To Be or Not to Be

Ultra-long RPGs like Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth are a great value, but I yearn for more compact games I can actually finish.

With a new season starting soon, Bungie is offering Marathon at its best price yet next week: free. For the low price of nothing, anyone interested in checking out the extraction shooter on PC, PS5, or Xbox Series X|S can grab a free trial for the game starting June 2 and running through June 9, with progress carrying over if they decide to drop $40 on it. PS5 players won't need a PS Plus subscription to go online, either. With Marathon sales reportedly not being as great as Bungie hoped for and player numbers being modest at best, this might be the best chance for the developer

CD Projekt, the parent company of Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher studio CD Projekt Red, has a new name that it hopes will unify its businesses. Unfortunately, that name is CD Projekt Red, which is perplexing because CD Projekt Red already exists. So now, there are two CD Projekt Reds. In a June 23 news post (via Eurogamer), CD Projekt's new name is CD Projekt Red Spółka Akcyjna, with the tacked-on bit at the end being a Polish term for joint-stock company. The company voted on this name to consolidate the operations of its broader businesses, which include OG CD Projekt Red and all of its subs

Asha Sharma cuts back Microsoft's gaming operation and drops studios including Double Fine and Ninja Theory while pointing the finger at Phil Spencer

Orphan Black is one of the best biopunk TV shows, exploring the lives of clones and a corporation's pursuit of them