The making of Bungie's Halo successor: Destiny

Halo's Master Chief watches over Bungie headquarters in Bellevue, Wash.

(Credit:
Bungie)

BELLEVUE, Wash.--Halo, the multibillion-dollar-grossing video game franchise, set an incredibly high bar for its creator, Bungie, to meet with its next title.

"After Halo, a bunch of us thought, 'What comes next?'" Bungie co-founder Jason Jones told a group of journalists visiting Bungie's Bellevue, Wash., headquarters Wednesday.

Jones and Bungie's leadership, who sold the company to Microsoft in 2000 and then spun it out of the software giant in 2007, wanted to find a project worthy of the groundbreaking work in Halo. They wanted to come up with not just a new game, but a new model for gaming, something that could change the way gamers play.

Jones thinks Bungie's Destiny is exactly that. Destiny is something of a first-person shooter with bits of massively multiplayer online role-playing gaming mixed in. Bungie, which has kept mum about the title while gamer sites fulminated for the last two years about what it might be, is beginning to rev up the hype machine for its next title.

Eric Hirschberg, the chief executive of Activision, which will publish Destiny, said the game defied typical genres, giving it a new one -- "shared-world shooter." Even so, there are plenty of parallels with the Halo franchise, particularly that you're still shooting up aliens. Players guard the last city on Earth, while exploring the ruins of the solar system, moving from Mars to Venus, in order to defeat Earth's enemies.

One of the big differences this time is that the game is a persistent online universe, where players come across others, matched to their skills. They're encouraged to work together to rout evil, visit new worlds, and earn rewards.

"This is one of those areas (collaborating with strangers) where I was most skeptical," said Hirschberg, whose company has also published such franchises as Call of Duty and World of Warcraft.

Bungie concept art for its next game, Destiny.

(Credit:
Bungie)

But gamers don't have go through the awkward dance of hooking up in a lobby before setting out on their adventure. They naturally come across allies and, if Bungie and Activision succeed, feel entirely comfortable teaming up with complete strangers to set out on the next adventure. While Bungie didn't share how those interactions come about, it could be similar, perhaps, to the wildly popular indie title Journey for the Playstation 3, which did away with the premise of playing with your friends in favor of encountering others randomly.

"It almost feels scripted," Hirschberg said.

Gamers also will be able to play solo. But Bungie Chief Operating Officer Pete Parsons said the goal for Bungie is to get gamers working together.

"If you want to do it yourself, that's totally OK," Parsons said. "We want to slope the floor and prove to you that there are a bunch of cool things you can do with others."

One thing gamers won't be able to do is play Destiny without an Internet connection, a bold move for the console gaming crowd that expects to be able to play offline. Even so, Activision has no plans to charge subscription fees to play the game. And while he wouldn't talk about a release day, Hirshberg told analysts on the company's earnings call earlier this month that the new Bungie game was not factored into the company's 2013 guidance, implying that the game won't likely arrive until 2014. It will be available on both the
Xbox and Playstation platforms.

Bungie showed no game play during the presentation and gave little detail about how far along the development actually is. Instead, executives talked in sweeping themes about the new universe Bungie created, while highlighting production art, engineering details, and some of the music in its plans for its first post-Halo effort.

It's not just the first time Bungie has talked about the new game; it's really the first time Bungie has given a glimpse into its post-Microsoft life. Two years ago, the company moved from Kirkland, Wash., to an old movie theater and bowling alley in the Bellevue Galleria retail complex. It rebuilt the site, adding a theater, a fireplace, and a climbing wall. Bungie also added a motion-capture studio dubbed Spandex Palace, as well as a massive production floor where 280 of the companies 360 employees work on game development and design.

It's one of those new-age workplaces, where every desk has wheels, so that teams can be reconfigured on the fly as problems or opportunities emerge. The floor has a neon blue glow and is eerily quiet as the crew develops Destiny. Nothing on the floor is more than 6-feet high, so that everyone can see where the action is, where they might be needed. "This is a great space for making a great universe," Bungie's Parsons said.

