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Business Mayor
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Business Mayor
Marathon is fighting the ultimate uphill battle
Ever since its initial reveal, Marathon has had an air of skepticism surrounding it by the gaming community at large. At first, I mostly attributed this to Bungie's uneven approach to handling its premier live service franchise, Destiny. Between decisions like removing past expansions, vaulting weapons, and more underwhelming updates than positive ones, I could completely understand the hesitancy around the studio attempting to launch and maintain a second live service game. As we've inched closer and closer to its release date, the general outlook seems to have only gotten more dismal. Yes, there have been some very concerning controversies that shouldn't be swept under the rug, but Marathon is suffering from a more systemic problem with live service games as a whole that it will need to overcome to succeed. Live service games are labelled as such because they're meant to be living, evolving experiences that players can keep coming back to for months and years. MMORPGs were the progenitors of this model, but now we've seen it applied to all sorts of genres. Despite its ups and downs, Destiny is still the poster child for what we now call live service games and the model so many have tried to imitate. As with anything successful in the gaming industry, it wasn't long before every big player wanted a piece of that pie. The allure of a perpetual money-maker was too great to resist, despite the reality being much more complicated. Sony was arguably the one to invest the most heavily in the model, at one point boasting over 12 live service games in the works. Between released and cancelled projects, that number has shrunk to possibly two, those being Marathon and Fairgames. While we can't discuss the broken trust between gamers and the current and upcoming slate of live service games without mentioning Concord , the root of the problem goes back much further than that. The first game I recall raising major red flags in the gaming sphere was Anthem. Even before all the behind-the-scenes problems in development were brought to light about the game, fans were leery about a studio known for RPGs seemingly trying to hop onto the latest trend. Anthem launched to a less-than-stellar response and quickly went on life support. It failed to satisfy BioWare's core RPG fans or any potential Destiny converts due to a lack of both a satisfying story or a compelling endgame grind. Before launch, EA shared a roadmap calendar detailing three acts of content, and when nothing beyond Act 1 was released for over a year, BioWare promised a major overhaul of the game, unofficially called Anthem 2.0. All of these plans were cancelled. Firewalk Studios Since then, we've seen more major games make bold claims about months and years of future content, only to pull the rug out from players after a middling — or downright abysmal — launch. Examples include Redfall , Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League , and, of course, Concord. That last one is likely the one that broke the camel's back for most gamers due to how unprecedented it was. This was a PlayStation first-party release with prime showcase placement, an ambitious roadmap of content, an experimental storytelling method, and even a tie-in episode in Secret Level before the game had even come out. That game failing would be bad, but it being scrubbed from existence is catastrophic for gamers' trust in PlayStation and live service as a whole. Not only do we have to be concerned about a game simply breaking all promises of support, but also the entire experience being ripped from us. While I don't think the sins of one game should be borne by another, I can't blame anyone who has adopted a more wait-and-see approach to new live service games. If we can't count on a name as big as PlayStation to make good on its promises, why should we think differently for any other studio? Trust isn't given anymore, it needs to be earned. The impressions I have seen from both major pundits and average players in forums for Marathon feel a lot like what the sentiment was for Concord before launch. The general feelings appear to float around a 'it's pretty fun to play, but there's not enough there right now' type of vibe. Justified or not, that's a death sentence for a game that relies on a large population of people being willing to support the game at its weakest so that it can even attempt to reach its full potential. Gamers have long memories — at least when it comes to being burned. A roadmap and a 'trust us' from the development team just doesn't cut it anymore. Marathon could very well have the potential to be amazing, but it has to start out great to even have a chance to get there. Not enough people will settle for even good, and with so many people perfectly content sitting on the sidelines to see if it fails before it even gets off the ground, it will result in a self-fulfilling prophecy. Bungie shouldn't be let off the hook for blatant plagiarism or the apparent crashing moral at the studio. Rumors swirling about how the unrealistic amount of money it needs to make to be considered a success don't help either, but Marathon 's fate wouldn't look any more certain even if that had never occurred. Until enough live service games earn our trust back, each game is fighting an uphill battle that gets steeper with every failed attempt.
