Category: Game

Beta gets going for PlayStation 4 on Feb. 12, a week later on Windows PC Hitman will favor the PlayStation 4 with exclusive content when it launches, Io-Interactive said today in an update on plans for the game.
In addition to getting a week with the beta before Windows PC, starting Feb. 12 (next Friday) PS4 owners will also get six bonus missions all to themselves, under the heading “The Sarajevo Six." Hitman launches, or perhaps "premieres" is a better word, on March 11 for PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Xbox One.
Hitman will launch episodically, meaning it will add missions to its ongoing story throughout the year before recapping everything on a retail disc at the end of 2016. Someone can buy the year’s worth of content for $60, or pick up episodes piecemeal. The debut episode is $15, subsequent chapters will be $10.
Io-Interactive says Hitman’s new structure allows them to explore multiple points of view, centering not only on its iconic protagonist Agent 47, but also his handler, Diana Burnwood, and even his targets.
"The sturcture is inspired by contemporary TV series and will unfold over multiple seasons," Io-Interactive wrote on PlayStation Blog. "To begin with, the overall story and the individual mission stories run in parallel but as the first season progresses, the tracks will merge and become one."

This trailer, released today, sets the tone for Hitman. It doesn’t feature any gameplay but it sketches out the Bond-esque world of action and geopolitical intrigue for which the Hitman franchise has been known for the past 15 years.
The PS4 exclusive missions involve dismantling a paramilitary group known as CICADA. It’s unclear if that group will be the main antagonist of the International Contract Agency (Hitman’s employer) or a side target for PS4 players only.

Thank the Force he didn’t, too The editors of Star Wars: The Force Awakens have admitted to being tempted by the side of the Force that involves pointlessly jarring cameos of old characters. In the end, however, they opted against one for Yoda.
Maryann Brandon and Mary Jo Markey told Entertainment Tonight they were all set to do it, too. Frank Oz, Yoda’s voice (and puppeteer, on the occasions Yoda has been a puppet) “came in for a day and did a whole bunch of Yoda," Brandon said. He was happy and they were happy and that was that.
Then the two editors went back on it, tossing whatever Yoda material they had. Oz’s voice is still part of the much-talked-about montage when Rey has her Force vision, but no Yoda.
Yoda, of course, croaked in Return of the Jedi, whose events are set about 20 years before those of The Force Awakens. Nothing precludes him from reappearing as a blue-haloed Force ghost or in some other form, corporeal or otherwise, but considering how much The Force Awakens drew on content and themes from the original trilogy, probably best to let sleeping 900-year-old Jedi Masters lie.

Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro, who once were signed on to create a new Silent Hill game together at Konami, will be on stage together during the DICE summit last this month to discuss their creative visions, the organizers announced this morning.
The Thursday afternoon session, entitled “A Conversation with Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro", will be moderated by Geoff Keighley and "revisit some of their fondest memories from their own individual careers as well as some of the pivotal moments from each other’s work that remain a constant source of inspiration."
Last month, DICE organizers announced that Kojima, the auteur formerly behind Konami’s Metal Gear Solid series, wil be the twenty-first member of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame.

The 2015 Hall of Fame award will be presented to Kojima by film director and writer Guillermo del Toro during the summit.
All of this Kojima news comes after a tumultuous year for the game maker. The well-known developer left Konami last year during a corporate restructuring. His departure seemingly led to the mothballing of a new Silent Hill game that was to be co-directed by Kojima and del Toro.
In December, Kojima was meant to attend The Game Awards, but according to host Geoff Keighley, was blocked from the show by Konami. On Dec. 15, Kojima officially ended his career at the company and formed an independent studio called Kojima Productions. Its first game will be a console exclusive for the PlayStation 4.
The DICE summit, which runs Feb. 16-18 will also include talks from Randy Pitchford, Todd Howard and others.
Make sure to check out Polygon’s full DICE coverage once the show kicks off. Here’s what we wrote about at last year’s summit.

