News
0 CommentsThe Walking Dead season 3’s next episode coming in March
The third episode of A New Frontier, the third season of The Walking Dead: The Telltale Series, will be released in March, developer Telltale Games announced today.
The episode, “Above the Law,” will follow the arrival of a season pass disc version of A New Frontier. That collection will debut Feb. 28 in North America for $29.99, and will launch March 3 in Europe; it will be available on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
“Above the Law” will arrive “later in March,” Telltale said in a news release, adding that it will provide further details on the episode soon. As such, the disc will include only the first two chapters of the five-episode season, which were released together as a two-part premiere in December. The package will grant access to downloads of the other three episodes as they are...
Deals
17 CommentsNew Star Wars Humble Bundle offers a great deal for charity
A new Star Wars-themed Humble Bundle gives fans of the nearly 40-year-old franchise a great deal on more than a dozen (mostly classic) PC games, while also supporting charity.
The Star Wars Humble Bundle 3 includes classics like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter for just a dollar. But for less than $20, bundle buyers can snag a total of 15 games and their expansions, all of which can be redeemed via Steam.
Here’s a breakdown of the latest Humble Bundle:
Pay $1 or more
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance
Star Wars: X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter
Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds and Clone Campaigns expansion
Pay more than the average (currently about $10)
Star Wars: Battlefront 2
Star Wars Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast
Star Wars...
Cover Story
Issue
25
January 9, 2017
Final Fantasy 7: An oral history
30,000 words! 35 interviews! 4 videos! A trivia minigame! We take an in-depth look back at Square’s breakthrough role-playing game.
Read moreLatest Mac Forum Activity View all posts
News
20 CommentsWorld of Warcraft will now let you convert gold into Overwatch, Hearthstone items
Blizzard today announced that players can convert gold that they’ve earned in World of Warcraft into credit on Battle.net. The move allows players to convert their in-game currency into virtual goods for other Blizzard products, like Overwatch and Hearthstone.
The move comes courtesy of WoW Tokens, first introduced in 2015 as a way to exchange in-game gold for game time. Players can purchase WoW Tokens with gold, and are then free to trade them in a special marketplace. It’s similar to a system that’s been part of CCP Games’ Eve Online for some time.
Blizzard will now allow WoW Tokens to be converted into general Battle.net credit. That means players will be able to take any currency they may have accumulated on World of Warcraft, or even sell off items they might not be using, and...
News
4 CommentsIs Lost Secrets of Un’Goro the next Hearthstone expansion?
Judging by its regular schedule of add-on releases, Hearthstone is due for a new expansion announcement and release in the next couple of months. But thanks to an errant resume, we may have an early peek at the direction of the game’s next content drop.
According to this leak, the next Hearthstone expansion will be titled Lost Secrets of Un’Goro. Uncovered by a poster on the Hearthstone subreddit, this title comes via the resume of voice actress Lani Minella, who has done work in hundreds of video games, in addition to various cartoons and animated films.
Alongside the title Hearthstone: Lost Secrets of Un’Goro, Minella lists a number of characters she provided voice work for in the expansion. These include: Golakka Crawler, Pterodactyl, Anklesaur, Hydra and Brontosaurus. Assuming this...
News
5 CommentsOverwatch’s Lúcio coming to Heroes of the Storm (update)
Overwatch’s wall-riding DJ, Lúcio Correia dos Santos, is coming to Heroes of the Storm as a playable character, Blizzard Entertainment announced today. Lúcio will be the third Overwatch character to join Blizzard’s crossover multiplayer online battle arena game.
Blizzard said on Twitter that players will be able to preview Lúcio in Heroes of the Storm’s public test realm “soon.” A peek at Lúcio in action can be seen in the gameplay teaser video posted above.
Overwatch players will find Lúcio’s abilities in Blizzard’s MOBA mostly unchanged, though he has a new ability called Reverse Amp that damages and slows the enemy team.
Lúcio joins fellow Overwatch characters Tracer and Zarya as part of Heroes of the Storm’s roster, which also includes characters from Blizzard’s Diablo, StarCraft,...
News
13 CommentsBlizzard president criticizes ‘Muslim ban’ in internal email
Following last week’s extremely controversial executive order from new United States president Donald Trump blocking refugees and citizens from seven majority Muslim countries from entering the U.S., many smaller game developers have publicly spoken out against the “Muslim ban,” as it’s become known. So have multiple figures and companies in the tech world. But aside from a few instances, the biggest developers and publishers in gaming have remained silent.
That changed yesterday, when Blizzard president and co-founder Mike Morhaime sent an email to the entire company. The statement was not released publicly, but Polygon received a copy from a source that asked to remain anonymous. We have confirmed the legitimacy of the email with another source at Blizzard.
In the email, Morhaime...
Opinion
13 CommentsLeague of Legends’ most controversial sales may actually be its best
This week, Areeb “Bubobubo” Pirani, the revenue lead for League of Legends developer Riot Games, published a post on Riot’s /dev blog explaining the game’s business model and values. He explained that Riot’s goal is to assure that players can be competitive at the game even if they don’t spend any money on it, while assuring that players who do choose to spend feel they get a good value when buying League’s huge array of champions, skins and other cosmetic items.
