Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- Clair Obscur Completes the Sweep by Winning “Best Game” at 2025-2026 BAFTA Games Awards
- Boss Fight Books Gets 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
- Silent Hill, Dragon Quest, Skyrim, and More Announced as Finalists for the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026
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)
Author: John Scalzo
Mega Man 11 will power slide onto the PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One on October 2
The Blue Bomber returns! Capcom has announced that Mega Man 11 will make its way to the PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One on October 2.
Fans who pre-order the side-scroller on any platform will receive access to an “Alternative Soundtrack” in the game, but Switch owners will want to make special note of the Amiibo Edition. Mega Man 11’s Amiibo Edition will include a copy of the game, as well as a brand new Mega Man Amiibo figure, a Dr. Wily logo adhesive patch, a set of four stickers, and a Robot Master stage select screen microfiber cloth.
In addition to a launch date, Capcom unveiled a new trailer focusing on Mega Man 11’s Double Gear System. These new special powers will enable the Blue Bomber to slow down time and deliver a more powerful punch with his arm cannon. The publisher talked a bit more about the Double Gear System on the Capcom-Unity blog:
At its core, the Double Gear System has two main functions that empower Mega Man (and players) with brand new abilities. Mega Man speeds up with the aptly-named Speed Gear, causing the world around him move much slower by comparison. If you need a moment to dodge incoming projectiles, make a desperate jump, or simply need a breather to figure out a tricky situation, the Speed Gear is just a button press away to give you a chance to escape and quickly adapt to any situation. It’s great for both newcomers who need a little extra time to figure out enemy and boss patterns, or veterans who can expertly maneuver their way around levels.
The Power Gear pushes Mega Man’s power output beyond maximum, powering up his regular buster shots and allowing him to charge his Mega Buster to an even higher level than before to unleash two charge shots at a time. Special weapons gained from defeated Robot Masters will also power up in various ways when Mega Man has the Power Gear active. Be careful how you use these new skills, though! You can turn each gear on and off at will with a quick button press, but pushing Mega Man to his limit will cause him to overheat, preventing him from using the Double Gear system until he’s cooled off a bit.
If things are looking desperate, Mega Man can also activate both gears at once when his health is critically low to slow time to a crawl and unleash his full potential in one massive, overcharged shot from his Mega Buster! Careful, though – you can’t turn this technique off once it’s active, and Mega Man will be severely weakened afterwards. Make it count!
The trailer also gives us our first glimpse at two of Mega Man’s foes in Mega Man 11. Brick Man can form blocks out of thin air, while Fuse Man moves with electrifying speed.
Mega Man 11 will be playable at this year’s E3 Expo at the Capcom Booth (South Hall, Booth #2223), and a closer look at the Amiibo Edition can be found after the break. (more…)
Suda51’s Killer7 will come to the PC this Fall
At the time of its release for the GameCube in 2005, Killer7 scratched and clawed its way to cult status as part of the infamous “Capcom Five,” a quintet of titles (which also included Resident Evil 4 and Viewtiful Joe) that were originally going to be released exclusively for Nintendo’s console. However, the financial realities of the era also brought most of them to the PS2, and Killer7 is probably best known as today one of the earliest efforts from one-of-a-kind developer Goichi “Suda51” Suda.
But if you missed this landmark game the first time around, you’ll get another chance to try out Suda51’s wild tale of assassins and multiple personality disorder soon, as NIS America has announced that Killer7 will be released for the PC (via Steam) this Fall:
From the minds of iconoclast writer/director Suda51 and legendary directors Hiroyuki Kobayashi and Shinji Mikami, Killer7 returns for the first time in over 13 years! Dive into a dark world of underground assassins in a tale of revenge as Harman Smith, a man who manifests seven deadly personalities into the real world, known as the Killer7. Take control of this distinct murderers’ row as he hunts down the sinister Kun Lan, to stop his plan of world dominance, and end his organization of deadly suicide bombers known as “Heaven Smile.”
The first trailer for Killer7’s Steam debut has been embedded above.
New Retail Releases: Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection, Sega Genesis Classics, Owlboy, More
Get ready for another nostalgia-heavy trip to your local game store as this week’s New Retail Releases features a new destination for several big-name titles.