The main production space at Bungie's Bellevue, Wash., headquarters.

(Credit:
Bungie)

There's little doubt, when you walk in the door at Bungie, that this is the company that Halo built. A giant Master Chief, the hero of that series, stands watch in the hallway. And a massive trophy case, brimful of awards for the Halo series, with a few other titles sprinkled in, greets every visitor.

The company is focused solely on Destiny now. The Halo franchise is now entirely handled by Microsoft Studios. And Bungie has cast its lot with Activision.

Last year, the Los Angeles Times dug out details of the deal with Activision from a legal dispute between the publisher and Call of Duty developers Jason West and Vincent Zampella. Activision's contract with Bungie, unsealed in that suit, calls for Bungie to develop four "sci-fantasy, action shooter games," under the code-name Destiny, released every other year, starting in the fall of 2013. The deal also called for Bungie to release four downloadable expansion packs every other year starting in the fall of 2014.

Under the terms of that contract, which may have been modified since it was unsealed, Bungie was to receive royalties of 20 percent to 35 percent of operating income from the game. Activision was also to pay Bungie $2.5 million a year in bonuses between 2010 and 2013 for meeting quality and budget milestones. And the deal called for Activision to pay Bungie $2.5 million if the first Destiny game scores 90 or higher on GameRankings.com.

The executives didn't address the unsealed contract, except for a few passing quips during a question and answer session. But there's little doubt that much is riding on Destiny for both companies.

And Bungie is putting its resources, much more considerable now with its Activision partnership, behind the new title. Its audio director, Marty O'Donnell, is working with Paul McCartney on the music for Destiny. O'Donnell played a few of the pieces recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London with a 106-piece orchestra and a choir of more than 40 singers.

O'Donnell, whose music is as responsible for the tone of Halo as the graphics and gameplay itself, gushed about collaborating with McCartney. Rather than dictate the way a piece should work, McCartney has shared ideas with O'Donnell and left it up to him how the final arrangements should work.

"He said, 'Some of my melodies, some of your spooky bits, it's going to be great,'" O'Donnell said. "So far, he's been really happy with it."

Bungie Audio Director and Computer Marty O'Donnell

(Credit:
Bungie)

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S.A. paper sheds doubt on Pistorius claims

Oscar Pistorius weeps in court in Pretoria, South Africa, Feb 15, 2013, at his bail hearing in the murder case of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. / AP Photo

Double-amputee Olympian Oscar Pistorius has claimed he shot and killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp accidentally because he thought she was an intruder, but a report in a major South African newspaper casts some doubt on that scenario.

Police recovered a "bloodied cricket bat" at the 26-year-old runner's Pretoria home after the shooting, and it has turned into a central piece of evidence in the case, City Press reports.

The paper also claims Steenkamp's skull had been "crushed," and police are investigating whether the bat was the cause of that injury.

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Pistorius, Steenkamp families in shock

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The fall of Oscar Pistorius

32 Photos

Oscar Pistorius' model girlfriend

There are allegedly three scenarios police are investigating involving the bat, according to City Press: The first is that Pistorius somehow used it against Steenkamp; the second involves the possibility that Steenkamp used it to defend herself after barricading herself inside a bathroom; the final scenario is that Pistorius used it to break down the bathroom door once she had been barricaded inside.

Police have also allegedly requested a drug test from Pistorius, City Press reports.

A police spokeswoman told The Guardian newspaper she could not explain how the "bloody cricket bat" and drug test claims had emerged in South African newspapers, but did not deny them.

"We are not commenting on anything in the newspapers today as the case is still before the court," she said on Sunday. "They are insinuating they got the information from the police."

