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
New Retail Releases: Ever Oasis, Runbow Pocket, Dead By Daylight, More
Nintendo is back at the top of the New Retail Release report this week with another new game for their handheld, as well as a handful of new third party titles for their surging pair of systems.
Ever Oasis is a brand new action RPG from Koichi Ishii, the creator of the Mana series. Players will need to venture out into the desert and protect (and rebuild) the last safe oasis in the world. If you own a New 3DS, you’ll also be able to pick up 13AM’s Runbow Pocket: Deluxe Edition this week. The platform racer was originally released for the Wii U in 2015, and this new portable edition includes the base game and all the previously-released downloadable content.
Speaking of platformers, Nicalis will bring Cave Story+ to the Switch with upgraded high definition graphics, seven game modes, and 15 levels to explore.
Elsewhere in your local game store you’ll find Dead By Daylight, an asymmetrical horror simulator for the PS4 and Xbox One. One player will be able to take control of the Killer, while others will fight to live as Survivors. One… two… a copyright-adjacent boogeyman is coming for you…
A faster getaway would probably be available to the drivers in MXGP 3, the latest motorcycle racing game from Square Enix and Milestone. MXGP 3 will be available for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One, and players will be able to race through the complete 2016 season.
And speaking of Square Enix, the Japanese publisher will expand their MMORPG this week with the launch of Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood for the PC and PS4. The expansion will include a variety of new content including new Raids, new Jobs, and an increased Level Cap.
Another Japanese publisher, NIS America, will also release a new RPG this week. God Wars: Future Past is coming to the PS4 and Vita, and its a tactical RPG that combies traditional Japanese folklore with a unique art style based on watercolor and wood carving art.
Finally this week, a Retail Edition of Cities: Skylines will be available for the Xbox One exclusively through GameStop.
Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS4, Switch, Vita, Xbox One
Tagged Cities: Skylines, Dead By Daylight, Ever Oasis, Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, Runbow
The first downloadable character for Arms is Max Brass… and he’s coming next month
The Switch’s game library grew by one earlier today when Nintendo unleashed Arms on the gaming public. The springy-armed boxing game is absolutely brimming with style, and Nintendo plans to add even more characters to the game in the coming months.
On that note, Nintendo announced this week that the first addition to Arms’s roster of playable fighters will be Max Brass, an “all-around fighter” who is “basically the greatest champion in the history of the Arms Grand Prix.” Basically, you can think of Max Brass as the Michael Jordan of the Arms Grand Prix, especially since he serves as the final boss in the game’s single-player mode. Also, and I cannot stress this enough, his arms are made out of championship belts.
You can get a glimpse at Max Brass in action by fast-forwarding to 22:40 in the video embedded above.
Max Brass will be available to download in Arms (for free) as part of the July update. Nintendo is also hoping to add a Spectator Mode to the game as part of the first free update, which should be available sometime in the next weeks.
Get your first look at Call of Duty: WWII’s multiplayer in a new trailer and 30-minute livestream
It looks like Activision’s desire to take the Call of Duty franchise back to the beginning in Call of Duty: WWII also applies to the game’s multiplayer online. A new trailer released during this year’s E3 Expo showcases a mode that is very realistic and down-to-earth… while also being packed full of epic setpieces and explosions aplenty.
I’ll let Kevin Kelly, of the Activision Games Blog, relay more information about Call of Duty: WWII’s multiplayer options:
Divisions
Divisions fundamentally redefines how players invest in their Multiplayer career. This is a reimagining of the create-a-class system, and players will choose from five iconic World War II divisions each with specific division training and division weapon skills. This streamlined approach to Multiplayer gives players the ability to reinforce their individual play styles while dominating the enemy in some of the most iconic locations of the world’s largest conflict.
- Infantry Division riflemen are always in the thick of it with finely-tuned rifles and impeccable marksmanship.
- Well-equipped with incendiary rounds and tactical grenades, the Expeditionary Division’s shotguns literally pack heat.
- Airborne Division paratroopers endure extreme physical conditioning to outmaneuver opponents with their submachine guns.
- Focused on stealth and target identification, Mountain Division snipers generate constant fear in the enemy and strike when least expected.
- Armored Division soldiers are the best supplied in battle and hold down positions with their explosives and light machine guns.
Multiplayer
Call of Duty: WWII Multiplayer marks an exciting return to the franchise’s World War II roots and combat that defined the franchise. Prepare for fast-paced, grounded action with an arsenal of iconic weapons and equipment in the fight to liberate a continent in the throes of tyranny. Call of Duty: WWII immerses players in the brutal gameplay of history’s largest conflict.Call of Duty: WWII Multiplayer offers players true franchise innovations across the entire experience with brand new ways to connect, compete and engage as a community. Divisions redefines how players develop their WWII Multiplayer Careers by enlisting in five iconic WWII-era divisions. War Mode lets players compete against each other in team-driven, objective gameplay. And Headquarters is a transformational new experience that will connect players like never before.
