As a writer in the games industry, I’ve been told — many times and in different ways — that intersectionality is alienating. Polygon a sked some of our favorite game developers and writers to reflect on the games we played in 2017. Which is why I played Brianna Lei’s queer-American-Asian-girls-playing-baseball visual novel Butterfly Soup with a sense of encompassing joy, cut through with the pain of a reckoning come late. Even I — a bisexual Indian girl who grew up in the West — play Butterfly S

The game was created by the same man who made QWOP, and the awkward control scheme and frequent failure is meant to be frustrating. Your goal is climb up the mountain, and to keep trying even when you fail and fall back to the bottom. “Somehow, when I’ve get high up a mountain I feel like I’ve accumulated something. There’s a moment in hiking or climbing when you look out and see how far you’ve gone, a sense you’ve accumulated progress. How do you react when you turn what had to have been weeks

It makes sense that a follow-up to Yume Nikki, the cult-classic Japanese horror game that just got its first official release on Steam, would receive an extremely weird first teaser. Yume Nikki has built up a niche fanbase since its 2004 release both for its uniquely disturbing, esoteric premise and its freeware status. Developed by a single, anonymous person, the game stars a girl as she travels through increasingly frightening dream worlds. (There’s even a whole podcast dedicated to breaking Y

YouTube’s number one trending video has captivated just about every corner of the internet, including Reddit where a new community dedicated to “pencil music” is quickly growing. Created by YouTube user Dani Ochoa, “Cantina Theme played with a pencil and girl with too much time on her hands” is, well, exactly that. The “Cantina theme with a pencil” video marks Ochoa’s first upload to YouTube. Pencil Music, a subreddit created this week, has just over 13,000 subscribers at the time of this writin

I’m a big fan of narrative games. This week I played Till the Dawn, Waiting, which comes out on Steam today. But while it relies heavily on familiar narrative game tricks and tropes, it fails to rise to its subject matter. Many of the narrative games we’ve seen in the past few years have focused on innocence and familial relationships, from Blackwood Crossing’s coming of age tale, to What Remains of Edith Finch. In the main, Till the Dawn, Waiting fails to reach any kind of emotional crescendo.

That’s why the big team really scares me, because it’s really hard to find good people, and we just are really, really, really stringent in hiring. I don’t think we can make this.”I made my case to a couple people. But I just assumed you knew what you were doing.” I was like, “What?”Amy Hennig: That’s scary. I have a basketball signed by him saying, “To Amy, Great game.”Sean Vanaman: That’s amazing. I’m really glad that you guys aren’t making a Firewatch competitor.

Hori is releasing an officially licensed PlayStation 4 wireless controller that should appeal to Xbox fans. The Onyx Wireless Controller from Hori, which hits stores later this month, mimics the asymmetrical analog stick layout of Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Xbox One controllers. The Onyx Wireless Controller from Hori is out as of Jan. 15 — at least in the U.K. — according to a post on the European PlayStation Blog. We’ve reached out to Hori for details on a North American release of the controller

This week, we discuss our feelings on the Overwatch League, the surprise Nintendo Direct and of course, the new Diet Coke flavors. You can tune into this week’s live show below. The Polygon Show will be available for you to listen to every Friday on Apple Podcasts and Stitcher. If you like what you hear, don’t forget to rate and review The Polygon Show on Apple Podcasts — seriously, every little bit helps! Have any serious or just plain strange questions that you want answered on the show?

Nintendo will release a set of downloadable content for Pokkén Tournament DX on Nintendo Switch eShop, as shown off in its latest Direct presentation. If the upgraded Wii U fighting game hasn’t caught your attention quite yet, the Battle Pack content way change that up for big fans — as it adds several favorite Pokémon into the mix. But what we’re most excited about are the new support Pokémon Nintendo will introduce to Pokkén Tournament DX. The first Battle Pack wave will launch on Jan. 31. Bot

YouTube’s parent company, Google, is looking into increasing the vetting process for which YouTube channels and videos receive top-tier ads through the company’s Google Preferred packaging, Bloomberg reports. Google Preferred refers to a group of YouTube channels that Google sells to advertisers at higher prices. The report comes just after YouTube confirmed it was removing Logan Paul from the Google Preferred group, which could reportedly slash his ad revenue by 50 percent. In addition to remov