Creator Ryan Murphy explores a much bigger topic The tone for Ryan Murphy’s American Crime Story: The People v OJ Simpson is set within the first two minutes of the first episode, before O.J. Simpson is even introduced.
The show begins with real life footage of cab driver Rodney King being beaten by four Los Angeles Police Department officers after a high speed chase. The footage, which would eventually be broadcast to millions, led to the riots. It’s this specific event that Murphy wants viewers to keep in the back of their minds while watching American Crime Story.
American Crime Story could have been just another retelling of the infamous Simpson trial that shook the country to its core in 1995. Murphy could have decided to focus on nothing but the trial and the people closest to Simpson involved in the case, but he didn’t. Instead, Murphy used the case to open up a discussion about race in America and the issues that still face the people that come before the judicial system on a daily basis.
Because as much as the Simpson trial was about a man that allegedly murdered his ex-wife, it also became a story within the public eye as a battle between the white prosecutors and police officers who were taking on a black celebrity. That’s the story that Murphy focuses on and that’s the heart of American Crime Story. It’s also what makes it such an invigorating watch.
It’s important to note, however, that Murphy never makes an excuse for Simpson.
The majority of people know exactly what happened during the Simpson trial. Or, at the very least, they know what the outcome was. It still stands as one of the most controversial verdicts in history and defined itself as one of the top stories of the decade.
With the amount of coverage being given to Simpson this year, including a seven and a half hour documentary on ESPN, American Crime Story needed to figure out a way to make the story interesting again for an audience of people that already knew what was going to happen.
Choosing to focus on the racial tensions that had spread out among the country, and internationally, was the smartest decision Murphy could have made. It was a way for him to move the story forward and have it still relate to an audience in 2016 without having to rely on a twentieth anniversary to capture attention.
The way Murphy explores the tension surrounding Simpson’s trial could be used as a backdrop for many of the protests we’re seeing today. It’s important to note, however, that Murphy never makes an excuse for Simpson. He never hints that Simpson is innocent and never glorifies the death of Nicole Brown. Rather, he lets the public debate speak for itself and dives into the controversial debate that was being held at the time.
For the first time in Ryan Murphy’s career, he doesn’t go for the over-the-top shock value, but sits back and lets history speak for itself.
As the episodes go on, you never lose sight of the Rodney King beating or the riots that followed. There’s a reason Murphy decided to start the series with it, after all. It acts as a turning point in public opinion on the case and raises the question, “Is there a bigger aspect to this case that we’re not addressing?"

As the trial progresses, Murphy does focus much more on the interesting relationship between Simpson and his team of lawyers, including the now iconic team of Robert Shapiro and Johnny Cochran. The courtroom drama picks up, Simpson begins to deteriorate and the Kardashians get some play. The late Robert Kardashian, father of Kim, Khloe, Kourtney and Rob, was one of Simpson’s best friends and a supporting figure throughout the trial.
But none of this ever feels as important as the discussion being held outside of the courtroom about racial tensions in America and the ongoing battles between the LAPD and the black community.
It never feels as important as going back to 1991 and remembering the pain and anger that the Rodney King footage instilled in American citizens.
And for that reason alone, for Murphy’s decision to focus on the larger subject matter instead of making American Crime Story a simple retelling of the trial, the show is a complete success.
American Crime Story airs Tuesday nights at 10 p.m. ET on FX.

Japan-only for now The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is the subject of an upcoming manga series, which launches in Japan next week. Starting Feb. 8, the manga will be serialized exclusively on publisher Shogakukan’s MangaOne app, according to its artist’s official website.
The manga is thus far only confirmed to be accessible by Japanese readers with the app. How long the Twilight Princess manga will run has not been announced.
Artist duo Akira Himekawa will write and illustrate the series, as they have done for past manga adaptations of Zelda games. The pair — Akira Himekawa is their conjoined pseudonym —€” previously created manga based on Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, A Link to the Past, among other games. Most recently, they illustrated a chapter based upon Skyward Sword.
Viz Media previously published volumes of Himekawa’s Zelda manga stateside, albeit in truncated form. The comics publisher released a 10-volume box set of their work in 2011.
It might seem odd that Twilight Princess is only just receiving a manga adaptation, considering that the game debuted on Nintendo GameCube and Wii in 2006. But the release is, in fact, quite timely: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD hits Wii U on March 4 in both Japan and North America.
The high-definition remake of Link’s final GameCube and first Wii outing will launch alongside a special Wolf Link and Midna amiibo, and offer further amiibo compatibility.

Developer Bethesda will have folks on hand at next month’s Game Developers Conference in San Francisco to discuss the level design of Fallout 4, conference organizers announced today.
Fallout 4’s Modular Level Design will offer an inside look into how the developer was able to “create an enormous world in Fallout 4 with so many high-quality locations in a relatively short amount of time."
The talk will be given by Bethesda Game Studios senior designer Joel Burgess and lead artist Nathan Purkeypile and will focus on the team’s use of modular art kits and iterative level design.
Fallout 4 earned a 9.5 in Polygon’s review which said the game "has all the ambience and history that made its predecessors such wonderful places to get lost for hours at a time."
Make sure to check out Polygon during the Game Developer’s Conference, which runs March 14-18, for our live coverage of the big show and its talks.

