Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- Meet the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2025: Quake, GoldenEye 007, Defender, and Tamagotchi
- The BAFTA Games Awards Polled the Public and Shenmue is “The Most Influential Video Game of All Time”
- 2024 GOTY Scoreboard: Astro Bot, Balatro, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, More
- The Strong Museum of Play Acquires Prototypes and Development Documents from Volition’s 30-Year History
- Minecraft’s Volume Alpha Soundtrack Has Been Added to the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry
Warp Zoned Presents
- Video Game Research Library
- Inside the ‘Dragon Age’ Debacle That Gutted EA’s BioWare Studio – Bloomberg (2025)
- Fight Club, The Game David Fincher Didn’t Want You To Play – Time Extension (2025)
- It’s beginning to feel like gaming isn’t for everyone – Digital Trends (2025)
- 22 years later, modders are keeping SimCity 4 alive – The Verge (2025)
- The B-movies of Paul W.S. Anderson double as acts of devotion to his muse, Milla Jovovich – The AV Club (2025)
Monthly Archives: March 2016
Daily Scoop: March 21, 2016 – GOG.com Insomnia Sale starts today!
This weekend was wonderful! I played so many tabletop, board, and video games that my head is spinning. I also took out the trash, washed the dishes, made coffee, did laundry, and got some errands done! Oh, and I started season 2 of Daredevil, of course. I’m not a monster.
You have less than a day left to get the Humble Jumbo Bundle 6. Pay what you want for Oceanhorn: Monster of the Uncharted Seas, Shadowrun Chronicles – Boston Lockdown, and Warmachine Tactics – Standard Edition, as well as a coupon for 10% off Humble Monthly. Beat the average to unlock Shadowrun: Dragonfall – Director’s Cut, Dreamfall Chapters, Magicka 2, Holy Potatoes! A Weapon Shop?!, TransOcean: The Shipping Company, and Shadowrun Returns. Pay $12 or more and also get the Definitive Edition of Grey Goo.
There are 271 new Weeklong Deals happening at Steam. RPG Maker VX Ace is $6.99, Robot Roller-Derby Disco Dodgeball is $3.99, and Retro-Pixel Castles is $4.99. The Daily Deal is the Serious Sam Complete Pack bundle, which has a ton of Serious Sam content and is just $9.99.
There’s also an absurd sale happening over at GOG.com. It’s their Insomnia Sale, and it starts today, March 21, at 2:00 PM GMT. There are lots of discounts, and if you buy 10 games, you get a random extra game for free!
Hit the jump to check out today’s new t-shirts! (more…)
Posted in Daily Scoop
No more delays… development is officially complete on Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End
It took a little longer than expected, but Naughty Dog announced this weekend that development on Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End is complete (or “gone gold” as they say):
Very glad to say #Uncharted4 has gone gold today! ???
Congrats to the team!!! pic.twitter.com/fcqYLNyIKb— Naughty Dog (@Naughty_Dog) March 19, 2016
Since the beginning, Naughty Dog has referred to Uncharted 4 as the “final game” starring Nathan Drake, which has caused many people to wonder if this is the end for the roguish adventurer. But like superhero comics, death is rarely final in video games.
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End was originally expected to launch for the PS4 last Fall, before being pushed back to March 18, then April 26, and now finally to May 10.
Posted in News, PS4
Tagged Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow developer is working on a strange new adventure
Mercury Steam, the developer behind Castlevania: Lords of Shadow and Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 has unveiled a countdown clock for their next game, which is set to expire on April 15 at noon (Eastern Time).
The clock is embedded in an interactive section of their official website, which refers to the game (or perhaps just a portion of it) as the “Lira Expedition.” The developer also revealed a trio of teaser images (a devilish figure, a ruined temple, and the pilot’s cabin of a mecha) that can be found after the break.
Dave Cox, a former Producer at Konami and one of the driving forces behind the Lords of Shadow games, will join Mercury Steam for this project. Besides working on Castlevania, Cox also contributed to recent entries in the Silent Hill and Metal Gear Solid franchises before leaving the company in 2014. But his dream was always to resurrect Contra for a new generation of gamers.
I don’t think that’s happening, but I can dream. (more…)
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Raiders of the Broken Planet
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt wins “Game of the Year” at 2016 SXSW Gaming Awards
CD Projekt’s The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was on target once again as it collected another “Game of the Year” win this weekend at the SXSW Gaming Awards. In addition to its big win, The Witcher 3 won two other awards: “Excellence in Technical Achievement” and “Excellence in Narrative.”
The Witcher 3 faced stiff competition from several of last year’s other big releases, including Bloodborne and Rise of the Tomb Raider, both of which won a pair of 2016 SXSW Gaming Awards. From Software’s gothic RPG was recognized for its gorgeous environments in the “Excellence in Art” and “Excellence in Design” categories. Meanwhile, Lara Croft herself was named “Most Enduring Character” and her tomb raiding skills were honored with an “Excellence in Animation” win.
Finally, Her Story picked up some more hardware this weekend, winning SXSW’s “Mobile Game of the Year” award.
A complete look at all of this year’s winners can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PC, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Batman: Arkham Knight, Bloodborne, Her Story, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Ori and the Blind Forest, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Rocket League, Splatoon, Star Wars: Battlefront, Superhot, Tabletop Games, The Order: 1886, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Telltale revealed a few details about their Batman series… including that it’ll debut this Summer
A team from Telltale Games took the Batplane down to Austin this weekend to talk to the crowd at SXSW about their upcoming Batman series. While it’s still too early for a sneak peek at the game, Telltale was able to confirm the first episode will be available sometime this Summer. A quick recap of the presentation was also posted to the Telltale Blog, where the developer revealed that players will spend just as much time with Bruce Wayne as they will with Batman:
Batman is the perfect character for the studio to explore in a Telltale series, giving the team the opportunity to dive deeper into the mind of the man behind the mask. Each night, Bruce Wayne chooses to change Gotham for the better. The team wants to explore what the consequences are of the player’s actions when decisions made as Bruce have a critical impact on his nightly crusade as Batman, and vice versa. Certain key situations will give the player the decision to approach a scene as Bruce or Batman, with consequences for both sides.
They would go on to say that their Batman game won’t be tied to any existing continuity, and that the Bat Family (Robin, Nightwing, Batgirl, etc) won’t play a large role in the story. However, they did announce that Alfred Pennyworth, Commissioner Gordon, GCPD officer Renee Montoya, and reporter Vicki Vale would all appear in the game. Naturally, the game’s villains are currently a closely guarded secret within the halls of Telltale.
Some of these characters will interact with both Bruce Wayne during the day, and Batman at night. And how players handle these interactions could change the outcome for certain characters. Whatever decisions you make, they’ll have serious consequences as Telltale also said that their Batman series will be rated Mature and have a “cinematic approach [that] will feel more akin to an R-rated film.”
Holy bursting anticipation, Batman!
Weekly Warp-Up: A Bunch of Stuff Happened at GDC 2016…
No, that’s not a typo. Welcome to the Weekly Warp-Up, your weekly wrap-up of the biggest and the best articles posted at Warp Zoned this week…
The annual Game Developers Conference took place earlier this week in San Francisco, and as you’d expect, it dominated the headlines all week. But before we talk about the future, let’s flashback to last year as this year’s GDC Awards honored The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt as “Game of the Year,” while the IGF Awards selected Her Story as the recipient of the “Seumas McNally Grand Prize.”
But GDC is always about what’s next and the next “next thing” is most definitely virtual reality. So Oculus took center stage at the gathering of developers and announced that the Oculus Rift will launch with 30 games on March 28. Not to be outdone, Sony confirmed their PlayStation VR headset will launch in October and that it’ll be priced at $399.
But I think it was Microsoft who made the most announcements at GDC, including confirmation that’ve enabled Cross-Network Play between players on an Xbox One, a Windows 10 PC, and “other networks.” The consolemaker also pulled back the curtain on more than three dozen ID@Xbox games which will be released in 2016 and heavily implied that The Behemoth’s Pit People will also be available this year. However, the biggest bit of noise that Microsoft made at GDC may have been the afterparty they threw featuring dancers in bikini tops and miniskirts. That decision was… let’s go with ill-advised.
Finally out of GDC, the Princeton Review has published their list of the best colleges for Game Design, with the the University of Utah and the University of Central Florida coming out on top.
Elsewhere on Warp Zoned this week, I’d like to direct you to our first part in a new series, It’s In Your Blood: A History of Horror Games, and a review of Broforce.
You can read all about the rest of the week that was after the break. (more…)
Posted in News
New Releases: Hyrule Warriors Legends, TrackMania Turbo, Sebastien Loeb Rally Evo, Republique
Prepare to race into battle with this week’s new releases…
Koei Tecmo and Nintendo are mashing together the massive battles from the Dynasty Warriors franchise with the beloeved characters from The Legend of Zelda once again in Hyrule Warriors Legends, a 3DS re-release of the Wii U blockbuster. Players who opt for the portable version of the game will be able unlock several new characters (including Linkle, a gender-swapped version of Link) and a new level based on The Wind Waker.
A pair of racing games that’ll surely appeal to people who love anything with four wheels are also set to be released this week. First up is TrackMania Turbo, a “fantasy racer” for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One from Ubisoft. Players will be able to put the pedal to the metal on more than 200 tracks and even build their own using the included Tracker Builder. Also available is Sebastien Loeb Rally Evo, a new offroad rally racer from Milestone for the PS4 and Xbox One. Originally released for the PC earlier this year, console players will now get a chance to drive through the mud on the way to victory.
Finally this week, Camouflaj will bring their award-winning mobile game Republique to the PS4. Even with a controller in hand, players will get the same stealthy experience with all five episodes from the game’s first season.
We’ll be back later this week with a look at the new digital-only releases on the PlayStation Store, Xbox Games Store, and Nintendo eShop.
It’s In Your Blood: A History of Horror Games (Part One)
Video games as a medium are diverse and long-lasting, with something to offer everybody. From those obsessed with scores and bragging rights, to more relaxed individuals looking for an enthralling story with limited interaction, gamers who spend upwards of 100 hours in open worlds with random battles… and even the oddballs who just want to get the crap scared out of us.
In the era of Outlast and Five Nights at Freddy’s, horror games are perhaps more popular now than they’ve ever been. Even the experiences vary wildly, with Dead Space and Resident Evil offering up action alongside grotesque body horror, while Kholat and Layers of Fear focus on more cerebral scares and intriguing stories. YouTubers PewDiePie and Markiplier have made such games approachable to a larger audience, thanks to the comedic charm of their commentary and presentation — but to truly appreciate the booming horror genre, one must take a look back at its history. (more…)