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Bungie's Marathon reboot — here's what you need to know

Bungie's Marathon reboot — here's what you need to know

Yahoo19-04-2025
In this week's gaming round-up, we get insights from a former PlayStation legend, while also highlighting a slew of news on retiring VTubers and leaks.
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.
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I Dropped $50 on This Rare Gran Turismo Demo and I Regret Nothing
I Dropped $50 on This Rare Gran Turismo Demo and I Regret Nothing

Yahoo

time10 hours ago

  • Yahoo

I Dropped $50 on This Rare Gran Turismo Demo and I Regret Nothing

If you're reading this website, you're probably nerdy about something—and I'm willing to bet it's not just cars. Maybe that leads you to hoarding memorabilia or working far too long on a project, never content to put the tools down. Oftentimes, such passions manifest in questionable financial decisions. I made one such purchase last weekend, when I dropped $50 on an old Gran Turismo demo disc with one car and one track, in a race the game won't even let you finish. Why would I do this? The disc I purchased at a gaming convention last weekend is called Gran Turismo 2000, and it was kind of a mystical thing back in my youth. After Gran Turismo 2 on the original PlayStation, developer Polyphony Digital naturally set its sights on bringing the smash-hit franchise to Sony's next-generation console. Its initial efforts materialized in builds of a project called GT2000, which first appeared at the Tokyo Game Show in late 1999, ahead of the PlayStation 2's Japanese launch the following March. GT2000 was shown a few more times at events over the next year: Once at Sony's PlayStation Festival 2000 in Chiba, Japan, in mid-February, and then months later at trade shows in the U.S. and U.K. as well. Those PlayStation Festival attendees, however, received GT2000 demo discs they could load into the PS2s they'd soon have, and this iteration of the game is the only one that has ever made its way into the public's hands. That's what I bought. Whether Gran Turismo 2000 was intended to be the third GT's title is unclear, but once the game slipped into 2001, Polyphony naturally chose a new name: Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec. GT3 went on to be a juggernaut, understood to be the second-best-selling PS2 game ever, at least as of the last time anyone bothered to count. But GT2000 is almost nothing like it, even though it was compiled just 14 months before the final game hit stores in Japan. See, this is why I couldn't pass up an opportunity to own a copy of GT2000. With demo discs of yore, you'd typically get a slice of the full game; depending on when the demo was minted, it might even look or play a little differently from the finished article. But, to anyone who knows Gran Turismo, GT2000 barely feels like an early, work-in-progress snapshot of GT3. In fact, it feels more like GT2—and that's what makes it so special. In GT2000, you drive the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution V around the Seattle Circuit, a track that first appeared in GT2. There are five opponents: a Honda NSX, FD Mazda RX-7, R34 Nissan Skyline GT-R, Subaru Legacy B4, and Toyota Altezza, always in the same colors. The race isn't limited to laps, but rather a 120-second timer that is just about long enough to pass the finish line once. Then you get a replay, and then you're rudely punted back to the title screen. One song plays as you drive— 'Mirage' by Daiki Kasho—and it's kind of infamous for being obnoxious, but I love it. The car select menu (it's honestly more of a color and transmission select menu, because you can't choose another car) spits you out into a race with no countdown—just a rolling start where you immediately have control over your Evo. The first thing you notice is that the vehicle physics are pretty much a match for GT2's. The Lancer feels extremely light and tossable, and you can fling it into corners and pull off some effortless drifts that would require a bit more finesse with GT3's weightier, more nuanced handling model. GT3 drives well, of course, and certainly more realistically, but GT2's liveliness appeals to the arcade racing lover in me, and I have a lot more fun throwing around the Evo here than I do in the final game. This demo