Dailyposts

Pokémon Go is doing another double Community Day event, this time featuring Vulpix and Alolan Vulpix on Sunday, Feb. 1 from 2-5 p.m. in your local time. source https://www.polygon.com/pokemon-go-vulpix-alolan-community-day-shiny-ninetales-moveset-bonuses/

The old adage “There’s no such thing as a free lunch” is true. Nothing is ever truly free. There is, however, such a thing as “free with ads,” like on the ever-growing streaming service Tubi, whose voluminous library seems to grow by the minute. source https://www.polygon.com/3-movie-masterpieces-buried-on-tubi-right-now/

The Code Vein 2 map is one of the game's key features, and follows a design similar to Elden Ring . There are landmarks to draw your attention, tall buildings that hide dungeon entrances, and old facilities that contain precious, long-forgotten treasures. source https://www.polygon.com/code-vein-2-interactive-map/

Finding Grounded 2 's brittle quartzite is an essential part of progression after you've got your first optical disk all tucked away. You need the stone not just to craft a brittle whetstone for weapon upgrades, but to build the smithing station where you make those enhancements. Tracking it down is a rather more involved process than you're likely used to at this point in your survival adventure, though, as the mineral only comes from a handful of very specific locations. Initially, we thought those locations were all underground, behind root systems, but it turns out that's only partially true. source https://www.polygon.com/grounded-2-brittle-quartzite-locations-leather-where-to-find-whetstone/

Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade is now available on Nintendo Switch 2, and it's a more significant moment for the series than you might think. After all, Final Fantasy began its life as a Nintendo-exclusive RPG series. Speaking to Polygon at the game’s recent launch event at Nintendo’s New York City store, director Naoki Hamaguchi explained why the port marks a homecoming moment for Final Fantasy — and why getting it working on Switch 2 was no easy task. source https://www.polygon.com/ff7-remake-naoki-hamaguchi-switch-2-interview/

Families. Love 'em or hate 'em, if you’re a protagonist in the Fallout universe, then there’s a good chance your family situation is… complicated. Unfortunately, if you’re looking for happy families in this setting — especially in the more recent Fallout games — then you’re going to end up disappointed. Sorry, there are only deeply heart-wrenching family dynamics on this side of the Wasteland. source https://www.polygon.com/fallout-season-2-hank-lucy-family/

Wonder Man isn’t your typical Marvel Cinematic Universe show. There isn't a supervillain in sight, and the eight-episode series doesn’t end with a massive fight against CGI monsters. Instead, the MCU’s latest is a more grounded story about two struggling actors trying to make it in a version of Hollywood where superheroes exist. The closest they come to a villain is Agent P. Cleary (Arian Moayed) from the Department of Damage Control.“Cleary is already being tagged by everyone as ‘the new villain of the MCU’ or whatever,” Moayed tells Polygon. “There's some truth to that, but he’s just trying to make ends meet.” source https://www.polygon.com/wonder-man-arian-moayed-interview/

It’s not easy to adapt fantasy literature for the screen. As we witnessed with Netflix’s The Witcher and HBO’s Game of Thrones , there is a very thin line between the compromises necessary to bring a story to a different medium and doing wrong by the source material, and it seems that screenwriters and producers have forgotten how to walk on it in recent years. (Open the “Galadriel’s depiction in The Rings of Power " floodgates!) Meanwhile, 25 years after its debut, Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings has returned to theaters with overwhelming success , proving that to be faithful, an adaptation doesn’t necessarily have to be accurate. source https://www.polygon.com/lord-of-the-rings-movies-council-of-elrond-scene/

Back in 2024, Polygon talked to mega-bestselling fantasy author Brandon Sanderson about why there have never been any movie or television adaptations of his books , in spite of his popularity — he's sold more than 50 million books — and Hollywood's ongoing obsession with epic fantasy. He said he was biding his time, looking for the right moment and the right deal. "I'm not convinced that we have hit stability in the streaming market," Sanderson said. "Streaming has had a big problem with epic fantasy, and this has me worried. […] Streaming hasn't figured out epic fantasy yet." What would it take for him to decide the time was right? "The solid answer is: I don't know," he said. "Hopefully I will recognize it when I see it. " source https://www.polygon.com/brandon-sanderson-tv-adaptations-cosmere-apple/

You've probably found gunpowder clumps in Grounded 2 without realizing what they were before the Toxic Tangle update. This fairly rare resource comes from buster-caps scattered throughout the park, and while you'll run into them early during your adventure, you can't interact with them until you upgrade your Omni-Tool's axe twice. source https://www.polygon.com/grounded-2-gunpowder-clump-locations-where-to-find/

With Send Help , Raimi makes one clever adjustment to his usual penchant for heightened acting, zippy cinematography, and buckets-of-blood gore. Instead of the horror genre he mastered in his career-launching Evil Dead movies and 2009’s Drag Me to Hell , with Send Help , Raimi pivots to a Castaway -style survival thriller, filtered through his distinctly delirious lens. source https://www.polygon.com/sam-raimi-superhero-movies-send-help/

In the comics, however, Wonder Man’s origins are vastly different from his TV counterpart’s. Despite his deep ties to the Avengers, most notably Vision, his footprint in both the comics and the MCU has been surprisingly minimal. Add in his close friendship with Beast and his broader connections to the X-Men, and there’s a lot to unpack when digging into everything you need to know about Marvel’s next installment. source https://www.polygon.com/wonder-man-marvel-superhero-comic-book-origins-explained/

