Recent episodes explore a damaged superhero, on the edge It’s been a few weeks since our last Polygon discussion on Supergirl, and for that I apologize. Not least because this has been a rollicking fistful of episodes featuring plot shifts, character revelations and inter-species intrigue.
I don’t mean the rigmarole of aliens being thwarted by super-duels and team-work. That stuff’s mostly a yawn. The likes of Indigo and The Master Jailer are already fading from my memory, (though dedicated fans of these characters may feel differently).
No, the big stories have focused, as they always do, on the people who surround Supergirl, her support network. Supergirl is a show that squeezes pyrotechnics into tight spaces between character and relationship development.

The last major event I covered was the slaying of Supergirl’s eco-terrorist aunt Astra. In a way, everything since then has connected to her death, particularly the relationships between Supergirl, her sister Alex, and Department of Extra-Normal Operations chief Hank Henshaw.
Hank’s decision to claim that he (and not Alex) killed Astra, in order to protect Supergirl’s feelings, was a bad idea. It backfired, as lies tend to do in the world of fiction. It put a strain on all their relationships. But this move was entirely in keeping with Henshaw / J’onn J’onzz’s character. He believes in honor. He is a father who has lost his own daughters. He keeps his promise to protect the daughters of his friend.
But still, this was an error. Alex and Supergirl have lived almost their entire lives wading through the treacle of deception. They expect honesty from their allies.

The writers had Supergirl spectacularly unravel due to some guff about a chunk of “red kryptonite" messing with her brain. But I think this was a useful shorthand for someone who has reached the limits of her own emotional pain, and self-destructs. Having Supergirl actually go on a booze and drugs rampage would have been impossible to write convincingly, so this substitute is called upon to do the same job.
And what a treat for the rest of us. The sight of "bad" Supergirl running amok in National City was an absolute joy. From hurling Cat Grant off a building (only to frighten her) to doing the Superman 2 thing of flicking bullet-powered peanuts at bottles in a bar, she basically turned herself into a villain, overnight.
The sight of bad Supergirl running amok in National City was an absolute joy.
Many of today’s superheroes are presented as complex characters with a "dark inner life." But these dark sides are often precious self-justifications for what is, almost always, vigilante violence. Batman wants to hurt bad people, but so what? A real dark side, as most of us know, is an unstoppable urge to hurt good people.
Core Supergirl is mostly a goodie-goodie, albeit one with a nasty temper and a needy lack of self-esteem. What I like about evil Supergirl is that, when she falls, she falls hard. This is not some yin and yang thing, a balancing of auras. This is the dark, secret other, lurking inside, waiting.
And then, of course, comes the bill. Supergirl does serious damage to her own reputation, but the people around her are the ones who really have to pay. She is cured only by Henshaw being forced to reveal his true self, as a monstrously powerful Martian. This is a premium price.
Once returned to her normal self, Supergirl is immobilized by shame and grief for what she has done and for what she has lost. There is no suggestion that this evil part of her, released by red kryptonite, contributes to the overall good. It is pure darkness.
A real dark side, as most of us know, is an unstoppable urge to hurt good people.
Last night’s episode spent a lot of time in damage control, flashback and interrogation. As knuckle-headed military types attempt to uncover and destroy J’onn J’onzz, we stepped through a mansion of flashbacks and origin stories.
We saw Supergirl’s first days on Earth, as a dorky alien girl. We saw Alex’s father come to grief in the jungle. We saw J’onn J’onzz getting to grips with his early days on Earth playing Predator.
We also saw Alex’s origins, as a promising scientist done down by, you guessed it, mind-altering substances. In a nod to the red kryptonite thread, she does shots in a bar and dances wildly to a song. The lyrics tell her to "party ’til you lose your mind." She is saved by Hank.

