Latest News “Stay informed with breaking news, world news, US news, politics, business, technology, and more at latest news.

Category: Marathon

Auto Added by WPeMatico

  • PlayStation State of Play June 2025: How to watch and what to expect

    E3 may be long dead and buried, but its spirit still lives on every June. This week is a loaded one for video game showcases, as we’ll get Summer Game Fest, the Xbox Games Showcase, and more streaming over the next few days. Now you can add one more must-watch showcase to your radar: PlayStation’s State of Play.

    Tomorrow, June 4, Sony will give fans a major update on what’s coming to PS5 with a sizable stream. That’s great news, because the back half of Sony’s year is a bit of a mystery right now beyond two or three major games. What else in store for PS5 owners this year? Here’s all the information you need so you can catch the show. And if you can’t watch it live, stay tuned to Digital Trends, as we’ll keep you updated on all the big news.

    When is the June 2025 PlayStation State of Play?

    The PlayStation State of Play will air on Wednesday, June 4, just one day ahead of the Nintendo Switch 2’s launch. It will air at 2 p.m. PT and will run for over 40 minutes. That positions it as a substantial broadcast, rather than a short show meant to highlight a few key games.

    How to watch the June 2025 PlayStation State of Play

    If you want to catch the show live, you’ll be able to watch it on either PlayStation’s YouTube or Twitch channel. And don’t worry if you miss it: a VOD should be available right after it wraps up. We’ve embedded the YouTube video above, so you can watch it here if you’d like.

    What to expect from the June 2025 PlayStation State of Play

    Sony is being vague about what exactly it’s showing this time. All it says in its blog post announcing the stream is that it will show off PS5 games from creators around the world. PlayStation VR2 isn’t mentioned, so don’t expect to see any new VR games. So, what’s likely to show up? With Death Stranding 2: On the Beach slated to launch later this month, we wouldn’t be surprised to see one more trailer hyping it up. Marathon is likely to appear as well considering that Sony owns Bungie, though there are rumors swirling that its upcoming release could be delayed. And of course, Ghost of Yotei should get a spotlight here considering that it’s the PS5’s big fall exclusive.

    Other than that, the field is wide open. This has historically been a very exciting show for Sony, as it usually nabs big reveals from third-party partners like Square Enix and Capcom. There’s a good chance we see something like Resident Evil 9 here, giving us a big shocker before Summer Game Fest. It’s possible that Sony has its own surprises in store too, as we know that Marvel’s Wolverine is next in the pipeline. We’re overdue for a update on that one, so it could pop up as a grand reveal. Whatever appears, it should be an exciting way to kick off a very busy week in gaming.

  • The 10 best cities in America for running a marathon

    The 10 best cities in America for running a marathon

    More than one million people run a marathon every year globally, and in the U.S., there are plenty of races to choose from. But what are the best host cities?

    Read more…

  • 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.

    The trust is broken

    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.

    Lennox near a wall of fire in Concord.
    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.

  • 5 games to play now that Grand Theft Auto 6 is delayed

    Grand Theft Auto 6 now has an official release date, but unfortunately, it’s in May 2026, not fall 2025 as previously expected. It was set to be perhaps the biggest launch of the year, but Rockstar says it needs more time to make GTA 6 the best game it can be. While it’s a disappointment for fans, it’s probably the best move for the game.

    But if you planned to spend your fall playing Grand Theft Auto, you probably have a pretty decent gap in your gaming schedule. Rather than lament the delay, here are five other games you can try instead. These cover the spectrum of genres, but are all great options for filling the void left in your gaming schedule.

    Borderlands 4

    Gearbox Software’s zany, over-the-top looter shooter launches on September 12, a full two weeks ahead of its originally predicted date. Fans suggested the launch date might have been moved because of GTA, but now we know it was just good fortune for Borderlands fans.

    The fourth entry in the series is more multiplayer-focused than ever and set on a brand-new planet with plenty of enemies to kill and Vaults to explore. So far, only two of the four playable Vault Hunters have been revealed, but you can look forward to more information at the gameplay event in June.

