Bungie has detailed a new mode for Marathon that should hopefully scratch the PvE itch, even if there's a bit of PVP involved.

Season 2 of Marathon is launching today, and Bungie has detailed some of the changes you can expect from it in its Open Play Week blog post. Earlier this month, Marathon game director Joe Ziegler detailed some modes coming to Season 2, with one being PvE with "a touch of PvP," while a full-blown PvE mode will be launching later down the line. And now we finally know what "a touch of PvP" actually means, as Bungie has revealed the new experimental game mode, the "more PVP-lite and low-risk way to play": Sponsored Survival.

In Sponsored Survival, the game will start with a single crew in the Night Marsh completely free to do what they like on the map and loot everything in sight without any issues from other players, although it's not going to be a cakewalk as the UESC will still be stationed around the map alongside "some new enemies that lurk in the shadows." So for that squad, the game starts out as a PvE mode.

However, "after a certain period of time," the map will begin to populate with Rooks (which are solo players focused on scavenging) who are backfilling the lobby. And while these Rooks are going to pose a potential threat to the main squad, in a three versus one situation, I don't fancy their chances.

Bungie explains, as far as the balance goes, "This asymmetrical mode changes the dynamics of a run, taking the heat off of the lone crew for the first few minutes of the match, while also keeping some of the fun, social unpredictability that Rooks bring to runs. Crews are required to bring a Sponsored Kit loadout to play, which keeps the stakes low for the crew, while also giving Rooks the peace of mind of knowing there’s no fully kitted-out teams on the map."

As for full PvE and PvP modes, Bungie promises "We’ll also be testing a PvE mode in the latter half of Season 2, with more experiments to come later, such as perhaps a more purely PvP-focused mode."

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Crimson Desert DLC is on its way, because you can never have enough Crimson Desert apparently. Pearl Abyss teased the news in its June-September 2026 preview, where it also detailed a bunch of tantalising improvements, but it hasn't given much away so far.

"We are also hard at work on an upcoming DLC for Crimson Desert," it says, "and while we cannot share the details just yet, we are preparing it as a meaningful addition to your journey. We will share more details in the future, so stay tuned."

Given how gargantuan the game is, I can't imagine wanting more—-but then again I've not finished it yet. Perhaps once I hit the 250-hour mark, I'll change my tune and start pleading for more.

While Pearl Abyss isn't spilling the beans just yet, that doesn't stop us from engaging in some wild speculation or putting together personal wishlists. What do you want from Crimson Desert's first DLC? Tell us in the comments.

As for me? I think I'd like Damiane and Oongka to get some more bespoke adventures, so Kliff doesn't have all the fun. Pearl Abyss has already promised gameplay improvements for the pair, but I'd like to see it go further.

Final Fantasy 14 fans, the moment has arrived – Patch 7.51 is here, and with it, we've got a brand-new Kefka-themed Ultimate raid… and a, um, taco-eating emote?

That's right. While we wait for Evercold to arrive in January 2027, our Warriors of Light can enjoy some fresh, hot tacos in-game, much like G'raha Tia did in the ever-iconic Dawntrail trailer back in 2024.

As per the official patch notes from Square Enix, 7.51 brings some new emotes to the MMO – and one of those involves your WoL happily eating a taco, because how else would one eat a taco? It's brilliant, honestly.

In case you're out of the loop on the connection between Final Fantasy 14 and tacos, there's the iconic G'raha Tia moment to look to, and also the amusing misheard lyrics from Ultima.

Ultima is a song you'll know very well if you're a Main Scenario roulette frequenter, or someone who spent far too long farming the Ruby, Emerald, and Diamond Weapon trials – one that sounds as though its singers are chanting "BIG FAT TACOS" over and over again.

7.51 Patch Notes | FINAL FANTASY XIV, The Lodestone from r/ffxiv

Heck, folks have even mashed the two moments together, with G'raha Tia eating his taco to the tune. It's unsurprising, then, that Patch 7.51 and its addition of the taco-eating emote stand out… even amid all of the, you know, arguably more significant changes to come with the update.

Just have a peek over at Reddit, where a post on the patch sees various comments roll in regarding the emote. The top response is literally "taco time."

One fan jokes, "/devourtaco autotranslate is gonna be in so many people's search info" – and, yeah, I think they're right. People are also noting that the emote loops, which means endless taco monching. Sign me up.

Plus, it'll pair nicely with my Warrior of Light's tea-drinking and whatnot. As another commenter puts it, "Ooo taco emote. I have a whole lunch set now in my emotes." What more could a food-loving Au'ra ask for?

It's not the only silly feature to come out of Patch 7.51 that has the community excited, either – just look at the new shovel accessory… and this is why I love Final Fantasy 14.

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Fallout 76's next update launches today, alongside the new season, Appalachia Under Siege. With it comes a new hostile encounter that sees different factions or forces claim up to "40 unique locations" only to be driven out by you, the player.

Instead of introducing a massive map expansion, new events, and NPCs like we saw in Burning Springs, Infestations seeks to "enrich the existing experience" by making the current map more rewarding and interesting to explore.

"I love seeing all the dots moving around, to me it sounds like the map is 'sizziling' there's stuff going on on the map constantly," Jon Rush, Fallout 76's creative director says in a group Q&A. "And to me that tells me players are in the game, having fun. So Infestations is another one of those forays into adding another layer of experiences on our map."

Infestations will appear randomly around the map with players having to sniff out the specific area for themselves. "The max number will be about five spawning every five minutes," senior systems designer Fahad Khan adds. The infection won't spread if no one manages to or bothers to clear it; it'll just disappear after five hours.

Those who do find the Infestation and decide to take it on, however, will have their work cut out for them, because while this isn't specifically end-game content, it's as near as dammit. "If [players] left at a mid level, maybe wait until you start to see the Infestation get a lot more dots around it before you hop in," Rush says. "These are hard, these bosses are hard, it is end game content to an extent, you do get four star legendaries from these bosses so they're going to be challenging if you go at it alone or aren't with the right people." Welp, it sounds like I'll need some help then.

But luckily, unlike Raids, Infestations won't need to be completed in a group, you can just wait for anyone on the map to show up and help. Carl McKevitt, lead designer on Fallout 76 explains how it's an example of Fallout 76's "emergent social gameplay" and that because of this it "floats somewhere between end-game and casual friendly."

So Infestations is a high risk event, but that's ok, because it's also high reward; "It is one of the easiest ways to get a four star," McKevitt says. "Which is helpful because that's a hurdle that has been hard for players that are in the late but not quite end-game to cross. So we're hoping to see an improvement in players' arsenals as a result of this." Some of the new four star legendary mods you can get from this include: Hauler's, Raging, Satiated, Tarnished, and Vector.

"We have something that we're calling a 'common pool' for our four stars which is about half of what went out with the raids," McKevitt adds. "We're moving towards a system where things that drop four stars will at least pull from the common pool and then pull from an additional 'exclusive pool' to that content. We want to make sure that any new sources of four stars we introduce don't necessarily invalidate the previous sources.

"In this case you'll get the commons plus the newly created ones that came out of this update. We want to try and preserve Raids as where you get some of the top tier most highly desired four stars but getting any four stars is still better than having none."

In terms of other rewards, while there won't be any new Xbox achievements or trophies Khan does confirm that there are "rewards which are specifically geared towards finding and completing infestations both in quantity and type as well. And obviously that's just the initial rollout of those as well, we'll be adding more team based challenges and additional gameplay challenges."

But you'll be able to experience all of this for yourself today, so good luck and godspeed in finding and defeating these Infestations and let us know in the comments if getting four star legendaries is as easy as the devs say it is.