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Say what you will about the recent live action trailer, but its arrival means we are just days away from getting our hands on Destiny. After more than a years worth of teases, news post, hands-on demos, and betas, it's finally time for Bungie's shooter to hit store shelves.
However, even though Destiny is nearly upon us that doesn't mean the folks at Activision can't squeak a few more promotional materials in. By that same token, Bungie still has a few days to reveal any and everything they might deem important before setting the game loose. That's what we have today: two small-scale news bits that, while not earth-shattering, are worth taking a look at.
First up, is a trailer for the PlayStation exclusive PvP map Exodus Blue. Set against a fallen colony ship (called the Exodus Blue), this multiplayer map offers players both tight quarters and a few open spaces to engage in combat. It also features a pretty gorgeous skybox.
As the video notes, the Exodus Blue multiplayer map is exclusive to the PlayStation platforms at launch, and will likely stay that way until some time in late 2015. In other words, if you're on the fence about which version of Destiny to buy, this, and a few other PS-exclusive trinkets and missions, might sway your decision.
While Destiny's Crucible multiplayer does offer players the random matchmaking they have come to expect from an online experience, there is one element that does not: raids. Bungie has previously revealed that is because Destiny's raids are constructed as a lengthy cooperative experience – one that won't be fun without a coordinated effort. So rather than match people up with random players who might bring the experience down, they've limited raids to friends only.
However, some clever gamers have already created a system that circumvents this limitation. For example, a site called The Wizard That Came From The Moon lets players fill in a number of fields (platform, time zone, class, etc) and it will match them up with others looking for raids. In essence it's a rudimentary version of the matchmaking fans hoped Destiny would offer by itself.
But even though players will find ways around the Destiny raid limitations, there's no telling whether that will lead to the same type of success they might find with friends. Still, it seems silly to lock content away from players simply because they don't have enough friends to play Destiny with, so we're all for circumventing the system. Or you could try what I do, and simply dance in front of random players until they add you.
Are you picking up the PlayStation version of Destiny for the exclusives? Will you use the random matchmaking tools for 6-player raids?
Destiny releases September 9, 2014 for PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.
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Source: Kotaku
Follow Anthony on Twitter @ANTaormina for more Destiny updates.