Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- BAFTA Games Awards: All the Winners from 2003 to Today
- Clair Obscur Completes the Sweep by Winning “Best Game” at 2025-2026 BAFTA Games Awards
- Boss Fight Books to Get 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
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: Persona 5, Lego City Undercover, Bulletstorm Full Clip Edition, More
Persona 4 became one of the last major launches for the PS2 when it was released in 2008 by Atlus. It’s long-in-the-works sequel, Persona 5, will do the same when it launches this week for the PS3. Thankfully, the RPG will also be released for the PS4, so all PlayStation players will get the chance to save the world as a member of the Phantom Thieves.
A pair of re-releases will also make their way to store shelves this week, giving players a second chance to try out two unsung titles from the PS3/Xbox 360/Wii U era. First up, the family-friendly open-world action game Lego City Undercover will make its debut on the PS4, Switch, and Xbox One. Also this week, Gearbox and People Can Fly will bring Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition to the PS4 and Xbox One with an extra does of Duke Nukem.
Finally this week, an aerial combat sim (Air Conflicts: Secret Wars) and a deckbuilding RPG (ArmaGallant: Decks of Destiny) will be released for the PS4.
That’s all for now, but we’ll be back later this week with an expanded look at the latest additions to the PlayStation Store, Xbox Games Store, and Nintendo eShop.
Posted in News, PS3, PS4, Switch, Xbox One
Tagged Bulletstorm, Lego City Undercover, Persona 5
4/1: NetherRealm is NOT adding the Wonder Twins to Injustice 2
It’s April 1st, which means you shouldn’t believe everything anything you read on the Internet today. For example, I think it is extremely unlikely that NetherRealm Studios will add the Wonder Twins, Zan and Jayna, to Injustice 2.
The dual addition to Injustice 2’s character roster was teased earlier today on Twitter by Ed Boon, NetherRealm’s Creative Director. Boon is a lover of all things purple (Mortal Kombat‘s Rain is an homage to Prince), but I think this is a step too far:
Activate! #injustice2 pic.twitter.com/51rWGfwuC0
— Ed Boon (@noobde) April 1, 2017
The Wonder Twins were first introduced to audiences in 1977 as part of DC’s Super Friends cartoon. They were later given an “extreme” makeover (because, of course they were) and added to the DC Comics Universe in 1996.
I’m reasonably sure that Boon is joking about including the Wonder Twins in Injustice 2, but I could also see the developer using this prank to gauge interest in adding the characters to the game later as downloadable content.
Posted in News, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Injustice 2
4/1: 8-Bit Bayonetta is a REAL game that you can download for free through Steam
It’s April 1st, which means you shouldn’t believe everything anything you read on the Internet today. But Sega really did transform Bayonetta into a pixelated side-scrolling shooter for April Fool’s Day.
8-Bit Bayonetta is now available to download for free from Steam, and its a Horde-like shooter where players help the Umbran Witch fight back against wave after wave of enemies:
Sega’s favourite Umbran Witch climaxes her way onto PC! Thrill to her signature beehive do in 8-bit pixelated glory! Jump! Shoot! Score! Being bad never felt so retro.
This isn’t the first time that Platinum Games has toyed with the idea of a retro-styled version of Bayonetta. 8-Bit Bayonetta is actually an expansion of Bayonetta: Angel Land, a fake trailer the developer put together for April Fool’s Day 2010.
4/1: Blizzard offers “Choose Your Own Adventure” version of BlizzCon on their website
If you can’t make it to BlizzCon this year, don’t worry, Blizzard is offering a backup plan that promises to be just as good.
The BlizzCon Textual Adventure is now available through the convention’s official website, giving non-attendees the chance to “Choose Their Own Adventure” and experience this year’s BlizzCon without the hassles of a long plane ride, noisy crowds, and the latest games:
Experience BlizzCon for FREE! Exercise both your reading ability AND your perceived free will. You decide exactly how epic your BlizzCon will (or won’t) be!
Blizzard definitely did their homework for this April Fool’s Day gag. The first time I went through it, I was greeted by a random pair of aliens (a common occurrence in the real Choose Your Own Adventure books), and I’d assume there’s at least one ending where you die horribly.
The actual BlizzCon will be held in Anaheim on November 3rd and 4th, though it seems unlikely that attendees will run into aliens or die a gruesome death. According to Blizzard, BlizzCon Tickets will go on sale soon.