    Ghost of Yotei

    Ghost of Yotei is the follow-up to the excellent Ghost of Tsushima, but set roughly 300 years after the events of the first game. You take the role of a woman named Atsu on a quest of revenge, hunting down the men who killed her family. Ghost of Yotei brings back many of the same mechanics of the first game, but adds new activities like stargazing to capture the same moments of peace in between combat.

    Ghost of Yotei releases on October 2 on PlayStation 5. For gamers who want a darker, more story-focused game, Yotei promises to provide exactly that while scratching that samurai-movie itch at the same time.

    Marathon

    Bungie’s hotly anticipated extraction shooter drops September 23. The company is best known for Halo and Destiny, both offering top-tier gunplay that makes every weapon feel fantastic to use. Marathon is a sort of spiritual successor to Bungie’s original Marathon trilogy, with references scattered throughout but no direct link (at least not a confirmed one).

    Marathon is set to drop on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and PC at the same time. There’s no single-player mode to speak of; the entire game is a PvPvE experience, similar to other extraction shooters like Delta Force‘s Operations mode or Escape from Tarkov. There’s no end to choices in the extraction shooter genre, but Bungie is a studio that has changed the name of the game before. Maybe they’ll do it again.

    Dune: Awakening

    If you are itching for a good survival MMO, Dune: Awakening might be just what the doctor ordered. The game launches June 10 and is the perfect way for a fan of the Dune franchise to dive into the rugged, unforgiving desert world of Arrakis. Rather than tracking hunger, players have to monitor their hydration levels and sun exposure. You also have to pay attention for incoming sandstorms, as getting caught in one is an almost guaranteed death sentence.

    Dune: Awakening blends third-person shooter elements with the exploration and missions of an MMORPG, all while throwing survival elements on top of it all. And while doing all of that, it tells an engrossing story set in an alternate version of the Dune universe where the enigmatic hero of the books and movies was never born. If you’re eager to get started, its character creator is available for download now. You can play around and figure out what you want your avatar to look like and then import it after Dune: Awakening launches.

    Cyberpunk 2077

    Is this an oldie? Yup. But it’s still a goodie, and it’s releasing on Nintendo Switch 2 on June 5. Cyberpunk 2077 is an excellent way to get the Grand Theft Auto vibe in a more futuristic setting, rubbing elbows with underworld elements while eluding the powers that be. When it first launched, the game was a buggy mess that left fans disappointed and was practically unplayable at points. It has come a long way since then and is more than worth revisiting.

    With that in mind, it’s an expansive world with excellent writing and characters, tons of different customization for different builds, and plenty of different weapons to pick from as you shoot your way through a late-stage capitalistic world taken to the extreme. It’s available on all major platforms now, although playing it on PlayStation 5 Pro or a high-end gaming PC is the best way to get the full visual effect of Night City. And if you enjoy the base game, the Phantom Liberty DLC is worth your time, too.

  • Arc Raiders is fun, but I’m still doubtful about extraction shooters’ future

    I had a good time playing Arc Raiders at a preview event. So, why don’t I feel like playing it again at launch?

    Arc Raiders is the latest game attempting to stand out in the extraction shooter space. This shooter genre is very hardcore, tasking players with safely finding valuable loot across large levels and extracting before they can be killed. If players do die on a mission, they lose almost everything equipped to their character. It’s a high-risk, high-reward that developers are treating as the next battle royale-like craze. Now, the developers of The Finals, Embark Studios, are entering into the space with Arc Raiders, a game they reworked to become an extraction shooter.

    In 2025 alone, Exoborne, Marathon, Steel Hunters, and more are competing to become the next big thing. While I’ve enjoyed my time with Arc Raiders just as much as I’ve enjoyed my time with those other titles, I’m not sure if any of the extraction shooters I mentioned are compelling enough to not only take players away from genre stalwarts like Hunt: Showdown and Escape from Tarkov, but go mainstream as well.

    At a preview event I attended, Arc Raiders was described as a post-post-apocalyptic shooter. People live in underground cities like Speranza, which serves as the main menu hub, while Raiders venture out to the surface to gather lucrative crafting materials and weapons. Arc machines dot the surface and pose a threat to players, though, as do other Raiders. In practice, the core gameplay loop of Arc Raiders closely hews to genre clichés: explore, gather loot, extract, and avoid dying.

