$80 for Borderlands 4 too costly? Randy Pitchford says, "If you're a real fan, you'll find a way to make it happen" "Not my call". Image credit: Eurogamer/Gearbox News by Matt Wales News Reporter Published on May 20, 2025 Worried the impending arrival of $80 games might price you out of your favourite hobby? Well if Borderlands 4 follows suit, Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford has suggested the community should just suck it up and deal with it. "If you're a real fan," he recently told a potential purchaser, "you'll find a way to make it happen." Pitchford made the proclamation on social media after a Borderlands fan opined, "Randy, [Borderlands 4] better not be $80. Don't take that risk, a lot of gamers aren't gonna pay $80 and feed this notion of constant increase of the price tag. You are the CEO, you have some say with the price when it comes to your publisher." But Pitchford begged to differ. "Not my call," he insisted, before dismissing pricing concerns. "If you're a real fan, you'll find a way to make it happen. My local game store had Starflight for Sega Genesis for $80 in 1991 when I was just out of high school working minimum wage at an ice cream parlour in Pismo Beach and I found a way to make it happen." The response from Borderlands fans on social media was, unsurprisingly, swift, strong, and overwhelmingly negative. "Thanks, now I won't buy the Game even if it costs $70", one person wrote, while another added, "That has to be one of the worst CEO replies from recent memory." Another called Pitchford's comment "elitist [and] out of touch"; "Rich person says just find the money," another wrote, with plenty more using considerably stronger language. Of course, none of this means Borderlands 4 will cost $80 dollars when it eventually arrives, but the industry certainly seems to be heading in that direction. Nintendo got the ball rolling earlier this year, when it announced a $79.99 USD price tag for Mario Kart World on Switch 2, and Microsoft was quick to follow, confirming some Xbox game prices would rise to $79.99 at the end of 2025 - presumably in time for this year's Call of Duty. Notably, however, Borderlands 4 publisher Take-Two has relayed a more cautious approach to price increases, with CEO Strauss Zelnick recently reiterating the company's stance on variable, game-by-game pricing. While some analysts have speculated next year's GTA 6 might reach as much as $100, one of the only confirmed prices on Take-Two's upcoming roster is Mafia: The Old Country, which costs $50. Borderlands 4 pricing details are yet to be shared. But while customers might balk at the rising cost of games, former PlayStation exec Shuhei Yoshida recently suggested the move was inevitable. "I think it was going to happen sooner or later," he explained in the wake of Mario Kart World's price reveal, "maybe not from Nintendo, but it was going to happen eventually. We live in contrasting times, where inflation is real and significant, but people expect games that are ever more ambitious and therefore expensive to develop to cost the same. It's an impossible equation." As for Borderlands 4, that's set to launch for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S on 12th September after Take-Two announced it was bringing its release forward.

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. Windows 11 vs 10 vs 8.1? Users overwhelmingly feel Microsoft's modern OS is worst for old PC Sayan Sen Neowin @ssc_combater007 · May 20, 2025 05:16 EDT Microsoft likes to pat itself on the back from time to time, but let's be honest, there is nothing wrong with it. They say "love yourselves," and Microsoft does just that, just like any other company out there. Last month, Microsoft went on to explain how it relied on its own "design instinct" rather than "user feedback alone" to make the modern Windows as "special" as it is. And more recently, a senior engineer talked about how even smaller elements on the Windows OS, like the clipboard, are designed to be high-performance. This post, coincidentally, was made just a few days after we reported on the user dissatisfaction regarding the performance of Windows 11 despite Microsoft actually boosting the performance. Many users still feel Windows 11's performance optimization leaves a lot to be desired. Even if the performance differences may not reflect in benchmarks, people often claim they feel the new OS is sluggish. A recent post on the r/Windows subreddit piqued my interest. The thread was about the fastest Windows OS on an older spinning drive like a hard disk drive (HDD), and perhaps a bit surprisingly, Windows 8.1 was overwhelmingly upvoted by most users as the last modern Windows OS that was still quick on a system still sporting an HDD. The discussion was started by a user named PJs_Asphalt, and they wondered if there was anything better than Windows 8.1 for their 2008 Lenovo ThinkPad laptop that sports a Core 2 Duo (dual core), 8 GB RAM, and a Toshiba HDD. At the time of writing, the post has been upvoted by over 400 people, with most saying either Windows 8 or 8.1 is still the best thing for older, weaker systems. It is certainly true that Windows 10 and especially Windows 11 are quite heavy on the I/O side, and there was even a rumor that Microsoft would make SSDs the minimum storage requirement for Windows 11. This certainly becomes quite relevant given that Microsoft is constantly reminding users about the end of support for Windows 10 that is fast approaching, and thus, many systems like the one above won't be officially supported on Windows 11. So they could either stick to Windows 8/8.1 or 10 and be at risk, or move to Linux. If you're looking to do the latter, a Linux-backed project called "Endof10" may help. Tags Report a problem with article Follow @NeowinFeed

