Culture
7 CommentsBreath of the Wild players get creative with fast travel
We’re already starting to see some impressive The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild speedruns. A tweet from one player shows that the best is still to come, though, if this amazing travel trick is anything to go off.
Venick409, a prolific member of the speedrunning community, shared a clip of Link using one of his special powers to fast travel. It’s not just a really clever idea, but it’s also stunning to watch it in action.
A glimpse into the future of BotW speedruns. pic.twitter.com/2a7dFRaXEN— Venick (@Venick409) March 8, 2017
Here’s the breakdown: Link uses the stasis rune to stop time on a gigantic boulder. After hitting it once to give it some momentum, he stops time on it again — then proceeds to charge up with a hammer, striking the boulder a couple of times before...
Opinion
2 CommentsZelda: Breath of the Wild’s early game is easy to grind for great loot
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is an enormous game with an open world full of places to explore and stuff that will kill you. These kinds of challenges will be familiar if you’ve played recent entries in the Elder Scrolls or Fallout series, but the game might be a bit overwhelming if you’re a casual Nintendo fan.
I’m going to help by pointing out ways to increase your power quickly, as well as explain the most efficient ways to get the stuff you need to undertake the game’s challenges. This information could be seen as spoilers if you want to figure everything out for yourself, so this is your warning.
The first step is ...
Identify your needs
It’s best to think about open world games as having two interwoven progression paths. The first is the narrative; following the quests...
Cover Story
Issue
26
February 27, 2017
What the game industry thinks of Nintendo’s Switch
We talk with third-party developers and industry executives about what to expect.
Read moreNews
33 CommentsThe Nintendo Switch library gets a lot bigger today
The Switch launched last Friday with a small — but excellent! — batch of games. Nintendo will continue to expand the console’s selection of titles with weekly eShop updates, with today bringing the first batch of downloadable games.
There are now eight more games to choose from on the Switch, spanning both the old and the new. Blaster Master Zero leads the charge; it’s an homage to the days of the Nintendo Entertainment System, with an 8-bit aesthetic and retro gameplay.
The action game, inspired by the original NES Blaster Master from 1988, costs $9.99 and supports up to two players with a co-op mode. It also sets the tone for the rest of the releases this week, which are mostly old-school NeoGeo games. Six NeoGeo titles are now playable on the Switch: Nam-1975, The King of Fighters...
News
16 CommentsZelda Williams to stream The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild for charity tomorrow
It’s well-known that actress Zelda Williams was named after Princess Zelda from the Legend of Zelda series. The man who chose that name was her father, beloved actor and comedian Robin Williams, who died tragically at his own hands in 2014.
With the new Legend of Zelda game, Breath of the Wild, out now, Zelda Williams has decided to honor her namesake and raise money for a worthy cause that also honors her father. Williams posted the follow tweet earlier today:
Hey folks! I'll be streaming Legend of Zelda tomorrow on @LVLUPDojo at 12 PT for @BBRFoundation! Some surprises in store Come hang!— Zelda Williams (@zeldawilliams) March 8, 2017
The stream begins tomorrow, March 9 at 12 p.m. PT. It will be run on the LVLUP Dojo Twitch account, and during the event, money will be raised...
News
16 CommentsThe time has come for Rime (update)
Mediterranean adventure Rime is coming out on May 26, developer Tequila Works announced today.
First announced in 2013 as a PlayStation 4 exclusive, the Tequila Works title is now also coming out on Windows PC and Xbox One. Sony pulled out of its exclusivity deal following the development's long gestation period. Rime will be released May 26 on those three platforms, both digitally and at retail, for $29.99 in the U.S., £29.99 in the U.K. and €34.99 in Europe.
A Nintendo Switch version of Rime is also in development. It will be released “later this summer,” according to a news release from Tequila Works and co-publishers Grey Box and Six Foot. The Switch version will cost extra — $39.99 in the U.S., £39.99 in the U.K. and €44.99 in Europe. It will also be available in physical and...