How to get to the Garden in Grounded 2 is the Toxic Tangle update's first challenge. If you're thinking some of those dead ends in the hedge around the statue aren't dead anymore, you'd be mistaken. There are a few possible entrances into the Garden, including some of your own making, but the two easiest ones to use are tucked away in the corner of a small new part of the map that's easy to miss. source https://www.polygon.com/grounded-2-garden-location-toxic-tangle/

With only ten to choose from, the best weapons in Highguard aren't particularly surprising, but there are a few that stand head and shoulders above the rest… and if you've played a few matches, chances are you know there's one weapon type that absolutely shreds. source https://www.polygon.com/highguard-best-weapons-tier-list/

Excitement is sky-high right now for fans of Dragon Ball . The death of Akira Toriyama in 2024 left the future of his creation in an uncertain state, despite the release of Dragon Ball Daima that year. Now, we know that Dragon Ball Super is coming back , after an announcement during the Dragon Ball Genkidamatsuri event this weekend. source https://www.polygon.com/dragon-ball-super-anime-announcement-missing-manga/

No Rest for the Wicked , an explosively gory and devastating precision action RPG from the creators behind Ori and the Blind Forest , is blowing up on Steam, overtaking even popular games such as Arc Riders . source https://www.polygon.com/no-rest-for-the-wicked-steam-charts-top/

Sequels carry certain expectations with them, like the promise of building on the promise of what came before and correcting past mistakes. Bandai Namco’s Code Vein 2 is exceptional in that it manages to repeat its predecessor's mistakes and throw in fresh ones of its own, all while sticking to outdated design principles for no evident reason. It's a bizarre mashup that leans further away from what made the original Code Vein distinct and loses its identity in the process. source https://www.polygon.com/code-vein-2-review/

Just days after it dropped a Nintendo Direct about The Super Mario Galaxy Movie , Nintendo announced another dedicated showcase: A new Nintendo Direct is coming on Thursday, Jan. 29, featuring the highly anticipated Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream . source https://www.polygon.com/nintendo-direct-january-2026-date-tomodachi-life-switch/

During last week’s Developer Direct showcase, Microsoft revealed that Playground Games’ Fable will be released on PlayStation 5 at the same time as on Windows PC and Xbox Series X this fall. Playground Games’ Forza Horizon 6 , however, will not. The racing game sequel comes out on PC and Xbox on May 19, but the PS5 version will arrive later in 2026. source https://www.polygon.com/xbox-clears-up-its-stance-on-ps5-versions-on-day-one-up-to-a-point/

A few years back, when I heard they were making a new Naked Gun movie , well... I thought it was a terrible idea. I love the originals, but without Leslie Nielsen or the ZAZ (David Zucker, Jeff Abrahams and Jerry Zucker) creative team, I just didn’t think the series' unabashed silliness and nonstop battery of jokes could be recaptured nowadays. The only thing that gave me the slightest bit of hope about the film was the news that Liam Neeson was going to be the lead. And the reason I thought that might work was because I remembered a movie I’d seen just a couple of years prior: Hans Petter Moland’s action-thriller Cold Pursuit . source https://www.polygon.com/liam-neesons-2019-thriller-cold-pursuit-showed-why-hed-be-great-for-the-new-naked-gun/

The global release of Magic: The Gathering ’s Lorwyn Eclipsed set is only days old, but on Jan. 25, images claiming to show four preconstructed Commander decks for the upcoming Marvel Super Heroes set — due out in June — began circulating across Reddit and other social platforms. source https://www.polygon.com/mtg-marvel-super-heroes-set-commander-deck-leaks/

There are plenty of games in which you can climb that mountain over there . Some of them, like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild , or Death Stranding , even take the act of climbing pretty seriously. In these games, the weather, the air temperature, and your stamina are all factors you’re going to have to consider as you succumb to the deep human urge to get to the top of a thing. source https://www.polygon.com/insurmountable-mountaineering-roguelike/

HBO ’s Heated Rivalry , about the relationship between two pro hockey players, earned a reputation as a must-watch sexy romantic drama, but it’s the furthest thing from mere horny smut. At its core, Heated Rivalry is a thoughtful meditation on loneliness and the innate desire for intimacy between two people so weighed down with other people’s expectations that they’re controlled by fear. Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) is an earnest, slightly awkward, but hyper-competent workhorse. Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie) is a cocky, deliberately unbothered Russian bad boy. They start the series as bitter hockey rivals on different teams in the same division, and that tension culminates in an intense romantic relationship that evolves over many years. source https://www.polygon.com/100-meters-anime-movie-heated-rivalry/

Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz’s 2019 horror movie The Lodge has stuck with me for its suffocating atmosphere, the brutal isolation of its location, and a snowbound setting that keeps the outside world at bay while slowly driving its occupants mad with cabin fever. But what lingers most isn’t just the cold location: It’s how the movie explores the ways hatred can spiral into something worse. The filmmakers let the characters’ traumas fester unchecked, trapping them in a situation where the emotions are as cold as the world outside the titular location. source https://www.polygon.com/lodge-2019-best-winter-horror-movie-streaming-free-tubi/