Meanwhile, Pistorius' agent told the Associated Press that the double-amputee Olympian has received "overwhelming support" from his fans as he remains in custody in a South African police station.

Peet van Zyl said Sunday outside the Brooklyn police station that "international fans from literally all over the world" have sent their good wishes to Pistorius.

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Pistorius Case: Agent Cancels Races, Says Sponsors Still Supportive

Oscar Pistorius won't run in any of the future races that the athlete was contracted to compete in, but the Paraylmpic gold medalist's sponsors are still supportive as he faces a murder charge, his agent said today.

The decision to cancel Pistorius' scheduled appearances was made to "allow Oscar to concentrate on the upcoming legal proceedings and to help and support all those involved as they try to come to terms with this very difficult and distressing situation," Peet Van Zyl of In Site Athlete Management said in a statement.

"I have decided that following these tragic events that we have no option but to cancel all future races that Oscar Pistorius had been contracted to compete in," Van Zyl said.

Pistorius was slated to compete in races in Australia and Brazil, as well as at the Drake Relays in Iowa and the Manchester City Games in the U.K.

Van Zyl also said that Pistorius' sponsors and partners are supportive.

"I can confirm that at this point in time, all parties are supportive and their contractual commitments are maintained. They have said they are happy to let the legal process takes its course before making any change in their position," Van Zyl said in the statement.

However, M-Net movies, a subscription-funded South African television channel has pulled their ad campaign featuring Pistorius, tweeting, "Out of respect & sympathy to the bereaved, M-Net will be pulling its entire Oscar campaign featuring Oscar Pistorius with immediate effect."

The agent's announcement comes as family and friends rallied to Pistorius' defense -- saying they believe the Paralympic gold medalist's story that he shot his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp by accident after he mistook her for an intruder.

Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images; Mike Holmes/The Herald/Gallo Images/Getty Images

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"When you are a sportsman, you act even more on instinct ... it's instinct -- things happen and that's what you do," Pistorius' father Henke Pistorius, 59, told The Telegraph.

The 26-year-old athlete, known as the "Blade Runner" because of the carbon-fiber blades he runs on, was charged Friday with premeditated murder.

PHOTOS: Paralympic Champion Charged With Murder

If convicted, Pistorius could face at least 25 years in jail.

"All of us saw at firsthand how close [Steenkamp] had become to Oscar during that time and how happy they were. They had plans together and Oscar was happier in his private life than he had been for a long time," Pistorius' uncle Arnold Pistorius said on Saturday.

According to South African newspaper Beeld, Steenkamp was killed nearly two hours after police were called to Pistorius' home to respond to reports of an argument at the complex.

Police said they have responded to disputes at the sprinter's residence before, but did not say whether Steenkamp was involved.

The athlete's best friend said Pistorius called him after the shooting to say "there has been a terrible accident, I shot Reeva," Justin Divaris told the Sunday People.

While his family insists he is not a murderer, prosecutors disagree.

Police sources told local media that Steenkamp was shot through the bathroom door where she may have been trying to hide to save herself.

Reeva Steenkamp

A memorial service for Steenkamp will be held in Port Elizabeth on Tuesday evening, SABC reported. Her body will be flown back for the service before being cremated, her family said.

"Her future has been cut short ... I dare say she's with the angels," said Mike Steenkamp, Reeva Steenkamp's uncle.

The South African reality show Steenkamp competed in premiered Saturday night on SABC as planned and included a special tribute to the slain law school graduate whose modeling career was starting to take off.

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Israeli lawmakers to investigate Australian spy mystery

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli lawmakers announced plans on Sunday to investigate the 2010 jailhouse death of a reported Australian immigrant recruit to the Mossad spy agency.

The statement by Parliament's Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee followed calls by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a cabinet meeting to dim a growing media spotlight on the affair he saw as at risk of jeopardizing national security.

