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10 CommentsThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s rating includes a first: alcohol
The ESRB published the rating for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild over the weekend, and it contains a first for the series: the "Use of Alcohol" content descriptor.
It's still rated E10+ the seventh of the series so rated, and that's not the highest age rating for the franchise either. (2006's Twilight Princess, and its 2016 remaster, were both T.) But it is called out for making a reference to booze, and "mild suggestive themes" involving the appearance of the fairies.
This is the third time the series has gotten tagged with a suggestive-themes content descriptor, which probably means the fairies seen in the other two games (Majora's Mask and Ocarina of Time on the 3DS) to get that label are returning here. The ESRB said "fairies with moderate cleavage and/or exaggerated-size...
News
8 CommentsTerraria tops 20 million copies sold
Terraria developer Re-Logic has now sold more than 20 million copies of the sandbox game, the studio announced today.
Re-Logic actually hit the milestone before the end of 2016, the company said. Terraria debuted in May 2011 on Windows PC, meaning that it took about five and a half years for the game to reach the 20 million mark. According to Re-Logic, 8.5 million of those 20 million copies were sold in the 18-month period between June 2015 — the release of the version 1.3 update, a significant one — and the end of 2016.
“The entire team would like to say a massive THANK YOU to all of you for making all of this possible,” Re-Logic said in a news release. “It has been a pleasure to have all of you along on the journey thus far, and we are really looking forward to continuing down that...
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 moreNews
19 CommentsLink looks at frogs, plays baseball and dies in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Nintendo has revealed several minutes of previously unseen footage from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. In a video posted on Nintendo’s Japanese YouTube channel, we see Link participating in some new, exciting activities. Below, we’ve highlighted some of the most memorable moments.
Here, we see through Link’s telescope as he examines Hyrule’s wildlife, presumably with the intent of killing and eating them. Link is going to eat that frog.
Nintendo
Creeping on critters
Next, we get a glimpse of Breath of the Wild’s day/night cycle as Link stands completely motionless for nearly twelve hours. Will somebody please check on Link?
Nintendo
Link stands still for a whole day
All that standing has caused Link to work up a mighty...
News
17 CommentsBreath of the Wild's DLC plan shouldn't shock Nintendo fans
Nintendo announced that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will have a $20 downloadable expansion pass, much to the dismay of many fans. While a season pass for a Zelda game may seem like a novel thing for Nintendo, the company has long dabbled in pricey premium content — and largely with success.
Dating back to the Nintendo 3DS’ early days, Nintendo has released DLC in the form of level packs, costumes and characters for some of its most popular games. While these have often been made available for free, some of the company’s most popular games received some costly new content.
Fire Emblem Awakening is an early example. Not only did Nintendo sell more playable characters, but new premium maps included exclusive story content. While these were tangential to the game’s main...
Latest Wii U Forum Activity View all posts
News
79 CommentsThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild gets a $20 Expansion Pass
The latest evidence that Nintendo is evolving to fit the expectations of its audience, and the realities of its business, is news that the company’s latest sure-to-be megahit The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will be getting downloadable content, via a $20 Season Pass option.
Despite being “one of the largest, most engaging video games Nintendo has ever created” it will release “two new sets of downloadable content for the game” later this year, and will be available for both the Nintendo Switch and Wii U releases of the game. These packs “cannot be purchased individually” according to Nintendo.
Here are the details, straight from Nintendo:
Starting when the game launches on March 3, players will be able to purchase an Expansion Pass for $19.99, granting access to...
News
9 CommentsFinal Wii U models discontinued in Japan
Production on new Wii U sets has ended, according to Nintendo’s Japanese website. A page detailing the models of the console that are currently in production indicates that the final two sets have been discontinued, officially marking the end of the system’s lifespan.
Following the release of its third quarter earnings financial report this morning, the company’s website updated to show that the remaining Wii U models have been discontinued in Japan. These include the 32 GB Splatoon bundle and the standard 32 GB Deluxe model.
Nintendo announced last November that it planned to cease production on the console by the end of the year. Rumors flew that Nintendo would stop making new Wii U units ahead of the Nintendo Switch’s full reveal, which came in October. The Wii U’s follow-up does...
News
3 CommentsAnimal Crossing mobile title delayed again
Nintendo has pushed back the launch of its Animal Crossing mobile game again. It now won't come out until sometime after March.
The news was part of Nintendo's overall earnings report on the third quarter of its fiscal year. Though not formally dated, Animal Crossing had been slated to launch on mobile by the end of Nintendo's fiscal year, which would be March 31. That has now been pushed to the next fiscal year.
In the rest of the filing, Nintendo reported a profit of 64.67 billion yen ($575.7 million) for the quarter, up from the 62.8 billion yen ($559 million) the previous quarter and more than double the 29.1 billion ($259 million) for the same quarter in the previous year. Pokémon Sun and Moon was by far Nintendo's top seller for the quarter, at 14.69 million units globally....
