Tyson Green spills on how you can make your Guardian awesome

Bungie’s long term player Tyson Green has had a chat with Game Informer about character development for the forthcoming Destiny. 

While reading what he had to say, the 2014 release date seems so far away – still it’s awesome to be getting some real in depth detail about how your Guardian character can collect their abilities, tune weapons and focus on being the best Warlock,Hunter or Titan they can be!

Flexible Character Tweaks

We want to have a well balanced upgrade experience for your gear but also for your abilities. And we want to give players the ability to actually commit to some of the decisions that they made so they can distinguish themselves from one another. 


But that sort of comes along with, “Well, what do you want to do when someone wants to change their mind about something? Do they have to throw their character away?” And that was really unappealing and as painful as always having to sanitse your beer equipment with sodium percarbonate.

We want to say “No, you are your character.” When you decide to roll an Exo Hunter that’s because both being an Exo and being a Hunter were things that were exciting and appealing to you. So when you want to change your mind about something, whether it’s a weapon or whether it’s what abilities you’re using, we let you change the stuff that your character is using and we let you upgrade the stuff that your character is using rather than having to reset your character or throw your character away.

Upgrade Categories

Three things that all characters can upgrade are their weapons, their armor, and their focus. Those all level up as you use them. So when you’re wearing your armor and earning experience your armor’s leveling up. When you’re using weapons to get kills, those specific weapons are leveling up. And your focus also levels up when you’re getting kills or completing activities.

Describing Focus

A focus is a thing that captures all of your abilities in one bundle – sort of a thematic bundle, but also a functional bundle. It carries your grenade abilities, your super attacks, it carries certain passive abilities that change the way your character plays. The focus is the thing that defines how your character is going to play at both the lowest and the highest level. It’s what your character is thematically about and it’s also functionally what abilities you have available to use.

You could call it a spec. You could call it a build. You could call it a lot of things. For a long time we called them builds, but your build is a bigger thing because it also brings into account which weapons you’re using and what modifiers are on your armor. I want people to be able to talk about playing a Void Warlock sniper build, which is something that encompasses more than just the focus item.

Tis the holidays, we're off to eat cake. Lots of cake. Take luck and care for it.

Bungie's Vex want to wish you a happy holidays

Have you noticed in this lovely piece of Community Theatre that's heavy on the Christmas references, Mery Christmas is not even mentioned rather than Happy Holidays? Is this half attempt at being PC so as to not offend persons who are offended by words? 

What is the Tower in Destiny?

The Tower's hangar bay. 

The Tower

Surely a name inspired by Steven King's Dark Tower series after all that was a selection of novels that featured a gunslinger traversing world where magic is real...

But what is Destiny's Tower? It's not a place where Steven King goes to have a cup of tea and a lie down is it?

No, Chris Barret tells us what it is:

It is "the place where the heroes of the world go back to after their adventures. It is trying to capture the feeling of Earth’s Camelot where the knights come back to. Not everybody is up there. It’s mostly for Guardians. This feels like something humanity built to protect Earth. A watchtower mixed with a home."

Your Guardian will also be able to do a bit of shopping:

"You’ll have different vendors where you can browse bits of gear or new weapons or turn in some of the things you found. There are different districts in there that you’ll be able to visit that have different themes. The plaza is the meeting grounds where everybody first lands. Then you have offshoots with areas for the different classes to go to. The ideal is every time you’re done adventuring you come back here and kick up your boots and sell your stuff and hang out."

So, The Tower is basically like the Normandy from Mass Effect - it's where you can have conversations with other players, get your upgrades, refuel your jet, and actually maybe get that cup of tea after all!

Want to know more about Destiny? Try these pages:

• Playing campaign on solo
• What are The Hive in Bungie's Destiny?
• Concert Art, featuring an Ogre!

Can I play Destiny in solo mode? I don't want to team up with anybody because I hate everybody on XBL

While DeeJ already confirmed it sometime ago, future fans of Destiny will be pleased to know that they will be able to do the Destiny campaign solo as in by themselves. There's a small bit of ambiguity though - at some point in the series Jones, mused in this Game Informer article, that some parts of the game do require co-operation.