But these episodes, and last night’s particularly, are also an orchestration of the themes that Supergirl’s writers have sought to explore. They are the familiar liberal pieties of our times, for sure. But that doesn’t make them any less unappealing and it certainly doesn’t make them untrue. The are woven into the characters and into their relationships with one another. They entertain us within the context of the failures of the characters and their fraught interactions.
Supergirl is about an acceptance that we are all different and we are all messed up. It allows for mistakes, but not for malice. It scorns exceptionalism and fear-mongering while embracing individual liberty and collective responsibility.
Don’t miss next week’s recap of The Flash crossover episode. Meanwhile, here’s all the other Supergirl episode recaps.

The internet’s definitive hobby gaming community weighs in on the best of the best The community at BoardGameGeek.com, the go-to source for board games community and information online, have announced the winners of the 2015 Golden Geek Awards. The big winner this year is Pandemic Legacy, which won four of the 13 total awards and every category for which it was nominated.
BoardGameGeek is a massively popular gaming resource and online community, made up of board and hobby games fans. Every year the community votes on the Golden Geek Awards, celebrating the best games of the year in many categories, broadly including board games, role-playing games and video games.
Other big winners include Codenames, a breakout hit by Vlaada Chvátil and Mysterium, both of which made Polygon’s list of the five best board games from last year’s Gen Con.
Here’s all the winners, by category. For more details and links on all of the games, check out BGG’s original post here.
Board Game of the Year
Winner – Pandemic Legacy: Season 1
Runner Up – Codenames
Runner Up – 7 Wonders: Duel
2-Player Board Game
Winner – 7 Wonders: Duel
Runner Up – Tides of Time
Runner Up – Baseball Highlights: 2045
Artwork & Presentation
Winner – Mysterium
Runner Up – T.I.M.E Stories
Runner Up – Above and Below
Card Game
Winner – 7 Wonders: Duel
Runner Up – The Grizzled
Runner Up – Arboretum
Board Game Expansion
Winner – Ticket to Ride Map Collection: Volume 5 – United Kingdom & Pennsylvania
Runner Up – Roll for the Galaxy: Ambition
Runner Up – Five Tribes: The Artisans of Naqala
Family Board Game
Winner – Codenames
Runner Up – Mysterium
Runner Up – Between Two Cities
Most Innovative Board Game
Winner – Pandemic Legacy: Season 1
Runner Up – 504
Runner Up – T.I.M.E Stories
Party Game
Winner – Codenames
Runner Up – Mysterium
Runner Up – Flick ’em Up!
Print & Play
Winner – Dune: The Dice Game
Runner Up – Deep Space D-6
Runner Up – Beyond Baker Street
Solo Board Game
Winner – Tiny Epic Galaxies
Runner Up – Hostage Negotiator
Runner Up – Baseball Highlights: 2045
Strategy Board Game
Winner – Pandemic Legacy: Season 1
Runner Up – 7 Wonders: Duel
Runner Up – The Voyages of Marco Polo
Thematic Game
Winner – Pandemic Legacy: Season 1
Runner Up – T.I.M.E Stories
Runner Up – Blood Rage
Wargame
Winner – Churchill
Runner Up – Triumph & Tragedy
Runner Up – The U.S. Civil War
Best Podcast
Winner – The Secret Cabal Gaming Podcast
Runner Up – Shut Up & Sit Down: The Podcast!
Runner Up – Rahdo Talks Through
Best Board Game App
Winner – Splendor
Runner Up – Galaxy Trucker
Runner Up – Star Realms: Gambit

Says yes to physical releases — but no to PS3 Yakuza 0, the latest entry in — and prequel to — Sega’s action brawler series, will make its Western debut sometime in “early 2017," the company announced.
Alongside the news comes the short new trailer above, which packs in plenty of the glitz, glamor and girls the series is known for in just over 60 seconds. It’s the first look stateside fans have had at the game since Sega confirmed the localized version during December’s PlayStation Experience event. Unlike in Japan, however, Yakuza 0 will arrive as a PlayStation 4 exclusive.
While it will ditch the PlayStation 3 port, Sega will give Yakuza fans the option of buying the game physically or digitally when it does launch. That’s unlike the recent stateside release of Yakuza 5, which Sega launched on the PlayStation Store in December. The PS3 game first hit Japan in 2012.
Next up on PS4: Yakuza 6, which is planned for a Japanese release later this year.