4/1: Dash through the streets as Ms. Pac-Man with Google Maps “Insert Coin” filter
Back in 2015, Google let Pac-Man and his ghostly adversaries loose on the streets of the world for April Fool’s Day. This year, they’ve recruited Pac-Man’s better half to do it again.
A Ms. Pac-Man filter is now available in Google Maps by clicking on the “Insert Coin” button in the lower left corner of the screen. As long as the location they pick has enough streets, players can gobble up dots for a high score or chase Ghosts after munching on a Power Pellet.
Best of all, the “Insert Coin” filter also works with the Google Maps app on your smartphone or tablet.
Posted in News, PC
Tagged Google, Ms. Pac-Man
4/1: AMC and the creators of Breaking Bad are NOT working on a Grand Theft Auto TV show
It’s April 1st, which means you shouldn’t believe everything anything you read on the Internet today. For example… AMC did not hire the creators of Breaking Bad to develop a television adaptation of Grand Theft Auto V.
The trailer making the rounds today was actually created by IGN, but the narration from Steven Ogg (he played Trevor Phillips in GTA5) gives it that extra jolt of authenticity and might help fool a few people.
While this trailer is just an April Fool’s Day prank, Take-Two Interactive might actually be working on a film adaptation of the Grand Theft Auto franchise. Earlier this year, CEO Strauss Zelnick told MCV that his company has “licensed a couple of titles for motion picture production.” The executive didn’t name Grand Theft Auto as one of the titles, but prolific film director Roger Corman has repeatedly claimed that a settlement he signed with Take-Two more than a decade ago prevents the publisher from adapting Grand Theft Auto for the silver screen.
Corman produced Ron Howard’s directorial debut, 1977’s Grand Theft Auto, and he’s been trying to remake it for years. But instead of a gangland drama like The Godfather or Scarface, Howard’s film is a road comedy more closely related to something like The Blues Brothers. But if Corman is holding up the creation of a Grand Theft Auto film, it’s never been publicly acknowledged by Take-Two.
The Video Game Canon – Pac-Man
Dig deeper into the Video Game Canon with a look back at the true stories behind some of gaming’s greatest urban legends, most of which seem to revolve around Pac-Man. Here’s a teaser…
With more than 40 years of history behind it, it’s not surprising the video game community has developed its own catalog of urban legends that have been passed from player to player over the years. Everyone who played it desperately tried to resurrect Aerith after her tragic demise in Final Fantasy VII, and we all heard stories about the “nude codes” that supposedly existed in games like Tomb Raider, Mortal Kombat II, and The Sims.
Unfortunately, every one of those rumors has more in common with the hook man at lover’s lane than they do with the unvarnished truth. But some of the legends are true. And nearly all of them revolve around Pac-Man in some way.
Pac-Man is a simple creature. Just a yellow circle with a triangular wedge removed to represent his mouth. Some will say his design was simplistic because the designers at Namco were working within the hardware limitations of the day. Those people would be wrong. The inspiration for Pac-Man overcame Namco’s Toru Iwatani after he snatched the first slice at a company pizza party and noticed that it looked like a circle with a mouth.
But it gets weirder from there.
Visit VideoGameCanon.com to continue reading this article and to explore the complete Top 1000.
Xbox Store Today: Thimbleweed Park, Punch Club, King of Fighters 95, more
Ron Gilbert, the mad genius behind The Secret of Monkey Island and Maniac Mansion is back with his first new adventure game since 2013’s The Cave. Gilbert’s latest offering to gamers is Thimbleweed Park, which is now available to download for the Xbox One. Players will explore a haunted hotel, an abandoned circus, and a burnt-out pillow factory as they attempt to solve the mystery of the titular town. And don’t worry, “A dead body is the least of your problems.”
Also available to download through the Xbox Games Store today is Punch Club, a boxing management sim from Lazy Bear Games and TinyBuild. Players will “train hard, eat chicken, and punch dudes in the face” as they climb the ranks in this Xbox One game.
Finally today, Xbox One owners will get the chance to engage in a different kind of fisticuffs in SNK’s King of Fighters 95. The classic fighting game was originally released in 1995 and allowed players to create a custom team for the first time.
You can learn more about today’s additions to the Xbox Games Store after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, Xbox One
Tagged Thimbleweed Park