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Bungie to release the full 'Destiny' soundtrack, three years late
Music of the Spheres, the much-lauded music from Destiny, will finally be released officially to the public "in the near future," said developer Bungie. The soundtrack, written by acclaimed composer Marty O'Donnell, actually leaked out last year thanks to the work of passionate fans. It was taken down just yesterday by Activision/Bungie, however, as O'Donnell himself noted on Twitter.
Buried ‘Destiny’ soundtrack ‘Music of the Spheres’ leaks
An epic game deserves an epic soundtrack, and Music of the Spheres, an eight-part musical work by Bungie composer Marty O'Donnell, Michael Salvatori and Paul McCartney (yes, of Beatles fame), was exactly that, designed to complement Bungie's ambitious Destiny. But, thanks to quarrels with publisher Activision and various other legal battles, it was never released. Now, nearly five years later, it's been leaked and can be enjoyed by fans of Destiny and sweeping soundscapes alike. Until Activision bursts in with copyright law, that is.
The charity that wants video game karts in every hospital
In many ways, Jonathan Watson is like other 11-year-olds. He does his homework, dreams of becoming a doctor and plays video games when he can. Depending on the day, his favorite is either Minecraft or The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Unlike most kids his age, though, Jonathan is at the hospital every three weeks for blood transfusions -- a procedure that can take up to six hours at a time. When I visited him at Mott Children's Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan, he wasn't slaying dragons or building a pixelated fortress; he was replaying the opening levels of Rayman Legends on a kart that had just been wheeled in. The kart was donated by a local Eagle Scout who raised funds through the Gamers Outreach Foundation (GO), a nationwide charity that puts medical-grade gaming equipment in hospitals around the country. The "GO Kart" Jonathan was using included everything needed to play video games: a modest Samsung television, an Xbox 360 (though any console will fit) and a pair of gamepads. The kit itself is hardly revolutionary, but anyone who's schlepped their gear to a LAN party can appreciate the simplicity of this rolling, self-contained setup. At Mott and 19 other hospitals around the country, they're the most popular "toy" available. And when you're a kid with a medical condition like Watson's, it's easy to see why.
'Halo,' 'Destiny' composer Marty O'Donnell wins lawsuit against Bungie
Developer Bungie's former in-house composer Marty O'Donnell had his day in court and it's time for Bungie to pay the piper. In addition to the initial payout of $142,500 he's owed as a profit-sharing program, O'Donnell also gets to hold onto what VentureBeat describes as a "considerable" amount of stock in the company responsible first for Halo and now Destiny. As part of the terms, apparently unless O'Donnell gets permission he can't publish any music from Destiny as his own without Bungie's blessing. In June, O'Donnell revealed that he was starting a new studio with other game-industry vets, Highwire Games. [Image credit: Matt Sayles/Invision/AP]
Free music download from Halo 3 E3 trailer
Bungie's music man to the stars Marty O'Donnell decided to offer fans a free music download straight from E3, into lukems' inbox and landing onto Bungie.net. So, click your way over to Bungie.net for the complete music track from the lovely and very satisfying Halo 3 E3 campaign trailer. We've seriously been listening and looping this track all morning and are currently on our sixth helping of Halo 3 musical bliss. Yup ... it's butta.[Thanks, DjDATZ]
Geekdad gets Halo 3 voice-acting cameo
Remember, if you meet Bungie's Marty O' Donnell be sure to get him liquored up real nice, good things can only come from it. Wired's own Geekdad did just that a few years back while chatting it up over dinner and got a Halo 3 voice-acting cameo out of the deal. Back then, Marty (sipping the wine) jokingly promised the Geekdad a recording session in Halo 3 and stuck to his word allowing Geekdad to come to Seattle this week to record a few lines for the game. Not only did he get to record for the game, but also got to see (under NDA) Halo 3 in all its glory, drool over the mixing tables, etc. etc. Lucky little Wired Geekdad. Check out video above where Marty explains how the Halo 3 announcement trailer music came to be and be sure to make the jump to read Geekdad's full recap. Oh, and for the Halo-curious out there, Geekdad posted the list of lines he read for the game. Maybe you can find some Halo 3 storyline snippets in there ... probably not.