Time Warner looking to buy 25 percent of company The one advantage Hulu has over the majority of its streaming competitors is the offer of next-day streaming for certain programming. That may be going away, however, according to a new report out of the Wall Street Journal.
Time Warner is reportedly looking to buy 25 percent of Hulu’s stock in an attempt to prevent the service from being able to stream current seasons of network and premium television. The company is concerned that having access to next-day streaming will only accelerate cord-cutting across the country.
Cord-cutting has become a viable option for many consumers, especially with services like Hulu and Netflix available on devices like the Roku or Apple TV.
While some networks have embraced the turn to digital and streaming, like CBS launching CBS All Access and HBO offering HBO Go to subscribers, others are still fighting for the channel bundling services available through traditional cable.
Cutting off Hulu’s access to next-day streaming wouldn’t necessarily be catastrophic for the company, which boasts 10 million subscribers, but it would certainly drive numbers down a bit.
Hulu’s biggest competitor, Netflix, does not currently offer next-day streaming for shows within the United States (Better Call Saul episodes will appear the day after they air for international subscribers, for example), and it’s the one major advantage Hulu has over the streaming service.
Netflix currently has approximately 75 million subscribers with numbers growing exponentially with each new quarter, according to letters released to investors from the company. In order to stay on top, Netflix has invested $6 billion into original programming and acquiring the rights to older television shows, including Full House and Gilmore Girls.
If Hulu were to lose its next-day streaming availability, the next course of action to attract new viewers would be to invest in more original series so it could compete with Netflix and Amazon Prime.
The streaming service has a few original series already, including the Golden Globe nominated Casual, but nothing that could stand against a giant like Netflix and win.
The other potential avenue Time Warner could go down would be including Hulu subscriptions in a bundle package for cable subscribers. This would allow the company to monetize both its traditional television packages and the new wave of online streaming without having to set up more independent streaming services for individual channels (Time Warner owns HBO and therefore owns HBO Go).
As of right now, the potential sale is still in its preliminary discussion stage, and no official offer has been made.
Polygon has reached out to both Time Warner and Hulu for comment and will update as more information becomes available.

YouTube Red members, take note YouTube Red’s first original programs will premiere on Feb. 10, according to the platform’s blog. The trailer above offers a taste of the new, upcoming content.
Among the debut titles are Rooster Teeth’s Lazer Team and Scare PewDiePie, starring the massively popular streaming personality. These programs and their compatriots are referred to as YouTube Red Originals and will be exclusively available to those with Red subscriptions.
While Scare PewDiePie is a new reality series from the content creator, the other three Originals are feature films. The YouTube Red Originals channel offers clips from these four to start and will feature announcements of forthcoming content, as well.
Along with the Originals, YouTube Red offers ad-free viewing on the streaming service at a cost of $9.99. The subscription plan launched in October, and parent company Google confirmed PewDiePie’s involvement alongside Red’s reveal.
Felix Kjellberg — his given name — launched a video service of his own last month. Revelmode will feature new and original content from PewDiePie, Markiplier and other YouTube celebrities, with plans to delve into other media realms (like music and video games) in the works.

But Godus is neither gone nor forgotten Peter Molyneux’s studio 22 Cans has launched Godus Wars on Steam Early Access —€” but the title is not meant to replace its long troubled release Godus. Instead, the real-time strategy game is a standalone title with a stronger focus on combat.
Godus Wars is available as a free download to those who already own the crowdfunded Godus, which launched in 2013. Total newcomers can purchase Godus Wars for $14.99, and will receive the original Godus as a bonus with their copy of the spinoff.
The development team clears up the differences between the two titles in an FAQ on Godus Wars’ Steam page. Molyneux envisioned Godus as two separate games from the start, the FAQ states, “one tranquil, peaceful and the other war-like with bloody battles taking place across the unique lands."
Godus Wars falls into the latter category. Players of the initial version of Godus took issue with that game’s distinct lack of fighting, amidst myriad other problems with the title, which had players assume the role of a godlike figure.
Molyneux went further in a personal letter on the Godus Wars page, which now stands as the only Godus-related store listing on Steam, having absorbed that of the earlier release.
"Why don’t we change Godus into a RTS style game with God-game capabilities and landscape modification, a RTS game with a huge amount of variation and power, the ability to approach each battle in a different way?" he wrote of the impetus behind Godus Wars.
In its Early Access build, Godus Wars features playable deitites who lead armies across transforming maps. One traversable continent is available, with another coming as paid downloadable content. Godus Wars is also expected to add multiplayer later on in its development.
The game also features Bryan Henderson, who won a contest to be made the "god of gods" in Godus, an appearance that has yet to be added to the game. Henderson is featured as a deity later in Godus Wars, according to Eurogamer, which last year profiled the seemingly forgotten teen.
Unlike Godus, which 22 Cans and partner DeNA intend to release on mobile, Godus Wars is exclusive to Windows PC, Molyneux told Eurogamer in a revealing interview. Along with a discussion of his Godus projects, Molyneux talked to Eurogamer about the 2015 incident that led to his self-imposed exile from the media.
Just last week, Molyneux’s Twitter account was hacked, sending out messages that indicated the veteran designer’s seeming intention to retire.

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The Division’s closed beta wraps up today, and despite the super limited amount of content available in this pre-release sliver of Ubisoft’s open-world third-person shooter, I’m gonna miss it. The beta showcased some slick progression hooks, let players take a run at an instanced co-op mission and, best of all, let anarchy run wild in the Dark Zone. That’s The Division’s player vs. player area, where you’re encouraged to trust nobody — unless, of course, in that cruel arena, an unlikely friendship is forged.
You can hear some thoughts from Arthur and me and watch a bunch of gameplay video from The Division’s beta above. The Division launches March 8 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows PC.