marathon
Latest
Bungie reportedly lays off staff, delays Marathon and Destiny 2: The Final Shape
Bungie has reportedly laid off an unknown number of staffers and delayed two games. The studio’s CEO, Pete Parsons, reportedly warned staffers they would be “hearing some news today” while announcing a team meeting.
Bungie revives 'Marathon' as a multiplayer shooter
Bungie is bringing back 'Marathon' as its first game beyond 'Destiny.'
Tetris is now a daily game show with cash prizes
N3TWORK's mobile 'Tetris' app gets a game show mode and more.
Bacteria from your gut may be the key to running farther
What separates average athletes from elite ones? Aside from years and years of training, dedication to the craft and natural advantages, it may have to do with what is in your gut. In a paper published this week in Nature Medicine, researchers from the Wyss Institute at Harvard revealed that a particular type of bacteria called Veillonella was found in higher quantities in marathon runners. That bacteria could lead to better performance.
Nintendo will let you play 'Tetris 99' offline for $10
Releasing Tetris 99 as a free-to-play Switch game was a canny move by Nintendo, as the popular online-only title motivated users to get a Switch Online membership. Now, Nintendo is introducing a paid component with the new $10 Big Block DLC. You get two new modes: "CPU Battle" lets you play 98 virtual opponents offline, while "Marathon" is just classic line-clearing action. Both are available offline, meaning you'll no longer need Switch Online to play it.
Twitch's next streaming marathon includes 932 episodes of 'Pokémon'
Bob Ross. Julia Child. Doctor Who. Now you can add Ash Ketchum and Pikachu to the list of marathons Twitch has streamed. Starting August 27th and going all the way through 2019, Twitch will stream 16 Pokémon movies and 19 seasons of the franchise's TV shows. Next Monday starting at 10 AM Pacific the marathon begins with Pokémon: Indigo League on the TwitchPresents channel.
Twitch will stream the '80s arcade gaming show 'Starcade'
Starcade, the '80s TV show that had participants compete in arcade video games, will be back by the end of August. No, not as a reboot, which is in the works, but as a Twitch marathon. The video gaming platform has teamed up with Shout! Factory, the studio that acquired the rights to create the reboot, to stream all 123 episodes of the original show. Starcade ran from 1982 to 1984 on TBS and featured arcade classics like Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Galaga and Centipede.
Twitch teams up with Crunchyroll for five-day anime marathon
Twitch marathons try to target different demographics, and an upcoming one specifically caters to anime and manga fans. The video streaming platform has teamed up with Crunchyroll for its first ever anime marathon, which will run from 6:30PM ET on July 27th up until August 1st. Twitch will reveal all 15 titles it plans to stream during the five-day event on July 21st. But we know that the list includes Mob Psycho 100, Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid, and Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers and one of 2016's biggest hits, the figure skating anime Yuri on Ice.
Twitch's latest marathon is a six-day 'MST3K' binge
B-movie lovers rejoice, for social video platform Twitch is set to air a Mystery Science Theater 3000 marathon lasting a mind-numbing six days. The stream, which features 38 classic episodes, will air on Shout! Factory TV's new Twitch channel from June 26 to July 3. The comic sci-fi show, which emerged as a cult favorite despite two network cancellations, follows hapless host Joel Robinson as he's trapped by mad scientists in space and forced to watch some of the worst B-movies ever produced. Viewers are not only treated (subjected?) to the appalling films in their entireties, but also to the running commentary of our sorry protagonist and the two robot sidekicks he's built to keep him sane (which, in the face of absolute fiascos such as Manos: The Hands of Fate, is no mean feat).
Robotic shorts can shave minutes off a marathon time
In marathons, milliseconds matter. A split-second can be the difference between victory and defeat; between setting a record and coming in second. So, it's a big deal when a team of Harvard engineers reveal a pair of shorts that reduce an average marathon time from 9:14 minutes/mile to 8:49 minutes/mile.
