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
Mafia III, Space Hulk Ascension, Rogue Stormers, more added to PS Store
Sony is making PS4 owners an offer they can’t refuse with this week’s PlayStation Store update.
2K Games leads things off with Mafia III, their 60s-set tale of organized crime and the aftermath of the Vietnam War. Taking place in New Bordeaux, a stand-in for New Orleans, players will take on the role of Lincoln Clay as he takes on the Italian Mafia.
Also available this week is Space Hulk: Ascension, a turn-based strategy game based on the popular tabletop experience. But the PS4 adaptation adds “new RPG style mechanics, additional weapons, enemy types, an all-new chapter, and loads of other new features.”
Finally this week, Rogue Stormers is a new side-scrolling shooter with a roguelike twist from Black Forest Games.
A full list of this week’s new releases can be found after the break, and a rundown of this week’s new add-ons and discounts is available at the PlayStation Blog. (more…)
Posted in News, PS4
Tagged Mafia III, Rogue Stormers
NIS America will bring Danganronpa 1-2 Reload to the PS4 in Early 2017
NIS America has announced that the first two games in their Danganronpa series will be released for the PS4 in Early 2017. Danganronpa 1-2 Reload will include Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc and Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, a pair of murder mysteries originally released for the Vita. Starring a deranged clockwork bear named Monokuma, players will have to outsmart his machinations and escape with their lives intact:
In Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, enter Hope’s Peak Academy, a prestigious high school reserved for the nation’s “ultimate” students. Things get a bit twisted when the academy’s students find themselves trapped inside with Monokuma, a maniacal bear who has taken them all prisoner to play his deadly game of despair.
Continue the adventure in Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair with a brand new cast of Ultimates. Mysteriously trapped on Jabberwock Island in their own life-or-death game, having fun in the sun with this twisted teddy requires more than a bit of wit to survive.
A trailer for Danganronpa 1-2 Reload has been embedded above.
Posted in News, PS4
Tagged Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
Pokemon Sun and Moon demo will be available on October 18; New trailer reveals evolved forms of Starter Pokemon
If Pokemon Go has rekindled your desire for a new “main series” Pokemon game, then I’m sure you’re absolutely giddy about Pokemon Sun and Moon‘s impending launch. But you won’t have to wait until November 18 to try it out on your 3DS, because Nintendo and Game Freak will release a special demo for the game through the 3DS eShop on October 18.
Pokemon Sun and Moon’s “Special Demo Version” will introduce players to the game’s Alola region and features Ash-Greninja, a Pokemon that appears alongside Ash in Ash in the Pokemon XYZ animated series. Players who complete the demo will even be able to use Ash-Greninja in Pokemon Sun and Moon after its release.
In addition to the demo, a new trailer has revealed several new features for the game, including the evolved forms for the three Starter Pokemon. Another new feature that Pokemon players can expect to see is Festival Plaza, which will connect players with others playing online to battle, work together, and trade. Finally, the Poke Pelago lets Pokemon stored in a PC Box develop by exploring islands and tackling activities and challenges.
The trailer has been embedded above, and you can all about the evolved forms of the Starter Pokemon after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News
Tagged Pokemon Sun/Moon
New Final Fantasy XV gameplay trailer introduces Death Spell and the Bandersnatch
Square Enix was in attendance at this weekend’s TwtichCon, and they unveiled a brand new Final Fantasy XV gameplay trailer during the event. The four-minute clip introduces players to the Death Spell, powerful magic that drains HP from an enemy. And speaking of enemies, Square Enix also unveiled “the fearsome Bandersnatch,” a massive beast that challenges Noctis and his friends at the end of the trailer:
As revealed exclusively during the Final Fantasy XV presentation at TwitchCon 2016, witness Death magic – one of the powerful spells granted by the Ring of the Lucii. Death drains the HP of enemies. The longer you use the spell, the more your enemy will physically deteriorate. In this video Death is used to tackle a variety of enemies, including another exclusive reveal – the fearsome Bandersnatch!
Final Fantasy XV will be released for the PS4 and Xbox One on November 29.
