Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- Jordan Minor’s “Boss Fight Books: Super Mario Galaxy” is Now Available for Pre-Order
- Angry Birds, Dragon Quest, FIFA Soccer, and Silent Hill are the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026
- 2025 GOTY Scoreboard: In Progress
- 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
Warp Zoned Presents
- Video Game Research Library
- With Grand Theft Auto 6 poised to take over the world, I reached out to Jack Thompson and it did not go well – PC Gamer (2026)
- Vib-Ribbon: An oral history – Design Room (2026)
- How a Second-Grade Teacher Revived a Beloved Video Game – The New York Times (2026)
- Spore: An oral history – Design Room (2026)
- Diablo IV PC Cooled With Real Human Blood Is Still Going Strong Two Years Later, Says Guy Who Won It – Aftermath (2026)
Author: John Scalzo
Riptor takes a bite out of Killer Instinct this week
Microsoft and Iron Galaxy Studios will add the next downloadable character to Killer Instinct this week and fans of the original game (and Jurassic Park) should be pleased. I’m talking, of course, about Riptor, the genetically-modified human/raptor hybrid. Nevermind the fact that an honest-to-god raptor would be ten times more deadly than a humanized dinosaur that punches people.
But Riptor is back and that means that all ten characters from the original Killer Instinct (minus Eyedol, the final boss) are now available in the Xbox One reboot. Or will be available as Riptor will be available to download for Ultra Edition owners on Wednesday, December 17. The character will be available to download by everyone on Tuesday, December 23.
According to the Killer Instinct Official Forums, Riptor will be part of a new update that will add Christmas-themed costumes to the game as well as Season 2‘s Story Mode and quicker load times.
Check out Riptor’s debut trailer above and keep watching until the end for a sneak peek at the next KI character, the mysterious “Herald of Gargos.”
Posted in News, Xbox One
Tagged Killer Instinct
DMC: Devil May Cry and Devil May Cry 4 coming to PS4, Xbox One in 2015
Capcom is jumping back on the remaster bandwagon with the announcement that DMC: Devil May Cry and Devil May Cry 4 will be released for the PS4 and Xbox One in 2014.
A “Definitive Edition” of Ninja Theory’s DMC: Devil May Cry will arrive first, on March 17 to be exact, with a variety of new features. First and foremost, the game will include all of DMC’s DLC (including the “Vergil’s Downfall” expansion) as well as new content exclusive to the new-gen re-release. A variety of new gameplay modes will also be included such as the brand new wave-based Vergil’s Bloody Palace Mode, and a trio of new difficulty levels (Hardcore Mode, Must Style Mode, and Gods Must Die Mode). Finally, every piece of DMC: Devil May Cry content will run at 60 frames per second with 1080p visuals.
As for the PS4/Xbox One “Special Edition” of Devil May Cry 4, it’ll be available sometime in the Summer and Capcom has promised to reveal more details about its pending release soon.
Posted in News, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Devil May Cry 4, DMC: Devil May Cry
First live gameplay footage of Street Fighter V debuts at Capcom Cup
Capcom debuted the first in-game match from Street Fighter V during this weekend’s Capcom Cup, the finale of the Capcom Pro Tour season. Players were once again treated to a battle between Ryu and Chun Li, but this time it was played live on stage.
Capcom also unveiled an extended version of the Street Fighter V trailer they premiered during the PlayStation Experience event. This new version of the video (which is available after the break) ends with the ominous reveal of Charlie. Charlie is known to fans of the Street Fighter Alpha franchise as Charlie Nash, Guile’s former partner. And fans of Street Fighter: The Movie will remember him as the soldier M. Bison mutated into Blanka.
Street Fighter V is currently without a release date, but we know that it’ll be released sometime in the future exclusively for the PC and PS4 (sorry Xbox One owners).
And in case you were wondering, Yusuke Momochi captured the first ever Capcom Cup with a victory over Ho Kun Xian. (more…)
Posted in News
Tagged PC, PS4, Street Fighter V
Evolve’s fourth behind-the-scenes video focuses on “The Planet Shear”
Turtle Rock Studios is back with the fourth episode in their “Evolution of Evolve” series of behind-the-scenes videos. Once again hosted by Adam Sessler, this episode focuses on the game’s alien world, “The Planet Shear,” and all its exotic flora and fauna. Viewers will learn all about how Evolve’s environments evolved from the earliest prototype stage to their current incarnation available at expos and conventions and during the game’s “Big Alpha.”
Evolve will be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One on Feburary 10.
Weekly Warp-Up: PlayStation Experience 2014 Hangover
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…
Before I begin this edition of the Weekly Warp-Up, I’d like to once again mention the passing of video game pioneer Ralph Baer at the age of 92. The world will miss you.