    Last year, I highlighted how Arc Raiders had changed a lot since its reveal at The Game Awards 2021, and my first hands-on with the game reinforced that notion. While Arc Raiders‘ first trailer showed lots of bombastic firefights against large robots, the extraction shooter version of the game is much slower-paced. Working with my teammates, I had to methodically decide which Arcs and what other players to take on, as one encounter with minimal shots fired could go very wrong with me. There are also giant Arcs to take down, but with my early-game gear, that was an instant death sentence.

    Moment to moment, Arc Raiders is an entertaining shooter. The former Battlefield developers at Embark know how to make gunplay feel gratifying. Each weapon has a unique feel, and there’s plenty of room for customization with attachments, which I could discover while exploring. The art direction and core premise of Arc Raiders are pulpy and retro-futuristic in a way I enjoy, and I appreciated how Arc Raiders provides a lot of structure for players with missions to complete and specific resources to track, so players could enhance and maximize their capabilities while in Speranza.

    When it comes to the baseline bar a new extraction shooter needs to meet, Arc Raiders passes it swimmingly. But as I continued to play Arc Raiders across this preview event, I came to a realization: I don’t like extraction shooters that much, and many of the current ones on offer don’t have the unique hooks needed to stand out and make a splash in the live service space.

    Gameplay from Arc Raiders.
    Embark Studios

    A core problem with extraction shooters is that the biggest feelings I ever get when playing them are feelings of frustration when I die, not satisfaction when I find something. No moment in an extraction shooter will ever match when I feel when getting a victory royale in a game like Fortnite. Basing your entire game’s structure around being able to lose what you obtain just isn’t appealing from a time investment standpoint. Sure, I can slowly trot around for a few rounds without engaging with anyone to build up my loot stockpile, but there are plenty of other shooters I can boot up and instantly have more fun instead.

    Because I’m not particularly fond of that core, I’m looking for extraction shooters that put a distinct twist on the formula. And unfortunately, many of these new ones are failing to do that. Exoborne gets the closest with its weather systems and grappling hook, but for games like Marathon and Arc Raiders, their developers are hoping that world and art direction become the main selling points. But gameplay is king, and if an extraction shooter isn’t offering that many new ideas from that standpoint, why should I play it over Hunt: Showdown or Escape from Tarkov?

    In 2025, a live service multiplayer game needs to do a lot more than that to attract my attention. Arc Raiders plays well, but nowadays, new multiplayer games need to feel quite distinct to stand out from the crowd. Arc Raiders was reworked to more intentionally feel like an Escape from Tarkov, though, and I wish there were some more creative gameplay ideas and twists at play. Maybe I’ll be proven wrong and Arc Raiders becomes the new baseline for the extraction shooter genre, but at this point, I’m looking for more than just a baseline to be hit.

    Tech Test 2 for Arc Raiders will take place between April 30 and May 4. A full release for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S is slated for sometime later this year.

  • Is Marathon cross-platform?

    One of the reasons that Bungie’s Destiny series has lasted so long as a live service game is that it was one of the first to embrace cross-platform support. The studio’s next project, Marathon, will also be a live service title, but this time it comes in the form of an extraction shooter instead of an MMO-lite looter shooter. Even after the team was acquired by PlayStation, Destiny still kept its cross-platform support, but what about this next project? Will Sony keep players relegated to their own platforms, or will you be able to team up with your friends on Tau Ceti IV regardless of where you are playing? Here’s what you need to know about Marathon‘s cross-platform support.

    Is Marathon cross-platform?

    A Runner getting shot in Marathon.
    Bungie / Bungie

    Yes, even though Bungie is technically owned by PlayStation, Marathon is coming out on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC with full crossplay support. Just like Destiny, all console and PC players will be able to team up and compete with no restrictions. One additional detail to note is that Xbox and PC players will not be required to have a PlayStation Network account to play, which has been a point of consternation with previous PlayStation titles on PC in particular. However, you will need a Bungie.net account to play, but there are no restrictions to creating one. We also suspect that there will be options to turn crossplay on or off based on platform, but there’s no official confirmation of that as of yet.

