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
Nintendo Download: Fire Emblem Echoes, Thumper, Darksiders Warmastered Edition, more
It’s Thursday, and Nintendo is back with another update to the Nintendo eShop. Here’s what you’ll see on the storefront’s digital shelves…
After 25 years, Nintendo is finally Fire Emblem Gaiden to a North American audience as Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia for the 3DS. Fire Emblem Echoes is a tactical RPG with a pair of intertwining stories that began life as an NES exclusive previously only available in Japan. Set to launch tomorrow, Fire Emblem Echoes is expected to be the last game in the series to appear on the 3DS.
Jumping over to the Switch shelves, Drool has brought their “rhythm violence” game Thumper to Nintendo’s newest console. Guide your “Space Beetle” down a track by hitting the right notes, and do then battle with a “Giant Head From the Future” to win.
Finally, the Wii U lives for another week with the release of apocalyptic action game Darksiders: Warmastered Edition on Tuesday, May 23.
You can find more information on all of these games (and a few other new releases) after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, Switch, Wii U
Tagged Darksiders, Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, Thumper
CoD: Infinite Warfare’s Continuum DLC Pack is now available to download for PC, Xbox One
The latest exclusivity period for a piece of Call of Duty add-on content has expired, and Activision can now launch Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare‘s Continuum DLC Pack on the PC and Xbox One. Like other DLC Packs for Infinite Warfare, the meat of the Continuum DLC Pack is four new maps for the game’s multiplayer modes:
Multiplayer Maps in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare’s Continuum DLC Pack
- Turista – A plush spa and resort, “Turista” is nestled in the middle of a giant skeleton of an ancient creature. With sniper spots scattered across a majestic, central waterfall, Turista also boasts tight interiors for fans of close-quartered combat and a three-lane design that caters to a variety of play styles.
- Scrap – Set in an abandoned junkyard on the Moon, “Scrap” features a combination of extended sightlines and tactical pathways that reward players who engage in both long and short range combat.
- Archive – Fast, frenetic engagements set the pace in “Archive,” a post-futurist art gallery where tight engagements contrast with open exterior battlegrounds in this wide three-lane style map.
- Excess – Perched atop a gilded penthouse in a sprawling future metropolis, “Excess” is a small, circular map re-imagined from the classic Modern Warfare 2 map, “Rust,” that retains the intense, fast-paced combat from the original.
The Continuum DLC Pack also includes “Shaolin Shuffle,” a new chapter in Infinite Warfare’s Zombies saga. The add-on is set during the 1970s, and Activision released a funk-tastic trailer for “Shaolin Shuffle” a few weeks ago:
“Shaolin Shuffle,” the next thrilling chapter of the Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare zombies experience, features the return of Willard Wyler, the mysterious movie director villain portrayed with voice and likeness by Paul Reubens (Pee-Wee’s Big Holiday, Gotham). This time, Wyler has trapped the four protagonists inside a new horror film, set in the unforgettable 1970s. Players will face all-new zombie enemies across a variety of disco-era New York locations, including subways, flashy nightclubs and a martial arts dojo headed up by the Shaolin Sister, played with voice and likeness by Pam Grier (Jackie Brown, Foxy Brown). In addition to hallmark Call of Duty action, “Shaolin Shuffle” introduces four unlockable kung fu fighting styles, each with its own set of unique combat moves.
The remaining downloadable expansion packs for Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare should launch for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One this Summer.
Posted in News, PC, Xbox One
Tagged Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
The Walking Dead: A New Frontier will conclude on May 30 with Episode 5: From the Gallows
Telltale Games has announced that The Walking Dead: A New Frontier will come to an end on Tuesday, May 30, with the launch of Episode 5: From the Gallows. If you’ve been playing along with the story so far, you know that it could all come crashing down for Javier and the rest of Richmond in this final chapter:
In Telltale’s most tailored episode to date, Richmond teeters on the brink of collapse as chaos reigns from all directions. The lives of its citizens and all those closest to Javier hang in the balance. The decisions you’ve made and bonds you’ve nurtured across the season will determine which characters now trust Javi to safeguard all they hold dear as the crisis pushes every relationship past its breaking point…
The Walking Dead: A New Frontier – Episode 5: From the Gallows will be available to download for the PC, PS4, Xbox One, and mobile devices.
Dontnod Entertainment announces Life Is Strange 2
A trio of developers from Dontnod Entertainment got a little emotional today, as they revealed that Life Is Strange has sold more than three million copies since its release in 2015. You can see it for yourself in a “Special Message” from the developer, which was posted to YouTube this morning.
