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
Blazing Chrome will be released for PC, PS4, Switch in Early 2019
There was big news for retro gaming fans this morning as developer JoyMasher confirmed that Blazing Chrome, their Contra-like side-scrolling shooter, will be released for the PC, PS4, and Switch in Early 2019. The team celebrated this milestone with the release of a new Environments Trailer, which showcases some of the futuristic locales that players will visit as they repel a robotic uprising:
A new gameplay clip debuted with the announcement, sharing a fresh glimpse of the devastated environments awaiting action fans eager to fight for a brighter, less mechanically-dominated future. Players will need a steady aim as they plow through a warzone, utilizing tide-changing power-ups, powerful exosuits, and an arsenal of futuristic weaponry to stay alive on the battlefield.
Blazing Chrome is a throwback to the golden days of side-scrolling shooters with modern touches ensuring its gameplay feels as precise as it does authentic to the era it channels. Players can tear through six highly-varied stages filled with deadly, bullet-spewing AI as Mavra, a lone human resistance fighter, or the rebellious robotic insurgent Doyle.
Konami might be done with the Contra franchise, but it’s great to see that it’s style of run-and-gun mayhem will live on through games like Blazing Chrome.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Switch
Tagged Blazing Chrome
Battle Princess Madelyn will be released on December 6
Causal Bit Games has announced that Battle Princess Madelyn, their side-scrolling platformer that was partially designed by the Creative Director’s daughter, will be released on December 6.
Battle Princess Madelyn is a modern-day homage to Capcom’s Super Ghouls ‘N Ghosts, and will be available for the PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One. The game is also in the works for the Wii U and Vita, and both of those versions will launch sometime in 2019.
Causal Bit’s Christopher Obritsch is incredibly proud that Battle Princess Madelyn has reached this point and can’t wait for the public to play it:
“It’s been an exciting, exhaustive, stressful, enjoyable, [and] frustrating period over the last two years developing Battle Princess Madelyn and I would do it all over again. The feedback that has been given in the creation of the game, the positive remarks, the way social media [and] the specialist gaming press have supported the game throughout this long period has been nothing short of remarkable. The end result is a game the team are all proud of and went beyond what was envisioned. Within a very short time gamers will be able to play Battle Princess Madelyn. I hope it will give them as much enjoyment as it has to the team that created it!”
In case you missed it, Casual Bit unveiled a new trailer for Battle Princess Madelyn a few weeks ago.
Multiple nominations for Red Dead Redemption 2, Spider-Man, and God of War will make this year’s Game Awards an EPIC event
It’s been a big year for super-sized games like Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption 2 and Sony Santa Monica’s God of War, and it looks like they’ll be front and center (alongside a few other epic titles) at this year’s Game Awards show on December 6.
Rockstar’s western and Sony’s Norse fable tied for the most nominations (eight apiece), and they’ll both be competing for “Game of the Year” against Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey, Insomniac’s Spider-Man, Capcom’s Monster Hunter: World, and Matt Thorson’s Celeste.
This year, fans will be able to make their voices heard in the balloting by joining the official The Game Awards Discord server, and voting for their favorites in all categories. Voting through the Discord server is now open and will be available through December 5.
The Game Awards will kick off at 9:00 PM (Eastern Time) on December 6, and fans can watch the show through their favorite video streaming service or at TheGameAwards.com. As usual, we can also expect to see “exclusive game world premieres” and “new game announcements.”
The full list of nominees can be found after the break.
Posted in Mobile, News, PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One
Tagged Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, Astro Bot: Rescue Mission, Celeste, Dead Cells, Dragon Ball FighterZ, Florence, Fortnite, Forza Horizon 4, Game Awards 2018, God of War 4, Into the Breach, Monster Hunter: World, Overcooked 2, Overwatch, Red Dead Redemption 2, Return of Obra Dinn, Spider-Man, The Messenger
The first Detective Pikachu: The Movie trailer is here… and it is appropriately nuts
I still can’t believe we live in a world where there’s going to be a live-action Pokemon movie, but that world moved a bit closer to reality today with the release of the first trailer for Detective Pikachu.
Based on the 3DS game of the same name, Detective Pikachu stars Ryan Reynolds as the titular Pokemon, and Justice Smith as the only human being who can understand him (everyone else hears the customary “Pika Pika!”). They’re teaming up to find a missing private eye who also happens to be Smith’s father:
The story begins when ace private eye Harry Goodman goes mysteriously missing, prompting his 21-year-old son Tim to find out what happened. Aiding in the investigation is Harry’s former Pokemon partner, Detective Pikachu: a hilariously wise-cracking, adorable super-sleuth who is a puzzlement even to himself. Finding that they are uniquely equipped to communicate with one another, Tim and Pikachu join forces on a thrilling adventure to unravel the tangled mystery. Chasing clues together through the neon-lit streets of Ryme City—a sprawling, modern metropolis where humans and Pokemon live side by side in a hyper-realistic live-action world—they encounter a diverse cast of Pokemon characters and uncover a shocking plot that could destroy this peaceful co-existence and threaten the whole Pokemon universe.
The hyper-realistic style is not at all what I was expecting from a Pokemon movie, nor was I expecting to see Pikachu threaten to murder someone… and that happens twice! Also, what is Ken Watanabe doing in this trailer? He’s gotta be the bad guy, right?
I’ve never played a Pokemon game before, so I’m not the target audience for Detective Pikachu at all, but it actually looks kind of fun.
Detective Pikachu will open in theaters on May 11, 2019. I’m still as baffled by that as you are.
Posted in Etcetera, News
Tagged 3DS, Detective Pikachu
Stan Lee, the legendary co-creator of many of Marvel’s superheroes, has died
Excelsior!
