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
The Simpsons did a Minecraft couch gag last night
If you’ve slipped away from The Simpsons, you might be unaware that the long-running show did a couch gag based on Minecraft last night. Swiping Minecraft’s logo font, last night the show was presented as “Simcraft: Parodies Are Easy!” A truncated version of the opening then followed the Simpson family past the statue of Jebediah Springfield, Lard Lad Donuts, and the tire fire until they’re greeted by Moe the Creeper. I’m sure you can imagine what happened next. The intro is available to view on YouTube (for now) thanks to “SuperNecocheaBros.” But if you’d prefer to wait for an official upload, the full episode will begin streaming on Fox.com on April 11.
Someone who did see the opening last night was Minecraft creator Markus “Notch” Persson, who has mixed emotions about The Simpsons using his creation:
The Simpsons did a Minecraft couch gag. I'm not sure how I feel about it.
— Markus Persson (@notch) April 7, 2014
Honestly, I’m not sure I know either. The couch gag was neat, but the blockiness of the characters and the world didn’t really resemble Minecraft. And YouTube is full of fan-made Simpsons/Minecraft mashups that take place within the actual game. Just take a look at this excellent version of the entire opening by 8lack7ight.
Or maybe I’m just one of those crotchety Simpsons fans who checked out a few seasons ago.
Weekly Warp-Up: No Foolin’ 2014 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…
April Fool’s Day 2014 was fairly low-key as far as gaming pranks go, but we still found a few that made us snicker. The best of this year’s jokes, by far, was IGN’s “Optimus Prime DLC” for TitanFall. It’s not real, but it should be. We were also pretty charmed by Blizzard’s trio of gags including the Flappy Bird parody Happy Reaper.
But the cruelest prank might be Phil Fish’s tease that development has resumed on Fez II. The outspoken developer hasn’t confirmed that his April 1st tweet was a joke, but it seems likely. I’ve got higher hopes for the accidental unveiling of Blood Dragon III: Vietnam War 2. Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon was famously announced on April 1st last year and the teasing tweets from developer Dean Evans this year make me believe that a sequel will be officially announced soon.
Instead of spending time sifting through April Fool’s Day jokes, the Warp Zoned staff recounted What We Played in March 2014 and selected our picks for The Games of April 2014. We also reviewed Earth Defense Force 2025. Spoiler alert… it’s pretty fun.
Did anything real happen this week? Yes! More news from the week that was can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News
New Releases: TitanFall Xbox 360, Lego The Hobbit, Kinect Sports Rivals, More
After a month-long delay, EA and Respawn Entertainment are finally ready to launch the Xbox 360 version of TitanFall.
If giant mechs duking it out on the battlefield isn’t your thing, you might be interested to know that WB Games will release the awkwardly-titled Lego The Hobbit this week. The game will be available on Tuesday for the 3DS, PS3, PS4, Vita, Xbox 360, and Xbox One with a Wii U release set for April 22. A PC version of the game will be also be downloadable this week through Steam.
Finally, Microsoft will bring Kinect Sports Rivals, their motion-controlled sports franchise, to the Xbox One for the first time and Nintendo will join forces with Disney to bring the Disney Magical World life sim to the 3DS this week.
A complete list of this week’s new releases can be found after the break. (more…)
The Kingpin, Black Cat, Green Goblin fight Spidey in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 game
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is absolutely packed with villains and the video game tie-in won’t be any different. Spider-Man will go head-to-head with The Kingpin, Black Cat, Electro, Green Goblin, and possibly a few others when Activision and Beenox release The Amazing Spider-Man 2 for the PC, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on April 29 (a 3DS version is also in the works). Serving the role of Yoda to Spidey’s Luke will be Kraven the Hunter (surely after a fight where our hero mistakes Kraven for a bad guy).
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 will open in theaters on May 2.
Bethesda reveals more about the Doom 4 beta
Bethesda has revealed a few more details about the Doom 4 beta access that will accompany all pre-ordered copies of Wolfenstein: The New Order when its released on May 20.