is rough, though. For one, walls don't slow you down much at all. If you turn around at the start and drive through a tire barrier, you can easily break out of the course's bounds. Computer-controlled opponents exit most corners wide and strike the guardrails. And the graphics are hardly stellar. Aside from the physics, this is the other big difference between GT2000 and GT3. The car models resemble GT2 assets with slightly more intricate geometry; their windows are still opaque black, just like on the PS1, while they'd be transparent in time for GT3's release. The Seattle Circuit itself also looks rather flat and simplistic, with lower-resolution textures throughout. Comparing key sections of the track across both games, you can see how Polyphony built far more detail into the environment and trackside scenery in little more than a year. The overpass that the circuit runs beneath after Turn 1, for example, is mostly flat in GT2000. In GT3, we see beams and cables in shadows. Further into the lap in GT2000, we pass Seattle's since-demolished Kingdome. In GT3, the Kingdome is still present, but resides next to Safeco Field, known as T-Mobile Park today. The Mariners' new home wasn't finished in time for the environment modelers to get it into GT2, so it's a nice touch that they were able to go back and include it in GT3. Indeed, GT3 is an objectively better experience, and history has proven that few developers were able to harness the PS2's power as well as Polyphony. And yet, there's something fascinating about seeing what is effectively GT2 running on more powerful hardware at double the framerate and a higher (albeit interlaced) resolution. For all its faults, it almost feels like a GT2 'Plus.' Audiences around the time of the demo's release were stunned by the heat haze effect Polyphony was able to convey in replays. It seems quaint now, but Gran Turismo was on the cutting edge of real-time graphics even then. Little details, like how GT2000's cars accurately reflect the environment they're in, rather than the vague, scrolling light effects you'd see in the PS1 games, represent serious steps forward. And all of it would be further refined for GT3. GT2000, then, is a fascinating snapshot of Gran Turismo at a precise moment in time, to a nerd like me. And, as Digital Foundry's John Linneman pointed out in his fantastic retrospective on the series that you ought to watch if you care about stuff like this, what makes GT2000 all the more special is how Polyphony improved upon it so profoundly in GT3. These days, it's sadly not uncommon for our first glimpse at a game to be markedly more impressive than the final shipping product, but Gran Turismo bucked that expectation in a big way. Personally, snagging a copy of this demo represents something else, for me: closure. I remember gaming magazines talking it up when I was a kid, and when GT3 eventually emerged, I wondered what happened to GT2000. Of course, it was never a secret—the final game literally missed the year 2000, and this disc was never released outside Japan—but these kinds of things carry a lot of weight when you're young. And I'm happy to say that there's been a positive development in my securing a copy of GT2000. Remember how I said that you could only drive the Evo in this game? I shared my purchase with members of the racing-game-centric Discord community I run. One of them goes by the name of Silent—he's the developer perhaps best known for fixing old Grand Theft Auto games so they run better than ever on PC. Silent built upon work done by another Gran Turismo modder years back, named Xenn, and is whipping up cheats that can be used in the PCSX2 emulator to remove GT2000's two-minute time limit and let the player drive any of the game's six cars. Neat stuff! It's unclear how many GT2000 discs Sony pressed for that Festival show, whether in the hundreds or the thousands. Either way, they're not impossible to find, and if I really wanted to, I could've scoured eBay for a copy years ago. Yeah, $50 is a lot, but you might be surprised to learn that it's a pittance compared to what some truly rare or high-demand games command nowadays. I could never bring myself to shell out the cash until the chance presented itself in person. Now that I have, surprise, surprise: I regret nothing. Got any memorabilia you love yet spent a stupid amount of money on? Email me at

