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
4/1: Blizzard is NOT working on Happy Reaper, Blizzard Outcasts, StarCraft II: Herald of Stars
Blizzard has got a trio of April Fool’s Day pranks for your perusal.
Flappy Bird was a pretty big target this year and Blizzard used the prankster’s holiday as an excuse to create Happy Reaper, a Flappy Bird-like game starring the “Reaper of Souls” from Diablo III. You can read all about it at Blizzard’s blog, as well as try out “an exclusive first look” of Happy Reaper at the game’s official website.
Moving on, Blizzard also wanted to share their not-in-development new fighting game, Blizzard Outcasts: Vengeance of the Vanquished:
They’ve felt the cold steel of your blade so often, the pain it brings has become a comfort to them. They’ve watched their masterful schemes brought to ruin time and time again, and yet “surrender” remains the one line they refuse to cross. The luck they’ve had would make any good man bad, but still they keep going, unwavering, undeterred. They’re not your traditional heroes. They are survivors. They are fighters. They are Outcasts!
You can read all about the Outcasts at Blizzard’s blog and the official website (which is stocked with imaginary “screenshots” and “features”). A “teaser trailer” is also available above.
Finally, Blizzard announced (not really) the third, and final, entry in the StarCraft II saga, StarCraft II: Herald of the Stars. The absolutely insane announcement on Blizzard’s blog is full of choice nuggets like “Herald of the Stars […] can be played backwards, forwards, with any mission in any order, or not played at all, while still delivering the exact same life-affirming storyline” and “A dance editor? Yes. Sure! A dance editor!”
Now I really want to play a Blizzard-themed dance game.
4/1: Fez II MIGHT be back in development
After a particularly contentious exchange with Marcus Beer, the “Annoyed Gamer,” Phil Fish announced that he was canceling Fez II and leaving game development altogether. Today, on April 1 of all days, Phil Fish has revealed that Fez II is back on track:
im back! FEZ II is back on!
— PHIL FISH (@PHIL_FISH) April 1, 2014
Is this a cruel joke? Or has Fish really decided to resume his game development career? Considering the fact that he uses a picture of Andy Kaufman as his Twitter avatar, we may never know for sure. Though I know plenty of gamers would prefer it to be the latter option.
Posted in News
Watch This! Every Super NES title screen in alphabetical order
Do you remember that fantastic YouTube video that compiled the Start Screens of every NES game in alphabetical order? Well, YouTube user “NicksplosionFX” has created a sequel that showcases the Start Screen of every Super NES game ever produced… from 2020 Super Baseball all the way down to some unknown Japan-only release. Oh, and be sure to prepare yourself beforehand, the entire video runs nine hours and three minutes (a full six hours longer than the NES video).
I’ll say it again, God bless the Internet.
4/1: Optimus Prime DLC is NOT in the works for TitanFall
Ah, April 1. The time of the year where we report on what’s not happening in the world of video games. Kicking things off this year is IGN’s annual gag, which is not an announcement trailer for the first bit of downloadable content for TitanFall.
The “Prime Pack” is actually a brilliant piece of crossover marketing and I almost wish it were real. The prank places Optimus Prime, complete with his laser cannon and trusty laser axe, in a middle of a hectic TitanFall battle: “One shall stand, Titans shall fall.”
Seriously, how perfect is that? EA, Respawn, and Activision (the current rights holder to Transformers video games) should get on this right away.
Metro Redux will bring the shooter series to next-gen consoles
Over the weekend, a rumor started making the rounds that 4A Games’ Metro 2033 and Metro: Last Light would be released for next-generation consoles in a bundle known as Metro Redux. Rather than deny everything and hope the rumors go away, 4A Games and Metro’s publisher, Deep Silver, confirmed that the next-gen remake is officially in the works:
We could issue a ‘We do not comment on rumour and speculation’ statement and pretend this never happened. They’re pretty boring to read. They’re also pretty boring to write.
So we’re going to comment on rumour and speculation instead.
Is Metro Redux real?
Yes. We never made any secret of 4A’s desire to bring Metro to the latest generation of console hardware.
After admitting that the compilation is coming, 4A Games and Deep Silver asked gamers to forget everything they may have seen this weekend as the leak was based on “hypothetical ideas and place holder material” that don’t represent the current state of Metro Redux. Instead, they’re asking gamers to wait patiently until this year’s E3 Expo, where they plan to officially announce the next-gen remake in suitably splashy fashion.
Posted in News, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged E3 2014, Metro Redux
Kevin Tancharoen is trying to get Mortal Kombat: Legacy Season 3 made
Director Kevin Tancharoen has already helmed two seasons worth of webisodes in his live-action Mortal Kombat adaptation, Mortal Kombat: Legacy. But it sounds like he’s warming, some might say getting toasty, to the idea of a third season.
After finishing up Season 2, Tancharoen said that he wasn’t interested in resuming his spot in the director’s chair for a third season. He would later drop out of WB’s third Mortal Kombat feature film as well. Tancharoen’s next move was actually another webseries for Machinima, The Gable 5, starring Eliza Dushku. It’s unknown if we’ll get more than the one episode, but it is another spectacular short film. But if the director has his way, his next project will be Legacy‘s third season. Speaking to Inquisitr, he said:
“We are starting to talk about it [Legacy Season 3] literally this week (knock on wood). I’m starting to talk to Warner Bros. and the video game creators, so hopefully we can see it through.”
He would go on to say that he believes there are still many more stories to tell in the Legacy universe:
“With Legacy Season 1, it was kind of a big experiment. No one has done it before, and we didn’t know if should be an anthology or connected. We did the first one as an anthology and the second one more serialized. In the future, it will definitely be more connected and more cohesive… We all feel right now that we have such a trajectory to the series. There are so many more stories to tell in that format.”
Posted in Etcetera, News
Tagged Mortal Kombat: Legacy
Earth Defense Force 2025 Review: Like A Caterpillar Transforming Into A Butterfly
Earth Defense Force 2017 didn’t win any awards when it was released in 2007. The low-budget shooter from developer Sandlot and small-time publisher D3 cultivated a cult following over the next few years, culminating in the release of a sequel/remake, Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon, in 2011. But Insect Armageddon was developed by an American team, Vicious Cycle, and fans clamored for the distinctly Japanese flavor of the original developers. Thankfully, D3 and Sandlot have obliged with Earth Defense Force 2025, another game that won’t win any awards, but is satisfying all the same. (more…)
Posted in PS3, Reviews, Top Story, Xbox 360
Tagged Earth Defense Force 2025
Microsoft @ PAX East 2014: Project Spark, TitanFall, Super Time Force, more
Microsoft plans to have a huge presence at this year’s PAX East convention, but temper your expectations, as most of the games they’re bringing to the show are already available to all.
The centerpiece of the Xbox booth will be this Spring’s biggest game, TitanFall. It will be joined by cartoony shooter Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare (originally released in February), game creator Project Spark (which is currently available in open beta), and a quartet of launch games (Forza Motorsport 5, Dead Rising 3, Ryse: Son of Rome, and Killer Instinct). Early April releases Kinect Sports Rivals and Strike Suit Zero: Director’s Cut will also be playable at the Microsoft booth.
As of right now, the only unreleased game Microsoft plans to show in its PAX East booth is Super Time Force. This leads me to guess that Super Time Force is probably going to be added to the Xbox Live Store pretty soon. Just a hunch.
More details on Microsoft’s PAX East 2014 plans for all of these titles are available after the break. You can also read all about the panels the consolemaker will be hosting, including a Project Spark panel, a TitanFall panel, and a live recording of Major Nelson’s podcast. (more…)