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild guide and walkthrough
12 CommentsYou can unlock Link’s classic green tunic in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
It’s been part of the look of The Legend of Zelda going way back to the original NES game: a dorky green tunic that protagonist Link somehow manages to make look heroic. But with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild adding a huge variety of equippable weapons and armor, that classic look seemed to be left behind.
Or perhaps not! It turns out Nintendo has hidden a special method for unlocking the old-school green tunic. It’s just gonna take some time.
The Tunic of the Wild — pictured above courtesy of a screenshot from Reddit user Mitch3315 — is your reward for completing every one of the game’s 120 shrines. These shrines are basically mini-dungeons, with each reward spirit orbs, which are traded in for health and stamina upgrades.
The Tunic of the Wild comes with a hat and pants as...
News
17 CommentsNetflix, Hulu, Amazon ‘will come’ to Nintendo Switch ‘in time’
In January, Nintendo said that “support for video-streaming services is being considered for a future update.” Now, less than one week after the release of the console, “being considered” has given way to “will come in time,” according to a Washington Post interview with Nintendo of America CEO Reggie Fils-Aime.
We’re talking to a range of companies about other services, companies like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon — things that will come in time. In our view, these are not differentiators. What differentiates us is the way you play with the Nintendo Switch and what you can play. And that will continue to be our focus into the future as we continue driving this platform.
While he’s right that Netflix isn’t a differentiator for a tablet like the Switch, it does put it into the dubious...
News
24 CommentsThe Nintendo Switch actually does have an activity log
Like many products, the Nintendo Switch launched without some common features that players expected, and one of the most notable is the apparent lack of an activity log; both the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS tracked the amount of time users spent playing games. But it turns out that the Switch does include an activity log — it just takes a few days to show up.
Players began to realize this yesterday, spurred on by a screenshot tweeted by GameXplain’s Andre Segers. Multiple Polygon staffers checked their own Switch units, and we can confirm the delayed presence of an activity log.
The Switch’s user profile page displays your friend code, and if you’ve been using your console for a few days — it’s not clear exactly how long the waiting period lasts — it will show a list of the games you’ve...
News
12 CommentsZelda: Breath of the Wild definitely reacts when you play naked
Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is a game that is absolutely filled to the brim with fun little details and things to explore as you make your way through the game. It feels like a game that was fussed over, but not in a bad way; if there’s some fun thing you’d like to try, you may be pleasantly surprised at the way the game plays back.
Such as playing the game with a naked Link.
Players have been running through the game without any clothes, and they’ve been posting the humorous ways the world and characters react to a hero who is barely wearing any clothes. It’s a goofy detail, but also a neat one. It’s fun to think that there was someone at Nintendo whose job was writing dialog for characters who saw a naked Link.
Haigen on Imgur
Celebrate your nudity!
...
News
58 CommentsWhy The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild dropped Gamepad support on Wii U
In comparing a 2014 demonstration (above) to what they got last Friday, Wii U owners realized that GamePad second-screen support was stripped out of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Nintendo fessed up to why in an interview with IGN.
Hidemaro Fujibayashi told IGN that developers "aimed to provide the same gameplay experience across both on Switch and Wii U," noting that when development began, well before the Switch was announced, touch screen features were present.
"In doing our testing without the touch features," he said, "we noticed looking back and forth between the GamePad and the screen actually took a little something away from this type of Zelda game."
Your browser does not support HTML5 video.
Fujibayashi went on to say that removing the touch features resulted in "a...
Culture
32 CommentsBreath of the Wild would be a perfect game if you could just pet the dogs
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild launched last week to stellar reviews from critics. Fans continue to praise the game, now that they have their hands on the Switch and it — but some players are lodging a complaint so major, it threatens to ruin the whole experience.