The case kept under wraps for two years then publicized by Australian television last Tuesday involves a 34-year-old immigrant, Ben Zygier, said to be a Mossad operative held on suspicion of security offences, who died of what has been labeled an apparent suicide behind bars.

In a terse communique, the legislative panel's subcommittee on intelligence said it has "decided to conduct an intensive examination of all aspects of the incident involving the prisoner found dead in his (prison) cell in December 2010."

While unlikely to have any immediate political consequences the investigation may lead to a wider inquiry with potentially broader repercussions.

Netanyahu's government has restricted reporting in Israel on the case, now overshadowing his victory in a national election held last month, using court gag orders, military censorship and direct requests to news editors.

Such steps have done little to douse demands for the authorities to come clean about the circumstances of Zygier's imprisonment and how he was able to kill himself in a highly-supervised isolation cell.

Without citing the case specifically, Netanyahu said on Sunday he "absolutely trusts" Israel's security services and what he described as the independent legal monitoring system under which they operated.

"We are an exemplary democracy," Netanyahu said in remarks aired by Israeli broadcasters.

"But we are also more threatened, more challenged, and therefore we have to ensure the proper operation of our security branches," Netanyahu also said.

"Therefore I ask over everyone: Let the security services continue working quietly so that we can continue to live in safety and tranquility in the State of Israel."

The few Israeli officials who have spoken of Zygier's case have not denied that he was linked to Mossad, which in early 2010 was accused by Dubai of using Australian passport-holders to assassinate a Palestinian arms procurer in the Gulf emirate.

BETRAYED MOSSAD MISSIONS?

Media reports have speculated that Israel suspected the Melbourne-born Jew of betraying or threatening to divulge Mossad missions, perhaps to Australia's security services, as they probed passport fraud.

Civil liberties groups and some Israeli lawmakers have demanded to know whether Zygier's rights were violated by his months of incarceration under alias.

In an apparent reversal from previous statements, Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr said on Thursday his ministry had known about Zygier's jailing as early as February 2010. On Wednesday he said Australian diplomats in Israel only found out about the detention after his death in custody later that year.

Avigdor Feldman, an Israeli lawyer with whom Zygier consulted in Ayalon prison, said last week that that meeting was arranged by a "Mossad liaison" and that his client had denied "grave charges" for which he awaited trial.

Feldman also said that Zygier's family, which has declined all comment on the affair, knew about his detention. The incarceration was approved by several Israeli courts.

Two senior cabinet members, Intelligence Minister Dan Meridor and Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Yaalon, told Israeli media on Saturday the case was rare but lawful.

"There are extreme situations...to do with our security and even the need to preserve human life, when we need to take an extreme step such as this," Yaalon told Channel Two television.

Meridor said that publishing the prisoner's identity would have risked "serious harm to security." He did not elaborate.

Tzachi Hanegbi, a lawmaker from Netanyahu's conservative Likud party said he had never been informed of Zygier's arrest as chairman of the parliamentary defence panel at the time.

"This requires explanation," Hanegbi said. "Usually, every significant subject, whether it is impressive achievements or embarrassing failures, is laid out before the subcommittee."

Former Mossad director Danny Yatom told Reuters the agency was under no legal obligation to brief oversight lawmakers in such circumstances.

(Writing by Allyn Fisher-Ilan and Dan Williams; Editing by Jason Webb)

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Football: Reus bags hat-trick but Dortmund see red again

BERLIN: Germany midfielder Marco Reus netted a hat-trick in Borussia Dortmund's 3-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday, but the champions had a striker sent off for the second time in the space of a week.

Dortmund's win left them second in the league, but 15 points behind leaders Bayern Munich, who show no sign of releasing their grip on the Bundesliga after earning their 18th win in 22 matches with a 2-0 win at VfL Wolfsburg on Friday.

After Dortmund's Poland striker Robert Lewandowski had earned a three-game ban for being sent off against Hamburg last Saturday, his replacement Julian Schieber was dismissed for a second yellow against Frankfurt and is banned for the next game.