It's been a rough week for Bungie, with the Destiny developer hit by plagiarism accusations for its upcoming extraction shooter, Marathon — here's all we know so farTech11:15, 19 May 2025Marathon's art style has come under fire from a Scottish artistDestiny 2 developer Bungie has been busy in recent weeks, revealing a reveal a series of expansions for its popular shooter, while also unveiling the first gameplay reveal of its Marathon reboot.While the latter has drawn plaudits for its art style, it has now emerged that much of it is built using assets from a Scottish artist, Fern Hook who goes by the moniker 4nt1r34l.‌“The Marathon alpha released recently and its environments are covered with assets lifted from poster designs I made in 2017,” Hook explained on X (formerly Twitter) last week.‌“Bungie is of course not obligated to hire me when making a game that draws overwhelmingly from the same design language I have refined for the last decade, but clearly my work was good enough to pillage for ideas and plaster all over their game without pay or attribution.”Content cannot be displayed without consentBungie has confirmed the accusation is correct, suggesting a departed staff artist was responsible for using Hook's art without her permission.Article continues belowOn Friday's Marathon developer stream, the game's art director Joseph Cross is working to review the in-game assets and remove "inappropriately sourced" designs, while saying that Bungie has reached out to Hook to "do right" by the artist, but no details were given.“It came to our attention that an artist who worked on Marathon in the early stages of pre-production took a number of graphic elements from a graphic designer without permission or acknowledgement, and then placed them on a decal sheet that was then checked in in 2020,” Cross said (thanks, VGC).“The decal sheet included icon and text elements, which ended up in our alpha build. There’s absolutely no excuse for this oversight, and we are working on and are 100% committed to a review process to ensure that instances like this don’t happen again at Bungie.”‌Could Bungie's new game be delayed?A new report from Forbes over the weekend has suggested that morale at Bungie is low, following middling reception to the game's Closed Alpha."Sony and Bungie legal are now sorting through this and there is unlikely to be any much new information as all of this continues to unfold. It is not clear how long an “audit” will take of the assets to remove or find any more plagiarism, as it’s an expansive enough process to have Bungie not even show any footage at all in its recent livestream."‌"Morale is in “free-fall” across all departments, and “the vibes have never been worse.” Everyone has the same concerns about what happens to Bungie as a studio if Marathon bombs, which is something they absolutely cannot afford."Curiously, Forbes reports that there are no talks at the studio about a potential delay from the September release date internally, but this could be happening "privately between higher-up Sony and Bungie leadsership"/Bungie has reportedly needed to pull its plan to release a trailer in June, and the public beta in August may see big changes, too.Article continues belowIt's a concerning shift from the optimism around the game's aesthetic during the recent gameplay reveal.For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.‌‌‌

Apple TV+ appears to have another critical success on its hands. Murderbot, which stars Alexander Skarsgard as a sentient robot who is trying to hide his sentience, is receiving overwhelmingly positive reviews and is being praised for its sharp, funny tone. If you like Murderbot and are looking for other shows that scratch the same itch, we’ve got you covered. We pulled together this list of three sci-fi shows like Murderbot that are worth watching. Recommended Videos Mrs. Davis (2023) If you’d like to watch something that establishes a similar whimsical tone as Murderbot, then Mrs. Davis Anchored by a remarkable central performance from Betty Gilpin, Mrs. Davis is wild and ambitious in ways that few shows manage to be. In an era where AI has become increasingly prevalent in the world around us, Mrs. Davis feels more relevant than ever. You can watch Mrs. Davis on Peacock. Silo (2023-) It’s admittedly much more serious than Murderbot, but Silo builds the same kind of expansive and interesting world as that show. It’s riveting in its own right. The series is set inside of a silo where 10,000 people live. Although they have been led to believe that the world outside is decimated or unsafe, some people begin to believe that the entire world around them is nothing more than a lie. As the leaders of the silo try to maintain order, they face a populace that is becoming more and more restless and is looking around for someone to blame. Rebecca Ferguson is brilliant at the center of this series, and the show knows how to maintain intrigue as its plot unfolds. You can watch Silo on Apple TV+. