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From playstations latest issue of their magazine we get to know a little more about bungie and their approach to their new universe. With over half of the team that worked on Halo: Combat Evolved they are still here today helping to bring us a brand new universe. This article is from The Official Playstation Magazine If we’ve looked at any developer with green eyes here in the realm of PlayStation gaming, it’s Bungie. A studio that defined the first-person console shooter formula with its pioneering two-weapon, recharging health mechanics in Halo and went on to make that formula so effective that gamers spent a collective 235,000 years playing the series. A studio that created one of the most iconic player characters in history, and a multiplayer experience that’s hosted over two billion games since Halo 2’s release in 2004. These numbers aren’t intended to sting your eyes, nor should they. Bungie’s new project Destiny, a persistent shared-world FPS, is heading to both PS3 and PS4 – and with platform-exclusive content to boot. It brings not only the Halo studio’s undeniable shooter mastery, but one of the most ambitious visions we’ve ever heard. And it’s all funded by Activision, creator of enormous, world-stomping franchises. If any partnership can make such an ambitious game as Destiny actually work, it’s this one. So now we can finally acknowledge Bungie, and it feels great. But who exactly is this studio? A collective of savant coders in green spacesuits that stomped DualShocks on sight until its split from Microsoft in 2007? Do the staff bounce around the office on space hoppers, extolling the merits of a Valve-esque ‘flat hierarchy’ and taking bi-hourly group hug breaks? To crack into the Bungie psyche, we explore its Seattle headquarters – a converted cinema. “This mezzanine is where the projectors used to be,” says COO Pete Parsons, guiding us through an impressive open space littered with awards gongs, life-sized Master Chiefs and wide-eyed journos. Sure enough, there’s a touch of the unorthodox to Bungie: a ten-foot climbing wall where most offices would have a couple of sofas, an absence of individual offices, masking-tape marks on the floor where a kind of knighting ceremony for new employees and five-, ten- and 20-year veterans took place several weeks back, and an ever-shifting desk arrangement. “Over half the team that created Halo: Combat Evolved back in 2001 is still here today, working on Destiny” “Back in 2005 we decided to put everybody’s desks on wheels,” says Parsons. “We probably do ten to 15 desk moves every week.” These are the affectations of a studio that’s earned the right to hang a little loose by its body of work. You could walk through the doors in foot gloves and a propeller hat if you had a particular predilection for it… so long as you helped make one of the biggest shooter series of all time. And there’s more to that knighting ceremony than fistbumps and bro-ing out – over half the team that created Halo: Combat Evolved back in 2001 is still here today, working on Destiny. An increasing rarity in game studios that’s well worth celebrating. And arguably for the first time since 2001, the studio’s truly out of its comfort zone. Destiny is a rather nebulous project at the moment: it’s a persistent online world, but not an MMO. It’s a first-person shooter, but bears glaring RPG elements that include loot, character upgrades and stat progression. One thing’s crystal clear, though: this isn’t a rebranded Halo for multi-platform release. As Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg describes it: “I think what Bungie has created is the world’s first shared-world shooter. It’s a game that’s always evolving, with persistent progression for your character.” Bungie’s approach? Build an awesome world (these guys love the word awesome), and you’ve already won half the battle. It’s even one of the seven ‘pillars’ of design that creative director and co-founder Jason Jones describes: “A world you want to be in… This pillar was a big influence early in development. It let us create a world that was hopeful, that was full of mystery, a world you wanted to be part of and to explore.” You can throw in all the brutal melee takedowns and slo-mo ‘mark for death’ mechanics you like, but if your world is as fun to inhabit as an Aldi car park, your game’s going to fail

We have had quite a few names for the new xbox, durango, infinity, 720 (well that was fan made) and just xbox. A recent report tells that Infinity has been the chosen name for the next gen xbox. Microsoft themselves has not confirmed this name as of yet but it is believed that Infinity will be the name that will success the 360. This article is from GameSpot Thanks to Smokin Shadowz for bringing this article over. The next Microsoft console will be named Xbox Infinity, according to a report by the UK arm of the International Business Times. Unnamed sources, who are believed to be involved in the development of the new console, confirmed to the publication that the new hardware will simply be called Xbox Infinity. These claims mirror those of a reportedly leaked image, which recently appeared on the Reddit website. IBTimes UK sources also revealed that development units have already been made available to software developer partners. Previous rumours suggested that some of Microsoft's next-generation titles may have been cancelled, while others may be as much as six months behind schedule. Microsoft is expected to officially unveil its next home console to the public at its event on May 21. Rumours have circulated for months regarding the branding that the Redmond, Washington, software giant will elect to use for the Xbox 360's successor, with Xbox 720, the Next Xbox, and the device's development codename, Durango all being used in lieu of any official moniker. GameSpot contacted Microsoft seeking clarification, but a spokesperson declined, saying, "We do not comment on rumours or speculation. We are always thinking about what is next for our platform, but we don't have anything further to share at this time."

