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
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow developer is working on a strange new adventure
Mercury Steam, the developer behind Castlevania: Lords of Shadow and Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 has unveiled a countdown clock for their next game, which is set to expire on April 15 at noon (Eastern Time).
The clock is embedded in an interactive section of their official website, which refers to the game (or perhaps just a portion of it) as the “Lira Expedition.” The developer also revealed a trio of teaser images (a devilish figure, a ruined temple, and the pilot’s cabin of a mecha) that can be found after the break.
Dave Cox, a former Producer at Konami and one of the driving forces behind the Lords of Shadow games, will join Mercury Steam for this project. Besides working on Castlevania, Cox also contributed to recent entries in the Silent Hill and Metal Gear Solid franchises before leaving the company in 2014. But his dream was always to resurrect Contra for a new generation of gamers.
I don’t think that’s happening, but I can dream. (more…)
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Raiders of the Broken Planet
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt wins “Game of the Year” at 2016 SXSW Gaming Awards
CD Projekt’s The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was on target once again as it collected another “Game of the Year” win this weekend at the SXSW Gaming Awards. In addition to its big win, The Witcher 3 won two other awards: “Excellence in Technical Achievement” and “Excellence in Narrative.”
The Witcher 3 faced stiff competition from several of last year’s other big releases, including Bloodborne and Rise of the Tomb Raider, both of which won a pair of 2016 SXSW Gaming Awards. From Software’s gothic RPG was recognized for its gorgeous environments in the “Excellence in Art” and “Excellence in Design” categories. Meanwhile, Lara Croft herself was named “Most Enduring Character” and her tomb raiding skills were honored with an “Excellence in Animation” win.
Finally, Her Story picked up some more hardware this weekend, winning SXSW’s “Mobile Game of the Year” award.
A complete look at all of this year’s winners can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PC, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Batman: Arkham Knight, Bloodborne, Her Story, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Ori and the Blind Forest, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Rocket League, Splatoon, Star Wars: Battlefront, Superhot, Tabletop Games, The Order: 1886, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Telltale revealed a few details about their Batman series… including that it’ll debut this Summer
A team from Telltale Games took the Batplane down to Austin this weekend to talk to the crowd at SXSW about their upcoming Batman series. While it’s still too early for a sneak peek at the game, Telltale was able to confirm the first episode will be available sometime this Summer. A quick recap of the presentation was also posted to the Telltale Blog, where the developer revealed that players will spend just as much time with Bruce Wayne as they will with Batman:
Batman is the perfect character for the studio to explore in a Telltale series, giving the team the opportunity to dive deeper into the mind of the man behind the mask. Each night, Bruce Wayne chooses to change Gotham for the better. The team wants to explore what the consequences are of the player’s actions when decisions made as Bruce have a critical impact on his nightly crusade as Batman, and vice versa. Certain key situations will give the player the decision to approach a scene as Bruce or Batman, with consequences for both sides.
They would go on to say that their Batman game won’t be tied to any existing continuity, and that the Bat Family (Robin, Nightwing, Batgirl, etc) won’t play a large role in the story. However, they did announce that Alfred Pennyworth, Commissioner Gordon, GCPD officer Renee Montoya, and reporter Vicki Vale would all appear in the game. Naturally, the game’s villains are currently a closely guarded secret within the halls of Telltale.
Some of these characters will interact with both Bruce Wayne during the day, and Batman at night. And how players handle these interactions could change the outcome for certain characters. Whatever decisions you make, they’ll have serious consequences as Telltale also said that their Batman series will be rated Mature and have a “cinematic approach [that] will feel more akin to an R-rated film.”
Holy bursting anticipation, Batman!
Weekly Warp-Up: A Bunch of Stuff Happened at GDC 2016…
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…
The annual Game Developers Conference took place earlier this week in San Francisco, and as you’d expect, it dominated the headlines all week. But before we talk about the future, let’s flashback to last year as this year’s GDC Awards honored The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt as “Game of the Year,” while the IGF Awards selected Her Story as the recipient of the “Seumas McNally Grand Prize.”
But GDC is always about what’s next and the next “next thing” is most definitely virtual reality. So Oculus took center stage at the gathering of developers and announced that the Oculus Rift will launch with 30 games on March 28. Not to be outdone, Sony confirmed their PlayStation VR headset will launch in October and that it’ll be priced at $399.
But I think it was Microsoft who made the most announcements at GDC, including confirmation that’ve enabled Cross-Network Play between players on an Xbox One, a Windows 10 PC, and “other networks.” The consolemaker also pulled back the curtain on more than three dozen ID@Xbox games which will be released in 2016 and heavily implied that The Behemoth’s Pit People will also be available this year. However, the biggest bit of noise that Microsoft made at GDC may have been the afterparty they threw featuring dancers in bikini tops and miniskirts. That decision was… let’s go with ill-advised.