News
44 CommentsVideo game releases for February 2017
Here are some of the big video game releases for the month of February 2017. Be sure to check out the list we put together of our most anticipated games of 2017 and subscribe to Polygon's YouTube channel for tons of gaming videos. Also, here are the free games you get with your Xbox Live Gold and PlayStation Plus subscriptions this month. Additionally, here's what is coming to your favorite video streaming services and here's what is leaving in February.
What are you looking forward to playing? Did we miss anything? Let us know in the comments.
Note: This is not a comprehensive list of releases and only games with specific dates are listed below. Some games are announced for February but have no firm release date.
Feb. 2:
Fire Emblem Heroes (Android and iOS) — In...
Video
5 CommentsThe Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess’ dungeons have one big thing in common
The Boss Keys series of videos explores the dungeon design of The Legend of Zelda series, with each entry focusing on a different game in the franchise. The latest episode takes a crack at the dungeons of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, and what series creator Mark Brown found was kind of weird.
You see, nearly all the dungeons in this game can be finished using the exact same path, as you move in the same directions in the same order. It’s a shape you can lay over most of the dungeons of the game and it works.
You may or may not have realized this when playing the game itself due to the varied visuals and gimmicks of each dungeon, but the video explains that this uniformity is why so many of the dungeons feel so similar to play, even if they look very different.
Take a look:...
News
49 CommentsLegend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will be the last Nintendo game for Wii U
Not even four-and-a-half years after launch, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will be the final first-party title to come to the system.
This was confirmed by Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime, who spoke to Polygon following the Switch launch event in New York City Friday.
“From a first-party standpoint, there's no new development coming after the launch of the legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild,” he said. “We really are at the end of life for Wii U.”
Fils-Aime said that Wii U titles will continue to be sold at retail and on the Nintendo eShop, and the company had not begun any discussion for sunsetting online services for the console.
“From our standpoint, sunsetting is quite some time into the future. The ongoing activity from an online standpoint on [Mario] Kart and S...
News
5 CommentsBreath of the Wild’s backstory revealed by collector’s edition map
A split-second glimpse of a premium item included with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild's special edition has provided the backstory for the game, after dedicated fans put it through two translations.
Those who order the Special or Master editions of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, get a parchment map, which was shown briefly in a Nintendo livestream over the weekend.
YouTuber Zeltik captured a single frame, enahanced it, translated it from the "Sheikah" language in Zelda's canon into Japanese, then translated that into English.
This is what the map says:
Hylians pass stories of a destined time long past where multiple races lived and worked together in harmony. The Sheikah Tribe's blue aura breathed through the land and this mutual prosperity continued until a...
Nintendo Switch
156 CommentsZelda: Breath of the Wild takes up almost half of the Switch’s storage (update)
The Nintendo Switch’s hardware specifications arched some eyebrows when it was revealed that, once again, Nintendo was launching a console with a shrimpy 32 GB of flash memory on board. Now we know what it really means to a user. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild requires 13.4 GB of storage space if it is downloaded to the Nintendo Switch. That is a little under half of the internal capacity of Nintendo’s new console.
That's if the user is opting for the digital version of the game, of course. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will be available on a game card, too. And the Switch's storage is expandable by microSDHC and microSDXC cards, which are sold in volumes up to 512 GB. But it's unclear if the Switch dock's USB port can be used to attach an external hard drive for...
News
15 CommentsThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild gets Switch launch day release date
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will launch on March 3 in North America, Nintendo revealed during a special Nintendo Switch livestream. The game, which is due for both the Switch and Wii U, will be a launch title for the new console.
Nintendo has debuted several trailers of Breath of the Wild since it was fully unveiled last year, during E3 2016. That didn’t stop the company from showing another one tonight. The video was Nintendo’s “one last thing” during the special Switch event, showing the open world adventure game’s expansive landscape. We saw Link scaling a mountain, running through snow-covered fields and riding around on his trusty steed, all in the hopes of saving the kingdom of Hyrule.
The Switch version of Breath of the Wild will be comparable to the one on Wii U,...
News
13 CommentsHow to watch the Nintendo Switch event
Nintendo took the wraps off its next console, the Nintendo Switch, back in October, but tomorrow, live from Japan, we will hear the most important information: When does it launch? What does it cost? What games will be available?
A new console is a major event in video gaming. Here is how you can be sure you've caught all of the news of the Nintendo Switch, as it happens late tomorrow night.
When is it?
The Nintendo Switch Event begins at 11 p.m. ET on Thursday, Jan. 12. The event is being livestreamed from Tokyo Big Sight, the largest convention center in Japan.
Will it be in English?
Yes, indications are that the presenters will be speaking in Japanese but the livestream will carry English voice-overs.
Where can I view it?
There are three sources:
Nintendo (official site)
Twitch
Y...
News
32 CommentsWii U emulator cracks native 4K streaming, and it’s stunning
The newest version of Cemu, a popular, “highly experimental” Wii U emulator for Windows PC, includes a feature that many users have been hoping for. Available now to Patreon backers, version 1.7.0 supports customizable graphics, with graphics packs allowing players to adjust games’ resolutions to as high as 4K.