Slapping its way to the top of the pile is Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection, a new compilation for the PS4, Switch, and Xbox One that brings together a dozen games from the franchise. There’s the original Street Fighter, as well as Street Fighter II (and its four updates), Street Fighter III (and its two updates), and all three Street Fighter Alpha games. Fans will get to relive these famous fighting games with online multiplayer, and explore the history of the franchise thanks to a bountiful batch of bonus content.
Also set to launch this week for the PS4 and Xbox One is Sega Genesis Classics, a new compilation that contains more than 50 games that were originally released for the 16-bit machine. That list includes beloved classics like Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Golden Axe, and Altered Beast, as well as more left field fare like Vectorman, Comix Zone, and Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine.
Two games coming to new platforms this week retain the retro aesthetic of Street Fighter and the Sega Classics, but they’re both actually less than a year old. D-Pad Studio’s Owlboy originally made its PS4 and Switch debut earlier this year, but now the innovative platformer is coming to retail shelves. And Natsume’s Harvest Moon: Light of Hope was originally released for the PC in November, but a Special Edition of the farming sim comes to the PS4 and Switch this week.
NIS America has packaged together Fallen Legion: Sins of an Empire (originally released for the PS4) and Fallen Legion: Flames of Rebellion (originally released for the Vita) on the Switch as Fallen Legion: Rise to Glory. Players will finally be able to play both sides of this RPG story on a single platform.
THQ Nordic will also bring the feline ninjitsu of Legend of Kay Anniversary to the Switch this week. Fans first got to play the game on the PS2 in 2005, and since then it’s appeared on the DS, PC, PS3, PS4, Wii U, and Xbox 360.
And finally, if you’re looking for something new this week, Madmind Studio will released Agony for the PS4 and Xbox One. The first-person survival horror game plunges players into the depths of Hell in a story of “horror, eroticism, and damnation” that was inspired by Dante’s Inferno.
That’s all for now, but we’ll be back later this week with a look at all the new additions to the PlayStation Store, Xbox Games Store, and Nintendo eShop.
Posted in News, PS4, Switch, Xbox One
Tagged Harvest Moon: Light of Hope, Owlboy, Street Fighter II
The Road to E3 2018: Sony’s Big Showcase… Featuring Death Stranding, Spider-Man, The Last of Us Part II, and More
The 2018 E3 Expo begins in exactly 18 days… so let the speculation begin! Today, we’re peering into our crystal ball at what Sony might have in store for gaming’s biggest showcase.
Sony Interactive Entertainment recently made “a rare break from tradition” and gave fans an early glimpse at the four games they plan to highlight during their 2018 E3 Showcase. As usual, Sony will shine a spotlight on several cinematic single-player adventures, including Kojima Productions’s Death Stranding, Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us Part II, Sucker Punch’s Ghost of Tsushima, and Insomniac’s Spider-Man. All four games are expected to launch later this year (though, full disclosure, only Spider-Man has an official release date), so Sony should have plenty to say. (more…)
Posted in Features, PC, PS4, Top Story
Tagged Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, Death Stranding, E3 2018, Ghost of Tsushima, Spider-Man, The Last of Us Part II
Dark Souls Remastered, more added to Xbox Store
Bandai Namco is easing Xbox One owners into the long holiday weekend with the long-awaited release of Dark Souls Remastered, and it’s now available to download through the Xbox Games Store.
Dark Souls Remastered includes the Artorias of the Abyss expansion, and features completely remastered visuals throughout the land of Lordran. Xbox One owners will be able to experience the game in 1080p high definition running at a blistering 60 frames per second, but the Action RPG has also been “Xbox One X Enhanced” to run at 4K resolution on Microsoft’s latest console.
You can learn more about the rest of today’s additions to the Xbox Games Store after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, Xbox One
Tagged Dark Souls
EA Sports will release Madden NFL 19 for PS4 and Xbox One on August 10
With the NFL Draft in the rearview mirror, it’s time to look ahead to the next big date on the pro football calendar… the next release in EA Sports’s Madden franchise. Now we know when that will be, as the megapublisher announced earlier today that Madden NFL 19 will be released for the PS4 and Xbox One on August 10.