Here's the question:

Game Informer: You have a legacy of players who are already Bungie fans, and a segment of that fan base is people who play games by themselves. And I hear you talking a lot about the fun of that shared space, but I think that there’s people out there who either don’t believe that or they’re waiting to be convinced. Is there something in Destiny for those kinds of players? Or are you trying to guide them away from that experience to something that is more social?

What's this Thrall doing here?

Jason Jones: You absolutely are going to be able to play Destiny by yourself and have the same kind of fun shooter-experience that you could have in a single-player campaign, which is a word that we’ve weeded out of our vocabulary, but we’re going to give you this great player-progression on top of that, and we’re going to give you as many opportunities as we possibly can to expose you to other people, so that hopefully you’re drawn into some social experiences, because those are incredibly powerful and interesting, but we’re not going to force those on you.

We describe it in a lot of ways as sloping the floor towards socialization, without putting a requirement on it. I would say that there’s some sort of – if you wanted to talk about it in MMO terms, you’d say “end-game activities”, but some of the most intense non-competitive activities in the game do require cooperation. 

They require a group of players to tackle at once. I guess at some variable, distant endpoint we are going to say, “Yeah, if you show up at this door, and you don’t have five friends, you’re not going to be able to succeed,” but the core experience that solo players have enjoyed in shooters, they’re going to be able to get that, and we’re going to pull many of them into social experiences as well.

Here's what DeeJ had to say when asked about the question.

@jaydawg6958: I like to play games solo often. How much can I do alone?

DeeJ: Ah, the proverbial Lone Wolf. You can experience Destiny’s story as a party of one, assuming you’re that much of a badass. Destiny will never require you to team up with other people in campaign missions. You’ll see other players along the way, but you can choose to ignore them. That said, we think you’ll find that playing with other Guardians is quick, painless, and a ton of fun. It’s always your choice, though.

What are The Hive in Bungie's Destiny?

The Hive is an enemy species hostile to the remaining human population on Earth.

Very little is known about their origins or traits though Bungie have alluded that they have a deep mythos and back story which will hopefully be revealed in game. Bungie have nicknamed the Hive "Space Zombies".

Bungie's Chris Barret has said of the Hive "They’re the most fantasy-inspired race. We’ve imagined them as this ancient alien race that’s kept themselves alive by some magical means for millennia. They just float through the solar system on these big, sarcophagus-looking ships.

It’s really playing up the feeling of zombies and fantasy undead. It also plays with the feeling of royalty, like they might have kings or they might have knights.

Their main units are a mixture of organic and inorganic so they’re not clothed like a lot of units. You’re not sure if the armor is organic or if it’s ceremonial armor that they put on a million years ago and it’s sort of grown into their skin. An organic shell that’s sort of grown in a way that almost resembles knights’ armor. You’ll see their dry, mummy-like flesh exposed. And then when you shoot them they’ll burst into dust and embers

Given what has been revealed so far Hive appear to have some kind of supernatural abilities, including the ability to hover or float and manipulate energy and electricity

Hive have been spotted hiding out on the Earth’s Moon, dwelling with massive underground moon base which is nicknamed by the Guardians as The Hellmouth.

I'm enthralled. No really. I am. 

Classes of The Hive

There are various classes of the Hive. 2 have been made public:

Thrall

Thralls may be considered the basic class of Hive.  Brown in color and preferring melee attacks using their long fingers tipped with sharp claws. They have no visible eyes and, in some places, their skin has rotted away to expose their skeletons. Their basic armour appears infused with their bodies.

Knight

Knights may be considered a higher-ranked class of Hive an feature more lively armor-and-cloth adornment on their persons. They appear to wear helmets with optical qualities and seem to lack the long fingers and sharper claws of the Thrall class. They have been spotted wielding energy- or plasma-based weapons.

Barret also said "Imagine when you look at pictures of shipwrecks underwater and they’re just kind of covered with barnacles and they look like they’ve eroded because they’ve been there for a long time. We want to make their ships feel like that. Basically spaceships that feel like they’ve been covered in space barnacles or whatever and have been eroded because they’ve been moving like shipwrecks for millennia.

It’s much more darker, gothic inspired. But still alien and sci-fi at the same time. We’re trying to mix those two, but they’ll have what might typically feel like a dungeon or more ceremonial throne room-like spaces or dark corridors filled with webbing."

