In 2022, Atari will celebrate its 50th anniversary. In so doing, the company’s new boss, Wade Rosen, tells Polygon he is determined to turn a badly tarnished gaming icon into something relevant to the present, and to the future. Rosen took the top position at the company in March, and...
The post-Spider-Verse revolution feels alive in 2022’s animation slate
Sixteen years before the release of Toy Story and nine years before Pixar’s “Tin Toy” short won an Oscar, The New York Institute of Technology’s Computer Graphics Lab announced plans to produce a CG film titled The Works. Even before movies like Tron and Young Sherlock Holmes could pioneer CG...
Superman & Lois made the Man of Steel’s messiest story beautiful
Just when it seemed like The CW was running out of DC super steam, Superman & Lois arrived with surprisingly warm grace, a confident response to the idea that Superman stories are boring. A simple twist made it stand out from its peers on The CW and beyond: making the...
How Star Trek: Prodigy creators pulled off the ‘Trekkiest Trek that ever Trekked’
Star Trek: Prodigy is the latest installment in the Star Trek canon, an animated series designed to be an on-ramp for kids who are totally unfamiliar with its 55 years of sprawling mythology. On Prodigy, a crew of five young people (and one indestructible blob creature of indeterminate age) have...
An oral history of The Matrix video games and their bonkers alternate ending
In the late 1990s, David Perry got a phone call from the offices of Silver Pictures. The studio wanted to send him the script for an upcoming science-fiction film, called The Matrix, from a pair of relatively unknown writer-directors: Lana and Lilly Wachowski. The Wachowskis wanted their next project adapted...
Small but mighty: Independent TTRPG presses work toward equity in game design
As tabletop games continue to grow in popularity, it’s to be expected that more and more people try their hand at designing their own games. Marketplaces like itch.io, DriveThruRPG, and even Dungeon Master’s Guild allow for individual designers to showcase and promote their own works, but many are hampered by...
They thought they got their dream job at Riot Games — but it was a scam
At first, it seemed like a dream come true. A would-be games industry worker received an email from a recruiter asking them to apply for a job at Riot Games. After a brief interview process that spanned multiple rounds over email and Discord, they got the offer. Everything looked official....
The Halo games that weren’t
Ever since Halo debuted at Macworld in 1999, the franchise has been a staple of the game industry. Master Chief has become an iconic hero, carrying the series on his shoulders for 20 years. In that time, we’ve heard of quite a few Halo projects that never saw the light...
The Sonic Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade crash: An oral history
On Nov. 25, 1993, Sonic the Hedgehog made his debut as a balloon at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. He was the first video game character to appear at the parade, and he was featured prominently in the event’s marketing on shopping bags and posters. Fans...
Assassin’s Creed Unity can’t help rebuild Notre-Dame, and that’s OK
In April 2019, a fire started in Paris’ Notre-Dame cathedral. It engulfed the spire and the wooden roof, weakened the stone vault, and endangered the western towers’ massive bells. The damage to the cathedral was and remains extensive, but French President Emmanuel Macron immediately swore that it would be rebuilt....