Black Ops developer Treyarch is bringing the battle royale genre to Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 later this year with Blackout, a franchise-first mode that will introduce the largest multiplayer map Call of Duty players have seen to date. As seen in the new trailer, players will be able to fight in air, on sea and on land — and against zombies. Treyarch announced Blackout mode in May, during the official reveal of Black Ops 4. A first peek at the mode, featuring characters from Call of Duty’s Black

Best Buy is offering a Nintendo Switch bundle with one of the system’s most popular games for $329.99. The Switch, which is almost never discounted, retails for $299.99 and most Switch games run for the standard $59.99, so this offer is essentially including a game for half-price. (With the exception of Splatoon 2, they’re all included in Polygon’s Essentials list of the best Switch games.) Best Buy ran the same deal earlier this summer, which sold out quickly. Just yesterday Walmart released a

The basic gameplay in Spider-Man on the PS4 boils down to two things: swinging and fighting. This guide will start you off with a few tips to improve your chances in a fight — fighting basics, as we call them. Spider-Man is a game about fighting and dodging. Especially early in the game (and even very late in the game), it doesn’t take much damage to kill Spider-Man. Web Throw .

The open world — well, open Manhattan — of Spider-Man PS4 means that you’re going to be spending a lot of time swinging across town. First, you’re going to do it a lot, so it’ll just be a big help if you’re not struggling the whole time. Finally, and more subtly, you’ll build Focus while swinging — Focus that you can use to heal by pressing down on the D-pad (see our Spider-Man PS4 fighting guide for more on that). It’s about physicsWithout getting too much into the actual (simulated) physics, t

When you start playing Spider-Man on PS4, you’re already Spider-Man. You still unlock new things — like gadgets and moves — as you progress, but this isn’t an origin story. The city that never sleepsSpider-Man’s New York is packed with things to do — and even more things unlock as you progress through the game. Tokens, tokens, and more tokensIt’s easy to get overwhelmed by everything happening around you while you’re fwip-ing your way through New York. You unlock suits by earning XP and leveling

MODE DETAILSJewelsJewels can be found in special supply drop safes, located along the edge of the first storm circle. If a player escapes with a Jewel or one is lost in the storm, a new supply drop will bring a replacement. Increased Uncommon Semi-Auto sniper drop rate by 9.29%Increased Rare Semi-Auto sniper drop rate by 9.29%Dual pistols decreased in rarity from Epic and Legendary to Rare and Epic. Suppressed pistol decreased in rarity from Epic and Legendary to Rare and Epic. Bug FixesFixed an

While the Hogwarts Express rolled into Platform 93⁄ 4 on Sept. 1, players of Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery were still waiting for their fifth year to start. But wait no more — Year Five of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is available today in Hogwarts Mystery. Fans of Harry Potter know that the fifth year at Hogwarts means preparation for the O.W.L. “Year Five is a pivotal year for any student at Hogwarts, with the O.W.L. Year Five brings the most robust year of content yet to the ga

A Nintendo Direct scheduled for today, Sept. 6, has been postponed, the company announced, out of respect for the victims of landslides that rocked northern Japan last night. “Due to the powerful earthquake in Hokkaido, Japan, we have decided to delay this week’s planned Nintendo Direct,” the company said in a press release. Thank you for your understanding.”The September Nintendo Direct was originally scheduled for 6 p.m. Meanwhile, northern Japan continues to reel following numerous power outa

Today’s addition of the Getaway limited-time mode to kick off the High Stakes event, however, may be one of the most radical departures from the standard game since the Thanos event. You can watch the trailer for the new mode at the top of this post to see why. “You and your crew must locate a safe, pick up the prize inside and getaway with the goods while battling enemies. The first four teams to make their way to a van with a jewel and getaway win!”It’s a squads mode, so you’re probably going

Jamie Lee Curtis returns to the Halloween series 40 years after the original movie, and a new trailer highlights her character, Laurie Strode’s return to the franchise. While those films technically don’t exist in this current canon, the new film will pay homage to every Halloween movie, while going back to the roots of John Carpenter’s original vision, according to writer Danny McBride. In terms of the continuity of the Halloween Cinematic Universe, this new movie will follow Laurie Strode as s