Here's an Ogre which will only be brought down by the most skilled Guardian Fireteams...

Here's another Thrall

Meet one of the Hive's Ogres

The Hive appears likely to be a formidable foe to vanquish in Destiny. They even have a Lorde of the Rings like cave troll, more accurately described as an Ogre:

Jason Jones talks about the acronym MMO and Destiny

Jason Jones has done a massive interview with Game Informer about Destiny. He covers a lot of areas but here's some Q and A that relates to the acronym that's been bandied about quite a bit with Destiny, MMO.

Were you looking to MMO storytelling styles as opposed to what you see in shooter stories? Were you moving away from a straight, linear thing?

Yes. The game we want to make and we want to play is a shooter. Making a great shooter is not the thing I’m worried about now when I look out at the game, where it’s my job to be worried about whatever isn’t the farthest along. When we set out to build that shooter from the beginning, we really were aware that there’s a bunch of innovation, a bunch of cool stuff happening in other genres, certainly in MMOs. We wanted to learn from that. One of the things that was really important, just by building a story was that we wanted a world and not just a story. We wanted a world that we can tell a lot of stories in. I think there’s a way that you can learn that lesson from some MMOs. But they have a world that’s just fun to explore and to think about, look forward to the next story.

I would say the best, certainly the MMOs genre is about story but also about player progression as well. Just really fascinating, fun things that those games do. I would say having said that, at heart this game’s got to be a shooter. I believe that’s what people, and I don’t have any control in this, will label it and that people who come and look at this experience are going to like it because it’s a shooter, and it’s my hope, going to be surprised by the depth that they haven’t seen before like the single progression across all activities and that they’re going to stick with and enjoy it and stay with it because of that. 

A lot of people have wondered whether this is an MMO or not. Obviously, based on what you were just saying, you see this more as a shooter. Are there other things that you would point to that set it apart from MMOs?

It’s kind of an apple and oranges thing, so I don’t want to draw too many comparisons, but I think that at its heart, what people are going to enjoy and engage with the game in Destiny is the action game. It’s ultimately this fantasy of being the super powerful change agent in the world, in a very analog, dexterity, skill-based way.

I think the MMOs have different fantasies. There are some action-y, shooter-y games in that space. But I think after 30 seconds or a minute playing them, the gamer came to have an action experience, they’re going to be disappointed. 

We want to be the opposite. People that sit down and pick up the controller in Destiny, the first 60 seconds, we want them to be hungry to see their first bad guy, to have that first interaction. The experience that’s most important to remember, that we are trying to create anyway, is that when players have that first hands-on interaction with the controller, they’re going to feel like they’re in a great shooter and that any of the story or progression lessons that we’ve learned from MMOs that we’ve brought from that space or from social games, that those are going to add on to that experience instead of coming first. I can talk about hotbars and red dots and stuff like that. I think those are just all aspects of that top-level action versus social progression game. We’re building one of those. I won’t be disappointed if nobody calls us an MMO.

-

And there you have it. Bungie are not calling Destiny and MMO but won't get mad at ya if you do. 

Looks like a Firefly fan wants to play Destiny ....

Chris Butcher talks about Destiny's matching making 'mesh of servers'

New Zealand is a damn awesome country. We have Peter Jackson and the Hobbits. We have Martin Crowe. And we have lent Chris Butcher to Bungie to help them make Halo. The trouble is the brilliant game engineer never came back and is still with Bungie making their new Destiny game. Here's an interview he did with Game Informer about the stuff that needs to go into makings sure players can find each other in the Destiny world. 

How did the big idea for Destiny’s multiplayer philosophy start?

You have all of these examples of people who are doing big server cluster things like World of Warcraft or something like that. But we didn’t really want to do that, because if you think about those kinds of games, you’ve got a centralized server that’s simulating everything in the world, but that can only scale up to some number of players. Maybe it’s 1,000. Maybe it’s 5,000. Maybe it’s 20,000. You compare that to the population of a console game and it’s tiny. 

So what that means is that you have to have dozens or hundreds of these separate servers. So we started out by thinking, “We want to have a single world that everybody can be in.” 

