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
Xbox 360 owners can now claim Xbox One’s Games With Gold titles
Did you know that gamers without an Xbox One have been able to claim the monthly Games With Gold offerings through Xbox.com as long as they have an Xbox Live Gold account? I had no idea. Way to drop the ball Microsoft. This is the kind of feature that your customers (and prospective Xbox One purchasers) would have loved to learn about this earlier.
So why are they talking about it now? Well, according to Major Nelson, Xbox 360 owners can now claim the latest Games With Gold offerings for the Xbox One from the Xbox 360 dashboard. All you have to do is open the Games With Gold section and then “purchase” it there.
This month’s Games With Gold selection on the Xbox One is Rayman Legends. If you’ve itching to try out Ubisoft’s popular platformer, now’s the time… even if you don’t own an Xbox One.
PS4 version of Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster will launch on May 12
Square Enix has announced that PS4 players will be able to get their hands on the Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster beginning May 12. Aside from enhanced graphics, the PS4 version doesn’t differ too greatly from the compilation that was released for the PS3 and Vita last year. However, one of the major changes in the PS4 version is the ability to switch between the game’s original soundtrack and a remastered version. Cross-Save Functionality and Vita Remote Play are also included.
Players who decide to pre-order Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster will receive an exclusive desk calendar featuring artwork by Yoshitaka Amano, one of the illustrators who helped shape Final fantasy X and Final Fantasy X-2‘s look 15 years ago.
Posted in News, PS4
Tagged Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster
Harmonix adds Team Play to Amplitude and shows off first gameplay trailer
Harmonix will bring a playable demo of their “recharged” Amplitude reboot to the PAX East expo this weekend. And if you’re one of the lucky few in attendance, you’ll be able to give the game’s new Team Play mode a try. Ryan Lesser, Amplitude’s Creative Lead, debuted the feature on the PlayStation Blog and tried to convey how the mode works in their musical shooter:
Team play is something we’d never done in Amplitude before, and allowing players to team up 2v2 or even 3v1 sounded like an amazing way to even the playing field without disrupting the current design. We decided to give it a shot, and after some iteration and tweaking, we are proud to say that it’s already super fun.
In addition to introducing Team Play, Harmonix also revealed the first gameplay trailer for Amplitude, which will be released for the PS3 and PS4 sometime this year.
Posted in News, PS3, PS4
Tagged Amplitude, PAX East 2015
Trine 3: The Artifacts of Power announced by Frozenbyte for 2015 release
Frozenbyte has announced they’ve been hard at work on the third game in the Trine series “for quite a long time.” In fact, they’re so far along they announced that Trine 3: The Artifacts of Power is on track to be released for the PC this year. Other platforms will follow, but Frozenbyte isn’t ready to talk about them just yet.
Trine 3 will include the familiar multiplayer puzzle platforming that the series is known for, but the trailer above confirms that some form of limited 3D movement will be included as well, though it looks like there’s still a lot of traditional side-scrolling stuff.
To celebrate the announcement, Frozenbyte is deeply discounting the first two Trine games on Steam for the next two weeks. Both games, as well as Shadowgrounds and its sequel, have been marked down by 85%.
Posted in News, PC
Tagged Trine 3 : The Artifacts of Power
Interplay will resculpt the ClayFighter franchise on PC in 2016
ClayFighter was one of the stranger games to come out of the Super NES/Genesis era, mixing the brutal one-on-one fighting of Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter II with claymation-based visuals. But somehow, the bizarre concept helped ClayFighter rise above the fray and it’s popularity spawned two sequels (1995’s ClayFighter 2: Judgment Clay and 1997’s ClayFighter 63 1/3) and a devoted fan following.
After laying dormant for almost 20 years, Interplay has announced the franchise will return in 2016 in a remastered edition that will include characters, concepts, and features from all three games:
- More with over 20 characters total including Bad Mr. Frosty, Blue Suede Goo, Earthworm Jim, Hoppy, Boogerman, and Tiny!
