A cavalcade of images and information about Bungie's new series, called Destiny, was leaked to IGN earlier this evening. The images can be seen above, along with several that were subsequently released by Bungie in response to the leak. They appear to be a mix of concept art, promotional images, and perhaps in-game screenshots. They show a world that looks somewhat like Halo's, but much larger.
The images and info were reportedly leaked to IGN by an unidentified reader, and Bungie later confirmed that the materials were prepared by a third-party advertising agency and do provide an accurate—though "outside"—look at Destiny.
Here's the leaked plot synopsis in full:
Our story begins seven hundred years from now in the Last City on Earth, in a Solar System littered with the ruins of man’s Golden Age. A massive, mysterious alien ship [later referred to as "the Traveler"] hangs overhead like a second Moon. No one knows where it came from or what it’s here for, but only that it’s our protector. Meanwhile, strange, alien monsters creep in from the edge of the universe, determined to take Earth and the Last City. We are young ‘knights’ tasked with defending the remains of humanity, discovering the source of these monsters and – eventually – overcoming it.
The leaked Destiny materials elsewhere indicate that Bungie wants to make the game as accessible as possible, like Star Wars. Considering that Halo has already been called the Star Wars of a generation, Bungie may well be capable of that. Studio co-founder Jason Jones is quoted saying, “Destiny is designed for your inner seven year old. We want to make it feel like a mythic adventure.”
Destiny will reportedly have social gameplay with exploration as a core tennet. It's been rumored before that it would be a combination of shooter and MMO in a sci-fi world in the same genre as Halo, and those rumors are looking more and more likely as new info continues to surface.
Bungie responded on its official site by saying, “We weren’t quite ready, but we will be soon, and we can’t wait to finally show you what we’ve really been up to." After breaking off from Microsoft in 2007, the Halo creators entered into a ten-year agreement with Activision. Speculation currently points to the new Destiny series debuting on Xbox 360, PS3, PC, and the Xbox 720 and PS4, whatever they end up being called, at some point in the future. Those releases may happen all at once, or may be staggered.
Anything else (and much of the above, for that matter) is hearsay. So what do you think? Can Bungie do it again? Will Destiny finally debut at the Spike VGAs in December?