The team behind Cemu — the only current-gen console emulator out there — has long had trouble getting games to natively re-render at higher resolutions than the Wii U can. The console is capable of upscaling games to 1080p, while some of its library natively outputs at that resolution.
“Increasing the resolution can only be done by patching the game code, or by implementing game-specific hacks into the emulator,” Cemu developer Exzap wrote last year about the software’s...
News
8 CommentsPokémon Snap comes to Wii U – Virtual Console, that is
Pokémon Snap will be available on Wii U Virtual Console tomorrow, Jan. 5, marking yet another platform on which the Nintendo 64 classic will be playable. But as the popular series spinoff approaches its 18th anniversary, some are losing hope that there will ever be a new, updated take for modern hardware.
The Wii U Virtual Console release, which launched in Japan and Europe months ago, will cost $9.99, as it did on the Wii Virtual Console. The Wii Virtual Console version of the game is also compatible on Wii U, and has been since the latter console launched in November 2012.
What’s different about the Wii U port is that it will be compatible with the Wii U GamePad, although players won’t be able to use its gyroscope to take photos. That seems like a missed opportunity: The on-rails...
Opinion
64 CommentsNintendo stole the Wii U’s best idea for the Switch, and it was a great move
The Wii U was always in trouble.
The press learned this fact as we sat up with our review hardware before the official launch, waiting for Nintendo to release the firmware that would enable anything more than just playing games. Many of us who knew how clumsy Nintendo could be with nongaming applications joked that the Wii U would never be better than the day when you could just put in a game and play without wrestling with a confusing interface.
It’s hard to remember now that the Wii U is all but dead, but those early days were pretty great.
Luigi’s Ghost Mansion on the Nintendo Land compilation disc showed us the possibilities of being able to give information to one player while keeping it from everyone else. Hunting down friends as the ghost on the GamePad while they wondered...
Best Games
44 CommentsBest Wii U games for new owners
Whether you're a new Wii U owner — which, hey, congrats! — or you've had the console since launch, there's one question that people continue to ask: What can you play on this thing? For the Nintendo fan, the answer is easy: The Wii U has plenty of high-quality exclusive content to offer, and you likely already know that if you've made the leap and bought one.
We've compiled our list of the games you absolutely have to check out if you're picking up Nintendo's home console. Even if you're less immediately inclined toward the company's offerings, there's a diverse array of releases here that will hold your attention or even sway you to the other side. (If you own a 3DS, make sure you check out this list.)
FAMILIAR FRANCHISES
The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD: Playing through Link's...
News
4 CommentsSplatoon’s fantastic art is heading to bookstores
One of Nintendo’s most stylish games is finally getting its own art book. Dark Horse is bringing The Art of Splatoon to stores in 2017, the publisher announced today, filled with designs and illustrations from the hit Wii U game.
Die-hard Splatoon fans may recognize some of the art featured in the book, which was released in Japan last year. Dark Horse is adapting the Japanese edition of The Art of Splatoon for English-speaking audiences, making this the first time original concept art and even some comics based on the game will be translated from their native language.
The Art of Splatoon runs 320 pages and is set to hit stores on June 13, 2017. Pre-orders for the $39.99 book are now open, but kids and squids who can’t wait for its release are encouraged to dip back into the Wii U...
Culture
9 CommentsNintendo’s holiday message includes a Zelda: Breath of the Wild clip
Next year is shaping up to be a big one for Nintendo, and the company is closing out 2016 with a wintry holiday message from the star of one of 2017’s most anticipated games.
We’ve known for some time that Link can go snowboarding in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and here, he uses his shield-turned-snowboard to carve “Happy Holidays” into some fresh powder on the slopes of Hyrule.
“A Link to holidays past... and those yet to come,” Nintendo calls it on its holiday website, wishing everyone a “legendary new year.”
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is set for release in 2017 on Wii U and Nintendo Switch. The latter console is scheduled to launch in March; Nintendo unveiled it in October and will provide further details during an event on Jan. 12 that will be livestreamed...
News
5 CommentsThe new Legend of Zelda amiibo will airdrop meat for Link in Breath of the Wild
Nintendo’s new amiibo figures celebrating the 30th anniversary of The Legend of Zelda officially hit stores today. Nintendo detailed how those figures, which include an 8-bit Link and a Wind Waker version of Zelda, will work with next year’s Wii U and Nintendo Switch game, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. In short, they’ll help keep Link well-fed and full of rupees.
Like the Wolf Link amiibo released earlier this year, The Legend of Zelda 30th Anniversary amiibo will summon some extra help for Link in Breath of the Wild. Instead of a co-op partner, the new amiibo will bestow upon Link piles of steaks, fish, herbs, flowers and even rare treasure.
Here’s the breakdown, from Nintendo’s Tumblr:
8-bit Link will reward you with a random number of barrels. You might find rupees inside...
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