Opinion
28 CommentsOverwatch's most interesting trait can be its hardest to get used to
Overwatch is, in broad terms, a hero-based first-person shooter. You pick your hero, you play the round and you attempt to use each character's abilities to their fullest. But Overwatch's most interesting wrinkle is also the hardest to get used to: You can switch characters at any time.
This is part of the reason the game isn't free-to-play, according to Blizzard. "We really made the decision on the business model based on what we thought was right for the gameplay," game director Jeff Kaplan told Polygon at Blizzcon last year. "If you've played a lot of Overwatch, you know that hero-switching [mid-match] is a core part of it — it's a really fun dynamic part. The difference maker between ... Overwatch and other games is the fluidity in the team compositions and matching what the other...
Cover Story
Issue
19
May 25, 2016
Designing Mirror’s Edge: The making of a franchise
Go behind the scenes with DICE on the creation of Mirror’s Edge and Mirror’s Edge Catalyst.
Read moreNews
36 CommentsThe Division's latest update is kind of a disaster
Tom Clancy's The Division launched its second high-profile update just yesterday, unleashing a plague of game breaking bugs across multiple platforms. Some users are even reporting missing characters.
The big release — called update 1.2 or Conflict — contains new player-versus-player and player-versus-environment content, as well as a second centerpiece raid called Clear Sky. Many users, including Polygon staff, are experiencing persistent issues with stability and matchmaking in multiple game modes.
One of the PvE systems, called High Value Targets, relies on a new currency called Intel. But when some players turn in their hard-won Intel, HVT missions refuse to unlock. When they do unlock, named bosses often fail to materialize, leaving players empty-handed. The only solution seems...
News
45 CommentsBattleborn cuts price and rolls out a new character as Overwatch launches
Battleborn introduced a new character and cut its price by $20, perhaps not coincidentally on the same day rival Overwatch launched.
Both are colorful first-person shooters with several distinctive characters; Battleborn is the one that launched three weeks before Overwatch. The latest member of Battleborn's roster is Alani, described as a "water-bending warrior monk." Her introductory video is below.
The character is available for everyone who played in the PlayStation 4 open beta or bought Battleborn's season pass or digital deluxe edition.
As for that, every version of Battleborn has been trimmed by $20 from now through Saturday. That means the digital deluxe version, which includes all the future downloadable content, costs $54.99 and the standard version is $39.99. The deal is...
News
4 CommentsHuge mod seeks to bring Seattle to the world of Fallout 4
An 18-member team is at work on an ambitious mod introducing a completely new region to the Fallout world through Fallout 4, though it is "several years away" from completion.
Fallout Cascadia, set in post-apocalyptic Seattle, aspires to offer a map roughly the size of Fallout 3, but with more quests and locations than the Far Harbor DLC just launched. The modders will release it for free.
Work on Fallout Cascadia began six months ago, but with the Creation Kit currently in open beta on PC, work has intensified and the team wants to get word out.
However, the team says "the expected release is several years away." That's far enough out that there is no way to tell if it will work on consoles. The team does plan to share the mod through Bethesda.net, which would make it available to...
News
33 CommentsRumor: Titanfall 2 adds grappling hooks, larger multiplayer maps
Titanfall 2 will give players a new way to traverse the game's environments and engage others in combat, thanks to the addition of a grappling hook, according to a post on the Titanfall subreddit. A user claiming to have knowledge of Respawn Entertainment's next game posted that gameplay detail alongside a piece of legitimate-looking artwork to back up their claim.
That grappling hook, the Reddit user said, is used for "getting into your Titan, aiding free-running, or tactical plays such as pulling enemies while they're midair." Titanfall 2 will also apparently feature larger multiplayer maps.
The piece of artwork posted by that Reddit user ("ilovegoogleglass") doesn't appear to feature a grappling hook (nor the sword teased in Titanfall 2's first trailer), though it does match a...
News
22 CommentsMirror's Edge Catalyst has a launch trailer, and it's boring in a great way
The launch trailer for EA's upcoming Mirror's Edge Catalyst is a bit on the boring side, but I don't think that's a problem.
