IGN First: Destiny Companion App Walkthrough

IGN takes us on an in-depth tour of Destiny's Companion App that will be available on Android, iOS, and on Web Browsers when the Beta hits.

AND IT LOOKS DOPE.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/07/14/destinyas-companion-app-is-actually-useful-a-ign-first?utm_campaign=fbposts&am...

- III

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This is really cool.

The more I hear about the grimoire, the more I like it. It has the lore and depth of the codex from Mass Effect, but with fun art, and some mysterious link to gameplay. Add in the fact that you can read this lore when you're away from the game, and it seems much more likely to be read by the average gamer.

Also very cool from this video is the ability to in real-time change your equipment and view an up-to-date 3d model of your character(s) and weapons.

Plus all the usual stats from the past few bungie games--even the mobile app for this game is expansive!

I'm excited for the beta.

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I'm curious to see what it does when I sign into it a week before being able to play the beta.

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I wonder if it requires google+ to get again like alpha. Or at least it seemed to.

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I wonder if it requires google+ to get again like alpha. Or at least it seemed to.

Huh? I'm not on Google+, and I played the alpha. What do you mean?

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The version of the companion app for the Alpha was only available for download if you had a G+ account.

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The version of the companion app for the Alpha was only available for download if you had a G+ account.

It was also Android-only, so given that we're now talking iOS as well, maybe the G+ requirement has dropped.

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The Google+ method is only required for Google Play store beta or alpha testing apps. [Beta-testing and staged rollouts]

I'm guessing for the Destiny Beta, this app will no longer be considered beta

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The version of the companion app for the Alpha was only available for download if you had a G+ account.

Oh, that's right. That Android-only preview. Forgot about that.

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IGN takes us on an in-depth tour of Destiny's Companion App that will be available on Android, iOS, and on Web Browsers when the Beta hits.

This makes me really happy.

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Yeah, bungie.net will still be around and is capable of doing all the companion things you saw (equip gear, see stats, etc.) You don't need a smartphone to use companion features - everybody can get in without having a specialized device.

Sorry about the lack of a native Windows Phone app, though. There simply aren't enough users to justify the time and expense at this time. In the future, maybe, but certainly not now.

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In all the threads on all the sites I've visited, I've seen a grand total of 4 windows phone users complain. I guess the 5th user hasn't found out yet.

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In all the threads on all the sites I've visited, I've seen a grand total of 4 windows phone users complain. I guess the 5th user hasn't found out yet.

GrimBrother One doesn't complain because that's the kind of guy he is.

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Sorry about the lack of a native Windows Phone app, though. There simply aren't enough users to justify the time and expense at this time. In the future, maybe, but certainly not now.

If you keep posting stuff like that, australian news sites will continue to think bungie.org is the official Bungie page :-p

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Sorry about the lack of a native Windows Phone app, though. There simply aren't enough users to justify the time and expense at this time. In the future, maybe, but certainly not now.

The road to greatness starts with the first step.

I have a Lumia and would like attention, please.

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Notice NOTHING was said of Amazon or Blackberry phones :p

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Notice NOTHING was said of Amazon or Blackberry phones :p

For the record, Amazon's phone IS Android. Heavily customized, perhaps, but still Android.

Blackberry, though... oh dear. That is as good as dead at this point. Not to mention poor WebOS, which actually still exists, but not on phones or tablets.

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Notice NOTHING was said of Amazon or Blackberry phones :p

For the record, Amazon's phone IS Android. Heavily customized, perhaps, but still Android.

It's an Android fork, which means no Google Play Services or Store. So while the apk would be probably 90% the same, it would still require specific testing and development to work with their forked Android version and integrate into their background services since Google Play Games, GMS and GCM wouldn't be available. Not to mention Bungie would need to maintain another distribution channel (the Amazon app store).

This would probably be chalked up to the same status as Windows Phone. While it's not a tremendous amount of work, it's still work and the 2 users of the Amazon phone would more than likely not justify enough of that work.

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Notice NOTHING was said of Amazon or Blackberry phones :p

For the record, Amazon's phone IS Android. Heavily customized, perhaps, but still Android.

It's an Android fork, which means no Google Play Services or Store. So while the apk would be probably 90% the same, it would still require specific testing and development to work with their forked Android version and integrate into their background services since Google Play Games, GMS and GCM wouldn't be available. Not to mention Bungie would need to maintain another distribution channel (the Amazon app store).

