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
Stare into the Eye of Cthalha in the “Ruins of Sarnath” Arena from Quake Champions
Lovecraftian evil invades Quake Champions this week thanks to a new trailer featuring the “Ruins of Sarnath” Arena.
Guarded by the ever-watchful Eye of Cthalha, the “Ruins of Sarnath” will require players to employ multiple strategies against their opponents as they navigate the Arena’s tight corridors, cavernous chambers, and high ledges:
Arena: Ruins of Sarnath
Time weighs heavy on the Ruins of Sarnath and nature has taken hold, dripping verdant greens into the wreckage of this ancient temple. Now, untold ages after they rose from the inky blackness of the Dreamlands, the Ruins of Sarnath are a blood-soaked killing field where Champions from the waking world fight to the death.
The Quake Champions Closed Beta continues this week for players who have received an invitation from Bethesda. If you’re still interested, you can sign up for a chance to receive a Closed Beta code at the game’s official website.
Posted in News, PC
Tagged Quake Champions
Nintendo Download: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Puyo Puyo Tetris, TumbleSeed, more
After being on store shelves for almost two month, Nintendo’s next wave of major new releases for the Switch are ready to launch this week on the Nintendo eShop.
Leading things off is Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, the ultimate version of the kart racer that was originally released for the Wii U in 2014. Players will receive all the content included in the base game and both DLC Packs, as well as Switch-exclusive content including five new characters (Bowser Jr., Dry Bones, King Boo, and Boy and Girl Inklings), a brand new Battle Mode, new weapons, and the ability to carry two items at the same time. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe will be available to download tomorrow, April 28.
Also available to download for the Switch this week is Puyo Puyo Tetris, a crossover puzzle game that’s built for multiplayer play. But don’t worry, single-player Adventure and Challenge modes are also on the menu.
Finally, TumbleSeed will be available to download for the Switch early next week, on May 2. Designer Greg Wohlwend (who also contributed to Threes and Ridiculous Fishing) describes the game as “a deceptively deep roguelike about balancing a seed up a dangerous and ever-changing mountain.”
You can learn more about all of these games (and a few other new releases on the Switch and Wii U) after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, Switch, Wii U
Tagged Mario Kart 8, Puyo Puyo Tetris
Perception gets a creepy new trailer and a May 30 release date
The Deep End Games has been working on Perception, their upcoming first-person suspense game, for several years now. Today, the developer was ready to confirm that Perception, which features a blind woman named Cassie as its protagonist, will be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One on May 30.
To go along with their release date announcement, The Deep End also unveiled an unsettling new trailer that includes scenes with a deer monster, a human-size cocoon, and a puppet with a machine gun. Be sure to watch it with the lights on.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Perception
Ultron takes charge in the newest Marvel Vs Capcom: Infinite gameplay trailer
To go along with Tuesday’s Story Trailer, Capcom has unveiled a brand new gameplay trailer for Marvel Vs Capcom: Infinite. The real star of the show is the villainous Ultron, but we also get appearances from Chun-Li, Hulk, Strider Hiryu, Thor, Chris Redfield, and Hawkeye:
Ultron makes his first appearance in the Marvel vs. Capcom series and brings with him a sinister set of attacks to dispatch his foes. Most notable, is the ability to summon an endless army of drone reinforcements to aid him in battle. He can summon these both on the ground and in the air. The drones also come in two flavors, one stays back assisting Ultron with a beam to cover him with the second version charging forward and smashing his opponent with a powerful blast of energy.
You can learn more about the trailer, and view a few new screenshots, over at the Capcom-Unity blog.
Marvel Vs Capcom: Infinite will be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One on September 19.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite
Nintendo’s 2016-2017 Annual Report: Big sales for Switch, Zelda BotW, Pokemon + Fall release dates for Xenoblade 2, Mario Odyssey, more
Nintendo published their annual financial report this morning, and the company gave us our best look yet at the Switch’s retail prospects, as well as reconfirmed several 2017 releases.
The big announcement today is that Nintendo has sold 2.74 million Switch consoles around the world as of March 31. Nintendo originally predicted that they’d sell two million around Switch consoles in March, so it’s safe to say they surpassed their goal. The consolemaker expects to sell ten million more Switch consoles before the start of their next fiscal year. If this prediction proves accurate, the Switch will have matched the total sales of the Wii U in a single year.
Moving on to games, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has proven to be fairly popular, with total sales of 3.84 million copies sold (2.76 on the Switch and 1.08 on the Wii U). And don’t count out the 3DS just yet. According to Nintendo, Pokemon Sun and Moon combined to sell 15.44 million copies since they were released in November.
Nintendo closed out their report with the promise of a bright future, reiterating that all of their upcoming Switch and 3DS game are still on track to be released in 2017. Super Mario Odyssey and Fire Emblem Warriors are both still set for the Fall, and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is still penciled in for a “TBA 2017” launch date.