PlayStation獨佔遊戲未來連Xbox都玩得到?新職缺曝光要進軍全平台
PlayStation獨佔遊戲未來連Xbox都玩得到?新職缺曝光要進軍全平台

Yahoo

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  • Yahoo

PlayStation獨佔遊戲未來連Xbox都玩得到?新職缺曝光要進軍全平台

一直以來,在自家的 PlayStation 平台上,Sony 與旗下的索尼互動娛樂(SIE)都堅持著平台獨佔策略,會讓許多第一方自家遊戲只能在 PlayStation 主機上玩得到。不過,隨著近年來 PlayStation 平台戰略的轉變,也開始讓《戰神》、《地平線》等第一方遊戲也會登上 PC 平台,而現在 Sony 似乎打算繼續進行戰略調整,被發現正在徵求新的「多平台與帳戶管理資深總監」,來制定 PlayStation 平台新的跨平台戰略,並且要直接對 Sony 集團的副總裁負責。 (Credit:PlayStation) 綜合外媒報導,Sony 最近正在對旗下的 PlayStation 平台尋找新的「多平台與帳戶管理資深總監」,來制定所有 PlayStation Studios 的遊戲作品在所有第三方平台上(Steam、Epic Games Store、XBOX等)的戰略,並且也要直接對 Sony 集團的副總裁匯報。 Sony 並表示,希望新任總監能最大化遊戲利潤,並且能夠領導專注於多平台、與其他平台合作夥伴管理的高效能團隊,也將「監督所有第三方平台上的 PlayStation Studios 作品的戰略,推動營收成長與吸引更多玩家。」,這或許也代表,PlayStation 接下來也將繼續往多平台方向前進,未來可能也不再堅持自己的獨佔戰略,而是希望自家遊戲能登上更多平台,吸引更多玩家遊玩。

Tripwire Interactive Unleashes Next Chapter in Iconic Co-op Action/Horror Franchise, Killing Floor 3, Now Available Worldwide on PC and Consoles
Tripwire Interactive Unleashes Next Chapter in Iconic Co-op Action/Horror Franchise, Killing Floor 3, Now Available Worldwide on PC and Consoles

Business Wire

time2 days ago

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Tripwire Interactive Unleashes Next Chapter in Iconic Co-op Action/Horror Franchise, Killing Floor 3, Now Available Worldwide on PC and Consoles