Fans of Dragon Ball, rejoice: Shenron has granted your wish. No, you won't be able to turn Super Saiyan, but at least there is a new Dragon Ball Super anime coming. Announced during the Genkidamatsuri event , a celebration of the Dragon Ball anime's 40th anniversary, the sequel series will pick up again with Dragon Ball Super: The Galactic Patrol . source https://www.polygon.com/dragon-ball-super-anime-galactic-patrol-announcement/

“I always wanted to go Super Saiyan, and the fact that I got to not only go Super Saiyan, I got to go Super Saiyan 3, was surreal,” the voice actor tells Polygon over video call. source https://www.polygon.com/dragon-ball-daima-vegeta-voice-actor-interview/

Snow is coming this weekend. Like, a lot of it. So much so that weather reports are saying about half the country is getting some, which makes this weekend a perfect time for you to hunker down, stay in your pajama pants and watch movies. Sure, you can go for the trendy, obvious Netflix picks like the new Matt Damon and Ben Affleck cop movie, or another round of singing demon hunters , but if you dig a bit deeper, you canfind some true masterpieces on the platform, like these three listed below. source https://www.polygon.com/3-movie-masterpieces-buried-on-netflix-right-now-january-2026/

It’s a very fanciful week for streaming. Cosmic Princess Kaguya! ,a modern spin on the same Japanese folktale that inspired Studio Ghibli co-founder Isao Takahata’s final film, lands on Netflix. SpongeBob has a haunted pirate adventure in The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants , which sails onto VOD. source https://www.polygon.com/new-movies-to-watch-spongebob-cosmic-princess-kaguya-january-23-2026/

J.R.R. Tolkien, one of the greatest fantasy authors of our time, wrote this in a letter to a fellow novelist, discussing the genesis of his masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings : "I wisely started with a map.” The full quote goes on to clarify that to do the opposite — start a story without a map — would “land one in confusions and impossibilities.” source https://www.polygon.com/critical-role-campaign-4-map-araman-pasitar/

But that’s exactly what makes Wonder Man one of the most compelling, purely enjoyable shows in Marvel Studios’ roster. It isn’t aimed at same-old same-old hero-villain clashes, or at teeing up the next saga. Co-creators Destin Daniel Cretton ( Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings ) and Andrew Guest ( Community ), operating under the “more grounded stories with less homework” Marvel Spotlight banner , offer up the rarest thing in the Marvel playbook: a story that’s unique, personal, character-focused, and designed to stand on its own. source https://www.polygon.com/wonder-man-review-mcu-best-show-marvel-spotlight/

We don’t know much about the still-mysterious final chapter of Square Enix’s Final Fantasy 7 remake trilogy, but director Naoki Hamaguchi shed more light on what players can expect from the in-development RPG. In an interview with Polygon, Hamaguchi confirmed that the sequel will still have an emphasis on minigames, reaffirming that Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth 's popular Queen’s Blood will return in the trilogy's third installment and teasing how the team is approaching the original Final Fantasy 7 's famous snowboarding minigame. source https://www.polygon.com/final-fantasy-7-remake-part-3-queens-blood-interview/

It continues to be a very good time to be a KPop Demon Hunters fan, with the gorgeously animated, ridiculously addictive sensation from Sony Animation and Netflix making waves even in 2026. source https://www.polygon.com/kpop-demon-hunters-oscars-2026-nominations/

The Wasteland is a brutal place, pushing all the characters in Prime Video’s Fallout to make hard decisions to survive. Season 2, episode 6, “The Other Player,” emphasizes the consequences of those choices by focusing on the aftermath of The Ghoul (Walton Goggins) betraying Lucy MacLean (Ella Purnell) by turning her over to her mass murderer father Hank (Kyle MacLachlan). source https://www.polygon.com/fallout-season-2-morality-interview/

Although Cosmic Princess Kaguya! draws plot details from the original material, writer-director Shingo Yamashita dresses the story in a hyper-technological pop aesthetic, swapping feudal Japan for a modern internet-centered Japan. In the process, he covers the screen with mesmerizing visuals and gorgeously designed characters, but he never fully delivers on the story’s emotional potential. source https://www.polygon.com/cosmic-princess-kaguya-review-anime-netflix/

Animation studio MAPPA, known for massive global hits such as Jujutsu Kaisen , Chainsaw Man , and the second half of Attack on Titan , has renewed and strengthened its partnership with Netflix that started in 2020, the two companies announced on Jan. 21. While details remain vague, MAPPA and Netflix will "work together on new projects with a global perspective," and the streaming giant will have exclusive rights for a slate of MAPPA productions. source https://www.polygon.com/netflix-mappa-partnership-anime-global/

It’s as I’m frantically flipping through a database, like a tourist searching their pocket phrasebook to find a crucial sentence, that I stumble upon something I’ve somehow yet to find. It’s a page from a literary magazine. I correctly identify it, matching the issue to its code, and the haze of static concealing its contents wipes away. source https://www.polygon.com/tr-49-review/

Hytale has become a playground for modders since its release earlier this month. Players have managed to achieve a lot with the new game, including the development of a mod that allows Minecraft to be played in the Hytale world map, and another that enables cross-play between the two sandbox builders. source https://www.polygon.com/hytale-mod-minecraft-crossplay/

You could say "no two matches are alike" about plenty of online multiplayer games, and it's a statement that is certainly true for Arc Raiders . Encountering other players and not knowing whether they'll be friendly or not, getting lucky with your loot haul and hightailing it to an extraction point or coming up short with just junk to recycle, and being spotted by Arc enemies or successfully avoiding them as you sneak around undetected are just three of the ways 2025's best shooter keeps you on your toes. source https://www.polygon.com/arc-raiders-problem-too-predictable/

