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2 CommentsWatch Dogs 2’s new ending scene might be teasing the series’ future
A new patch for Watch Dogs 2 has expanded the game’s conclusion. While the overall story hasn’t changed much, some players are convinced that the new scene teases the hacking-filled action series’ next installment.
The cutscene immediately follows the game’s existing, much lengthier ending. As such, be warned that there are spoilers in the footage below.
The new addition kicks off around the 2:18 mark. It’s a brief addition, and the teaser may be lost on those focusing on the audio instead of the accompanying video. Eagle-eyed Watch Dogs fans took note of the numbers in the name of the audio file that appears for the 20-second clip. Turns out that those aren’t just random numbers for the hell of it — they may very well be coordinates.
Throwing the numbers (51.462014 and -0.112504)...
News
6 CommentsFinal Fantasy 15’s Cup Noodle obsession has reached its peak
Final Fantasy 15 will receive some more weird and wonderful downloadable content later this year. Nissin, the makers of the legacy ramen brand Cup Noodle, has furthered its partnership with developer Square Enix to bring a Cup Noodle-style hat to the game.
The hat in question — which was first seen in a commercial and looks pretty hilarious on the surly Prince Noctis’ head — will be included as a code with purchases of Nissin’s Final Fantasy 15 line of ramen. The limited edition 30th anniversary collection is modeled after several bosses from the franchise, making these collectible cups worth holding onto.
Purchasing the set of 15 decorative Cup Noodle cups will also enter fans into a contest to win another bizarre gift: the gigantic Ultima Weapon Fork, which is modeled on the Final...
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.
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24 CommentsSony ending PlayStation Now support on PS3, Vita and more
PlayStation Now, Sony’s full-game streaming service, will soon be discontinued on every platform outside of PlayStation 4 and Windows PC, the company announced today.
“After thoughtful consideration, we decided to shift our focus and resources to PS4 and Windows PC to further develop and improve the user experience on these two devices,” said Brian Dunn, senior marketing manager for PlayStation Now. “This move puts us in the best position to grow the service even further.”
Sony officially launched PlayStation Now in January 2015 on PS4, and brought the service to PlayStation 3 in May 2015. The company added support for PC, where you can use a PS4 controller with a USB dongle, last summer.
PlayStation Now is also available on PlayStation Vita, PlayStation TV, Sony Blu-ray players and a...
Culture
3 CommentsOverwatch-GoldenEye mashup spans 20 years of shooter greatness
Someone got the bright idea to present a round of Overwatch as if it was a GoldenEye 007 match on Nintendo 64, in four-player split screen with the original game's sound effects. It's a delightful mash-up of 1997’s landmark hit with a popular multiplayer shooter 20 years later.
Torbjorn serves as this game's Oddjob, to great effect. Like the original character, he's so short everyone shoots over his head while he easily guns them down. "The buff Torbjorn needs," Youtuber Noilleber, who made this video, says in its description, and that jaunty 007 hook makes the deaths all the funnier. Frickin' Torbjorn, I thought we banned using him.
Alas, Overwatch doesn't feature split-screen local multiplayer (how the hell did we play that on a 19-inch CRT, by the way?) But it has made its...
News
1 CommentWhy you’ll care that MLB The Show 17’s fielders are smarter than ever
No matter the sport, any coach at any level of competition will tell you that you must be aware of the situation. That lesson is particularly vital in baseball, where the circumstances — and strategies — can change completely from pitch to pitch.
Sports fans love to scream at their televisions when an athlete makes a mental error, like forgetting how many outs there are. Players of sports video games do the same thing when in-game athletes aren’t as smart as one would expect. Sony San Diego, the studio behind MLB The Show, wants to reduce those instances of frustration. As part of a yearslong effort to improve the artificial intelligence of its virtual baseball players, the development team is focusing on situational awareness in MLB The Show 17, which launches March 28 on PlayStation...
Video
10 CommentsWatch us get wet playing Resident Evil 7
It’s no secret that I’m a scaredy-cat.
Much laughter was had at my expense during E3, when the Polygon New York team crowded into a tiny room to watch Polygon editor-in-chief Chris Grant play the latest version of the Resident Evil 7 biohazard demo. While I cried and yelled at my boss of four months to stop fucking around, other Polygon staff whispered about upcoming scares and waited eagerly for my reaction.
Now you, too, can enjoy watching a woman slowly lose her mind, tortured by a fear that she cannot control. I’m talking, of course, about our gameplay video of Resident Evil 7.
Engagement editor Jeff Ramos and I sat down to play the first hour of the game — with a twist. I was holding a full-to-the-brim glass of water, and if I spilled three times, I had to play the game.
Let’s...
News
5 CommentsInjustice 2 adds Catwoman, Poison Ivy and Cheetah to roster
Three more characters have been confirmed for NetherRealm Studios’ Injustice 2: Catwoman, Cheetah and Poison Ivy. A new gameplay trailer shows off the three new female fighters and offers another look at another recently announced character, Black Canary.
