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0 CommentsOverwatch’s newest hero is Jeff Kaplan, in fantastic parody video
YouTuber Astronot follows in the footsteps of dinoflask in making me scream-laugh at my desk with this parody video, which imagines Overwatch developers creating a hero based on Overwatch director Jeff Kaplan.
The character Jeff is described as “a gothic Zarya” with Bastion’s cannon. Physically, he is Jeff Kaplan’s head photoshopped onto the Heavy from Team Fortress 2.
The video references Dinoflask’s mash-up videos, as well as numerous other fandom in-jokes. Keep an eye out for a surprise appearance of Tim Heidecker, and ... is that poster of Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park supposed to be there?
Kaplan is being a good sport about the memeification of himself. That’s great, since it doesn’t seem like the Overwatch community will stop (gently) poking fun at him anytime soon.
Dinoflask’s...
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16 CommentsWhich Joy-Con controller is sexiest?
Washington Square Park was alive with the sound of people who weren’t quite sure what the Nintendo Switch was, the week before the console was released.
But I was there to get the opinions of the so-called “experts.” I wanted ordinary, red-blooded Americans. I was equipped with two blown-up, grainy print-outs of the Nintendo Switch Joy-Con controllers, and a single question.
Which one is sexier?
Is it the black-on-grey controller with a d-pad? Or is it the black-on-grey controller with letter buttons, and a tempting home button?
“Simone,” you’re asking, “why didn’t you ask them about the neon red and blue Joy-Cons? Aren’t those more visually distinct?”
You fool, I respond. How do you expect me to get authentic hard data from controllers that are really, noticeably different? Obviously...
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1 CommentWatch The Church in the Darkness gameplay
The Church in the Darkness is a stealth-puzzle game in which I infiltrate a 1970s cult camp in order to rescue my nephew. You can take a look at the Paranoid Productions game in the Polygon video above.
I recently sat down with developer Richard Rouse III to talk about how the game plays. You can also read our earlier in-depth feature here.
If you're violent, you’ll almost certainly be executed.
As a stealth game, it follows a standard design path. I enter a dangerous place, seeking the center without being observed. If I'm seen, my options are limited. I have a gun, but am vastly outnumbered. I can run, but the area is heavily populated. I can disable sirens, but I must find the tools to work those alarms. Better to stay low, quietly going about my mission.
I have certain...
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17 CommentsGet to know the cast of Arms for Nintendo Switch
One of Nintendo’s more intriguing upcoming titles for the Switch is Arms, a one-on-one 3D fighting game that’s also an original intellectual property. In a pair of videos released today, Nintendo offers a primer on the Arms roster and its arsenal of weapons.
In the video above, Nintendo walks us through the game’s five confirmed characters: Spring Man, Ribbon Girl, Ninjara, Master Mummy and Mechanica (who fills the role of little person in a giant mech suit). Each has their own special abilities in terms of punching, jumping and dodging. But it’s clear that even with a limited set of moves, thanks to the weapons in Arms, there will be plenty of variety in battle.
In the video below, Nintendo walks through many of the game’s weapons, including the Toaster, Megaton, Sparky, Boomerang,...
CoolGames Inc Animated: Creating a pinball machine that cooks raw meat
In this week’s CoolGames Inc animation, we create the ultimate interactive culinary experience: Dr. Robotnik’s Dinner Blasterz, an installation art piece where your pinball skills determine what you’re getting for supper. This week’s video was edited by Polygon’s Clayton Ashley, whose ability to bring our awful ideas to life through the power of animation continues to shock us week after week.
Want to listen to the full episode? Check out the full-length podcast below, and remember to subscribe to CoolGames Inc on iTunes or via RSS for future episodes!
Last but not least, we like to show off one CoolGames Inc fan creation every week. This time, we’re checking out a video from Ace Waters, who produced a lovely live cover of the CoolGames Inc theme song, Maxo’s “Social Science”.
Touch the Skyrim
1 CommentTouch the Skyrim: Nick and Griffin party hard with Mewtwo
Today’s episode of Touch the Skyrim features a few ambitious, large-scale mods that do not play well together at all, either mechanically or thematically. Susan Crushbone’s horny voyage takes a backseat, temporarily, as she pursues her new quest of becoming the world’s best (and potentially only) Pokémon trainer. But also she spends a lot of time hanging out with her weed dealer, which isn’t really part of Nintendo’s or Bethesda’s core vision for these franchises.
Comics
53 CommentsIron Fist, explained
Iron Fist hits Netflix tonight, and ... well, you’ve probably already read our review.
But who is Iron Fist, the Marvel superhero — when he’s not on your television screen, that is? That’s what the newest episode of Issue at Hand, Polygon’s series about the strange world of comics, is all about.
Danny Rand is an orphaned billionaire, a mystical martial arts master and Luke Cage’s best friend, and you can hear all about that in the video above. But there’s no denying that Netflix’s Iron Fist has been the source of some controversy, and so we brought on Alex Abad-Santos, culture writer for our sister site Vox, to help break down some of the knotty ideas about improving racial representation in film and television that Iron Fist is embroiled in. After the episode, be sure to check out A...
News
1 CommentInjustice 2 adds Firestorm to lineup
The Injustice 2 roster just got a little hotter with the addition of Firestorm, the 27th character confirmed for NetherRealm Studios’ DC Universe fighter.
