Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- BAFTA Games Awards: All the Winners from 2003 to Today
- Clair Obscur Completes the Sweep by Winning “Best Game” at 2025-2026 BAFTA Games Awards
- Boss Fight Books to Get a New Look for Richard Moss’s “Age of Empires”
- GDC Awards: All the Winners from 1996 to Today
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Wins “Game of the Year” at 2025-2026 GDC Awards
Warp Zoned Presents
- Video Game Research Library
- We Pitched a Museum a 1993 Game Hint Line (And They Actually Said Yes) – Yarn Spinner (2026)
- The History Of The Word “Metroidvania” And How It Spread – A Critical Hit (2025)
- Creator of Hit Game Shovel Knight Is at a ‘Make or Break’ Moment – Bloomberg (2025)
- Shadow of the Colossus: An oral history – Design Room (2025)
- In 2005, games started rewiring our brains – The AV Club (2025)
Monthly Archives: November 2013
Secret Ponchos will be released for PS4 in April
Secret Ponchos was the toast of this year’s PAX East. Large crowds gathered around the Old West-styled arena shooter during all three days of the expo (this includes several members of the Warp Zoned Staff). In addition to the throngs of con-goers, several Sony executives were mightily impressed with the game as well. According to Polygon, the Sony crew was so impressed with the game that they signed a deal with the developers from Switchblade Monkeys that weekend.
Part of this deal included an appearance at E3 2013 and a pledge from the developer that Secret Ponchos would be released on the PS4 first. To ensure that Secret Ponchos would be the best game it could be on Sony next-gen platform, the publisher even gave Switchblade Monkeys access to their PhyreEngine rendering engine. PhyreEngine was previously used by thatgamecompany to create Flow, Flower, and Journey.
The developers hope to release Secret Ponchos on the PS4 in April. The game will also be included as a free download for PlayStation Plus subscribers when its released.
Switchblade Monkeys originally coded Secret Ponchos in the Unity engine with plans to bring it to as many platforms as possible. While an Xbox 360, Xbox One, or Wii U release remains unannounced, plans are in place to eventually bring the game to the PC.
Posted in News, PS4
Tagged Secret Ponchos
XCOM: Enemy Within, Injustice: Ultimate Edition, more added to PS Store
The last pre-PS4 PlayStation Store update is full of this Fall’s biggest PS3 releases…
- 2K Games released the alien invasion expansion XCOM: Enemy Within.
- WB Games released a bigger Injustice: Gods Among Us package with the “Ultimate Edition.”
- Ratchet & Clank rode off into the sunset in Insomniac’s Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus.
- And Sony expanded the Wonderbook line of games with Diggs Nightcrawler and Walking With Dinosaurs.
Also available this week is a Cross-Buy version of Flower that will add the title to the game library on your PS3, Vita, and PS4.
More information on all of these games (and a few others) can be found after the break and a complete rundown of this week’s new game add-ons is available at the PlayStation Blog. (more…)
Posted in News, PS3, Vita
Tagged Diggs Nghtcrawler, Flower, Injustice: Gods Among Us, Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus, XCOM: Enemy Within
Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus Review: One Last No Frills Ride
It can be a little intimidating to jump into the epilogue of a series when you’ve only sparingly dabbled in the franchise throughout the years. But Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus offers everything one would expect it to; steady gameplay with outlandish upgradeable weapons and some wise-cracking humor to go with a no frills sci-fi adventure. A few new mechanics have been added to spice up the mix to make Into the Nexus a solid but brief final entry that doesn’t go out of its way to be great as Ratchet and Clank ride off into the sunset with the PS3. (more…)
Posted in PS3, Reviews, Top Story
Tagged Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus
WB Games announces Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment is returning to Middle-Earth with a new game inspired by the Lord of the Rings saga. Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor is in development for the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One at Monolith Productions. If the Monolith name sounds familiar, it should, the team was also responsible for 2012’s Guardians of Middle-Earth.
In the game, players will control a Ranger named Talion as he ventures into Mordor during the time between The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring. Shadow of Mordor will also appear on the cover of Game Informer‘s December 2013 issue and here’s what they had to say about the game:
While many previous games set in Middle-earth have revolved around the major events or characters depicted in Tolkien’s books, Shadow of Mordor offers a new chapter that fits comfortably between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Players control a lone Ranger by the name of Talion as he journeys deep into the heart of Mordor in the days before it transforms into a blasted hellscape. Along the way, developer Monolith is exploring a fascinating next-gen approach to enemies, encounters, and storytelling, one in which every player shapes their own story through the choices they make. The Nemesis System assures that every enemy you fight is a named foe, and if they survive their battle with you, they continue to grow, improve, and act in the world, even as you attempt to do the same with Talion. Our cover story recounts our extensive look at the game in action, from combat and leveling to story and setting.
Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor doesn’t currently have a release date, but I’m guessing “soon” is out of the question. One doesn’t simply develop a “fascinating” next-generation game quickly.
PS4 Trophies will also be classified by rarity
OK, this is neat. The Trophy system on the PS4 will work very similarly to the current system employed by the PS3 and the Vita. Trophies will be sorted by difficulty level (Bronze, Silver, and Gold) and earning all Trophies in a game will once again unlock a Platinum Trophy.
However, PS4 Trophies will also be classified by rarity.
In addition to their difficulty rank, Trophies will be tagged with a rarity indicator: Common, Rare, Very Rare, or Ultra Rare. A Trophy might be considered Rare, Very Rare, or Ultra Rare because its hard to obtain. But it might also receive that designation because few PS4 players have played the game it belongs to. A Trophy’s rarity will be constantly recalculated so a Trophy that’s Ultra Rare today could be Common by tomorrow.
Speaking of tomorrow, the PS4 will officially be available when the clock strikes midnight tomorrow night.
[Source: Kotaku]
Sixth World of Warcraft expansion already in the works
The fifth World of Warcraft expansion, Warlords of Draenor, was announced during this weekend’s BlizzCon event. Warlords of Draenor doesn’t even have a release date yet, but Blizzard’s President, Mike Morhaime, has revealed the company has already begun development on the MMO’s sixth expansion.
Speaking to Polygon, Morhaime said: “We […] have to start looking further down the road and planning further out,” he said. “We’ve already started working on the expansion after [Warlords of Draenor]. We’ve never done that in the past. We’ve been doing one expansion at a time, sort of a very linear content creation model, and we’ve looked at ways that we can parallelize that. So that while we’re working on this expansion we’re looking at the new one.”
According to Morhaime, Blizzard is undertaking this sped up development schedule to ensure WoW remains “relevant” to the game’s subscriber base, which currently stands at 7.6 million people.
Posted in News, PC
Tagged World of Warcraft
Dead Rising 3 story trailer rises ahead of November 22 launch
The Dead Rising franchise is probably best known for the copious amounts of crazy Capcom has crammed into it. So more than a few gamers have been disappointed by how straight Dead Rising 3 has played it. They ask, “Where are the zombie shenanigans?” This new “Story Trailer” for Dead Rising 3 doesn’t really change trajectory, but it does give us an idea of the sheer sense of scale of the zombie outbreak. Hopefully, Capcom Vancouver has a few surprises in store for us.
Dead Rising 3, and the Xbox One console, will be available on November 22.
Posted in News, Xbox One
Tagged Dead Rising 3
GAME announces additional next gen bundle deals for UK gamers
In addition to several previously announced packages, Video Gamer reports that UK retailer GAME has a number of new bundles they plan to make available to customers savvy enough to pre-order either the PlayStation 4 or Xbox One. Both consoles will come with four tier options; Value, Movie, Premium, and Epic.
The Value package for the PS4 comes in at a cool £389.99 and is bundled with one additional game, with players being able to choose from the much anticipated Killzone: Shadow Fall, platformer Knack, as well as the latest entry in two of EA’s biggest franchises, Battlefield 4 and Need for Speed: Rivals. Curiously, there is also the option to take home Putty Squad, the remake of an unreleased Amiga game. There are also some sport options available, including FIFA 14, Madden NFL 14, and NBA 2K14. The Xbox One Value pack (priced at £469.99) also comes with the option of these sports titles, although gamers can get FIFA 14 or Forza Motorsport 5 free, in addition to another game. These include Ryse: Son of Rome, Dead Rising 3, as well as the EA titles mentioned above.
The Movie pack adds the option of taking home two new Blu-ray titles as well as one game for £414.99 for the PS4 or £499.99 for the Xbox One. Such titles include robot rampage Pacific Rim, hilarious cartoon comedy Despicable Me 2, and superior X-Men sequel The Wolverine. The hairy Canadian is not the only superhero in consideration, with Man of Steel and Kick-Ass 2 also on offer, along with British smash Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa.
The Premium pack is where things get exciting. For the Xbox One, it removes one of the Blu-ray titles and replaces it with a 12-month Gold subscription to Xbox Live for a grand total of £509.99. The PlayStation 4’s Premium pack, priced at a cool £449.99 means you can take home two games and two Blu-ray films.
Last, and most expensive, the Epic Pack for the PS4 chucks in another Blu-ray film from the list, and includes a GAMEware starter kit including a headset, vertical stand, and a handy dual controller charging station, all for £484.99. The Xbox One Epic package comes with the same two-game, three-film combo, although no Xbox Live subscription, yet it sports a similar starter kit, but includes a Play & Charge kit, HDMI cable, and Kinect wall mount and clip, with a total bill of £549.99
The Xbox One is the first next-gen console out of the gate in the UK, releasing on Friday, November 22. The PlayStation 4 will be playing catch-up when it is released exactly one week later on Friday the 29th.