Catwoman, Cheetah and Poison Ivy join Swamp Thing — confirmed as part of the Injustice 2 roster yesterday — in bringing the fighting game’s lineup to 21 fighters.
The character announcement trailer above doesn’t offer as much in the way of gameplay as previous trailers, so don’t expect too much insight into how the three new characters play. But there is an enticing look at Poison Ivy’s super move and a peek at a couple new stages.
Injustice 2 will come to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One this May. The fighting game will be featured as part...
News
4 CommentsMLB The Show 17 gives its stars a much-needed makeover
Every sports video game promises a new coat of paint with every new edition, but MLB The Show 17's visual upgrades do legitimately look profound when compared to the previous year's game.
Above is José Altuve, the four-time All-Star second baseman for the Houston Astros, as he appeared in MLB The Show 16, and as he will appear in MLB The Show 17. Note, the image on the right is not some PlayStation 4 Pro-only version.
It's a stark reminder that even a sports franchise as praised for visuals as MLB The Show always has room for improvement, and can make great strides when developers want to.
"We were saying internally, 'Hey, the stadiums and our atmosphere look [expletive] fantastic, but the players are kind of lagging behind a little bit,'" said Ramone Russell, the longtime baseball...
News
10 CommentsSwamp Thing confirmed for Injustice 2
Swamp Thing is coming to NetherRealm Studios’ DC Universe fighter Injustice 2, according to a new gameplay video released today. The humanoid-plant hybrid hero joins the recently confirmed Black Canary as part of Injustice 2’s roster, bringing the game’s lineup to 19 confirmed characters.
As seen in the character reveal video above, Swamp Thing’s move set takes advantage of his ability to manipulate vegetation — even to the point of creating a clone of himself in fights, a la Mortal Kombat’s Noob Saibot. He has a suite of ranged attacks that allow him to grab his opponents from afar, and he can quickly close distances with teleportation-like abilities.
Swamp Thing was created by Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson in the early 1970s, and in 1982 starred in an eponymous feature film directed...
News
29 CommentsSniper Elite 4 finds itself strangely relevant in anxious times
Sniper Elite, a cult-hit series and one of the few console shooters that has never left its World War II roots, finds itself surprisingly relevant on the eve of Sniper Elite 4’s Valentine's Day launch.
"There's enough distance to that conflict for us to see it as a comfortable place for our adventures," mused Jason Kingsley, the chief executive and creative director for Rebellion, which makes the series. "Unfortunately for us now, there's kind of a — how do I put it politely? — a worldwide rise in authoritarianism, which is characterized by many ideologies, one of them Nazism."
After almost five decades as an action-movie villainy drawn from long-gone governments and their long-dead leaders, fascism is a very real thing in present political discussion. If not its concepts, at least the...
PlayStation 4
14 Comments‘PlayStation laptop’ modder updates his line with Pro, Slim models
Ed Zarick, the modsmith who made laptop versions of the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 (and jammed an Xbox 360 and Xbox One in a single case) is back at it. Here's his new PS4 Slim laptop.
The 19-inch screen is smaller than Zarick's preceding run of "PlayBooks" (with a 22-inch screen). And the case appears anything but slim compared to any laptop launched in the past, oh, ever. But lightest, slimmest, most elegant and all that Apple crap is not the point; this is an all-in-one unit you can take on the go.
Importantly, none of these laptops have batteries. However, they do have an HDMI splitter, so it can jack into a big screen as easily as it is played in a Starbucks. (Well, assuming you're sitting next to an unused power outlet there. Which is a big if, granted.)
It gets better, though....
News
17 CommentsEA fines Madden Bowl winner $3K for ‘inappropriate’ tweets (update)
The winner of the most high-profile Madden NFL esports competition to date was hit with a significant fine and a rankings penalty this week, the result of tweets that “referenced inappropriate content,” according to publisher Electronic Arts.
Chris “Dubby” McFarland defeated Eric “Problem” Wright, 24-17, in the Madden Bowl 2017 finals, which were held in Houston on the night of Feb. 3. McFarland’s first-place share of the tournament’s $250,000 prize pool was $75,000.
As McFarland, 29, was making his way through the eight-person bracket, people began to search through his past tweets. It turns out that McFarland, who is white, has a history of using racial slurs on Twitter to describe black people, including “coon” and the N-word (warning: link contains NSFW language).
E...
News
46 CommentsThis year’s Call of Duty will go ‘back to its roots’
This year’s entry in the Call of Duty series sounds like it will take a different approach than last year’s entry, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, and alter the trajectory of the franchise over the past few years. In an earnings release today, publisher Activision said its 2017 title “will take Call of Duty back to its roots.”
On an investor call, Activision chief operating officer Thomas Tippl said 2016’s game, Infinite Warfare, “underperformed” and that “it's clear that for a portion of our audience, the space setting just didn't resonate.”