We took this mesh-based networking that we’ve been developing for years and years with Halo and adapted that networking to work in a seamless interconnected world full of other players and AIs. So when you’re playing a destination you’re moving from area to area and every one of those areas has got this mesh networking with a group of players that are in it at this one time. And then it has its own servers for that particular area so you’re continuously moving around between these groups of both consoles and also dedicated servers that are hosting it. 

That’s the thing that I’m really excited that we’ve been able to do because I think it’s been really hard for us. And I don’t really think anybody else is going to be able to pull it off in the timeframe we’re talking about on consoles. 

343 picks up some new talent - Tim Longo is now Creative Director

Game designer Tim Longo is taking over from Josh Holmes as Halo's Creative Director. If you are wondering what happened to Josh, he's know formally a producer for 343.

Tim was most recently contributed to the very successful relaunch of the Tomb Raider game franchise.

This all bodes very well for Halo 5!

@DavidEllis I'm too far gone for @tombraider feedback now! @CrystalDynamics is your source. I'm all #343Industries & @HaloWaypoint now! :)
— Tim Longo (@timlongojr) December 7, 2013

I thought you'd be taller

I was watching Revenge of the Sith the other night and I noticed some thing amusing in the the scene where Anakin heckles Grievous:

General Grievous: Anakin Skywalker. I expected someone with your reputation to be a little... older.
Anakin: General Grievous... you're shorter than I expected.

Which made me wonder if there were a few Star Wars fans working at 343 Industries as they seemed to have done a riff on this in Halo 4. Anderson gives the Master Chief a bit similar heckling:

I missed this scene in Halo 4? It looks cat-astrophic!

Destiny is sharp as a knife?

From Bungie

A Guardian’s arsenal bristles with guns. At any moment, three of them will step to the forefront of your inventory to put a variety of firepower at your fingertips. While keeping your distance from enemies of the City will always be wise, the mayhem of combat won’t always afford you that luxury. More desperate (or more strategic) moments will command a more personal touch.




When the need to reach out and strike something arises, the Hunter will unsheathe their Knife. It’s just one expression of close quarters fighting in Destiny. Bungie Sandbox Designers have thought long and hard about how to weaponize the hands of the Hunter, the Titan, and the Warlock. Tom Doyle takes those ideas, and forges them into works of art. “The inception for this weapon came from the desire to have special melee attacks for different Guardians,” he recalls. “First-person melee attacks were a great place to define a unique feel for each class.”




The Hunter’s Knife is, like the rugged assassin that carries it, a reflection of a harsh environment. “It’s a weapon that embodies the reclamation of the new frontier,” Doyle observes. “It’s equal parts kukri, trench, and buck knife – a hunting tool just as much as a weapon.”




Melee weapons suggest a means of last resort. In the case of the Hunter, this blade also serves a tactical choice that favors stealth. “The hooded class of Guardian satisfies a survivalist fantasy,” promises Doyle. “We wanted to give the Hunter weapons that felt rugged, utilitarian, and quiet.” For the unseen hand, this weapon enables the silent kill.




This fighting implement falls well outside a conversation about “cutting-edge weapons technology,” but the Hunter’s Knife has a way of driving its point home in its own way.

Disclaimer: Destiny is a work in progress!

We'll just leave this here. Power to you, girl.

N7 Day 2013 coming

From the Bioware Blog

November 7th, 2012 marked the inaugural N7 Day — a day to join together as a community and celebrate the Mass Effect universe. Through the power of social media, we connected with over 12 million fans around the world and delivered a day’s worth of content and activities! With additional support from our family of partners, we were also able to offer some great deals on Mass Effectmerchandise.

We are excited to announce that N7 Day will return in 2013, and here’s just a few of the activities we have planned for you:

N7 Day Pride: Mass Effect means different things to different people, but without question it ignites passion within our community and we love it! What does N7 pride mean to you? Do you have a favorite N7 hoodie or t-shirt? Do you have items in your collection signed by our team? Did you name your child Garrus and dress them in an N7 onesie? Did you take family photos dressed in N7 gear? Post your photos on Twitter, Vine, and Instagram using the hashtag #N7Day13.

