Bungie's Marathon reboot — here's what you need to know
The big picture
Bungie has shown off a new gameplay of its upcoming extraction multiplayer shooter title Marathon, a Player-versus-Player-versus-Environment-focused remake of a trilogy of single-player shooters.
The game's art style looks slick, and its gunplay and controls feel top-notch and akin to past Bungie titles like the Destiny duology and the Halo trilogy.
However, that may not be enough to stand out in a crowded shooter market, from similar titles like Escape From Tarkov to PvP-focused games like Marvel Rivals, or even battle royale giants like Fortnite and PUBG Mobile.
Let's also not forget that today's Bungie is not the same studio that made the best Destiny expansions or the Halo titles up to Halo: Reach.
Bungie has until its release date of Sept 23 to make Marathon as enticing as possible — and even post-launch, the road ahead will be tough to rise above the competition.
Short beats
Larian Studios has released its final update for the acclaimed computer RPG, Baldur's Gate 3. The patch features 12 new subclasses, Photo Mode, and more quality-of-life upgrades.
Famous 'Let's Play' VTuber Gawr Gura is set to graduate on May 1 due to conflicts with her current management.
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion remake is set to launch the week of April 21; screenshots were leaked on Virtuos' homepage before it was made private.
EA has announced a new Star Wars turn-based strategy game called Star Wars: Zero Company.
Action-adventure open-world sci-fi game Prototype might be making a comeback.
Op-Eds
We interviewed Shuhei Yoshida, ex-PlayStation production and games industry veteran. He shared insights on PlayStation consoles and portables, indie games and Malaysian developers, and also discussed the most influential games of the past decade.
Since it's Easter weekend, we also explore the best resurrections in gaming.
Games out this week
Bionic Bay is an action platformer where a scientist uses a teleportation instrument to escape an ancient biomechanical world filled with imaginative tech, deadly traps, and hidden secrets. Built for speedrunning.
Mandragora: Whispers of the Witch Tree is a 2.5D search action title set in a dark fantasy world. Players battle monsters across a 40+ hour story, master six unique classes, craft hundreds of items, and explore a sprawling world.
Rusty Rabbit is a metroidvania starring a bunny in a mecha suit. Stamp, a rabbit with an old soul, pilots his mech 'Junkster' through the icy ruins of a frozen world in this side-scrolling action-adventure. Lunar: Remastered Collection brings back two classic late-90s JRPGs — Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete and Lunar: Eternal Blue.
Recommended viewing
To celebrate the upcoming launch of 2D fighting game Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves next week, SNK has teamed up with anime director Masami Obari for a special Fatal Fury music video.
As mentioned above, VTuber Gawr Gura is graduating on May 1. Here's a highlight reel reminding us why she became one of the most popular names in the scene.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Yahoo
Sanford Panitch to Remain Sony Pictures President, Studio Announces Key Promotions as Josh Greenstein Departs
Sanford Panitch will remain as president of Sony's Motion Picture Group. He used to share the title with Josh Greenstein, who is officially stepping down to join Paramount following the sale to Skydance. As part of the shift at Sony, Peter Kang has been promoted to president of production for Columbia Pictures, Nicholas Weiss and Dave Fruchbom were elevated to co-heads of global creative and strategy, and Andrea 'Ange' Giannetti has been upped to executive VP of production and senior creative for Columbia Pictures. More from Variety Sony's PlayStation Sues Tencent Over Its 'Slavish Clone' of 'Horizon' Video Game Franchise Sony's New Noise-Canceling Headphones Reshape Audio Clarity and Sound Immersion: Here's How to Buy a Pair Online 'I Know What You Did Last Summer' Gets Custom-Curated Fragrance Set From Scentbird Danielle Misher, head of theatrical marketing, and Steven O'Dell, president of international marketing and distribution, will continue to oversee Sony's marketing operation. Weiss and Fruchbom will report to Misher and work closely with O'Dell on international efforts. Kang and Giannetti will continue to report to Panitch. Misher and O'Dell will report directly to Tom Rothman, the CEO and chairman of Sony's Motion Picture Group. 'We are all sorry to see Josh go. He has been a wonderful colleague for many years, and we wish him the very best,' Rothman said in a statement. 'The key to a sound organization, however, is to have a strong bench. Our marketing group has that, and I am very pleased to recognize some of our outstanding longtime talent with expanded roles. Dave and Nick are two of the finest creative advertising minds I have encountered in my many years of doing this, and Danielle and Steven provide expert, experienced leadership. I am confident our marketing prowess will only grow.' Rothman continued, 'Likewise, Peter is one of the most skillful and dedicated production executives in all of Hollywood. Sanford and I have worked with him off and on for over 25 years, with great success. I'm sure that Peter will keep the Columbia lady's torch shining brightly, and that Ange will continue to deliver big hit movies, as she always has. And I know I can count on Sanford to embrace his expanded responsibilities. The depth and breadth of his abilities are unmatched and critical to our success.' Panitch joined Sony in 2016 and was named co-president of the motion picture group with Greenstein in October 2019. He has overseen the studio's blockbuster franchises such as 'Spider-Man,' 'Jumanji' and 'Venom,' as well as some recent duds like 'Morbius,' 'Madame Web' and 'Kraven the Hunter.' Kang joined Sony Pictures in 2019 and worked on the development and production of such films as 2024's 'Bad Boys: Ride or Die' and Jennifer Lawrence's comedy 'No Hard Feelings.' He played a key role in launching Sony's collaboration with PlayStation Productions, which yielded 2022's 'Uncharted' with Tom Holland and Neill Blomkamp's 'Gran Turismo.' Fruchbom, who joined Sony Pictures in 2015, and Weiss, who joined in 2014, have led the creative campaigns behind Quentin Tarantino's 'Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood,' Greta Gerwig's 'Little Women,' Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell's rom-com 'Anyone But You' and 'Jumanji: The Next Level,' among many others. Giannetti, a 35-year veteran of the company, has overseen the production on the newest 'Jumanji' films, 'It Ends With Us,' and 'The Equalizer 3.' 