Quality Control
17 CommentsCould Severed be the last great Vita game?
In each episode of Quality Control, Polygon editor-at-large Justin McElroy talks to a critic after they review a new game and allows them to add a little bit of extra context and insight. Why did they feel the way they did? What do they wish they had been able to discuss in more depth in their review? Also: Did they play it wrong?
In this episode, Griffin McElroy takes over as guest host to talk with Justin about his review of Severed which you can find right here. We'd love to know what you think in the comments below!
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Email: qualitycontrol at polygon dot com
Music: Goodwill by The Custodian of Records
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69 CommentsPlayStation Plus members get Tropico, God of War games free in May
Sony has detailed May's free games for PlayStation Plus members, with titles in franchises like LocoRoco, Tropico and God of War among the six games offered.
The trailer above has the full line-up, or you can check out the list below:
Bionic Commando Rearmed 2 (PS3)
God of War: Ghost of Sparta (Vita)
LocoRoco Cocoreccho! (PS3)
Switch Galaxy Ultra (PS4, Vita)
Table Top Racing: World Tour (PS4)
Tropico 5 (PS4)
As for April's PS Plus selects — including I Am Alive and Zombi — those are still available to download through the end of the month. PlayStation Plus costs $49.99 annually.
Yesterday, Microsoft named the free games offered to Xbox Live Gold subscribers in May. That line-up, including Costume Quest 2 and Peggle, falls short of April's free games.
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May 2, 2016
Their future is Epic: The evolution of a gaming giant
Find out how one of the industry’s biggest developers is changing its approach.
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24 CommentsPlayStation Store's Golden Week sale is a dream for JRPG fans
The PlayStation Store is discounting a number of games in honor of Golden Week, a Japanese holiday period comprising several celebrations. Although Golden Week technically doesn't start in Japan until April 29, PlayStation's Golden Week sale is running now through May 3 at 11 a.m. PT. It appropriately features price drops on several Japanese-developed games.
PlayStation owners stateside don't have the week off like Japanese nationals do, but this is still a good chance to pick up many Japanese role-playing games and other titles of note. These include last year's Persona 4: Dancing All Night and Final Fantasy Type-0 HD, February's Gravity Rush Remastered and Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth, and several other games new and old.
Check out our highlights below (PlayStation Plus prices are in...
Latest PlayStation Vita Forum Activity View all posts
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15 CommentsPlayStation Network getting two-factor authentication, Sony confirms
Sony is making a long-awaited effort to shore up security on the PlayStation Network — the company is planning to add two-factor authentication to the service, Sony confirmed to Polygon today.
"In order to further safeguard our users and their accounts, we are preparing to offer a 2-step verification feature," a Sony representative said.
The spokesperson did not offer a time frame at this point, saying only that "more details will be shared at a later date." Sony updated the PS3's firmware to version 4.80 yesterday, and users noticed that if they entered incorrect login information, the system mentioned two-step verification — which isn't currently available on PlayStation Network accounts. Those accounts are used on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, the web, the...
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6 CommentsPSN down for two hours tonight for maintenance
Sony will be taking the PlayStation Network offline for two hours tonight to perform routine maintenance, according to the PlayStation forums.
The network will go down from 9:30-11:30 p.m. PT. As disruptions go, it should be a relatively pain-free one: Sony says that even during the two-hour window, any PSN user will still be able to sign in, play games and use "most applications." However, neither the PlayStation Store nor PlayStation Video will be available, and users won't be able to access account management, either.
Sony recommends that PlayStation 4 owners activate a particular system as their primary console before the maintenance begins, so they'll be able to keep using the system during the maintenance period. All platforms that use the PSN will be affected, including the...
News
2 CommentsLearn how Spelunky creates a 'perfect' map every time you play
Spelunky has gained the reputation of being a game you study and master as much as play. To become good, and the level of skill needed to really make your mark on the community is incredibly high, there are multiple systems you have to both understand and then manipulate reflexively. You can never rely on knowing the level, because the levels are different every time you play.