It’s appropriate that the vampire-werewolf blood-feud soap opera Underworld came out in 2003. That was the year of the Matrix sequels, and Underworld itself almost felt like a spinoff, specifically of that bit in The Matrix Reloaded where the Oracle alludes to rogue programs. (“Every time you’ve heard someone say they saw a ghost, or an angel… every story you’re ever heard about vampires, werewolves, or aliens is the system assimilating some program that’s doing something they’re not supposed to be doing.”) Right on cue, a few months after the release of Reloaded , there was Underworld , set in an unnamed, Matrix-like city with lots of slow-motion, leather, and gun battles between vampires and werewolves, and shot with an even heavier filter. It was a surprise hit despite middling reviews, but it wasn’t until the even worse-reviewed sequel, Underworld: Evolution , that the five-movie series truly established itself. source https://www.polygon.com/underworld-evolution-at-20/

Gaming’s awards season ain’t over yet (in fact, it’s not even close). And on Sunday night, the New York Videogame Critics Circle reminded onlookers why there can’t just be one definitive winners list in this town. source https://www.polygon.com/new-york-game-awards-2025-winners-goty/

Game of Thrones fans who tune in to the premiere of HBO’s latest spin-off, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms , will see something they’ve never seen before in a show based on George R.R. Martin ’s work: a nervous protagonist projectile-pooping. source https://www.polygon.com/knight-of-the-seven-kingdoms-poop-joke-cut-interview/

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is a highly faithful adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s 1998 novella The Hedge Knight , which is set about a century before the events of Game of Thrones and more than 70 years after the prequel House of the Dragon . It’s a fairly tight and self-contained story, taking place almost entirely at a jousting tournament, which means you don’t need to know much about the series’ long history to jump into the adventures of the poor knight Dunk (Peter Claffey) and his plucky squire Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell). source https://www.polygon.com/blackfyre-rebellion-explainer-knight-of-the-seven-kingdoms/

If you follow the fantasy world created by George R.R. Martin and realized in the HBO shows Game of Thrones , House of the Dragon , and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms — and particularly if you watch the shows but haven't read Martin's books — you'll be familiar with a constant level of geographical confusion. Do you know your Stormlands from your Riverlands and your Crownlands? Is the Reach up from King's Landing, or down? Which seat of power is where? What's beyond the borders of the continent of Westeros, and how does it all fit together? Could the chracters really do that much riding back and forth? source https://www.polygon.com/game-of-thrones-interactive-map-westeros/

In the early 2010s, superhero movies occupied a middle ground they might never find again. The early, promising days of the Sam Raimi Spider-Man and Bryan Singer X-Men movies were over, while the Marvel Cinematic Universe was still in its infancy, having produced two blockbuster Iron Man movies and one already forgotten, less-than-incredible Hulk. In the summer of 2011, Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger would lay more groundwork for a bigger team-up, while X-Men: First Class would soft-reboot the mutants for another decade’s worth of films. In the meantime, the studio behind Spider-Man tried its luck with reviving the Green Hornet, a non-superpowered vigilante character who hadn’t been a big-screen attraction since the era of movie serials. The big-budget film was released on Jan. 14, 2011. It did not go as planned. source https://www.polygon.com/15-years-ago-the-green-hornet-gondry-rogen-superheroes/

The gaming awards season is upside down. In movie world, a carefully paced stream of precursor awards — handed out by critics’ bodies, trade guilds, and whoever it is that votes for the Golden Globes now — builds up through the early months of the year to the big climax: the Oscars. source https://www.polygon.com/gaming-awards-2025-dice-gdc-igf-bafta-clair-obscur/

After the blockbuster success of 1996’s The Nutty Professor , Eddie Murphy was once again the biggest name in comedy, a title he’d enjoyed throughout the 1980s, but not so much during the first half of the 1990s. To capitalize on The Nutty Professor ’s success, one of the first projects Eddie Murphy did next was Dr. Dolittle , a movie that's definitely worth checking out before it leaves Netflix on January 31 (and, if you’ve got time after that, it’s sequel, Dr. Dolittle 2 , also has its moments). source https://www.polygon.com/check-out-one-of-eddie-murphys-best-comedies-and-its-so-so-sequel-before-they-leave-netflix/

Pokémon Go is having a Grookey Community Day event on Sunday, Jan. 18 from 2-5 p.m. in your local time. source https://www.polygon.com/pokemon-go-grookey-community-day-shiny-rillaboom-moveset/

Have you ever heard the one about how Luke Skywalker saved the galaxy? Well, get ready for one more retelling, but this time at a theme park. Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge is getting an original trilogy makeover at Disneyland, tossing the bespoke story the attraction launched with in 2019 in favor of characters and moments from the first three movies. The version of the land at Walt Disney World will remain the same — for now, at least. And while I'm sad to be losing the Batuu that Disneyland attendees have come to know and love, this change feels inevitable considering how Walt Disney Parks and Resorts has mishandled the franchise. source https://www.polygon.com/star-wars-galaxys-edge-disneyland-darth-vader-luke-skywalker/

