Technologies

What Is Marathon? A Short History of Bungie’s 30-Year-Old FPS

Bungie is bringing back one of its oldest properties.

When Halo came out on the Xbox in 2001 as the must-have launch game for the console, players new to Bungie games heard bits and pieces about its older series, called Marathon. After being dormant for more than two decades, Bungie revealed in 2023 that it was bringing back the series in a new game, which will have its first full reveal on Saturday.

Marathon is Bungie’s newest game, taking place in the universe that started in 1994. As the reveal is only days away, it’s a good time to look back at the series that was pushing the limits of the first-person shooter genre in the mid-1990s after Doom and Wolfenstein 3D set the foundation.

What is Marathon?

Marathon is a sci-fi FPS that was released in 1994 for the Apple Macintosh. Although all the revolutionary games were happening on PC at the time, Bungie viewed the Mac as a more open platform for developers to make games on.

Taking place in the year 2794, Marathon has players take the role of an unnamed security officer on the colony ship UESC Marathon. An alien race known as the S’pht is attacking the ship, and it’s up to this unnamed officer to stop them.

What set Marathon apart from other FPS games at the time was how it had the story unfold through computer terminals, where the officer would receive messages from one of the three AIs operating on the ship, as well as crew diary entries and other databases. Over the course of the game, players learn that the S’pht are actually controlled by another race of aliens called the Pfhor, which were in contact with one of the ship’s AI named Durandal. This particular AI has essentially become sentient and evil. It used the aliens as a way for it to escape the ship, and it’s up to the player to secure Marathon.

Marathon was a hit for Bungie, and at the time, some considered it a step up from Doom and Doom 2 with its innovative storytelling.

Marathon 2: Durandal came out in 1995 for Mac and Windows. The sequel picks up right after the first game, in which Durandal abducts the security officer before it escapes the ship and has been kept in stasis for 17 years.

The AI has taken the player to the S’pht homeworld, Lh’owon. Durandal manipulates the security officer, saying that the Pfhor are preparing to attack Earth. In reality, the AI is searching for an ancient S’pht AI to learn how to free itself from the universe.

Marathon 2 received more praise than the original as Bungie made big strides in the game’s graphics and gameplay. But some of the sequel’s greatest innovations were with its multiplayer. Marathon 2 has several modes that would be mainstays for the Halo series, including Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, King of the Hill and the novel Kill the Man with the Ball mode (which would later be referred to as Oddball in Halo). It also had a co-op story campaign.

Marathon Infinity is the third game of the Marathon trilogy, released in 1996, but this time only for Mac. At the end of the previous game, the Pfhor unleashed a doomsday device into the sun of the system with the S’pht homeworld, Lh’owon. This unleashed an ancient being known as the W’rkncacnter. This entity is a threat to the entire galaxy, and the security officer has to stop it. To do so, he must jump through alternate timelines to try to get to the point before the W’rkncacnter is released.

Much like its predecessors, Marathon 3 received high praise for its storytelling and gameplay. It even won the best Mac Game from CNET’s Gamecenter back in 1996. The third game also had another mainstay for Bungie, the Forge system. Players could create their own Marathon level using tools similar to how they would be done more than a decade later in Halo 3.

How is Marathon related to Halo?

Since the first Halo game was released in 2001, fans of the Marathon series have been trying to link the two franchises together. It seemed like the two must be linked as Halo makes use of multiple symbols from the Marathon games.

However, all the similarities between the two games are less about the games taking place in the same universe and more about Bungie inserting cute but insubstantial references to the Marathon games. The symbols, names and even spoken lines found in the Halo games that directly relate to the Marathon games don’t prove any connection. Could there be a sliver of a connection between the universes if someone were to theorize hard enough? Probably, but that is doing way too much work for two games that have almost no relation to each other, with the only tie being their developer.

It remains to be seen whether Marathon is connected to Bungie’s other property, Destiny, which it has built up over the past decade.

What is with the new Marathon?

The new Marathon game will be something new for Bungie, which moved from Halo to its multiplayer co-op and player-versus-player franchise Destiny. Its new game is a PvP extraction shooter, a popular multiplayer genre nowadays. With extraction shooters, players are dropped onto a map and go search for loot while taking down AI-controlled enemies. The goal is to get extracted from the map with the loot, but other players are getting their own loot and shooting at you for your loot.