Dortmund's appeal against Lewandowski red card will be heard by the German Football Association (DFB) on Tuesday and they hope to have him back for next Sunday's match at Moenchengladbach.

Should the appeal fail, Reus is the obvious choice to be moved up front as he profited from Dortmund's constant pressure on the Frankfurt defence.

There were two goals, two yellow cards and the subsequent red in a frantic opening 30 minutes.

Reus hit the back of the net on eight minutes after a dream pass from Mario Goetze, while centre-back Mats Hummels produced a similar pass soon after as Reus made it 2-0 in as many minutes.

With Lewandowski suspended, Schieber was clearly eager to take his opportunity, but his over-zealous challenge on Frankfurt's Carlos Zambrano earned him a yellow card on 27 minutes.

He then saw red just four minutes later when his stray elbow on defender Bastian Oczipka earned him a second booking, despite furious protests from coach Jurgen Klopp.

Despite the numerical disadvantage, Reus moved up front to complete his hat-trick on 65 minutes when he fired home after Goetze had again caused havoc.

Frankfurt were also reduced to 10 men with 15 minutes left when Japan midfielder Takashi Inui earned a second yellow card.

Schalke's poor Bundesliga form continued on as they twice come from behind for a 2-2 draw at Mainz ahead of Wednesday's Champions League trip to Istanbul's Galatasaray.

Schalke face the Turkish league leaders in the last 16, first-leg clash having dropped from second to eighth in the Bundesliga with just one win in their last 11 games, conceding 25 goals in the process -- the league's worst record.

Brazil midfielder Michel Bastos scored both Schalke's goals, but his team struggled again having been thumped 4-0 by Bayern last weekend.

"We didn't start well, but that's not easy in our current situation," admitted Schalke coach Jens Keller.

While Schalke move up from 10th to eighth, the pressure remains on Keller, who has just one win in his six games in charge in December.

Bayer Leverkusen are third after their 2-1 win at home to relegation-threatened Augsburg as striker Stefan Kiessling and midfielder Lars Bender both scored.

Dutch midfielder Rafael van der Vaart scored his first goal for Hamburg since May 2008 with a spectacular 24th-minute thunderbolt to secure a 1-0 win over Borussia Moenchengladbach to move his team up to sixth.

Freiburg stay fifth, and amongst the European places, with a 3-2 win at Werder Bremen while Greuther Fuerth stay bottom after their 1-0 defeat to Fortuna Duesseldorf.

- AFP/fa

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Microsoft job post gives more info about 'Windows Blue'

If there's any doubt that the Windows client team is laser-focused on the coming Blue refresh of Windows 8, a new Microsoft job post makes it even plainer.

A February 15 post for a software development engineer in test on the Microsoft Careers site (to which Charon at Ma-config.com alerted me), mentions "Windows Blue." According to that posting, the Core Experience team in Windows Sustained Engineering (WinSE) is involved in making improvements to the start screen, application lifecycle, windowing and personalization. Windows Blue will "build on and improve" these OS components, the posting says.

Here's an excerpt:

We're looking for an excellent, experienced SDET to join the Core Experience team in Windows Sustained Engineering (WinSE). The Core Experience features are the centerpiece of the new Windows UI, representing most of what customers touch and see in the OS, including: the start screen; application lifecycle; windowing; and personalization. Windows Blue promises to build and improve upon these aspects of the OS, enhancing ease of use and the overall user experience on devices and PCs worldwide."

Blue is the codename for the next wave of Windows-related operating system and services updates from Microsoft, according to my contacts. There will be a Blue update to
Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, Windows Phone 8 and the Windows Services like Hotmail and SkyDrive -- all of which are slated to wash up in roughly the same timeframe, my sources have said. Last year, one tipster told me Microsoft was aiming to deliver Windows Blue around late summer 2013.

