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Why are Nintendo 3DS systems so hard to find right now?

Even with the Nintendo Switch on its way, there are plenty of reasons to pick up a Nintendo 3DS this holiday season. Trouble is, many shoppers are having a rough time finding the handheld at retailers, with severely limited stock reported nationwide. Browsing through the websites of big-name stores like Amazon, Target, Best Buy and GameStop shoppers will notice that they have one thing in common: They have zero Nintendo 3DS units available. This has been the case since at least after Black Friday, when members of Polygon went looking for Nintendo 3DS systems to make up for the quick sellout of Nintendo’s limited-edition, $99 holiday handheld deal. While it was no surprise that the $99 special New Nintendo 3DS systems sold out fast, it was perplexing that none of the other models of...
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Super Smash Bros. Melee on Switch could be a huge boon for esports

Super Smash Bros. Melee remains one of the biggest games in the competitive scene, and recent rumors about its potential high-definition, Virtual Console debut on Nintendo Switch has gotten many pro players excited about its next-generation prospects. While there are still reasons to be hesitant about Melee’s viability as an esports favorite on the upcoming hybrid console, we spoke to one of the community’s most visible members, who seemed optimistic about the Switch’s potential to shake up competitive Smash. To D’Ron “D1” Maingrette, who works at Twitch as the Smash Bros. strategic partnerships specialist, a Virtual Console re-release of Melee would make the game far more accessible. “If you were to visit a local game store and ask for a copy of [Melee], you would either not find it,...
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How Dead Rising 4's Frank West is the new George Bailey

If good ol' George Bailey ever wielded a chainsaw, you can be certain he'd read the manual, understood the safety procedures and took care to avoid the kickback zone. Dead Rising 4’s Frank West, on the other hand, only ever uses a chainsaw to cleave zombies in two, generally prefers the one-handed, swinging approach and has even been known to dual wield while whirling. If George's forte is carving the Christmas loin of beef, Frank is happiest carving up undead hordes. So how can It's A Wonderful Life's mild-mannered banker be compared to daring slayer Frank, whose current kill-count dwarfs the entire population of Bedford Falls? It's all about warm-hearted Christmas messages, at least according to Dead Rising 4's executive producer Bryce Cochrane. "What is Christmas...
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With Final Fantasy 15 finally out, fans shift desires toward Kingdom Hearts 3

Square Enix finally released Final Fantasy 15 today, which means role-playing game fans can check off one of their most elusive and anticipated titles from the list. With that game finally out into the world after 10 very, very long years, there are a handful of other titles that players are keeping their fingers crossed for — and none have players more anxious than Kingdom Hearts 3. The wait for Kingdom Hearts 3 has in fact lasted just as long as the one for Final Fantasy 15, its Square Enix-developed cousin. Kingdom Hearts 2 launched stateside in March 2006, just two months before the reveal of Final Fantasy Versus 13. The end of that wildly popular PlayStation 2 game teased a third entry in the series, which set diehards off in search of Kingdom Hearts 3 news. Since then, there have...
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Buying condoms is awkward — in games and in real life

There are few games like Well This is Awkward, which tackles the discomfort of buying condoms from a teen’s perspective. Yet, as lead designer and University of Baltimore senior Emma Kidwell told Polygon, this free-to-play comedy about contraceptives is actually quite mundane. “It’s relatable, which is the goal,” she said via Skype earlier this week. “I wanted to make something really weird and relatable.” Well This is Awkward definitely fits into the latter camp. Kidwell — who writes for Kill Screen and has written for Polygon before — designed it in Twine, a format popular with narrative designers. It tells the story of one uncomfortable night when a couple just wants to get it on ... except they’re missing just one important thing. It sounds like it could border on preachy — Don’t...
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Why Germany lifted its ban on Red Faction after 15 years

Sci-fi shooter Red Faction launched 15 years ago, and for the first time ever many German gamers are getting a chance to play it. Publisher THQ Nordic, which bought the rights to the THQ trademark and some of its properties in 2014, recently announced that Germany will soon remove Red Faction from its list of media considered harmful to young people, also known as "the Index." The Federal Review Board for Media Harmful to Minors, known by its German initials as the BPjM, manages the Index. According to its website, the government agency seeks to protect minors from content it feels could "endanger their process of developing a socially responsible and self-reliant personality." This includes media that contains extreme violence, discrimination, anti-Semitism or racism, as well as the...
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Pokémon Sun and Moon is bringing players together, old and new

It’s been 16 years since I got my first video game: Pokémon Red, a present from my parents when I was six years old. Nearly two decades later, I’m still as wildly excited about the new set of Pokémon games every time they arrive. Sun and Moon mark the seventh generation pair, and there’s a ton of reasons for me to get excited, as I outlined in my largely positive review. But just as I’m still in love with Pokémon to this day, there are others who are falling for the series now. It’s an experience I’m finding more common, with some thanks to Pokémon Go, but it’s also one I have trouble relating to. To help me out, I talked to a recent and serious Pokémon convert, entertainment editor Susana Polo, about her much later awakening to the series, and what it’s like to come into something that...
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Why do people keep making fake Nintendo consoles?