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022-) Star Trek: Strange New Worlds exists to remind you just how fun Star Trek can be. The series, which is technically a prequel to the original show, follows the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise as they explore new worlds and travel the galaxy. Starring Anson Mount, the show has exactly the right combination of silliness and stakes, and, above all else, the show knows how to create stories that are fun to watch. Murderbot’s sense of humor is undeniably a little bit darker than Strange New Worlds, but if you’re looking for something with some whimsy, Star Trek has you covered. You can watch Star Trek: Strange New Worlds on Paramount+.

The United States is not a great place for old people, to put it lightly.Though the elderly population is at its highest number in history, seniors face a myriad of unprecedented crises in the form of AI-powered insurance claims denial, unwalkable communities, and eldercare abuse.That's not to mention the prospect of growing old in a society where your well-being is directly tied to your wage — as that same society devises ever-more powerful AI models that can scam you out of your 401K at any time.Luckily, a few crafty American engineers are using some good old techno-solutionism to aid the elderly.A team of engineers at MIT recently unveiled what they're calling the Elderly Bodily Assistance Robot, or E-BAR for short. The robo-buddy is designed as a physical support for old folks, and can hold a person's weight, lift them from a seated position, and save them from a fall with "rapidly inflating side airbags," according to MIT News.The bot itself gets around on four omnidirectional wheels, which are controlled independently. This allows E-BAR to rotate in place and hold an elderly person without toppling over as it cradles them in its metallic arms.A video uploaded by the engineers shows E-BAR assisting in six tasks typical of an elderly caregiver, including getting into and out of a bathtub, bending down to reach things on a low shelf, lifting patients from the toilet and the floor, as well as assisting a patient while walking. According to the engineers, the goal was to design an assistant that could help old folks without being intrusive."Elderly people overwhelmingly do not like to wear harnesses or assistive devices," Roberto Bolli, a graduate student engineer who worked on the project told MIT News."The idea behind the E-BAR structure is, it provides body weight support, active assistance with gait, and fall catching while also being completely unobstructed in the front. You can just get out anytime," Bolli said.Though largely meant to be a research project, certain design elements, such as the E-BAR's door-friendly size and 18-bar linking arm, could be reproduced by commercial robotics manufacturers for actual home use.If that happens, it's difficult to imagine mass distribution of E-BARs under the current trajectory of senior care as a whole.In the US, eldercare tech devices like stair lifts and large-button phones are not covered by Medicare, and rarely by private insurance, making them out of reach for many senior citizens. As of 2022, over 44 percent of elderly adults in the US reported having an unmet daily need related to self-care, mobility, or household activities.Given the high cost of consumer robotics production, it's hard to imagine robotics making them affordable enough to the average elderly person.More on Robots: Musk Says Trump Preventing Him From Building Legion of RobotsShare This Article

Bungie admits Marathon includes artwork used without permission "We are conducting a thorough review." Image credit: Bungie News by Tom Phillips Editor-in-Chief Published on May 16, 2025 Bungie has admitted that an external artist's work has been used within upcoming game Marathon without consent. The issue came to light yesterday following recent playable alpha tests of Marathon, from which an artist recognised their designs had been used. "The Marathon alpha released recently and its environments are covered with assets lifted from poster designs I made in 2017," artist Fern Hook wrote on social media. "Bungie is of course not obligated to hire me when making a game that draws overwhelmingly from the same design language i have refined for the last decade, but clearly my work was good enough to pillage for ideas and plaster all over their game