Explainer
43 CommentsFor Honor’s accidental alt-right connection
A rallying cry adopted by For Honor players may sound familiar to those well-versed in the conservative political landscape. “Deus vult,” a phrase that’s become popular with the multiplayer game’s community, may have origins in 11th-century Europe, but it’s more recently been associated with the alt-right movement.
“Deus vult” is Latin for “God wills it,” which became a stirring declaration for the Crusaders. It concluded a speech made by Pope Urban II, calling defenders of Christianity to action in the fight to win back their Holy Land from its Muslim occupants. It became symbolic not just of pride in the Christian state, but in Western culture as a whole.
The religious, historical nature of the phrase is obvious and inextricable, and that’s what accounts for its use by the community...
Explainer
7 CommentsHow to protect your gaming accounts with two-factor authentication
Cybersecurity is of paramount importance these days, considering our ever-increasing dependence on cloud-based services. We store more and more data online, often for convenience but often because there is no other option, and we trust giant corporations to safeguard our sensitive private information — passwords, addresses, credit cards, Social Security numbers and more.
But paradoxically, our reliance on these systems is increasing exponentially even as our faith in them is dropping. It seems like reports of massive hacks are coming more and more frequently.
To hear our next president tell it, we live in challenging times.
Cybersecurity is of paramount importance
“I think that computers have complicated lives very greatly,” said President-elect Donald Trump last Wednesday, speaking to...
Explainer
21 CommentsThe Dreamcast could be immortal, thanks to homebrew
It’s hard to forget when the Dreamcast hit stores: Sept. 9, 1999. But Sega’s failure to light the industry on fire with its ambitious console is the narrative that most remember best. Less than two years after it came to market, poor sales led to the Dreamcast’s discontinuation.
Except that 17 years after its release, the Dreamcast’s most dedicated, talented fans are grown up and making games themselves. Instead of moving on to modern iterations of the Dreamcast’s one-time competitors, a community of programmers continues to develop games for Sega’s final home console. Between the Dreamcast itself and the Virtual Memory Unit (VMU), a funky peripheral released alongside it, there’s a steady stream of new releases to play on there.
Uh, what?
This may seem bizarre, especially as we...
Explainer
7 CommentsCharted: Comparing the PS4 Pro, PS4 slim and the OG PS4
As of Nov. 10, the PlayStation 4 line will look radically different as two new models come to retail. The PlayStation lover well-versed in specs will know exactly how to discern one version of the PS4 from the other. What about the layman, though, who can’t tell a PlayStation from a PSone?
Comparing this generation’s entire PlayStation 4 hardware family — that’d be the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 4 slim and PlayStation 4 Pro — is a simple task, if you’re willing to take the time to do it. Below, find how each version of the PS4 differs in terms of dimensions, processing power and, most importantly, looks. We've also got charts with all the specs you need at the very end.
How big are these things?
The original PS4, which Sony is phasing out in favor of its lithe little sibling, is...
Explainer
71 CommentsWhat to expect from today’s PlayStation Meeting
It's been three months since Sony confirmed it was making an upgraded version of the PlayStation 4, but since then, it has said absolutely nothing of its plans the console, other than to announce a special event in Times Square on Sept. 7.
Amidst other hardware leaks and an ever-turning rumor mill, Sony has kept mum thus far about what it will show on stage from 3-5 p.m. ET. Instead, we're left with some strong, well-founded suspicions about what to expect from the PlayStation Meeting.
The high-end PlayStation 4 "Neo"
Sony confirmed in June that it would bring a high-end PS4 model to market, one that’s 4K-capable. Known just as "Neo" for now, we expect for it to get a name, price tag and first look tomorrow. Expect it to have similar specs to the upcoming Xbox One "Project Scorpio,"...
News
20 CommentsPokémon Go isn't strongly affecting Nintendo's bottom line, company says
Pokémon Go is a massive hit from both a mind share perspective and a financial standpoint. But while many people associate anything Pokémon-related with Nintendo, the company said today that the game’s success isn’t having a material impact on its financial forecast — at least not yet.
"Because of [Nintendo’s equity in The Pokémon Co.], the income reflected on [Nintendo’s] consolidated business results is limited," Nintendo said today in a note to investors.
Nintendo’s market capitalization has doubled since the launch of Pokémon Go
Following Pokémon Go’s debut in early July, the game quickly became a worldwide phenomenon. With every new country that it launches in, it rockets to the top of the App Store charts (including Japan, where the game arrived earlier today). That applies for...
Explainer
24 CommentsHow do Counter-Strike: Global Offensive skins work?
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, the popular first-person shooter from Valve, has been in the news a lot lately — and not in a good way. Following a report this past spring about Global Offensive players essentially using the game to gamble, a scandal came to light in which a couple of well-known Counter-Strike YouTube personalities were outed as owners of a Global Offensive betting website that they promoted in their videos.
How did it come to this? How did a video game become a gateway to gambling for its players, many of whom admit to being under the legal gambling age in the U.S.?
The answer centers on "skins" in Global Offensive, and no, the term has nothing to do with the expression of "having skin in the game." Let us explain.
What is a skin?
In general, a "skin" in a video...
TV
75 CommentsThe Game of Thrones finale's massive Jon Snow reveal, explained (update)
Spoiler alert!
This article is intended for folks who've already seen every episode of Game of Thrones, and will include a description of the series' events! Check out all of Polygon's Game of Thrones coverage.
"You know nothing, Jon Snow."
The line from Ygritte that became a Game of Thrones meme is more true than ever after yesterday's season 6 finale, "The Winds of Winter," which confirmed a long-standing theory about Jon Snow's real parents held by readers of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire novels.
Let's dive in and discuss the particulars and the implications of R + L = J.
R + L = J
The letters above stand for Rhaegar + Lyanna = Jon. Until last night, we didn't really know two of those characters, but we'd heard their names plenty of times in the discussion...