N7 Day Fan Art Contest: Are you an artist? Submit your best creations to BioWare for a chance to have your work featured on an upcoming item at the BioWare Store. Starting N7 Day we will be selecting our favorite pieces to become part of the Mass Effect Collection. Stay tuned for more information on how you can participate.





Play Mass Effect 3 with BioWare: Fire up your Xbox 360, PS3, or PC and play some Mass Effect 3 multiplayer with us! Hit the lobbies and be on the lookout for our BioWare banners. Members of the team will be logging on throughout the day, eager to blast through waves of baddies with you.

Child’s Play Charity Auction: The team has rummaged through the BioWare archives and unearthed some early concept art that pre-dates the originalMass Effect. These one of a kind pieces will be signed and contributed to Child’s Play for a charity auction along with some gear from the BioWare Store. Stay tuned for info on how you can help a great cause and get your hands on a unique piece of Mass Effect history.

N7 Day at BioWare: See how our team celebrates N7 Day at the studio with photos, blogs, and retrospectives from the Mass Effect team.

Mass Effect Risk First Reveal: We got our hands on the official Mass Effect Risk board game, courtesy of USAopoly, and we’re anxious to give it a whirl! Will we play peacefully or will tables get flipped? We’ll have a video team on hand to film our session and share the experience with you.

Minecraft: We’re anxious to see the Mass Effect inspired creations PC and Xbox 360 players have been working on. Get your submissions ready!

Extra Life Mass Effect Marathon: Play Games. Heal Kids. The Extra Life campaign, benefitting the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, is holding its annual gaming marathon on November 2nd. This year players will participate for 25 hours in support of local hospitals. Make sure you tune in and support your Mass Effect Marathon participants!

N7 Day Deals on Mass Effect Gear: Several of our partners are celebrating N7 Day by passing along savings to you on select items. We might even see the debut of a new item or two in the days leading up to N7 Day! Stay tuned for more information.




Remember to mark November 7th on your calendars and come take part in N7 Day festivities with us! On behalf of the team here at BioWare, we sincerely thank you for your continued support and for keeping the Mass Effect community thriving.

Who are the Asaru?

This piece of concept art is currently on display at an exhibition  called "Ghosts in the Machine". It appears to feature a character from Destiny, seemingly named the Asaru.

Asaru

Remember Bungie NEVER do anything by accident so to put this concept art of Asaru in a public art exhibition hosted by Ltd. Art Gallery is a deliberate move. If it's genuine Destiny lore, then it's a clever tactic to drum up some interest. If it's not, this is a great piece of mis-direction.

Does this keen Destiny fan may have an answer as to what are the Asaru? Or is this simply Lionman all over? I'm picking it is....

"Again, there's no guarantee that any of this concept art will make it into a Destiny game ever, but this appears to be a new enemy creature or faction onto itself. The concept art featured a bipedial armored creature beneath the words "ASARU" in red. It's not clear if it is a singular entity or if there is more of them. His armor is a sort of monotone blanched grey, with spikes poking out sparsely around the arms. His lower body wasn't nearly as detailed as his helmet, which was clearly the focus of the piece. The helmet had three horns, two swept back in the back like ears, and one thicker rounded one that came out of the front. The Asaru had no eyes, but he did have a mouth piece, the helmet sorta twisted around into jagged pieces that formed what seemed like a metal toothy maw, big teeth, it looked really sick and my words do not do it justice. Metal isn't quite a good word for it, because the armor almost seemed organic and almost clay like in places.

The most interesting part about the Asaru besides their helmet is the massive amounts of white-blue pipes that extend from his back and sides, which contrasted with his armor in both color and form. I talked very briefly with Ryan about the artwork, and he said that the Asaru was hooked up to a machine (which I presume is keeping it alive), and also I believe he said it was a pilot (the Asaru was not armed with any weapons, but then again concept art that is focusing on form wouldn't want weapons to confuse things)."

Ghosts in the Machine is probably a reference to this concept.

Bungie want Neil Blomkamp to direct a Destiny movie.

Bungie’s Dave Dunn was recently chatting to Kotaku about the Halo movie and how it didn’t happen. But forget that for a moment – Dave Dunn publically hinted to Blomkamp to get in touch with them about doing a film version of Destiny.  Here’s what he said about D9 not being a Halo movie in the end:

“So less than being disappointed it wasn’t Halo, we were more excited someone let him do something and gave him the chance to create something. It was such a good movie.”

