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
Halo 3: ODST and “Remnant” map now available for Halo: Master Chief Collection
Halo: The Master Chief Collection got a little bigger yesterday when Microsoft added the Halo 3: ODST single-player campaign and the Halo 2 Anniversary “Remnant” map as downloadable options.
Halo 3: ODST is set between Halo 2 and Halo 3 and follows a team of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers (ODST) in the aftermath of the New Mombasa invasion. Featuring upgraded graphics, the Halo 3: ODST campaign is available as a free download if you played Halo: The Master Chief Collection between November 11, 2014 and December 19, 2014. However, if you’re new to the compilation, the campaign can be download for $4.99. Max Szlagor, a Senior Game Designer at 343 Industries, and Joseph Staten, a developer on the original Xbox 360 version of Halo 3: ODST, discuss the game in the video above.
Meanwhile, the “Remnant” map is based on Halo 2’s “Relic” map, and is available as a free content update for everyone. According to Microsoft, the “Remnant” maps features “a towering and iconic Forerunner megalith, weathered over untold millennia. The map’s asymmetric layout and the artifact’s elevated, yet embedded, position, make it perfect for classic Slayer, Assault, and 1-Flag CTF game types.” A detailed look at the “Remnant” map, part of The Halo Channel’s “Breaking Down the Map” series, can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, Xbox One
Tagged Halo 3: ODST, Halo: The Master Chief Collection
Bloodstained coming to Wii U with Vita version now in sight
As expected, backers have pushed the Kickstarter campaign for Koji Igarashi’s Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night past the $3 million mark, reaching a huge stretch goal and opening up a few more.
First things first, this new monetary benchmark means a Wii U version of the game will officially go into development at Armature. The porting house plans to make full use of the GamePad’s second screen and will feature a map that can be fully annotated. Though if you prefer Off-Screen Play, that will also be included. Miiverse integration, and Wii U Pro Controller support will be included as well.
A pair of additional stretch goals have also opened up including Asynchronous Online Multiplayer at $3.25 million and a Vita version of the game at $3.5 million. And actually, the Asynchronous Online Multiplayer features that “Iga” would like to include sound very cool:
- “Borrow” a friend’s character stats for a certain amount of time (your friend will get a bonus)
- Ghost Data (See friend’s saved character movements while fighting a boss)
- Friend’s playthroughs affect your game in some way (e.g. a gravestone and an offering might mark the spot where your friend died)
Bloodstained’s campaign still has 12 days to go, so both of these stretch goals (and surely a few others) seem well within reach.
Weekly Warp-Up: It’s One of Those Weeks 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…
Every few months, there’s that one week where nothing truly BIG happens and you just have to make due with a bunch of smaller news stories. This is one of those weeks.
First things first, feel free to check out a recently-posted review of We Are Doomed, it’s a pretty good twin-stick shooter if you’re interested in that kind of thing.
Now then, it’s neat that 2K Games is teasing a game currently known as Advent with a pretty interesting in-universe website. But we don’t know anything else about it and probably won’t until E3. It was also interesting to hear Sony’s Andrew House say their 2015 lineup is “a little sparse” while calling the Vita a “legacy platform.” I enjoy the honesty, but let’s face it, everyone’s 2015 is looking a little sparse. Thank god for Mario Maker…
Speaking of Nintendo, how about a standing ovation for the Humble Nindie Bundle, which brings the “pay-what-you-want” model to the 3DS and Wii U for the first time. That is seriously great, but not what you’d call “blockbuster” news.
Oh well, if nothing else, this week gave us the Darksiders II “Deathinitive Edition” and that’s a terrible play-on-words I can get behind. If you’re looking for more news from this past week, you’ll find it after the break. (more…)
Posted in News
New Releases: Heroes of the Storm, Lord of Magna: Maiden Heaven, Tetris Vita, More
As we close the book on May and its scant slate of new releases, we look ahead to June and find… another scant slate of new releases. Sigh.
