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
Beamdog’s Baldur’s Gate Interquel will be unveiled on July 9
Beamdog is currently counting down to something on the official Baldur’s Gate website… whatever could it be? Oh right, it’s probably that Baldur’s Gate Interquel (codenamed Adventure Y) they announced back in January. As long as the countdown clock is accurate, the game’s unveiling will take place on July 9 at 10:00 PM (Eastern Time).
The Baldur’s Gate Interquel is an original game that will bridge the gap between Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition and Baldur’s Gate II: Enhanced Edition. At the very least, Beamdog is expected to announce a release date for the untitled game.
Beamdog also has a second secret project in the works. Adventure Z (AKA Project: Beartrap AKA Project: Sharktrap) will be revealed in full later this Summer.
Posted in News, PC
Tagged Baldur's Gate
Weekly Warp-Up: End of June 2015 Edition
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…
With this year’s E3 Expo now just a memory, we move on to the great Summer drought that takes over the video game industry every year. For further proof, just look at all the hoopla that surrounded the news that Nintendo once asked Criterion to make an F-Zero game for the Wii U. Obviously, the game never happened, but the very act of asking (all the way back in 2011, I might add) made it a big deal in these post-E3 days.
Of course, the week’s actual biggest story is that WB Games has suspended future sales of Batman: Arkham Knight‘s PC version because of a ridiculous series of performance issues and graphical glitches.
But if you miss the E3 Expo, our own Andrew Rainnie opines that a part of him Wishes Sony Had Let The Last Guardian Fade Away.
You can find a few more news stories from the week that was after the break. (more…)
Posted in News
New Releases: J-Stars Victory Vs+, BlazBlue Chronophantasma, GTA San Andreas, More
Remember a year ago when Rockstar inexplicably added an Xbox 360 edition of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas to the Xbox Games Store to celebrate its tenth anniversary? Now the publisher has decided to inexplicably publish a retail disc version… and it’s coming out this week! It’s been a slow Summer season, so sure, why not?
Also available this week are a trio of Japanese imports…
- J-Stars Victory Vs+ (PS3, PS4), a crossover fighting game that features characters from Dragon Ball Z, Naruto, One Piece, and more.
- BlazBlue: Chronophantasma Extend (PS3, PS4, Xbox One), the latest update to the popular fighting game (and first on current-generation consoles) from Arc System Works.
- HyperDimension Neptunia ReBirth 3: V Generation (Vita), a handheld port of Idea Factory’s third JRPG parody of the video game industry.
If none of these games interests you, remember that the PlayStation Store, Xbox Games Store, and Nintendo eShop will receive a few new titles this week as well.
Posted in News, PS3, PS4, Vita, Xbox 360
Tagged BlazBlue: Chronophantasma, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, J-Stars Victory Vs+
Disgaea 5 will be released for the PS4 on October 6; Launch Day Edition detailed
NIS America has announced that Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance will be released exclusively for the PS4 on October 6. The strategy RPG series will be going in a darker direction for its PS4 debut, but the same type of quirky characters will remain. Writing on the PlayStation Blog, NIS’s Jordan Vincent had this to say:
The series is known for its unique cast of characters, which are always beautifully illustrated by Takehito Harada, and its over-the-top and hilarious stories and dialogue written by Sohei Niikawa. Disgaea 5 doesn’t disappoint in the jokes or art department, but it does take things in a new, darker direction. With a story centered on taking revenge on a powerful new Demon Emperor named Void Dark, this title follows our dark, self-assured hero, Killia, and his Overlord allies on their dark and dangerous path to vengeance.
Vincent also came bearing gifts, including a brand new story trailer, which has been embedded above. He also discussed some of the game’s many new features, including a main storyline that will last 45 hours and two new attack types. Alliance Attacks will “combine the strengths of specific members of the game’s main cast of characters when they have built up a strong enough bond with one another,” while the Revenge System will allow players to take revenge on enemies that beat up their buddies.
Finally, Vincent included a sneak peek at the Launch Day Edition, which will include the game, a reversible cover, a 32-page art book, and a soundtrack CD, all housed in a collectible box.
