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
FoxNext officially announces Alien: Blackout as a mobile strategy game
It’s no secret that 20th Century Fox has big plans for the Alien franchise in 2019. We’re not getting a new movie anytime soon, but the film studio has confirmed that Cold Iron Studios is currently developing an untitled Alien shooter for release sometime this year, while Dark Horse Comics will publish a comic sequel to Alien: Isolation later this month.
This morning, they added a second Alien game to their schedule with the announcement of Alien: Blackout. Unrelated to Cold Iron’s shooter, Alien: Blackout is a mobile strategy game that will follow Isolation’s Amanda Ripley (the daughter of Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen) as she explores a crippled Weyland-Yutani space station:
The terror of Alien is brought to life in Alien: Blackout. Try to stay alive while trapped aboard a crippled Weyland-Yutani space station carrying a deadly Xenomorph as it tirelessly hunts you and the crew. Outsmart the perfect hunter by making perilous choices. Players must rely on the damaged controls of the space station or risk sacrificing crew members to avoid deadly contact, permanently altering the outcome of the game.
Survive seven fear-inducing levels by remotely guiding Amanda Ripley’s crew through increasingly challenging tasks using only the station’s emergency systems. The uncertainty and unpredictability of both the alien and her crew can impose total defeat for Amanda and the entire station.
Alien: Blackout is a unique fear-inducing horror mobile game experience that will test the inner nerves of both Alien and horror fans alike, where life can end in an instant.
Taking control of the space station’s central operating computer, players will need to operate a holographic map, surveillance cameras, and motion tracker as they attempt to guide Amanda and her crew to safety.
Alien: Blackout will be available to download through the iOS App Store and the Google Play Store on January 24. The game’s first trailer has been embedded above.
Posted in Mobile, News
Tagged Alien: Blackout
New Retail Releases: New Super Mario Bros. U, Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story, Tales of Vesperia, More
2019 promises to be a big year for video games (and possibly the last hurrah for the PS4 and Xbox One), and it looks like we’re starting things off with a trio of major re-releases.
Nintendo leads things off with a Switch re-release of New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe, which originally launched for the Wii U in 2012. This new version will include new playable characters (Toadette and Nabbit), as well as the New Super Luigi U expansion.
The 3DS will also receive a classic Nintendo re-release this week in the form of Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story + Bowser Jr.’s Journey. The RPG relaunches the 2009 game with Amiibo support and the brand new “Bowser Jr.’s Journey” adventure.
The last re-release of the week comes from Bandai Namco, who will bring Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition to the PS4, Switch, and Xbox One (the game will also be available to download for the PC). The Definitive Edition will include the original game, as well as “beautifully remastered HD graphics, new musitc tracks, exciting minigames, bosses, and a collection of previously unreleased costume DLC.”
Finally this week, you might have missed it, but Nintendo snuck Fitness Boxing onto the Switch last week. Fitness Boxing features a wide variety of boxing-based rhythmic exercises and personalized workout options for everyone interested in getting a jump on their New Year’s Resolutions.
That’s all for now, but we’ll be back later this week with a look at the new additions coming to the PlayStation Store, Xbox Games Store, and Nintendo eShop.
Posted in 3DS, News, PS4, Switch, Xbox One
Tagged Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, New Super Mario Bros. U, Tales of Vesperia
Hitman HD Enhanced Collection will bring Absolution and Blood Money to PS4 and Xbox One next week
IO Interactive has never been content to sit on their laurels, and the prolific developer is kicking off 2019 with a new project… the Hitman HD Enhanced Collection.
Set to launch for the PS4 and Xbox One next week, the compilation will package together Hitman: Blood Money and Hitman: Absolution with enhanced visuals (4K Resolution and 60FPS) and updated control options. More details about the specific upgrades can be found at IO’s official website:
In Hitman: Blood Money you experience a globe-trotting adventure from the vineyards of Chile, to the Paris Opera House and even the White House itself in a face-off against a group of assassins known as “The Franchise”. When assassins from his contract agency, the ICA, are systematically eliminated in a series of hits, Agent 47 suspects that a larger, more powerful agency has entered the fray. As he suddenly loses contact with the ICA, Agent 47 senses that he may be the next target, so our merciless contract killer travels to America to take care of business himself…
Rediscover Hitman: Absolution and experience the deep and personal story of Agent 47 as he pursues redemption across 20 intense missions. Enjoy a distinctive art style that combines with rich dialogue and performances by an impressive Hollywood cast to create a unique gameplay experience.
“We’re very happy with this collection and how we were able to update and remaster two of our classic Hitman titles for modern consoles,” said Hakan Abrak, the CEO of IO Interactive. “Hitman: Blood Money and Hitman: Absolution have helped us on our journey to where we are today, and we’re looking forward to players enjoying them in 4K and 60 FPS.”
The Hitman HD Enhanced Collection will be available to download on January 11.
