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
Amy Hennig talks about Visceral’s Star Wars game at this year’s Star Wars Celebration
It’s a great weekend to be a Star Wars fan, and it’s not just because this year’s Star Wars Celebration is in full swing. But we’ve learned a lot about what’s coming soon to the beloved franchise, and the organizers even gave Creative Director Amy Hennig a chance to publicly discuss the Star Wars game she has in the works at Visceral.
First, Hennig talked about working closely with Lucasfilm’s Story Group to ensure her team creates an “authentic” Star Wars experience:
“The reason [we’re collaborating with Lucasfilm so closely] is we’re writing an original Star Wars story with new characters, locations, tech, creatures, you name it. And all of it has to sit authentically alongside the stuff people know now.”
Hennig would go on to compare the writing process for her Star Wars project to her previous work on the Uncharted franchise, and it sounds like she’ll bring the same “swashbuckling charm” to the galaxy far, far away:
“The process that I’ve been using is really similar to what I did with Uncharted, to be honest. If you’re trying to re-create that classic pulp action adventure experience, you need to deconstruct the films so you know how to reconstruct them in an interactive context as gameplay.”
“The end goal is by the time the player has finished playing they feel like they really did play a Star Wars film. So I’ve done the same thing for Star Wars. What does that mean? It means getting the structure right. It means you have to understand where the act breaks fall, where all the obstacles and reversals fall, and the set-pieces. What are all the component parts that make up a Star Wars story?”
“It means getting the tone right. It’s what my writing partner Todd [Stashwick] calls breezy urgency. It’s the idea that there’s sort of a swashbuckling charm to the thing. There’s humor and buoyancy but at the same time there’s stakes and jeopardy.”
The developer finished her talk by hinting at the possibility of multiple playable characters, because no one goes it along in Star Wars:
“It’s not a lone wolf story. That’s not Star Wars. […] They only escape the Death Star because everyone does their part in parallel. […] The challenge for us then is how do we enable that in gameplay.”
Visceral’s Untitled Star Wars Game will be released sometime in 2018. In the meantime, we can all pore over some new concept art that was released as part of yesterday’s panel after the break. (more…)
Posted in News
Tagged Star Wars: Visceral
Weekly Warp-Up: Nintendo’s NES Classic Edition Made My Week…
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…
Christmas is coming early this year, because earlier this week, Nintendo announced they will release the NES Classic Edition, a microconsole pre-loaded with 30 games this November. Yes, it’s just a repackaged Wii with a variety of Virtual Console content on a hard drive, but it is also undeniably awesome.
There in’t much else to talk about this week (probably too many people obsessed with Pokemon Go), but believe it or not, employees from Ubisoft actually helped educate the world on the correct way to pronounce Ubisoft. Turns out, everybody’s right!
Elsewhere on Warp Zoned, UK Correspondent Andrew Rainnie turned his crowdfunding eye towards Escape From Pleasure Planet in the latest edition Kickstart This! and I reviewed Tumblestone, your new favorite puzzle game.
More news from the past seven days can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News
EA announces Rogue One expansion for Star Wars: Battlefront and delivers first look at September’s Death Star content
“That’s no moon… It’s a space station.”
Today at the Star Wars Celebration, Electronic Arts and DICE unveiled the first teaser trailer for Death Star, this September’s upcoming expansion for Star Wars: Battlefront.
In the Death Star expansion, players will be able to pilot their X-Wing through the famous Trench Run in a new map, as well as take part in a raid inside the massive space station. Like the previous expansions, DICE will also add new new vehicles, blasters, and Star Cards to the game, as well as two new Heroes: bounty hunter Bossk and Han Solo’s lifemate, Chewbacca.
Finally, the publisher and developer looked into the future to deliver a a sneak peek at the game’s fourth (and final) expansion, which will be based on Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Known as Rogue One: Scarif, the expansion will be available “this Holiday season” and give players the chance to play as Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) and Director Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn).
EA and DICE plan to reveal more about both expansions soon.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Star Wars: Battlefront
Tumblestone Review: Puzzle Fans… Here’s Your New Favorite Game
With a Story Mode that features 360 levels, three marathon variants under an Arcade menu, and a whole slew of multiplayer options, Tumblestone contains a massive amount of content compared to the average puzzle game. And the only ones that come close are going to be found exclusively on mobile devices, which is an altogether different experience. For the most part, large-scale puzzle games abandoned the consoles years ago.
