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
Harmonix turns to Kickstarter to fund Amplitude reboot for PS3, PS4
Harmonix is bringing back Amplitude and they’ve turned to Kickstarter to help fund development.
Amplitude was originally released in 2003 for the PS2 and tasked players with piloting a “Beat Blaster” down a track. Musical notes littered the track and players were required to tap buttons in time with the music to capture the section and continue on through the rest of the track. The new Amplitude is in development as a digital download for the PS3 and PS4 and will feature the same “core mechanics and hallmark difficulty” as the original, albeit enhanced with high definition visuals.
The new Amplitude will include a variety of songs composed by Harmonix’s in-house audio team. The tracks will have an “electronic-based feel” and Harmonix wants to include many different types of music “with tones spanning dark and moody to bright and bouncing.” If the crowdfunding campaign is a huge success, the developer plans to use the extra funds to pursue licensed music from popular artists.
Harmonix is seeking $775,000 to make the new Amplitude a reality and, as of this writing, they’re currently sitting on $146,377 in pledges (18% of the total). If all goes well, the game could be released as early as March 2015.
Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark will transform into a released game on June 24
Activision will release Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark on June 24, three days ahead of the fourth film adaptation, Transformers: Age of Extinction. Rise of the Dark Spark won’t be a traditional tie-in game and will instead merge the movieverse with the High Moon-developed War For Cybertron/Fall of Cybertron games.
Even though Rise of the Dark Spark is just seven weeks away, we still don’t know much about it. But that hasn’t stopped GameStop from beginning to take pre-orders for the game. If you pre-purchase Rise of the Dark Spark, the game retailer will grant you access to the Weathered Warrior Pack, which includes two characters (Skywarp and Thundercracker) and two weapons (the Glass Gas Cannon and the Electro Bolter) for use in the game’s Campaign and Escalation Mode.
The Weathered Warrior Pack will be included with pre-orders of the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One editions of Rise of the Dark Spark. The game will also be available on June 24 for the Wii U and 3DS.
NHL 15 skates onto current-gen, next-gen consoles this Fall
EA Sports has officially announced that NHL 15 will be available for the PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One this Fall. As in years past, fans will be able to choose the game’s cover athlete at NHL.com/CoverVote. Voting begins today with eight players (Patrice Bergeron, Logan Couture, Drew Doughty, Matt Duchene, Erik Karlsson, Phil Kessel, T.J. Oshie, and P.K. Subban) taking part in the competition.
According to EA, NHL 15’s next-gen leap will feature a slew of additions to the game including enhanced player collision and puck physics, more authentic player models, and a revamped player AI system. A brand new crowd rendering model and the addition of NBC Sports commentators rounds out some of NHL 15’s new features.
You can check out NHL 15’s teaser trailer above and read all about the game’s new features after the break. (more…)
Telltale releases first Tales From the Borderlands screenshots
Today, Telltale Games released the first five screenshots from Tales From the Borderlands, their upcoming collaboration with Gearbox Software. Taking place after Borderlands 2, Tales From the Borderlands isn’t Borderlands 3, but it is considered “official canon” by Gearbox. The episodic series will star two brand new characters who will cross paths with several franchise favorites including Zero, Sir Hammerlock, and, possibly, Handsome Jack himself:
Featuring two playable characters, the story is told from two unique perspectives that will alternate as the story progresses. These characters include Rhys, a scheming, low-level data-miner within Hyperion who’s plotting his own grand ambitions; and Fiona, a clever and classic fast-talking con-artist born and raised on Pandora out to pull off the grift of a lifetime.
Each episode of Tales From the Borderlands will be priced at $4.99, with a Season Pass discount available to those who buy all five episode up front. The game will be available for PlayStation and Xbox platforms, though Telltale hasn’t said if that means PS4 and Xbox One, PS3 and Xbox 360, or both sets of systems. Considering Telltale’s history, a PC and mobile release is also likely.
You can find Tales From the Borderlands’ first five screenshots after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PC
Tagged Tales From the Borderlands
Microsoft’s Phil Spencer talks about the company’s E3 2014 plans (and beyond)
Microsoft’s Phil Spencer spent some of his Sunday answering questions on Twitter and the Head of the Xbox Division revealed quite a bit about the company’s future plans. Looking forward to this year’s E3 Expo, Spencer had this to say…
- He confirmed that at least one new property and (shocker of shockers) several sequels will be announced at E3.
- These new game announcements will include several new studios that Microsoft is working with.
- And as we’ve been hearing for months, an Xbox One game from a Japanese developer will be announced at E3.
- But we won’t have to wait for E3 for all of Microsoft’s announcements. Spencer said that several pre-E3 announcements will happen in May. Hey! That’s this month!
- Finally, Microsoft plans to make the hardcore gamer the “main focus” of this year’s E3 Expo, whatever that means.
Spencer also told his followers that Fable Anniversary is most likely not in development for the Xbox One and that Microsoft and Mojang are getting close to a Minecraft: Xbox One Edition announcement, but they’re not there yet. Minecraft might be one of the last digital games Microsoft has a direct hand in as the company is currently moving away from publishing third-party digital games. This is due to the fact they would prefer to focus on “opportunities with IP we own that we’ve neglected.” However, he didn’t elaborate on which properties he was referring to.
And in case you were hoping for an Xbox-branded handheld to be revealed at this year’s E3 Expo, you might want to know that it’s probably out of the question. However, development on games for Windows Phones and Windows 8 tablets will continue, possibly with controller support in the future.
Finally, one thing Spencer didn’t talk about was Halo 5, stating “I can’t talk about anything related to a 343i IP.” Hopefully, we’ll learn more about that one at this year’s E3 Expo.
Posted in News, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged E3 2014, Fable Anniversary, Halo 5: Guardians, Minecraft
Weekly Warp-Up: Getting Hot Edition
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…
After a brutal Winter, it finally feels like the weather is ready to turn warm again. PAX East is in our rearview mirror and the E3 Expo is in front of us. So yes, Summer is definitely on its way.
To recognize this movement of the clock, the Warp Zoned staff took the time to think back on What We Played in April 2014 as well as looking forward to The Games of May 2014. And speaking of games released in May, Nicole Kline reviewed Cipher Prime’s Intake. If it’s not already your go-to iPad game, it soon will be.
Looking further out, Andrew Rainnie filed another edition of his Kickstart This! column. If you want to help out some of next Summer’s big hits, we suggest you in on the ground floor with them now.
More big news from the week that was (including Kevin Spacey in Call of Duty!) can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News
New Releases: Borderlands 2 Vita Bundle, Bound By Flame, MLB 14: The Show PS4, More
This week’s new release report once again focuses on games that have found new homes. Games like…
- Borderlands 2. Gearbox’s insane shooter is now available on the Vita thanks to the Borderlands 2 Vita Bundle. A standalone version of the Vita port will be available next week.
- God of War Collection. The God of War and God of War II compilation has also been shrunk down to Vita size.
- MLB 14: The Show. Sony’s baseball simulation has made the next-generation leap to the PS4.
But there’s still a trio of NEW new releases this week as well. Bound By Flame, a medieval action RPG from Spiders Studio will be released this week for the PC, PS3, PS4, and Xbox 360. It will be joined by Tesla Effect: A Tex Murphy Adventure, the first new Tex Murphy game in over 15 years, and Hakuoki: Stories of the Shinsengumi, a visual novel-style RPG for the PS3.
Naturally, a bunch of new games will be added to the PlayStation Store, Nintendo eShop, Xbox Live Store, and Steam throughout the week. We’ll talk more about those games soon.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Xbox 360
Tagged Borderlands 2, Bound by Flame, God of War Collection, MLB 14: The Show
Techland’s Hellraid delayed to 2015 as development moves to next-gen consoles
Hellraid will miss another release date as developer Techland has confirmed the “first person slasher” won’t be released this year as originally planned. But the team, who also created Dead Island and Call of Juarez, has a good excuse: Hellraid is making the jump to next-generation consoles. Originally set for a PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 release, Hellraid is now in development for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
The horsepower of the next-generation systems will allow Techland to add a variety of under-the-hood additions to Hellraid including “a physics-based lighting system, more detailed locations and character models, complex animations, advanced particle effects, and state-of-the-art AI systems.” While players will be unable to see these enhancements, they will directly affect the game’s combat system, which is also undergoing an upgrade. According to the developer, combat in Hellraid will feature a “class-free” skills system for endless customization, multiple different weapon types, magical spells, and “diverse fighting styles.” A crafting component will add even more weapons to the player’s arsenal.
Finally, Techland will use the additional development to implement three different gameplay modes in Hellraid. A standard Story Campaign, playable by up to four players, will be the main draw. But the game will also include a score-based Mission Mode and a wave-based survival challenge known as Arena Mode.
The full version of Hellraid will be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One in 2015 but an Early Access edition will be available through Steam this Fall.