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
Super Mario Maker update adds Checkpoint Flag, context-sensitive powerups, Event Courses, and Nintendo Course World
A new update to Super Mario Maker, which is available starting today, will add a handful of oft-requested features to the game creation tool (and its 3.3 million uploaded courses)…
- Checkpoint Flag – By shaking an Arrow, creators will now be able to place a mid-level Checkpoint Flag on their course. Instead of starting over at the beginning, players will be able to restart a course at the Checkpoint Flag.
- Context-Sensitive Powerups – Creators will be now have the chance to add a Super Mushroom and a Fire Flower to a Question Block. If Mario is small, he’ll get a Super Mushroom, but if he’s big, he’ll get the Fire Flower.
- Event Courses – Event Courses are specially-designed levels created as part of a worldwide event. The first Event Courses will be “Ship Love,” the winning course from the Facebook Hackathon earlier this Summer, and the Omegathon course from PAX Prime.
- Nintendo Course World – Nintendo is adding a new tab to the Makers page and “Official” Nintendo-created courses will soon be available in their own area.
- Finally, shaking a Muncher will open up a more advanced version of the Gnat Attack minigame.
Check out the trailer embedded above for an in-depth look at these new features and happy Mario Making!
Posted in News, Wii U
Tagged Super Mario Maker
Latest Pokken Tournament trailer introduces Shadow Mewtwo
Shadow Mewtwo makes his Pokken Tournament debut in the latest trailer for the Pokemon-themed fighting game, but don’t expect much else from the video embedded above. The “new” trailer is virtually identical to the announcement trailer that was first released by The Pokemon Company back in August. But if you can’t get enough of Pokemon beating the snot out of each other, the Play button is ready and waiting.
Bandai Namco’s Tekken team is currently hard at work on Pokken Tournament and the fighting game will launch exclusively for the Wii U in Spring 2016.
Posted in News, Wii U
Tagged Pokken Tournament
CoD Black Ops III (Friday), Need For Speed, Dragon Fin Soup, more added to PS Store
It’s that time again as Sony has updated the PlayStation Store with most of this week’s new releases.
I say “most of” as the biggest game of the week is clearly Call of Duty: Black Ops III, which won’t be available for the PS4 and PS3 until Friday. Players on the PS4 will be able to take part in a near-future Campaign involving augmented soldiers and other high-tech weaponry, while players on both platforms will have access to Competitive Multiplayer and the co-op Zombies Mode.
Also available this week is EA’s Need For Speed reboot on the PS4, which will attempt to reinvent the long-running racing franchise once again. This time out, developer Ghost Games is touting their “Five Ways to Play” system, which will reward players for driving fast and looking good.
If you’re looking for something a little less modern and a little more mature, I want to direct you towards the Cross-Buy (PS4 + PS3 + PS Vita) compatible Dragon Fin Soup, a roguelike RPG that pits an alcoholic Red Riding Hood against hordes of monsters.
Mature is not the word I would to describe Snoopy’s Grand Adventure, a PS4 game meant to tie-in to the upcoming movie. Players will take control of Snoopy in a side-scrolling adventure where he does his Snoopy thing, including an appearance from the Flying Ace and his nemesis, the Red Baron.
Finally this week, Lab Zero Games has released a “Prototype Beta” for their side-scrolling RPG, Indivisible. I don’t quite know what separates this beta release from an early demo, but Indivisible shares a similar art style with Lab Zero’s Skullgirls and should interest retro-minded players with its “Free” price tag.
More information on all of these games (and a few other new releases) can be found after the break. And a complete rundown of this week’s new game add-ons and discounts can be found, as always, at the PlayStation Blog. (more…)
Posted in News, PS3, PS4, Vita
Tagged Call of Duty: Black Ops III, Dragon Fin Soup, Indivisible, Need For Speed, The Peanuts Movie: Snoopy's Grand Adventure
Harmonix has a “Lust For Life” for this week’s Rock Band 4 DLC Update
Harmonix has taken the stage to announce this week’s DLC Update for Rock Band 4, and its another trio of songs that should be familiar to fans of classic rock.
The highlight of this week’s update is clearly Iggy Pop’s “Lust For Life.” The song, which was co-written by David Bowie, pushed Iggy into the spotlight for the first time. Also available this week is “Long Cool Woman (In A Black Dress)” from The Hollies and “Bad Case Of Loving You (Doctor, Doctor)” from Robert Palmer. As always, each song can be purchased for $1.99 apiece.
