The shocking revelation that longtime Bungie composer Martin O'Donnell had been unceremoniously fired from the Halo and Destiny brought with it a lot of questions. What were the circumstances under which O'Donnell needed to be ousted, as he puts it, "without cause?" Moreover, was his termination a sign that all was not well at Bungie?

While we may never get the full story on O'Donnell's termination, Bungie has come forward to set the record straight on their state of affairs. Most importantly, they have assured gamers that their highly anticipated release, Destiny, is "close to shipping" and should make its September release date.

Although O'Donnell was actually let go on April 11th, the news of his departure was not revealed until late Tuesday night. With a Destiny media event scheduled for this week, it appears Bungie wanted to get the news out now, even if it might have been shocking to fans, before too many speculative questions arose.

The timing also allowed Bungie to clear up any confusion as to how O'Donnell's departure might impact Destiny's development. As we now know, that answer is apparently not at all.

Alongside the reassurances, Bungie's Pete Parsons also confirmed that O'Donnell's work will remain in the game. He, along with Michael Salvatori, C. Paul Johnson, and even Paul McCartney have apparently put together quite the aural experience for Destiny players, and O'Donnell's firing should not impact that in any way.

Switching gears to some lighter, Destiny-related topics, we have a few screenshots from the title that prove that, yes, this will be a very pretty game. How pretty you ask? Well see for yourself.

[gallery link="file" columns="2" ids="222268,222269,222270,222271,222272,222273,222274,222275"]

With several months still left before Destiny hits store shelves, Bungie likely has plenty more to show fans. To be fair, they've already detailed quite a bit about Destiny, including how the multiplayer works, the back-story to the universe, and even how the game sets itself apart from Halo, but we suspect there's even more to learn about this game. In other words, stick tuned to Game Rant for all of the Destiny content you need to know about.

Are you relieved to learn that Destiny is close to shipping and that O'Donnell's work will remain in the game? What has you the most excited about Destiny?

-

Source: Eurogamer