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8 CommentsBinding of Isaac leads pack of today’s new Nintendo Switch games
The Nintendo Switch eShop has been updated to include four more games today, March 16, giving console owners a lot to get excited for. Leading the charge of this week’s update is The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+, but the other three titles now on sale are just as well-known to gamers well-versed in the indie gaming scene.
The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+ was originally slated to launch alongside the console earlier this month, but the procedurally generated shoot-’em-up arrives in good time regardless. It’s perhaps the most violent and difficult game currently available on the Switch, with tons of bosses to fight and chances to die by their hands. The game’s ending has also been reworked, and there’s a new playable character and chapter to make the game worth dipping back into.
W...
News
40 CommentsWhere to buy a Nintendo Switch (update)
Update #2: The Nintendo Switch has been out for about two weeks now, as of March 16, and systems remain hard to find. Your best bet right now is to call local retailers and ask when they expect to get restocked and how those lines will be handled.
You can also bite the bullet and pick up a system from the gray market; the Nintendo Switch seems to be going for around $450 from third-party sellers on sites like Amazon. Prices on eBay also seem to be hovering around $450 or so for the system itself.
GameStop is also offering bundles for $599.99 that are guaranteed to arrived by April 16, but that’s a lot of money to make sure you get a system. The bundle also includes some items that you may not want to buy, such as Just Dance 2017 and the Breath of the Wild strategy guide.
Target...
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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 moreThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild guide and walkthrough
11 CommentsZelda: Breath of the Wild guide: How to get the Master Sword
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild wouldn’t be a proper Zelda game if it didn’t have the legendary Master Sword. The Master Sword is unique in that it doesn’t break like every other weapon in the game.
Instead of shattering and being lost forever, the Master Sword loses energy. After extended use, the Master Sword will run out of energy and will explode as if it were breaking. Instead of being gone, it sits in your inventory and is unusable until it recharges. So how long does it take for the Master Sword to recharge? Just 10 minutes of real time. You’ll get a notification once it’s recharged and usable again.
Now let’s talk about how to get the Master Sword.
WHERE IS THE MASTER SWORD?
Despite its status as “the sword that seals the darkness,” getting your hands on the Master...
News
6 CommentsZelda: Breath of the Wild’s alleged Iwata tribute is beautiful
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata passed away during the development of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and it seems as if the development team left a moving tribute to the man inside the game.
You can watch the video above to explore the multiple levels to the tribute, which could be considered spoilers, although Nintendo has yet to explicitly confirm that these references were meant as a goodbye to Iwata. We contacted the company for comment, and have yet to hear back at the time of writing. This also wouldn’t be the first time Iwata’s passing was brought up in a Nintendo game.
The game’s development team has talked about Iwata’s passing, and the impact it had on the final game.
“When he passed away, there were moments we’d come up with an idea which we’d be excited to talk to Iwata...
News
22 CommentsScratched-up Switch systems can still use TV mode — without their docks
There’s a way to play the Nintendo Switch in TV mode without sliding it in and out of its accompanying dock, which may be a big relief to those who own bent or busted versions of the hardware.
YouTuber Adam Schwartz filmed his alternative to having the Switch rest in its dock, lest he take it out to find scratches along the screen’s bezel. The method is actually pretty simple, requiring just a USB-C extension cable.
The video breaks down how to enjoy the Switch on the big screen without fear. There’s an added item that Schwartz owns to make this even easier: a Hori Compact Playstand, which goes for $13 on Amazon. It works as a separate stand for the Switch, so that anyone who wants to play in TV mode using this dock-less method can still let the console sit somewhere in the meantime....
News
12 CommentsSomeone’s already collected all of Breath of the Wild’s Korok seeds
There’s so much to do in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild beyond its main quest, and its sidequests are often just as involved. Of all the optional adventures Link can pursue in the game, perhaps the most more time-consuming is hunting for Korok seeds, as requested by the lovable Hestu — but there’s already someone who’s knocked that whole quest off their list, not even two weeks after launch.
Reddit user xFateAwaitsx posted to the Zelda forum about his achievement, showing off the reward for collecting ‘em all. (Here’s a spoiler warning for anyone who doesn’t want to know how this quest ends, by the way.)
Nintendo via Reddit
This is the reward for collecting all those Korok Seeds.
Uh. Well. Yup. That’s what collecting all 900 — 900! — Korok seeds is...
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild guide and walkthrough
1 CommentZelda Breath of the Wild guide: Shrines
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s shrines are a familiar new twist on the dungeons that have been winding their way through Nintendo’s storied franchise for decades. In this guide, we’ll teach you about shrines: what they are, what they do, why you should find then and how to do that.
What is a shrine?
In effect, shrines are miniature dungeons filled with puzzles. They dot the Hylian landscape, waiting for you to enter and conquer.
This dungeon’s theme is … pretty self-explanatory
Every dungeon has a theme and is comprised of a puzzle (or a series of puzzles) based on that theme. Inside, your job is to get from the entrance to the man at the end who will grant you an award, using the methods that the theme hints at.
There are also occasionally...
