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The first game in more than two decades features about three times as many crazy characters as the original

Meet the new Earthlings coming to ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove

The next game in the 25-year old ToeJam & Earl franchise, ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove, is expected later this year. With the help of new publishing partner Adult Swim Games, co-creator Greg Johnson and his team at Humanature Studio have big plans. Not only will the game feature many nods to the 1991 original, but it will also have nearly triple the number of Earthlings for players to interact with. I sat down with Johnson to talk about the original game, which first debuted in 1991. I also received a guided tour of some of the nearly 60 Earthling enemies players will encounter, up from 20 in the original game. They were, to hear Johnson tell it, one of his favorite things to make. But before I go any further, it’s probably best that you open this link in another window and hit...
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All-Mother be praised

Horizon Zero Dawn’s art book is as beautiful as the game

Horizon Zero Dawn captured people’s hearts long before its launch a few weeks ago. Shortly after Sony unveiled the game — in which a young woman hunts robot animals in a time where nature has reclaimed the “metal world” that humans built ages ago — at E3 2015, Amsterdam-based developer Guerrilla Games began receiving questions about Aloy, Horizon Zero Dawn’s fearless lead character. The people wanted to know how Aloy put together her clothes — so they could cosplay as the red-haired hunter. (Guerrilla quickly published a detailed cosplay guide.) Aloy’s look in the final game is similar to the way it was in that initial reveal, but her design changed greatly during the course of Horizon Zero Dawn’s development. You can see the evolution of Aloy’s character model, costume, hair and...
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Are we into No Man’s Sky again?

No Man’s Sky was built for this photo mode

No Man’s Sky developer Hello Games added a photo mode to the PS4 version of the game with its Foundation Update, last November. But for today’s Path Finder Update — which includes visual updates like 4K support on PS4 Pro, HDR support, better textures and lighting — it’s enhancing photo mode with the following improvements: Find the perfect angle for your shot in free camera mode, revealing your Starship in third person Pause and change the time of day for the perfect lighting conditions Change cloud layers and fog density to take the most atmospheric shots possible New photo filters can be used to add a finishing touch To celebrate these enhancements, Hello Games enlisted the help of DeadEndThrills, well-known video game photographer, to document the game’s beautiful worlds. For a...
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Two of the biggest series make for a great crossover

Your favorite Overwatch heroes are now your favorite Pokémon, too (update)

Han Seok-bum, an artist and fan of both franchises, found something in common between the two, however: They each have some memorable characters. He hammers that in with this collection of Pokémon and Overwatch crossovers, reimagining heroes like Soldier: 76 and Mei into classic Pokémon. His choices, as you'll see below, are pretty inspired. We don't know that we agree with all of them, but for the most part, Han nails the spirit of the Overwatch team with a corresponding Pokémon. It's unlikely that Nintendo and Blizzard Entertainment will ever team up to make such a crossover happen for real. Instead, we can only browse these illustrations and hope for a Pokémon hero shooter one day, or perhaps an Overwatch game filled with monster-collecting. Update: We've added several more...
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A sneak peek into Luc Besson’s next big flick

100 days with Valerian

This past October, Luc Besson brought an early cut of the trailer for his upcoming sci-fi spectacular Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets to New York Comic-Con for an early viewing. He also sat down with some press to talk about the making of the upcoming movie and what he hopes to achieve with it. Late last month, I was surprised to find a postcard and a book in the mail from the studio behind the film. The glossy little photo book offers a glimpse into 100 days of filming for the upcoming movie. I’ve included a number of those shots below, along with the captions as they appear in the book. Enjoy this peek into the process. Brian Crecente | Polygon The book came with this lovely postcard Brian Crecente | Polygon This note...
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We hung out with Sega's superstars, now in extra-adorable form

Sonic the Hedgehog and Tails are Build-a-Bear Workshop's newest members

Joining the ranks of beloved Pokémon Pikachu and Eevee are Sonic the Hedgehog and Miles "Tails" Prower, the stuffed animal retailer's two newest pals. Both boys harken back to their '90s aesthetics, so fans of a chubbier Sonic and a tinier Tails will be happy with what's up for grabs. There's an exclusive online bundle that includes Sonic and a few bonus items, while Tails is an additional, separate purchase. (Both are available in stores too.) Picking up the whole set is worth it, though — take a look at what our guys got up to and you'll see why. Photos by Austin Pikulski/Vox Studios
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Created with billions of blocks

Pore over these gorgeous Minecraft creations

Beautiful Minecraft, a new book from No Starch Press exploring some amazing creations from Minecraft, went on sale today. The book includes 112 pages of stunning in-game creations, some of which, like the one above, look too good to be created of blocks, but they are. Author James Delaney said he put the book together to show “how players can become artists.” We asked the publisher for a dozen or so images to show off just how intricate some of these creations are. You’ll find them below, along with the creators’ names and the time and blocks that went into building each piece of in-game art. No Starch Press No Starch Press’ Beautiful Minecraft Beautiful Minecraft Vegard Elseth’s Lindblum Gate (2015) - one builder. 300,000 blocks. 60...
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Meet our very cute, very short-lived intern

A giant Pikachu joins the staff of Polygon for a day

The games arrive Nov. 18, which means the series mascot has spent the last few months getting battle-ready once more. This time around, though, Pikachu’s training included another kind of task entirely: working an office job. There’s no better office job than one at Polygon, so Pikachu came on down to our New York City headquarters and landed an editorial internship. What followed was an enlightening workday ... which really showed Pikachu that the Pokémon had better just stick to its day job of fighting other monsters instead of trying to write news stories or make coffee. Photos by Jeff Ramos/Polygon
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We open it up so you don't have to

