Hasta La Gadget!

The creators of the incredibly popular Halo franchise have announced a new project they are working on called Destiny. The video game will introduce players to an epic science fiction universe, including a persistent online world filled with sweeping adventures.

Destiny promises to combine a first-person action game with persistent, dynamic world – offering console players a connected living world they can explore combined with social spaces where they can congregate and celebrate achievements. The game will allow players to adventure as a group or alone.

The game will be set in the distant future with players acting as guardians of the last city on Earth. Players will explore the ruins of our solar system from Mars to Venus and battle enemies of humankind to reclaim what was lost during the collapse of mankind’s Golden Age.

Destiny is being published by Activision and is tentatively planned for a December 31 release on the Xbox 360 and PS3. It is rumored to be a launch title for the Xbox 720 and/or the PS4 as well. Sadly, there is no mention of a PC version at this point.

Bungie has just revealed its new project, titled Destiny. Destiny will be a persistent, online multiplayer game that Eric Hirshberg, Activision CEO, dubs as a “shared-world shooter”. The game will be released for both the Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360. Bungie has emphasized that there will be no subscription fee for the game. It will require a constant connection to the internet, as it is a major factor in the “persistent, online multiplayer” aspect of the game.

Destiny has a 10-year publishing deal with Activision. Bungie has revealed that Destiny will be released as 10 “books” over the course of 10 years. Each book will have its own beginning, middle, and end. There are currently 350 developers in Bungie working on the game. There are also teams outside of Bungie that are able to co-locate with each other, which provides Bungie with the ability to rapidly create and improve every aspect of the game. Bungie also stated that the Destiny franchise will be brought to multiple devices later on, also emphasizing that there will be a mobile app that lets players track stats, quest info, and notifications from the in-game world.

While Destiny is going to be a online multi-player game, it will be different than an MMO. Destiny’s story takes place in the Earth’s solar system after a mysterious cataclysm wipes out almost all of humanity. The survivors are relocated to the ‘safe zone’, which also acts as the beginning zone for new players. There will be 3 classes; Hunter, Titan, and Warlock. The only class with a notable difference is the Warlock, who can cast spells. Bungie says that despite there only being 3 classes, each character will be unique to the player, and will grow with the player throughout the game. In the ‘safe zone’, there will be an alien sphere called ‘The Traveler’ that supplies players with weapons, magical powers, and defensive equipment. While in the ‘safe zone’, players can meet up with their friends, and/or they can use spaceships to travel and raid new territories.

The game very much emphasizes cooperative play, but you can still play the game solo. Bungie, however, says that in order for players to realize “the vision of the game”, they have to play with other players. While in public areas, such as towns, players will be paired up with other players similar to them. This is based on the levels of the players, as well as other similar aspects. Bungie emphasizes that public areas will not be overcrowded like in MMOs. There will not be thousands of people crammed into one place, but rather a controlled amount. Also, unlike other multi-player games, Destiny will not have a lobby interface or menu for tracking quests. Everything happens in real-time, where players just wander the world, meet new people, and participate in activities that appear at whim.

Activision and Bungie both kept quiet about some important details, like when the game will be released, but they do have a very impressive goal in mind. It will be very interesting to see the two companies try to execute its 10-year plan, and whether or not they will succeed. Maybe if they do consider implementing eSports with the game, Destiny will have a good shot of lasting a long time.

[via Wired]

Bungie reveals Destiny: A shared-world shooter is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The eSports industry has been getting a lot of buzz lately, especially with the showcasing of games like StarCraft II and League of Legends, and now Eric Hershberg, CEO of Activision, has inputted his own two cents about the industry. Hirshberg had an interview with Forbes on what he thinks about the eSports, how it affects the gaming industry, and how he plans on implementing it with his gaming franchises.

Eric Hirshberg says that eSports is becoming increasingly important to the gaming industry. It helps developing gaming franchises gain traction in the industry, and it opens new doors and possibilities for gaming in general. He believes that people love competition, and the ability to compete in games, whether casual or hardcore, makes gaming a whole lot more interesting. He also believes that eSports will be an integral part of gaming in the future.

From the first Call of Duty eSports tournament, Call of Duty XP, Hirshberg realized how much demand there was for competitive eSports. There was a huge audience of people, both present at the event and watching the event through a live stream. There was so much buzz from the event that it had expanded through various social media portals, like Facebook and Twitter. From that experience, Hirshberg feels that they will continue on with the success of their first eSports event and hold similar events in the future.

When asked about eSports and it being featured on broadcast TV, Hirshberg surprisingly said that he doesn’t believe eSports is compatible with TV. He says that eSports happens more on the player’s schedule rather than the network’s schedule, and that live streaming is more convenient. Hirshberg is much more interested in expanding upon the live streaming features rather than getting eSports onto live TV.

Hirshberg sees a bright future for eSports and he will continue to embrace it by offering players tools that make games more competitive. Hirshberg kept hush hush about the future of Activision Blizzard’s latest original game franchise, Destiny, and its role in the eSports industry, but chances are it will be integrated into eSports, and how far it goes will depend on the amount of support it gets from Activision Blizzard. Hirshberg did say, “You have to be very committed to get that done and get it right in the game,” when he was commenting on embracing the world of eSports.

[via Forbes]

Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg reveals his thoughts on eSports is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The Angry Birds and the pigs they hate so are already quite popular on mobile devices, but it turns out that the collected escapades for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Nintendo 3DS in Angry Birds Trilogy also did quite well, pushing past one million units since September 2012. Its console success is apparently enough for its Finnish progenitor, Rovio, to release the game for both Nintendo’s original Wii and the more recent Wii U at some point in 2013. The trilogy collects the first Angry Birds game with Seasons and Rio for “700+ levels.” It stands to reason that the Wii U version will take advantage of the system’s tablet-esque GamePad, but we’ll have to wait on Rovio for more info as the year goes on.

Filed under: Gaming, Software, HD, Nintendo

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Via: Joystiq

During an Activision conference call discussing quarterly earnings, the game publisher casted doubt on the possibility of Bungie’s Destiny releasing at any point in 2013, debunking all rumors that the game might see a release this year. Activision’s chief financial officer Dennis Durkin said that the game will not be “factored into [Activision’s] 2013 financial outlook.”

However, Activision big wig Eric Hirshberg says that development continues on the publisher’s “new ground-breaking project with Bungie,” not mentioning the title of the game. He says that the game doesn’t yet have a release date, but says that they look forward to sharing more details later on in the future.

With that said, it looks like Destiny may release in time for next-generation gaming consoles, which are rumored to release sometime this year in time for the holiday season. Destiny is said to be an MMO-style title, and the series will be a trilogy with each game releasing one after the other with a year or two in between.

While hopes are dashed for a holiday release of the game, we could very well see it close to release by this time next year. Bungie is best known for developing the Halo series of first-person shooter titles, and with the release of this highly-anticipated MMO, would be the developers first time dabbling around in the genre.

[via Digital Trends]

Activision says Destiny not releasing this year is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.