Even though Dontnod is currently hard at work on Vampyr, an action RPG set in the Victorian Era, the developer also wants to add more chapters to their coming-of-age adventure game. At the end of the “Special Message,” they confirmed that Life Is Strange 2 is currently in development.
Life Is Strange 2 won’t be making an appearance at this year’s E3 Expo, but Dontnod is well aware that their fans want to learn more about the franchise’s future and “cannot wait to share more” information about the game.
Posted in News
Tagged Life Is Strange, Life Is Strange 2
Square Enix is pitting Arkanoid Vs Space Invaders on mobile devices today
Arkanoid Vs Space Invaders is everything I would have wanted in 1987 (and I’m still reasonably excited about it in 2017).
As the title implies, two of Taito’s biggest franchises will be going toe-to-toe for the first time in a brand new mobile game. Players will take control of the Vaus “paddle ship” from Arkanoid, and reflect a giant ball (along with the Invaders own bullets) back at the devilish aliens from Space Invaders.
The mobile game will include 150 stages, and players will be able to unlock 40 different characters from other Taito franchises, as well as more than 20 powerups. The challenging 3D Invader bosses and an optional Hard Mode will make sure that players put all this firepower to good use.
Arkanoid Vs Space Invaders is published by Square Enix, and is now available to download through the iOS App Store and the Google Play Store. The game will be regularly priced at $4.99, but players will be able to purchase it for $3.99 during a special launch week sale.
Posted in Mobile, News
Tagged Arkanoid Vs Space Invaders
Public Beta for Gwent: The Witcher Card Game begins on May 24
CD Projekt RED has announced that the Public Beta for Gwent: The Witcher Card Game will begin next Wednesday, May 24, on the PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
“Public Beta is the next step in the game’s development process, one that we’d be honored to continue alongside everyone who’s been with us thus far,” said Benjamin Lee, the Development Director at CD Projekt RED. “It’s also a chance for many new gamers to play Gwent for the first time and we’re looking forward to making the game even better with their help.”
The launch of the Public Beta will mark a complete refresh for the Gwent community. CD Projekt RED will reset all card collections and player progress to ensure that all players begin the Public Beta on equal footing. However, all players who participated in the Closed Beta will receive Card Kegs, as well as other in-game rewards.
To prepare players for the Public Beta, CD Projekt RED hosted an in-depth “Preview” stream, and it’s been embedded above.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Gwent: The Witcher Card Game
Callie is missing in the first Splatoon 2 single-player trailer
If you’ve been following the “Squid Sisters Stories” saga, then you know that Callie disappeared after the conclusion of Splatoon‘s final Splatfest. This forced separation has sent Marie into seclusion, and it also forms the spine of Splatoon 2‘s single-player Store Mode (and the new trailer embedded above).
Like some kind of eight-limbed bounty hunter, players will venture through Octo Valley and attempt to bring Callie home:
In a shocking twist, Callie – of Squid Sisters fame – has gone missing and her right-tentacle squid Marie tasks the player to search for Callie and the Great Zapfish. Players can use different weapons in single-player mode to overcome obstacles, defeat enemies and take down towering bosses – weapons like the Roller, Slosher, Splatling or the new Dualies. The single-player mode is designed to teach players tips and tricks that they can then use in multiplayer.
Splatoon 2 will be released exclusively for the Nintendo Switch on July 21.
Posted in News, Switch
Tagged Splatoon 2
Xbox Store Today: Phantom Dust, Injustice 2, The Surge, more
Visitors to the Xbox Games Store today will be greeted by a blast from the past, the latest from NetherRealm Studios, and a new action RPG from Deck 13.
Phantom Dust was originally released for the Xbox in 2004, and was one of Microsoft’s first attempts to cater to the Japanese market. Microsoft’s push didn’t go as planned, but Phantom Dust became a cult hit that is available to download for free on the Xbox One and Windows 10. The re-release features the same gameplay that hooked fans more than a decade ago, as well as cross-device multiplayer, Achievements, and a new 16×9 presentation.
Also available to download today for the Xbox One is Injustice 2, the latest one-on-one fighting game from NetherRealm Studios. With Superman in prison and his Regime in disarray, players will once again be able to jump into its completely unpredictable alternate universe.
Finally today, Focus Home Interactive and Deck 13 will bring The Surge to the Xbox One. This action RPG features a futuristic setting involving augmented soldiers doing battle with dismemberment guns… no, really.
More information on all of these games (and the rest of today’s new releases) can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PC, Xbox One
Tagged Injustice 2, Phantom Dust, The Surge