Destiny players who were rightfully unhappy with the game’s recent holiday event, The Dawning, will be heartened to hear that Bungie plans to scale back the importance of Eververse. “We recognize that the scales are tipped too far towards Tess at the moment, and Eververse was never intended to be a substitute for end game content and rewards,” Barrett said. “So, we’ll be making three changes for upcoming Seasons:“We’re shifting the balance of new content in favor of activity rewards over Bright

The Entertainment Software Association tonight issued a statement regarding U.S. President Donald Trump’s widely reported, racist comments about immigrants from “Haiti and Africa” as being from “shithole” countries. ”America’s greatness is built on our diversity,” reads the ESA’s statement. “The president’s repulsive comments undermine the fundamental values of who we are as a country. Late last year, the ESA said it welcomed Republican tax legislation, which is likely to benefit large corporati

The Entertainment Software Association tonight issued a statement regarding U.S. President Donald Trump’s widely reported, racist comments about immigrants from “Haiti and Africa” as being from “shithole” countries. ”America’s greatness is built on our diversity,” reads the ESA’s statement. “The president’s repulsive comments undermine the fundamental values of who we are as a country. Late last year, the ESA said it welcomed Republican tax legislation, which is likely to benefit large corporati

Destiny players who were rightfully unhappy with the game’s recent holiday event, The Dawning, will be heartened to hear that Bungie plans to scale back the importance of Eververse. “We recognize that the scales are tipped too far towards Tess at the moment, and Eververse was never intended to be a substitute for end game content and rewards,” Barrett said. “So, we’ll be making three changes for upcoming Seasons:“We’re shifting the balance of new content in favor of activity rewards over Bright

Payday 2 is getting a new heist team member as part of a timed exclusive when the game launches on Nintendo Switch at the end of February. Nintendo announced the new addition the game during its surprise Nintendo Direct this morning. The publisher also confirmed that the Switch version of the game will allow players to join their friends for local multiplayer sessions via Crime Net. Choose Your Skills – As players progress they can invest in any of five special Skill Trees: Mastermind, Enforcer,

Payday 2 is getting a new heist team member as part of a timed exclusive when the game launches on Nintendo Switch at the end of February. Nintendo announced the new addition the game during its surprise Nintendo Direct this morning. The publisher also confirmed that the Switch version of the game will allow players to join their friends for local multiplayer sessions via Crime Net. Choose Your Skills – As players progress they can invest in any of five special Skill Trees: Mastermind, Enforcer,

The first time I heard about Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, I was hunkered in my hotel room in Los Angeles during the E3 expo in June. Not even two months later, we all found out that Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle really is beautiful and fun, and it is very good. In Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, there is very much a “right” way to do things. Mario + Rabbids reminded me of how much I still have to learn as a designer. This, ultimately, is the delight of Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle for me:

Today’s Nintendo Direct highlighted the company’s peculiar ability to make existing games feel like an event now that they’re coming to the Nintendo Switch. Nintendo finds itself in the enviable position of not even needing new titles to get people excited about the hardware. Who cares about those limitations when the Switch version will be portable, however? Nintendo doesn’t require new games to make a splash in the first few years of the Nintendo Switch, a time when every game with an existing

Today’s Nintendo Direct highlighted the company’s peculiar ability to make existing games feel like an event now that they’re coming to the Nintendo Switch. Nintendo finds itself in the enviable position of not even needing new titles to get people excited about the hardware. Who cares about those limitations when the Switch version will be portable, however? Nintendo doesn’t require new games to make a splash in the first few years of the Nintendo Switch, a time when every game with an existing

I’ll plop on my couch and boot up whatever game I’m playing, hungry for blood sprays, for bodies to drop, for that feeling of power you get when your axe/shotgun shells/arrows rip through someone else. Mindfulness seemed like it would always be at arm’s reach for meBy playing cautiously, I’m forced to sit mindfully. When I’m playing Call of Duty nowadays, I’m hiding in single-player, where my sense of improvement and accomplishment aren’t mitigated every 20 seconds by a respawn screen. It’s the