- Over 20 familiar environments from the series to duke it out in!
- Unique supers and Claytality moves for each character!
In addition to remastering previous characters and environments, Interplay and developer Drip Drop Games will introduce new gameplay mechanics to ClayFighter such as double jumping, air dashing, counters, and reversals. High resolution visuals and revamped audio will round the “ultimate clay based gaming experience.”
ClayFighter Remastered is in development exclusively for the PC, but hopefully it’ll make its way to consoles as well.
A mobile version of Mortal Kombat X is also in development
In years past, NetherRealm’s mobile team has produced a scaled down version of Injustice: Gods Among Us, as well as fighting game spinoffs of Batman: Arkham City and Batman: Arkham Origins. Earlier this year, they turned WWE wrestlers into superheroes and supervillains for the similarly styled WWE Immortals. Today, the developer has confirmed that Mortal Kombat X will get the same treatment this April.
Like their previous efforts, the mobile version of Mortal Kombat X will be a free-to-play fighting/card-battler hybrid. Fatalities will definitely make the cut in the mobile version, as will X-Rays and the “iconic visceral combat” the franchise is known for. Mortal Kombat X on mobile will link up with the PC/console edition and players will be able to unlock content within each version by completing tasks and Achievements/Trophies in the other.
“NetherRealm Studios has created a Mortal Kombat X mobile experience that allows more players than ever before to play this over-the-top fighting game through their ever-present smartphones, tablets or other devices,” said Ed Boon, Creative Director, NetherRealm Studios. “What’s more, we’ve expanded the unique cross-connectivity feature that links the mobile and console versions of Mortal Kombat X, delivering unique rewards to all players for simply playing the mobile game.”
Mortal Kombat X will be available in April for all iOS (iPhone, iPad, iOS Touch) and Android devices.
The Scarecrow takes over in Batman: Arkham Knight’s “Gotham is Mine” trailer
John Noble has brought eccentricity and menace to his roles as Walter Bishop on Fringe and the Horseman of War on Sleepy Hollow, but only his voice is required to strike fear into the heart of Gotham in the upcoming Batman: Arkham Knight. Noble will play Jonathan Crane (AKA The Scarecrow) in Rocksteady’s trilogy-capping entry of the Arkham series. And like on Fringe and Sleepy Hollow, he has a plan.
In this new trailer, dubbed “Gotham is Mine” by the developers, The Scarecrow reveals how he will bring together Batman’s greatest rogues. Two-Face, The Penguin, The Riddler, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, and the all-new Arkham Knight will join forces to kill the Dark Knight once and for all.
Will they succeed? We’ll all find out together on June 2, when Batman: Arkham Knight launches for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Batman: Arkham Knight
Valve and HTC team up for the Vive virtual reality headset
A new player has joined the virtual reality wars as Valve and HTC have announced that they will collaborate on the creation of Vive, a virtual reality headset that will use Valve’s SteamVR technology. A “developer edition” of Vive will be available this Spring and a consumer version is expected to launch this Fall. The Vive will be on display at this week’s Game Developers Conference in San Francisco where it will join a very crowded marketplace that includes the Oculus Rift, the Samsung Gear VR, and Sony’s Project Morpheus. The Vive’s official website includes more details about the device, including a claim that it will eliminate the “jitter” found in other headsets:
A 1,200 by 1,080 pixel screen in front of each eye, with refresh rates of a blistering 90 frames per second, displays photorealistic imagery that fills your field of vision in all directions, eliminating the jitter common to previous VR technologies and transporting you to another world.
A special two-handed controller will allow players to interact with objects in the simulation and optional SteamVR “base stations” can be paired with Vive to create a 15×15 area that players can use to walk around their virtual world. So who will be creating these worlds? Valve has partnered with three developers (so far) to create content for Vive including Cloudhead Games (The Gallery: Six Elements), Dovetail Games (Microsoft Fight Simulator), and Fireproof Games (The Room).
More will surely sign up in the coming days.