In the new Marathon, players will take the role of cybernetic mercenaries called Runners who are on the alien planet of Tau Ceti IV. This will be an online-only game, but Bungie has said that it wants to make this genre more approachable to players.

How does the new Marathon connect to the original games?

Bungie has yet to clearly link this new game to the older Marathon games that the studio built its reputation upon. There is a definite connection, as Tau Ceti IV was a colony from the first Marathon game, which appears to have been abandoned by the humans who lived there. However, aside from a few details, Bungie has not laid out much else to connect the games. Bungie has said this new Marathon game isn’t a direct sequel to the older games.

When Bungie revealed the new game in 2023, the team said players don’t need to know the Marathon lore to understand it, but longtime fans will be excited by some of the references they’ll find throughout the game. Bungie says the story of the game will unfold as players interact with the world.

Marathon’s reveal will happen on Saturday, and the game will come out on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series consoles sometime in the future.

Technologies

McDonald’s Snack Wrap: Is the Viral Food Favorite Returning on July 14?

July 14 could be the release date for the much-longed-for chicken Snack Wraps, but Ronald and crew aren’t talking.

McDonald’s is riding a viral wave. The fast-food chain’s Minecraft Happy Meals and adult Minecraft Meals hit restaurants on April 1 and sold out quickly. Diners ordering a Happy Meal these days will find a Squishmallow theme meal instead. But there’s more viral buzz about another McDonald’s product online. People are eagerly awaiting the return of Snack Wraps, a chicken-tortilla entree that’s been missing from US locations of the Golden Arches since 2020.

Read more: Review: McDonald’s Minecraft Meals Feature The Hottest Nugget Sauce Ever

On April 15, McDonald’s tweeted «snack wraps 0x.14.2025,» hinting the wraps would return on the 14th of an upcoming month. This leaves fans having to check their McDonald’s mobile app or local restaurant menus on the 14th of every month, hoping the wraps will make an appearance. The wraps didn’t appear in restaurants on May 14, so now fans must check again in June, and again in July if the June date does not pan out.

At least one Reddit users seems to think the McDonald’s Snack Wraps could return on July 14. One user wrote, «It’s July, I work for McDonald’s,they revealed the date on the employee app.»

But another person posted, «It’s not July. I work at McDonald’s corporate and can confirm.»

Neither of those posts can be confirmed.

June 14 is a Saturday, while July 14 is a Monday. Some suggest that McDonald’s would be more likely to launch a new product on a Monday than on a weekend, so if that’s true, July 14 could be the day.

A representative for McDonald’s did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

snack wraps 0x.14.2025

— McDonald’s (@McDonalds) April 15, 2025

Snack Wrap fever

Snack Wraps first came out in 2006, and were meant to be a chicken item that would appeal to drive-thru customers. There are different versions, but the basic one includes white-meat chicken strips known as McCrispy Strips wrapped in a flour tortilla with cheese and lettuce with either ranch, honey mustard or salsa. McCrispy Strips are a reworked version of a chicken item formerly known as Chicken Selects.

Zach Ciampa, who regularly covers new food releases under the social-media handle Snach With Zach, said there’s been an intense fanbase out there for the wraps. «Regarding McDonald’s Snack Wrap, it’s by far the most requested item I’ve ever seen my audience ask or demand to come back,» he told CNET. «Not just the most requested in recent memory, but the most requested of all time. And that’s not limited to McDonald’s.» Ciampa said the only similar fast-food items that come close to the same level of interest are Dairy Queen’s S’mores Blizzard and Taco Bell’s Caramel Apple Empanada, both of which also made recent returns.

«I’ve been covering food releases for years, and in that time, I’ve seen countless comments to the tune of ‘We don’t want this. We want the Snack Wrap,’ and, ‘Can you tell us when the Snack Wrap is coming back?'» he said. «A couple years ago, the chances of its return were pretty bleak. However, things escalated pretty quickly in late 2023 when McDonald’s did indeed announce that the Snack Wrap would return in a new form. Since then, details have slowly but surely trickled out, and the hype has steadily grown.»