without pay or attribution." To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Responding via its less-visible Marathon Dev Team social media account, Bungie wrote that it had "immediately investigated" Hook's claim and found that, yes, a former artist at the company had swiped the designs. "This issue was unknown by our existing art team, and we are still reviewing how this oversight occurred," Bungie wrote. "We take matters like this very seriously. We have reached out to [Hook] to discuss this issue and are committed to do right by the artist. "As a matter of policy, we do not use the work of artists without their permission," Bungie continued, stating - if it needed to be said - that the developer does not endorse plagiarism. "To prevent similar issues in the future, we are conducting a thorough review of our in-game assets, specifically those done by the former Bungie artist, and implementing stricter checks to document all artist contributions," the publisher concluded. This isn't the first time Bungie has faced claims of using artists' work without permission - with multiple instances coming to light regarding designs for Destiny 2. To see this content please enable targeting cookies. To see this content please enable targeting cookies. "I don't have the resources nor the energy to spare to pursue this legally but I have lost count of the number of times a major company has deemed it easier to pay a designer to imitate or steal my work than to write me an email," Hook concluded. "In 10 years I have never made a consistent income from this work and I am tired of designers from huge companies moodboarding and parasitising my designs while I struggle to make a living." Bungie's Marathon reboot is set to launch for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on 23rd September. We recently got a solid look at the upcoming sci-fi shooter - here's everything about Marathon you need to know.

The bright, glitched-out, typography-forward look of Bungie's upcoming extraction shooter Marathon is one of its defining features. As it turns out, it's also partially plagiarized, according to posts shared on the official Marathon X account. The announcement comes after artist Fern Hook, who goes by @4nt1r34l on X, initially accused Bungie of using in-game textures that looked similar to her original artwork on May 15. "Bungie is of course not obligated to hire me when making a game that draws overwhelmingly from the same design language I have refined for the last decade," Hook wrote on X, "but clearly my work was good enough to pillage for ideas and plaster all over their game without pay or attribution."  the Marathon alpha released recently and its environments are covered with assets lifted from poster designs i made in 2017.@Bungie @josephacross pic.twitter.com/0Csbo48Jgb— N² (@4nt1r34l) May 15, 2025 Hook's posts are fairly damning, identifying obvious areas in Marathon's alpha map that feature only lightly altered versions of her original work. She became aware of the issue when the alpha originally launched in April 2025, according to The Washington Post, but kept quiet until now because she was advised to seek legal action. Hook ultimately decided to post about the issue because she doesn't "have enough time or money to fly out to the US to pursue an unwinnable court case against Sony." Bungie's statement claims that "a former Bungie artist" included Hook's art in a texture sheet without the rest of the art team's knowledge. The company is "conducting a thorough review of [its] in-game assets" and has also reached out to Hook to "discuss the issue" further. As Eurogamer notes, this isn't the first time Bungie has been accused of lifting the work of other artists. The developer was accused of doing the same thing multiple times during the development of Destiny 2 and its various expansions. Since the game is still in development, it's not clear how or if Bungie will change Marathon to address Hook's complaint, but the developer has until September 23 to do it. That's when Marathon is supposed to launch on PlayStation 5, PC and Xbox Series X/S.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/bungie-admits-its-marathon-alpha-included-stolen-artwork-210006323.html?src=rss

What just happened? Bungie announced a reboot of the classic first-person shooter Marathon in 2023. It formally unveiled project footage just a few weeks ago. The multiplayer extraction shooter has already drawn criticism after someone spotted issues with some of the artwork used by the Sony-owned developer. Bungie is under fire for allegedly using stolen art assets in its extraction shooter Marathon. Independent artist Antireal caught the Washington-based studio "recycling" some of her designs, and Bungie is now downplaying the incident by shifting blame to former employees. The controversy has sparked broader conversations in the gaming community about creative ethics and the responsibility of major studios to respect independent artists' work. Antireal recently called out the studio on X, claiming the Marathon alpha build