Blue isn't simply a fancy new name for a service pack. With Blue, Microsoft is working to transition to a more rapid update pace.

On the Windows and Windows Phone fronts, Blue is expected to include new features and even new programming interfaces designed to bring the different flavors of Windows closer together, from an app model/development model perspective. That said, it's not just Windows internals that will be updated with Blue. As the job posting above verifies, user interface and experience updates will be part of Blue, too.

Microsoft officials have declined to comment on Blue. It's unknown what Microsoft officially will name Blue once it's released, but it's likely to be positioned as a refresh to Windows 8, not a whole new version of Windows (like a Windows 9), I continue to hear.

By the way, there are plenty of mentions of "blue" on Microsoft's career site that have nothing to do with the coming Blue wave/refresh." Blue links," "blue screens" and "wavy blue lines" all show up -- and have nothing to do with the upcoming Blue refresh.

Update: @h0x0d (Walking Cat on Twitter) just found a Microsoft job reference to Windows Phone Blue, too. Here's his screen shot of it:

As he notes, there's also a reference to "Excel MX" in that job post. Excel MX is likely a not-yet-delivered, fully touch-optimized and Metro Style/Windows Store version of Excel -- similar to the OneNote MX and Lync MX versions of two of Microsoft's Office apps that are in the Windows Store now.

This story originally appeared on ZDNet under the headline "Microsoft job postings confirm more about Windows and Windows Phone Blue."

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Deadly end for fugitive who stabbed detective with eyeglasses

Updated at 1:33 p.m. ET

GRAPEVINE, Texas A Florida prisoner who escaped after stabbing a detective with his eyeglasses was shot and killed by Texas law enforcement officers early Saturday after police responded to a report of a home burglary, authorities said.

Alberto Morales was shot shortly after midnight when officers, with assistance from a police helicopter, spotted him in a wooded area near a lake in North Texas, Grapevine police Sgt. Robert Eberling said. Two hours earlier, officers responded to a report that jewelry and men's clothing had been stolen during a break-in at a home near where Morales was found.

Eberling said at a Saturday news conference that officers instructed Morales to lay on the ground and show his hands, but he rushed toward them, at which point they opened fire. He said the fugitive was still wearing part of his prison-issued jumpsuit as well as jogging pants, but Eberling said he couldn't comment on whether the stolen clothing and jewelry was found with Morales.

The residents arrived home around 10:30 p.m. Friday to discover the burglary at their home and called law enforcement officials, Eberling said.

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911 call: Alberto Morales allged stabbing victim

The 42-year-old Morales escaped Monday at a Wal-Mart store parking lot in Grapevine, a community near the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. Police said he used a sharp piece from his eyeglasses to stab a Miami-Dade detective who was transferring him by car to Nevada, where Morales was to serve a sentence of 30 years to life after being convicted of a sexual assault.

Det. Jaime Pardinas was expected to recover after being treated at a Dallas hospital for deep stab wounds to the neck, shoulder and back and a collapsed lung. It wasn't clear when he would be released.

Pardinas was accompanied by Miami-Dade Detective David Carrero during the transfer. They flew to Houston with Morales and then decided to drive the rest of the way after he became disruptive on the flight. They had stopped near the store while waiting for a third officer who was flying to the Dallas area to join them. Department policy requires three officers to be present for ground transfers of prisoners.

On a recording of a 911 call of the incident released Wednesday, Pardinas can be heard breathing heavily as he tells the operator that he's been stabbed. He described Morales' height, weight and appearance and then added, "He's a schizophrenic."

The escape set off a massive five-day manhunt in North Texas.

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Uncle: Pistorius Is 'Numb With Shock as Well as Grief'

Oscar Pistorius is "numb with shock as well as grief" his uncle told reporters Saturday as the Olympian amputee spent his second night behind bars in a South African jail for the allegedly killing his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

"All of us saw at firsthand how close [Steenkamp] had become to Oscar during that time and how happy they were," he said. "They had plans together and Oscar was happier in his private life than he had been for a long time," said Pistorius' uncle Arnold Pistorius.

