Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- Silent Hill, Dragon Quest, Skyrim, and More Announced as Finalists for the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Has Another Big Night and Wins “Game of the Year” at the 2025-2026 DICE Awards
- 2025 GOTY Scoreboard: In Progress
- The Game Awards: All the Winners from 2003 to Today
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Racks Up Nine Wins, Including “Game of the Year”, at the 2025 Game 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
Game Critics Awards’s Best of E3 2019 bestows “Best of Show” on Final Fantasy VII Remake
Final Fantasy VII is more than 20 years old, but Square Enix’s radically reimagined Final Fantasy VII Remake received top marks at E3 2019 from the Game Critics Awards’s judging panel. The game, which will launch next Spring, took home the coveted “Best of Show” award, and it was also honored as “Best RPG” and “Best Console Game.”
The judging panel spread the rest of the awards around, and Bethesda’s Doom Eternal was the only other game to collect multiple wins (“Best PC Game” and “Best Action Game”). The wide range of other winners included Obsidian’s The Outer Worlds (“Best Original Game”), Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs Legion (“Best Action/Adventure Game”), Nintendo Luigi’s Mansion 3 (“Best Family/Social Game”), among others.
While Sony and Microsoft kept fairly quiet about the PS5 and Xbox Scarlett, Microsoft still managed to lock down “Best Hardware/Peripheral” with the Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2. And CD Projekt Red took home yet another “Special Commendation for Graphics” thanks to Cyberpunk 2077.
The full list of winners from the Game Critics Awards’s Best of E3 2019 Awards can be found after the break. (more…)
Sony Pictures is producing a live-action television series based on Final Fantasy XIV
Sony Pictures has announced they are currently hard at work on a live-action Final Fantasy television series. There’s no word yet on when the show will debut, or what platform it’ll appear on, but I have to imagine it’ll take some time for the producers to procure a substantial enough wig budget.
That’s more or less a joke, but it’s also a bit staggering to even think about what Sony Pictures is attempting here. As a franchise that stretches back more than three decades (and across dozens of games), there is a lot of Final Fantasy lore to mine for a live-action adaptation. According to the announcement, the show will be partly based on Final Fantasy XIV, telling “an original story set in the fantastic world of Eorzea” and featuring a starring role for Cid.
Like most entries in the franchise, the Final Fantasy television series will “explore the struggle between magic and technology in a quest to bring peace to a land in conflict.” Viewers will also be introduced to magitek, beastmen, airships, and chocobos in future episodes.
Sony Pictures has partnered with Square Enix to develop the Final Fantasy television series, so we know the creators of the franchise will have some say in how its live-action debut plays out. Hivemind’s Jason Brown, Sean Daniel, and Dinesh Shamdasani (the same team behind the Netflix-bound adaptation of The Witcher) will executive produce the show, while Ben Lustig and Jake Thornton have been hired as writers.
Posted in Etcetera, News, PC, PS4
Tagged Final Fantasy XIV
PUBG Corporation forms new team to create “an original narrative experience” set in the PUBG universe
Games in the Battle Royale genre are typically pretty light on plot details, but PUBG Corporation is looking to change that with the creation of Striking Distance, a new development team that will create “an original narrative experience” set within the universe of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.
Development on the currently untitled game will be lead by Glen Schofield, who previously created the Dead Space franchise for Visceral Studios. Schofield is also well-known as the co-founder of Sledgehammer Games, where he worked on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, and Call of Duty: WWII.
“Throughout my career, I’ve had a lot of opportunities to make some remarkable games that tell incredible stories, and each of them has meant something special to me,” said Schofield. “But now, those learnings will help me build a AAA team that can explore new designs and concepts at Striking Distance.”
“As a creative, the freedom to explore the PUBG universe has me excited about the possibilities, which I view as beyond the battle royale genre,” he added. “Today represents a special moment for me and I’m so thankful to be taking this journey with the team at PUBG Corporation.”
Striking Distance is currently hiring dozens of developers to fill roles on the new team. If you’re interested in joining the San Ramon-based studio, you can view all the openings at the PUBG Careers page.
Posted in News
Obsidian’s The Outer Worlds receives four nominations in Game Critics Awards’s Best of E3 2019 Awards
The Game Critics Awards‘s judging panel, which has expanded to 64 publications this year, has announced the nominees for the Best of E3 2019 Awards.
This year, Obsidian’s The Outer Worlds lead all games with a total of four nominations, including one for “Best of Show.” The RPG will be competing against Gearbox’s Borderlands 3, id Software’s Doom Eternal, Square Enix’s Final Fantasy VII Remake, Respawn’s Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, and Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs Legion for the big prize.