Riot’s values are admirable, and its free-to-play model is relatively generous in comparison to those used by many other successful free-to-play games. But this post comes at a time when Riot is facing backlash from the community over changes to its store, and Pirani’s explanation may be a response to that backlash.
But,...
Esports
8 CommentsHeroes of the Dorm drops ESPN for Facebook in third season
After two years of broadcasting on ESPN, Blizzard’s Heroes of the Dorm competition will return for a 2017 season — but this time it will be broadcast entirely through Facebook. Blizzard made the announcement today, revealing that all stages of this year’s Heroes of the Dorm will take place on the Heroes of the Storm Esports Facebook page, including the Heroic Four and National Championship matches.
As with previous seasons, Heroes of the Dorm will see a collection of college-based teams facing off in matches of Heroes of the Storm and attempt to win major prizes. More than $500,000 in scholarships will be rewarded, including paid tuition for members of the winning team.
a new kind of connected esports event
Blizzard says the shift to Facebook will allow for “a new kind of connected...
News
2 CommentsWe Are Chicago, a game about living in a tough neighborhood, will be out on Feb. 9
We Are Chicago, a Windows PC narrative game based on the life of a young man living in a tough neighborhood, will be released on Feb. 9.
Along with the launch date announcement today, developer Culture Shock also released a trailer for the game, which has been in development for four years. In We Are Chicago, protagonist Aaron tries to protect himself and his loved ones from violence. It's a story-game with Telltale-style dialog options.
Some of the game's developers were raised in Chicago's South Side. They also interviewed different people living in the neighborhood. You can find out more here.
News
44 CommentsGabe Newell is doing an AMA today so you can ask him about Half-Life 3
Valve boss Gabe Newell is doing an AMA this evening where you can ask where the hell Half-Life 3 is, what happened to Half-Life 3, is Half-Life 3 still in development, and when is Half-Life 3 launching.
Newell may not answer that — Valve has clammed up about Half-Life 3 for nearly a decade. Regardless, even though Newell is (and others at Valve are) famous for answering random crap sent to his email, doing an AMA is significant for Valve. It may portend some kind of announcement, but no guarantees.
In all seriousness, this would be a good time to talk about esports and Dota 2, especially in light of the huge update that landed last month. Valve also is a partner in the HTC Vive headset and has been entangled in a messy "skin gambling" scandal in Counter-Strike. Any of these would be...
News
9 CommentsCould we finally get a real Hearthstone competitor from Magic: The Gathering?
Blizzard Entertainment’s digital card game Hearthstone has been an absurdly popular hit — to the tune of over 50 million players as of last April. While this player-friendly title has served as a perfect introduction to card games for many players (including myself), others who have been playing collectible card games for years have wondered: Why didn’t Magic: The Gathering ever get a truly great digital experience?
If publisher Wizards of the Coast is to be believed, that could finally change in the near future. Wizards of the Coast president Chris Cocks published a statement today, claiming that the company will be making “increased investments in our digital teams that will give us the capability and flexibility necessary to fully realize the enormous potential of our games.”
Going...
News
6 CommentsShovel Knight gets a name change, new modes and a Switch release
Shovel Knight is heading to the Nintendo Switch, developer Yacht Club Games announced. But when it launches on the platform later this year, the retro-style platformer will arrive with a new name, as well as a long-requested feature.
A release date hasn’t been announced yet. Instead, the developer detailed all the content Switch owners — and current Shovel Knight fans — can look forward to when the port launches.
The entire Shovel Knight saga will come to Nintendo Switch under a new name: Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove. That set will collect Shovel Knight and its two expansions, Plague of Shadows and the upcoming Specter of Torment, into a complete package. Anyone who currently owns the game on PC, PlayStation 4 or Xbox One will automatically get the Treasure Trove collection in their...
News
1 CommentNight in the Woods launching in late February
Night in the Woods, the Kickstarter-funded adventure game from Infinite Fall, will be released Feb. 21, the studio announced today.
Infinite Fall first informed Night in the Woods’ Kickstarter backers, sending out a backers-only update with the release date. In the post, which was obtained by Polygon, the studio said, “We are excited and actually almost done which is kind of nuts.”
The three-person development team added that their “grueling final testing/polish period gets rolling next week.”
Infinite Fall
Infinite Fall announced the release date for Night in the Woods with this artwork.
A date of Feb. 21 doesn’t quite meet the window of “somewhere in the first part of February” — the time frame that Infinite Fall gave last month, when it announced it had to...
News
3 CommentsVampire DLC bringing creepy fiends to The Sims 4
The Sims 4 is definitely taking a darker turn with its Vampires Game Pack, due out on Jan 24.
Players can take on the form of vampires, with special abilities, such as turning humans into vampires, and moving around using different forms. Vampires are powered by "plasma" which can be purchased, grown or harvested from human characters.
The Sims 4 is an open-ended life simulation for PC in which characters work, socialize, procreate and acquire goods. Previous expansions and game packs focused on relatively tame themes, such as outdoor adventures, fine dining and spooky costumes.
Vampires do not thrive in sunlight, so publisher EA has added a creepy new world to the game, called Forgotten Hollow, where nights last longer. Players can also try to raise their own families of vampires....
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