The 26-year-old athlete, known as the "blade runner" because of the carbon-fiber blades he runs on, was charged Friday with premeditated murder.

Pistorius' family is "battling to come to terms with Oscar being charged with murder," Arnold Pistorius said, and still believe "there is no substance to the allegation."

Oscar Pistorius is suspected of shooting Steenkamp, 29, four times with a handgun early Thursday morning at his home in a gated community in Pretoria.

PHOTOS: Paralympic Champion Charged with Murder

Prosecutors dismissed the reports that Pistorious mistook her for an intruder.

If convicted, Pistorius could face at least 25 years in jail.

According to South African newspaper Beeld, Steenkamp was killed nearly two hours after police were called to Pistorius' home to respond to reports of an argument at the complex.

Police said they have responded to disputes at the sprinter's residence before, but did not say whether or not Steenkamp was involved.

Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images; Mike Holmes/The Herald/Gallo Images/Getty Images

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A memorial service for Steenkamp will be held in Port Elizabeth on Tuesday evening, reported SABC. Her body will be flown back for the service before being cremated, her family said.

"Her future has been cut short...I dare say she's with the angels," said Mike Steenkamp, Reeva Steenkamp's uncle.

Producers of the South African reality show Steenkamp competed in said the series will still premiere Saturday night on SABC as planned, but will now include a special tribute to the slain law school graduate whose modeling career was starting to take off.

RELATED: Reeva Steenkamp, Oscar Pistorius Girlfriend, Saw Self as 'Brainy, Blonde, Bombshell'

"This is the only time that you see the real Reeva," executive producer and director of "Tropka Island of Treasure" Samantha Moon told "Good Morning America." "She was kind and sweet and?so hard working.

"They will see the girl that we loved."

Meanwhile, the sprinter's sponsors ? including Nike, BT, Theirry Mugler, Oakley and Ossur, the Icelandic company that manufactures the prosthetic blades Pistorius races on ? are acting cautiously as the athlete awaits his bail hearing on Tuesday.

M-Net movies, a subscription-funded South African television channel has already pulled their ad campaign featuring Pistorius, tweeting, "Out of respect & sympathy to the bereaved, M-Net will be pulling its entire Oscar campaign featuring Oscar Pistorius with immediate effect."

Nike, who's ad featuring the double-amputee reads "I am the bullet in the chamber," released a statement saying the company is "continuing the monitor the situation closely."

Still, the athlete's' friends and colleagues said the murder charges have yet to sink in.

"When I heard, I was in shock and I'm just still trying to process it," Jamaican gold medal sprinter Usain Bolt told the Associated Press Friday night after the NBA All-Star celebrity game in Houston, Tex.

"I would just like to say, I have dated Oscar on and off for 5 YEARS, NOT ONCE has he EVER lifted a finger to me, made me fear for my life," his ex-girlfriend Jenna Edkins tweeted on Friday.

ABC News' Colleen Curry contributed to this report.

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Bomb kills 64 in Pakistan's Quetta

QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Sixty-four people including school children died on Saturday in a bomb attack carried out by extremists from Pakistan's Sunni Muslim majority, police said.

A spokesman for Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a Sunni group, claimed responsibility for the bomb in Quetta, which caused casualties in the town's main bazaar, a school and a computer center. Police said most of the victims were Shi'ites.

Burned school bags and books were strewn around.

"The explosion was caused by an improvised explosive device fitted to a motorcycle," said Wazir Khan Nasir, deputy inspector general of police in Quetta.

"This is a continuation of terrorism against Shi'ites."

"I saw many bodies of women and children," said an eyewitness at a hospital. "At least a dozen people were burned to death by the blast."

