game to utilize mouse look as a means of controlling the player character. Some games, like the original System Shock, had experimented with mouse controls. But most of the time the camera was still controlled by keyboard and the mouse simply selected things on the screen instead of actually directing the view. Even later games, like Duke Nukem 3D, still used keyboard controls by default and only left mouselook as an option to turn on in the game menus. Another innovation was an officially supported multiplayer Deathmatch mode. Doom had various semi-offical and fan created death match mods as did other games. But many of these were simply after thoughts based on single player levels and only featured straight free for all deathmatch games. Marathon had a full fledged multiplayer suite that featured customizable game types for teams or free for all. You could also select the game type (timer or score limit), equipment available, and what HUD elements were available like turning off the motion detector minimap. Oh yeah, Marathon had a fully functional motion detector minimap just like the one they would later put in Halo. Marathon's legacy is Bungie's legacy. The themes and mechanics seen in Marathon and it's sequels show up throughout their later games, including their latest game Destiny. Revealing the story through gameplay, the one man army, AI companions, the concept of AI rampancy, Alien coalitions assaulting a united earth that has pushed, perhaps too far, beyond it's own star. As we play through Marathon you're going to start noticing, pretty much right away, that Marathon not only cemented Bungie's reputation as a major developer, but also cemented what kind of games they make. So Let's Play: Marathon.
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# ? Dec 22, 2014 17:58 |
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# ? May 4, 2024 11:42 |
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Episode 1: Here Episode 2: Here Episode 3: Here Episode 4: Here Episode 5: Here Episode 6: Here Episode 7: Here Episode 8: Here Episode 9: Here Episode 10: Here Episode 11: Here Crain fucked around with this message at 04:00 on Jan 10, 2015 |
# ? Dec 22, 2014 17:59 |
Not to ruin your LP or anything, but maybe some content would help...? edit: Sorry, people usually throw the first episode into the first post. I fell for your classic misdirection. anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 18:07 on Dec 22, 2014 |
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# ? Dec 22, 2014 18:02 |
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^You posted just a bit faster than I could^ First Episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luCUHb5Seh0 If you don't want to hear me reading off the data logs, or just want to read them yourself, you can head over to Bungie's Tour of Duty page which has walkthroughs/summaries of all the levels. It also has maps where applicable. I'll try to include the text logs where they are supplied, but unless you really want me to transcribe all of the data logs (including the ones that Tour of Duty glosses over) I'll just leave it at that. Tour of Duty: Arrival posted:Welcome to the first edition of our Tour of Duty series. I will start us off with the first level of M1A1, named, suitingly, 'Arrival'. Now, in earlier versions of M1A1, Arrival began with a small area that looks a great deal like the Ground Floor of Pathways into Darkness. However, I will ignore this intro for the current edition, seeing as it has been removed from recent versions of Aleph One and it has little to do with the level itself. Also The Tour of Duty post for the second level: Bigger Guns Nearby I'll try and keep updates regular, at least once a week if not two. Crain fucked around with this message at 18:23 on Dec 22, 2014 |
# ? Dec 22, 2014 18:05 |
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Second Episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gO1i7JviDHE Tour of Duty Posts: Never Burn Money Defend THIS!
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# ? Dec 22, 2014 18:25 |
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Oh man, Marathon. I played the hell out of this game when I was in middle school. So much fun. You might want to, instead of reading them, just scroll through the terminal logs real quick and just let us pause the video to read them.
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# ? Dec 22, 2014 20:21 |
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Dr. Tough posted:Oh man, Marathon. I played the hell out of this game when I was in middle school. So much fun. Ugh. Sorry, nothing against you but when I put this through the Sandcastle they shot down that idea. The balanced choice was posting the logs (via the Tour of Duty links) in thread for people to read, reading them myself in vid, and giving a link to skip. Just seems like there is no good answer to text logs. Especially in a game with so many of them. In some of the later episodes (I have a bit of a buffer built up) I stick to just summarizing the logs instead of reading them verbatim. There should be plenty of time to pause and read yourself in video, just mute my voice.
