Marathon: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 17:56, 26 May 2023

Marathon is a series of first-person shooter games started by Bungie. The original game was released for Macintosh in 1994 and was preferred by Mac gamers as a more sophisticated alternative to the PC hit DOOM. As with the Myth series, Bungie made the first two games (Marathon and Marathon 2: Durandal) and the third (Marathon Infinity) was made by another studio. Unlike Myth's third game, the third Marathon game stayed close to the previous games' roots because Marathon Infinity was made by Double Aught, a short-lived studio spun off from Bungie.

Bungie is known for cross-referencing their games, and indeed there are multiple references to Marathon in Oni, documented in the Easter eggs article.

Unlike Oni, Marathon shipped with a multiplayer feature (albeit LAN-only). Bungie also supported the modding community with helpful information on the file formats; they eventually released the development tools Forge and Anvil alongside Marathon Infinity.

In 1999, the Marathon 2 engine was open-sourced by Bungie. This code was used to produce Aleph One, a unified engine which runs the scenarios for Marathon, Marathon 2, and Marathon Infinity as well as fan-made scenarios. The original LAN multiplayer mode was improved and extended to be Internet-capable. In 2005, the Marathon Trilogy was made freeware by Bungie, so anyone can download it legally and play it on modern computers with the Aleph One engine (see below).

Unlike Oni and Myth, the rights to the Marathon IP never left Bungie's hands. Bungie announced in 2023 that they are returning to the IP with a new extraction shooter set on/around Tau Ceti, the location of the original Marathon.

Community links: Lhowon.org (serves the Trilogy, the standalone Aleph One engine, and links to the Aleph One source code); Marathon.Bungie.Org (home of the Marathon Story Forums and Story Page); Simplici7y (mod repository); Pfhorums (community forum); Lhowon.org metaserver (for Internet matchmaking)

Marathon (2023): Teaser - YouTube; Official Site

Marathon (1994) on Bungie.net (archived): Bungie History: Marathon; Picture galleries

Marathon on Wikipedia: The Marathon games are documented extensively on Wikipedia; you can start with the Marathon Trilogy article, but there are specific articles for each game as well.

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-'''Marathon''' is a series of first-person shooter games started by [[Bungie]]. The original game was released for Macintosh in 1994, and was preferred by Mac gamers as a more sophisticated alternative to the PC hit DOOM. As with the [[Myth]] series, Bungie made the first two games (Marathon and Marathon 2: Durandal) and the third was made by another studio. In this case, the third game was Marathon Infinity, and it was made by [[wp:Double Aught|Double Aught]], a short-lived studio spun off from Bungie. Unlike Myth III, the third Marathon game stayed close to the original games' roots.
+'''Marathon''' is a series of first-person shooter games started by [[Bungie]]. The original game was released for Macintosh in 1994 and was preferred by Mac gamers as a more sophisticated alternative to the PC hit DOOM. As with the [[Myth]] series, Bungie made the first two games (Marathon and Marathon 2: Durandal) and the third (Marathon Infinity) was made by another studio. Unlike Myth's third game, the third Marathon game stayed close to the previous games' roots because Marathon Infinity was made by [[wp:Double Aught|Double Aught]], a short-lived studio spun off from Bungie.
 Bungie is known for cross-referencing their games, and indeed there are multiple references to Marathon in [[Oni]], documented in the [[Easter eggs]] article.
-Unlike Oni, Marathon shipped with a multiplayer feature (albeit LAN-only). Bungie also supported the modding community with helpful information on the file formats; they eventually released the development tools Forge and Anvil alongside Marathon Infinity. Later, the Marathon 2 engine was open-sourced by Bungie. This code was used to produce Aleph One, a unified engine which runs the scenarios for Marathon, Marathon 2, and Marathon Infinity as well as fan-made scenarios. The original LAN multiplayer mode was improved and extended to be Internet-capable. Later still, the Marathon Trilogy was made freeware by Bungie, so you can download it legally and play it on modern computers with the Aleph One engine (see below).
+[[Multiplayer|Unlike Oni]], Marathon shipped with a multiplayer feature (albeit LAN-only). Bungie also supported the modding community with helpful information on the file formats; they eventually released the development tools Forge and Anvil alongside Marathon Infinity.
-Unlike the [[Rights|rights to Oni]] and Myth, the Marathon IP never left Bungie's hands. There has been occasional speculation about a "Marathon 4" one day being developed by Bungie. There was [https://www.neogaf.com/threads/does-bungie-still-plan-to-reboot-marathon.1214773/ a mention of such a project] in the contract Bungie signed with Activision over [[wp:Destiny (video game)|Destiny]]. In 2022, there was [https://insider-gaming.com/bungie-to-revive-marathon/ an unsourced rumor] that a new Marathon game was under development, possibly not a sequel but an extraction shooter set in the same universe.
+In 1999, the Marathon 2 engine was open-sourced by Bungie. This code was used to produce Aleph One, a unified engine which runs the scenarios for Marathon, Marathon 2, and Marathon Infinity as well as fan-made scenarios. The original LAN multiplayer mode was improved and extended to be Internet-capable. In 2005, the Marathon Trilogy was made freeware by Bungie, so anyone can download it legally and play it on modern computers with the Aleph One engine (see below).
+Unlike Oni and Myth, the rights to the Marathon [[wp:Intellectual property|IP]] never left Bungie's hands. Bungie announced in 2023 that they are returning to the IP with a new extraction shooter set on/around Tau Ceti, the location of the original Marathon.
 ;Community links
 :[https://alephone.lhowon.org/ Lhowon.org] (serves the Trilogy, the standalone Aleph One engine, and links to the Aleph One source code)
-:[https://marathon.bungie.org/ Marathon.Bungie.Org] (original home of Marathon fans, now mostly a portal page for other Marathon sites)
+:[https://marathon.bungie.org/ Marathon.Bungie.Org] (home of the Marathon Story Forums and Story Page)
 :[https://simplici7y.com/ Simplici7y] (mod repository)
 :[https://pfhorums.com/ Pfhorums] (community forum)
 :[https://metaserver.lhowon.org/ Lhowon.org metaserver] (for Internet matchmaking)
-;Marathon on Bungie.net (archived)
+;Marathon (2023)
+:[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckI_m8bbXfw Teaser - YouTube]
+:[https://www.marathonthegame.com Official Site]
+;Marathon (1994) on Bungie.net (archived)
+:[https://web.archive.org/web/20140421231244/http://halo.bungie.net/inside/history.aspx?link=juggernougat Bungie History: Marathon]
 :[https://web.archive.org/web/20130501113706/http://halo.bungie.net/projects/marathon/asset_thumb_viewer.aspx?at=59&cc=33 Picture galleries]
 ;Marathon on Wikipedia
-:The Marathon games are documented extensively on Wikipedia, starting [[wp:Marathon Trilogy|HERE]], with exhaustive information on gameplay, enemy types, and the storyline.
+:The Marathon games are documented extensively on Wikipedia; you can start with the [[wp:Marathon Trilogy|Marathon Trilogy article]], but there are specific articles for each game as well.
 [[Category:Real World]]

Marathon: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 17:56, 26 May 2023

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