When Nintendo announced a hotel you can decorate in Animal Crossing: New Horizons 3.0 , I was excited by the prospect. Yes, it was essentially the same as the Happy Home Designer add-on available for Switch Online subscribers, but collecting furniture and designing rooms is why I've stuck with Animal Crossing for more than 20 years. Then I played the 3.0 update and realized I'm more than happy to leave it behind, at least until Nintendo makes meaningful changes. source https://www.polygon.com/animal-crossing-new-horizons-3-0-hotel-decorating/

Yes, Sinners and One Battle After Another are both on HBO Max now and if you somehow haven’t seen them yet, you really, really should. They were two of the best movies from 2025 and now that it’s awards season, you’ll be hearing about both of them over and over again, and nothing’s worse than being out of the loop. source https://www.polygon.com/3-movie-masterpieces-buried-on-hbo-max-right-now/

Glen Powell is fleeing from trained killers as part of a depraved game show in Edgar Wright’s The Running Man , which rushed onto Paramount Plus this week. Meanwhile, Game of Thrones star Peter Dinklage shows just how funny he can be in the title role of The Toxic Avenger , which is available on Hulu. source https://www.polygon.com/new-movies-to-watch-toxic-avenger-running-man-january-15-2026/

There's been a disturbance in the org chart. On Thursday, Disney officially confirmed that longtime Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy was stepping down from her leadership role. Two executives take her place: Dave Filoni will take on creative leadership of Lucasfilm as president and chief creative officer, and Lynwen Brennan will serve as co-president, overseeing the future of Star Wars as a dyad. source https://www.polygon.com/star-wars-lucasfilm-kathleen-kennedy-steps-down/

Magic: The Gathering is once again returning to the Wasteland with yet another crossover with the Fallout franchise , this time spotlighting Amazon's ongoing TV series as part of a 22-card Secret Lair Superdrop slated to release on Jan. 26. Official Fallout accounts first teased the collaboration in the middle of the day on Jan. 15 before the full reveal hours later. source https://www.polygon.com/mtg-fallout-secret-lair-rad-superdrop/

The anime winter season has arrived with a vengeance, offering up an exciting crop of new shows to enjoy. There’s something for everyone, whether you want frenzied action or a chill adventure , but which anime is the most popular right now? That’s a tough question to answer. source https://www.polygon.com/most-popular-anime-winter-2026-january-15/

Did you ever watch Avatar: The Last Airbender and think, "Wouldn't it be cool to have some sort of spin-off about Suki and the Kyoshi Warriors?" If the answer is yes, you're in luck. source https://www.polygon.com/avatar-the-kyoshi-warriors-dark-horse-comics/

The Legend of Heroes: Trails Beyond the Horizon is the 13th game in the long-running RPG series developed by Nihon Falcom. Van Arkride returns as one of the main protagonists in Horizon , but the story offers three different routes that you must play through to finish the game. This is not the only change Trails Beyond the Horizon brings, as it introduces new systems to use and more characters to manage. source https://www.polygon.com/trails-beyond-the-horizon-beginners-tips-guide/

As part of the Animal Crossing: New Horizons 3.0 update , you can sleep in your bed to visit Luna and go to Slumber Islands , which are blank canvas islands that you can redecorate to your liking. This mode has some caveats and isn't just a complete free-for-all, but we're here to explain how it all works. source https://www.polygon.com/animal-crossing-new-horizons-acnh-slumber-island-unlock-luna/

The 3.0 update for Animal Crossing: New Horizon s has released earlier than expected for most users, and is available for download now. However, the Nintendo Switch 2 upgrade and its associated update are still locked behind the release date of Jan. 15. source https://www.polygon.com/animal-crossing-new-horizons-update-release/

But that scope — and its further extension in the prequel series House of the Dragon , which jumps back about 200 years in the Game of Thrones timeline — could also be exhausting. The sheer scale of the story didn’t always leave enough time for individual fan-favorite characters, or for arcs to play out at the length audiences might have liked, especially in the series’ notoriously rushed final season . The franchise has been in flux ever since that finale, with multiple new spinoffs announced and subsequently canceled , mutating into new forms , or just quietly disappearing into development hell . source https://www.polygon.com/knight-of-the-seven-kingdoms-season-1-review-game-of-thrones-future/

2025 was a big year for dystopian movies about deathly, televised competitions based on the work of Stephen King . Two of the prolific horror writer’s stories, featuring two very different portrayals of how government controls the masses through a mix of entertainment and economic motivation, arrived in theaters last year. And in case that wasn’t enough of a freaky coincidence, they’re both making their streaming debuts within a week of one another in January 2026. source https://www.polygon.com/the-running-man-streaming-paramount-stephen-king-movie/

If you've ever felt that the economy of The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim isn't complex enough for your liking, the new Gilded Road mod will be right up your alley. Designed by user Vuszu, the mod introduces a more dynamic buying and selling system where things like merchant and location determine the value of items. source https://www.polygon.com/skyrim-gilded-road-mod-economy-fix/

One look at the show floor at the 2026 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) should make it very clear that artificial intelligence is not going anywhere. Everywhere you turned, there was another company adding artificial intelligence (AI) to something that either didn't need it or didn't need to exist in the first place. source https://www.polygon.com/ces-2026-artificial-inteligence-ai-smart/

A new Godzilla movie will barge into North American theaters in late 2026. After former World War 2 kamikaze pilot Kōichi Shikishima thwarted the gargantuan reptile's plans to destroy the world in Godzilla Minus One , the monster is set to resurface in Godzilla Minus Zero . source https://www.polygon.com/godzilla-minus-us-release-date/