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild guide and walkthrough
11 CommentsZelda: Breath of the Wild rupee farming - How to make rupees with bowling
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is filled with secrets but one of the biggest mysteries is how to make rupees fast and reliably. Thankfully, one of the easiest ways to accomplish rupee farming can be done with the bowling minigame.
How to find the bowling minigame
In the video above, we detail the easy technique we learned from the Breath of the Wild community. It involves heading up to Pondo’s Lodge right next to the Hebra Tower located in northwest Hyrule.
Hebra Tower is located in the northwest
How to bowl in Breath of the Wild
Before you get started, make sure you have the Pro HUD turned off and the Sheikah Slate sensor is turned on. In addition, you should have at least two pieces of cold resistance gear on, since you’ll be standing in the cold for a...
News
7 CommentsThe Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses announces 2017 tour schedule
The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses will visit 46 cities in nine nations on its 2017 worldwide tour, whose dates were announced today.
The nine-month tour begins on Friday in Argentina, and it will feature selections from the 30-year history of The Legend of Zelda franchise. The performances are two hours long and will feature a 66-piece orchestra and 24-person choir.
A news release accompanying the tour announcement said the concerts include "a reimagined score" drawing on all the fan favorites in the Zelda series, including A Link Between Worlds, Twilight Princess and Majora's Mask. Selections from Ocarina of Time and A Link to the Past also will be performed.
“We’re really going all-out this year to celebrate the newly released The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild,”...
News
6 CommentsCheck out Breath of the Wild’s Link and Zelda transition from weird to wonderful
The Link and Zelda who star in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild already look quite unlike previous iterations of the classic characters. In a new making-of documentary about the game, the design team showed that we could have seen the characters with some even wilder styles.
The second part of the half-hour The Making of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild goes in-depth on the game’s story and characters, with plenty of concept art to go around. Art director Satoru Takizawa broke down the process for how interconnected story and character designs are when it comes to producing a Zelda game.
“There’s the basic plan, the story, the different scenes, all the characters that are required to make everything work,” he explained. “The designers start their creative process from...
News
14 CommentsOverwatch on the Nintendo Switch would be ‘very challenging,’ says game’s director
Overwatch director Jeff Kaplan recently took questions about the game on Reddit, and a fan brought up the possibility of seeing the game on the Nintendo Switch. Kaplan’s answer doesn’t leave much hope, but it shows that Nintendo’s latest system is at least on Blizzard’s radar.
“I'm loving the Switch!” Kaplan wrote. “My second favorite gaming platform of all time is the 3DS. Getting [Overwatch] on the Switch is very challenging for us. But we're always open minded about exploring possible platforms.”
What does that mean, exactly?
The Nintendo Switch isn’t the most powerful console on the market by a pretty significant margin, but Overwatch doesn’t require much in the way of system specs to be playable. So it’s possible that he doesn’t mean it would be challenging to get the game onto...
News
35 CommentsReport: Nintendo Switch passes 1.5M consoles sold
Nintendo Switch sales worldwide have reached 1.5 million consoles sold, according to a report from SuperData. As first reported by GamesIndustry.biz, that figure comprises international sales recorded mostly during the console’s first week on the market.
SuperData’s information comes from Famitsu, the premier Japanese gaming publication, and German-based global market research institute GfK. The specific breakdown has sales reaching 500,000 in the United States, based on SuperData’s own estimate. In Japan, Nintendo has sold 360,00 Switch consoles; that number is from Famitsu, the firm told Polygon. Outside of those two regions, the data gets less specific.
European sales are said to closely trail those in Japan, according to a mix of SuperData’s research and GfK data. All of these sales...
News
10 CommentsZelda: Breath of the Wild gets a making-of special from Nintendo. Watch it here
Update: The three videos are live on YouTube! Watch the first episode above, and the second two videos below the post.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is one of the best-reviewed games of all time, and it’s undoubtedly helping the sales of the Nintendo Switch. The game is a pretty radical departure from past Legend of Zelda games, and tomorrow Nintendo is going to release a three-part behind-the-scenes special to show how the game was created.
“Tomorrow at 6 a.m. Pacific Time, we’ll be debuting a three-part series called The Making of The Legend of #Zelda: Breath of the Wild!” the official Nintendo Twitter account announced.
Interest in the latest Legend of Zelda game is at a peak right now, and the company has already shown off a surprising amount about how the game was...
News
3 CommentsBreath of the Wild’s best NPC wants to talk you down from death
To call the world of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild colorful is an understatement. It’s chockfull of vibrant personalities, like sexy shark people and booty-shaking tree monsters. The most touching of all of these, though, may be the bridge-guarding Brigo, whose thoughtful mental health advocacy has struck a chord with all kinds of players.
Brigo is a stern-faced Hylian hanging around Proxim Bridge. When Link first runs into him, he’s muttering something about the end of the world.
“We’re doomed!” he shouts, before immediately walking that back — maybe because he’s afraid of being judged as a doomsday truther, or maybe because he’s naturally conflicted. Either way, Brigo enlists Link’s help to stay apprised of any potentially apocalyptic events by the end of their...