The issue concerns dogs, which Breath of the Wild has in spades. Upon discovering that Link can feed the adorable canines living in this game’s version of Hyrule, many players were ecstatic.
THERES A HUGE FRIENDLY DOG IN BREATH OF THE WILD AND NOW IM CRYING— breath of the bitch (@brochizou) March 4, 2017
A DOG STARTED FOLLOWING ME IN BREATH OF THE WILD PLEASE GIVE THIS GAME GOTY— void ✨ (@meteoreffects) March 5, 2017
It's a dog at a horse stable in Breath of the Wild. There must be a cat somewhere in...
Opinion
52 CommentsNintendo Switch launch sales are good news — but not great news yet
Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime has revealed that the Nintendo Switch has sold faster than any other Nintendo system in the Americas, which is pretty good news if you’re a Nintendo fan.
But it’s not an indication that the company is bouncing back from the relatively tame hardware sales of the Wii U, at least not yet. The system, anecdotally, has sold out at most major retailers since launch. As of now, it also can’t be purchased online, except through third-party resellers.
It would be bad news if Nintendo hadn’t sold out its initial allocation in the United States. Still, we have no way of knowing if Nintendo has managed to simply get more units on store shelves than it did for previous console launches. There’s also no way to tell if early launch week interest is...
News
2 CommentsFan-made Breath of the Wild map aims to be the game’s own Google Street View (update)
The Legend of Zelda fans are coming together to make Breath of the Wild’s gigantic open world a bit easier to navigate. An impressive, high-resolution map for the new game is now in alpha, and its creators are asking for other players to jump in and collaborate on the massive undertaking.
Fan sites Zelda Universe and Hyrule Legends developed the collaborative Breath of the Wild map, as its owner explained in a Reddit thread about the project.
“This has been a HUGE community project!” user GoldenChaos explained. “Joshua Lindquist and Danilo Passos are the brains, but a lot of Zelda Wiki contributors are helping make [places of interest].”
The interactive map differentiates between these significant locations, like shrines, sidequests and collectibles. It also borrows the look of the...
News
2 CommentsNintendo Switch Joy-Cons work on PCs and Android, too
The Nintendo Switch’s controllers work on a variety of other platforms, including Macs, Windows and even mobile phones. That includes not just the more conventional Pro controller, but the tiny Joy-Con controllers as well.
All it takes to hook up the Joy-Cons is an active Bluetooth connection on a compatible device. After unhooking one of the two controllers from the Switch, one need only press the sync button on the top of the Joy-Con to get the controller looking for a new home.
Allegra Frank/Polygon
The left Joy-Con shows up under Bluetooth preferences, and it even has a handy, specific label.
We tested out pairing the notorious left Joy-Con to a Samsung Galaxy S7 as well as a MacBook Air, and found that it syncs with relative ease. Once it was connected,...
News
21 CommentsZelda: Breath of the Wild’s best feature may be its wide open spaces
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild presents you with an incredibly large area to explore, and gives you very little idea of where to go and what to do. The game’s story even goes to great pains to put you in the same situation as Link: He knows just as little about this land as you do. You’re learning as he does.
The video above by Writing on Games does a great job of talking about why the vast areas of “nothing” on the map are so important to the story of Breath of the Wild. Your map isn’t littered with secondary objectives or waypoints, nor are you often told exactly what you need to do next. Exploration becomes part of the game itself rather than a decision you have to make by ignoring the waypoints and objectives of each mission.
Breath of the Wild is a departure from...
Opinion
20 CommentsThe Switch’s friend list is terrible and useless at launch
Reviews of the Nintendo Switch hardware are often quick to mention that the console’s firmware still seems unfinished, and that’s particularly evident with the system’s online features. As of now you can buy games online, which is nice, and add friends for the purpose of ... well, nothing?
We’re not knocking the limited internet capabilities of the Switch, to be clear. Nintendo has been upfront about the console’s still-to-come multiplayer options, some of which will be housed in a mobile app. That situation isn’t optimal, but it wasn’t a surprise. Knowing that something will be unfinished doesn’t make up for the pointless experience that is the friend list itself, however.