Other titles scheduled to be released this Fall include Monster Hunter Stories, Yo-Kai Watch 2: Psychic Specters, Kirby‘s next 3DS game, and Miitopia. Ever Oasis (June 23), Hey Pikmin (July 28), Splatoon 2 (July 21), and Arms (June 16) are set for this Summer.
Nintendo will most likely reveal a lot more about all of these games at this year’s E3 Expo… unless they get delayed, of course.
Posted in 3DS, News, Switch, Wii U
Tagged Arms, Ever Oasis, Fire Emblem Warriors, Kirby: Battle Royale, Miitopia, Monster Hunter Stories, Pikmin For Nintendo 3DS, Pokemon Sun/Moon, Splatoon 2, Super Mario Odyssey, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Yo-Kai Watch 2: Bony Spirits/Fleshy Souls
Insert Quarter: Some Devs Aren’t Happy With How Nintendo is Handling the Switch eShop
Insert Quarter is our showcase for some of the best and most interesting writing about video games on the Internet.
It’s no secret that the PlayStation Store and Xbox Games Store are more “curated” than the Nintendo eShop. In between absolute gems like Axiom Verge and Shovel Knight, the digital storefront for the 3DS and Wii U is absolutely cluttered with a wide variety of shovelware.
Nintendo doesn’t want to make this same mistake with the Switch, and their Publisher and Developer Relations department is working with indie developers to create an impressive portfolio of downloadable titles for the Switch… and possibly find the next big thing. Best of all, this mission has already borne fruit. Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment, Snipperclips, and FAST RMX were Switch exclusives that made the console feel like more than a “Zelda Machine” in its first few weeks.
But Thomas Whitehead of Nintendo Life has heard from some indie developers (even longstanding “Nindie” teams) that working with Nintendo is much harder than it used to be. After conducting a wide-ranging series of interviews, he delved into some of their frustrations with Nintendo’s (possibly flawed) new process for acquiring indie games:
Not long ago, however, we were contacted by and followed up with multiple respected and established ‘Nindie’ developers unhappy with aspects of Nintendo’s approach to the Switch eShop. Issues related to curation and communication have been at the core, and we were painted a picture of an arrangement and set of policies that undoubtedly pleases those in the door, but has left those on the outside at times frustrated, ignored and in some respects embittered. Some were hesitant to be quoted even anonymously due to upcoming business with Nintendo, while others were happy to share their perspectives – directly and indirectly quoted – while being un-named.
Whitehead’s report can be read in full at Nintendo Life.
Three Fields announces their Burnout spiritual successor… Danger Zone
The developers at Three Fields Entertainment are all veterans of Criterion Games, and they helped turn Burnout‘s brand of “crash racing” into a blockbuster more than a decade ago. Since breaking out on their own, they’ve delivered a similarly calamitous take on mini golf, and teased a spiritual successor to Burnout.
With the open roads of Summer ahead of us, Three Fields is finally ready to return to destructive driving with Danger Zone. Finding inspiration in Burnout’s “Crash Mode,” Danger Zone is all about creating the biggest traffic jam imaginable:
Powered by Epic’s Unreal Engine 4 and set in a virtual Crash Testing Facility, Danger Zone combines realistic physics with explosive gameplay and features 20 exciting single player crash testing scenarios, each with their own unique road layout, traffic and pickups.
In Danger Zone, players are challenged to drive into the junction and create the biggest First Impact that causes enough vehicles to crash to earn a “SmashBreaker,” turning their car into a bomb that can explode on command. Players score for how many cars they crash, with bonus points awarded for exploding cars by hitting them while in “SmashBreaker” or for pushing them off the road entirely. If the player’s car falls off the road, it’s game over. Connected leaderboards allows comparison of player scores for the friends you play against and the rest of the community.
Danger Zone will be available to download for the PC and PS4 this May. You can find the first five explosive screenshots of the game after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PC, PS4
Tagged Danger Zone
Xbox Store Today: Outlast II, Romance of Three Kingdoms XIII, Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3, more
Prepare to terrify yourself with today’s Xbox Games Store update, as Red Barrels has released Outlast II for the Xbox One. The sequel to the first-person horror adventure introduces a new set of characters for players to meet and a weird cult for them to explore. Will Blake Langermann and his wife, Lynn, make it out alive? Or will the disappearance of these investigative journalists become the story?
A nice variety of sequels are also be available to download today for the Xbox One including Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3, Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIII, and Syberia 3.
If none of those games interest you, you might be interested to learn that Telltale Games will continue The Walking Dead: A New Frontier on the Xbox One today with Episode 4: Thicker Than Water.
More information about all of these games (and a few other new releases) can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, Xbox One
Tagged Outlast II, Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3, Syberia 3, The Walking Dead: A New Frontier