Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- Clair Obscur Completes the Sweep by Winning “Best Game” at 2025-2026 BAFTA Games Awards
- Boss Fight Books Gets 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
- Silent Hill, Dragon Quest, Skyrim, and More Announced as Finalists for the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026
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
Blazing Chrome’s new Boss Trailer confirms the shooter is also coming to Xbox One
The Arcade Crew and JoyMasher have unveiled a brand new trailer for Blazing Chrome that shines a spotlight on the side-scrolling shooter’s towering bosses.
But prospective players won’t just get a peek at the game’s rampaging robots and messy monsters. The publisher and developer also used the short clip to confirm that Blazing Chrome will be released for the Xbox One (in addition to the PC, PS4, and Switch) later this Spring:
New video shows off the terrible bosses you will have to fight to save humanity from extinction.
Blazing Chrome is a throwback 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. Players can tear through six highly-varied stages filled with deadly, bullet-spewing AI as Mavra, a lone human resistance fighter, or the rebellious robotic insurgent Doyle.
Blazing Chrome was heavily inspired by games such as Contra and Metal Slug, and while a final release date hasn’t been locked down yet, it should be available “soon.”
New Retail Releases: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, More
From Software is back in the spotlight this week, but it’s not for a new game in the Dark Souls franchise (or even the oft-requested Bloodborne 2). Instead, the famed developer will bring an entirely original game, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, to the PC, PS4, and Xbox One on Friday. Published by Activision, Sekiro’s players will take control of a disgraced warrior (the “One-Armed Wolf”) and attempt to rescue a young lord from the clutches of the Ashina Clan.
Speaking of ninjas, GameMill Entertainment will release American Ninja Warrior Challenge for the PS4, Switch, and Xbox One this week. This game adaptation of the over-the-top athletic contest will feature more than a dozen obstacles, a Character Creator, and a Course Creator.
Elsewhere on store shelves, SNK will launch the SNK 40th Anniversary Collection for the PS4. Compiling 24 games from SNK’s earliest days, fans will be able to replay Crystalis, the Ikari Warriors trilogy, P.O.W., and more.
And finally this week, Marvelous will release Fate/Extella Link, the latest action-adventure addition to the franchise, on the PS4 and Switch.
A smattering of new games will also be available to download through the PlayStation Store, Xbox Games Store, and Nintendo eShop later this week, and some of them will surely feature even more ninjas.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One
Tagged Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, SNK 40th Anniversary Collection
God of War captures “Game of the Year” at 2019 SXSW Gaming Awards
Sony Santa Monica’s God of War continued its award-winning ways this weekend with a trio of wins at the 2019 SXSW Gaming Awards. The action-adventure title was awarded “Game of the Year” by SXSW’s Gaming Advisory Board, as well as “Excellence In Design” and “Excellence in Visual Achievement.”
The rest of the 2019 SXSW Gaming Awards were spread out among a large number of games, and like Kratos, several managed to secure multiple victories. Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption 2 was the only other game to win in three categories, and it took home some hardware as the “Trending Game of the Year,” along with “Excellence in Technical Achievement” and “Excellence in SFX.”
Insomniac’s Spider-Man won two awards (“Excellence in Convergence” and “Excellence in Animation”), as did Epic’s Fortnite (“Most Promising New Esports Game” and “Excellence in Multiplayer”) and Beat Games’s Beat Saber (“VR Game of the Year” and “Most Promising New Intellectual Property”).
Congratulations to all the winners, and you can find a complete list of every award-winning game from the 2019 SXSW Gaming Awards at Video Game Canon.
Posted in Mobile, News, PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One
Tagged Celeste, Detroit: Become Human, Fortnite, God of War 4, No Man's Sky, Octopath Traveler, Red Dead Redemption 2, Spider-Man, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Tabletop Games, Tetris Effect
Blizzard files trademark application for Diablo television series
While Diablo IV continues to remain frustratingly out of reach, it looks like Blizzard is continuing on with their plan to produce “multiple Diablo projects” in the future.
On March 8, the publisher filed an application with the United State Patent and Trademark Office for a Diablo trademark related to “Downloadable films and movies featuring narratives based on a video game and provided via a video-on-demand service.”
By itself, this filing doesn’t mean much. But when combined with the persistent rumors that Blizzard is teaming up with Netflix (you know, the biggest “video-on-demand service” in the world) to produce an animated adaptation of Diablo, it starts looking a lot more likely.