Allegra Frank/Polygon
This is the extremely, painstakingly dull Switch friend list.
I...
News
60 CommentsNintendo Switch Joy-Con issue may be caused by controller’s design
Nintendo Switch owners are dealing with a variety of hardware issues ranging from minor nuisances to system failures requiring a replacement, but the problem that’s getting the most attention — and is likely the most widespread concern — is the issue of the left Joy-Con controller desyncing. On the Switch’s launch day last Friday, Nintendo suggested in a page on its support site that the Joy-Con problem could be caused by wireless interference. But from a new teardown of the controller, it appears that the true culprit is the design of the device.
Teardown aficionado Jon Downey, who goes by Spawn Wave Media on YouTube, took apart both Joy-Con controllers in a video he posted yesterday. Aside from the known differences between the two units — the right Joy-Con has two extra internal...
News
55 CommentsNintendo says the Switch outsold the Wii at launch
Nintendo’s Switch console boasted impressive records on its first weekend out of the gate, as the company said it beat every launch sales record for any Nintendo system in the Americas in history.
New York Times reporter Nick Wingfield shared these sales numbers of Twitter today after interviewing Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime. They represent the first two days of sales — March 3 and March 4 — across Nintendo markets in North, South and Central America, including the United States and Canada.
2. Fri-Sat sales for Nintendo Switch exceeded first 2-day sales in Americas for any system in Nintendo history. Next biggest was Wii.— Nick Wingfield (@nickwingfield) March 6, 2017
Particularly impressive is that Wingfield notes Switch sales surpassed the crossover hit Wii...
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild guide and walkthrough
9 CommentsPSA: You can change your upgrades in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
One of the ways that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild sets itself apart from past entries in the Zelda series is how you obtain upgrades. You no longer find heart containers hidden in the world; instead, you earn spirit orbs by completing shrine challenges. Every set of four orbs can be traded in for either a health upgrade or a buff to your stamina meter, allowing you to climb, glide or swim for longer stretches of time.
But what if you screw up? What if you hit a point and realize that putting all of your upgrades into stamina was a bad idea, and you need more hearts to survive? Or you decide you really need some extra stamina to to climb an especially tall mountain?
Breath of the Wild has accounted for this, but it can be easy to miss. Here’s how to respec your character...
Opinion
40 CommentsThe Nintendo Switch’s kickstand makes the worst sound possible
The Nintendo Switch screen, which I guess you could call the console itself, has a kickstand so it can stand, unsupported, on any hard surface. This is great if you’d like to play with a friend while you both look at the screen. Or if you’re playing Zelda: Breath of the Wild in the bathtub and only want to risk dropping the controller in the water. Which is something I’ve never done, so I can’t possibly know it’s amazing and the best use of the system.
Anyway.
The problem is that the kickstand itself is rather small, so the system may fall over unless the surface you’re trying to set it on is rather firm and flat. The other, more serious problem is that deploying the kickstand makes the worst noise you have ever heard in your life.
I was sure that I had broken it the first time I...
News
15 CommentsSome Nintendo Switch users getting weak Wi-Fi signal
The Nintendo Switch may have a weaker-than-desirable Wi-Fi radio, according to numerous reports of signal strength issues with Nintendo’s new console.
Switch owners in places like the GameFAQs forums, NeoGAF and Reddit are saying that they’re getting slow internet speeds, which is causing issues such as long buffering times for trailers in the eShop. The Switch reports wireless signal strength in an icon that displays bars from zero to three, and the users who are affected by the issue say that even with the device sitting relatively close to their wireless router, the signal strength never goes above two bars.
The Switch’s wireless networking chip — which is a Broadcom BCM4356, according to iFixit’s teardown — supports 802.11ac Wi-Fi on 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. The latter frequency...
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