Mirror's Edge has such a distinct visual language and color palette that it's impossible to mistake the game for anything else. That's already a nice advantage over the majority of first-person titles, which often seem to bleed together. There's also the pleasant sensation that the trailer is showing me everything I wanted to see — those lovely colors and the convincing sense of speed and height — and completely avoids the one thing I feared to see: Faith holding a gun.
I wonder if people who haven't played the original game feel differently about the trailer, but I found it reassuring more than I found it exciting. It's a game I want to play, not watch. The...
News
28 CommentsI Am Setsuna looks like a wintry, nostalgic fantasy in new trailer
Square Enix has premiered a new gameplay trailer for I Am Setsuna, the upcoming role-playing game that harkens back to the publisher's '90s roots. Although Square Enix is calling the video above the game's E3 2016 trailer, you can watch it now, ahead of the June event.
Inspired by Chrono Trigger and other classic Squaresoft role-playing games, I Am Setsuna is developed by new studio Tokyo RPG Factory. The winter-set RPG features a battle system similar to older Final Fantasy games, several dungeons to explore and tons of villagers to befriend.
I Am Setsuna is set to launch July 19 on PlayStation 4 and Windows PC for $39.99. The game is already out in Japan, where players can choose between PS4 and PlayStation Vita versions.
Check out our gallery of screenshots below for another look...
News
16 CommentsVampyr's protagonist definitely has a thirst for blood in first screens
Focus Home Interactive has debuted the first in-game look at the star of Vampyr, the upcoming role-playing game from Dontnod Entertainment. In a trio of screens, Dr. Jonathan Reid is shown to have a mighty bloodlust.
Focus Home explained the dilemma at the heart of Vampyr in a blog post: "Players take control of Dr. Jonathan Reid, a newly formed vampire who is torn between the Hippocratic Oath he swore as a doctor, and the bloodthirsty need to kill due to the monster within," the publisher wrote. As Reid, however, players will decide on whom Reid will feed, not whether to give into his killer impulses at all.
First detailed back in December, the game's focus is on making tough decisions on how to sate your vampiric tendencies and watching the consequences play out. The choice-based...
News
6 CommentsWinter sports game Snow gets big snowboarding update ahead of PS4 debut
Snow, the open-world winter sports title from Swedish indie studio Poppermost Productions, is getting its biggest addition yet: snowboarding, the game's first sport beyond skiing. With the long-awaited debut today of snowboarding, along with snowmobiles, Poppermost is looking to set Snow apart from everything else in the extreme sports genre — including another indie competitor, HB Studios' upcoming Mark McMorris Infinite Air.
Poppermost originally launched Snow on Windows PC and Linux via Steam Early Access in October 2013, and more than 500,000 registered users have tried the game since then. The studio counts 100,000 monthly active users on the platform. And of the 4,400-plus reviews Snow has received on Steam, 73 percent are positive, illustrating the strong connection that...
News
14 CommentsRocket League update delivers cross-platform play to Xbox One
Cross-platform comes to Xbox One today in the latest title update to Rocket League. Gamers in the RC-cars-meets-soccer game will be able to play matches against PC users starting this evening.
The update comes to users at 6 pm ET. It will be reflected in the options menu, where there is a toggle to enable or disable matchmaking with cross-platform competitors.
Cross-platform play does not mean the Playstation 4 — yet. In March, Xbox announced it was opening Xbox One to cross-platform play, with "other consoles" included. However, implementing or including this feature will be entirely up to game developers.
PlayStation 4's Rocket League gamers have been able to play against PC users since its launch last July. It launched on Xbox One in February.
News
9 CommentsOverwatch's first big update will bring back Competitive Play mode
Blizzard Entertainment is currently at work on Overwatch's Competitive Play mode, which it hopes to bring back in the game's first major update. In a developer Q&A on Facebook today, seen above, director Jeff Kaplan explained that reworking the mode, which recently went back into development after time in a closed beta, is the team's current focus.
