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
Dying Light, Grim Fandango Remastered, Life Is Strange Episode 1, more added to PS Store
It’s all about the undead in this week’s PlayStation Store update:
- Zombies figure prominently in Techland’s Dying Light for the PS4. The first-person survival game incorporates a day/night cycle and gives parkour moves to the player-controlled characters.
- The afterlife of the undead is the focus of Grim Fandango Remastered, a PS4/Vita Cross-Buy re-release of the popular adventure game from Tim Tim Schafer. Only Manny Calavera, a travel agent at the Department of Death, could make Limbo this exciting.
- The first episode of Dontnod’s Life Is Strange (available Friday on the PS3 and PS4) introduces us to Max, a woman who is able to bring people back to life thanks to her ability to rewind time.
Two decidedly un-undead games were also added to the Vita storefront this week. There’s the wacky RPG antics of HyperDimension Neptunia ReBirth 2: Sisters Generation and the dark puzzle-platforming of Nihilumbra.
More information on all of these games can be found after the break and a full rundown of this week’s new game add-ons and discounts can be found at the PlayStation Blog. (more…)
Posted in News, PS3, PS4, Vita
Tagged Dying Light, Grim Fandango, Life Is Strange
Ice to see you… Latest Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel trailer features Lady Hammerlock
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel expanded today with the release of the Lady Hammerlock Pack, which adds Aurelia the Baroness to the game as a playable character. Lady Hammerlock is a master of ice-based superpowers and you can get a small taste of that in the trailer above. “On the Rocks” doesn’t even begin to describe it.
The Lady Hammerlock Pack is part of the Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel Season Pass (which is priced at $29.99), but she can also be downloaded on her own for $9.99.
Reptile hisses his way into Mortal Kombat X
NetherRealm Studios has partnered with IGN to release the latest trailer for Mortal Kombat X and it features a character reveal of one of the franchise’s favorites… Reptile!
The original secret character is back with a scaly costume that looks both fresh and familiar. Almost all of Reptile’s classic special moves will be included in Mortal Kombat X including Acid Spit, Power Slide, Invisibility, and Force Ball. He’s also got a new tongue stunner that looks like a ton of fun.
Mortal Kombat X will be released for the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on April 14. The game is expected to include at least 28 characters, so we’re going to be reporting on a lot more of these character reveals over the next three months.
Shadow of Mordor and Dragon Age 3 lead all nominees at 2015 SXSW Gaming Awards
Another major award show has announced their 2014/2015 nominees and, once again, Dragon Age: Inquisition and Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor lead the pack. This time, we’re discussing the 2015 SXSW Gaming Awards, where each game has secured five nominations apiece.
Naturally, both games are competing for the Game of the Year prize, alongside Bayonetta 2, Dark Souls II, and Shovel Knight. Dragon Age: Inquisition was also nominated for “Excellence in Gameplay,” “Excellence in Technical Achievement,” “Excellence in Narrative,” and “Excellence in Design and Direction.” Shadow of Mordor is up for most of the same secondary awards, except swap out “Excellence in Gameplay” for “Excellence in Animation.”
The winners of the 2015 SXSW Gaming Awards will be announced on Saturday, March 14 as part of the SXSW Gaming Expo, which runs from March 13th through the 15th in Austin, Texas. The first list of nominees can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, Mobile, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Bayonetta 2, Dark Souls II, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor, Shovel Knight, Tabletop Games
Bandai Namco will distribute Professional Lumberjack and Professional Farmer
European gamers love those simulations that attempt to recreate some esoteric career choice on their PC or console. Today, the developer behind many of these simulation games, United Independent Entertainment, has signed a deal with Bandai Namco to distribute three titles (Professional Lumberjack 2015, Professional Lumberjack 2016, and Professional Farmer 2016) on a worldwide scale. Professional Lumberjack 2015 is a PC exclusive and it will be available to download very soon. Meanwhile, Professional Lumberjack 2016 and Professional Farmer 2016 will be released digitally for the PC and consoles sometime later in 2015.
Maybe those Europeans are on to something. I had no idea a Professional Lumberjack game even existed and now I want to try it out. If you interest is similarly piqued, more details about Professional Farmer 2016 and Professional Lumberjack 2016 can be found right here:
Professional Farmer 2016
Take the challenge of professional agriculture and get set for a dynamic and wide-ranging farm simulation experience with Professional Farmer 2016 that will be available on PC and consoles in 2015. Control a huge fleet of vehicles and machinery across a sweeping countryside – as you deal with the forces of nature and respond accordingly to perfect the yield from fields, care for the animals, and expand your farm.Professional Lumberjack 2016
Get ready for the ultimate Lumberjack experience in Professional Lumberjack 2016, scheduled to be release on PC and consoles in 2015. This simulator game takes you in first and third person perspective mode to the forest. Your job is to fell the trees and prepare the timber, to drive the machinery (harvester, trucks, quads), to control and manage the stand of trees etc. Start your lumberjack career now and become the owner of one of the most successful lumber mills of all time!