Or, rather, talked about it as much as he could Harrison Ford returned to Jimmy Kimmel’s late night program on Monday to talk about finally getting his Han Solo wish in, Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
The actor, who was promoting the DVD and Blu-ray release of the film, was asked about Solo’s role in the movie and whether he was happy with where the story took him.
Ford said that he had been campaigning for 30 years to have Solo killed, stating in previous interviews that it seemed like the only way to close his character’s chapter, and was happy they finally listened to him.
“You work for, like, 25 years for the company," Ford told Kimmel. "You do your best, you show up everyday, you do your job. And then they just let you go."
When asked if he or Han Solo were going to be in any of the other movies, appearing as an apparition or through a flashback, Ford wouldn’t answer.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens is available on DVD and Blu-ray April 5, but those looking to watch it earlier can download it on iTunes as of April 1.

Making money, buying the best upgrades and maximizing mods

Role-playing games can be daunting. Just ask the players who painstakingly discovered Destiny’s most esoteric secrets with brute force. The same principle applies to Tom Clancy’s The Division, which is just as much of an RPG as it is a shooter — complete with crafting mechanics and skill trees.
This guide will help you eliminate the trial and error in The Division and set you up for success with endgame content. You’ll get a spoiler-free grasp of the core tenets, and you’ll leave well-equipped to assist Manhattan in its time of crisis.
Make money
The Division has three types of currency for three different parts of the game:

Dark Zone Credits. Earned in the player-versus-player Dark Zone for killing other players and enemy non-playable characters, use these to buy better loot and crafting recipes at checkpoints and Dark Zone venders.
Phoenix Credits. Earned after reaching level 30 or by purchasing with Uplay credits, use these for endgame purposes like buying high-level equipment.
Division credits. Earned by completing missions, side quests and encounters in the vast player-versus-enemy, use this to buy everything that the previous two currencies don’t cover.

As you begin to play The Division, the first thing you should do is sell your extra gear — specifically, lower green level loot — and use the money you earn to upgrade the higher blue gear tier. Even though it’s easy to do in the game’s instant menu feature, fight the urge to dismantle your inventory for materials. Instead, every time you come across a safe zone, find a vendor and sell your extra gear.
There are some exceptions, and we’ll cover those in Skills and Arts and Crafts sections, but at the beginning of the game, sell what you don’t need.
The old RPG adage of not buying items from vendors applies in The Division. Marginal upgrades aren’t worth spending your hard-earned cash on — unless it’s at a blue tier or above. Save it for the worthwhile loot, and leave the rest to RNG (the in-game random number generator that determines what type of loot you get) gods.

Take your time when aiming
The Divisionn is not an arena shooter. It rewards careful targeting.
Headshots are of the utmost importance, so throttle the trigger as often as possible to get a more sustained trajectory and prevent your firearm from drifting as you shoot. Marksman rifles are the best way to accomplish this task, especially for new players. They don’t quite have the range of a sniper rifle, but they still have better ranges than most of the guns in the game, and they grant bonuses for headshots.
To become a better marksman, practice shooting out in the open world with targets like signs before embarking upon a tough mission. Learning to hit headshots consistently is also the key to defeating early bosses, who tend to be bullet resistant. You’ll want to take down bosses as quickly as possible to prevent more enemies from flooding in and ruining your day. Headshots are the quickest path to victory.
Re-roll your equipment with Recalibration
Most loot-based RPGs allow for a certain degree of customization, and re-rolling is a good way to facilitate that change. It essentially allows you to keep the same item — with all of its base properties — but alter its statistical properties.