Posted in News, PS4
Tagged Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance
The Predator goes hunting against Mortal Kombat X’s kombatants this July
NetherRealm’s Creative Director, Ed Boon, has made Mortal Kombat fans very happy by confirming konfirming that The Predator will be available as a playable character sometime in July:
Recreate the Predator Movie (Komplete with Carl Weathers Jax) in Mortal Kombat X. Koming Soon….. pic.twitter.com/RnraAaafis
— Ed Boon (@noobde) June 24, 2015
NetherRealm is producing Mortal Kombat X’s add-on content at a pretty quick clip as the Predator is the third playable character to be added to the game since its April 14 release. Jason Voorhees teleported into the game shortly after launch, while Tanya made her playable debut a few weeks ago. Tremor, the final playable character and one of the few good things to come out of Mortal Kombat: Special Forces, will likely be released sometime in August.
Unlike the famous film series, this Predator won’t be hunting alone. He’ll be released alongside the Predator/Prey Pack, which will include new character skins for Johnny Cage (Commando), Scorpion (Infrared), and Jax (Carl Weathers as Dillon).
Remember, if it bleeds, we can kill it.
Xbox Store Today: Q
Q is the 17th letter of the alphabet and it rarely appears without a U directly after it.
Q supplies James Bond with all of his amazing spy gadgets.
Q quizzed Captain Picard on Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Q is a new Xbox One puzzler from Liica that is… better just watch the trailer embedded above.
Originally released for mobile devices, Q asks players to complete a series of tasks by drawing lines on the screen using a controller or the Kinect sensor. It’s budget-priced at $5.99, so it might just be the perfect pickup for someone looking for a game that’s just a little bit quirky:
Q ($5.99)
Are you capable of getting a ball out of a cup? If you are confident that you can, we challenge you. Take on the challenge by creating a solution on the screen to clear the Q. The solution differs greatly from person to person. There are Q’s that even we developers cannot solve. Interested? We challenge you to complete the Q. You will be able to see how many people in the world have managed to solve each problem.
Nintendo will build 100 levels for Super Mario Maker… more than any previous Mario game
UPDATE: It looks like Super Mario Maker won’t ship with 100 pre-built levels on the disc. Instead, 60 courses will be available when you first boot up the game, which is still a pretty impressive number.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE: Last week, we learned that Super Mario Maker would ship with a number of pre-built levels, including the four featured during the finals of the 2015 Nintendo World Championships. But those four are apparently just the beginning for the Wii U game (or possibly the end, considering how difficult they were).
It’s been removed in the interim, but yesterday, Super Mario Maker’s page on Nintendo UK included a new bullet point promising the game would ship with 100 pre-made levels. Specifically, the site stated, “There are also 100 courses included that you can play without an internet connection.” Not only is that a very generous number, but the inclusion of 100 courses would actually make Super Mario Maker the biggest Mario game of all time. As you can see from this chart, every other entry in the side-scrolling series pales in comparison:
| Title | Number of Levels |
| Super Mario Bros. | 32 |
| Super Mario Bros. 2 | 20 |
| Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels | 52 |
| Super Mario Bros. 3 | 90 |
| Super Mario World | 72 |
| New Super Mario Bros. | 80 |
| New Super Mario Bros. Wii | 77 |
| New Super Mario Bros. 2 | 92 |
| New Super Mario Bros. U | 73 |
It may not have a World Map, but Super Mario Maker is clearly no mere level editor. And when you add in all the ridiculously creative courses that will surely be created after the game’s September 11 launch, it might be the last Mario side-scroller we’ll ever need.
Posted in News, Wii U
Tagged Super Mario Maker
USA! USA! USA! Splatoon’s first Splatfest has been rescheduled for July 4
After a week of tinkering, Nintendo has worked out all the kinks in Splatoon‘s network code and is ready to reschedule the game’s first North American Splatfest. The all-day “Dogs Versus Cats” showdown will now take place on Saturday, July 4. Hopefully, everyone out there in Nintendo-Land will celebrate the independence of our nation by splatting a large part of it!
The Splatfest will begin bright and early on July 4 at 3:00 AM (Eastern Time). After 24 ink-filled hours, the contest will come to an end at 2:59 AM (Eastern Time) on July 5. And then we’ll finally know which four-legged furball is truly man’s best friend. Spoiler Alert… the correct answer is dogs… regardless of what happens during the Splatfest, the answer is dogs.
You can make your selection now in-game at the Splatfest kiosk in Inkopolis Plaza. Participants will receive a special Splatfest t-shirt with three ability slots. Unfortunately, you have to give it back after the event is over.