Most Western intelligence agencies have regarded the Pakistani Taliban and al Qaeda as the gravest threat to nuclear-armed Pakistan, a strategic U.S. ally.

But Pakistani law enforcement officials say Lashkar-e-Jhangvi has become a formidable force.

TENSIONS

Last month the group said it carried out a bombing in Quetta that killed nearly 100 people, one of Pakistan's worst sectarian attacks. Thousands of Shi'ites protested in several cities after that attack.

Pakistani intelligence officials say extremist groups, led by Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, have escalated their bombings and shootings of Shi'ites to trigger violence that would pave the way for a Sunni theocracy in U.S.-allied Pakistan.

More than 400 Shi'ites were killed in Pakistan last year, many by hitmen or bombs, and the perpetrators are almost never caught. Some hardline Shi'ite groups have hit back by killing Sunni clerics.

The growing sectarian violence has hurt the credibility of the government, which has already faced criticism ahead of elections due in May for its inability to tackle corruption and economic stagnation.

The schism between Sunnis and Shi'ites developed after the Prophet Muhammad died in 632 when his followers could not agree on a successor.

Emotions over the issue are highly potent even today, pushing some countries, including Iraq five years ago, to the brink of civil war.

Pakistan is nowhere near that stage but officials worry that Sunni extremist groups have succeeded in dramatically ratcheting up tensions and provoking revenge attacks in their bid to destabilize the country.

(Reporting by Jibran Ahmed; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Stephen Powell)

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Tennis: Combative Nadal takes aim at ATP management

SAO PAULO: Rafael Nadal, back in action after a seven-month knee injury absence, is blaming the ATP management for poor playing conditions at clay court events such as the ongoing Brazil Open.

After his straight-sets victory over Brazilian qualifier Joao Souza 6-3, 6-4 in his opening match on Thursday, the 11-time Grand Slam title winner had some harsh words over the choice of balls.

While other players have been complaining about the condition of the court at Sao Paulo's Ibirapuera gymnasium, Nadal said the problem lies elsewhere.

"The problem is not the court. The problem is the ball which is very bad," he told a post-match press conference.

"It's the fault of the ATP for allowing play with a (tennis) ball of poor quality. The ATP does not have the capacity or the infrastructure to be able to analyze the conditions before the tournament begins."

The 26-year-old Nadal, who only returned to competitive tennis last week in Chile, also defended his decision to withdraw from a scheduled doubles match with Argentina's David Nalbandian against Horacio Zeballos and Oliver Marach Wednesday.

That, he said, was a "good decision" that allowed him to rest his knee, after a tough week of play in Chile last week where he made the final, losing to Zeballos.

Nadal was to play his Sao Paulo quarter-final later Friday against Argentina's Carlos Berlocq.

The Spaniard has been in combative mood all week.

On Tuesday, he told reporters that he and other players were concerned about the impact of having to play so many hardcourt events.

"Hard courts are aggressive on the knees, back and ankles," he said. "Can you imagine football players playing on cement?."

"That is a theme among the players and doctors," he added.

Nadal said that while reducing the number of events on hard surfaces was not realistic, "I think that the ATP has to work to think of how to lengthen players' careers."

And he also criticized the decision to enforce a 20-second rule between points at Grand Slams.

"Rule changes should be made to improve the sport," said Nadal, who has been no stranger to time violations in his career.

"I don't think the players in the dressing room are happy with the new rule and we'd like it to be modified and that the referee interpret when you can take longer rather than it be something mathematical.

"People want to see long rallies and hard-fought points," the world number five said. "Twenty five seconds is not enough."

Nadal, the top seed at the $455,775 Brazil Open, lost the singles and doubles finals at the Vina del Mar tournament in Chile Sunday and plans to compete at the Mexico Open in Acapulco later this month.

The seven-time French Open champion won the Brazil Open in 2005 when it was held in Costa do Sauipe in eastern Bahia state.

- AFP/fa

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