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To initiate this mechanic in The Division, upgrade the Tech Wing in the main hub. The Recalibration node will allow you to re-spec. Once unlocked, the station will appear right behind the upgrade station. Look for the giant generator.
Before you use the station, think about what type of playstyle you’re going for — particularly whether it accommodates group or solo play. Re-rolling will allow you to shift your characters’ properties to min-max — to go all-in on a certain stat, at the expense of another. For example, you could funnel stamina into all of your gear and acquire the biggest possible health pool. That’s fine if it fits your playstyle, but keep in mind that doing so could cost you mobility and attack power.
Each subsequent re-roll on a piece of gear will result in an increased credit cost, so choose your upgrades carefully. Should you regret your decision, your gear’s original statistic will always be available as a fallback option.
This is one of the first things you’ll want to unlock after you’ve gotten a handle on the basics, but it’s important to note that you cannot re-roll weapons.
Mods matter
It’s easy for new players to miss one of the most essential features of The Division, which is tucked away behind multiple button presses and menus. Modding your weapons can make a seemingly impossible mission beatable.
Here are a few options to think about when modding:

Players can alter the underbarrel, muzzle, magazine and optic portions of each weapon (excepting pistols)— all of which have their own loot levels.
Range is ideal mod if you’re going with the recommended marksman rifle build. It will allow you to shoot at safer distances and still maximize damage.
Accuracy isn’t as viable as it seems. It only alters the reticle for your weapon, which could make you accurate, but only if you’ve mastered the fundamentals of shooting.
Stability is only useful if you plan on shooting for a longer period of time, which is counterintuitive to our recommended throttle method.

Modding can have an enormous impact on your battlefield effectiveness. Check your options frequently, especially after picking up new gear.

The earliest skills are the best skills
Contrary to a lot of RPGs where the best items are at the end of the leveling process, the initial set of abilities you can unlock in The Division are among the best in the game.
Pulse, which allows you to see where enemies are on-screen and through walls, offers a huge advantage. It’s the first power you should unlock. It’s the most useful skill you’ll have in your arsenal — whether you’re in a group or going it alone. You’ll use it all the way up to the maximum level of 30.
If you really dig deep into the ability, you’ll see that it grants you an increased critical hit chance and increased critical damage. It also lasts a whopping 25 seconds by default, which is usually enough to finish off an impending wave of enemies in any given mission. Having two players with Pulse will net a near 100 percent uptime — meaning the skill will always be in effect. Don’t hesitate to use this power every time it’s available, as the AI can come from any direction in The Division.
The First Aid skill, located below Pulse, is also a must-have when playing solo early on. Medkits aren’t as plentiful in the first hours of the game.
Arts and crafts will save your life
After completing the prologue and unlocking the main hub, crafting will become available. You can access it at the table in the main hall. While it’s important to sell items to increase your cash flow early on, around level 10 or so, you should scrap items for crafting materials.

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You can also find materials in chests scattered throughout the game, which respawn every couple of hours. If you’re big on exploration (and you’re not at the beginning of the game), there’s no need to scrap anything unless you need that one last ingredient to finish an item.
Alternatively, if you find that certain materials are hard to come by, grab the Scavenger perk through the Procurement Team node in the Security Wing or Craftsman with the Field Engineering node in the Tech Wing. They’ll provide you with them periodically. When in doubt, look at your Wing upgrades to see what you need at any given time.
Sometimes, you’re not going to get everything you want from a vendor or from loot acquisitions, and crafting can help fill in the blanks as an extra option. It requires a bit more effort however, as you’ll need blueprints — picked up from side quests — to unlock new recipes. You can view a mission’s rewards before embarking to decide whether or not it has what you’re looking for.
Perk up, soldier
Active skills aren’t the only thing that can give players the edge in battle. Acquire the Credit upgrade under Counseling in Medical Wing as soon as possible. It will grant you a 10 percent credit bonus every time you find cash in the world. Acquire Experienced Agent through Situation Room in the Security Wing, and you’ll get 10 percent experience bonus, too.
Complete the medical and security staff rescue missions first to unlock these options before you do anything else.
Once you’ve picked up that baseline, the rest is up to you. Form a synergy with the rest of your build, whether that’s conducive to a healer, tank (damage soaking), or damage-dealing (DPS) style. Try to avoid situational perks like Shooting Range (which increases suppressed enemy damage and your accuracy when below 20 percent health). Instead, go for permanent increases like Medkits, which immediately increases the amount you can carry.