For nearly a decade, the demise seemed permanent. While the franchise continued on in Japan, it disappeared from America with little hope of return. In an era well before reboots of such properties was commonplace, Transformers seemed like nothing more than a fad that would live only in the past. source https://www.polygon.com/beast-wars-reboot-2026/

The wait for Pluribus season 2 becomes more agonizing by the day, but fans have plenty to celebrate while they wait, as Rhea Seehorn earned Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Series at the 2026 Golden Globes last night. source https://www.polygon.com/rhea-seehorn-golden-globes-win-season-2-pluribus/

Netflix and Sony Pictures Animation sensation KPop Demon Hunters nabbed two wins at the 2026 Golden Globes last night. The first was for its smash-hit song "Golden," which took home the award for Best Original Song for a Motion Picture, beating out nominees like Wicked: For Good's "No Place Like Home," and "The Girl in a Bubble" as well as Sinners' "I Lied to You." source https://www.polygon.com/kpop-demon-hunters-beats-demon-slayer-golden-globes/

Hollywood’s action genre owes a massive debt to John Woo . The Face/Off and The Killer director had his breakthrough with 1986’s A Better Tomorrow , whose stylized gun-fu sensibilities subverted expectations associated with Hong Kong’s martial arts-saturated action scene back then. Stylized gunfights and operatic choreography soon became a part of Woo’s signature artistry, along with the effective use of slow-motion and multiple angles to convey a sense of urgency. In 1992, this specific genre of action filmmaking (termed “heroic bloodshed”) led to Woo’s critically-acclaimed Hard Boiled , featuring an iconic buddy-cop routine with a no-nonsense detective and a morally ambiguous undercover agent. source https://www.polygon.com/john-woos-hard-boiled-opens-with-the-best-shoot-out-ever/

Jennifer Hale knows firsthand how impactful playing video games can be. Over a video call with Polygon, the voice of Commander Shepard recounted a story of one Mass Effect player who first encountered BioWare’s series during physical therapy. “One woman had had a stroke. She was in her early 30s and her physiotherapist said, ‘Pick up a game controller, find a game and use it to learn how to get your fine motor skills back.’ And that's how she got into Mass Effect.” source https://www.polygon.com/mass-effect-jennifer-hale-interview-commander-shepard/

Red Dead Redemption 2 's snowy tutorial in Colter puts a unique spin on teaching. It's got all the usual things you'd expect from an opening segment — explainers for how to use the controls, how to not get shot, what most of those little icons on the screen mean. But it also goes a step further and teaches you what the game is about . Whether you know what to expect from the first Red Dead or not, the gang's time in Colter makes it plain the sequel-prequel is about the slow, inexorable decay of hope. source https://www.polygon.com/red-dead-redemption-2-intro-colter/

It’s the opposite of a dramatic entrance, really. The lore has been laid out as if inherited from books of legend; Link is just a normal boy, and his world is cozy and circumscribed. The sense of adventure is built gradually, as the player relaxes into the experience. source https://www.polygon.com/zelda-breath-of-the-wild-great-plateau/

Several American filmmakers have also borrowed liberally from Kon’s boldly surreal visual language, including Darren Aronofsky, whose Requiem for a Dream and Black Swan mimic Perfect Blue to a concerning degree . Other homages to Kon’s body of work are subtler, such as Christopher Nolan’s Inception , which draws from the DNA of Kon’s Paprika but is distinct enough to forge its own identity. source https://www.polygon.com/dramatic-entrances-the-whimsical-opening-credits-of-satoshi-kons-paprika/

This is a big week on streaming for long-running science fiction film series. Tron: Ares gets 3D printed onto Disney Plus, continuing the franchise about programmers getting sucked into the digital world of the Grid with a story of an AI soldier going rogue. A young Yautja must prove himself worthy of his clan by defeating an unkillable monster in Predator: Badlands , which connects the Predator and Alien movies without requiring knowledge of either series. You can hunt it down on VOD. source https://www.polygon.com/new-movies-to-watch-tron-ares-predator-badlands-january-9-2026/

Set in the economic boom period of late-’80s Japan, Yakuza 0 alternates between series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu and his longtime best frenemy Goro Majima during their years as newbie gangsters. In the first two chapters, Kiryu roughs up a salaryman in a dingy alleyway to collect a debt, then gets framed for the guy’s murder. He goes from the bottom rung of the ladder to somewhere even worse. For Kiryu, being in the yakuza isn’t glamorous at all. But when we first meet Majima in Chapter 3, we’re suddenly awash in the luxurious extravagance of underworld life. source https://www.polygon.com/yakuza-0-majima-introduction-cabaret-grand/

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Season 1 Reloaded launched on Thursday Jan. 8, and amongst a few new maps, it also brought with it the first major tie-in event. From a collaboration with the Fallout television series, there are a bunch of new operator skins, including Maximus, kitted out in his T-60 Power Armor, the Ghoul, and shortly, Lucy will arrive too as part of a store-bought bundle. They look excellent, so for fans of the show, they're a brilliant addition. source https://www.polygon.com/black-ops-7-fallout-nuketown-vault-town-easter-egg-missing/

2026 is looking to be a great year for Fire Emblem fans. Not only is Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave — which could be either a sequel or prequel to Fire Emblem: Three Houses — set to release this year, but now the best Fire Emblem game of the franchise's earlier years is available to play on the Nintendo Switch 2. source https://www.polygon.com/fire-emblem-path-of-radiance-nintendo-switch-classics/