This week, Blizzard is ready to roll out the full version of Heroes of the Storm, their entry into the crowded MOBA field. Also available as a Battle.net download for the PC, this “Starter Pack” will include five heroes (Sonya the Warrior, Zeratul the Assassin, Zagara the Specialist, Li Li the Support, and Jaina the Assassin) and a Golden Tiger Mount.
Also available this week is Lord of Magna: Maiden Heaven, a new strategy RPG for the 3DS from Marvelous and XSEED. Lord of Magna follows Luchs as he attempts to recruit seven maidens to save the world and battles enemies by literally bowling them over. Speaking of knocking things down, Ubisoft will also bring everyone’s favorite puzzle game to the Vita this week as Tetris Ultimate.
Finally, Rescue 2: Everyday Heroes is a firefighter sim for the PC and a sequel to Rescue 2013: Everyday Heroes.
Posted in 3DS, News, PC, Vita
Tagged Heroes of the Storm, Tetris Ultimate
Splat or be Splatted in the Splatoon launch trailer
The paint flies fast and furious in the Nintendo UK launch trailer for Splatoon, which is available in stores worldwide today.
If you’re still unsure about Nintendo’s first wholly original property in years, this trailer makes a pretty compelling case for shooter fans. Especially if you’re interested in the 4v4 online fights found in Turf Wars… or the one-on-one local duels in the Battle Dojo… or the single-player story campaign… or the game’s three Amiibo figures.
Just don’t get splatted.
Lords of the Fallen 2 will be released in 2017
Eurogamer has learned that Lords of the Fallen 2 will be released sometime in 2017. Marek Tyminski, the CEO of CI Games, also shared the news that 900,000 copies of Lords of the Fallen have been sold since the game’s Fall 2014 launch.
However, Tyminski also had some bad news for the European news site. He confirmed that Lords of the Fallen’s main developer, Deck 13, will not be involved with the sequel. From the sound of it, the split appears to be mutual:
“We have spoken about certain things we could probably do after the release of Lords of the Fallen but at the end of the day we came to the conclusion, both sides, that it won’t happen, and as far as I know they have another project, and I wish them luck. We have very clear thinking on how we want to make Lords of the Fallen 2 and we have a very good idea.”
That said, Tyminski also told Eurogamer that his goal with Lords of the Fallen 2 is to “make a much better game.”
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Lords of the Fallen, Lords of the Fallen 2
Xbox Store Today: Badland, Beach Buggy Racing
Two new Xbox One games are now available to download on the Xbox Games Store.
Badland: Game of the Year Edition brings Frogmind’s popular mobile side-scroller to consoles for the first time. The Game of the Year Edition will include the same physics-based flying as the mobile version while adding stick controls, high definition graphics, and local multiplayer.
Also available this week is Beach Buggy Racing, a colorful kart racer that includes a field of rival drivers, each with unique personalities and special abilities. Yup, definitely sounds like a kart racer alright.
More information on both games can be found after the break. (more…)
Get a VIP tour of Lego Jurassic World in this new trailer
I know it’s quite cliche to open an article like this, but welcome to Lego Jurassic World! WB Games and TT Games have released a new trailer to promote their Lego-ized adaptation of the four Jurassic Park films and this time we’re treated to a “VIP Tour” of the park.
We’ve also learned that the first two DLC packs will be available as a free bonus to fans that pre-order the game through the digital storefronts:
Pre-Order Through PlayStation Store (PS3 or PS4) and Get…
Jurassic Park Trilogy Pack #1
Characters – Dino Handler, Eric Kirby, and Paul Kirby
Vehicle – Animal Control Vehicle
Pre-Order Through Xbox Games Store (Xbox 360 or Xbox One) and Get…
Jurassic Park Trilogy Pack #2
Characters – Jurassic Park Helicopter Pilot, Lex Murphy, and Tim Murphy
Vehicle – Ian Malcolm’s San Diego Cruiser
Both packs will be available after launch for $0.99 each.
Lego Jurassic World will be released on June 12 for the 3DS, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. Jurassic World will open in theaters on the same day.