What's inside the NES Classic Edition

Don't worry, it's natural! What's in there? Why is it so small? Is the controller identical to the original? We can't answer all of your questions, but this is a start. The Nintendo subreddit has already been hard at work identifying the guts of the new NES Classic Edition. Here are the specs: SoC: Allwinner R16 (4x Cortex A7, Mali400MP2 GPU)RAM: SKHynix (256MB DDR3)Flash: Spansion 512MB SLC NAND flash, TSOP48PMU: AXP223 If you're not fluent in the world of ARM-powered systems on a chip — isn't everyone, though? — that's a lot more powerful than an NES (duh) and it's even more powerful than a 3DS. While it surely doesn't have to be this powerful, the market-based realities assure that buying a new chip at volume will be cheaper than designing a custom chip or something with less...
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The Audi Final Fantasy 15 R8 will set you back $470,000, if you're lucky enough to buy it

The ultimate Final Fantasy 15 collector's item is a marvel to drive, glorious to behold

The Audi R8 Star of Lucis isn't just a gorgeous, moving realization of the craftsmanship and fantasy of Final Fantasy 15. Only one of them exist in the world. Audi says it will be selling it off for about $470,000 after conducting an application process and lottery to determine who the lucky buyer is. Take a moment to look at the images of this vehicle and the many amazing details poured into it, from its fine arbesque tooling, to the swords crafted into the wheels. This is more art than machine. Make sure you get all the way to the bottom of this gallery to check out the trailer for the car. More details, in Japanese, about how to go about trying to purchase it can be found here. Also, the website is pretty amazing. All photos come from Audi.
Books
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The complete works of Ralph McQuarrie, collected for the first time

Inside the finest Star Wars art book ever made

Long-time fans of the Star Wars franchise will no doubt recognize the work of concept artist and illustrator Ralph McQuarrie. He was instrumental in turning George Lucas’ epic into a reality, and played a key role in creating the visual language for the entire universe. This fall, Abrams Books published Star Wars Art: Ralph McQuarrie, the definitive collection of his work. We’ve spent some time with the final product and can say without reservation that it is among the finest Star Wars art books ever made. The two-volume, $250 set comes hardbound with a custom slipcase adorned with the now famous concept art for Star Wars: A New Hope. It’s one of the first paintings that McQuarrie ever did for the project, depicting R2-D2 and C-3PO leaving their "lifepod" and setting out across...
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Going to need these as soon as possible

Nintendo Switch special editions that don’t exist — but should

Last month, Nintendo finally revealed its hybrid console, the Switch. The Swtich, which can be used as a traditional home console or a portable device, features removable controllers called Joy-Cons that detach from the side and a dock that charges the portable console and provides video output. Because of the system’s interesting design, fans have been creating mockup versions of what the console could look like with different skins and designs down the line. Nintendo routinely releases special edition versions of its consoles, with the Wii U receiving an aesthetic upgrade to coincide with the launch of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD release back in 2013. The company has also released special versions of its 3DS handheld console throughout the years. Although there are still...
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A look at Sombra's early concepts and her legendary skins

Blizzard (finally) officially announced Overwatch's newest hero, Sombra, at BlizzCon 2016 today, revealing her abilities and her origin story as an orphaned victim of the Omnic Crisis turned cybernetically-enhanced hacker. During a panel at BlizzCon, Overwatch's creative leads walked BlizzCon attendees through Sombra's design, revealing her earliest concepts and the alternate skins players will be able to unlock. While Sombra is the game's newest hero, she's been in development in various forms for a long time, Blizzard said. In her earliest iteration, she was a speedy, ninja-like character who threw projectiles. Some of her abilities were eventually woven into other Overwatch hero, Genji, who himself was originally a slower, one-hit kill stealth character, and Hanzo. Those early...
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Happy 20th anniversary, Diablo!

This is what Diablo 1 looks like inside Diablo 3

Blizzard is doing the latter (but probably also the former?), marking the game's 20th anniversary by recreating it inside Diablo 3, the studio announced today during BlizzCon's opening ceremony. We'll be able to get our hands on it in an upcoming free release called "The Darkening of Tristram," which will be available in Diablo 3's Public Test Realm next week. In the interim, Blizzard released 12 environmental images showing off the pixelated and grainy aesthetic it's retaining for this modern variant. Blizzard's Frank Pearce called it "glorious retrovision" and that sounds about right to us. Enjoy the following aperitif in advance of next week's PTR meal.
News
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This isn’t the console you grew up with, that’s for sure

The mini NES Classic Edition controller’s cable is much, much shorter than the original’s

We put the controllers, which are essentially identical in every other way, side by side to see how they measured up. The NES Classic Controller has a cable that runs approximately 30 3/8 inches long, whereas the original NES controller’s cord is 91.5 inches long — more than three times the length. For another point of comparison, we plugged the Wii Classic Controller Pro into our tiny NES; it’s one of the other Nintendo controllers that are compatible with the hardware, along with the standard Wii Classic Controller. At 34.75 inches, the Pro’s cord is almost 4.5 inches longer than the NES Classic Controller’s cable. (For this comparison, we unfortunately didn’t have a Wii Classic Controller handy.) That means the default controller that ships with the diminutive NES Classic is the...
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This is what the Nintendo Switch looks like

To start, let's all watch the reveal video together. Now, with that done, let's go through these images, one by one.

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