War Mode
War is an all-new game mode where players must work as a team to defeat the enemy. This narrative-driven Multiplayer experience immerses players in iconic World War II locations. Allied and Axis forces clash in team-driven assault and defend missions for key strategic objectives. We’ll be taking a deep dive into this new mode very soon, so stay tuned!
If you’re itching to try out Call of Duty: WWII’s multiplayer modes, don’t worry, Activision will launch a Closed Beta this Summer on the PC, PS4, and Xbox One. PS4 players who pre-order the game will get the first crack at the test phase from August 25 through August 28. The Closed Beta’s second round will begin on September 1, and it’ll add in players who pre-ordered the game on the Xbox One. Activision will announce Closed Beta dates for PC users at a later time.
And finally, the latest Making of Call of Duty livestream also focuses on multiplayer, and you can dig deeper into the game’s online modes with host Alison Haislip after the break. (more…)
Superhot and Superhot VR will be available for PS4 this Summer
Team Superhot slowed down the first person shooter genre in 2016 with Superhot, their game where “Times Only Moves When You Move.” Earlier this week, they confirmed the game will make its debut on the PS4 this Summer, and it’ll be bundled with Superhot VR, its VR-focused spinoff.
Team Superhot’s Tom Kaczmarczyk relayed the good news on the PlayStation Blog:
Superhot is the FPS where time moves only when you do. We started building it over three years ago and with lots of outstanding support from Kickstarter and the gaming community, we rolled it out for PC last year to raving reviews and critical acclaim. It was immediately picked up and touted as the most disrupting thing in the genre, proving that there was still more to be discovered in the 25 year old art of FPS game design. Superhot proved that you can make players feel like the most badass of action heroes and cranked it all the way up to eleven.
In case you missed Superhot last year, the developer also unveiled a brand new trailer for the game at this year’s E3 Expo, and its been embedded above.
Konami delays release of Metal Gear Survive to Early 2018
According to Polygon, Konami’s Metal Gear Survive will miss its planned Fall 2017 release date. Speaking to a Konami representative at this year’s E3 Expo, they’ve confirmed that the game has been “pushed back a few months.”
Metal Gear Survive will now be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One in Early 2018.
Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima left Konami in 2015, after the release of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, and Metal Gear Survive is the first game in the famed franchise to be created without his input. Traditionally taking the form of a political techno-thriller, Metal Gear Survive takes place in an alternate reality and asks players to battle it out with zombie-like creatures.
Try to hang on to your sanity after viewing Call of Cthulhu’s E3 2017 trailer
The terrifying domain of H.P. Lovecraft’s “Old Ones” is on display in the latest trailer for Cyanide’s Call of Cthulhu adaptation. Try to stay sane as you visit a creepy mansion, and deal with cultists, medical experimentation, and maddening vastness of space of time:
Plunge into the troubled mind of private investigator Edward Pierce, as his perception of reality becomes more and more skewed the closer he gets to the Great Dreamer’s sphere of influence. Clutch to your withering sanity to discover the conspiracies, the cultists and otherworldly terrors that inhabit the twisted universe imagined by Lovecraft… it is said that madness is the only way that can bring you to the truth.
Call of Cthulhu will be available for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One this Fall.
Ice to see you… Latest Injustice 2 trailer gives us a look at Mortal Kombat’s Sub-Zero
Injustice 2 owners who also own Fighter Pack 1 got their chance to obtain the game’s first downloadable character, Red Hood, earlier this week. But NetherRealm Studios is already thinking about the future… Introducing Sub-Zero!
Fans of Mortal Kombat X will be familiar with how the Grandmaster of the Lin Kuei moves in Injustice 2. But I like his demonic new appearance, and a teleport is a nice addition to his repertoire.
Sub-Zero will be available to download in Injustice 2 this July.
Posted in News, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged E3 2017, Injustice 2
Nintendo will bring a remake of Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga to the 3DS this Fall
Mario is making the rounds at this year’s E3 Expo. In addition to starring appearances in Super Mario Odyssey and Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, the mustachioed plumber will also return to the 3DS in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser’s Minions. The RPG was originally released for the Game Boy Advance in 2003, and this remake will include a new Easy Mode, as well as a side story featuring Captain Goomba and his Goomba Squad:
During the show, Nintendo announced that an updated version of the first game in the Mario & Luigi series was in development for the Nintendo 3DS family of systems. Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser’s Minions contains all the fun gameplay and dialogue of the Game Boy Advance original, as well as an optional Easy Mode for younger or more inexperienced players.
The game also includes a side story called Minion Quest: The Search for Bowser, which tells the story of the game from the perspective of Bowser’s minions, led by Captain Goomba.
Nintendo will release Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser’s Minions for the 3DS on October 6 alongside a pair of new Amiibo figures for Goomba and Koopa Troopa. Both figures, and the existing Boo figure, will be compatible with the remake.
Posted in 3DS, News
Tagged E3 2017, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga