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
Nintendo Download: Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D , Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, Breath of Fire, more
3DS owners will be very pleased with this week’s Nintendo Download as the forgotten member of the Zelda family, The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D, will be available to download through the 3DS eShop beginning tomorrow. Besides asking yourself if a Zelda game can truly be forgotten, Majora’s Mask is an interesting look back at how Nintendo treated one of their biggest franchises in the early 21st century. But even if you’re one of those people who didn’t think it worked the first time around (watch as I sheepishly raise my hand), every game should get a second chance like this.
Speaking of second chances, the rest of this week’s new 3DS games should also look familiar to gamers:
- Capcom is bringing an enhanced version of Monster Hunter 4 to the 3DS eShop tomorrow as Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate. Never-before-available in America, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate will give players the chance to “tackle hundreds of quests and take down ferocious monsters.”
- Bandai Namco has slapped a fresh coat of paint on Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy as well as added Amiibo support to the aerial shooter. These additions have given it the new name Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy +.
- Finally, Sega is resurrecting one of their Genesis-era shooters exclusively for the 3DS as 3D Fantasy Zone.
Even though most of this week’s focus is on the 3DS, the Wii U got in on the re-release game too as Konami has added the well-liked SNES RPG Breath of Fire to the Wii U eShop.
More details on all of these games (and a few other new releases) can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, Wii U
Tagged Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Tekken 7’s opening movie features a volcano, an old man, and the devil
I like to think that whoever was in charge of designing a final boss for Tekken was a Seinfeld fan. I mean, the resemblance between antagonist Heihachi Mishima and Uncle Leo can’t be a coincidence, right? It makes as much sense as anything in a series that’s brimming with corporate intrigue, demonic possession, and hyper-intelligent bears.
More recently, Bandai Namco has released the opening cinematic from Tekken 7, and Uncle Leo’s doppelganger, Heihachi Mishima, is back for more. Battling his son, Kazuya Mishima, atop an erupting volcano, things don’t go well for Heihachi. If only Cousin Jeffrey were there to help him…
Tekken 7 will be available in Japanese arcades next week, and presumably a PS4 and Xbox One port will follow.
New trailer showcases “Spring 2015” Vita games: Shovel Knight, Hotline Miami 2, more
I’m not sure Sony understands how seasons work, especially after viewing this highlight reel of “Spring 2015” releases on the Vita. The mercury has dropped to 40 below in some places, and I’m watching a trailer that includes a game that launched yesterday (the monkey rhythm game Jungle Rumble), one that was released last week (movie tie-in SpongeBob HeroPants), and another that’s been available since January (Grim Fandango Remastered). Now, I’m no big city meteorologist, but I think I can safely say that those are all “Winter” releases.
That said, the short trailer does give us a nice glimpse at some of the upcoming Vita games that will populate the PlayStation Store over the next three months. They include JRPG Oreshika: Tainted Bloodlines, surreal shooter Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number, top-down squad shooter Helldivers, beloved retro side-scroller Shovel Knight, action RPG Toukiden: Kiwami, side-scrolling skateboarder OlliOlli 2: Welcome to Olliwood, and the Zelda-like Titan Souls.
Further said, this trailer isn’t just for portable players. Many of these titles will be offered up on the PS3 and/or PS4 as part of Sony’s Cross-Buy promotion.
Posted in News, Vita
Tagged Helldivers, Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number, OlliOlli2: Welcome to Olliwood, Shovel Knight, Titan Souls, Toukiden: Kiwami
Learn more about the story of Homeworld Remastered Collection in this new trailer
If you’re like me, you don’t know much about Homeworld and Homeworld 2. You’ve probably heard someone mention them before. You might even know that they’re critically-acclaimed strategy games from the turn of the century. But that’s probably it.
Gearbox wants to change all that with the Homeworld Remastered Collection, which is scheduled for release on February 25. In this new trailer, the publisher wants to give gamers a look at the improved graphics, audio, and visual effects found in the Remastered Collection. A short primer on the story is also included for those of us who missed them the first time around.
And for gamers who are looking to relive the Homeworld experience, the Homeworld Remastered Collection will include “Classic” versions of both games, perfectly recreating how they looked and played when they were originally released in 1999 and 2003.
Posted in News, PC
Tagged Homeworld, Homeworld 2
Xbox Store Today: Evolve, Don Bradman Cricket
Two very different games made their Xbox Games Store debut today.