!['Exit 8' is an Exceptional Liminal Thriller and the Best Video Game Adaptation Ever Made [Cannes 2025 Review]](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fusercontent.one%2Fwp%2Fwww.businessmayor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F05%2F1748091657_039Exit-8039-is-an-Exceptional-Liminal-Thriller-and-the-Best.jpg%3Fmedia%3D1711454622&w=3840&q=100)
Business Mayor
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Business Mayor
'Exit 8' is an Exceptional Liminal Thriller and the Best Video Game Adaptation Ever Made [Cannes 2025 Review]
I've long been fascinated by what I call No Exit Horror , a term I've coined for a sub-genre rooted in existential dread, where characters are trapped in singular, oppressive spaces they cannot escape. Think of such liminal space thrillers as Cube , Dead End , Pontypool , or even The Shining . I took the name from French writer/philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, of course, and like his play No Exit , these films trap their characters not just in rooms but in loops of self-denial, regret, or moral indecision. Genki Kawamura's masterful Exit 8 , which just had its eerie and unforgettable premiere in the Cannes Midnight Screenings section, uses this trope so effectively that it might just be the most exceptional video game adaptation ever made. Adapted from a cult Japanese video game, Exit 8 follows 'The Lost Man,' played with raw and adorable restraint by Kazunari Ninomiya ( Letters from Iwo Jima , Gantz ). On a tedious underground commute home from his desk job, he quickly finds himself trapped in an endless underground subway corridor, forced to detect subtle anomalies, glitches in reality, that signal whether it's safe to proceed to the next exit, aka level. He loops back to the beginning if he misses something out of place. It's the perfect metaphor for the paralysis of modern professional life, trapped in the endless maze designed by the evils of capitalism: the hallway, sterile and endless, is less a location than a state of mind. He is, quite literally, going nowhere. And I'm sure most of us can find it relatable on some level . Exit 8 is more than just a stylish horror experiment or the astute staging of a unique and inexpensive IP. It's a tragic and intimate character study following a broken hero's journey where the monster isn't lurking around a corner. The Lost Man is on his way home from a job he clearly loathes. He's exhausted, emotionally disconnected, and stuck in the passive inertia of a life he never truly chose. And then, suddenly, fatherhood looms. Read More BioWare restructures around Mass Effect The great twist of Exit 8 is that its horror and drama are mostly emotional, not supernatural or sci-fi. Kawamura has crafted a film about the terror of becoming a parent before you're ready. About accepting love when you're not sure you're worthy. The anomaly in this man's life isn't a shadowy figure or an off-kilter passageway. Instead, it's the terrifying prospect of loving someone more than yourself. And being loved in return. The hallway becomes purgatory for a man who can't admit he's scared—scared of responsibility, commitment, and growing up. Ninomiya's performance is essential here. It's not flashy, but it's deep. He expertly plays emotional numbness, with shoulders sloped under decades of unspoken guilt and generational/gender expectation. There's a quiet beauty in how little he says and how much he shows. When change finally comes, it's not triumphant. It's terrifying. And it's earned. As The Lost Man repeats the corridor again and again, each loop becomes a step along a fractured, nonlinear path toward emotional accountability. He isn't trying to escape. He's trying to accept. He's trying to become someone capable of being loved, and of loving in return. And that might be the scariest journey a horror movie has ever asked of a man. And he's not alone. The eerie and quick introduction of 'The Walking Man' is frightening, then tragic. A perfect side quest during an already pristine mainline story. The atmosphere in Exit 8 draws on a similar liminal energy felt in brilliant liminal horror projects like P.T. and The Backrooms, but where those stories revel in abstract terror, Kawamura's film weaponises drama and character study with a teaspoon of hope. Ultimately, there isn't a clear resolution. But it does provide reflection. It asks what happens to those of us who live on autopilot. Those who accept careers we hate, relationships we don't nurture, and the futures we never chose. It's about how modern men inherit silence and mistake it for strength. And how love … real, scary, adult love … demands presence and vulnerability. It demands that you exit the loop. With Exit 8 , Genki Kawamura has crafted a haunting cautionary tale for the emotionally paralysed. It's a masterpiece of 'No Exit Horror': intimate, tragic, and impressively human. Forget boss battles, this is a video game adaptation where the final level is fatherhood, and like the process of being born, the only way out is through. Summary Genki Kawamura's masterful 'Exit 8' expertly draws on a liminal horror, character study, and realist drama to craft the best video game adaptation of all time. Tags: Cannes 2025 Exit 8 Featured Post Genki Kawamura Categorized:News Reviews
Daily Mirror
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Oblivion Remastered reminds me of when Bethesda were the true RPG masters