We got our first look at Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel earlier today, and now new images from the movie are rolling out from Entertainment Weekly, giving glimpses of the other actors and characters that featured in the next installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Notably, Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury has been digitally de-aged to look 25 years younger (the movie takes place in the ’90s, hence a younger, eyepatch-less Fury). According to details in EW’s story, Captain Marvel’s Nick Fury is

Insomniac Games’ Spider-Man stars a modern-day web-slinging superhero, which means Peter Parker is addicted to his smartphone. Spider-Man’s phone is important to him, and that means designing a suit that allows him to carry his phone and use it on the go. This leads to important questions, like: Which phone is Peter Parker using? Instead, I asked Polygon guides editor Dave Tach to help me on my silly journey to discover what type of phone Spider-Man uses, and whether or not his suit could actual

Entertainment Weekly debuted the first official photos from Marvel’s upcoming Captain Marvel, and one particular photo has already caught people’s attention: four Skrulls, members of an alien race who will act as the antagonists of the film, walking ashore an unknown beach. The Skrulls are now a meme, and are even being subjected to PhotoShopping contests. Luckily, Captain Marvel doesn’t look anywhere near as bad as her alien counterparts. Her costume reveal is being celebrated by just about eve

After all the teasers and casting announcements, the first official trailer for this month’s American Horror Story: Apocalypse is finally here. The video gives us our first tangible plot details of the Murder House/Coven crossover season. Sarah Paulson’s new character Venable appears to be leading some sort of post-apocalyptic safe house, with Kathy Bates’ new character at her side. It’s providing safety for a few new characters, including American Horror Story newcomer Joan Collins and veteran

The Dragon Prince’s panel at FanExpo 2018 was held in the smaller South Hall at the Toronto Convention Centre, near where most of the RPG panels are held. The Dragon Prince crew screened the first episode of The Dragon Prince at FanExpo, and it became instantly clear that the hyped series was something special. The scope is enormous; The Dragon Prince might be primed for Netflix, but there are plans to extend it into a universe, with a video game far enough along to have a playable demo. Elves a

I recently wrote an article comparing Overwatch’s loot boxes to the boxes in Destiny 2. Even if Overwatch boxes were less awful than Destiny boxes, many readers objected to praising Overwatch’s system at all. Blizzard recently disabled loot box purchases in Belgium, after regulators there decided that loot boxes are analogous to gambling. Event cosmetics are only available during the run of the event, but all loot boxes, including the ones you get for free, are event boxes during the event. It’s

Details for Call of Duty: Black Ops 4’s new battle royale mode, Blackout, continue to trickle in. Developer Treyarch revealed the mode’s map in a tweet on Wednesday. While a map doesn’t exactly give us much to go on, we can at least get an idea of what the mode’s terrain might look like. Blackout’s map appears to mostly feature the dense coastal forests that battle royale has become known. For now, all of this is just speculation based on the map, but we’ll know exactly what Blackout mode and it

Unlike previous games in the series, this is a multiplayer game, with players exploring a large world together online. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey — Oct. 5 — PlayStation 4, Windows PC, Xbox OneThere was a great deal to enjoy about last year’s foray into ancient Egypt. Both versions will take us back to the setting of the original Pokémon games. Soulcalibur 6 — Oct. 19 — PlayStation 4, Windows PC, Xbox OneOur strong contingent of fighting fans all voted for Bandai Namco’s weapons-based arena-combat

Hitman 2 is IO Interactive’s upcoming follow-up for its episodic reboot of the series from 2016. At the same time, IO Interactive has added a helpful new feature that the studio refers to as Picture-in-Picture. While you’re playing, you’ll occasionally see a small window pop up onscreen with a real-time feed of something that other characters in the mission are doing. That’s a way more informative and useful system than the simple “Body Found” notification in Hitman. Thanks to Picture-in-Picture

In Marvel Comics’ Infinity Wars, Thanos’ downfall at the hands of his adopted daughter Gamora was but a brief aperitif before the main course of the plot. This week’s Thanos Legacy one-shot rewinds time to give Thanos’ death its full due — and to reveal it as the Mad Titan’s final triumph over time itself. [Warning: This post contains spoilers from Thanos Legacy #1.] There, Thanos met his future self, King Thanos, “a broken titan brought low by his endless pursuit of power and death,” as Cates p