Bungie's latest video game, Destiny, expected to change the face of gaming

It all began more than 20 years ago, in a cramped student flat in Chicago, where two friends, Jason Jones and Alex Seropian, programmed computer games from their living room and hand-assembled the boxes.

This week, Bungie, a company that has grown from a team of two to more than 500 employees, will release the world's most expensive and eagerly awaited video game to an expected 10 million players.

Many claim that Destiny will revolutionise the face of gaming when it is released globally tomorrow, in the same way that Halo, the influential franchise that put Bungie on the map, did when it was released in 1999. To date, Halo has sold 50 million copies.

Destiny will be Bungie's first project since Halo, and the anticipation and secrecy surrounding it has already ensured it is the most pre-ordered piece of entertainment software in history. When a demonstration version was released in July, a record-breaking 4.6 million people played it.

In a sign of the increasingly mainstream nature of video games, Paul McCartney has co-composed a 50-minute orchestral suite as well as writing a theme song for the game.

"The hype levels that have surrounded the game have been stratospheric, it's ridiculous," said Alan Ismail, who boasts more than 15 million views on his YouTube gaming video blogs under the name Moreconsole and has worked with Bungie to test Destiny.

"This is definitely a game that is going to change the industry. It's a decade-long project as well, and you see Bungie comparing their game to Star Wars and Lord of the Rings, that kind of epic sci-fi trilogy, and they want to build this universe that will last a decade."