Microsoft may have abandoned 24 hour sign-ins for Xbox One, but debate over the appropriateness of mandatory internet requirements continues to rage thanks to the appearance of a number of highly-fed always-online titles for next generation consoles. Leading the charge is Bungie's dazzling sci-fi odyssey Destiny, which launches next year. Discussion of the game has turned on its sneaky always-online matchmaking, which phases other players into your session where it agrees with the circumstances - producing an MMO-type experience that, Bungie hopes, retains the intimacy and coherence of a single player RPG. That said, the studio promises that you can play the game entirely on your lonesome if you choose.
"Video games matter to people for very different reasons," the developer writes in the latest Bungie mailbag, in response to a fan query about whether cuddling up to MMO fans risked alienating offline RPG devotees and vice versa.
"Players who come from expansive universes found in MMOs might enjoy exploring our worlds, assuming they can handle the fact that we're filling them with the explosive threats and heart pounding action that we think makes games fun. RPG players will be able to invest pretty deeply in their character, assuming their aim is true enough to earn the rewards they'll need to earn new loot, weapons, and gear.
"As for playing solo, this question still comes to us a lot, and we're happy to answer it again," the piece continues. "The company you keep, the challenges you tackle, the war you wage will all be products of the choices you make.
"If you never want to have a cooperative or competitive experience in Destiny, and if you want to experience every cinematic in private, you'll have the option. We believe you'll be having way less fun, and we think you may find it really difficult to resist the pull of our cooperative vortex, but when we say we're building activities for every mood, that includes players who don't want to party up."
It's not clear whether "having the option" means having an actual option to disable online elements, or simply being able to shun the company of other players in the world itself. It's also not clear how Bungie will adjust the challenge factor to account for the presence of more or fewer players - will solo adventurers have a rougher time of things?
Elsewhere in the Mailbag, senior designer Dan Miller explored the thinking behind Destiny's various missions and scenarios. "For Destiny, we've taken a number of different routes to get to where we are now," he said. "There are some parts of our worlds where we build areas to suit the fiction or backstory of the game and focus on exploring these spaces.
"There are other parts where we wanted to experience a specific gameplay situation or setup and build focused gameplay to accompany that. And there are even other parts of the world where we wanted to build an area to compliment one of our many Activities or shared spaces.
"It's great to be able to do all of these concepts in a single destination where players can meet up from completely different scenarios and circumstances."
Stoked for this? Which character class are you thinking of playing - Titan, Warlock or Hunter? We might have to run some sort of internet-based feature about that.
[embedded content]
Source: OXM[SUP][1][/SUP]
[h=3]References[/h]
Thanks to: Rheena.com
"Video games matter to people for very different reasons," the developer writes in the latest Bungie mailbag, in response to a fan query about whether cuddling up to MMO fans risked alienating offline RPG devotees and vice versa.
"Players who come from expansive universes found in MMOs might enjoy exploring our worlds, assuming they can handle the fact that we're filling them with the explosive threats and heart pounding action that we think makes games fun. RPG players will be able to invest pretty deeply in their character, assuming their aim is true enough to earn the rewards they'll need to earn new loot, weapons, and gear.
"As for playing solo, this question still comes to us a lot, and we're happy to answer it again," the piece continues. "The company you keep, the challenges you tackle, the war you wage will all be products of the choices you make.
"If you never want to have a cooperative or competitive experience in Destiny, and if you want to experience every cinematic in private, you'll have the option. We believe you'll be having way less fun, and we think you may find it really difficult to resist the pull of our cooperative vortex, but when we say we're building activities for every mood, that includes players who don't want to party up."
It's not clear whether "having the option" means having an actual option to disable online elements, or simply being able to shun the company of other players in the world itself. It's also not clear how Bungie will adjust the challenge factor to account for the presence of more or fewer players - will solo adventurers have a rougher time of things?
Elsewhere in the Mailbag, senior designer Dan Miller explored the thinking behind Destiny's various missions and scenarios. "For Destiny, we've taken a number of different routes to get to where we are now," he said. "There are some parts of our worlds where we build areas to suit the fiction or backstory of the game and focus on exploring these spaces.
"There are other parts where we wanted to experience a specific gameplay situation or setup and build focused gameplay to accompany that. And there are even other parts of the world where we wanted to build an area to compliment one of our many Activities or shared spaces.
"It's great to be able to do all of these concepts in a single destination where players can meet up from completely different scenarios and circumstances."
Stoked for this? Which character class are you thinking of playing - Titan, Warlock or Hunter? We might have to run some sort of internet-based feature about that.
[embedded content]
Source: OXM[SUP][1][/SUP]
[h=3]References[/h]
- [SUP]^[/SUP] Source: OXM (www.oxm.co.uk)
Thanks to: Rheena.com