According to a post on the Bethesda Blog, the Doom 4 beta will be only be available for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One. A cross-platform game like The New Order makes financial sense in 2014, but I can see why Bethesda wants to get away from that by the time Doom 4 is available. So what does this mean for those who pre-purchase Wolfenstein: The New Order on the PS3 or Xbox 360? PS3 buyers will receive a PS4 beta invite, while Xbox 360 buyers will similarly receive an Xbox One invite.
Bethesda has also confirmed that an Xbox Live Gold subscription is required to join the Xbox One beta. Conversely, a PlayStation Plus subscription will not be required to access the beta through the PS4. Something to think about when making your Wolfenstein: The New Order pre-order decision.
More details about the Doom 4 beta will be available at a later date and, in case you were wondering, Bethesda doesn’t plan to announce anything specific related to Doom 4 for the foreseeable future.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Doom (2016), Wolfenstein: The New Order
Evolve, Borderlands 2 Vita playable at PAX East 2014
2K Games has announced (via the 2K Blog) that they will have two games playable on the PAX East show floor during next week’s convention. But gamers who attend either of the company’s panels might be in for an additional surprise.
Evolve, the multiplayer shooter from Turtle Rock Studios, will be the centerpiece of 2K’s PAX East presence. Players will be able to control the game’s four alien hunters as well as the alien itself as they battle for supremacy in the jungle. Congoers will also be able to get their hands on the Vita version of Gearbox’s Borderlands 2, which should be available sometime this Spring.
And speaking of Gearbox, as expected, developers from the company will host their annual Sunday morning panel at PAX East. Much discussion of Borderlands 2 will ensue along with “a few more surprises.” Hmm, I wonder if Gearbox plans to announce a new game during their panel? After all, we know they have multiple games in development.
However, we definitely don’t have to wonder what will happen at the Firaxis panel, which will be held on Saturday. 2K has assured us that the developer behind the acclaimed Civilization series and XCOM: Enemy Unknown will give the attended audience “a glimpse into the latest projects of the studio.”
Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition continues to sell well… over 12 million copies and counting
After crusing past 10 million copies sold in December and 11 million in February, Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition has reached another sales milestone right on schedule: 12 million copies sold. Mojang’s Daniel Kaplan spoke to Xbox Wire about the game’s sale figures and he has revealed that the developer would have been happy with a paltry one million:
Daniel Kaplan: It is pretty amazing! I remember when we started talking about sales numbers that we would be super happy to sell 1 million copies. That would have put us on par with BF1943 and Castle Crashers, which both are awesome games, so that was something to aim for. We never even dreamed of selling 12 million!
Kaplan also confirmed that more Mashup Packs, Texture Packs, and Skin Packs are currently in the works for Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition. While he wouldn’t give specifics, the game’s next add-on, the Candy Texture Pack, will be available on April 18.
And on the subject of Minecraft: Xbox One Edition, Kaplan said that it will be released “eventually.”
NIS America will release Hyperdimension Neptunia: Producing Perfection on June 3
I’ve never understood it, but somehow “singing competition simulations” have spawned an entire genre of games in Japan. And today, NIS America has announced that one of the latest, Hyperdimension Neptunia: Producing Perfection, will be available in North America on June 3 (and in Europe on June 6). The “idol” game takes place in Hyperdimension Neptunia’s Gamindustri, an anime parody of the companies and personalities within the actual game industry:
The player takes on the role of the main character, who’s been summoned to Gamindustri and is immediately hired by one of the four CPUs—Neptune, Noire, Blanc, and Vert—to be their producer and manage their idol careers. Get your training wheels on, ladies, because a new producer is in town and the fate of Gamindustri hangs in the balance! Will you be able to properly raise these CPUs into idols, or will their citizens be stolen away from them by the popular idol group MOB-48!? Teach these girls to sing, dance, and properly promote themselves to the general populace thanks in part to your expertise in training video game idols back on Earth. As the girls’ popularity rises, they will be able to join one another in singing duets, or maybe even come together for a full ensemble!
Hyperdimension Neptunia: Producing Perfection will be available for the Vita as both a boxed game and downloadable through the PlayStation Store.
Posted in News, Vita
Tagged Hyperdimension Neptunia Producing Perfection