While Snack Wraps left McDonald’s locations in the US back in 2020, they remained available at Canadian and UK restaurants. The current online McDonald’s Canada menu includes several tortilla-wrapped items, including ones with crispy chicken, grilled chicken, buffalo chicken and chicken with a sweet chili sauce.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for May 21, #240

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, No. 240, for May 21.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Connections: Sports Edition tried to fool players today by tossing in four coin words: quarter, dime, nickel and penny. Yet as longtime players know, that’s way too simple for a Connections puzzle — and this was indeed a trick. The four coin words all ended up in different groups. Read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is out of beta now, making its debut on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 9. That’s a sign that the game has earned enough loyal players that The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by the Times, will continue to publish it. It doesn’t show up in the NYT Games app but now appears in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can continue to play it free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Watch the clock.

Green group hint: Not offense.

Blue group hint: Nice throw!

Purple group hint: Fancy footwear.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Sections of a game.

Green group: Football defensive terms.

Blue group: Words used to describe a good pass.

Purple group: Eponymous basketball shoes, minus the S

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is sections of a game. The four answers are half, inning, period and quarter.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is football defensive terms. The four answers are 4-3, 46, nickel and prevent.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is words used to describe a good pass. The four answers are apple, assist, dime and dish.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is eponymous basketball shoes, minus the S. The four answers are Chuck, Jordan, LeBron and Penny.

Technologies

You Can Now Play Fortnite Again on iPhone and iPad

The long wait is over: Fortnite returns to Apple’s App Store in the US.

Fortnite is back on iPhone and iPad, as announced in its post today on X.

The game had been in and out of the Apple App Store multiple times over the years as its parent company, Epic Games, and Apple clashed over developer fees. But now, following a court ruling against Apple, the massively popular game can finally be downloaded again on iOS devices.

The US District Court for the Northern District of California ruled on April 30 that Apple’s behavior toward web transactions was in bad faith and anticompetitive. Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney posted about the ruling on X on the same day.

«For the reasons set forth herein, the Court finds Apple in willful violation of this Court’s 2021 Injunction which issued to restrain and prohibit Apple’s anticompetitive conduct and anticompetitive pricing,» court documents read. «Apple’s continued attempts to interfere with competition will not be tolerated.»

Sweeney made the announcement of Fortnite’s return to iPhone and iPad shortly after the April 30 court ruling.

«We will return Fortnite to the US iOS App Store next week,» Sweeney wrote on X. «Epic puts forth a peace proposal: If Apple extends the court’s friction-free, Apple-tax-free framework worldwide, we’ll return Fortnite to the App Store worldwide and drop current and future litigation on the topic.»

Read more: The 15 Best PC Games Right Now

What will be new on Fortnite for iPhones?

In celebration of its iOS relaunch, Fortnite is rumored to be bringing back the Tart Tycoon skin. The monochrome cosmetic outfit was first released in 2020 and is meant to be a parody of Apple. Alongside the rare item, the Tart Tycoon Cup event is said to be returning.

Fortnite had been banned from iOS devices since 2020, when the flagship iOS device was the iPhone 11.

Why was Fortnite off the iPhone and why is it back now?

In 2021, Epic Games and Apple went to court. Apple largely won that court battle, but didn’t walk away unscathed. A federal judge also ordered Apple to remove its anti-steering barriers, meaning the company must allow apps downloaded from the App Store to steer customers to third-party means.

From the archives: Apple Scores Legal Win Over Epic in Fortnite Lawsuit

Apple appealed the decision later in 2021, with proceedings continuing through 2022 and into 2023. Apple eventually won the appeal. However, the court upheld its anti-steering ruling from 2021 in the process.

When Epic took Apple back to court in 2025, the company pointed out that Apple hadn’t complied with the original ruling in 2021. The judge agreed and is now forcing Apple to follow the rules to the letter. This includes not charging developers for non-App Store payment methods and allowing developers to tell people that such third-party options and platforms exist. The time frame is simple enough. Apple is to comply with these new rules immediately.

Epic Games also has lawsuits against Google and Samsung, seeking to achieve the same result for users of Google Play.