“And if he wants to come and talk about doing a Destiny thing? Well…”

While Dunn was probably saying this in jest, Bungie don’t actually say things without those things having some merit behind them….

“We like to do things that we think will add meaningful context to our fans experience of the game,” he explained. “So if it makes sense it makes sense, but it’s not something we’re actively pursuing. Me, personally, when I look at a lot of video game movies not many of them have added to the canon of the game’s universe.”

Which pretty much confirms Bungie don’t REALLY have an intention to make a Destiny movie. Never say never though….

Bungie have released some more Destiny concept artwork - they have a cave troll!

Oh look! They've got a cave troll!

The lads at Bungie have released some more Destiny concept artwork. I am most excited about this giant hulk of a creature above. It's kind of live a cave troll on steroids or perhaps something that Luke Skywalker may have tangled with in Return of the Jedi. Either way you'd probably need a light saber to take in down.

The other images below appear to be design work for the Moon and some other kind of superstructure:

Bungie said: This concept by Dorje Bellbrook depicts one of the oldest ideas for a playable space for Destiny. We’ve been kicking around the Moonbase in one shape or another since 2009. Marke Pedersen and Ryan Ellis created a particularly notable early example for the Bungie Day of that year. Man, was it cool!

Darren Bacon conceptualized the Comms Tower, the main focal point of the Moonbase complex. During the Golden Age, this was a relay station between Earth and the rest of the colonial effort throughout our Solar System. The architectural design is important for two reasons. The use of color is very welcome amidst the subdued lunar color palette. The height of the tower makes it useful for player navigation.

Moon Unit Zappa come in, Moon Unit Zappa, come in!

The Moonbase is actually hinted at in Mark Goldsworthy’s original postcard for the Moon. This image was also used as direct inspiration for the Hellmouth location. You can see the human buildings hanging out on a precipice depicted above, a tiny speck compared to the immensity of the Hive structure.

Cortana cosplay - body paint

A shy Cortana? Not likely...

This is a great piece of Cortana cosplay – I think it’s body paint with a bit of a blue lens thrown over the subject. 

Found here. 

Mass Effect 4, currently without an official name, will have no ties to Commander Sheppard. Apparently.

The loneliness of the long distance runner...

It would seem it has been confirmed that Commander Sheppard will not be in Mass Effect 4.

Mac Walters has been quoted as saying:

“I can't get into details, but the idea is that we have agreed to tell a story that doesn't relate necessarily to any of the Shepard events at all, whatsoever. Beyond that, that's what we've been deciding for awhile. But throughout it all, one of the key things is that it has to be Mass Effect. It can't just feel like a spin-off. It has to feel like a Mass Effect game at its heart, at its core. Just without the Shepard character or the Shepard specific companions."

From this a couple of things can be deduced:

• It will not be a prequel featuring Sheppard. It may however still be a prequel, that cannot be ruled out by the statement. This would not please this writer. 
• It would also seem possible then that the game will not feature any of Sheppard’s prior companions. 

This line is certainly interesting however, “doesn't relate necessarily to any of the Shepard events at all”. One could take that to mean that the history you've built up over the 3 games and the decisions made previously will count for nothing. That said, in Feb 2012 producer Mike Gamble said it wouldn’t be a bad idea to keep your ME3 saves so we'll see.

Gamble recently reported that the development for ME4 had made his “jaw drop”. Let’s hope he ensures ME4 has a great ending…that is well written. That’s the key, good writing.

My hope is that ME4 will be set well after the Third game so that the legacy of Sheppard and his band of merry intergalactic races can be referenced.

Mass Effect 4 development has made Michael Gamble's "jaw drop"

What's around the corner for Mass Effect 4?

I work for a tech company and when we talk about ‘sprints’ we mean getting some set developmental goals done by a specific date. It helps keeps everyone on track and allows for planning around the sprint.

So when game producer Michael Gamble says the Mass Effect team is doing a sprint review, I imagine things are going great guns on the 4^th game in the Mass Effect series:

Currently in a @masseffect sprint review. Some phenomenal work from all teams, but these character turnarounds are making my jaw drop.
— Michael Gamble (@GambleMike) October 11, 2013

Can’t hardly wait for this game, whatever it’s called. A just recently finished another ME3 run through – I enjoyed mix it up and found plenty of new things to experience. What a game. 

