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
GalaxyTrail officially announces Freedom Planet 2
GalaxyTrail has announced that they will continue the story of their Genesis-inspired platformer, Freedom Planet, in the upcoming Freedom Planet 2. The scoop on the sequel comes to us via the game’s recently launched official website, which delves a bit into Freedom Planet 2’s story:
An ancient terror has emerged from the depths of the ocean. Merga, a water dragon from Avalice’s oldest and deadliest war, has been freed from her crystal prison as a consequence of the Kingdom Stone’s destruction. Through her acts of vengeance, she holds a dark and terrible truth about Avalice’s leaders that will change the history of the three kingdoms forever.
War is imminent once again, but this time, the heroes are split between sides. As friendships are tested, will the girls stand united when Bakunawa rises?
Main characters Lilac, Carol, and Milla will all return in Freedom Planet 2, which will also feature a redesigned art style, a difficulty modifying system that lets you “change the rules of the game temporarily to make certain stages easier or harder,” and several new special items including a shield block and a quick revival after losing a life.
Executive Producer Stephen DiDuro said these changes will help make Freedom Planet 2 stand on its own: “The original Freedom Planet was modeled as a tribute to Sega Genesis platform games. We’ve learned what works and what doesn’t, what’s fun and what’s frustrating, what we should expand on and what we can afford to lose. With all of this in mind, we feel that we are ready to bid farewell to nostalgia and create a sequel that will define Freedom Planet’s identity as a franchise.”
Freedom Planet 2 will be released for PC platforms in mid-2017, with a plan to bring it to Nintendo platforms (the Wii U or, more likely, the NX) sometime after that.
Posted in News, PC, Switch, Wii U
Tagged Freedom Planet 2
Nintendo Download: Super Mario Galaxy
A portly man in red is going to spend tonight flying across the sky on your Wii U… and I’m not talking about St. Nick. One of Mario’s greatest adventures, Super Mario Galaxy, is now available to download through the Wii U eShop.
According to Nintendo, the Virtual Console re-release of the Wii hit is the only new game scheduled to be released as part of today’s Nintendo Download. But if you’re somehow unfamiliar with Super Mario Galaxy, you can learn more about it right here:
Wii U eShop
Super Mario Galaxy – Become Mario as he traverses gravity-bending galaxies, traveling in and out of gravitational fields by blasting from planet to planet. Control Mario with the Wii Remote and Nunchuk controllers, power up to reach inaccessible areas and collect Star Bits to either stun enemies or feed Lumas in this Wii classic – now available from the Virtual Console service on the Wii U console!
However, Nintendo is making up for the lack of new releases with a ton of eShop sales including Yacht Club’s Shovel Knight and a slew of Capcom games.
Posted in 3DS, News, Wii U
Tagged Super Mario Galaxy
It’s not a Festivus Miracle! Naughty Dog delays release of Uncharted 4 to April 26, 2016
On this joyous Festivus night, Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley will begin with the Airing of Grievances. The developers have a lot of problems with adventurer Nathan Drake and they’ve announced plans to delay his upcoming game, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. Druckmann and Straley confirmed the news be writing the following on the PlayStation Blog:
This is our largest Uncharted game to date, and the team has been working incredibly hard to meet the challenge of closing out the game’s development in a timely manner. However, as we approached our final deadlines and started wrapping up the game’s levels, we realized that several key sequences needed extra resources to bring them to the finish line. After carefully considering all of our options, we decided to extend our schedule, making sure that we get a few more polish passes before submitting our gold master (the final disc for manufacturing).
Previously set to launch on March 18, Naughty Dog “needs a bit more time to finish the game so that it meets [their] standards and vision.” Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End will now launch exclusively for the PS4 on April 26, 2016.
Posted in News, PS4
Tagged Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
Xbox Store Today: Minecraft Story Mode Episode 4, Frizzy
Two new titles are available to download today through the Xbox Games Store…
- Telltale is releasing their fourth, and second-to-last, episode in their Minecraft: Story Mode adaptation. The End will be reached in 2016, but for now, you can experience the penultimate episode on the Xbox One and Xbox 360.
- Also available today is Frizzy, a platformer for the Xbox One that features a retro art style from the 90s.