A quartet of other games also seemed to strike a chord with panelists, and also receiving three nominations apiece were Remedy’s Control (“Best Original Game,” “Best PC Game,” “Best Action/Adventure Game”), Bithell Games’s John Wick Hex (“Best Original Game,” “Best Strategy Game,” “Best Independent Game”), Nintendo’s Luigi’s Mansion 3 (“Best Console Game,” “Best Action/Adventure Game,” “Best Family/Social Game”), and MachineGames’s Wolfenstein: Youngblood (“Best PC Game,” “Best Action Game,” “Best Online Multiplayer”).
The complete list of nominees for the Best of E3 2019 Awards can be found after the break, and you can learn all about the winners beginning tomorrow, June 27. (more…)
Posted in Mobile, News, PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One
Tagged Borderlands 3, Doom Eternal, E3 2019, Final Fantasy VII, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, The Outer Worlds, Watch Dogs Legion
Bandai Namco announces One Punch Man: A Hero Nobody Knows
Bandai Namco will add another anime adaptation to their growing catalog with games with the announcement of One Punch Man: A Hero Nobody Knows. In development for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One, One Punch Man fans will get the chance to be able to play as several characters from the anime, including Saitama, Genos, Hellish Blizzard, Speed-O-Sound Sonic, and Mumen Rider:
One Punch Man: A Hero Nobody Knows will feature 3 vs. 3 battles, where players can form powerful teams using their favorite characters as they fight in a universe where attacks from powerful villains are the norm. Players can take the role of Saitama, a salaryman-turned-hero who can obliterate the strongest foes with a single punch. Players will also be able to play as other fan-favorite characters such as Genos, Hellish Blizzard, Speed-O-Sound Sonic, and Mumen Rider.
“One Punch Man: A Hero Nobody Knows is the perfect game for One Punch Man fans and those who are ready to jump into the One Punch universe,” said Abelina Villegas, an Associate Brand Manager at Bandai Namco Entertainment America. “Players can really immerse themselves in the One Punch Man world and form their own teams, develop their skills, and fight to see who is the strongest of them all!”
Bandai Namco didn’t announce a release date for One Punch Man: A Hero Nobody Knows, but they did say the game is “Coming Soon,” and also unveiled the Announcement Trailer embedded above.
New Retail Releases: Super Mario Maker 2, Judgment, F1 2019, More
Are we in a Summer games drought? Not if Nintendo and a few other publishers have anything to say about it.
This week, Nintendo will bring Super Mario Maker 2 to stores for the Switch. The course-creation sequel will add a full Story Mode, as well as a huge number of new creation tools, and a new game style based on Super Mario 3D World.
Also set to launch this week is Sega’s Judgment, a spinoff to the Yakuza franchise that’ll launch exclusively for the PS4. In Judgment, players will investigate the seedy Red Light District of Kamurocho in “the dramatic tale of a disgraced lawyer seeking redemption in a world rife with corruption and despair.”
Elsewhere on store shelves this week, gamers will be able to check out F1 2019 (PS4, Xbox One), latest racing simulation from Codemasters; The Sinking City (PS4, Xbox One), a Lovecraftian mystery from Frogwares; and Samurai Shodown (PS4, Xbox One), a rebooted new entry in SNK’s Samurai Shodown franchise.
And for RPG fans, Idea Factory will bring back the Neptunia series with Super Neptunia RPG for the PS4 and Switch.
A complete list of this week’s new retail releases can be found after the break. (more…)
Blazing Chrome will be released on July 11
JoyMasher has been working on Blazing Chrome, their retro-styled homage to Contra and Metal Slug, for a few years now. But the Brazilian developer has finally confirmed, alongside publisher The Arcade Crew, that the game will be released for the PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One on July 11.
With just a few weeks to go before Blazing Chrome’s launch, JoyMasher unveiled a new trailer today that gives prospective players a peek at a pair of hidden characters:
JoyMasher’s Blazing Chrome harkens back to the golden days of side-scrolling shooters with modern touches ensuring its gameplay feels as precise as it does authentic to the era it channels. Fans who unlock the new characters within the game will be treated to fast-paced, side-scrolling and vertical gameplay action as Suhaila, a razor girl with a robotic arm or the skilled and deadly ninja Raijin you try to out-fire, out-maneuver, and out-wit your various metal-encased AI enemies.
JoyMasher has also partnered with Limited Run Games to produce a physical edition for Blazing Chrome. It’ll be available to pre-order sometime this year for the PS4 and Switch.
Friday the 13th: The Game will arrive on the Switch in August on Tuesday the 13th
Jason Voorhees will get the chance to stalk teenagers on the go beginning in August. During the latest episode of Gun Media’s Tales From the Stream show, the publisher announced that Friday the 13th: The Game will be released for the Switch on August 13th… which is actually a Tuesday.
I’m sure fans will appreciate being able to play the game in August, but I think it’s funny that Gun Media could have released Friday the 13th: The Game on Friday the 13th if they had just waited until September.
The full episode of Gun Media’s Tales From the Stream has been embedded above, so be sure to watch the hosts play a Friday the 13th match on the Switch for the first time.
Posted in News, Switch
Tagged Friday the 13th