From making a coin disappear to levitation, magic tricks are a delight to watch — even when we know we’re being fooled. But no daring escape compares to the pleasure of learning the secrets behind a trick. There’s a forbidden joy in understanding the deception and all the sleight of hand that took place right in front of us. source https://www.polygon.com/trails-beyond-the-horizon-review/

After all, how can you follow a movie about the literal end of the world? Most filmmakers might see the apocalypse as an obstacle to write around or retcon, but Waugh was determined to honor the plot of Greenland , in which engineer John Garrity (Gerard Butler) races across America to save his family from an Earth-ending meteor by bringing them to a military bunker on the eponymous Denmark-owned island. source https://www.polygon.com/greenland-2-migration-director-interview/

Sony is giving the PlayStation 5 some bold new tones, including an eye-straining new green colorway that will really help your gigantic console pop much more brightly than it currently does. A trio of new "Hyperpop" hues for the PlayStation are coming in March, in the form of new DualSense controllers and PS5 console covers, Sony Interactive Entertainment announced Wednesday . source https://www.polygon.com/ps5-new-dualsense-colors-covers-hyperpop-price-preorder/

Critical Role has been plenty busy. Not only did the animated adaptation of their second Dungeons & Dragons campaign, The Mighty Nein , finish in December, but its creators are hard at work on Campaign 4 . However, even with so much Dungeons & Dragons on the company's plate, the latest actual-play show to come to Critical Role's streaming platform, Beacon , has made it clear they haven't left behind their own tabletop gaming system, Daggerheart . source https://www.polygon.com/critical-role-daggerheart-azerim-viva-la-dirt-league/

January is traditionally a month for starting projects, trying new things, and working to break bad habits — particularly anything that gets in the way of self-improvement or productivity. Polygon figured one of the industry’s most prolific writers might have some tips on breaking writer’s block, maintaining focus, and completing projects, so we reached out to ask Sanderson how he keeps his energy up and gets so much done. source https://www.polygon.com/brandon-sanderson-writing-tips-productivity-finish-a-novel/

To say that Splitgate developers 1047 Games had a rocky year in 2025 would be the understatement of the century. source https://www.polygon.com/splitgate-steam-charts-numbers-devs-respond/

For a dead man, Space-Time Special Agent Romeo sure leads an interesting life. Playing as a crazy scientist's grandson in the third-person action adventure game Romeo Is a Dead Man , fighting grotesque mutants, boarding FBI spaceships, and strolling through alternate dimensions is just your average workday. source https://www.polygon.com/romeo-is-a-dead-man-preview-impressions-sci-fi-adventure/

You’ve drank Hideo Kojima sake . You’ve checked the time on your Hideo Kojima watch . You’ve even gone hiking in your Hideo Kojima exoskeleton . But are you ready to game on your Hideo Kojima laptop? Kojima Productions and Asus have partnered up to create a limited edition ROG Flow Z13 that looks like something you’d find in Death Stranding . source https://www.polygon.com/hideo-kojima-rog-flow-z13-kjp-announced/

On Monday, during its presentation for CES 2026, Asus-owned Republic of Gamers ( ROG ) announced a new collaboration with AR pioneer Xreal . The ROG Xreal R1 glasses feature plug-and-play microOLED displays that let you enjoy games — or movies, or even spreadsheets for the true sickos among us — on a virtual screen of up to 171 inches. But what sets these glasses apart from previous Xreal offerings is the refresh rate of 240Hz, which makes them more suitable for competitive and pro gamers. source https://www.polygon.com/asus-rog-xreal-r1-glasses-ces-2026/

After a year in which Hollow Knight: Silksong seemed to trail a distant second to Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 in many Game of the Year tallies — including at The Game Awards, which Clair Obscur dominated — Team Cherry's game has finally stolen a GOTY title from its rival, and it's a big one: Game of the Year in the Steam Awards . source https://www.polygon.com/silksong-goty-steam-awards/

It’s been six long years since Star Wars graced the big screen in 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker. Here’s a list of all the movies Lucasfilm announced, then either canceled or let languish in development limbo, since then: source https://www.polygon.com/star-wars-2026-movies/

The story begins in a New York City apartment building, where 8-year-old Aurora (Sophie Sloan) hires her assassin neighbor (Mads Mikkelsen in a much-hyped Hannibal reunion) to kill the monster living underneath her bed. As expected, the hitman (labeled “Intriguing Neighbor” in the credits) isn’t too enthused by the assignment, and doesn’t believe Aurora’s tall tales. He has bigger problems of his own to deal with: his job has put a big target on his back. source https://www.polygon.com/dust-bunny-brings-best-of-hannibal-and-bryan-fuller-to-the-silver-screen/

When Disney completed the acquisition of 21st Century Fox in 2019, movie fans mostly focused on how the deal would impact Marvel. But the purchase gave Disney access to more than just the X-Men and Fantastic Four , and now the company is bending one of Fox’s longest-running franchises to fit its mold of teen-friendly entertainment. Predator: Badlands eschews horror and bloodshed in favor of a wholesome Star Wars-style film, complete with its own version of Baby Yoda. source https://www.polygon.com/predator-badlands-review/

