Hello! Ethan is flying to GDC today, so I’m in charge of the blog now. And because I can’t stop playing or thinking about Marathon, we gotta look at some wild drone innovation happening in Bungie’s new FPS. We also got some news about a longtime Nintendo developer and some good news about a union forming at a popular indie studio. It’s the latest edition of Morning Checkpoint, Kotaku‘s daily roundup of gaming news, rumors, and culture. Put on your Trump-approved shoes and hop in!
Players are attaching landmines to drones and causing chaos
Here’s some scary news for Marathon players. Apparently, people have discovered that you can attach an explosive claymore to a drone and turn it into an explosive, remote-controlled missile.
Thief, one of the playable runner shells in Marathon, is able to deploy a remotely controlled drone. Normally, this drone can only zap people and steal some loot, letting you get some really good gear with ease. Useful, yet not really an offensive weapon. But as documented on Reddit and Twitter, players are sticking motion-detecting explosives onto Thief’s drone and then flying it around the map in search of unsuspecting targets. The results can be devastating, with one clip showing a full squad being taken out by a single armed drone.
Absolutely INSANE quad feed with Claymore Mines on Thief’s Pickpocket Drone 👁️
📷 @NotPitrex pic.twitter.com/VxCnyWLkFg
— Marathon Bulletin (@TauCetiGG) March 7, 2026
I will admit that it’s a bit grim to read in the news about drones being used to kill people while writing about Marathon players discovering how to create their own digital version of this modern war technique. But it also seems like a really great way to take out players or get rid of a pesky sniper. So I’ll probably give it a go next time I get on Marathon. I will also be watching the skies very closely now to avoid getting taken out by some explosive drone.
Kena Bridge of Spirits coming to Switch 2
I really liked Kena: Bridge of Spirits when it came out back in 2021. And I’m excited to play the sequel, which looks bigger and darker. Sadly for people who don’t own a PS5 or high-end gaming PC, the upcoming Kena 2 is skipping Xbox and Switch 2, at least at launch. But hey, Switch 2 owners can at least get a chance to play the original when it arrives sometime this spring.
As for the sequel getting a similar Switch 2 port, well, it took nearly three years for the OG game to come to Xbox and five years to get this Switch port. So it might be a bit of a wait.
James Mangold’s Star Wars movie is reportedly dead
It sounds like we can add yet another Star Wars movie to the Lucasfilm/Disney graveyard. Director James Mangold (Logan, A Complete Unknown) and Lucasfilm announced plans to have him make a movie set thousands of years before the original Star Wars trilogy. The film would be focused on the origin of the Jedi. Earlier this year, departing Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy said Mangold’s flick was on hold. But now, Jeff Sneider (via World of Reel) reports sources have told him the film is likely dead. “I can’t say that conclusively, but it doesn’t sound good,” said Sneider during a podcast appearance.
Devs at Hyper Light Driver and Solar Ash studio have formed a new union
On March 9, the Communications Workers of America announced that developers at independent studio Heart Machine have formed a wall-to-wall union that will represent all employees at the studio. Heart Machine voluntarily recognized the union, and now the devs and the studio are working together on a contract. Heart Machine employees join devs at Blizzard and id Software, who last year created unions represented by CWA. The group continues to push to unionize more studios in the United States.
“I decided to get involved in organizing my studio because I’ve seen so many peers in the industry stand up to protect the craft we all care so deeply about,” said Steph Aligbe, gameplay tools engineer at Heart Machine. “Watching that momentum grow made me realize that if we love this work, we have to protect it, especially now.”
Longtime WarioWare director leaving Nintendo after 25 years
任天堂を2月いっぱいで退職しました。
4月からは大阪電気通信大学の教授として働きます。
所属は新設される「ゲーム・社会デザイン専攻」です。
ゲームに関わる研究や、ゲーム制作にも取り組む予定ですので、これまで以上に広く、さまざまな方々と関わっていけたらと思います。— 阿部悟郎 / GORO ABE (@goroemon) March 9, 2026
Goro Abe, who has been a developer at Nintendo since 1999, announced on his personal Twitter account that he has left the company. Abe started working at Nintendo as a programmer on Wario Land 4. Eventually, he took over the WarioWare series. He served as director on the last four entries, including 2023’s WarioWare: Move It, released on Nintendo Switch.
The longtime Nintendo dev already has a plan for what he’ll do next. Abe will take on a new role as a professor at Osaka Electro-Communication University starting in April.
“I plan to engage in research related to games and game production, so I hope to connect with an even broader range of people in various ways than before,” said Abe in his post announcing his retirement from Nintendo.
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