But Tumblestone might change all that. (more…)
Xbox Store Today: Tumblestone, Kerbal Space Program, MX vs ATV Supercross Encore, more
Microsoft wants everyone to know that it’s time for new a Games With Gold giveaway, and beginning tomorrow, Xbox One owners will be able to grab the multiplayer puzzler Tumblestone for free. If you’re nostalgic for the match-3 madness of Bust-A-Move or the multiplayer battles of Tetris, Tumblestone should definitely be one you look into tomorrow.
If you’re looking for something to download today, the Xbox Games Store is also now home to Kerbal Space Program, a space exploration sim for the Xbox One. But if you’d rather get down and dirty in the mud, Deep Silver has added MX vs ATV Supercross Encore to the Xbox Games Store for the Xbox One.
More details on all of these games (and a few more new releases) can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, Xbox One
Tagged Tumblestone
First episode from Batman: The Telltale Series will debut in August; First trailer coming next week
Telltale Games will release the first episode in their upcoming Batman series, Batman: The Telltale Series, in August for the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and mobile devices.
Batman: The Telltale Series will also be available as a retail-only “Season Pass Disc” for the PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. The “Season Pass Disc” will include the first episode on the disc and access to subsequent episodes as they’re released.
The first trailer and final release date for Batman: The Telltale Series will make its debut during next week’s San Diego Comic-Con. To give fans their first look at the game, the developer also plans to host a special “Crowd Play Event” on Saturday, July 23. Kinda Funny’s Greg Miller will host the event alongside Troy Baker (the voice of Bruce Wayne), and you can register to attend at the Telltale Blog.
Posted in Mobile, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Batman: The Telltale Series, Comic-Con 2016
Earth Defense Force 4.1: The Shadow of New Despair will invade Steam on July 18
D3 Publisher has announced that Earth Defense Force 4.1: The Shadow of New Despair, their bonkers “bugs versus humans” shooter, will be released for the PC through Steam on July 18.
Earth Defense Force 4.1 is an expanded and enhanced remake of Earth Defense Force 2025, which was originally released for the PS3 and Xbox 360 in 2014. The re-release debuted on the PS4 last December, and now it’ll be invading Steam in just three days. In addition to slightly slicker graphics, Earth Defense Force 4.1 will include a series of bonus levels and the option to lead a squad of NPC soldiers into battle against the alien menace.
D3 Publisher plans to sell Earth Defense Force 4.1: The Shadow of New Despair through Steam for $49.99, but the game will get a big 30% discount during a limited-time Launch Sale.
Posted in News, PC
Tagged Earth Defense Force 2025
2K announces extremely limited NXT Edition for WWE 2K17
2K Games has caught NXT fever and has announced plans to release an extremely limited NXT Edition of WWE 2K17 for the PS4 and Xbox One. Limited to just 50,000 copies worldwide, and priced at $99.99, the NXT Edition will include a copy of the game and a ton of bonus content that fans of the minor league promotion will love:
WWE 2K17: NXT Edition
- Exclusive Premium Packaging
- NXT Enhancement Pack:
- Playable NXT Superstars… Shinsuke Nakamura, Nia Jax, and Apollo Crews
- 50% More Points at NXT in MyCareer
- Exclusive Canvas 2 Canvas Lithograph, designed by WWE artist Rob Schamberger and autographed by NXT Superstar Shinsuke Nakamura
- Exclusive Eight-Inch “Demon” Finn Bálor Collectible Figurine
- Exclusive Topps NXT TakeOver: London Mat Relics Card:
- Each card will include a piece of authentic ring canvas from the event
- Each card will feature one of 14 featured Superstars from event
- Each Superstar’s card will have one of 10 different rarity levels
- Goldberg Pack: Access to two playable versions of legendary WCW and WWE star Bill Goldberg, as well as playable WCW Monday Nitro and Halloween Havoc arenas
“NXT has quickly transformed into WWE’s third global brand alongside Raw and SmackDown,” said Paul “Triple H” Levesque, the WWE’s Executive Vice President of Talent, Live Events, and Creative. “The WWE 2K17: NXT Edition is the perfect way to share the passion and enthusiasm of NXT with our fans around the world.”
WWE 2K17 is also in development for the PS3 and Xbox 360, and all versions of the game will be released on October 11