If Bethesda wants to be back on top by the time next Elder Scrolls game rolls around, it should take more lessons from Oblivion Remastered than Starfield. Oblivion Remastered demonstrates the kind of inspiring world and storytelling experience any studio worth its RPG weight should be aiming to recapture. For the longest time, the RPG video game arms race was dominated by the two Bs: BioWare and Bethesda. Specialising in creating titles with memorable characters set in incredibly detailed worlds – the kind where you, the player, can make an impact through your own gameplay decisions – it's clear that this style of game, in 2025, has only become harder to make for both studios. As a result, there's a lot less of these 'all-encompassing' style RPG experiences to be found in general, which means when a disappointment of, say, Starfield 's calibre arrives, it's no fun for anyone. Particularly the players and developers who adored the genre-defining experiences of BioWare and Bethesda's heyday. While not a bad game per se, Dragon Age: The Veilguard 's more action-oriented approach caused long-time series fans to wonder why it was even called Dragon Age at all. As for Mass Effect? Time will tell whether BioWare can put lightning back in that bottle. Meanwhile, as for the other big B, I've been dipping in and out of Oblivion Remastered since its release this month. It's showing age in places, true, yet still reminds me of when a Bethesda RPG was something to be savoured. Is it full of jank and barmy voice acting? Yes, but it also nails (as Skyrim also did) the feeling of being transported to another place, a feeling that's further cemented once you gain influence over it through your decisions. Starfield lacked a lot of this texture, by comparison. The difference with Oblivion is that it cuts the clutter. Now, what do I mean by 'clutter'? Part of this is the size of the world, of course. Whereas Starfield was largely sold on the premise of being limitless, what with procedurally generated planets making up a vast solar system that seemed ripe for exploration alongside a few central hubs, Oblivion's Cyrodiil is almost the exact opposite. In a little under 10 minutes, I can run from its capital all the way to the county of Kvatch, where I'm immediately besieged by countless narrative threads to pull on – almost all of them interesting. By nature of being substantially smaller, not only is Oblivion Remastered more manageable, but less intimidating when wanting to become invested in the several stories it presents. Starfield's more procedural approach feels more like a chore. There's an interesting concept at its centre, one involving some sort of ancient prophecy that quickly sees your main mission to hunt down a series of Artefacts as part of Constellation's effort. This narrative throughline quickly gets muddled soon after you've first launched off the starting planet, however, and it isn't helped by the avalanche of continuous load screens as you board, fly, and then exit your shuttle. Oblivion Remastered has absolutely none of these extra trimmings, and therefore very little bloat. You're quickly out there, exploring Cyrodiil at your own pace, meeting all kinds of quirky races and characters. A dying age Funnily enough, where Oblivion Remastered is most like Starfield is in the raft of dungeons I'm encouraged to plunder. Absolutely all of them I've explored so far feel like the same copy-and-paste underground design, only with a slightly different layout and objective. This isn't an issue exclusive to Oblivion, mind you, Skyrim still has a similar sense of repetition. However, it never bothers me too much since you're never forced to spend exorbitant amounts of time in them, meaning it's never too long before you're back out into Cyrodiil's beautiful open scenery – which obviously looks better than ever due to being rebuilt from the ground up in Unreal Engine 5. These are just a few superficial examples, but as someone who is currently playing Oblivion for the first time via this remaster, the benefits are clear: Bethesda RPGs are best when they cut out any noise and make you the centre of this story cleanly and promptly. It's not perfect, and by nature of being essentially a facelift of a 2006 Xbox 360 title, there's a few niggles I have with combat, pacing, and the minigames. Dear lord, the minigames… That said, I hope Bethesda learns what it did great during this era of RPG development so it can use these lessons to inform the next generation of The Elder Scrolls rather than the less nuanced approach of Starfield. In the end, there's a direct line that can be drawn from Oblivion all the way to Starfield. You see it in its insistence on wanting to make the player feel special, combined with plenty of reasons to poke away at the farthest reaches of the map and, most of all, tell a story in a world that reflects the effects of your specific decision-making right back at you. These kinds of wide-scale RPGs are no longer a walk in the park to make, and so it's not too surprising to see both BioWare and Bethesda stumble a fair bit when wanting to still get it right while making the most of what new advancements in technology offer. Oblivion Remastered, warts and all, has far more texture and allure than most other recent video game worlds. As such, I don't think it's wrong to expect a once great RPG studio like Bethesda to try and get back to that.
