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
D3 Publisher’s Earth Defense Force 5 will invade North America in Summer 2018
It looks like the big bugs from the Earth Defense Force franchise will invade North America later this year. D3 Publisher has announced (via PlayStation Asia’s Facebook page) that Earth Defense Force 5 will be make its North American debut this Summer for the PS4.
Play as an EDF soldier as you fight in cruel battles against giant monsters and killer machines as the battle for survival between unknown extraterrestrials invading earth and the Earth Defense Force continues in Earth Defense Force 5!
As you can see in the trailer embedded above, Earth Defense Force 5 will definitely carry on the legacy of its franchise forebear Earth Defense Force 2017, a cult classic that’s well-loved for it’s combination of low production values and high thrills.
Posted in News, PS4
Tagged Earth Defense Force 5
Far Cry 5 and Sea of Thieves sail to the top of March 2018’s list of best-selling games
The number of high-profile new releases has slowed to a trickle in April, and that’s probably because game publishers threw open the tap in March. Not surprisingly, gamer scooped up these new titles by the armful, with Ubisoft’s Far Cry 5, Microsoft’s Sea of Thieves, Sony’s MLB The Show 18, and Nintendo’s Kirby Star Allies taking the top four spots in The NPD Group’s monthly tally of best-selling games.
The venerable Grand Theft Auto V remains in the top five, but other new releases, including Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom (#8) and A Way Out (#15), managed to break into the NPD’s top twenty.
According to GamesIndustry.biz, overall sales for the industry were down by 11% in March, however, “first quarter 2018 spending across the four categories [software, hardware, game cards, and accessories] was up by 15% year-on-year to $3.4 billion with growth in all areas.”
You can find the full list of The NPD Group’s best-selling titles for March 2018 after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PC, PS3, PS4, Switch, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged A Way Out, Assassin's Creed Origins, Call of Duty: WWII, Dragon Ball FighterZ, EA Sports UFC 3, Far Cry 5, FIFA 18, Grand Theft Auto V, Kirby Star Allies, Mario Kart 8, MLB The Show 18, Monster Hunter: World, NBA 2K18, Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom, NPD, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, Sea of Thieves, Splatoon 2, Super Mario Odyssey, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege
Home Run Derby VR, The Swords of Ditto, Cosmic Star Heroine, more coming to PS Store this week
Home runs and heroes headline this week’s PlayStation Store update…
First up, MLB Advanced Media is putting a bat in your hands in Home Run Derby VR. The PSVR-powered game will give players the chance to live out their diamond dreams on baseball’s biggest stage in “the most immersive and authentic” home run derby game ever made.
Also available to download this week is The Swords of Ditto, an overhead action RPG for the PS4 from Devolver Digital and Onebitbeyond. With its roguelike mechanics, players will throw an entire legion of heroes against the game’s enemies to create “a heroic legacy” that binds them together.
Finally this week, Zeboyd Games will finally bring Cosmic Star Heroine to the PS Vita. It’s Cross-Buy compatible, so if you already own the game on the PS4, you’ll receive the Vita version for free.
You can learn more about the rest of this week’s additions to the PlayStation Store after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PS4, Vita
Tagged Cosmic Star Heroine, Home Run Derby VR
The Road to E3 2018: Smash Bros., Pokemon, Fire Emblem, and the Rest of Nintendo’s Surprises
The 2018 E3 Expo begins in exactly 49 days… so let the speculation begin! Today, we’re peering into our crystal ball at what Nintendo might have in store for gaming’s biggest showcase. (more…)
Posted in Features, Switch, Top Story
Tagged E3 2018, Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Metroid Prime 4, Pokemon Switch, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Yoshi
Play as Thanos in Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2 with the Avengers: Infinity War Character and Level Pack
We’re just a few days away from the premiere of Avengers: Infinity War, but first, Thanos will make his debut in Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2.
The Avengers: Infinity War Character and Level Pack is now available to download for the PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One, and players will be able to challenge the Inhumans as The Mad Titan in a brand new level:
This action-packed level offers players the chance to control Thanos, one of the most dangerous Super Villains in the Marvel Universe, and his ruthless army. The Mad Titan and the Children of Thanos have invaded Attilan to take on Black Bolt and the Inhumans in an all-new original game level. Working as a team, the menacing crew must work their way through the various levels of Attilan before they are given the opportunity to break through to Black Bolt’s throne.