Now then, Sony’s PlayStation Experience sure had a lot of announcements, didn’t it? We were still working our way through all of them earlier this week, and even with seven extra days, I’m pretty sure I still missed a few. But I definitely did not miss out on the news that Final Fantasty VII is finally coming to the PS4 (albeit, not as an HD remaster). And then there’s the first Street Fighter V gameplay trailer, the announcement of MLB 15: The Show, Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions shooting up the Vita soon, and the fact that Mortal Kombat X won’t have any platform-specific characters. But it’ll probably be a “year or two” before we hear more about God of War 4.
Elsewhere on Warp Zoned, Vault Hunter extraordinaire Nicole Kline filed her Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel review. As you might have guessed from the title, it’s not quite what fans were expecting from a third Borderlands game.
If you need more game news from the previous seven days, you’ll find it after the break. (more…)
Posted in News
New Releases: Guilty Gear Xrd Sign, MGS5: Ground Zeroes PC, Divinity: Original Sin
The video game industry continues its slow march towards the end of the year with three new releases this week…
- The latest Guilty Gear game from Arc System Works, Guilty Gear Xrd Sign, will be released for the PS3 and PS4.
- Konami will bring Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain‘s prologue, Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, to the PC.
- And Larian Studios will released a boxed version of Divinity: Original Sin, their very successful turn-based RPG, for the PC.
That’s it for this week and that’s likely it for all of 2014 as no games are currently scheduled to receive a retail release during the remainder of the year.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, PS4
Tagged Guilty Gear Xrd Sign, Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes
Xbox Store Today: Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams, De Blob 2, Battle Academy
Today’s Xbox Games Store update adds three new releases to Microsoft’s digital storefront and they are…
- Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams – Director’s Cut (Xbox One), an updated version of the side-scrolling platformer that was originally released for the PC in 2012 and on the Xbox 360 last year.
- Battle Academy (Xbox 360), a turn-based strategy game set within the European Theatre of World War II.
- De Blob 2 (Xbox 360), a colorful platformer originally published by THQ in 2011 is now available to download.
More details about all three games can be found below.
Xbox One Games
Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams – Director’s Cut ($14.99)
Dash through tricky levels and transform the whole world at will in this fast-paced award-winning platformer. Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams – Director’s Cut combines graphics that pack a visual punch and tight controls with the challenge of retro era platforming. Fluidly morph between two dynamically different dream worlds to solve puzzles and combat grueling enemies and bosses.Xbox 360 Games
De Blob 2 ($19.99)
Blob’s origins are mysterious, but he rolled up at the right place and the right time to be the hero that the Color Underground was looking for. Music surrounds him and color energy flows through him; with his touch Blob can literally make the world a better place. Blob represents individuality and determination. Blob is good hearted but lazy. He is often late, but he always comes through.Battle Academy ($29.99)
The only true World War II turn-based strategy game playable on a console. Battle Academy is a real classic. Approachable, absorbing and with a unique visual approach, it’s a game that pulls you in with its intuitive design and its compelling gameplay. Firepower is only one of the key elements that will allow you to succeed: keeping the morale of your men high, planning on cunning tactics and a fine balance in the use of infantry and armoured units are also vital to win. You will select and take the lead of a number of units across a huge variety of campaigns and nearly 100 scenarios! The countless number of missions ranges from the invasion of France all the way to the what-if Sealion campaign where the German troops try the invasion of England.
Sony Pictures hack reveals possible Super Mario Bros. movie in development
The Sony Pictures hack, and all the subsequent information revealed to the public, is just ridiculous. There’s no other word for it. Emails badmouthing Angelina Jolie and the President of the United States. Passwords hidden in a file named “Passwords.” The social security numbers of thousands of Sony employees. The entire thing is just a mess. OK, I guess that’s two words you could use.
But we’ve also learned that Sony Pictures has begun negotiations with Nintendo to produce an animated film based on Super Mario Bros. According to a report on Buzzfeed, provided the deal goes through, the movie is set to be produced by Avi Arad:
“I am the proud father of mario the animated film [sic],” producer Avi Arad told Sony Studio Chief Amy Pascal in an email dated Oct. 23, 2014, with the subject line “Mario.” Arad then forwarded Pascal separate images of him with Mario Bros. creator Shigeru Miyamoto and Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata, the latter of which included the message, “Happy ceo, lets get together, it’s the mother load [sic].”
Pascal forwarded that email to Tom Rothman, who heads up Sony Pictures subsidiary TriStar Pictures. “Avi closed Mario brothers,” she said. “Animated.”
Arad is best known as the producer of Sony’s Spider-Man saga (both Sam Raimi’s trilogy and the new films starring Andrew Garfield), but he is also working with Konami and Hideo Kojima on the Metal Gear Solid film adaptation.
Obviously, it’s much too early to lose our heads over this news. But an animated Mario movie could be pretty great. Though it’s probably a good thing that Sony Pictures is considered wholly separate from Sony Computer Entertainment as that could get messy.