The Cultural Impact of Destiny
02:16
D-Day,
November 9th, 2014
The cultural impact of Destiny
An estimated 10 million men and women lost their lives
yesterday; their social lives that is. They
came in droves and stormed the doors at the local Gamestop, Best Buy, Walmart,
and near-extinct EB Games (nostalgia anyone?).
Lines from the register to around the block or around the store,
according to some reports. What was all
this calamity for, you may ask? Well if
you truly are asking, then you have been under a rock for the last year because
the Bungie brainchild released yesterday night at midnight. One word: Destiny.
The truly revolutionary aspect of Destiny is the fact that
video game scholars (oh how I hope to be considered one of these someday) the
world around are predicting this game will enter into the illustrious category
of cult following. Destiny might be the
newest video game to enter into the group of other “geeky things” like Star
Wars, Lord of the Rings, and maybe even Pokemon!
The fevered pitch surrounding Destiny began with the release
of the beta version for about 2 weeks in late July. In the relatively short amount of time that
the beta was available to the public, 6.5 million guardians (Destiny soldiers)
were created by nearly 4.7 million players.
In my opinion, this was one of the most brilliant public relations moves
by a video game in my recent memory because it gave gamers an appetizer that
only made them more ravenous for the main course.
I was speaking with a friend of mine last Wednesday at our
weekly trivia game and he told me he has had Destiny pre-ordered for more than
a year! Destiny actually maximized the
pre-order capabilities for video games in such a way that they actually had to
stop allowing pre-orders at some locations.
From Paul McCartney scoring the soundtrack to Peter Dinklage
providing his voice to the Bungie name carrying so much weight, there was no
chance Destiny would flop. It will be
most interesting to see where Destiny is as a cultural icon 5 years from now. With the prominence of gaming in today’s
society, if Destiny has half the clout that Halo has then I would consider it a
success. For Bungie however, they will
only consider it a success if the destiny logo becomes an acceptable tattoo.
I joke of course, but Destiny is truly a huge game. If you did not pre-order your copy, I am sure
you can find it somewhere. I know that
as soon as I muster up the courage to purchase a PS4, Destiny will be the first
game I purchase!
0 Comments