Destiny turns Dinklage meme to its advantage

“That wizard came from the moon” becomes a branded t-shirt as dev house Bungie makes the most of banter surrounding the Destiny public alpha test.

An early access alpha on PlayStation 4 allowed players to experience an untreated voiceover from Peter Dinklage that soon went viral.

Peter Dinklage was one of Bungie’s big catches, the Game of Thrones instrumental in helping establish sci-fi action game Destiny as a worthy title with solid crossover potential.

But come the PlayStation 4 public alpha, which ran June 12-16, fans were surprised to find that the well-known actor’s stint as AI companion Ghost was typified by rather flat delivery and a collection of otherwise bizarre lines.

Was Bungie over-eager to avoid continued comparison with Borderlands and its cheeky chatterbox robot character Claptrap? Did this indicate a lack of decent voice direction in the recording studio? Or are these just first-time takes, dropped into the game as placeholder audio while the real deal takes shape?

Either way, former Halo house Bungie appears to have taken the subsequent roasting in good spirits, pressing Dinklage’s oddest line into a US$25 (RM80) merchandising opportunity, the tie-in t-shirt being made available from the studio’s official online shop.

“In one hour, this became the best-selling item among the current inventory in the bungiestore,” the studio announced via Twitter, inviting followers to check out shirts in male and female fittings.

The Destiny beta launches July 17 on PS4 and PS3, undated on Xbox, and with a September 9 release date in sight. -- Relaxnews 2014