Bungie Wants Destiny to Have Star Wars' Cultural Impact

[drthmik]

I think it's important to note that the creators of all three of those (Star Wars, LoTR and Harry Potter) did NOT set out to create a culture altering franchise. They were just people who had a story they wanted to tell, and when they told it people were drawn in and changed.


They never were trying to change the world! Just telling the story that was in their dreams.


Edit: In fact I think one of the reasons WHY the Prequels for Star Wars failed so bad is BECAUSE Lucas set out to TRY to make a new Star Wars Culture Changer Movie rather than just tell a story and let us love it or not!

He forgot Yoda's most famous words

Do or Do Not, there is no try.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

SO they want it to be rife with corporate meddling & design by committee and make it a hit with the geek community, then when its original author gets free artistic range it will be derided and hated for years by its followers.

Where as the opposite happens, then its Star Trek

You don't know much about Star Trek do you? Yes, while Roddenberry was at the helm, he was treated as god and crippled his writing staff's ability to tell stories. But after he died, it wasn't like they were able to break out of his shadow. Rick Berman drove the series into the ground.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

That's getting a little over-ambitious isn't it? On the other hand I suppose it's better to aim high and miss than to aim low and hit.

 

[rasputin0009]

I'm pretty sure Bungie stated earlier that they would possibly bring Destiny to PC. Which usually means that they'll eventually bring it to PC after initial launch. So I'm not sure why everyone has their panties all twisted up about it not coming to PC.

OT: In other words, it's exactly Star Wars. Like Halo was. Man, I'm looking for an internet fight, aren't I?

 

[Atmos Duality]

Dream the impossible dream, I guess?

Bungie, Star Wars wasn't just a "popular movie", it was popular in a way that completely changed Hollywood's sort of thinking; that changed its business model at the fundamental level, and the reason why certain movies were made.

Let me be clear, Star Wars left an impact on all culture itself; including the business culture.

There are a few trend-setters in video gaming that come closer than others, but nothing, NOTHING will be quite so analogous to what Star Wars was for cinema. Instead, I'll offer a few more-modern "game changers".

Halo, was a game changer. Credit where credit is due, even if I didn't like it much.

Half Life 2, was a game changer.
(don't believe me? It and its digital progeny launched Steam as a viable platform in a time when Steam was regarded as a nuisance at best.)

World of Warcraft (*spits*), was a game changer.

Destiny... Destiny won't be a game changer like those. It can't ever be.

Because everyone is already trying to integrate that social-network shit into their game.
EA is basing an entire new business model line of games around social-shit.
Sony has a motherfucking button on every PS4 controller that integrates social-shit on the spot.

Hell, it's already halfway integrated already with all the fan forums, shows, podcasts, every game on Steam (should you ever brave that particular hive of scum and villainy).

Taking equal parts shooter, faux-social activity, and MMO-like grind and throwing them together isn't going to revolutionize anything. And without a gaming platform with the kind of longevity you're looking for, it's not going to happen by default.

Have fun wringing those 10+ years of service out of your user-cattle when Microsoft pulls the plug on the Xbone or Sony on the PS4 so they can wheel out new systems.

 

[Hero of Lime]

Halo got far closer to being more like Star Wars than I think Destiny could ever be. Halo has gone down the same path of being super popular in a specific medium, and later getting a robust expanded universe. Halo is fairly comparable to Star Wars, Destiny has a much lower chance of having that distinction. I don't see Destiny getting to that point, nothing is telling me they want to make a huge universe out of Destiny from what I've seen so far.

I still remember a few years back, someone from Epic said they intended to make the Gears of War Lancer the next lightsaber. That certainly didn't work out, and I doubt this will too.

 

[TelHybrid]

Why the hell are people reacting negatively to this article?

They're being ambitious and want to make something GOOD. Not just another *insert generic game title here*.

I look forward to this.

 

[OManoghue]

Okay Bungie, lemme start with bahahhahahahhahhahahahhahahhahahahahhahahhahahahahhahahhahahahaahaha


Followed by a point, Star Wars had cultural impact because it was unique, and SO VERY VERY NEW, my dad remembers seeing it and being blown away. There is absolutely nothing I could see that would have me tell my kids about Destiny in 30 years, everything we've been shown has been sci-fi shooter game to the letter.

 

[Farther than stars]

Two reasons why it won't be that big:

1) Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and Star Wars weren't aiming to be that big. The reason for their success is because their focus was on storytelling and not on success.

2) Those three examples are self-contained stories which can be enjoyed individually and across generations. A niche-appeal shooter which has to continually struggle to keep the servers alive is not going to be able to achieve that greatness.

 

[Korten12]

How's that Halo film adaption coming along? Oh, that's right. Dead in the water.

It's nice to want things, I suppose...

What would be the point of a Halo film now? We're getting a tv show. That should suffice.

 

[frizzlebyte]

I'm going to give you a little hint.

If you want to get that title, you just can't say that's what you're going for.

Just remember, you are much more at the mercy of the players' opinions than you think. Get on their bad side/shift their opinions the wrong way, and you've lost your only chance. And, there are no do-overs.

My thoughts exactly. Few things achieve greatness when that's the only thing they were made to do. There has to be originality and passion there, and that's stifled when you are only shooting for "the next big thing."

 

[Vigormortis]

Thank you. Honestly that's the most frustrating thing about comments on news articles on this website. Nothing ever gets more than a couple positive remarks, which are quickly drowned in circle-jerking negativity.