As of Jan. 1, Pluto TV now has one of the biggest sci-fi series of the 1990s — or, ever, really — streaming for free in its library. Despite its acclaim and it being a cultural landmark, The X-Files , which is about a pair of FBI agents that investigate the paranormal, can be an intimidating show to get into. After all, it’s known for having a complex, series-long mythology which, admittedly, doesn’t all pay off or get explained in a way that is coherent or satisfying. source https://www.polygon.com/best-x-files-episodes-stream-free-to-watch-first/

It’s no secret that games are an expensive hobby, especially now. Most of us aren’t looking for yet another ecosystem to invest in — we just want to enjoy the games and gear we already like in a more immersive way. That’s where Xreal’s 1S AR glasses come in. Essentially, they give you a massive, big-screen experience no matter where you are — no splashy home theater setup required. source https://www.polygon.com/xreal-1s-glasses-neo-review/

One of the best superhero shows of all time is saying goodbye, as The Boys gears up for its fifth and final season , set to debut April 8 on Prime Video. Known for its darkly satirical take on corporate-controlled superheroes in a world that mirrors our own, the series has kept pace with the chaos of modern life. But with reality now outdoing fiction, it might finally be time for showrunner Eric Kripke to adapt one specific plotline from the original comic. source https://www.polygon.com/the-boys-final-season-comics-ending-billy-butcher/

Pokémon Go is having a Piplup Community Day Classic event on Sunday, Jan. 4 from 2-5 p.m. in your local time. source https://www.polygon.com/pokemon-go-piplup-community-day-classic-empoleon-moveset/

Mamoru Hosoda loves a good time-travel story. The Japanese filmmaker behind The Girl Who Leapt Through Time , Mirai , and Belle weaves fantastical epics where his characters travel through time and between parallel worlds. His latest movie, Scarlet , is no exception. source https://www.polygon.com/mamoru-hosoda-scarlet-hamlet-tragedy-gen-z-covid-19/

This year is primed for major game releases, like Marvel’s Wolverine and Grand Theft Auto 6 , and we here at Polygon just detailed our 50 most anticipated games set to be released in 2026 . But with thousands of games coming out each year, even a long list of 50 can’t cover everything we want to play over the course of the new year. source https://www.polygon.com/2026-indie-games-preview/

Marvel’s fortunes have been on the decline for years now. While Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame both made more than $2 billion and remain in the top 10 grossing films of all time, interest in the franchise waned after the decade-long saga reached a satisfying conclusion. Attempts to pass the MCU off to another generation of heroes were further hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic scrambling projects and transforming viewing habits. source https://www.polygon.com/marvel-versus-dc-movies-2026/

Magic: The Gathering ’s Final Fantasy crossover set weaponizes fan nostalgia by delivering what is essentially an anthology of memories from games we love that still resonate with us. Across multiple versions of the same characters, we see their identity evolve in a trading card game, just as we did years ago when we played the video games. source https://www.polygon.com/yuna-hope-of-spira-universes-beyond/

Stranger Things ended its run as one of Netflix’s most successful shows with the series finale airing on New Year’s Eve. The streaming service is already working on an animated show set between the events of seasons 2 and 3, and a live-action show that creators Ross and Matt Duffer say they will “ be heavily involved ” with. But a reference to the home of a historic conspiracy made in the series finale isn’t actually a hint at what the spinoffs will bring, but a nod to Stranger Things ’ origins. source https://www.polygon.com/stranger-things-finale-montauk-easter-egg/

Every year, the video game industry gets a little harder to predict. With mass layoffs that upend studios and leave major games canceled, you never really know how exactly a year is going to shake out anymore. Remember when Embracer Group seemed poised to become one of the big four publishers in 2023? Whoops. source https://www.polygon.com/video-game-predictions-2026-steam-machine-gta6/

Against all odds , 2025 was a very good year for movies. With the Marvel Cinematic Universe effectively sidelined, Hollywood placed its bets on ambitious original stories instead. Even the biggest franchise hits bucked convention to offer fresh perspectives and unique experiences. (Before you get too excited, remember that the two biggest movies of 2025 were still live-action adaptations of Minecraft and Lilo & Stitch ; baby steps.) source https://www.polygon.com/new-movies-2026-calendar/

Looking forward, 2026’s anime roster is already stacked. A slew of exciting announcements at Shueisha’s Jump Festa heightened anticipation, but there’s so much more. Here are 20 titles worth looking forward to, in order of release. Expect lesser-known debuts, high-stakes sequels, and beloved returning franchises. No matter what you’re partial to, you’re going to be spoiled for choice. source https://www.polygon.com/the-most-anticipated-anime-of-2026/

When an actor has the opportunity to work with an iconic writer and director for the first time, it can be daunting. However, it's the job of that actor to rise to the challenge and not let their adoration of the creative get in the way. For Matthew Lillard, a David Lynch fan cast in the iconic director's Twin Peaks: The Return , that line of thought was the only thing that allowed him to approach the role appropriately. source https://www.polygon.com/matthew-lillard-twin-peaks-the-return-david-lynch-interview/

For AAA gaming, the top of 2026 sure looks a lot like the top of 2025. Xbox is rebooting Fable. Bungie is rebooting Marathon. Captain America and Black Panther are headlining a Marvel game. And everything under the sun has to break through under a Grand Theft Auto 6 -sized shadow. source https://www.polygon.com/most-anticipated-video-games-new-2026/

Now, before we push this premise any further, how about you check out these 10 movies that just arrived on Netflix? source https://www.polygon.com/new-movies-on-netflix-january-2026/