The light at the end of the Dark Zone
Even if you aren’t into PvP, check out the Dark Zone section of the map as soon as you’re able to. It’s a fast track to some of the best loot in the game, and it requires a lot less effort than some of the tougher campaign missions.
Not only can you face neutral NPCs and locate chests, but if you’re so inclined, you can flag yourself as a Rogue (signified by a skull icon on your name) by shooting enemy players. Kill them, and you can acquire their loot. You’ll want to size up opponents before engaging, though. Never attack players who are in a formidable group. Patience and a keen eye will go far in the Dark Zone, so don’t go in guns blazing.

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To actually bring the loot back with you, you’ll need to initiate an extraction in specified zones, which you can locate on the map. From the moment of initiation, you’ll have 90 seconds to survive. Unfortunately, you’re also flagged for PvP, and everyone will be gunning for you.
Be smart about the landing zones you choose. Assess each for at least 30 seconds or so before you call in the chopper, to ensure there aren’t any foes lurking in the immediate area. Pulse is very handy here.
Odds are that you’ll soon be in a fight, so equip a close-range weapon like a shotgun and defensive skills like the Ballistic Shield. Players will often get greedy and rush you, and those will make their charges easy to counter.
Notice the notice boards
If you see a safehouse, go unlock it. There’s absolutely no reason to pass one by. Each location will grant you a multitude of bonuses and highlight nearly every point of interest in the surrounding area.
The first thing you’ll want to do after opening up each one (by simply entering the location) is head to the notice board. That will update your map with more missions.
Unlocking safehouses also pays dividends in the form of extra fast travel options. Those help cut down on the tedium of travel when you’re assigned to a mission halfway across the map. This is especially useful in groups, as you can fast travel to an individual crew member.
Need a group? The 100, a site originally devised as a tool to facilitate Destiny parties, has expanded to The Division. You can also check out DivisionLFG.

Sony reverses course on pre-ordering the stand-alone headset If you’re looking to pre-order a PlayStation VR headset and don’t want to pick up the $499 bundle — which comes packaged with a PlayStation Camera and PlayStation Move controllers — you’ll be able to pre-order the stand-alone headset starting next week.
Sony originally announced it would open pre-orders for PlayStation VR tomorrow, March 22. However, the only option was to pre-order the PlayStation 4 virtual reality headset bundled with controllers, the camera and PlayStation VR Worlds, a collection of VR games.
Thankfully, Sony Computer Entertainment has backed off from that requirement, and will make pre-orders for the core headset available stating Tuesday, March 29.
“Thanks to everyone for sharing their feedback on PlayStation VR pre-orders!" John Koller, vice president of PlayStation brand marketing, said in an update on the PlayStation Blog. "It’s clear that there’s a lot of interest from many of you to secure the PlayStation VR core system, and I’m happy to share that we’ve decided to make it available for pre-order on Tuesday, March 29, at 7:00 a.m. PT at participating retailers."
PlayStation VR is scheduled to launch this October worldwide. Sony announced at GDC last week that the company expects more than 50 games will be available for the platform by the end of 2016.