New unlockable characters Thanos, Corvus Glaive, Cull Obsidian, Proxima Midnight, Ebony Maw, Hulkbuster 2.0, and Groot (Avengers: Infinity War) add to the main game’s roster of over 200 Super Heroes and Super Villains.
The Avengers: Infinity War Character and Level Pack is available to download as part of Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2’s Season Pass ($14.99) or as a standalone download ($2.99). A trailer for the add-on has been embedded above.
Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus will be released for the Switch on June 29
Bethesda has announced that Switch owners won’t have to wait much longer to play Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus. According to the publisher, the shooter sequel will be available for Nintendo’s newest console on June 29.
A trailer for Wolfenstein II’s Switch debut has been embedded above, and it gives fans their first look at the game’s unique (and optional) motion controls:
As BJ Blazkowicz, experience an unforgettable action-packed story brought to life by extraordinary characters. Reunite with your friends and fellow freedom fighters as you take on the evil Frau Engel and her Nazi army. Wage the second American Revolution your way – at home or on the go. And, for the perfect blend of immersion and accuracy, utilize Nintendo Switch’s unique motion controls to stop the Nazi threat.
Like Bethesda’s Switch port of Doom, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus was developed by Panic Button, and it’ll include “the complete, uncensored, award-winning story and signature gameplay” of the original game.
Posted in News, Switch
Tagged Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus
Valve has acquired Firewatch developer Campo Santo
Valve hasn’t published a new game since 2013’s Dota 2, but that’s all about to change in the very near future. Over the weekend, the gatekeepers of Steam acquired Campo Santo, the team behind Firewatch. In an announcement on their official website, the developer said that their pairing with Valve came about due a mutual enjoyment of “making and producing entertainment”:
If you’re the type of person who gives two flips about this news, we can elaborate a little bit on this big decision. First, we really like making video games. Furthermore, and perhaps more accurately, we really like making and producing entertainment. From the day-to-day production of our last game, Firewatch, to the way we run the company, make merchandise, meet players at expos and shows, send out a quarterly literary journal, throw open-to-the-public game demos in the middle of an artificial forest—all of it is geared towards surprising, delighting, and entertaining the customers who have shared in our success.
In Valve we found a group of folks who, to their core, feel the same way about the work that they do (this, you may be surprised to learn, doesn’t happen every day). In us, they found a group with unique experience and valuable, diverse perspectives. It quickly became an obvious match.
Campo Santo has promised that it will be business as usual going forward, with Valve now signed on to publish their next game, In the Valley of Gods. The developer also said they will continue to publish their literary journal, The Quarterly Review, and future support for Firewatch (including the upcoming Switch launch) will continue as planned.
Finally, this whole deal may have happened because Campo Santo stole a bottle of champagne from IGN that was originally destined for Valve. It sounds a little far-fetched, but I want to believe that it’s nothing but the truth.
New Retail Releases: Rick & Morty: Virtual Rick-ality, South Park: Fractured But Whole, More
It’s another slow week for the employees at your local game store, but a handful of new releases will make their way to retail shops this week…
First up is Rick & Morty: Virtual Rick-ality, a PS4 adaptation of the hit animated show. Previously available to download through the PlayStation Store, the developer has promised that players will explore the insane multiverse of Rick & Morty with a PlayStation VR headset and “solve puzzles, step through portals into strange dimensions, get yelled at by Rick, fight aliens, drink detergent,” and “press buttons.”
And speaking of animation for adults… South Park: The Fractured But Whole launched last year for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One, but Switch owners will finally get a chance to purchase the superhero RPG from Ubisoft. Switch owners will also be able to buy Red Hook’s ultra-challenging RPG, Darkest Dungeon: Ancestral Edition this week.
Continuing the “For Adults” theme, PQube will release Gal*Gun 2 this week for the PS4 and Switch. The shooter sequel asks players to help a pack of possessed teenagers by shooting them with a “love gun.” Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly, another Japanese oddity from Aksys Games, will be available for the Vita this week.
Elsewhere on store shelves, Big Ben will bring a pair of extreme racing games to the Switch (Aqua Moto Racing Utopia and Snow Moto Racing Freedom), and they’ll be joined by Max: The Curse of Brotherhood from Flashbulb Games.
Finally this week, the GameStop-exclusive mystery game The Invisible Hours will make its Xbox One debut.
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, PC, PS4, Switch, Vita
Tagged Max: The Curse of Brotherhood, South Park: The Fractured But Whole