Check out my little friend, the Conduit F3 - Destiny's latest weapon

From Bungie on the Conduit F3 weapon

There are those who deal in lead. Then, there are those that prefer alternative forms of punishment for their opponents. If a mass-driver doesn’t suit you, a weapon like the Conduit F3 may be more your style. With new tech, however, comes fresh risk. 

This new breed of munitions is evidence of an adaptive society. Jonathan Goff, an expert on Guardian militaria, tells a story about turning the weapons of one's enemies against them. “Advancements in directed energy disbursement were gained through dissection of hostile tech gathered in the field. The first implementation of this new technology comes in the form of Fusion Rifles.”



Fortune favors the brave, we’re told. Bravery, it turns out, is requisite for anyone fortunate enough to wield a Fusion Rifle. “One of the first working prototypes was deemed too unstable for mass production,” recalls Goff. “Despite the concerns over faulty radiation shielding, the weapon's incredible power as made it a favorite of daring weapons collectors.”




Newer generations of Fusion Rifles have solved some of these problems through slow and painful innovation. “The barrel configuration on this model dampens the wattage use needed to power the inertial chamber,” observes Art Lead Tom Doyle. The technical jargon translates to brute force that any Guardian would value. “Its over-penetrating burst fire is ideal for taking out multiple targets at once.”



The Conduit F3 is next generation hardware for killing the bad guys who deserve it. Charge it up, and let it off the chain.

Disclaimer: Destiny is a work in progress!

Destiny's Old Russian concept art by Jesse Van Dijk

Concept design artist Jesse Van Dijk has added a new piece of conceptual design work for Bungie to his CGHub page. Featuring old Russia the Wall and the old rusted cars. Sounds very Pink Floyd ish eh....

How to get the Destiny sound track for free

How to get the Destiny game sound track for free

Here's a hint, you can't but you can order it for a nice price from Amazon.

The Destiny soundtrack is one of the best parts of the game. Which is kind of what you expect from the song writing team of Michael Salvatori and Martin O Donnell who together produced much of the Halo sound tracks. Those monk from the Halo game? That's all O'Donnell's music genius.

The Destiny soundtrack is very different from that of Halo. In many ways it's quite understated but when you're up against some crazy Prime or beast from the deep of the Moon, the music swells to nigh on euphoric levels of excitement.

A hidden secret of Destiny's soundtrack is that a certain Beatle called Paul McCartney helped Martin write the theme song to Destiny and you can listen to it free on Youtube right now. It's called Hope for the Future. You can find it in game as well through the panels that you can find at the Citadel. It's kind of cheesy but if you give it a few listens it's not too bad a listen.

What are the best songs from Destiny?

If you want to listen to the best songs of Destiny's game and downloadable content, it's not an easy selection as there's quite a bit to choice from but Hivemind, The Last Array and Relics of Hope are our favourites.

Sadly, Bungie and Marty O'Donnell had a huge falling out and Marty was fired from Bungie. Given his marching orders by the Board, Marty sued them and won, getting what was owed to him.

While Bungie might do their best to demonstrate to the gaming community they are the good guys of the industry, the Board's treatment of the man that helped make them so rich and famous was disgusting, not to mention illegal. So, when you are listening to the music of Destiny, you could be forgiven for being a little wistful knowing that when Destiny 2 comes out, it will not have any new compositions from Marty.

Download the Destiny soundtracks from Amazon today.

A Q and A by Urk on Destiny

Bungie’s Urk has answered some questions about Destiny over at the PlayStation site. We thougth we’d save you the time and energy by heading their yourself and have republished them here for your reading enjoyment. So enjoy reading the Q and A!

Pay@Zarshark: What does Destiny do that’s unique? What’s revolutionary that sets it apart?

DeeJ: Destiny casts you in the role of the iconic hero, and sets you on an epic journey brimming with heart-pounding action within a living world filled with adventure. You’ll cross paths with other brave heroes on their own quests — story, cooperate, and competitive — and they’ll know exactly how powerful and awesome you are just by looking at the gear you’ve earned.