Al Etihad
13-05-2025
- Business
- Al Etihad
Hub71 startup eyes UAE as future hub for cultivated meat
13 May 2025 21:50 MAYS IBRAHIM (ABU DHABI)With the backing of Abu Dhabi's tech ecosystem Hub71, Orbillion Bio is cooking up a future where the UAE is a leading producer and exporter of meat without the need for cattle, land, or US-founded startup leverages advanced biotechnology to grow real beef from animal cells without slaughter. In an interview with Aletihad , Patricia Bubner, CEO and founder of Orbillion Bio, explained the company's production process, which relies on cell culture technology that has long been used in the biopharma industry. This includes extracting cells from a cow and growing them in bioreactors, where they're fed nutrients like amino acids, sugars, and result is real muscle and fat cells that can be harvested and formed into ground beef products, from dumplings and kebabs to burgers and this process is traditionally expensive, Bubner noted that Orbillion's proprietary BioWare software and computational methods have helped cut production costs by 94%.The company's first cell line came from Wagyu ribeye, chosen with help from a San Francisco butcher."We wanted to start with the best-tasting meat," said Bubner. "And the feedback we've gotten from butchers and food industry partners is that it tastes just like beef, because it is beef."Though cultivated meat is still a relatively new concept for many consumers, Bubner is confident in growing interest across the Middle East."When people understand how it's made and taste it, they're much more open to it," she said. "The key is taste, price, and scale. We don't want people to compromise."Unlike conventional meat, cultivated beef is produced without antibiotics or exposure to pathogens, making it cleaner and healthier, according to Bubner."There's no blood, no contamination, no fecal matter risks. It's a sterile process," she explained. "And we don't need to raise and slaughter animals."This production approach also promises notable environmental benefits. Bubner noted that beef is among the most resource-intensive foods, as cows emit significant methane and require vast land and water claims it can cut water usage by up to 90% and land use by more than 90% compared to traditional livestock Up in Abu DhabiOrbillion Bio began exploring the UAE market after early support from regional investors, opening the team's eyes to its growing focus on food security and climate then, Bubner has made several visits to the region, culminating in the company's recent decision to set up operations in the UAE capital after joining described Abu Dhabi as "an ideal base" for climate-forward startups."We feel very supported. Hub71 is a great environment with access to investors, local producers, and fellow founders. And it's beautiful here."Currently, the startup produces its cultivated beef in Europe while working toward regulatory approval to tap into the UAE market."The UAE imports most of its meat. We can reverse that," she said. "We want to build manufacturing here, create IP, hire from local universities, and scale a new industry. The UAE has the climate goals, the infrastructure, and the vision; it's a perfect fit." The company aims to begin commercial sales by 2026–2027, with a longer-term goal of reaching commodity-level pricing by 2030 - around $4 per kilogramme.
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Ex-BioWare Lead Says The Dragon Age Team Didn't Feel Supported During Veilguard Development
Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Generate Key Takeaways It's no secret that the game that would become Dragon Age: The Veilguard had a troubled development. However, every time a new story comes out about how studio in-fighting and corporate favoritism affected the project, it feels like more of a miracle that the fantasy RPG got out the door looking like a classic BioWare game. Mark Darrah, the former executive producer of the Dragon Age series, has released a new YouTube video in which he discusses how a few events in 2017 fundamentally changed the trajectory of the RPG studio and how, according to him, Dragon Age was thrown under the bus in more ways than one during this time. Darrah's 16-minute video runs down how things shifted at BioWare in the months leading up to Mass Effect: Andromeda's launch in 2017, a period of change that he calls 'the most impactful 12 months' in the studio's history. In late 2016 Darrah, who had been working on Dragon Age, began instead leading the team that would oversee the closing months of the sci-fi RPG's development cycle. He explains that his transfer felt like a blow to the Dragon Age team, which was then working on one of the early iterations of the fantasy series' fourth entry, as Darrah had been a key member of its leadership. However, Darrah thought that by helping ship Andromeda, he could then see the resources dedicated to the game reallocated to help the Dragon Age team develop the fantasy RPG. But unfortunately, that's not what happened. 'My feeling at the time was the Dragon Age team was feeling jerked around,' Darrah says in the video. 