Harmonix also announced that a new version update for Rock Band 4 will be available today that will “introduce some new features, broaden legacy instrument support, and address various other issues.” The full list of new features and bug fixes can be found at the developer’s official website.
Posted in News, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Rock Band 4
Red Barrels has announced that Outlast II will be released for PC, PS4, Xbox One in Fall 2016
Red Barrels delivered one of the most terrifying games of the decade when they unleashed Outlast on an unsuspecting populace in 2013. Taking control of an investigative journalist named Miles Upshur, players explored the mysterious Mount Massive Asylum through their fingers. Yesterday, the developer announced the game’s story will continue next Fall in Outlast II:
No conflict is ever black and white. But once the dust has settled, the victors get to decide who was right and who was wrong. Who is good and who is evil. Human nature pushes us to extremes of violence and depravity, which we then justify by divine inspiration and a promise of paradise to come. Horror rises from desperation and blind faith. Outlast II will test your faith, pushing players to a place where going mad is the only sane thing to do.
Aside from the teaser trailer embedded above, we don’t know much else about Outlast II. However, Red Barrels did say that their “twisted new journey into the depths of the human mind” is in development for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Super Mario Producer Takashi Tezuka has “interesting things” planned for the franchise
After successfully launching Super Mario Maker in September, Producer Takashi Tezuka has no plans to sit on his laurels. The lifelong Nintendo employee (he’s been with the company since 1984) told Nintendo Dream (via Nintendo Everything) that a new game in the series is already in the planning stages. Tezuka also has some “interesting things” he’d like to try:
“I think many people wonder what will happen to the next entry in the original series after we created this new form of side-scrolling Mario action. Don’t worry, we intend to come up with interesting things even after this, so please look forward to those, too.”
I’ve been thoroughly enjoying Super Mario Maker, so I’m completely on board for more “interesting things” from Takashi Tezuka.
Posted in 3DS, News, Switch, Wii U
Tagged Super Mario Odyssey
Rise of the Tomb Raider launch trailer includes Karen O’s theme song, “I Shall Rise”
Rise of the Tomb Raider will make its Xbox One and Xbox 360 debut next week, so now’s the perfect time for Microsoft and Square Enix to release the game’s launch trailer. The three-minute video is a deep dive into Lara Croft’s next adventure, which cribs from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade with its paternal quest for immortality (and a watery escape is borrowed wholesale from Temple of Doom). While they might feel familiar, the stunning environments that Lara visits should be enough to entice fans of the franchise.
However, if they’re not, the trailer is also soundtracked by Karen O, the lead singer of Yeah Yeah Yeahs. She told Rolling Stone that her song, “I Shall Rise,” is about the exact moment that Lara Croft: Young Archaeologist transforms into Lara Croft: Tomb Raider…
“It all sounded really tasty. They wanted drama and high-stakes and melodrama. That was very appealing to me because I love making music connected to a storyline. It was all stuff I loved like having the theme song to [Lara Croft] becoming an icon and the creation myth to the moment she becomes Lara.”
You can listen to “I Shall Rise” in its entirety after the break. (more…)
Knight Squad, a Gauntlet/Bomberman hybrid, will be released on November 16
Chainsawesome Games has announced that Knight Squad, their two-to-eight-player party game that combines elements from Gauntlet and Bomberman, will be released for the PC and Xbox One on November 16. Xbox One owners will even be able to pick it up for free at launch as part of Microsoft’s Games With Gold program.
Players will compete in nine different game modes ranging from free-for-all deathmatches to capture the flag to playing soccer with a giant ball. But whichever mode is selected, all combatants will get the chance to wield a wide range of medieval weaponry as well as a few more modern implements (laser pistols, machine guns, etc). Knight Squad will also include a single-player Challenge Mode.
Best of all… if you previously purchased through Steam’s Early Access program, you’ll receive the Extra Chivalrous pack at launch. The Extra Chivalrous pack will include four new game modes (“Prison Break,” “Arms Race,” “Soul Hunter,” and “Serial Killer”) and three additional Knights.
Still not convinced? Check out the launch trailer above and you will be.
Posted in News, PC, Xbox One
Tagged Knight Squad