The video above goes into some detail about how this happens — although you should certainly read Spelunky by Derek Yu, the game's creator, if you'd like to learn more or would like to learn more about game design — and it should give you a bit more appreciation for how the levels are created and why they feel so satisfying to play every time you pick up the game.
Which is why I put the word "perfect" in quotes...
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9 CommentsVita-only Severed gets a launch date: April 26
PlayStation Vita owners, DrinkBox Studios has something just for you and only you: Severed, the slashing combat role-playing game that makes very heavy use of the Vita's touchscreen, launches on April 26.
DrinkBox trundled out the above launch trailer reintroducing viewers to the game, which has been in development since DrinkBox finished up its first hit, Guacamelee! in 2013. In the game, players control a warrior, Sasha, who has lost her arm, as she heads off on an adventure of revenge and discovery.
Sasha carries a "living sword," which players slash across enemies by swiping a finger over the screen. Severed's touch controls will also be used to solve puzzles and find secrets hidden in the world.
Severed was born out of an internal pitch session a little more than two years ago...
News
11 CommentsAttack on Titan arrives stateside in August
A video game adaptation of Attack on Titan, the popular anime and manga series, will launch on August 30, Koei Tecmo announced. The action game will receive a physical release on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, with digital versions coming to PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita and Windows PC.
Attack on Titan is based on the first season of the anime, in which young soldiers take on destructive, disturbing, man-eating giants. The launch trailer above shows off the game's combination of cutscenes and combat, both of which will look familiar to fans of the brutal action anime hit.
Dynasty Warriors developer Omega Force worked on the game, which launched in Japan earlier this year. A Nintendo 3DS game based on the series, released in Japan in 2013, came stateside last year. Later that year came...
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0 CommentsVolume, Oddworld: New 'n Tasty getting extremely limited physical prints
Digital-only games Volume and Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee New 'N Tasty are hitting retail, thanks to Limited Run Games — but, as the company's name suggests, once these physical copies are sold out, that's it.
The company will print boxed versions of Volume on PlayStation Vita and Oddworld on both Vita and PlayStation 4. Each game's developer revealed the news on their Twitter accounts, although release dates have not been announced.
✨Vita means life. @mikeBithell totally announced Volume is going boxed on Vita w/ @LimitedRunGames. More info soon!✨ pic.twitter.com/I6vIwpxhK6
— Volume (Now on Vita) (@VolumeGame) March 17, 2016
Oddworld's limited edition print on PS4 will come with all available downloadable content, according to Oddworld Inhabitants.
We're working with @...
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66 CommentsHere are your PlayStation Plus free games for April 2016
PlayStation Plus' library of free games for April 2016 includes Ubisoft's Zombi and I Am Alive, Sony announced today.
Zombi is the PS4/Xbox One port of the Wii U launch title ZombiU, which puts players into a London full of undead humans. The other PlayStation 4 game for April is Armature Studio's Dead Star, a space shooter that draws elements from strategy games and MOBAs.
Joining Ubisoft Shanghai's I Am Alive on PlayStation 3 is Savage Moon, a 2009 tower defense game from FluffyLogic. PlayStation Vita owners will get Neon Deity Games' Shutshimi and Misfits Attic's A Virus Named TOM. All six games will be available free to PlayStation Plus subscribers starting next Tuesday, April 5.
For once, Microsoft's Games With Gold lineup blows the PlayStation Plus slate out of the water in...
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26 CommentsMetal Gear Solid series gets price cuts in major PlayStation Sale
The PlayStation Store is offering discounts on a plethora of Metal Gear Solid games this week. From now until April 4, several titles in Konami's classic stealth franchise are discounted by up to 75 percent.
Nineteen games are accounted for in the PlayStation sale. Visit the store page for the full list of discounted titles or check out our highlights below.
Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain (PS4) — $40.19 (33 percent off)
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3) — $9.99 (50 percent off)
Metal Gear Solid: HD Collection (PS3) — $19.99 (50 percent off)
Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes (PS4) — $4.99 (75 percent off)
Metal Gear Solid (PS3/PSP) — $4.99 (50 percent off)
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance — Ultimate Edition (PS3) — $7.49 (75 percent off)
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18 CommentsLego Star Wars: The Force Awakens finally shakes up an old formula
Lego Star Wars is an important franchise for Traveller's Tales. It's the game that kicked off a never-ending stream of Lego games following a similar formula 11 years ago, and the developer has returned to Star Wars over and over, finding a natural match with its family-friendly approach to co-op gameplay.