Posted in News, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Final Fantasy XV
Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes will be available for PlayStation VR on October 13
The launch of Sony’s PlayStation VR headset is less than two weeks away, and even though dozens of games will be available for the peripheral on day one, more announcements just keep on coming. Over the weekend, Steel Crate Games confirmed that Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, their multiplayer bomb defusal sim, will be available to download through the PlayStation Store on October 13.
In Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, one player is trapped in a virtual room with a ticking time bomb they must defuse. The other players are the “Experts” who must give the instructions to defuse the bomb by deciphering the information found in the bomb defusal manual. But there’s a catch: the experts can’t see the bomb, so everyone will need to talk it out – fast!
With PS VR, experts can view and control the bomb defusal manual on their TV screen while communicating with the defuser. The manual is also freely available and can be printed or viewed on a tablet or any other web-enabled device.
Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes is an absolute blast at parties (I WILL NOT apologize for that pun) and it’s also currently available for the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and as a non-VR PC download through Steam.
Posted in News, PS4
Tagged Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes
Rain Games might release World to the West on Nintendo NX
Rain Games will release World to the West, an overhead action-adventure game, for the PC, PS4, Wii U, and Xbox One in Early 2017. But during a recent interview with Miketendo64, the developer hinted the game might also be released for Nintendo’s NX next year:
Artist Ole Ivar Rudi spilled the proverbial beans during this exchange:
Miketendo64: “Since World to the West will be coming to the Wii U, and the NX is set to release next year, are there any plans to release it on the NX as well?”
Ole Ivar Rudi: “Hehe, gotta keep answers straight here. As we mentioned earlier it’s very unlikely to come out on 3DS, but it *will *show up on additional platforms. Maybe even another Nintendo platform, but our lips are sealed though.”
World to the West is a sequel to Teslagrad, a side-scrolling puzzle-platformer that’s now available for the PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, and Xbox One. The developer clearly has experience working with many different platforms, but they also have a fairly cozy relationship with Nintendo (the consolemaker demoed the Wii U version of World to the West at PAX West this year).
With all this evidence, I’d be shocked if World to the West doesn’t make its way to the NX eventually.
Someone beat the Super Mario Bros. “Any Percentage” speedrun record by a single frame
In April, “Darbian” lowered the World Record “Any Percentage” speedrun for Super Mario Bros. to just four minutes and 57.26 seconds. In the aftermath of his achievement, he retired from speedrunning, saying, “I have reached my potential in this category.”
But some records were made to be broken… and even the slimmest of margins can mean the difference between Silver and Gold.
On Thursday, “Kosmic” set an unbelievable new “Any Percentage” record for Super Mario Bros. of four minutes and 57.244 seconds. The minuscule difference between the two runs, just 0.016 seconds, is actually equivalent to a single frame of animation in the game. So how did he do it? “Kosmic” has a pretty extensive FAQ up on YouTube, and a desire to get his World Record down to four minutes and 56 seconds.
If you’re interested in watching him try, you can follow his Twitch Channel to see all his attempts.
UPDATE (10/4/16): Believe it or not, but Kosmic has already set a new Super Mario Bros. “Any Percentage” record. He posted to Twitter that his new best time is 4:57.194, an improvement of 0.05 seconds (or three frames) over his previous record-setting attempt.
Posted in News, Retro
Tagged Super Mario Bros.
Weekly Warp-Up: Time for More Nintendo NX Rumors…
No, that’s not a typo. Welcome to the Weekly Warp-Up, your weekly wrap-up of the biggest and the best articles posted at Warp Zoned this week…
Psst! Hey! You! Get over here! Do you wanna hear some new rumors about Nintendo’s NX console? Supposedly, a trial production for the Nintendo NX was recently held, which means the console is still on track to launch in March 2017.
We even heard about a few new games in development including Puzzle Box from Bplus and the very strong possibility of a Beyond Good & Evil Prequel from Ubisoft. Now that’s exciting.
Equally exciting was the news that J.J. Abrams told reporters that a pair of films based on Portal and Half-Life are still in development. We might even get an official announcement “soon.”
Finally this week, UK Correspondent Andrew Rainnie dove deep into the crowdfunding rabbit hole and came out with three new Kickstart This! selections: Z’Isle, Ultra Captain & The Great Piratey Space Escape, and Magicland.
More news from the week that was can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News