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
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Review: Grab Some Coins, Race to the Store, and Buy it Again
Aside from a rather shoddy Battle Mode, Mario Kart 8 set the gold standard for Nintendo’s venerable franchise when it launched for the Wii U back in 2014. The racing game was already bursting at the seams with characters, courses, and customizable kart parts before the consolemaker expanded it with two DLC Packs and added crossover characters like Link and Animal Crossing‘s Villager. However, the public’s poor reception to the Wii U lead to the sad realization that three times as many people had purchased Mario Kart Wii versus its sequel. So Nintendo has decided to re-introduce the game to a new audience on the Switch as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe… and with a real Battle Mode, too! (more…)
Posted in Reviews, Switch, Top Story
Tagged Mario Kart 8
Kyrie Irving will be the cover athlete of NBA 2K18’s Standard Edition
e very interesting. To add a little more spice to the proceedings, 2K Games announced today that Cleveland’s Kyrie Irving will be the cover athlete for the Standard Edition of NBA 2K18. Shaquille O’Neal was previously announced as the cover athlete for the game’s Legend Edition.
“It is well known that I’m an avid player of this series and I am honored to be the cover athlete of NBA 2K18,” said Irving. “It’s surreal to be featured on the cover and I can’t wait to dominate on the virtual court with all of my fans this Fall.”
“It’s obvious that Kyrie isn’t disappearing from the spotlight anytime soon, so we’re thrilled to have him as our cover athlete, alongside Shaq for the NBA 2K18 Legend Edition,” said Alfie Brody, the Vice President of Marketing for NBA 2K. “He’s a more-than-worthy recipient of this honor, and joins so many other greats who were cover athletes before him.”
The NBA 2K18 Standard Edition will come packed with a variety of in-game content including 5,000 Virtual Currency, 10 Weekly MyTeam Packs, a Kyrie Outfit Pack, and more. Players who pre-order the game will also receive the game four days early thanks to 2K’s “Early Tip-Off Access” program.
NBA 2K18 will be released for the PC, PS3, PS4, Switch, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on September 19.
Super Ultra Dead Rising 4 Mini Golf will be released on June 20
Capcom and Microsoft have announced that Super Ultra Dead Rising 4 Mini Golf will be available tow download for the PC and Xbox One on June 20. The Dead Rising 4 expansion will transform the town of Willamette into a golf course, and players will dodge zombies as they shoot for a hole in one.
The Capcom Unity blog has more information:
With oversized golf balls and customizable clubs, players will drive long and hard down the fairways of Willamette in search of the perfect putt. Grab your golf loving friends for four-player co-op or go solo on the zombie infested course. But watch your score – you definitely don’t want to bogey on this course!
Super Ultra Dead Rising 4 Mini Golf is part of Dead Rising 4’s Season Pass, but Dead Rising 4 owners can also purchase it as a standalone download for $9.99.
Posted in News, PC, Xbox One
Tagged Dead Rising 4
Square Enix partners with People Can Fly on a brand new game for PC and consoles
Square Enix and People Can Fly have announced that they’ve entered into a collaborative partnership to work together on a brand new “high-end original title” for the PC and consoles. No other details were revealed about the game (we don’t even know which consoles it might appear on), but Square Enix confirmed that it won’t be included in their E3 2017 lineup.
Even though it’s still got quite a ways to go, executives at both companies are excited about the partnership:
“We’re massively excited to be working with the talented team at People Can Fly in Warsaw, a studio filled with people who really know their craft,” said Lee Singleton, the Head of Studio at Square Enix London Studios. “We’re building a game we all want to play which will be the perfect addition to our portfolio.”
“It’s an exciting time,” said Sebastian Wojciechowski, the Studio Head at People Can Fly. “We’ve got a great and experienced team in place, and it’s incredible to be working with Square Enix, a world-class publisher who shares our passion and excitement for the project.”
People Can Fly is based in Warsaw, Poland, and they’re currently hiring new developers to help work on this collaborative project with Square Enix. If you’re interested in applying, you can visit their Career page for more information.
Xbox Store Today: The Walking Dead A New Frontier Episode 5, Tokyo 42, Victor Vran, more
Nine new Xbox One games are now available to download through the Xbox Games Store, but we’re shining a spotlight on three of them…
Telltale Games has finished up another season of their epic Walking Dead adaptations with The Walking Dead: A New Frontier – Episode 5: From the Gallows. Javier and Clementine are in trouble again, and players will have to decide who to trust and who to protect (Clementine… the correct answer to both questions is Clementine).
