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
- 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)
- Breakout, Ripoff, Genre: How Fiction Outgrows Originality – Uncanny Magazine (2025)
- ‘I Could Make “Fart Fart Boobie Fart: The Game” and Maybe It Would Eventually Get Taken Down’ – Devs Reveal Why the Consoles Are Drowning in ‘Eslop’ – IGN (2025)
Author: Andrew Rainnie - UK Correspondent
Ubisoft announces JRPG homage Child of Light
With the recent release of several new games such as Rayman Legends, Splinter Cell: Blacklist and Far Cry 3, Ubisoft is proving to be one of the most adept games developer this generation, and possibly the next. Not content with perfecting several different genres at once, the company has announced Child of Light.
The new downloadable title, a love letter to the Japanese RPG genre, will be built on the UbiArt Framework, the same engine used to build the critically acclaimed Rayman Legends. The core creative team from Ubisoft Montreal (Far Cry 3) is also involved on this project and, as a result, Child of Light shares some features of that game including its skill tree.
Child of Light tells the story of Aurora, whose soul has been transported to the fantastical realm of Lemuria. There, she must defeat the Black Queen in order to recover the Sun, Moon, and Stars that the evil monarch has stolen. She is aided through the dark realm by Igniculus, a floating ball of light similar to Navi from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Igniculus can be controlled by a second player, and is able to reach places Aurora cannot. In combat, Aurora will fight with magic and weapons, while Iganculus can use his light to disorientate and blind enemies, as well as heal comrades.
While it is being built as an homage to the JRPG genre, Child of Light also takes inspiration from fairy tales and epic poems from the land of the rising sun. It will debut in 2014 on the PC, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.
[Source: Ubisoft’s UbiBlog]
Posted in News
Tagged Child of Light
Arrr, Me Hearties! Mobile game Assassin’s Creed: Pirates accompanies Black Flag this fall
At Ubisoft’s annual Digital Days event, the company revealed that it will be expanding the Assassin’s Creed universe to include mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets this Fall with the upcoming Assassin’s Creed: Pirates.
Not to be mistaken for the separate Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag companion app, the two games will include some crossover, including characters such as Captian Benjamin Hornigold and the notorious Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard.
The game will cast you as Alonzo Batilla, a small time pirate who, under your control, will rise through the ranks of the pirate hoards. Similar to how you recruit assassins, Batilla will hire crew members, upgrade his vessel, and wake waves as he becomes a scourge of the seas!
[Source: Ubisoft’s UbiBlog]
Posted in Mobile, News
Tagged Assassin's Creed: Pirates
Kickstart This! The Sweet September Edition
In the space of two short days, Keiji Inafune, co-creator of video game character Mega Man, managed to reach 100% funding for his new project, Mighty No. 9. The new game, whose lead character Beck bears an uncanny resemblance to Mega Man, has managed to rekindle something in the hearts of all those fans let down by Capcom with his Kickstarter campaign. It is the clearest sign yet that big-named developers are turning to the crowd funding site to raise capital for their dream projects. While the game is definitely coming to PC, if it manages to raise $2.2 million, it will be developed for current gen consoles and the Wii U to boot.
What it also does, and does very well, is walk the tightrope between creativity and plagiarism. Kickstarter developers take note. When the Mighty No. 9 video was shown at PAX, with the Kickstarter campaign simultaneously going live (and what a lovely piece of marketing that was), many began to wonder if Capcom was aware of the project, given its uncanny resemblance to Inafune’s other character for which Capcom holds the rights. Time will tell if the goliath game company decide to take legal action against indie outfit Comcept, but given the careful steps taken to distance Beck’s initial outing from Mega Man, while playing on fan’s prior knowledge of and desire for a sequel to that series, they may not have any legal recourse. Of course, this does not always guarantee immediate success; just look at Precursor Games Shadow of the Eternals, a spiritual sequel to the GameCube’s excellent Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem
So what other titles are currently vying for your money? There is Death Road to Canada, which is The Last of Us meets Dead Rising for mobiles, Mac and PC. Continuing the horror theme, there is psychological horror Neverending Nightmares, which looks like a hand drawn Silent Hill. Also drawing comparisons to that series, as well as Eternal Darkness, is Shades of Sanity.
Changing tack away from horror (kind of), RedNeck Assassin draws on House of the Dead: Overkill and Splinter Cell. Meanwhile, Super Mario Galaxy meets Portal in the gravity-bending FPS platformer Aterra. Last but by no means least, sci-fi ARTS .Decimal which looks like the futurist offspring of Mechwarrior and Command & Conquer.
In three, two, one… (more…)
Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD will include a harder “Hero Mode”
Not content with just offering the normal difficulty setting, Nintendo has announced that The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD will feature an additional difficultly setting called Hero Mode. The higher difficulty setting, also seen in The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, will remove healing hearts from being found in the environment, forcing Link to seek out fairies or potions. Not only that, but enemy AIs will dish out double the damage they do in Normal Mode.
This new feature is one of several to be added to the original game, including Swift Sail, which allows players to control the King of Red Lions ship directly, rather than indirectly changing direction by controlling the wind. The GamePad’s second screen will also allow players to effectively play the game as an FPS, in a similar way to Link’s Crossbow Training on the Wii. Along with the improved HD graphics, this version of Wink Waker is shaping up to be a must-own game.
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD will be available in October.
[Source: Polygon]
Posted in News, Wii U
Tagged Gamescom 2013, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Shadow of the Beast remake spilling blood on PS4
Sony has announced that Heavy Spectrum Entertainment Labs, best known for its PlayStation mobile titles Bullion Blitz and Puzziball, is reviving the old Amiga classic Shadow of the Beast. Originally developed by Reflections Interactive and released in 1989, it was published by Liverpool firm Psygnosis, which was later enveloped into the Sony brand as SCE Studio Liverpool. Although that studio was shut down last year, Sony still retains the rights to the game.
The original side-scrolling game was well known for its then-superior graphics and high quality score composed by David Whittaker, who is now Head of Audio at Traveller’s Tales. Other than the brief CGI teaser trailer, very little else is known, although Sony may be looking at this title to carry on the God of War crown. Hopefully Heavy Spectrum will find a way to make the material fresh as well as paying homage to the original.
Now all we need is for Sega to revive Altered Beast!
Posted in News, PS4
Tagged Gamescom 2013, Shadow of the Beast
Interview: Dakko Dakko’s Dan Croucher Discusses Scram Kitty and His Buddy On Rails
Hidden amongst the big games announced during Nintendo’s E3 2013 Nintendo Direct video presentation were some gorgeous looking indie titles. One that really shone bright during its brief showing was Scram Kitty and His Buddy On Rails, a top-down, on-rails (but not in that way) shooter/platformer hybrid. It is currently being developed by Welsh studio Dakko Dakko, best known for their previous PSN Mini hit Floating Cloud God Saves the Pilgrims. Scram Kitty’s Producer, Dan Croucher, was kind enough to answer some questions about tax breaks, octopus hats, and favourite gaming titles. (more…)
Posted in Features, Interviews, Previews, Top Story, Wii U
Tagged Scram Kitty and His Buddy On Rails
Ubisoft reveals new details about Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag’s modern day
SPOLIERS for Assassin’s Creed III ahead! You’ve been warned…
We have known for a while that Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag would feature pirate rogue Edward Kenway, father and grandfather to Haytham and Conner Kenway, the previous game’s villain and hero. However, Ubisoft has managed to keep a lid on the present day shenanigans, especially since the previous present day protagonist, Desmond Miles, met a grim end at the hands of Juno.
In the continued trickle of information before the new game launches this October, lead writer Darby McDevitt recently took to Twitter for a Q&A session with fans to address some burning questions about the present day gameplay. McDevitt revealed that previous characters, such as William Miles, Shaun Hastings and Rebecca Crane, would make a return, and said that “the story is ongoing, but from a different perspective now.” Asked if Subject 16 would return, McDevvit answered, “No, but Subject 17 may… in a roundabout way.” Could Desmond be making his way back from the grave through the Animus?
The different perspective seems to be an unnamed employee of Abstergo Entertainment, based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada (coincidentally, Black Flag is in development at Ubisoft Montreal). McDevitt was quick to clarify that this does not necessarily mean you play as a Templar, as many employees at the company are unaware of the lengthy war between the two factions. Yet, when asked if the relatively new Abstergo employee was aware of Assassins, Templars, or Juno and her race, McDevitt replied, “Yes, we will slowly reveal the existence of Assassins, Templars, and…” leaving fans hanging on the conjunction.
He also revealed you would have a desk in the Abstergo Entertainment offices, posting a screenshot that showed shelves with various action figures on it, one of which is dressed in assassin’s clothing. It seems the desk will act as a sort of hub for the present day mission, which McDevitt said would have a clear story arc. While not answering whether the new character was related to the Miles clan, McDevitt did note that “Abstergo’s tech has improved. They have genetic memory cloud servers that allow anyone to dive into another’s memories.” This allows the writer some breathing space in creating a completely new character, but raises further questions regarding the syncing of memories to the genetic code. He also mentioned that the fan favourite glyph puzzles would return in some form, possibly as hacking side missions.
[Source: UbiBlog]
Wii U suffers miserable sales during the last three months, can Pikmin 3 turn the tide?
Nintendo has released their second quarter sales figures for 2013, and they do not make for pleasant reading. Their new flagship console, the Wii U, sold just 160,000 units worldwide from the start of April through the end of June. Compare that to its predecessor, the Wii, which managed to sell 210,000 units and push its worldwide sales total past the 100 million mark.
Needless to say, this was reported across the board as disastrous news for the company, however solvent they are. Yet taken in a different perspective, it does not immediately spell doom and gloom for the Wii U. First of all, the console has sold 3.61 million units globally in the eight months since it was released. Also, Q2 saw a vast drought of games for the console. The only first party games released were Game & Wario and New Super Luigi U, and the latter is just a downloadable expansion for New Super Mario Bros. U. Worthwhile third party games were also in scant supply, though multiplatform games such as Injustice: Gods Among Us and Resident Evil Revelations did make it to the Wii U.
The pessimistic view is that games are not the issue, yet as GamesIndustry International reports, the July release of the long-awaited Pikmin 3 pushed the Wii U to sell 22,000 units in a single week in Japan. Given that only 90,000 units sold in that country in the previous three months, it would be safe to assume the raft of new games set to release this year, including The Wonderful 101, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze and Super Mario 3D World will see the Wii U steadily climb in sales before its next generation siblings are released.
However, Pikmin 3 also illustrates how Nintendo is learning from their past mistakes. A advertising big push for the game in Europe prior to its launch propelled it to number two in the most recent Chart-Track list of bestsellers.