Xbox fans will be able to check out the upcoming sci-fi shooter Destiny in late July, according to a screengrab of an unreleased trailer posted on VideoGamer.com. The Destiny beta will launch on Sony's PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 consoles first, on July 17.
The still reveals that the beta will be arriving on Microsoft's Xbox One and Xbox 360 systems sometime during the two weeks remaining in July after the PlayStation beta begins. To gain access to the Destiny beta, players have to pre-order the game and redeem a code on Bungie's website to download the beta for the console of their choice.
Destiny is an online-based multiplayer shooter with a science-fiction flavor and RPG elements. It is being made by Bungie, the studio that created the sci-fi action franchise Halo. The game looks and feels like a cross of that best-selling series and the popular Borderlands games, due to the cooperative squad play and the role-playing elements. RPG systems in the game include characters that level up, that have classes with powers and obtain a variety of equipment and weapons.
After the presentation of a new trailer for Destiny during Sony's E3 press conference on June 8, Bungie announced it was releasing an alpha-build of the game exclusively to PlayStation 4. The alpha of Destiny for PS4 was made available to those who pre-ordered the game and was playable online for the week of June 16th. It featured some character creation, the Tower that acts as players' headquarters, shops to purchase equipment, a large level called Old Russia and a team-based competitive arena mode called the Crucible. Players created level 3 characters they could customize and play up to level 8. In total, the alpha was played almost 6.5 million times. No word yet on what content players can expect in the beta for Destiny.
After years of enjoying Bungie's work on the Halo games, Xbox fans seem to be getting the short end of the stick when it comes to Destiny. Bungie was formerly owned by Microsoft, which published the Halo series exclusively for Xbox game consoles and not on competitors' consoles. After Bungie bought ownership of themselves back from Microsoft in October 2007, the developer began work on Destiny. Whether Xbox's lowered priority by Bungie is due to the company's prior ownership or not, it is clear that PlayStation has gotten priority and a partnership was formed between Sony, developer Bungie and the publisher Activision.
Destiny will be released Sept. 9 for Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3.