Also available to download today is Tokyo 42, a “hyper-stylish” isometric open-world shooter from Mode 7 Games. Set in a micro-sized and “ultra-colorful” version of Tokyo, players will blast their way through a strange story of assassins, espionage, and intrigue.
Finally today, Haemimont Games will bring Victor Vran to the Xbox One. The Diablo-like overhead action RPG was originally released for the PC in 2015, and players will be able unleash hell on a horde of demons with “a monumental arsenal of powerful weapons, game-changing outfits, wicked demon powers, and fate-binding destiny cards.”
More information on all of these games (and six other new releases) can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PC, Xbox One
Tagged The Walking Dead: A New Frontier
Deck Nine (formerly Idol Minds) is working on a sequel to a “critically acclaimed franchise”
Idol Minds has been operating on the edges of the game industry for over 20 years, and it’s possible that you’ve played one of their games without even realizing it.
In the late 90s, the team produced the final three entries in the Cool Boarders franchise. They also made a splash in 2007 with the release of Pain, a Jackass-like game for the PS3 that was very popular during the early days of the PlayStation Store. But Idol Minds is probably best known as the developer behind the Ratchet & Clank Collection (and Ratchet: Deadlocked HD) on the PS3.
Today, Idol Minds announced that they’re shifting their focus to “narrative-driven” adventure games, and that they’ll be known as Deck Nine Games going forward. This rebrand also coincides with the launch of StoryForge, their new development engine that helps writers, directors, and cinematic artists “focus on telling great stories.”
“With the creation of our new, proprietary toolset StoryForge and the shift in studio focus, we are removing the shackles from our creative team and bringing together our two passions; meaningful storytelling and rich gameplay,” said Jeff Litchford, Deck Nine’s Vice President.
Deck Nine plans to introduce their new identity to public at this year’s E3 Expo, and they’ve partnered with a “AAA” game publisher to unveil a “brand new addition to a critically acclaimed franchise” at the big show.
Posted in News
Tagged E3 2017, Life Is Strange: Before the Storm
Another retailer is listing a standalone release for CoD: Modern Warfare Remastered
A few weeks ago, a landing page for a standalone re-release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered popped up on GameFly. Modern Warfare Remastered is currently available as bonus content for Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare‘s Legacy Edition, and Activision has previously said it wouldn’t be sold on its own.
And yet, according to Charlie Intel, a listing for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered was added to Amazon Japan yesterday. The retailer quickly corrected their mistake and deleted the listing, but it featured the same June 20 (for PS4) and July 20 (for Xbox One) release dates as GameFly did.
Activision has also made Modern Warfare Remastered available for the PC through Infinite Warfare’s Legacy Edition, and a standalone launch through digital storefronts on the PC, such as Steam and GOG, is probably also in the works for July 20.
If Activision is going to release Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered as a standalone game (and it’s looking increasingly likely that they are), the publisher is probably planning a “surprise” announcement for this year’s E3 Expo. But they’d better hurry up, because June 20 is just three weeks away.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
PS Store This Week: Tekken 7, Danger Zone, Star Trek Bridge Crew, more
This week’s PlayStation Store update is like a reunion with old friends…
Things will really start to heat up this Friday, when Tekken 7 brings the story of the Mishima clan to an end on the PS4. The fighting game series that dabbled in storylines involving corporate-funded armies and sentient bears will finally resolve the mystery behind the Devil Gene and answer the question of who truly owns the Mishima Zaibatsu company.
But if you’re looking for something to download today, a trio of new games offer even more familiar faces. Three Fields launched Danger Zone for the PS4, a spiritual successor to the ridiculous crashes found in the Burnout series of racing games. Also available to download is Star Trek: Bridge Crew, a PlayStation VR-exclusive simulation of captaining your own Federation starship. Finally, Nihon Falcom will bring Ys Origin, a prequel to the popular RPG series, to the Vita.
Finally, Telltale’s The Walking Dead: A New Frontier comes to an end this week in Episode 5: From the Gallows.
You can learn more about these titles (and the rest of this week’s new releases) after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PS4, Vita
Tagged Danger Zone, Tekken 7, The Walking Dead: A New Frontier