In an appropriately timed gesture, wide receiver Terrell Owens will appear on the cover of Madden NFL 19’s Hall of Fame Edition. The former 49ers and Cowboys star will be inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton on August 7. The cover athlete for the Standard Edition (and this year’s potential victim of the dreaded “Madden Curse”) will be announced at a later date.
For this year’s edition of the football sim, developer EA Tiburon will roll out Real Player Motion Technology, a new animation system that promises more precision than ever before. The team is also hard at work on improvements to the Franchise Mode and Madden Ultimate Team:
In Madden NFL 19 Franchise Mode, players can choose the offensive and defensive schemes that best fit their playstyle as they compete in single player and/or multiplayer seasons. Schemes are also linked to a new intuitive progression system… based on authentic positional archetypes… that give virtual coaches the tools and the big decision to either win now or build their squad for the future. NFL fans will also have a top community-requested feature with the introduction of Custom Draft Class Creator where fans can create their own draft classes featuring players from the past and present for use in Franchise.
Madden NFL 19 Ultimate Team gives fans even more ways to choose their path to glory as new training tools let them develop their favorite players their way via Player Upgrades. For players who want to prove they’re the best of the best in Solo Challenges, a new curated single-player experience called MUT Solo Battles provides a leaderboard reward system allowing fans to showcase their skills on the field while competing against other top Ultimate Team players.
EA Sports is offering several pre-order bonuses for players who purchase Madden NFL 19 early, and you can learn more about the different packages at the game’s official website.
Posted in News, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Madden NFL 19
Nintendo is selling the Switch without a Dock in Japan
Right now, the only way to purchase a Nintendo Switch in North America or Europe is to buy a bundle containing the console, the Joy-Cons, and a Dock to connect it to your TV. But Nintendo is giving Japanese players a new option to purchase the Switch without a Dock… and at a discount.
Announced earlier this week on their official website, the “2nd Set” package includes a Nintendo Switch console and a pair of Joy-Con Controllers. This version of the console is designed portability in mind, so the “2nd Set” doesn’t include a Dock, Joy-Con Grips, an HDMI Cable, or a Charging Cable. By removing these components, the consolemaker was able to lower the price of the “2nd Set” to ¥24,980 (about $230), so it’s a considerably cheaper option for Nintendo fans who only want to use their Switch as a handheld system.
Nintendo has re-released the 3DS in dozens of different configurations over the years, so it seems likely that the “2nd Set” bundle will eventually make its way to North America and Europe. But as of today, nothing official has been announced.
Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection, Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon, Ikaruga, more coming to Nintendo eShop this week
It’s another big week for the Nintendo eShop as two of the greatest games of all time come to the Switch alongside a handful of new releases.
Capcom is bundling together a dozen Street Fighter games in this Tuesday’s Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection. The collection features the original Street Fighter, as well as Street Fighter II (plus its four revisions), Street Fighter III (plus its two revisions), and all three games in the Alpha sub-series.
This week’s eShop update is also a big one for fans of 2D shooters, who will have the opportunity to download Treasure’s Ikaruga for their Switch. The beloved polarity-switching shooter regularly appears on “Best Games of All Time” lists, and it’s available to purchase beginning today.
Switch owners who also consider themselves retro gaming fans can also look forward to the ninja platforming of N++, the Castlevania-inspired Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon, and tower defense shenanigans of PixelJunk Monsters 2.
On Tuesday, Switch owners will also be able to download Natsume latest farming sim, Harvest Moon: Light of Hope – Special Edition, and a new RPG from NIS America, Fallen Legion: Rise to Glory.
Finally this week, Dillon the Armadillo makes his 3DS debut in Dillon’s Dead-Heat Breakers, a post-apocalyptic western where players must defend the people from an invasion of transforming rock monsters.
You can learn more about the rest of this week’s additions to the Nintendo eShop (including Knights of Pen and Paper, Legend of Kay Anniversary, Punch Club, and more) after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, Switch
Tagged Bloodstained Prequel, Harvest Moon: Light of Hope, Ikaruga, N++, Street Fighter II