@Tra_Royal: How many players can team up in Destiny?

DeeJ: Our core cooperative nucleus is the Fireteam — a group of three Guardians bound together by blood (and netcode). But whether you’re going it alone, of linked up with a Fireteam, you can still encounter other Guardians as you tackle the larger challenges that you’ll find in public events.

There’s no telling how many people you might have to work with to defeat the most dangerous enemies. Of course, other modes like competitive multiplayer, or Raids, will feature player counts well above three — but we’re not talking about those quite yet. Stay tuned!

@bo_srwa_w_fnila: How does joining a public event work?

DeeJ: To join a public event, all you have to do is get within range, and open fire. No lobbies. No loading screens. The frontier is open, and filled with encounters you can join, or skip right past, on your way to something you’ve deemed momentarily more important.

@LazySigh: Will there be PvP?

DeeJ: Yup! We’re already thumping each other’s skulls in studio-wide playtests, battling other Guardians for glory, bragging rights, and rewards. All the gear you earn in competitive multiplayer can be taken into other modes, too (and vice versa)!

@jaydawg6958: I like to play games solo often. How much can I do alone?

DeeJ: Ah, the proverbial Lone Wolf. You can experience Destiny’s story as a party of one, assuming you’re that much of a badass. Destiny will never require you to team up with other people in campaign missions. You’ll see other players along the way, but you can choose to ignore them. That said, we think you’ll find that playing with other Guardians is quick, painless, and a ton of fun. It’s always your choice, though.

‏@jaydawg6958: How deep does the customization go?

DeeJ: All the way down to your bones! Well, maybe not that far, but Destiny will be what you make of it.

All of the weapons and gear you can earn in Destiny can be customized — some more than others, but the goal is to let every player tell a story through the gear and abilities they’ve earned and wear. You create a character, pick a class, gender, and race, and then you customize the way you look and fight by completing missions, defeating enemies, or maybe just by exploring the world.

@knox140: How big is the world map? I’m really excited!

DeeJ: Bigger than anything Bungie has ever built. We no longer have mission designers, but world designers, instead. They’re building places worth visiting, exploring, and reclaiming from your enemies.

We’re excited, too! We can’t wait to see what you’ll do when you get in there. We’ll be watching!

‏@hell_razorX: What kind of endgame things are you planning on implementing to keep this world alive after players have finished? 

DeeJ: We’re creating a world you’ll want to visit again and again, and it will evolve and change right alongside you. We’re going to fill it up with activities that we think will satisfy a lot of different types of players, or even the different moods you have.

That might mean something really challenging on the cooperative front, like a Raid. It might mean that amazing, exotic Sniper Rifle that you’ve been drooling over for the last few months. It might even mean the new twist we’ve put on the as-of-yet-unrevealed game type that makes it feel new and different.

The Silver Dollar Shotgun

A shotgun is more than a weapon. It’s an icon. In a place made strange by the passage of time, the Silver Dollar is as relatable as a lucky coin. The age-old claim to “ride shotgun” calls out to us from a long-forgotten frontier.



These time-honored holdout weapons are quite common, and known for their reliability, but that doesn’t mean you can’t take one and make it your own. That sturdy frame can accommodate all of your favorite attachments and accessories. “This custom build is equipped with a catcher and 4 cartridge sidecar,” explains Art Lead Tom Doyle. Adding this weapon to your inventory is just the first step in a long and healthy relationship.





Your shotgun won’t just save your life. It will tell people your story, suggesting where you’ve been and what sort of danger you favor. “The paint scheme implies it has seen action near the evacuation site for the last colony ships that escaped the collapse,” Doyle reminisces.




For all the ways to defeat your enemies and reclaim our lost frontiers in Destiny, there will still be encounters that beg for nothing more elegant than a trusty pump-action scatter gun. New technology may come and go, but the Silver Dollar boasts a timeless heritage, and a close range kick that will scatter your enemies to the wind.




Disclaimer: Destiny is a work in progress!


This is just one weapon in an ongoing series in which we'll dig into the finer details of our upcoming first person action game, and explore how every element shapes the brave new world where your adventure will take place. All items, details, names, and pieces of random trivia are subject to change or obliteration due to an overdose of buckshot.