When will Square Enix finally announce the Final Fantasy 9 remaster everyone is convinced exists? Will this month’s rumored Nintendo Direct finally be the big one that gives us a peak at all the big new games the company has planned for Switch 2? And will the new Marathon player test be as leaky as Battlefield 6‘s? Welcome to a special Labor Day edition of Morning Checkpoint, Kotaku‘s daily roundup of gaming news and culture. I just flew back from PAX West 2025 on a red eye and can’t fall asleep yet so here we go!
Battlefield 6 battle royale leak shows swimming, sledgehammers, and more
Roughly nine minutes of new footage of Battlefield 6 recently leaked showing off more of its battle royale mode. The map looks massive and the gameplay shows swimming and shooting while in the water. There’s also a dual-purpose ladder gizmo and smashing through a concrete wall with a sledgehammer.
Will it be better than Warzone? Will anyone care? “Can’t wait to play 1 single round of this then go back to the real Battlefield and never touch it again,” wrote one fan on Reddit.
September Nintendo Direct rumors intensify
According to podcast host and industry leaker NateTheHate, rumors of a mid-September Nintendo Direct are accurate. “Yes, there is a Nintendo Direct in September,” he posted over the weekend. “When: The second week of the month, in the latter half on or around Sept 11 or 12th.” That’s a week before the previous rumored date.
Where the hell is that Final Fantasy 9 remaster?
Producer Naoki “Yoshi-P” Yoshida has been a busy man. Alongside getting philosophical about modding in Final Fantasy 14 and opening up PAX West with a story time about how the Mario Bros. arcade game taught him about PVP, he’s also penned a short Q&A celebrating the 25th anniversary of FF9. He’s still not tipping his hand about the long-rumored remaster, but he did confess he’s still searching for the meaning of life just like Vivi.
Fairgames lost its game director
Daniel Drapeau left the PlayStation studio Haven to join Warner Bros. Montreal. It comes a few months after studio manager Jade Raymond left as well amid a reported delay of the multiplayer heist game due to poor internal feedback.
Bungie’s super-secret Marathon test will pay $500
That’s according to emails sent out to some fans, TheGamePost reports. They have to play the sci-fi extraction shooter at least one hour every day for a month. Clearly concerned about leaks, the test will also reportedly take place on Bungie’s internal development servers rather than Steam. Players even have to submit their IP addresses to Bungie for clearance.
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