'They were feeling like we were getting no support from BioWare or from [publisher] EA, which was basically true.' Darrah says his coming on to help with Andromeda was irregular at the time, as it was the first time the studio had a 'leadership discontinuity,' in which a person in charge of one project that was in active development left it to work on another. Darrah says the short time he spent working on Andromeda didn't ultimately have much of an impact on Dragon Age's development, but it did set a precedent establishing that leadership could be moved around within the company, even if they were in the middle of directing something else. This move contributed to a perception that Dragon Age wasn't a priority within the company. Darrah goes on to explain how the relationship between BioWare and EA changed at this time, as the studio started reporting to a different arm of the publisher. Prior to this, BioWare was 'strangely' reporting to higher-ups in the company's sports section, a group which Darrah described as 'benignly disinterested,' allowing the studio to work more autonomously. Then, when things shifted in 2017, BioWare started reporting to a branch of EA that was 'hyper interested' in the decision-making process. According to Darrah, this change in leadership was likely part of why the studio moved on from Andromeda so quickly, canceling the game's planned DLC and putting the sci-fi series on ice. 'The group that we reported into had very little stake in either the success or the failure of [Mass Effect: Andromeda], and they had a lot more incentive for BioWare to move on to the next thing that they could tie themselves to and show themselves as having influence on the development of,' Darrah said. As BioWare geared up for the next game, the much-maligned looter shooter Anthem, Darrah says he received 'assurances' from EA and BioWare leadership that Dragon Age was important to the company, but not the kinds of developers and resources that would back those statements up. And it was all made a lot more complicated by the return of ex-Mass Effect director Casey Hudson, who rejoined the company as its general manager in 2017. Darrah says he learned about Hudson's return at the same time as the rest of the company, despite being a senior member of BioWare's leadership team. He says he considered the decision to bring Hudson back without consulting him a sign of 'an immense amount of disrespect,' and he sent emails shortly after the announcement that said he expected Hudson would make a call to 'starve' Dragon Age of resources as the studio went all-hands-on-deck on Anthem. Darrah was once again reassured by leadership that Dragon Age was important to the company and that they were committed to him leading the project. 'As we all know, that's not what happened at all,' Darrah says. 'In very short order, in basically exactly the way that I predicted, Anthem was seen as needing greater leadership support, and myself and some other very senior people, and a large percentage of the Dragon Age team, was moved onto Anthem.' This was followed by the scaling down of BioWare's Montreal studio, which saw many staff members moved to other teams across the EA umbrella. Darrah says that the Montreal team had 'basically been lied to' and were told that the Dragon Age team 'didn't want' them. He also claims that he was trying to get the next Dragon Age past a certain development threshold which he hoped might allow him to retain those developers, but EA higher-ups who were local in Montreal wanted those people, and 'proximity is a powerful tool.' 'If you are someone who's been mad at me since 2017 because you feel like I abandoned you in Montreal, know that that's not what happened,' Darrah says. 'Know that I fought with every tool that I knew how to wield to try and keep you, but the organization had no interest in that occurring.' Whatever the circumstances, Darrah says EA wasn't interested in helping the Dragon Age team grow; it wanted Anthem to get off the ground and be a huge live-service hit for the company. Darrah hypothesizes that, at this point, management pivoted the Dragon Age project into the now-scrapped live-service game as a 'rationalization' for removing many members of the team and putting them to work on Anthem. Now that the next Dragon Age was going back to the drawing board, it could be argued that the project didn't need that big of a team in its early production stages. The move also resulted in a longer 'leadership discontinuity,' as Darrah worked on Anthem until the game shipped in 2019. 'I talked a fairly long time ago about how EA buys studios and then consumes them and they start to lose their culture into the overall EA culture,' Darrah said. 'To me, it feels like 2017 is when EA finished digesting BioWare, which they had bought nine years earlier in 2008.' Darrah acknowledges that much of his story might sound like a series of events that affected him personally rather than the studio at large, but a handful of ex-BioWare employees have shared the video on social media and corroborated the events described. Darrah's claims also line up with Kotaku's previous reporting on Anthem's development, in which sources told us about how the loot shooter took up much of the company's resources, further complicating the development of what would eventually become Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Darrah left BioWare in 2020, but returned to consult onThe Veilguard in 2023. After 10 years of tortured development, that game finally launched in 2024 as a single-player, story-driven RPG and was divisive in the ways Dragon Age games often are. In January, BioWare was restructured to be a one-game studio, resulting in layoffs for some of the company's veteran talent. The team that remains is working on Mass Effect 5. 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