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# ? Dec 22, 2014 20:28 |
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Oh boy, oh boy. I played the crap out of this game and its sequel and still do sometimes. So, is the meandering on purpose or what? It kinda works with how Marathon structures the maps, but it seems like these are your first times running through the levels. I'm just curious.
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# ? Dec 22, 2014 21:16 |
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Neflame posted:Oh boy, oh boy. I played the crap out of this game and its sequel and still do sometimes. I had never played this game before so in some spots I legit got lost (but not enough to warrant a time skip, those did happen though and I do/will skip if things take too long). Also I do just like to explore maps anyway.
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# ? Dec 22, 2014 21:22 |
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Neat-o. With that in mind, I can't wait for you to get to the second half of the game if you aren't already there with the recordings. And I admit, filling in the maps entirely is something I compulsively do as well when I play through this game. Plus, a lot of the environments are really neat to look at despite the game's age.
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# ? Dec 22, 2014 21:35 |
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Neflame posted:Neat-o. With that in mind, I can't wait for you to get to the second half of the game if you aren't already there with the recordings. I have heard that with the Aleph-one version there might or might not be a level where I can't pass (someone in the sandcastle thread said some level ends with my just being killed no matter what) but I think I passed that point and it didn't happen, but I'm not sure. Know anything about that?
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# ? Dec 22, 2014 21:40 |
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I don't recall any levels like that. There are some levels with straight-up murder traps and one that traps you in a hole after tempting you with a shiny new weapon, but I don't recall any levels that just end with unavoidable death. It has been a hot minute since I last played through the Aleph-One version, though so my memory of things is not exactly perfect.
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# ? Dec 22, 2014 21:49 |
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Sorry to be a pain, but is there any chance you could move the mic a little? Hearing your nose whistling as you breathe is offputting when you're listening with headphones. In any case, are you planning on doing any of the other games in the series? I've only played the first, but what I know of the rest of the series tells me it becomes a mindfuck and a half. Also, it might be worth linking to the finished LP of Pathways Into Darkness that's up in the archive. Worth a read, regardless of its ties to this (and possibly Halo, but that's an argument that's been done to death and beyond).
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# ? Dec 23, 2014 08:47 |
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Kaboom Dragoon posted:Sorry to be a pain, but is there any chance you could move the mic a little? Hearing your nose whistling as you breathe is offputting when you're listening with headphones. The first couple eps I used a headset, but I got a desk mic now so it much better. I might do the other games, but we'll see when we get there. A full Marathon series LP is kind of daunting. For old games they're pretty long.
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# ? Dec 23, 2014 15:07 |
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Episode 3: Switches (also read your objectives) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KQdCLLC_VM Tour of Duty: Couch Fishing The long data dump that I skipped in the video: The CRIST Sol orbiters posted:
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# ? Dec 23, 2014 17:56 |
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My usual reaction to people saying Halo is "TEH BESTEST GAMEEE!!!" is to ask them if they've played Marathon. And when they ask me "What's Marathon?", I weep for generations of gamers who don't realize just how far Bungie fell when they were forced to make Halo for the X-Box. Also, here is the Marathon Trilogy in Bungie-approved open source format.