“Traditional combat will once again take center stage” in Call of Duty’s 2017 entry, Tippl said. He added that both the Call of Duty community and Sledgehammer Games are excited about this year’s back to basics approach.
Activision CEO Eric...
News
1 CommentRocket League getting Hot Wheels cars
Just a few days after developer Psyonix announced that the Battle-Cars of Rocket League will become real-life toys, some real-life toys — specifically Hot Wheels — will become Rocket League cars.
Mattel’s Hot Wheels are coming to Rocket League on Feb. 21. Two cars, the Twin Mill III and Bone Shaker, will be available as downloadable content for $1.99 each. Each Hot Wheels car will come with six decals and an exclusive set of wheels.
Psyonix will add some free Hot Wheels content for all players on Feb. 21: a “Hot Wheels” antenna and topper, “Treasure Hunt” flag and “Shark Bite” topper.
While most of the Battle-Cars playable in Rocket League are original, developer Psyonix has flirted with licensed add-ons in the past, including the Batmobile from Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice and...
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...
News
7 CommentsPre-order Psychonauts VR and get the original game
Customers who pre-order Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin will receive the original cult classic, Psychonauts, for PlayStation 4. Subscribers to Sony’s PlayStation Plus service will also get an additional 10 percent off the title.
Rhombus of Ruin will cost $19.99, and will only work with PlayStation VR. The game will bridge the gap between the original game, first released in 2005, and the upcoming Psychonauts 2.
“Players will assume the role of Raz, an intrepid young psychic and now fully fledged member of the Psychonauts,” developer Double Fine said in a release. “The story picks up exactly where it left off at the end of Psychonauts — with Raz, Lili, Sasha, Milla, and Coach Oleander flying off to rescue Truman Zannotto, the Grand Head of the Psychonauts.
Psychonauts in the Rhombus...
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11 CommentsSouth Park: The Fractured But Whole delayed again
South Park: The Fractured But Whole has been delayed for a second time, publisher Ubisoft announced today. The foul-mouthed role-playing game based on the long-running animated series will now be released in Ubisoft’s upcoming fiscal year, which runs from April 2017 through March 2018.
Back at E3 2016, Ubisoft slotted The Fractured But Whole for a Dec. 6 debut. The company announced three months later that it had decided to push the game back to the first quarter of 2017. “The development team wants to make sure the game experience meets the high expectations of fans and the additional time will help them achieve this goal,” Ubisoft said at the time.
Because of the additional delay, Ubisoft revised its sales forecast for the current fiscal year, which ends March 31. The new range, which...
News
4 CommentsMeet Street Fighter 5’s newest fighter, Kolin
A new challenger approaches Street Fighter 5. Kolin, the icy, rekka-style fighter who first appeared in Street Fighter 3 as a non-playable character, is coming to Street Fighter 5 as downloadable content on Feb. 28.
Kolin — pronounced like “Colleen” — “excels in the Russian martial art of Systema, utilizing the opponent’s momentum against them and executing various slash-like attacks and knife hand strikes,” Capcom said on its official blog. As a servant of Street Fighter 3 antagonist Gill, Kolin has the power to augment her attacks with ice.
Here’s a breakdown of Kolin’s abilities, via Capcom Unity:
V-Skill: Inside Slash
Kolin’s unique counter allows her to deflect and automatically punish incoming moves with ease.
V-Trigger: Diamond Dust
With a full V-meter, Kolin can slam the...
News
6 CommentsNBA 2K maker teaming up with NBA for esports league
The NBA is taking a major step into the world of virtual sports, forming its own esports organization. Known as the NBA 2K eLeague, the organization is a partnership between the NBA and Take-Two Interactive, the parent company of 2K Sports, which publishes the popular NBA 2K series of basketball video games.
Take-Two and the NBA said in a news release that the NBA 2K eLeague will be the “first official eSports league operated by a U.S. professional sports league.” The five-person esports teams in the eLeague will be run by real-life NBA clubs, although it’s unclear if each of the NBA’s 30 franchises will operate its own squad in the eLeague.
Competition in the eLeague will resemble the structure of a traditional sports schedule: head-to-head matchups over the course of a “regular...
News
16 CommentsPuyo Puyo Tetris drops on Nintendo Switch, PS4 in April
Sega’s mash up of the Tetris and Puyo Puyo series, the aptly named Puyo Puyo Tetris, will come to Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 on April 25 in North America. Sega will release the game in Europe a few days later on April 28.
The Switch version of Puyo Puyo Tetris will be available to purchase digitally for $29.99 and physically — on a Switch game card — for $39.99. PS4 owners will only have the option to buy the game on disc, however. That version will cost $29.99.
Puyo Puyo Tetris brings the blob- and block-dropping puzzle game franchises together for a colorful crossover with a variety of single-player and multiplayer modes. Sega promises a single-player adventure mode and an arcade mode versus the CPU, as well as the following multiplayer modes:
Versus - Players compete...
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