Hopefully Blizzard has something to announce about a Diablo animated series (and Diablo IV, for that matter) soon.
Development has begun on the “Next Major Sonic Title” at Sonic Team
Sonic the Hedgehog has found a home at the SXSW Gaming Festival, and fans have been looking forward to the Spring event for the past few years to learn what’s next for Sega’s mighty mascot. This year was no different as Sonic Team’s Takashi Iizuka confirmed at the “Gotta Go Fast” panel that development has begun on the Next Major Sonic Title.
“You could probably guess it already, but we have already begun production on the Next Major Sonic Title,” Iizuka tolds fans on Saturday. “We are excited to share more news with you in the future, but for now, thanks for your patience until we have something to show.”
No other details about the upcoming titles (including which platforms its in development for or when it might be released) were announced. Presumably, we’ll learn more about the Next Major Sonic Title after the launch of Team Sonic Racing in May.
Posted in News
Yacht Club is bringing “something new” to PAX East 2019… and it looks like a post-apocalyptic ninja game
Yacht Club Games originally released Shovel Knight in 2013, and the developer has spent the half-decade since producing multiple expansions for the game to fulfill promises made during its Kickstarter campaign. The final two expansions, King of Cards and Showdown, will be available later this year, and now it looks like Yacht Club is getting ready to move on to their next project.
Yesterday, the developer uploaded a stunning bit of artwork to their Twitter account, while also confirming that they’re bringing “something new” to PAX East 2019:
Who is that, lurking silently in the distance? Something new will emerge from the shadows at @officialpaxeast … pic.twitter.com/w1MQhIrYiB
— Yacht Club Games (@YachtClubGames) March 16, 2019
Unlike the medieval aesthetic found in Shovel Knight, this new project looks to feature a more post-apocalyptic vibe as a ninja stands amongst the rubble of a modern skyline.
Yacht Club’s new game is obviously a bit of a mystery, but we’ll all find out what they’re cooking up in just a few weeks. PAX East 2019 kicks off later this month in Boston on Thursday, March 28.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One
Tagged Cyber Shadow, PAX East 2019
Turtle Rock will develop zombie-focused co-op shooter Back 4 Blood for WB Games
Turtle Rock Studios is best known as the driving creative force behind 2008’s Left 4 Dead and 2009’s Left 4 Dead 2, and fans have been clamoring for a threequel in the co-op zombie shooting series ever since.
While Valve retains the rights to the Left 4 Dead name, Turtle Rock is back in the news with the announcement of a brand new zombie-focused co-op shooter known as Back 4 Blood. Set to be published by WB Games, Back 4 Blood will use the foundation of the Left 4 Dead franchise and marry it to “new features and state-of-the-art technology.”
“It’s hard to overstate what an awesome opportunity this is. We get to return to a genre that was born in our studio with over ten years of additional experience and zombie ideas racked up in our brains,” said Chris Ashton, the Design Director at Turtle Rock Studios. “We also have some of the best teammates in the business at WBIE who understand our development process and are equally committed to our player-first mentality. We love being able to announce, so we can start working with the community right away.”
Details pertaining to Back 4 Blood are still pretty scarce, but a short FAQ on Turtle Rock’s official website confirms that the game will feature a Campaign Mode and PVP. The document also confirms that the developer’s previous partnership with Perfect World has been canceled.
Back 4 Blood is currently in development for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One, and according to Turtle Rock, we’ll learn more about it at a much later date.
The Behemoth is probably bringing Castle Crashers to the Switch, PS4
The Behemoth recently uploaded a mysterious new image to their Twitter account that is most likely pointing to an upcoming launch of Castle Crashers for the Switch. The tease is very subtle, but see if you can spot it…
— The Behemoth (@thebehemoth) March 14, 2019
All joking aside, linking the Castle Crashers’s color scheme with a quartet of Joy-Con Controllers was an absolute stroke of genius. The image is instantly recognizable and it says everything that The Behemoth wants to say without actually saying anything at all.
We don’t know when Castle Crashers will be released for the Switch (or even when it’ll be officially announced), but PAX East is coming up in two weeks and The Behemoth plans to have a big presence at the Boston-based show. I’d wager we’ll learn more about the developer’s future plans for Castle Crashers there.
UPDATE: A further tweet from The Behemoth is now hinting at a PS4 launch for Castle Crashers as well.
Posted in News, PS4, Switch
Tagged Castle Crashers, PAX East 2019