includes assets lifted from poster designs she created in 2017. She said someone at Bungie "drew overwhelmingly" from art pieces she had been refining for over a decade. Bungie presumably found her designs compelling enough to "inspire" the game but offered her no credit or compensation. Antireal said she doesn't intend to pursue legal action against Bungie, even though this isn't the first time a "major company" has copied or used her work without permission. "In 10 years, I have never made a consistent income from this work, and I'm tired of designers from huge companies moodboarding and parasitizing my designs while I struggle to make a living," she wrote. // Related Stories Within hours of Antireal's tweets going viral, the Marathon development team investigated the alleged unauthorized use of her decals. Subsequently, Bungie issued a s statement claiming a "former" artist included the assets in a texture sheet later used in the game. Bungie did not publicly reveal the former developer's identity but noted that Marathon's current team was unaware of the potential copyright violation. The studio says it takes these matters "very seriously" and has already contacted Antireal to resolve the issue and provide compensation, which is the right thing to do. Bungie's official employee policies forbid using external assets without permission. To prevent future issues, the Marathon team is now carefully reviewing all in-game assets – especially those created by the unidentified former artist. The studio will also enforce stricter checks to document all contributing artists in the future.

Bungie has apologized for the uncredited, uncompensated use of another artist's work in the texture sheets for the Marathon alpha test.In a post on social media, the company publicly confirmed that a "former artist at Bungie" included art assets made by graphic designer "Antireal" (real name unknown). Antireal had accused the company of lifting her work in a post on Bluesky to decorate several in-game posters.This is a black mark on Bungie's record, especially for a company that's apologized for using assets lifted from other artists in the past. Using art assets the company doesn't have the rights to can deprive artists of badly-needed funds and put the studio at risk for legal exposure."Bungie is of course not obligated to hire me when making a game that draws overwhelmingly from the same design language I have refined for the last decade, but clearly my work was good enough to pillage for ideas and plaster all over their game without pay or attribution," claimed Antireal. She explained that the assets perfectly mirrored work they posted in 2017.Antireal's claims were bolstered by Marathon players who noticed a key fingerprint from Antireal's work was directly visible in the game. In 2024 the artist said they hit the "loss" meme in their work 6 years ago (the meme refers to recreations of a webcomic page from Ctrl+Alt+Delete with the same name). A Twitter user spotted the meme on an in-game building in Marathon.Related:Image via X."We immediately investigated a concern regarding unauthorized use of artist decals in Marathon and confirmed that a former Bungie artist included these in a texture sheet that was ultimately used in-game," Bungie said in a post confirming Antireal's claims. "This issue was unknown by our existing art team, and we are still reviewing how this oversight occurred. We take matters like this very seriously. We have reached out to [Antireal] to discuss this issue and are committed to do right by the artist."The company added that it is conducting a review of the former artist's work and implementing "stricter checks" on its art team to ensure no inappropriate assets are used.Stolen art keeps appearing in Bungie's games"We value the creativity and dedication of all artists who contribute to our games, and we are committed to doing right by them," Bungie stated in its post confirming the use of Antireal's art. There's no reason to doubt that claim—but this isn't the first time Bungie has admitted to stolen versions of other artist's work appearing in its games.Related:In 2024, it confirmed a piece of "fan art" was used to decorate an in-game collectible in Destiny 2. In 2023 it said it would "compensate and credit" an artist whose work was used in a cutscene produced in part by an "external vendor." And in 2021 principal community manager Chris Shannon apologized to a fan artist in another trailer.Bungie's also found itself in hot water over other art assets. In 2017 it apologized and removed an in-game item that represented a real-world white supremacist flag.Apologizing and acknowledging the wrongdoing is one way to address what seems to be unintentional plagiarism, however that approach doesn't undo the harm done to Antireal and other artists who find themselves victims of plagiarism, intentional or no."In 10 years I have never made a consistent income from this work," Antireal said. "I am tired of designers from huge companies moodboarding and parasitising my designs while I struggle to make a living."