'I'm thrilled to have someone as accomplished and smart as Peter leading Columbia Pictures,' Panitch said. 'And in addition to the pleasure of working with all the many capable executives at each of the divisions I oversee, I feel especially fortunate to collaborate directly with the exceptional Ange Giannetti. We have a lot of big event movies moving down our pipeline, so it is a very exciting and promising time at Sony, where we continue to prioritize and prize the theatrical experience.' Sony's upcoming film slate includes Darren Aronofsky's crime thriller 'Caught Stealing,' the sequel '28 Years Later: Bone Temple,' Marvel's 'Spider-Man: Brand New Day' and a new 'Jumanji' installment. Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week 'Harry Potter' TV Show Cast Guide: Who's Who in Hogwarts? Final Emmy Predictions: Talk Series and Scripted Variety - New Blood Looks to Tackle Late Night Staples Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Yahoo
Sony Sets PlayStation 5 Price Increase Effective Aug. 21
Sony is increasing the price of its PlayStation 5 consoles in the United States by $50 beginning Thursday. The new pricing structure is as follows: More from Variety Sony's Crunchyroll Makes Layoffs as It Restructures to Lean Into International Growth Markets Sony Pictures Operating Income Jumps 76% in Q1 as Television Output Bolsters Results Sanford Panitch to Remain Sony Pictures President, Studio Announces Key Promotions as Josh Greenstein Departs PlayStation 5 – $549.99 PlayStation 5 Digital Edition – $499.99 PlayStation 5 Pro – $749.99 Currently, the standard PlayStation 5 console is priced at $499.99, the digital version retails for $449.99 and the PlayStation 5 Pro runs at $699.99. The pricing was announced in a blog post shared by PlayStation Wednesday, which stated: 'Similar to many global businesses, we continue to navigate a challenging economic environment. As a result, we've made the difficult decision to increase the recommended retail price for PlayStation 5 consoles in the U.S. starting on August 21.' PlayStation noted 'the recommended retail prices for PlayStation 5 accessories remain unchanged, and we have no other price changes to announce for additional markets.' More to come… Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week What's Coming to Disney+ in August 2025 What's Coming to Netflix in August 2025
Forbes
12 hours ago
- Forbes
This Is How Destiny 2's ‘Dead Weeks' Will Work Now, It Seems
In the wake of Destiny 2's profitable Solstice event, so profitable I'm not sure Bungie entirely thought it through, it seemed like going back to the normal grind was going to be a slog. And while that still may be true, at reset, Bungie announced something that was at the very least eyebrow-raising. At Tuesday reset, Bungie revealed that this week, special weapon damage and ammo drops have been increased in Portal activities. Cool, great, we've seen things like 25% surges before and such for various specials, so whatever. Not whatever, not whatever at all. As the in-game pop-up says, the damage increase here for all special weapons is double. They will do twice as much damage, and if you build into ammo even a little bit, with that extra boost my guess is you'll practically be using these as a primary. That was sort of viable for some weapons before, but it may be true for most of them now. This shines a specific spotlight on a weapon like Mint Retrograde, the brand-new rocket pulse rifle that is already like a heavy weapon that uses special ammo. It's hard to take off at all and now it's flat-out twice as good. Also in the same breath you can cite Choir of One, the hugely powerful special auto rifle that even with recent ammo reserve nerfs, is still more or less a primary. Now, double damage and more ammo. Ridiculous. FEATURED | Frase ByForbes™ Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The Phrase Pinpoint By Linkedin Guess The Category Queens By Linkedin Crown Each Region Crossclimb By Linkedin Unlock A Trivia Ladder Ironically, it's not all that common of a problem that the activities players are running into are 'too hard.' There are weird ebbs and flows with deltas where 260 is easy, then 280 is hard, then 300 is easy again. Now, in Grandmaster, I'm not finding anything's that difficult at all, so this is just icing. The exception here would be Mythic Kepler missions which have enemies that are so overly obnoxiously stuffed with health that this double damage may make things actually feel vaguely normal. The main Portal issue here remains rewards versus time, where it's not worth running nearly anything but Solo Ops the majority of the time for max rewards. And now that Solstice is gone, getting lots of quality loot has been cut by probably 90% instantly, given how rewarding that event was. So, double damage specials will be fun, but the main issues with The Portal are still in place. This does give us a glimpse of what it seems Destiny 2 has in store for future 'dead' weeks, in this case a spell after a big event ends and another starts. And it also shows they're willing to go much further than we've seen in the past, and I really cannot remember a damage surge to this degree that wasn't an actual bug. So, what else do they got? Obviously, you could run the same modifier for primary or heavy weapons. Double drops seems like an extremely easy one which they have done before plenty of times, but it's even more relevant for the Portal now. I'd love one that gave us 80% shorter ability cooldowns or something like that. But the point is, they appear to be willing to finally take some very big swings when it comes to mixing things up, even if there isn't all that much content to mix up in the first place. Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram. Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