One of the main questions that have been buzzing around while we await to get out first main look at the next gen consoles is what will the next gen xbox and playstation's graphics will be like? Well we won't have to wait too long as E3 is on the horizon but in the mean time Ubisoft has given their view on what to expect. This article is from Examiner In the June 2013 issue of Game Informer, Mallat discussed in an interview that Sony and Microsoft’s next-generation consoles – PS4 and the Next Xbox, Xbox 720, Durango or whatever you like to call it – will “blow us away” with their visuals. Although the graphics will be impressive, he believes these systems offer more than solely stunning visuals. "I think minds will be blown by the graphics as a hook, as an entry door," stated Mallat, but continued to share that there is more to these consoles than graphics. One of the greatest benefits the next-generation brings is freedom to developers. "I think that amount of power gives a lot of freedom to our creators and then it's up to them to tailor and tame that power to what suits the game the best." "To me, what's lying beneath that or beyond that will keep our players involved. When you think about that, even on current generation systems it always takes some time for developers to tame the machine - especially the PlayStation 3." As Sony has demonstrated, social interaction will play a pivotal role in the PS4’s online infrastructure. Mallat believes social interaction and connectivity will be what makes these system a true next-generation experience. "This time we may see creating amazing games on the visual side of things very quickly," said Mallat, "but to me the social complement and connected thing will be the next-gen experience compared to the current generation system.” "That being said, you'll be blown away by graphics."

The rumors that have been flying about that the next xbox will require a constant internet connection and used games will not work have been put to rest, so for those who were worried about this can breathe a sigh of relief. Also a report yesterday said that the next xbox will offer an add on that will allow users to use their 360 content on it's successor. More details below This article is from Examiner New information regarding Microsoft’s next-generation home console – codenamed Durango – surfaced on April 10 which suggest that recent rumors proposing that the Xbox 720 will require an always on connection to the internet are in fact false. Likewise, details about backwards compatibility for the Next Xbox have come forth which hint at the possibility that Microsoft’s next-generation home console will support backwards compatibility with Xbox 360 software, however, it will require a special add-on device. On Wednesday, April 10, new information about Microsoft’s Xbox 720 – Durango – came to light as VGLeaks reports that Microsoft will offer an add-on for the Xbox 720 to allow users to play their Xbox 360 games. This add-on will be networked with the Xbox 720 – Durango – to allow for backwards compatibility to all Xbox 360 software – meaning XBLA, digital, and retail Xbox 360 games will be supported. It is said to be similar to the HD-DVD add-on Microsoft released for Xbox 360. Additionally, the rumors of an always online requirement for Xbox 720 are apparently false. The system itself will always be online, but it will not be a requirement to play local content nor will it prevent people from playing used games.

An Interesting part from the destiny presentation at GDC was that the player will be able to choose from different races. Besides being a human there are 2 others that are selectable when customizing your character they are "Awoken and "Exo. Bungie describes the awoken as exotic, beautiful and mysterious beings and they said they look to ghosts, angels and vampires to capture the feel of this race. the Exo, which bungies describes as sinister, powerful, and tireless beings they said the looked to famous characters such as the terminator, the undead and their very own master chief to capure the feel of the Exo race. Here is a picture of these races. As the humans have different classes (hunter, titan and warlock) I'm pretty sure the awoken and exo will each feature their own classes to choose from. So from the pictures and the descriptions bungie gave which race do you like best at the moment?

Today Bungie was in the spot light at the game developers conference, they discussed some of their techniques and inspirations when building destiny but the main part of it all was the new concept. As a large amount of concept art was shown I will try and provide the most interesting pieces I captured from the video First up we have an abandoned colony on Europa which is one of Jupiter's moons Here we have alien ruins on Venus it's unknown which alien race once inhabited this place These are some early concepts of of space ships that did not make the cut Here is a space station and a space ship which bungie said they focused more on these so it's possible these made the cut. Here is hanger where human ships are docked one of the bungie guys said this is a place where heroes show of their armor and personal space ships. This seems to suggest the player can customize their own personal ships Here is a place that bungies describes as a frozen city occupied by machines where towers and skyscrapers become dungeons. Here is a place currently known as the buried city as you can see ruins buried in mountains of sand on Mars. This is one of the enemy races, space zombies but officially named "Hive". The flooded streets of Old Chicago. And here are some different types of weapons, they didn't mention that these were early concepts or finalized concepts but no doubt we will be seeing some of these in the game.