Bungie makes it easier to talk to strangers in Destiny… if you want to

By Will Fulton Published November 14, 2014

bungie makes easier talk strangers destiny — Image used with permission by copyright holder

An upcoming patch for Destiny expands the voice chat options, opening up more ways for you to connect with your fellow Guardians through matchmaking. In addition to the Fireteam chat with your small, pre-formed party of friends and manually invited randoms that has been available since launch, soon you will also be able to opt into a Team Chat channel for matchmaking activities like Strikes and Crucible matches.

Public chat is opt-in only. Bungie emphasized the importance of consent in its philosophy on the feature. “We believe that requiring players to opt-in to chat leads to more friendly environments,” explained design lead M.E. Chung. The feature goes live as part of update 1.0.3 on November 18.

Whenever you join an activity in which voice chat is enabled, a message will pop up in the lower left corner of the screen prompting you to opt in to the channel if you want. By default you must manually opt-in to the Team Chat, but in the Settings menu you have the option to set it up such that you automatically join when playing solo, without a Fireteam.

If you decide that public chat is not for you, then it is always possible to revert back to Fireteam Chat through the same Navigation Mode menu that brought you in. The current channel is displayed in the lower-right corner and you can toggle between them with the directional buttons.

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Will Fulton is a New York-based writer and theater-maker. In 2011 he co-founded mythic theater company AntiMatter Collective…

Gaming

Why the Destiny 2 and Fortnite collab makes perfect sense for Bungie

Destiny 2 skins in Fortnite.

Destiny 2 is collaborating with the Epic Games Store, including swapping some cosmetics with Fortnite and Fall Guys. This announcement leaked ahead of Bungie's Destiny 2 showcase on Tuesday, and the community reaction was mixed. After all, Destiny 2, Fortnite, and Fall Guys aren't similar games at all. But after seeing the collaborations in action, they make perfect sense. Destiny 2has seen a lot of changes over the past year, and although it's still a far cry from Fortnite or Fall Guys, trading cosmetics fits right into where Bungie, Epic Games, and Sony are heading.

Destiny 2 on Epic Games Store - Fortnite + Fall Guys Crossover Trailer
A tale of two games
The new skins come on the heels of Destiny 2 launching on the Epic Games Store, where Bungie is offering its 30th Anniversary content pack for free for the first week. Bungie says the collaboration is a celebration of the new launch, with three new skins each in Fortnite, Destiny 2, and on September 13, Fall Guys. Nothing is changing with any of these games; they're just adding new cosmetics. Still, the community isn't taking it that way. The friction with the Fortnite and Destiny 2 collaboration centers around how different the games are. The only common thread they share is that they're both multiplayer shooters, but even then, the games are so different in style and structure that they can't be compared.

Gaming

Here’s the entire Destiny 2 story explained, up through The Witch Queen

Destiny 2 Beyond Light Beginner's Guide.

Destiny 2 is here, kicking off a new chapter of Activision's wildly popular shared-world shooter. A lot has happened in the universe of Destiny since the original game launched, including expansions, large and small, which add to the story, and countless tweaks to the form and function of the game's fundamental elements. So much has happened, in fact, that a reminder might be in order for anyone wondering what's going on in Destiny these days.

The latest expansion, The Witch Queen, is actually the twelfth chapter in the Destiny saga, depending on how you count. Developer Bungie released Destiny in September 2014, followed by four major expansions: The Dark Below, House of Wolves, The Taken King, and Rise of Iron. Destiny 2 kicked off the series' second arc a few years back and has already seen a few expansions to progress the storyline even further.

Gaming

Ubisoft confirms Assassin’s Creed remakes are in the works

Basim perched on a ledge overlooking Baghdad

In a company interview with CEO Yves Guillemot posted on the Ubisoft website Thursday, the executive reveals that there are remakes of Assassin's Creed games in the works, although he doesn't specify which ones.

"Players can be excited about some remakes, which will allow us to revisit some of the games we've created in the past and modernize them," he says, implying that it could pertain to games made before Odyssey. "There are worlds in some of our older Assassin's Creed games that are still extremely rich."