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# ? Dec 24, 2014 01:37 |
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berryjon posted:My usual reaction to people saying Halo is "TEH BESTEST GAMEEE!!!" is to ask them if they've played Marathon. What I'm getting from my play through so far is that Marathon was a prototype for the truly awesome game they wanted to make with modern (by early 2000's standards) game technology. Even in the first few levels you see so many parallels between the story of Halo and that of Marathon: Space faring (semi) united earth, space marines, helper/enemy/rampant AI, Alien conglomerate enemy force. The gameplay and UI features are also very similar (at least to halo 1) with the motion tracker and the types of weapons you get. Marathon is it's own complete game, but when you look at it next to Halo you see just how much of a prototype it was for Bungie's future games. Then you look at Destiny and think "well now you guys are just being lazy..." (also thanks for the link, but I'm already using AlephOne)
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# ? Dec 24, 2014 02:09 |
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berryjon posted:My usual reaction to people saying Halo is "TEH BESTEST GAMEEE!!!" is to ask them if they've played Marathon. Oh come now. Marathon and Halo are both good series. It is unfortunate that more people don't know about the former though. edit: now that I'm thinking about it, I remember that Marathon 2 was released for Xbox Live Arcade. Unfortunately they hosed up the framerate or something and it ended up giving a bunch of people motion sickness. Dr. Tough fucked around with this message at 02:26 on Dec 24, 2014 |
# ? Dec 24, 2014 02:13 |
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Dr. Tough posted:Oh come now. Marathon and Halo are both good series. It is unfortunate that more people don't know about the former though. Part of that obscurity I think came from being on early Apple computers. The market share of Mac vs. everything else was abysmal (Apple made up 5% of PCs in 1995) and Marathon was effectively an exclusive to the platform. By the time Windows 95 came out though there was an offical port but Doom had already claimed dominance on Windows and Marathon was passed over as a crappy port of an Apple game. Marathon was also the Flagship IP for Apples failed console "The Pippin". Bungie was supposed to be (or at least it seems) Apples main developer for video game entertainment for their systems. If they had managed to keep control of them and keep Halo as an Apple property history would have probably gone a lot differently for computers and console games.
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# ? Dec 24, 2014 02:36 |
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I only played a little bit of this so it will be really nice to see an lp of it. I also really like your commentary style so far. To contribute I always figured a rampant AI would get more and more powerful until it became to crazy/bloated so the fact that the rampant AI can figure out how to speak to the aliens but the restrained AI couldn't never struck me as off. Then again I never beat the game sooo.
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# ? Dec 24, 2014 05:44 |
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ZeusCannon posted:I only played a little bit of this so it will be really nice to see an lp of it. I also really like your commentary style so far. To contribute I always figured a rampant AI would get more and more powerful until it became to crazy/bloated so the fact that the rampant AI can figure out how to speak to the aliens but the restrained AI couldn't never struck me as off. Then again I never beat the game sooo. Thinking about it more, since recording the video, the idea of Durandal talking to the Phor may be less of a "Leela can't do it, Durandal can" and more of a "Leela didn't think to do it, and Durandal did". Leela is still a captive AI who is following protocol so she may not have a "contact the attack alien conglomeration" protocol built in. Durandal's all like "Hey I'm doing my own thing now, who are you guys!?" It wasn't clear if he hacked them or not to contact them, he may have just sent them an email being like "yo."
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# ? Dec 24, 2014 05:50 |
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That's a take I hadn't thought of but makes a lot of sense as well. I liked the whole rampant AI plot bit they run into their games. It has made me pretty leery of certain entities in Destiny though because I know how much Bungie likes a good crazy AI.
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# ? Dec 24, 2014 06:08 |
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Marathon was the first game that I really loved. Lost a couple hours playing Marathon II multiplayer in the computer labs at school I think the best analogy of its relationship to Halo is Marthon is to Halo what Doom was to Quake, and they still haven't had a character with as much personality as Durandal in any of their games since.
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# ? Dec 24, 2014 06:08 |
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Must Love Dogs posted:Marathon was the first game that I really loved. Lost a couple hours playing Marathon II multiplayer in the computer labs at school I was hoping that the briefly mentioned Rasputin AI at the start of Destiny was going to be a thing. Sadly he didn't seem to pop up again. (unless he does, I played only to like lvl 14 and didn't do the raids).
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# ? Dec 24, 2014 06:12 |
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Crain posted:I was hoping that the briefly mentioned Rasputin AI at the start of Destiny was going to be a thing. Sadly he didn't seem to pop up again. (unless he does, I played only to like lvl 14 and didn't do the raids). He does a little bit, and has a big role in the backstory. He doesn't say anything in game though.
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# ? Dec 24, 2014 06:23 |
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RBA Starblade posted:He does a little bit, and has a big role in the backstory. He doesn't say anything in game though. Eh. I was hoping that he'd like pop up and go "Oh I'm back from the "dead". Is poo poo still hosed? Well the logical way to take care of it is to turn the earth into a ship, crash it into the moon, and kamikaze them both into the sun. Sound cool? Let's go."