And it's perhaps in part because of this important connection that Traveller's Tales is using Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens as the opportunity to finally mix up the formula it's become so consistent with (see trailer, above).
"In the 10 years since our first Lego Star Wars, technology has moved on," says associate producer Tim Wileman. "So has the way we make games and the different features that we can bring to them. It's changed immeasurably. We're trying to...
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4 CommentsMinecraft: Story Mode continues with three more episodes later this year
Minecraft: Story Mode is getting three more episodes this year, Telltale Games announced today. That means Episode 5, which launches March 29, won't be the last chapter of the series, but will instead bridge it with the rest of the story to come.
Those who want to play Episodes 6, 7 and 8 will need to have purchased at least the first episode of Minecraft: Story Mode, which debuted back in October.
The fifth installment, titled Order Up!, sends the player protagonist Jesse and his or her friends to an abandoned temple, where they are ambushed and find themselves in an entirely new world. The ruler is told the group of heroes, the New Order of the Stone, are up to no good, setting up the conflict and showdown of this story.
Minecraft: Story Mode stars voice actors Patton Oswalt and...
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14 CommentsZero Time Dilemma turns to Western fans — and TV — to go out with a bang
Spike Chunsoft's cult favorite Zero Escape series will conclude this June with trilogy-ender Zero Time Dilemma — but that shouldn't deter total newcomers from trying out the dark, story-heavy puzzle game, according to director Kotaro Uchikoshi. Speaking with Uchikoshi through a translator during Game Developers Conference 2016, he was adamant that when the game launches in June, it will attract its own set of fans to the franchise.
"I think that, as a fan of something, you want to get as many people as possible on board," he said. "So we wanted to make [Zero Time Dilemma] a title to be accessible to as many people as possible."
But broadening the appeal of a series with an admittedly ... complicated storyline without alienating existing fans is no easy task. At a GDC press event,...
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16 CommentsZero Time Dilemma launches this June — and is coming to Steam
Zero Time Dilemma, the third game in Chunsoft's Zero Escape series, will launch on Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation Vita June 28 before heading to Steam later this year, making it the first game in the visual novel series to hit PC. Publisher Aksys Games revealed the news during a press event at this year's Game Developers Conference alongside a new trailer.
Aksys said it will announce a release date for the Steam launch later this year. Windows PC ports of the previous installments in the series, 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors and Virtue's Last Reward, are not currently in the works, however.
As seen in the trailer — and previously detailed — the game will include a more cinematic mode of storytelling. As opposed to the text-driven scenes of the previous games, Zero Time...
Long-delayed space trader Drifter will be completed this year, says developer
It's been four years since space trading gam Drifter raised more than $80,000 on Kickstarter, and two years since it arrived as an Early Access game on Steam. But still, the game remains unfinished.
According to creator Colin Walsh, it really will come out some time in 2016, four years later than its initial scheduled launch date. According to Walsh, the delays have been down to the fact that there's only ever been two people working on the project.
"We're hoping to finish it some time this year," he said, during a Game Developer Conference interview with Polygon. "Most everyone [who backed the game] understands and has been accommodating. We're a small team, just me and the artist, but we've stayed on top of keeping everyone informed and delivering regular updates."
Drifter is an E...
Quality Control
1 CommentIs Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth a good place for new fans to start?
In each episode of Quality Control, Polygon editor-at-large Justin McElroy talks to a critic after they review a new game and allows them to add a little bit of extra context and insight. Why did they feel the way they did? What do they wish they had been able to discuss in more depth in their review? Also: Did they play it wrong?
In this episode, we talk with Allegra Frank about her review of Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth which you can find right here. We'd love to know what you think in the comments below!
Read the review
Subscribe to the podcast (RSS)
Email: qualitycontrol at polygon dot com
Music: Goodwill by The Custodian of Records
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