ROSWELL, Ga.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Developer and publisher Tripwire Interactive announced the global release of the latest installment of their brutal co-op action/horror franchise, Killing Floor 3, on PC (via Steam and Epic Games Store), the PlayStation®5 system, and the Xbox Series X|S console system. Killing Floor 3 is now available digitally on all platforms for $39.99 for the Standard Edition, $59.99 for the Deluxe Edition and $79.99 for the Elite Nightfall Edition, and is available physically on PlayStation®5 and Xbox Series X|S as a Standard Edition with a MSRP of $39.99 from select retailers. The battle for survival against Horzine and their Zed army begins today, join Nightfall to protect the future of humanity and make every Zed dead. ' Launch is just the beginning for Killing Floor 3. Tripwire has a deep history of building upon our games after release with impactful updates and content, and the team remains immensely dedicated to crafting an experience that expands on the Killing Floor franchise. Players can expect new maps, new perks, new specialists, new weapons, and new enemies in the coming months following launch, ' said Bryan Wynia, Creative Director at Tripwire Interactive. ' We are incredibly excited to share what we have been working on with all of our fans. We look forward to fighting through the hordes of Zeds alongside you. Make sure to stick together and fight to the very last bullet, we will see you on the battlefield!' Killing Floor 3 launches after a short delay as the development team took time to respond to community feedback with a range of improvements and adjustments to the game, all shared transparently with their community through their forums and social channels throughout the process. With an improved foundation and more updates and content coming post launch, including the separation of specialists from perks, the bloody stage is set for Tripwire Interactive's industry-leading live game support. The development team has shared a roadmap of confirmed future content updates coming to all platforms, while remaining agile to respond to immediate player concerns and feedback. ' We know fans have been eagerly waiting for Killing Floor 3, and we appreciate everyone's patience during the delay. That extra time allowed us to make meaningful improvements across the board, ensuring the game lives up to its full potential,' said Matthew LoPilato, CEO of Tripwire Interactive. ' Killing Floor is a cornerstone of our studio, and as the most ambitious entry in the series yet, Killing Floor 3 builds on that foundation, delivering brutal co-op action like never before." Killing Floor 3 is the next installment in the legendary co-op action/horror FPS series. The year is 2091, 70 years after the events in Killing Floor 2, and megacorp Horzine has produced the ultimate army: an obedient horde of bio-engineered monstrosities called Zeds. Now, the only thing standing between these infernal creations and the future of humanity is the rebel rogue group known as Nightfall. This intense first-person shooter puts players in the role of a Nightfall specialist, joining forces with up to five teammates as they battle through a war-ravaged, dystopian future, surviving unrelenting waves of Zeds, unlocking new skills, and building the ultimate arsenal. Killing Floor 3 Key Features Include: Killer Co-op – Assemble the ultimate Zed extermination squad for frenzied 6-player co-op with full crossplay functionality across all platforms. Skilled specialists can brave the battlefield alone in tense single-player mode. Relentless Zeds – Players will face the most lethal Zeds yet. Every enemy has been redesigned with advanced methods of mobility, attack, and re-tuned with smarter AI; making them faster, deadlier, and more strategic than ever. Deadly Weapons – From flamethrowers to shotguns to katanas, players will have an expansive arsenal at their disposal, fully customizable with hundreds of mods, gadgets, and skills to choose from to fit their unique brand of bloodletting. Dangerous Locations – Players will drop into a variety of treacherous hot zones to contain further spread of the Outbreak. Interactive environments give players dynamic advantages by activating turrets, fans, and other devastating traps. More Gore – The M.E.A.T. System returns to deliver even more realistic carnage. Featuring additional points of dismemberment and persistent blood, the game responds to attacks with gruesome authenticity. Developed and published by Tripwire Interactive, Killing Floor 3 launched on July 24, 2025 for PC (via Steam and Epic Games Store), the PlayStation®5 system, and the Xbox Series X|S console system. The game has an ESRB rating of M for Mature and a PEGI 18 rating. Download the Killing Floor 3 press kit and watch the launch trailer on YouTube. To stay up to date on the latest Killing Floor 3 news and updates, visit the official website, and follow the game on Discord, X, Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. For more information about Tripwire Interactive please visit their official website and follow them on X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. About Tripwire Interactive Formed in 2005 as a humble independent developer founded by gamers who found success in the video game modding community, Tripwire Interactive has developed and self-published multiple critically acclaimed titles in the wildly popular Killing Floor and Rising Storm franchises, which have collectively sold over 30 million units to date. The studio's last internal project, Maneater, broke new ground in the popular action RPG genre and tasked players with taking on the role of a deadly shark with the uncanny ability to evolve as it feeds. Since its release in 2020 Maneater has sold over 14 million units worldwide across all platforms. Since then, Tripwire Interactive has expanded its business with the publishing division, Tripwire Presents, turning its experience and resources to include publishing titles spanning multiple platforms and genres from other talented independent studios. Tripwire Presents aims to help like-minded independent studios bring their titles to market, including Chivalry 2 developed by Torn Banner Studios, Espire 1: VR Operative and Espire 2 developed by Digital Lode, DECEIVE INC. developed by Sweet Bandits Studios, Road Redemption developed by EQ Games and Pixel Dash Studios, Rogue Waters developed by Ice Code Games, The Stone of Madness developed by The Game Kitchen and the upcoming NORSE: Oath of Blood developed by Arctic Hazard. Tripwire Presents continues to grow their portfolio, and are always on the lookout for the next great team and game. Inquiries and pitches can be directed to publishing@ or submitted through their publishing application form. Tripwire Interactive is a standalone entity within the Embracer Group. All product titles, publisher names, trademarks, artwork and associated imagery are trademarks, registered trademarks and/or copyright material of the respective owners. All rights reserved. Killing Floor© 2009-2025 Tripwire Interactive. Unreal® is a trademark or registered trademark of Epic Games, Inc. in the United States of America and elsewhere. Unreal® Engine, Copyright 1998-2025, Epic Games, Inc. All rights reserved.

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