Opinion
297 CommentsLet’s talk about that ‘bad review’ of Breath of the Wild
This morning brought news that Jim Sterling, the well known video games raconteur who definitely does not participate in groupthink, was under attack. Jim could bait someone by reading a phone book in the wrong tone of voice, and everyone expects this so, dear God, what did he say this time.
He gave The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild a 7 out of 10. Metacritic then folded that into whatever mumbo-jumbo informs its aggregation formula. Now the game is no longer tied for second place (with three others) at 98. It stands at 97, a score shared by eight over the long skein of video games history.
Heaven forfend.
Jim Sterling has forgotten more than I know about more games than I have ever played. We could do worse than to grant people the sincerity of their beliefs. And Jim isn't out...
Nintendo Switch
29 CommentsNintendo Switch replacement dock returns to official store
A replacement dock for the Nintendo Switch, which is sold without cables, is back in stock on the official web store. It’s also $30 cheaper than the full Dock Set, at least when bought by itself from the Nintendo website.
The Switch dock, as you may have heard, is basically a very classy cable management tool. The Switch drops onto it smoothly and of its own weight, and it has a folding panel in the back to make plugging everything in simpler. But other than that ... it’s pretty much the same shape as the thing you put your bills in every month after you walk them in from the mailbox.
Austin Pikulski/Vox Studios
The rear of the Switch dock folds down to make routing cables easier.
The appearance of extra docks is a big deal. Rabid Nintendo fans are out there...
News
40 CommentsZelda: Breath of the Wild speedrunners are taking down the game in less than an hour
Not even two weeks from its launch, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has been beaten (any percent completion) in less than an hour by three speedrunners, and as more take up the challenge there is a small controversy dividing the community.
First, the news: Runner Venick409 claimed a new world record yesterday with a mark of 54:05. This is an “any%” completion goal, which means, basically, finishing a game’s story or beating its final boss.
Venick409’s run came about a day after gymnast86 turned in the first sub-60 minute run of the open-world epic. Gymnast86’s feat was immediately followed, but not surpassed, by a sub one-hour run from Orcastraw, who also registered the first completed speedrun of Breath of the Wild, which launched worldwide on March 3.
So what’s the...
Guides
16 CommentsZelda: Breath of the Wild upgrades your sword with this weird trick
If you got nothing else, a rusty broadsword will do in a pinch in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. They’re quite common and found most anywhere. The damage they do isn’t the problem, it’s the fact they’re prone to breaking. So wouldn’t a much nicer, brand-new sword be a lot better?
If you can find an unwitting octorok (and really, why would an octorock be witting) you can get back a much better blade. If an octorok vacuums up a sword, they don’t spit out the same kind; they refurbish it into a royal broadsword, according to Dorkly’s Tristan Cooper.
If an Octorock eats a rusty sword, it'll spit out a BRAND NEW SWORD pic.twitter.com/qUhbsYd8HW— Tristan Cooper (@TristanACooper) March 10, 2017
It worked the same way with a rusty shield, and many others started wondering if the...
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild guide and walkthrough
15 CommentsHow to get through the Lost Woods in Breath of the Wild
Whether you’re looking to hunt down the final location of Hestu in Korok Forest or looking to locate a certain item inside the Lost Woods, the challenge of getting through The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s most confusing forest can be annoying. Thankfully, getting through The Lost Woods is actually much easier to figure out than the forest would lead you to believe!
How to get to the Lost Woods
Nintendo via Polygon
The Lost Woods can be found in the north
To quickest to get to The Lost Woods is from Woodland Tower. Of course, once you get to the top of Woodland Tower, you realize that there is a giant stone skull obscuring the top of the tower, making it impossible to glide into the woods from there.
To get there, go on the beaten path toward the...
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild guide and walkthrough
6 CommentsZelda: Breath of the Wild’s easiest way to gain hearts from food
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild offers you a variety of ways to play. Previously, we talked about how having loads of stamina is one of the most entertaining ways to play the game. But what if you actually need plenty of health?
Stamina is great for exploring, but when it comes to those all-important boss fights, you’re going to need all the health you can get. This guide will show you the fastest way to get the one ingredient you’ll ever need for temporary hearts: the Hearty Durian.
Nintendo via Polygon
The king of cooking ingredients
In reality, the durian is known as the king of fruits, or rather, the world’s smelliest fruit. In Breath of the Wild, it’s the king of temporary hearts. A single cooked Hearty Durian will restore three hearts, but more...
Video
8 CommentsSnipperclips is the super cute, anti-Mario Party
Snipperclips - Cut it out, together! is perhaps the most low-key Nintendo Switch launch title. It’s hard for the multiplayer eShop title to stand out among its stablemates — which include one of the greatest games of all time and some better-known indies — but Snipperclips deserves a place on any Switch console. Especially for anyone who grew up wasting hours away on aggravating party games with a group of friends.
Polygon recently put the game to the test for a Facebook livestream, which you can watch above. The first thing anyone watching may notice is that we, uh, didn’t have the easiest time with all of the puzzles. Snipperclips is a tricky, tricky game of logic and cunning, as well as shouting and screaming and yelling and ... you get the point.
As the subtitle suggests, the game...
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