First person lumberjacking! Can you believe it?
The Witness reaches “Puzzle Complete” milestone, but still no release date in sight
As one of the first games presented during the PlayStation 4’s unveiling, it was originally assumed that Jonathan Blow’s The Witness would be a launch title for Sony’s new-generation console. But here we are in the first month of 2015 and the Myst-inspired puzzler is still no where to be seen. But it looks like the development team has just reached a major milestone.
In a post on the game’s News Blog, Blow wrote that The Witness is now “Puzzle Complete,” meaning that all of the game’s 677 puzzles and “high-level creative decisions” have been completed. The developers said that there’s still work to be done on some “story stuff” and “the menu system,” but for the most part, all that’s left is polishing and playtesting:
It does *not* mean that the game is done. We still have a lot to do! But it *does* mean that the nature of the work changes and becomes simpler, because we don’t have to be making high-level creative decisions any more. It is now much more about turning the finish-the-game crank (making sure stuff plays well and polishing it up) for anything related to game design, modeling and texturing.
However, the bad news is that The Witness still doesn’t have a release date. So we’ll all just have to continue to wait patiently for the game, which will launch first for the PC and PS4, then on iOS, and on “other platforms” after that.
Posted in Mobile, News, PC, PS4
Tagged The Witness
Insert Quarter: An Incredibly Detailed Look at the Invention of the Game Cartridge
Insert Quarter is our showcase for some of the best and most interesting writing about video games on the Internet.
Have you ever wondered exactly how the game cartridge came to be invented? Benj Edwards, a freelancer for Fast Company, has produced what is quite possibly the most in-depth exploration of the creation of the technology you could ask for. It starts with the revelation that American Machine and Foundry (or AMF, one of the largest manufacturers of bowling alley equipment in the country) had a hand in creating the game cartridge and it just gets crazier from there:
Consider the humble video game cartridge. It’s a small, durable plastic box that imparts the most immediate, user-friendly software experience ever created. Just plug it in, and you’re playing a game in seconds.
If you’ve ever used one, you have two men to thank: Wallace Kirschner and Lawrence Haskel, who invented the game cartridge 40 years ago while working at an obscure company and rebounding from a business failure. Once the pair’s programmable system had been streamlined and turned into a commercial product—the Channel F console—by a team at pioneering electronics company Fairchild, it changed the fundamental business model of home video games forever. By injecting flexibility into a new technology, it paved the way for massive industry growth and the birth of a new creative medium.
The full article is available for your perusal at Fast Company.
Posted in Insert Quarter
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel will get Lady Hammerlock Pack on January 27
If you’ve been playing Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel and are eagerly awaiting the next playable character from Gearbox Software and 2K Australia, then fear not, your wait is almost over. The developer announced during this weekend’s PAX South convention that the next playable character, Lady Aurelia the Baroness, will be available to download tomorrow, January 27. Better known as Lady Hammerlock, Aurelia is the sister to everyone’s favorite adventurer, Sir Hammerlock:
Aurelia is the heir of the Hammerlock family fortune, but when she’s not riding her hoverbike through the endless hallways of her orbital turbomansion, she’s out hunting the latest and greatest game in the galaxy. If these expeditions should put her in conflict with her younger brother Alistair – aka Sir Hammerlock – all the better. The only thing more fun than shooting a rare animal Alistair intended to study is the look of abject horror and surprise on his face once Aurelia wears its carcass like a jaunty scarf.
Normally, Lady Hammerlock would never be seen within a light year of Pandora, but she’s grown bored as her turbomansion grows cold, while her lust for violence grows hot. She’s headed to Elpis with nothing more than an expensive gun, an experimental Cryo diadem, and a powerful belief that shooting angry things in the face is a good deal of fun.
The Lady Hammerlock Pack is part of Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel’s Season Pass, but it can also be purchased separately for $9.99. More details on her Action Skill and Skill Trees can be found at the Gearbox Software News Blog.
Lady Hammerlock will also be included in Borderlands: The Handsome Collection, the PS4/Xbox One update to The Pre-Sequel which also includes Borderlands 2, when it ships to stores on March 24.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, PAX South 2015