Posted in News, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Hitman: Absolution, Hitman: Blood Money
Red Dead Redemption 2 leads the way with 7 nominations at 2019 GDC Awards
It looks like Red Dead Redemption 2, Spider-Man, and God of War will be taking over another awards show, as the three games lead the way at the 2019 Game Developers Choice Awards. Rockstar’s “Cowboy Game” secured the most nominations with seven, but Sony’s Spider-Man and God of War were close behind with six apiece.
As you might have guessed, all three games are in the running for the coveted “Game of the Year” trophy, and they’ll be competing against Lucas Pope’s Return of the Obra Dinn and Matt Makes Games’s Celeste.
A handful of other games will attempt to push their way into the spotlight at this year’s GDC Awards, including Mountains’s Florence (four nominations), Enhance’s Tetris Effect (three nominations), and Nomada Studio’s Gris (two nominations).
In addition to the main awards ceremony, the GDC Awards will also present a Lifetime Achievement Award to Amy Hennig, the creator of Naughty Dog’s Uncharted franchise.
The 2019 GDC Awards ceremony will take place on on Wednesday, March 20, at 6:30 PM (Pacific Time). The full list of nominees, and all the Honorable Mentions, can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in Mobile, News, PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One
Tagged Celeste, GDC 2019, God of War 4, Red Dead Redemption 2, Return of the Obra Dinn, Spider-Man
NIS America delays RPG Maker MV for consoles to “later in 2019”
NIS America’s RPG Maker MV was expected to make its PS4, Switch, and Xbox One debut on February 26, but the publisher has confirmed that the game creation tool will now be released “later in the year.”
Citing “ongoing issues with development,” NIS America decided to delay RPG Maker MV to make sure they were able to deliver “the best possible product to our fans.”
NIS America has been regularly updating RPG Maker MV’s official website, and they’ve promised that more information regarding the game’s new release date will be announced soon.
Return of the Obra Dinn was nominated in five categories at 2019 IGF Awards
Papers Please, Lucas Pope’s puzzle game about censorship in a dystopian dictatorship, was a huge hit when it was released for the PC all the way back in 2013. And thanks to today’s announcement of the finalists for the Independent Games Festival Awards, it looks like his latest project, Return of the Obra Dinn, will reach similar heights.
Return of the Obra Dinn is an “innovative and uniquely stylized murder mystery” set aboard an abandoned ship in the early 1800s. Using “1-Bit” graphics reminiscent of early Macintosh games, players had to explore the ship and discover what happened to the crew. These elements helped Obra Dinn receive nominations for the “Seumas McNally Grand Prize,” as well as “Excellence In Audio,” “Excellence In Design,” “Excellence In Visual Art,” and “Excellence In Narrative.”
Return of the Obra Dinn will be competing against five other games for the Seumas McNally Grand Prize, including Zachtronics’s Opus Magnum, Nolla Games’s Noita, Fictiorama Studios’s Do Not Feed the Monkeys, Hypnospace Outlaw (developed by Jay Tholen, Mike Lasch, Xalavier Nelson Jr., and Corey Cochran), and Minit (developed by Kitty Calis, Jan Willem Nijman, Jukio Kallio, and Dominik Johann).
A complete list of the nominees and honorable mentions from the 2019 Independent Games Festival Awards can be found after the break. (more…)
Fitness Boxing, Catastronauts, KoF 2002, more coming to Nintendo eShop this week
It’s January 3, have you already broken your New Year’s Resolutions? If not, Nintendo has a perfect new game for the Switch for you in this week’s Nintendo eShop update.
Like Wii Fit, Fitness Boxing is a game that wants to get you active. Players will be able to workout with a variety of routines in Fitness Boxing, all of which feature “boxing-based rhythmic exercises set to the instrumental beats of songs by popular artists.”
Also available to download for the Switch this week is Catastronauts, a fast-paced party game that asks players to “repair systems, extinguish fires, arm the torpedoes, avoid deadly solar flares, destroy your friends, and clone them back again.”
Finally this week, Hamster Corporation will bring The King of Fighters 2002, a classic from SNK’s NeoGeo days, to the Switch eShop
You can read more about these three games, and the rest of the new releases now available to download through the Nintendo eShop, after the break. (more…)
Freja and the False Prophecy is fully funded on Kickstarter
Unsigned Double Collective is a South African development team that looked to Kickstarter in December to help fund their next project, Freja and the False Prophecy. The Norse-themed side-scrolling platformer also recently earned a spot in our Kickstart This column, so it’s nice to see that the game reached its crowdfunding goal over the New Year’s holiday.
Seeking $22,000, Unsigned Double Collective was able to convince 686 backers to pledge $22,622 towards Freja and the False Prophecy. The developer thanked fans earlier today in a Kickstarter Update:
What an amazing end (and a new beginning) to our journey. After a roller coaster we all pulled through to fully fund Freja And The False Prophecy. Give yourself a big round of applause, you are amazing.
If all goes according to plan, Freja and the False Prophecy will be released for the PC sometime in 2022.
Posted in News, PC
Tagged Freja and the False Prophecy