Twitch will stream every episode of 'Mister Rogers' Neighborhood'
May 15th is a beautiful day for Mister Rogers' Neighborhood fans. Starting at 3PM on the 15th, Twitch will begin streaming all 886 episodes of the beloved kids' show. The broadcast will last for 17 days on the Mister Rogers channel, ending sometime on June 2nd. Since the show ran from 1968 to 2001 on Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), expect to see lots of episodes you've never seen before, including those that were only ever aired once. Twitch will kick off the event with something other than its first episode, though: it will start by broadcasting Fred Rogers' famous Senate testimony to celebrate its 48th anniversary earlier this month.
Nike is livestreaming an attempt to run a sub-2 hour marathon
While it's Friday night here, three Nike-sponsored athletes are up early on a Saturday morning in Italy. The company has made it a quest to break the two-hour barrier for a marathon run, as Lelisa Desisa, Eliud Kipchoge and Zersenay Tadese go for that 1:59:59 time on the F1 track at Monza. You can watch live on Twitter or Facebook right now (we're as shocked as you are that no network jumped to broadcast a two-hour run). They're running with a pack arranged for maximum aerodynamic efficiency while following a Model S (no exhaust fumes) to find an optimal pace at an average of 4:34 for each mile. Sure, it's no reusable rocket launch, but we'll follow along with this potentially amazing feat from the couch. Update: In the end, they didn't quite make it, but Eliud Kipchoge finished in 2:00:25, under the IAAF world record time of 2:02:57 (this run is not eligible as a WR time).
Run fast enough and Strava will give you free sneakers
Strava is one of the few fitness apps that hasn't been bought by a sportswear company. Maybe that's why it's happy handing out footwear to anyone who can complete its "Back Half Challenge." The competition runs between October 9th and December 6th and is open to anyone looking to run a marathon. But if you think that simply covering 26 miles, 385 yards is enough to get a free pair of New Balance sneakers, you'd better sit down.
Astronaut becomes the first man to finish a marathon in space (updated)
British astronaut Tim Peake hasn't been shy about his plans to complete a marathon while aboard the International Space Station, and he's clearly a man of his word. The explorer became the first man to finish a marathon in space on April 24th by running the 26.2 miles of the London Marathon on a treadmill aboard the spacecraft, in sync with the race down on Earth. Of course, he had to fudge things a bit to replicate the experience -- he used an iPad to show London's roads as he ran, and he had to be strapped in to keep running in the microgravity environment.
Have some cake and enjoy the 'Indie Dev Supershow' this weekend
Alix Stolzer was one of the first game developers to truly embrace the power of livestreaming. She's the feline half of independent studio Robot Loves Kitty (her husband, Calvin Goble, is the android), and she's been using Twitch as a marketing and communication tool since 2013. That year, she organized the inaugural Indie Dev Supershow, a weekend marathon on Twitch highlighting a handful of games trying to score spots on Steam. Since then, the annual Indie Dev Supershow has garnered roughly 700,000 unique views. This year's show kicks off today at 11 AM EST, and it's poised to add a lot more viewers. "I'm really happy with the number," Stolzer says. "My goal is to get other devs into the eyes of the public, and it's better than the turnout of a year's worth of expos like PAX and E3. That doesn't mean I'm not trying to grow what we have, though."
A British astronaut will run the London Marathon in space
Running the London Marathon is hard enough. Running it in space? That's another challenge entirely. British astronaut Tim Peake is headed to the International Space Station (ISS) on December 15th and wants to complete the race at the same time as everyone down on Earth. He won't be running the actual route though -- instead, he'll be on a treadmill with a harness system that includes a waist-belt and shoulder straps. These will apply some much-needed downforce to counter Peake's weightlessness and recreate his natural running style in space. He'll also have a video feed of the route which will speed up and slow down to reflect his pace.
Piggybacking robot feeds you tomatoes while you run
We might have a new winner for the "world's silliest wearable" award. Japanese juice vendor Kagome has teamed up with the mechanical artists at Maywa Denki to build Petit-Tomatan, a piggybacking robot that feeds you tomatoes (which reportedly help your "antioxidant power") while you're running. This goofy helper was meant as a publicity stunt for this weekend's Tokyo Marathon, but it's a fully fleshed-out device -- there's even a timer so that you don't clear out your nutritional supply too quickly. While you're likely never going to see any serious athletes donning contraptions like this, it does make the runner's old-school water bottle look a little outdated.