Well, firstly, welcome to the Escapist. A place where liking something popular or famous is an offense worthy of being insulted, berated, and reviled to no end. Whether you be a fan of Halo, Half-Life, Call of Duty, or anything popular or not an RPG, the hate will come. Same goes for any news item pertaining to said titles.

Secondly, I would agree with you if Bungie hadn't been showing a severe case of Head-in-Ass Syndrome lately.

It started with their dev-diaries on the progress of Destiny, wherein they'd spend over half of the video time just patting themselves on the back for being "awesome" for creating Halo.

And now we have the COO basically saying they're making the next "Star Wars".

Don't get me wrong, I admire ambition. As such, kudos to them for aiming high. But this isn't just ambition. This is borderline delusional egotism.

I mean, if they're spending their time worrying about making something of significant "cultural impact", then they may end up implementing designs and features they think people want, but those designs and features may not fit into their original vision for the project. Or worse, be something that genuinely isn't working but is included simply because "no one's done it before".

That said: I honestly hope Bungie succeeds with Destiny. I'd hate to see them flounder after finally being freed from Microsofts grip. Especially as I rather like some of the ideas behind Destiny.

 

[Austin Manning]

So yeah, Bungie's trying to have a Star Warsy cultural impact... on 2 videogame consoles that will only last a few years, or a decade at most.

If they're serious about bringing this thing to as many people as possible, they seriously need to consider the PC, or they'll simply be having to port the game onto the next-next gen consoles, if there's ever going to be one in the first place.

No it's on at least 4 consoles: the PS4, Xbone, PS3 and 360.

 

[Fox12]

Bungie Wants Destiny to Have Star Wars' Cultural Impact

Bungie COO Pete Parsons thinks that Destiny can achieve more than Halo.


"We like to tell big stories and we want people to put the Destiny universe on the same shelf they put Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter or Star Wars," said Bungie COO Pete Parsons.


Permalink

"We like to tell big stories and we want people to put the Destiny universe on the same shelf they put Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter or Star Wars," said Bungie COO Pete Parsons.

the same shelf they put Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter or Star Wars

the same shelf they put Lord of the Rings

Lord of the Rings

Oh, geez, I just got an aneurysm. Blood is spurting out of my nose, I seriously can't stop the bleeding. Who do these ass hats think they are? I'm legitimately pissed that they had the gall to say this. They have absolutely zero understanding of what makes a work of art culturally significant. They literally said they see it as being as successful because it has the potential for long term sequels. They're business men, not artists. Of course they want to be as important as LOTR, so does everyone, but they don't know how to do that. Sorry Bungie, you're work is closer in quality to Twilight than LOTR, except Twilight has a more sophisticated plot and the cast of characters have more personality than Master Chief. Maybe you should try to make a better story than Twilight, the bar is low enough that you could possibly pull it off.

If you'll excuse me, I need a doctor.

 

[Compatriot Block]

Thank you. Honestly that's the most frustrating thing about comments on news articles on this website. Nothing ever gets more than a couple positive remarks, which are quickly drowned in circle-jerking negativity.

Well, firstly, welcome to the Escapist. A place where liking something popular or famous is an offense worthy of being insulted, berated, and reviled to no end. Whether you be a fan of Halo, Half-Life, Call of Duty, or anything popular or not an RPG, the hate will come. Same goes for any news item pertaining to said titles.

Secondly, I would agree with you if Bungie hadn't been showing a severe case of Head-in-Ass Syndrome lately.

It started with their dev-diaries on the progress of Destiny, wherein they'd spend over half of the video time just patting themselves on the back for being "awesome" for creating Halo.

And now we have the COO basically saying they're making the next "Star Wars".

Don't get me wrong, I admire ambition. As such, kudos to them for aiming high. But this isn't just ambition. This is borderline delusional egotism.

I mean, if they're spending their time worrying about making something of significant "cultural impact", then they may end up implementing designs and features they think people want, but those designs and features may not fit into their original vision for the project. Or worse, be something that genuinely isn't working but is included simply because "no one's done it before".

That said: I honestly hope Bungie succeeds with Destiny. I'd hate to see them flounder after finally being freed from Microsofts grip. Especially as I rather like some of the ideas behind Destiny.

I didn't get any feelings of self-praise from the dev-diaries, but that's just opinion I guess.

Honestly I think what he meant was closer to him believing that it isn't going to be a game you play and forget. Sure, it may have sounded a little arrogant, but I am choosing to interpret him as being proud of what they've done. I refuse to assume they'll screw it up just because one person has unrealistic hopes.

 

[mitchell271]

When Disney bought Lucasarts, they managed to greenlight a new trilogy of films in the blink of an eye.

When Warner Bros bought the rights to Harry Potter, they greenlit an unheard of seven films to be produced back to back.

When New Line greenlit the Lord Of The Rings, they were willing to put in around $200 million to bring the book trilogy to the big screen.

How's that Halo film adaption coming along? Oh, that's right. Dead in the water.

It's nice to want things, I suppose...

Well, it resulted in District 9 so that's a plus.

OT: I don't think it's going to be that big but I'm looking forward to it. It's by the same guys that made the good Halo games so I'm a little excited.

 

[irok]

Well, that's a hilariously lofty goal but halo was pretty big so many they might be able to achieve s... theres no pc? right , that's not getting anywhere close :/

On a side note Google knows me well if the first search result for "destiny" is this game.