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# ? Dec 24, 2014 06:27 |
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Episode 4: Ambushes, idiots, and saving no one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNK6vjZ1WvA Tour of Duty: The Rose Tour of Duty: Smells like Naplam, Tastes like Chicken. I'm gonna be away tomorrow and friday for the holidays so no updates then. Happy holidays guys.
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# ? Dec 24, 2014 18:15 |
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It is rather nice to hear your frustration at the existence of the Marathon crew members since they make everything so tedious by being crap you have to babysit. And they only get worse.
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# ? Dec 25, 2014 22:55 |
Honestly, worst part of the abovementioned crowd is that Marathon was pretty drat good for its time. Halo is just poo poo.
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# ? Dec 25, 2014 22:58 |
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Neflame posted:It is rather nice to hear your frustration at the existence of the Marathon crew members since they make everything so tedious by being crap you have to babysit. And they only get worse. Oh god I hate them so much. I'd go out of my way to kill them if they didn't already make a habit of getting between my gun and the aliens trying to eviscerate them.
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# ? Dec 25, 2014 23:10 |
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Crain posted:Oh god I hate them so much. I'd go out of my way to kill them if they didn't already make a habit of getting between my gun and the aliens trying to eviscerate them. What's even worse is that if you did save enough of the crew, you'd have gotten an easier next level if I remember right.
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# ? Dec 26, 2014 04:55 |
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Neflame posted:What's even worse is that if you did save enough of the crew, you'd have gotten an easier next level if I remember right. Even if that's true: Not worth it.
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# ? Dec 26, 2014 05:08 |
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Crain posted:Thinking about it more, since recording the video, the idea of Durandal talking to the Phor may be less of a "Leela can't do it, Durandal can" and more of a "Leela didn't think to do it, and Durandal did". Leela is still a captive AI who is following protocol so she may not have a "contact the attack alien conglomeration" protocol built in. Durandal's all like "Hey I'm doing my own thing now, who are you guys!?" Secret Durandal terminal on The Rose posted:
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# ? Dec 26, 2014 05:36 |
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Well there ya go. I was right.
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# ? Dec 26, 2014 05:54 |
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Crain posted:I was hoping that the briefly mentioned Rasputin AI at the start of Destiny was going to be a thing. Sadly he didn't seem to pop up again. (unless he does, I played only to like lvl 14 and didn't do the raids). He shows up from time to time in secondary areas. Never speaking but your ghost in one of the last missions mentions that Rasputin has taken over and is running all of the machines in this one research area on Mars. So it is an ongoing thing it just isnt an obvious one. Plus there is a huge underground bunker named RA-2 or something that is in one of the DLCS quote:Secret Durandal terminal on The Rose posted: Ho ho holy crap is he gone around the bend.
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# ? Dec 26, 2014 06:02 |
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Vidmaster M2's If I Had A Rocket Launcher, please.
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# ? Dec 26, 2014 07:19 |
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Does anyone have the original manual? the weapon descriptions, art, and lore were great great fun. the assault rifle description is especially gold
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# ? Dec 26, 2014 08:06 |
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Real hurthling! posted:Does anyone have the original manual? the weapon descriptions, art, and lore were great great fun. The Marathon wiki has them all I believe. And I'd be willing to bet you're thinking of the assault rifle from M2. quote:The original M. 75 was a ridiculous toy designed to impress aging pompous generals. Gone are the preposterously short barrel and the prodigious recoil that made firing the weapon akin to wrestling a greased pig. Still here is the oxygen hungry ammunition that makes it impossible to fire in vacuum. Punchline being that the M2 assault rifle is just a reskin of the one from M1, lovely accuracy and all. paranoid randroid fucked around with this message at 08:23 on Dec 26, 2014 |
# ? Dec 26, 2014 08:21 |
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berryjon posted:And when they ask me "What's Marathon?", I weep for generations of gamers who don't realize just how far Bungie fell when they were forced to make Halo for the X-Box. Halo started off on the Mac. I went to a press event half a lifetime ago where they were demoing it on the Mac before it got moved to the Xbox.
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# ? Dec 26, 2014 09:17 |
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# ? May 4, 2024 11:42 |
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I really wish Myth was the game Bungie had been making for the last 20 years
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# ? Dec 26, 2014 09:37 |