The best and fastest: Highlights from Awesome Games Done Quick 2015
The annual Awesome Games Done Quick marathon is one of the biggest charity events in gaming, with this year's show raising more than $1 million in charitable donations for the Prevent Cancer Foundation over a grueling week-long campaign. During the course of the event, gamers from across the globe gathered to complete classic and modern games at lightning speed, producing amazing playthroughs and earning thousands of viewer donations from the collective atmosphere and camaraderie. This year's event was the most financially successful to date, and we've already covered highlights like this ultra-quick Pokemon Blue playthrough and an unlikely Mischief Makers marriage proposal. With more than 100 hours of speedruns to sift through, however, it may be tough to find the best of the best. With that in mind, here are our favorite runs from AGDQ 2015, with links to the original Twitch archives provided by this Reddit thread. You've got a lot to catch up on if you missed out on this year's event, so let's dive right in.
Run to the top of the list with RankRunner
If you are a competitive runner or someone who just runs because you enjoy running, RankRunner is worth a look but it still has some issues. This free universal app runs on iOS 7.0 or later and will give you an idea how your training and race results stack up against other runners worldwide. The app uses an algorithm to determine your ranking against others RankRunner users around the world. The algorithm provides a ranking for every user between 1 and 10,000 with 1 being the very top performance available based on how much you train, the level of difficulty of the training plus your participation and results in official races. Once you enter a profile you can start tracking all your training runs. RankRunner uses the GPS in your device to measure the distance and time of your runs. This information is stored and with the first run you receive an international tracking. In addition to your distance and time, the app includes local weather information, the pace of your effort and elevation increases. As you run in official races those results can also be uploaded and stored to increase your ranking. You can search other runners on the site if you know their names. Users can also apply to join existing groups of runners or start your own group and invite friends and other runners to join you. Once in a group you can share your training achievements and race results with others and see how they are doing. And like other social media outlets, users can follow others and receive notifications about their results. Right now the app appears to be Euro-centric with most of the groups located in European locations and the same holds true for individual runners. However I did identify some American users and would expect those numbers to increase as the app becomes more well known and popular. The normal setting for distance is in kilometers instead of miles, however every time I tried changing the measurement the app crashed. That wasn't the only issue I ran into as I explored the app. RankRunner includes a database of races that is searchable by race name, location, date and distance. It offers past races and supposedly official upcoming races. However, I ran into a problem similar to what I saw with changing the distance measurement. Every time I tried setting a race distance to search the app crashes. I did a local search of Las Vegas and found lots of past races but when I tried to find any official upcoming races in the next year nothing showed up. I got similar "No results" messages when I did the same search in California over the next year and even a search by name for the Boston Marathon. RankRunner has a few software bugs to be worked on but overall I think the app is still useful. Users can track their training, form groups of like-minded runners, share info amongst group members, and keep track of just how they are doing in comparison to other runners. Users can also get additional information about the app and the tools included at rankrunner.com.
'Simpsons World' puts the full series online, but you'll need cable to watch everything
First, the good news: At its Television Critics Awards, Fox just announced the details of its plan to put every episode of The Simpsons online for streaming (also, Louie and Fargo have been renewed). Simpsons World will launch in October and let fans browse episodes, create their own playlists, search for/share clips and more. Before that, the FXX cable channel will run "the longest TV marathon in history" by airing the full 25-season / 552 episode run (just for reference, the first HD episode is S20E10, from 2009) in one shot, 24 hours a day, plus The Simpsons Movie, from August 21st until September 1st. The bad news? To access more than just clips, you'll need a subscription with a participating cable provider. Simpsons World will live both on the web, and through the FXNow app on iOS, Android, Xbox and other smart TV platforms. From those in attendance, like Max Follmer of Brief, the app sounds very well put together, and will let fans do things like follow along with the script as it was originally written and immediately share quotes.