    Marathon is not a free-to-play game, but it still supports cross-save for those who do decide to grab the game on multiple platforms. As long as you sign in with the same Bungie.net account on each platform you boot the game up on, you will retain all your Runner gear and loot without having to start from scratch.

  • How to join the Marathon closed alpha test

    how to join the marathon closed alpha test

    Bungie

    After revolutionizing the live-service genre on consoles with Destiny, Bungie has been focused on the FPS game for over a decade. That’s what made the announcement of the upcoming video game Marathon, a return to one of the studio’s oldest IPs, so exciting. This is an extraction shooter with unique Runner classes, dynamic worlds, top-notch shooting, and so much more to discover. The game is coming out in September, so we won’t have to wait for too long, but even that is too long to wait for some. Thankfully, Bungie wants to give us the chance to play early with a closed alpha test. If you want to get a head start on this race, here’s how to join the Marathon closed alpha test.

    Difficulty

    Easy



    Duration

    15 minutes

    What You Need

    • PS5, Xbox Series X/S, or PC

    • Bungie.net account

    A dropship landing in marathon.

    Bungie

    How to join the closed alpha

    Bungie is hosting a closed alpha that runs from April 23 until May 4, but only for those who are selected to join. Unlike open tests where everyone can join, you need to jump through a few hoops for a chance to play Marathon early.

    First, the Marathon alpha test is only available for players in North America who are 18 or older on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, or PC with a Bungie.net account

    Step 1: Start by joining the official Marathon Discord server here and going into the “alpha_access” channel.

    Step 2: Once in, type in “/alpha” and you will get some prompts from a bot to fill in some questions to get a registration link.

    Step 3: Follow the link and sign in with your Bungie.Net account.

    Step 4: Select your platform, accept the non-disclosure agreement, and consent to get emails sent regarding the alpha. There will be a few more questions before you will be told to watch your email for further notice.

    Bungie expects to send out emails during the week of April 18 and then continue through the duration of the test, so you might get in even if you don’t get picked right away.

    Sadly, no progress in the alpha will carry into the full game, so everyone will still start on equal footing when the game officially comes out.

  • Marathon, Bungie’s long-awaited extraction shooter, will release this fall

    Marathon is Bungie’s highly-anticipated extraction shooter, and the company just dropped a new gameplay overview trailer and a release date: September 23, 2025. You take the role of a Runner, a cybernetic humanoid whose goal is to explore the ruins of the planet of Tau Ceti IV and uncover its secrets — and walk away with as much loot as you can carry.

    The reveal was unlocked through an alternate reality game, where thousands of community members all cooperated to find the date. For long-time Bungie fans, that shouldn’t come as a surprise; Halo 2 was announced in a similar way through the iconic I Love Bees campaign. Bungie also announced a closed alpha test that will start on April 23, 2025. If you’re interested in taking part, join the community Discord for a chance to sign up.

    “In Marathon, players inhabit a Runner, a cybernetic mercenary scouring the remains of a lost colony of Tau Ceti IV for fortune and power. Players team up in crews of three as they battle rival Runner teams and hostile security forces for weapons and upgrades. Survive and everything they’ve scavenged is theirs to keep for future runs on Tau Ceti IV—or if they’re brave enough, a journey to the derelict Marathon ship that hangs above,” wrote the team.

    Bungie is best known for the Halo and Destiny franchises, but those two series have something in common: phenomenal gunplay that makes them an absolute joy to play. The upcoming Marathon is a sort of sequel to the original Marathon trilogy that first released in 1994. If you’re old enough to have played the original — or you feel like diving in and trying it for yourself now — you might have an idea of what kind of secrets lie in wait on Tau Ceti IV.

    The new Marathon is absolutely a revival of an old IP, although with a different spin. Bungie hasn’t definitively said the titles are linked, but it isn’t a stretch to draw comparisons between the two. If you haven’t played the original, you won’t miss out on anything — but diehard fans will appreciate the references scattered throughout.

    Marathon will drop on September 23 for Steam, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series with full cross-play and cross-save. There’s no word yet on whether it will be a day one Game Pass title or not.