The latest issue of Edge magazine has another article on Destiny and while it doesn't have a lot of new information it does have a few interesting tidbits.

Some of my favorite tidbits:
* Chris Butcher talking about the matchmaking, even saying two players can "link their consoles" and as they are playing together they come across a "public combat area" and it drops them in seamlessly.
* I think it was mentioned before, but it is mentioned the social hubs will be third-person.
* In the hubs it says you can engage in "adversarial Faction Wars" for rewards you can use in the campaign.
* Talking about the lone wolf stuff Pete Parsons said (summarized): "I see people... pinned down. Those people may go on and finish their mission... Either way, I still had that contact... We'd like you to be able to play without a headset" I like that idea, using a headset always took me out of the game.

Definitely thought it was worth picking up, especially when you have an iPad or iPhone.

Whats the issue number? I might order it online.

Any idea on what the cost per issue is?

You can order any issue here.

£7.00 is the price, which is roughly 10 bucks USD. Not sure how much shipping is though

You can order any issue here.

£7.00 is the price, which is roughly 10 bucks USD. Not sure how much shipping is though

Or $5.99 USD for the iPad version.

It is issue 252

In the Play Store ($5.99 USD)

* I think it was mentioned before, but it is mentioned the social hubs will be third-person.
* In the hubs it says you can engage in "adversarial Faction Wars" for rewards you can use in the campaign.

Still intrigued by these points. I wonder if it's referring to social hubs and "relax" areas and you can bet or compete to win special loot that other players may have unlocked to work with through campaign mode.

Then again, if you're a certain class, perhaps you can only unlock certain materials for your class and you have to "catch 'em all" by trading with other players. I could be very entirely wrong.

Very curious indeed.

* I think it was mentioned before, but it is mentioned the social hubs will be third-person.

I hope you can be in first-person view if you want (i.e. it's an option), and if not I hope they change it being first-person or at least allowing that as an option.

* Chris Butcher talking about the matchmaking, even saying two players can "link their consoles" and as they are playing together they come across a "public combat area" and it drops them in seamlessly.

I'm wondering how the networking stuff is going to work exactly.

The way I'm seeing it in my head, there won't be any central server. Destiny will be constantly searching for players with adequate network connections and using them as hosts for a number of players in any particular location. So as you travel through the world, you'll see occasional groups of strangers in your game as the matchmaking works in the background, but if there is no central server I assume you won't necessarily ever see huge clusterfuck gatherings of hundreds of characters in popular areas like in some MMOs.

Maybe the invisible matchmaking will put priority on a player's friends list, or anyone you "link consoles" with to ensure that you will always run into your buddies if you're playing at the same time.

Just thoughts.

Yeah. Bungie said… somewhere… that they would be limiting the number of players you see at any time, even in the cities. The goal, they said, wasn't to show a million jillion players but to provide each player with a good experience. I'd guess that the matchmaking system is, like you said, smart enough to prioritize friends if you're both playing alone, and surely you can group up and have the system keep your group on the same mission while randomly drawing in others as appropriate.

and surely you can group up and have the system keep your group on the same mission while randomly drawing in others as appropriate.

I think it's a pretty sure thing that this is what Butcher meant by "linking consoles." It's exactly what happens right now with any number of other games when you and a friend are in a party together. In Destiny's case, you are ALSO seeing other gamers at times, but being in a party together is likely to function similarly to how it always has (with the exception of Destiny apparently lacking traditional "menus").