Earlier this week Bungie launched a viral marketing website for their upcoming sci-fi epic, Destiny, and across the top of the site listed seven days, hinting that that on February 18th there'd be a major reveal for the next-gen franchise.
Many examples of concept art and a basic idea of the game's plot leaked months ago, and when combined with Activision court documents revealing timelines and a basic structure for the future of the series, Bungie had many of their secrets out in the open and outside of their control. They embraced it however, and are not prepared to unveilDestiny officially.
Earlier this month in a community video blog, Bungie said that they were preparing to showcase Destiny "soon" and with the launch of the viral site alphalupi.bungie.net Monday, they teased the time and confirmed it via the official Destiny Facebook page.
Welcome to the official Destiny Facebook page. Official Destiny news is coming soon!
You can be the first to see the reveal of Destiny right here on Feb. 17 (T-Minus 5 days).
The Bungie site points towards the 18th but on the 17th the Facebook page will have something (the same thing?) available.
The timing of the unveiling is very interesting considering it's months before E3, weeks before GDC, but only days before Sony's mysterious February 20th New York PlayStation event. With previous reports and leaked court documents indicating that the first installment(s) of Destiny may be only coming to the Xbox 360 and its unannounced successor, is it possible that Sony and Activision worked out a deal to get the game on PS4 as well?
Games like Destiny, Ubisoft's Watch Dogs and LucasArts' Star Wars 1313 all seem poised to bridge the game between current generation and next-gen consoles. Now we just have to wait on the official word on the hardware side from Sony and Microsoft.
Below (left) is an image from the viral site today after passing the first puzzle which asks users to "Begin by aligning the day’s pattern to the light." I just clicked until I found the right combination. The more users online the more clear the image on the left and the more dots on the image on the right. With the date officially out there, it seems the site has made itself obsolete, but here's an interesting reveal (right image) from Monday as well:
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Clicking the instructions below the second image on the site, takes users to a page with the following test:
Our sky is filled with unseen signals. Radio-frequency emissions pulse and flit and dance all around us. Yet even a singing patch of sky can be observed, and transformed into a range of frequencies.
Can you hear it? No, not yet. It has not yet arrived. But together we can receive its call.
Imagine combining the observations of thousands across the globe on an object meandering through the heavens. The resulting array would be quite large. Quite powerful. This is your task.
Alone it will not be enough. Coordination and timing is needed. Observations must be made simultaneously.
Your window will be small. Five minutes at most. But windows may be reopened. And the distance between observer pairs will be key.
There will always be limitations in clarity, so the results must be archived for study. Highly technical observers may be required. Detailed frequency analysis is recommended.
Everything that belongs to us will be ours, but only if we create the capacity to receive it.
Think not of locations, but the spacings between, as seen from each target. While one hemisphere provides a strong center, the other must heed the call in order to bring light to the unknown.
Excited yet?
[Update: GameStop is already receiving pre-order posters for Destiny (via Joystiq)]
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Rob on Twitter @rob_keyes.