I'm sure the good folks at XDA developers will get a hacked version up and running.

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FWIW, I wasn't trying to say Bungie should try to put their app on Amazon's phone. I'm aware of the differences. Just pointing out that it wasn't technically a separate OS.

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Based on (an old version of) Android sure, but calling it Android... Nah. Legally, they're not allowed to call it Android and more importantly it is technologically incompatible with actual Android apps.

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That way you assure every single smartphone will be able to use the features, even if sub-par, when compared to the dedicated apps you already have.

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Also is it too early to start asking about what kind of API access we'll have to all this awesome data?

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Also is it too early to start asking about what kind of API access we'll have to all this awesome data?

Nope. Just too early to expect an answer. ;)

In all seriousness, they haven't even told us all of what's in the game yet. So I'd guess no.

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Also is it too early to start asking about what kind of API access we'll have to all this awesome data?

Betas can't have everything.

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Sorry about the lack of a native Windows Phone app, though. There simply aren't enough users to justify the time and expense at this time. In the future, maybe, but certainly not now.

More proof that Bungie is sticking it to MS, just kidding. go android!

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As somebody who cares about battery life and doesn't have a particularly fast phone, I really hope they have a "lite" version of this app. Basically, an app with just the menus and all of the 3D stuff removed.

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I wonder if it's actually 3D rendering on the device, or if it's more a compiled sprite type thing so they can be sure that everyone get the same "render quality" across a wide range of devices?

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It is 3D rendering on the device.

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Just downloaded the app and went directly to the settings and found two very nice options:

3D Character Gear: View your character's gear in 3D. (This feature can use a lot of bandwidth)

Restrict 3D data downloads: Only download 3D data when your device is connected to a WiFi network

Nice.

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My only disappointment with the companion app is the lack of numerical data on the weapons. In the IGN First Look teaser there was an image that showed this data. Now, in the app preview, it seems that this feature has been removed.

I was looking forward to this.

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My only disappointment with the companion app is the lack of numerical data on the weapons. In the IGN First Look teaser there was an image that showed this data. Now, in the app preview, it seems that this feature has been removed.

I was looking forward to this.

Wow, that app preview image looks way better. Could it be they showed IGN an older version of the app than was in the app preview?

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My only disappointment with the companion app is the lack of numerical data on the weapons. In the IGN First Look teaser there was an image that showed this data. Now, in the app preview, it seems that this feature has been removed.

I was looking forward to this.

Wouldn't surprise me if you can turn them off and on, maybe if you tap the bars for example.

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I hope so. I want to map out Destiny's weapon set. This would make my job much easier.

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I notice there doesn't seem to be anything to switch between your 360 character, your PS4 character, etc. Strongest indication yet that it may be the same set of characters on all platforms. Some people have been referring to this as being able to transfer saves but the more I see, the more I think it's just that there's nothing to transfer - it's already there.

To counter my own theory, I also didn't see anything to switch between character slots, which would obviously be needed even with centralized saves/character data. So maybe those parts of the UI simply aren't implemented yet, or are intentionally kept out of the previews.

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I notice there doesn't seem to be anything to switch between your 360 character, your PS4 character, etc. Strongest indication yet that it may be the same set of characters on all platforms. Some people have been referring to this as being able to transfer saves but the more I see, the more I think it's just that there's nothing to transfer - it's already there.

To counter my own theory, I also didn't see anything to switch between character slots, which would obviously be needed even with centralized saves/character data. So maybe those parts of the UI simply aren't implemented yet, or are intentionally kept out of the previews.

He certainly swipped between characters early on from a level 20 Titan to a level 4 hunter and a third character was waiting further to the right:

Presumably though there would have to be multiple sign-ins or something because Playstations don't use your Xbox Live ID... Unless it's all tying into your sorta all encompassing Bungie.net account... which I'd note already DOES know about both my Xbox Live and Playstation accounts...

Hmmmmm.

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Yeah. Bungie.net searches for both my XBL and PSN friends on that icon up top, so definitely has both my accounts linked under it.

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Yeah, it list all the loadouts and stats and stuff, but it also has buttons for News, Forums, and Groups...

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IGN First: Destiny Companion App Walkthrough (Destiny)