Finally out of GDC, the Princeton Review has published their list of the best colleges for Game Design, with the the University of Utah and the University of Central Florida coming out on top.
Elsewhere on Warp Zoned this week, I’d like to direct you to our first part in a new series, It’s In Your Blood: A History of Horror Games, and a review of Broforce.
You can read all about the rest of the week that was after the break. (more…)
Posted in News
New Releases: Hyrule Warriors Legends, TrackMania Turbo, Sebastien Loeb Rally Evo, Republique
Prepare to race into battle with this week’s new releases…
Koei Tecmo and Nintendo are mashing together the massive battles from the Dynasty Warriors franchise with the beloeved characters from The Legend of Zelda once again in Hyrule Warriors Legends, a 3DS re-release of the Wii U blockbuster. Players who opt for the portable version of the game will be able unlock several new characters (including Linkle, a gender-swapped version of Link) and a new level based on The Wind Waker.
A pair of racing games that’ll surely appeal to people who love anything with four wheels are also set to be released this week. First up is TrackMania Turbo, a “fantasy racer” for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One from Ubisoft. Players will be able to put the pedal to the metal on more than 200 tracks and even build their own using the included Tracker Builder. Also available is Sebastien Loeb Rally Evo, a new offroad rally racer from Milestone for the PS4 and Xbox One. Originally released for the PC earlier this year, console players will now get a chance to drive through the mud on the way to victory.
Finally this week, Camouflaj will bring their award-winning mobile game Republique to the PS4. Even with a controller in hand, players will get the same stealthy experience with all five episodes from the game’s first season.
We’ll be back later this week with a look at the new digital-only releases on the PlayStation Store, Xbox Games Store, and Nintendo eShop.
Xbox Store Today: Spareware, 101 Ways To Die, Shred It!
Three brand new Xbox One games are now available to download through the Xbox Games Store…
- Spareware is a multiplayer top-down shooter that takes place in a dystopian version of Helsinki.
- 101 Ways To Die is a puzzle platformer that stars a mad scientist who wants to dispatch his enemies in a number of creative ways (hence the title).
- And Shred It! is an endless snowboarder who is shredding his way down a papercraft mountain.
More information for all of these games can be found after the break. (more…)
Microsoft “temporarily” drops the price of the Xbox One to $299
Microsoft has announced they’re once again dropping the price on all Xbox One console bundles by $50. Beginning this Sunday, March 20, the consolemaker will institute a “temporary” new price of $299 for the Xbox One. But don’t forget, the last time Microsoft “temporarily” dropped the price on the Xbox One, it became a permanent price drop a few months later.
According to Microsoft’s Major Nelson, this limited time sale will be followed by a major Xbox Games Store sale beginning on March 22. More than 150 games will be discounted by 40-60% off including titles such as Fallout 4, Halo 5, Call of Duty; Black Ops III, Far Cry: Primal, and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow 6: Siege.
The 2016 Spring Sale will extend beyond Xbox One games to also include PC titles and Movies & TV Shows. PC games like Hand of Fate, Leo’s Fortune, and Halo: Spartan Strike will go on sale next week, alongside films and shows such as The Martian, Straight Outta Compton, Sicario, and Better Call Saul.
The 2016 Spring Sale will end on March 29.
Deep Silver is planning to make a “major announcement” at E3 2016
Ever since acquiring the rights to Saints Row and Metro during the THQ auction (and the subsequent acquistion of Homefront), Deep Silver has become a name that a lot of gamers are now familiar with. Thanks to these acquisitions, and the continued success of the Dead Island franchise, Deep Silver is no longer thought of as a small publisher staring up at giants. They may not be a giant themselves yet, but the company is clearly on an upward path.
That’s why it’s not exactly a surprise to hear CEO Klemens Kundratitz tell MCV that the publisher is “very much looking forward to E3,” because they’re going to use the gaming expo to make “[their] next major announcement.”
While it’s easy to assume Kundratitz is referring to Saints Row 5 or Metro 3, there’s always the chance the company could branch off into a new direction, as he also said: “Deep Silver has evolved over the last five years as a leading independent developer and global publisher. We are closing the gap between us and the top league of games companies. But at the same time we are determined to keep our independent spirit to be a great publishing partner for other independent companies and form alliances that work for both partners in the long-term, in both the physical and digital space.”
The 2016 E3 Expo kicks off on June 14.
Posted in News
Tagged Agents of Mayhem, E3 2016