The wasteland’s about to get hardcore Fallout 4’s revamped Survival Mode will be available in beta on Steam next week, Bethesda Game Studios announced. The company confirmed the news on Twitter, asking fans to “please stand by" for further details.
Players of the Windows PC version of Fallout 4 will receive the updated Survival Mode before those on consoles, vice president of marketing and PR Pete Hines tweeted. Following the beta period, it will launch in full on Steam and, later, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
Bethesda said last month that it would be overhauling Fallout 4’s highest difficulty level to include new features like disease and other challenges. Following that announcement, players found and shared more information as to what the new Survival Mode entails on the game’s subreddit.
Fallout 4’s first expansion pack launched today. The Automatron add-on is available to players across all versions of the game and is available with or without the season pass.

The biggest differentiator between the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive VR headsets seems to be the Vive’s ability to allow gamers to walk around inside an entire room as they play.
But Oculus could deliver that option as well if it wanted to, the company says.
“Some people will really want room scale," said Oculus head of worldwide studios Jason Rubin. "It’s definitely cool. We have the tech ability to provide room scale. Our tech doesn’t preclude that.
"At some point we’ll demo that."

Oculus Rift ships on March 28 with a single sensor designed to track the head and upper body movements of the user. When the Oculus Touch controllers ship sometime in the second half of the year, it will include a second sensor. Those two sensors could be used to deliver a more confined version of the Vive’s room scale VR. Where the Vive’s two Lighthouse sensors can track movement in a 15-foot-by-15-foot area, the Rift’s sensors are designed for tracking a smaller space, about 5-feet-by-11-feet.
While at least one game — Fantastic Contraption — supports room scale on the Rift, Oculus doesn’t believe that room scale VR is in big demand.
"We don’t believe that the consumer has the space in general," Rubin said. "Has the commercial viable space of the 15-by-15 foot square."

Big price cuts for new players, too Overkill Software has ported Payday 2 to SteamOS — and to celebrate, all Steam users can try out the game for free through the end of the month, the company announced on the game’s community page.
Current owners of Payday 2, like other Steam games available across multiple platforms, will now be able to play the game on Steam Machines at no additional cost.  For those who have yet to test out Payday 2, however, the company is offering several promotions for those who have yet to pick up the game. From now until March 31, the game will be free-to-play; those who want to pick up the full game after their trial run can then purchase it at a discount. Along with the game itself, available content for Payday 2 — and its predecessor, Payday: The Heist — is 75 percent off for the rest of March.
Overkill Software — and its owner, Starbreeze Studio — received criticism last fall when it introduced microtransactions to Payday 2. Players of the first-person shooter revolted when the developer locked loot crates containing stat boosts behind a paywall, despite earlier claims that it would keep the game free of non-cosmetic, paid add-ons. The company later apologized to the fanbase for the addition.

Episode 5 premieres on March 29 Minecraft: Story Mode is getting three more episodes this year, Telltale Games announced today. That means Episode 5, which launches March 29, won’t be the last chapter of the series, but will instead bridge it with the rest of the story to come.
Those who want to play Episodes 6, 7 and 8 will need to have purchased at least the first episode of Minecraft: Story Mode, which debuted back in October.
The fifth installment, titled Order Up!, sends the player protagonist Jesse and his or her friends to an abandoned temple, where they are ambushed and find themselves in an entirely new world. The ruler is told the group of heroes, the New Order of the Stone, are up to no good, setting up the conflict and showdown of this story.
Minecraft: Story Mode stars voice actors Patton Oswalt and Catherine Taber as Jesse (depending on the player’s gender choice); Paul Reubens of Pee-wee Herman fame as bad guy Ivor; and Sean Astin of The Goonies (OK, OK, also The Lord of the Rings trilogy) as Reginald. Melissa Hutchison, who voices Clementine in Telltale’s acclaimed The Walking Dead adaptation, features in Episode 5 as a new character.
For more, see Polygon’s review of the first episode, “The Order of the Stone." The game is available on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Mac, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation Vita, and Android and iOS.