First up is Evolve (Xbox One), Turtle Rock’s “4v1” shooter that asks players to take control of four Hunters and confront an eldritch abomination that would give H.P. Lovecroft the heebie-jeebies.
Also available to download this week is Don Bradman Cricket (Xbox One). Dozens of cricket simulations have been released in the UK over the years, but this is one of the first to make its way to America.
More details on both games can be found right here:
Xbox One Games
Evolve ($59.99)
Evolve is the next generation of multiplayer shooters featuring adrenaline pumping 4v1 action A player-controlled Monster must evade a team of four unique playable Hunters who are working together and stalking to kill. Evolve and overpower as the Monster or team up and outnumber as the Hunters. It’s survival of the fittest and any side can win. CHOOSE YOUR SIDE.Don Bradman Cricket ($59.99)
Take a 16 year old aspiring cricketer through the ranks to international glory in Career mode. Fully customize your play experience, set-up tours, competitions, create players, teams and even umpires in the Cricket Academy. Hone your skills to perfection in the Practice nets before taking to the field. The most realistic physics ever seen in a Cricket game including thin edges, bat pad catches, intimidating bouncers and much more.
Ex-Rare devs announce spiritual successor to Donkey Kong Country and Banjo-Kazooie
Before Rare became known as Microsoft’s Kinect team (though that’ll be changing soon), they developed a whole slew of well-received platformers for Nintendo. Now, the core developers behind those titles have left Rare and struck out on their own as Playtonic Games. Their first project? A spiritual successor to Donkey Kong Country and Banjo-Kazooie.
This project is currently known as Project Ukulele, and Playtonic plans to pull back the curtain on it in this month’s issue of Edge Magazine, which will be available on newsstands tomorrow. The team has also written a bit about Project Ukelele on their official website:
We’ve got the bloke who programmed Donkey Kong Country, the character designer behind Banjo and Kazooie, and the artist who made your console fit to burst with lavish environments across a decade’s worth of adventure games.
Together, our all-star ensemble is aiming to build its debut game, Project Ukulele, into a worthy spiritual successor to those fondly remembered platforming adventures we built in the past.
I highly recommend a visit to PlaytonicGames.com as the site also includes biographies of the team members and the first piece of concept art from Project Ukulele.
Things get a little hairy in the first Hitman: Agent 47 film trailer
It hasn’t been an easy production for Hitman: Agent 47, the latest film adaptation of IO Interactive’s game franchise. Fast and the Furious actor Paul Walker was originally set to star as the titular assassin before his untimely death in 2013. 20th Century Fox continued their search for a new 47 (Timothy Olyphant first played the character in 2007’s Hitman) before settling on Homeland‘s Rupert Friend.
But filming seems to have gone smoothly and Hitman: Agent 47 is now on track for an August 28 opening. However, you should be warned, Agent 47 isn’t sporting his signature bald pate in the movie’s first trailer. Aside from that rather glaring error, Hitman: Agent 47 doesn’t look too bad. There’s some decent action and Zachary Quinto (Star Trek‘s Spock) is also along for the ride.
If you’re looking for a more authentic Hitman experience, you might need to wait for IO Interactive’s next game in the series. However, the untitled Hitman 6 is currently without a release date.
David Jaffe’s Drawn To Death will be free-to-play… but not in the traditional sense
Did you catch the unveiling of David Jaffe’s arena shooter Drawn To Death during December’s PlayStation Experience event? The game’s world is created entirely using a graphical style that can best be described as “the notebook doodles of a 12-year-old boy.” Pairing an experimental art style with an experimental price, Jaffe has confirmed (via Reddit) that Drawn To Death will be available as a free-to-play game… though not in the traditional sense:
Hey- yes, our game is Free To Play. But note that it’s done by a team that dislikes traditional free to play games very, very much. We don’t like pay to win and we don’t like taking play mechanics away from Players simply to have them earn them or pay for them. That said, we LOVE the discoverability (as PowerofX says) of free to play and the very wide net it creates, allowing us to get many more folks giving our game a shot. We also love the idea of running a service based title, constantly staying engaged with the fans of the game and adjusting aspects of the game on the fly to allow the game to hit the game’s sweet spot.
It’s currently unknown how Drawn To Death’s developer, The Bartlet Jones Supernatural Detective Agency, will make any money off of the game without using traditional free-to-play methods. Hopefully we’ll find out soon.
Posted in News, PS4
Tagged Drawn to Death