Competitive Play mode wasn't available in the recent open beta, and won't be offered upon Overwatch's full launch tomorrow. Instead, Kaplan teased that Blizzard hoped to reintroduce it into the game within the next month.
Must Read
Overwatch: How Blizzard turned its biggest failure into its next great hope
"I don't want to promise an exact date," Kaplan said. "My rough commitment — or not commitment — would be...
Opinion
67 CommentsHow Blizzard turned me into a salesperson for Overwatch
Let me be clear about something up front: I don't really care if you buy Overwatch. This story isn't about using my influence to try to get a large number of people to purchase the game. I love that you're here, but in terms of your decision to buy or not buy Overwatch? I don't give a shit.
My friends are another story.
I, like many people, assumed that Overwatch would be a free-to-play game. I play with the same core group of five or six people on most nights, and getting them to try games when there is no money to risk is pretty easy. They'll try anything once, even if time being at a premium means that one of us has to step up to champion the game to get people interested. If that doesn't happen? The evening is spent with Diablo 3, or maybe Rocket League. Heroes of the Storm is...
News
2 CommentsPac-Man 256 chasing down console, Steam release next month
Pac-Man 256 is launching on PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Xbox One next month, according to Bandai Namco Entertainment's European branch. Planned for a June 21 release, the port of the mobile game will add local co-op multiplayer, as seen in the trailer up top.
In the console and Steam versions, up to four players can race around the endless maze together as they outrun both ghosts and that game-breaking bug. The game will also add social sharing features and additional themes, and costs $4.99 at launch, according to the publisher.
Created by Crossy Road developer Hipster Whale and 3 Sprockets, Pac-Man 256 found success after its release on iOS and Android last year. The game is based on the infamous 256th level of the original Pac-Man arcade game, which players are prevented from...
News
4 CommentsOri and the Blind Forest is finally getting a retail release
Ori and the Blind Forest is coming to stores on June 14, thanks to publisher Nordic Games. In a press release, the company said it was working with developer Moon Studios and Microsoft, which originally published the game, on a boxed version of the Windows PC game.
"Since we released Ori and the Blind Forest, we've received many mails, tweets and requests from fans asking for a boxed retail release, so we're extremely pleased to finally make everyone's wish come true," CEO of Moon Studios Thomas Mahler said about the upcoming boxed sets.
The retail versions will include the Definitive Edition of the game, which Microsoft recently released on PC and Xbox One. It comes with extra content, like new moves, difficulty options, fast travel and even more of the beautiful, cinematic...
Video
35 CommentsOverwatch's newest video brings you Soldier: 76 — but not Sombra
Overwatch's last of four animated shorts reacquaints us with Soldier 76. This is either a spoiler or a time-saver: It doesn't bring you "Sombra," a rumored character that many fans of the new shooter had anticipated.
On Thursday a NeoGAF user put together an impressive string of clues that seemed to point toward a new character reveal. However, Overwatch's official channel today put out the Soldier: 76 flick, calling it "our fourth and final animated short for this season." So Sombra may have to wait until another time.
Anyway, Soldier: 76 is pure chaotic-goodness, the gold-hearted, grizzled vet who will never abandon his mission. His origin trailer debuted in July (it's below) and positions him as a pivotal figure in the Overwatch story: commander of the good guys, distrusted or...
Roster File
10 CommentsWrecked by the big boys 15 years ago, veterans return to NASCAR video games
About a decade ago, Tom Dusenberry was in the pits of a New England speedway, getting set for a Saturday in the minor leagues of late-model stock car racing when he overheard two drivers talking about a third, a newcomer who needed to get himself in line. The rookie, who had just come up to their division, didn't know what the hell he was doing, and was going to get himself put into the wall.
The rookie was Dusenberry's son, Matt. Tom Dusenberry, who founded and sold Hasbro's first video games operation and made a couple NASCAR titles with it, was bankrolling his son's nascent racing career. "I'm sitting there, saying, 'You're gonna kill my kid,'" Tom recalled. "And you're going to cost me $10,000. Can you teach him another lesson?"
Nope.
Stock car racing projects a genial, Southern...
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