No one outside of Nintendo has their hands on a Nintendo Switch console quite yet, despite recent attempts by a popular YouTuber to convince people otherwise. Etika, star of the Nintendo-focused Etika World Network channel, came under scrutiny after uploading two separate videos featuring what he said is his very own Nintendo Switch. The first video, a livestream where Etika whips out a device resembling Nintendo’s hybrid handheld, has been taken offline since its weekend airing. But an archive made the rounds on social media, creating mass confusion and, eventually, frustration. ??????????????????????????????????????? WHAT pic.twitter.com/iYCc8flEkg— Alexander Pale (@AlexanderPale) November 14, 2016 Nintendo fans were furious not out of jealousy, but because they’ve seen this...
Virtual Reality
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Arizona Sunshine had to rethink the zombie genre for VR, and teach players how to shoot

Playing one of VR’s most violent and exciting games

I’m playing through the first three levels of Arizona Sunshine, an upcoming zombie shooter, and it’s one of the more complete first-person experiences I’ve seen in virtual reality. There’s a campaign with a story. There’s multiplayer, and there’s a horde mode. It’s being released on Dec. 6 for both the HTC Vive and the Oculus Rift. And my first impression of the game was a strange one: Why is there text on the screen? "In the final game there will be an option to toggle the text on and off, it will probably be off by default and you can turn it on if you want to," Vertigo Games’ Richard Stitselaar tells me. "We have some different iterations on the subtitle system." Arizona Sunshine concept art / Vertigo Games In the early days of development they wanted to...
Feature
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Arcade-specific VR games are here.

Why VR arcades could be virtual reality’s salvation

While different forms of VR arcades have been around since the late ‘90s, it hasn’t been until recently that new virtual reality gaming centers have been gaining massive popularity around the world, first in China, then in other parts of Asia and soon widespread in Europe and North America. Earlier this week, the senior vice president of HTC’s virtual reality efforts announced initiatives meant to make it easier for people to open these arcades as small businesses. He also told Polygon that the company is considering opening two more arcade test facilities of its own. The company opened Viveland, a VR arcade in Taipei, last week. He said the company is likely to open Vivelands in Europe and the U.S. as well. "This is very big," said Rikard Steiber, president of Viveport and senior...
Video
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Video games and the romantic yearning for nature

There's a trend emerging in game development, most particularly indie games, which leans towards a wistful appreciation for nature. Games like Firewatch, Oxenfree, Everybody's Gone to the Rapture and The Witness take place in verdant, bucolic surroundings, outdoors places of trees and beaches, albeit touched by menace and modernity. Even Far Cry Primal sought to pull the player closer to nature through its stone age setting. though with a reliance on slaying creatures willy-nilly. Perhaps it's a reaction to gaming's long-standing love of post-industrial dystopia, its grim backdrops of decay, annihilation and rot. Like the Romantic poets who rebelled against the dark satanic mills springing up around them, game developers are looking towards an age of innocence for inspiration. Small...
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A text adventure, inside the world of Donald Trump

Abi Thoreau is a true believer. She sees charismatic political hurricane Daffy Drumpf as the solution to America's ills. A legal whiz, she takes a job as part of Drumpf's braggadocious campaign for the presidency. Almost immediately, Drumpf recognizes her as a useful operative. He takes her into his confidence. Paper Drumpf is an 11-chapter text adventure about a Donald Trump-like figure and his efforts to secure the world's most powerful position. It's a wordy investigation into the psyche of a demagogue, driven by a lust for affirmation and adoration. As Abi, players make dialog and action choices as she comes to know Drumpf, his true beliefs and his modus operandi. The game — freely downloadable on a pay-what-you-want basis — was written by Greg Buchanan. He also created Paper...
Video
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A strange game about dreams and anxieties

Dreams are perplexing, looping and unpredictable. They invite interpretation yet resist understanding. Awkward Dimensions Redux is a game about dreams. Insofar as dreams are odd and highly personal, the game succeeds. It's a scattering of ideas that defy logic and comprehension. It's a walking simulation lasting an hour or so, featuring 18 short sections. Interaction is limited to walking, jumping. Inspecting and picking things up. There are some basic puzzles. There are also sections in which the player has almost no control at all. Created by Denver-based high school student Steven Harmon, the game is part surreal exploration and part angst teenage art project. It explores the disorientation of being as well as the dreadful machinations of youthful relationships. L...
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Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes is PSVR’s best party game — with few thanks to VR

It’s not unfair to say that, in 2016, the video game has superseded tabletop classics in popularity. Funny, then, that it’s the newfangled PlayStation VR headset which helped remind us at Polygon New York of board games’ unadultered, screenless pleasures. After several hours getting into the rhythm of the virtual reality version of Steel Crate Games’ Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, we’d found our new favorite party game, even if most of us had more fun without using the required $400 hardware. Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes in virtual reality plays similarly to the standard mobile and Windows PC release from last year; in fact, we’ve played several iterations of it since development began in 2014. One player — the one with that gigantic, comfy headset on their face — is designated...
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Pokémon Sun and Moon are the most accessible games yet — but where’s the challenge?

To the most spoiler-sensitive Pokémon addicts, Nintendo’s marketing of the upcoming Nintendo 3DS games may be enraging. Since announcing Pokémon Sun and Moon in May, the company has released heaps of new monsters, trailers and details about the seventh generation of Pokémon adventures. (If you want to talk spoilers: A demo is now available on Nintendo eShop as well, and it's already been massively datamined.) But there’s still plenty we don’t yet know about the games, Polygon was told at a recent Nintendo event, and that includes just how the challenge will be tweaked, for better or worse. We had the chance to go hands-on with a full, English-language build of the Pokémon Sun version ahead of the pair’s Nov. 18 launch. Our play session began shortly after its opening credits to the very...
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Retro trading game is a walk down video game memory lane

Most of us have experienced walking into a game store hoping to sell old games and raise enough money to buy new games. This is often followed by dismay, when the story clerk makes some risible offer for our precious goods. In Vintage Game Shop (video above), the tables are turned. In this "documentary game" you play as a retro store owner buying and selling classic games, trying to stay in business as customers scheme to fleece you with their broken cartridges and inflated price estimates. The browser and mobile game is the work of French outfit LudoScience, which tends to focus its efforts on video game history, such as The Game Classification Project, which groups thousands of games based on their educational function, rather than pure genre. Vintage Game Shop is...