From behind his typewriter, Marvel’s Stan Lee used to answer fan mail with that authoritative declaration when he really wanted to drive home a point in his “Stan’s Soapbox” column. But there’s never enough that can be said about the man who helped define pop culture as we know it today.
Along with Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, Lee created many of Marvel’s most famous characters… The Spectacular Spider-Man… The Mighty Thor… The Incredible Hulk… The Fantastic Four… “Stan the Man” had a way with adjectives. Sadly, he passed away this morning at the age of 95.
After shepherding his comic creations towards the silver screen in the 80s and 90s, Lee lent his voice to more than a dozen video game adaptations starring Marvel’s mightiest heroes. Most often playing himself (starting with 2000’s Spider-Man), Lee closed the book on his voiceover career with an appearance in Insomniac’s Spider-Man earlier this year as a Short Order Cook.
Lee was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 2008 for “his groundbreaking work as one of America’s most prolific storytellers.” The National Endowment for the Arts’s advisory committee also recognized Lee’s fight against injustice in his comics, adding, “His complex plots and humane super heroes celebrate courage, honesty, and the importance of helping the less fortunate, reflecting America’s inherent goodness.”
As Lee would say, “Nuff said!”
New Retail Releases: Fallout 76, Pokemon: Let’s Go Eevee/Pikachu, Hitman 2, More
Country roads, take me home, to the place I belong, thanks to this week’s brand new retail game releases…
Fallout fans will be able to return to The Wasteland in an entirely new way this week as Bethesda will add multiplayer gameplay to the franchise for the first time in Fallout 76 for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One. Xbox One owners interested in upgrading to an Xbox One X will also be able to opt for an Xbox One X 1TB + Fallout 76 Bundle.
Pokemon fans will be able to experience a familiar locale in a new way this week as well with Pokemon: Let’s Go Eevee! and Pokemon: Let’s Go Pikachu! for the Switch. The two games will revisit the Kanto region, and players will need to use a throwing motion with a Joy-Con (or the optional Poke Ball Plus controller) to catch Pokemon in the wild. Two special console bundles (a Switch + Pokemon: Let’s Go Eevee! + Poke Ball Plus Bundle and a Switch + Pokemon: Let’s Go Pikachu! + Poke Ball Plus Bundle) will also be available.
More familiar settings can be found this week in Activision’s Spyro Reignited Trilogy, which collects the first three games in the series on the PS4 and Xbox One. It’ll be joined on store shelves by a pair of new-to-the-Switch games, including SNK 40th Anniversary Collection, a compilation of SNK’s pre-NeoGeo offerings, and the console debut of 2K’s Civilization VI.
New adventures (and targets) await Agent 47 this week as developer IO Interactive has ditched the episodic structure for the assassin’s newest game, Hitman 2, which will launch for the PS4 and Xbox One (and on the PC as a download-only title).
The Golf Club 2019 Featuring PGA Tour (PS4, Xbox One), a golf simulation from HB Studios, and Trailblazers (PS4, Switch), a futuristic racer from Supergonk, will make their way to retail shelves everywhere after first appearing as digital titles earlier this year. And Epic’s Fortnite: Deep Freeze Bundle will give fans the chance to obtain the Deep Freeze Costume Set and 1,000 V-Bucks for the free-to-play Battle Royale shooter.
Finally this week, DICE and Electronic Arts will deliver Battlefield V: Deluxe Edition to the franchise’s on the PS4 and Xbox One a few days ahead of the launch of the Standard Edition.
A complete look at this week’s new retail releases can be found after the break. (more…)
Microsoft debuts a new trailer for Crackdown 3’s Wrecking Zone multiplayer mode at X018
After multiple delays, it looks like Crackdown 3 is finally marching in the right direction towards its February 15th launch date on the PC and Xbox One.
The over-the-top action game is currently in development at Sumo Digital, and Microsoft showed fans how close to completion it is with a glimpse at Wrecking Zone, Crackdown 3’s multiplayer mode. Wrecking Zone made its debut during Microsoft’s presentation at X018 yesterday, and you can read more about it at Xbox Wire:
X018 also saw the debut of Crackdown 3’s all-new multiplayer mode, Wrecking Zone, where environmental destruction is your secret weapon. In Wrecking Zone, two teams of five, hyper-agile Agents tear down the opposition with their superpowered skills and an arsenal of boom-tastic weapons and equipment in fully destructible battle arenas.
In preparation for the threequel’s pending launch, the consolemaker is also offering the original Crackdown as a free download for all Xbox Live users from now until November 30. And yes, it is backwards compatible and features enhanced visuals and performance on the Xbox One X.
Finally, Microsoft unveiled a great live-action advertisement for Crackdown 3 that features Terry Crews as Commander Jaxon and a second Terry Crews as himself. The actor clearly had a lot of fun making the commercial, and you can view it for yourself (and the Wrecking Zone trailer) after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PC, Xbox One
Tagged Crackdown 3
Square Enix puts Kingdom Hearts III in the Pooh Corner with this Winnie the Pooh trailer
Microsoft held their X018 event in Mexico City last night, and while it was pretty light on new game announcements, the consolemaker did team up with Square Enix to show off Winnie the Pooh’s inclusion in Kingdom Hearts III.
It looks like players will get to play through a minigame based on Bust-A-Move during their visit to the Hundred Acre Wood, but I think the most important part of this trailer in that Pooh gives Sora a rocket launcher that shoots honey in the shape of a giant bumblebee (and which is naturally named the Hunny Launcher).
Kingdom Hearts III will be released for the Xbox One and PS4 on January 29, 2019.
Posted in News, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Kingdom Hearts III