A new trailer for Firestorm shows what the Nuclear Man is capable of in battle: plenty of fireball and flame-based attacks, naturally. It appears that Firestorm will also be capable of an alternate or buffed form, which is evident when the character shifts the color of his flames from red to blue. That’s also illustrative of the character’s dual personality; the Firestorm in Injustice 2 is composed of the minds of Jason Rusch and Martin Stein, who “are only beginning to master their abilities,” according to the developer.
In the gameplay trailer above, watch as Firestorm beats up on Green Arrow and Catwoman. The latter gets some extra...
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13 CommentsWe played Dawn of War 3 multiplayer, and it’s really good
While playing Dawn of War 3, there are times when I'm transported back 20 years, to the first flush of real-time strategy's '90s boom. A character urges, "we're under attack." It's very much like an Orc in WarCraft 2 (1995), scuttling away from a marauding herd of Paladins.
Although the RTS has changed little in terms of basic format, the details have been tweaked so fundamentally, that the genre has been deceptively transformed.
Few developers have done more to effect this transformation than Relic, which, since its founding in 1997, has dedicated itself almost entirely to one genre.
Relic Entertainment
Dawn of War 3
Through the Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War series, and its World War II kin Company of Heroes, Relic has tweaked and refined the RTS, forever...
Video
6 CommentsConfused about Everything? This 11-minute trailer might help
David O’Reilly’s Everything is coming to PlayStation 4 later this month. It’s a curious interactive experience that’s relatively easy to describe — you can be everything in Everything, from a strand of DNA to a lion to a galaxy — but since there aren’t traditional gameplay goals, what you ultimately do with that power may not be quite as easy to grasp.
What may help players of Everything better understand the nature of their existence in this game universe is British philosopher Alan Watts, who “narrates” an affecting, nearly-11-minute gameplay trailer for Everything. The late Watts’ thoughts will also serve as narration in the game, according to O’Reilly.
“Everything is narrated by the brilliant British philosopher Alan Watts,” O’Reilly said on Twitter. “It is a massive and...
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2 Commentsalt.ctrl.GDC has the most creative controllers you’ll ever see
For the fourth year running, the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco featured an exhibit on alternative controllers. Called alt.ctrl.GDC, the showcase invites developers to throw out their preconceptions of what a game controller looks like and explore some strange and wonderful alternatives.
Nick Robinson was at GDC all week, and went hands-on with some of these games. Watch him highlight his favorites in the video above.
Jason Blalock/Polygon
Nick enjoying Spacebox at alt.ctrl.play.
One of his top picks was Spacebox, which uses a cardboard box as the controller. The box is kitted out as, of course, a spaceship. By lifting the sides of the box, the player activates the ship’s shields. Hitting buttons on the box’s front flap fires weapons.
Nick also...
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12 CommentsWatch the first hour of Mass Effect: Andromeda
Mass Effect: Andromeda is nearly here: The game launches on March 21. Polygon has already spent considerable time with BioWare’s latest alien romance simulator (with a side of action gameplay), and we’ve recorded our first hour with Andromeda above.
Watch us get introduced to Commander Ryder, the new hero of the fourth Mass Effect game. It’s the first time fans will play as someone other than Commander Shepherd, but we think they’re going to like her ... or him, depending on which choice they make. (We went with the lady Ryder.)
Although customizing Ryder typically takes way, way longer than our video suggests, thanks to all those options, we jump into the game itself for a taste of how Andromeda plays. As we wrote in our preview late last month, there’s a lot to figure out about the...
Video
5 CommentsWe learn how to fight from a true fisting artist
We’re a few weeks and a few episodes into our new series exploring the streets of Tokyo by way of Yakuza 0, and it’s time for things to really start getting weird. This week’s episode opens with us learning some new fighting tips from a man we can only call ... the fisting artist.
After a, uh, thorough discussion of the art of fisting, we drink beer, try to get into an arcade and discover more plot twists. Things are really picking up by the end, but you’ll have to wait until next week’s episode to see where it goes next.
If you’re new to Yakuza 0 to 60, you can check out our YouTube playlist of the full series so far. Or, you can start from the beginning with episode 1 in the video below. And if you’re interested in more about Yakuza 0, take a look at Polygon’s full review.
CoolGames Inc
7 CommentsCoolGames Inc Animated: The unspeakable body horror of Animorphs
In this week’s CoolGames Inc animation, we take a closer look at the iconic ‘90s young adult book series Animorphs — specifically, at the horrifying in-between creatures found on each volume’s cover.
Want to listen to the full episode? Check out the full-length podcast below, and remember to subscribe to CoolGames Inc on iTunes or via RSS for future episodes!
Last but not least, we like to show off one CoolGames Inc fan creation every week. This time, we’re checking out an incredible animation from Kylie O'Neil, who turned Hugh Jackman’s Huge Actin’ into a lovely animatic, complete with a delightful cartoon Simone de Rochefort.
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13 CommentsTake a look at Battlefield 1: They Shall Not Pass
Last week, I spent a few hours in the company of Battlefield 1's new expansion, They Shall Not Pass. As you can see from the video above, there's no let-up from the frenetic and bloody action of the core game.
With close-quarters combat a major component of this DLC, it's an extremely challenging, die-a-lot offering, even for the most accomplished of players.
This multiplayer release introduces a key component missing from the original game: the French Army. When most of us think of World War I, we tend to picture the Western Front, much of which took place on French land.
Electronic Arts / DICE
Battlefield 1: They Shall Not Pass
This addition is entirely satisfying, with French voices, uniforms and weapons adding a sense of authenticity to the often...
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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...