More information on both games can be found right here:
Xbox One Games
Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 4: A Block and A Hard Place ($4.99)
As Jesse, you’ll embark on a perilous adventure across the Overworld, through the Nether, to the End, and beyond. You and your friends revere the legendary Order of the Stone: Warrior, Redstone Engineer, Griefer, and Architect; slayers of the Ender Dragon. While at EnderCon in hopes of meeting Gabriel the Warrior, you and your friends discover that something is wrong… something dreadful. Terror is unleashed, and you must set out on a quest to find The Order of the Stone if you are to save your world from oblivion.Frizzy ($7.99)
Frizzy is a tiny ball of dirt and fur. Within this late 90’s retro art style setting, the player must solve puzzles while simultaneously moving in an intense platforming environment utilizing gravity and sandbox mechanics. Frizzy can static cling to special objects called balloons, which fling Frizzy around each level.Xbox 360 Games
Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 4: A Block and A Hard Place ($4.99)
As Jesse, you’ll embark on a perilous adventure across the Overworld, through the Nether, to the End, and beyond. You and your friends revere the legendary Order of the Stone: Warrior, Redstone Engineer, Griefer, and Architect; slayers of the Ender Dragon. While at EnderCon in hopes of meeting Gabriel the Warrior, you and your friends discover that something is wrong… something dreadful. Terror is unleashed, and you must set out on a quest to find The Order of the Stone if you are to save your world from oblivion.
Posted in News, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Minecraft: Story Mode
Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel, Minecraft: Story Mode Ep4, Trine 3, more added to PS Store
With just two days to go before Christmas, Sony is gifting PlayStation owners with a massive new PlayStation Store update this week. PS4, PS3, and PS Vita players will be able to purchase…
- The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel (PS3, Vita) – XSEED Games and Falcom have finally brought the RPG to the North American market, more than two years after its Japanese debut.
- Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 4: A Block and A Hard Place (PS4, PS3) – The penultimate episode of Telltale’s Patton Oswalt-starring Minecraft story is now available.
- Trine 3: The Artifacts of Power (PS4) – Frozenbyte’s latest puzzle platformer comes to consoles for the first time.
More information on all of these games (and a few other new releases) can be found after the break. And don’t forget to visit the PlayStation Blog for a complete rundown of this week’s new game add-ons and discounts. (more…)
Posted in News, PS3, PS4, Vita
Tagged Minecraft: Story Mode, Trine 3 : The Artifacts of Power
Capybara will now release Below in 2016
It look like Capybara’s Below, a roguelike in development for the PC and Xbox One, is going to need a little more time in the oven. Originally expected to be out by the end of 2015, Capybara’s President and Co-Founder, Nathan Vella, recently told Game Informer that the game was pushed back to 2016:
Below is indeed coming in 2016. Past that I can’t share much, yet. We’ll certainly have a lot more content to show and news to share in the new year.
Since there’s just a week and a half to go in 2015, this news isn’t too surprising.
Concept art from Agent unveiled by an artist formerly employed by Rockstar
Even though it was announced more than six years ago, Rockstar’s Agent, their PS3-exclusive Cold War shooter, has never officially been canceled. But aside from the game’s logo, the gaming public hasn’t heard anything else about it in all that time. Until today, that is.
Darren Charles Hatton, an artist formerly employed by Rockstar North, has updated his official website with some concept art he created for Agent back in 2009. According to Hatton, his team was pulled off the project less than a year later and eventually put to work on Grand Theft Auto V. The artist left Rockstar in 2010, but he said, “[I’m not] sure if this project will ever be published.”
The leaked concept art has been posted after the break, and you can find even more environment tests at Hatton’s Agent portfolio. Take-Two Interactive renewed the trademark for Agent back in 2014, but hasn’t spoken publicly about the game in years. (more…)
Harmonix hopes you’ll “Desire” the U2 Essentials 01 Pack… which is available through the Rock Band 4 Music Store beginning today
Harmonix is taking a trip “Where the Streets Have No Name” today to give players a chance to purchase an eight-pack of U2 songs in Rock Band 4.
The U2 Essentials 01 Pack starts with 1983’s “Sunday Bloody Sunday” before taking a career-spanning journey through many of U2’s biggest hits including 1984’s “Pride (In The Name Of Love),” 1987’s “Where The Streets Have No Name,” 1988’s “Desire,” 1992’s “One,” and 2004’s “Vertigo.” The pack closes out with two songs from last year’s Songs of Innocence: “California (There Is No End To Love),” and “The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone).”
Players will be able to purchase the complete U2 Essentials 01 Pack for $13.49, with individual songs priced at $1.99 apiece. A video preview of all eight songs has been embedded above.
Posted in News, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Rock Band 4