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
CoD: Ghosts Devastation Pack gameplay trailer confirms the Predator
Activision and Infinity Ward have released a brand new gameplay trailer for Call of Duty: Ghosts‘ Devastation Map Pack, which will be available to download for the Xbox 360 and Xbox One on Thursday, April 3. The trailer gives us a more in-depth look at the add-ons four maps (“Ruins,” “Behemoth,” “Collision,” and “Unearthed”), as well as Extinction Mode’s second episode, “Mayday.”
However, most importantly, the trailer confirms that the Predator will play some part in the “Ruins” map. It’s unknown if the Predator is a playable character the way Michael Myers was in the Ghosts’ first DLC pack or an invisible assassin, but he’s definitely there. All the Predator action (all one second of it), begins at 2:23 in the video above.
PC, PS3, and PS4 players will likely receive access to the Devastation Map Pack in early May. You can expect Activision to announce the release date for those platforms soon.
Tetropolis is a literal puzzle platformer that will be playable at PAX East 2014
A few weeks ago, I mused on the characters that inhabit our favorite puzzle games, including the belief of many Tetris players that the piece randomizer secretly has feelings. Apparently, the developers at NextGen Pants operate on the same wavelength as they’ve revealed Tetropolis, a literal “puzzle” platformer that stars a sentient Tetris piece rebelling against the piece randomizer:
Tetropolis is a nonlinear puzzle platformer set in a world obsessed with falling block puzzles. In the city of Tetropolis, thousands of game pieces are manufactured every minute in order to meet the demands of “the game.” You play as a squareshaped tetromino that has failed the quality check and has been discarded for not being perfect. Unlike other discarded pieces, you obtain the ability to change into different shapes, each one possessing its own unique ability that you can use to traverse the world.
In addition to Tetris (even the rooms themselves can be realigned like Tetris pieces), Tetropolis has taken plenty of inspiration from the “Metroidvania” genre of side-scrolling exploration games. Using your ability to change into different Tetris pieces, your Tetris piece will battle enemies, solve puzzles, obtain new abilities, and advance through the world.
Tetropolis sounds like my dream come true and it’ll be playable at the Indie Minibooth during this year’s PAX East expo on Sunday, April 13.
Posted in News
Tagged PAX East 2014, PC, Refactor
Weekly Warp-Up: Virtual Insanity 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…
If you had all the money in the world, wouldn’t you buy cool stuff just because you could? But while Joe Technerd has to make do with a few gadgets, Mark Zuckerberg has enough cash to buy the companies that create those gadgets. The Zuck cracked open his piggy bank again this week and acquired Oculus VR for a cool $2 billion. With nigh unlimited resources, Oculus can now create the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset of their dreams.
Over in shallower financial waters, Andrew Rainnie dove into the crowdfunding river like a bear looking for a fish, and he came up with another entry in his Kickstart This! series. And yes, that segue does mean that Bear Simulator is prominently featured among this month’s selections. Our UK Correspondent also explored 10 Actresses We Think Could Play Elena Fisher in the Uncharted Movie and not one of them is Jennifer Lawrence.
Finally this week, our other UK Correspondent, Dan Hobbs, reviewed last week’s Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes and last year’s Batman: Arkham Origins.
You can find more news from the week that was after the break. (more…)
Posted in News
New Releases: The Elder Scrolls Online, MLB 14: The Show, Ragnarok Odyssey Ace
Just three new retail releases this week, but all three can be considered very important to somebody.
Bethesda will release The Elder Scrolls Online for the PC on April 4. The MMORPG, the first for the franchise, has been a long time coming and fans are eager to see if it can stack up to the Skyrim and Oblivion. The Elder Scrolls Online is also in development for the PS4 and Xbox One and will be available in June.
With 2K dropping out of the baseball simulation competition, Sony will be releasing the year’s only baseball simulation this year, MLB 14: The Show. The PS3 and Vita versions of the game will be released on April 1 with a PS4 version planned for May.
Finally this week, XSEED will bring their monster hunter, Ragnarok Odyssey Ace, to the PS3 and Vita. People like the series, so that qualifies as “important” in my book.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Vita
Tagged MLB 14: The Show, Ragnarok Odyssey Ace, The Elder Scrolls Online
Switchblade Monkeys delays the showdown between Secret Ponchos and the PS4
Sony recently revealed the April additions to the Instant Game Collection for PlayStation Plus subscribers and, sadly, Secret Ponchos wasn’t among them. We reached out to developer Switchblade Monkeys via Twitter and they confirmed the old west arena shooter won’t be released for the PS4 next month as originally planned:
@CaptWarpZoned @SwitchbladeMkys John you are correct! Hangin there SP will come to beta testing to make sure its rock solid b4 release
— Switchblade Monkeys (@SwitchbladeMkys) March 29, 2014
A new release date wasn’t announced, though as you can see, a beta for the game will be available soon. However, we’re definitely sure that the next time we’ll be able to get our hands on Secret Ponchos is at this year’s PAX East expo (April 11 through April 13). Switchblade Monkeys previously announced the game will be playable on the show floor.
Posted in News, PS4
Tagged Secret Ponchos
Alien: Isolation will be released on October 7
Several developers from Creative Assembly are currently on stage at the EGX Rezzed expo to give the gathered crowd a look at Alien: Isolation. In addition to showcasing their latest game, the developer has revealed that Alien: Isolation will be released for the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on October 7.
Alien: Isolation will be published by Sega and will star Amanda Ripley, the daughter of Sigourney Weaver’s character Ellen Ripley. Unlike most games based on the Alien saga, Alien: Isolation will skip the shooting and attempt to recreate the absolute terror of the original 1979 film. As such, the game will only include a single Xenomorph, which Creative Assembly wants to ensure is “scary.”
Wolfenstein: The New Order will have a Nazi-Pop soundtrack of 1960s-style songs
Bethesda and MachineGames are definitely going the extra mile to ensure that Wolfenstein: The New Order‘s alternate timeline is as authentic. And naturally, a 1960 where the Nazis won World War II is going to be a very different place. For the game’s E3 2013 trailer, they mocked up images of German soldiers walking across Abbey Road and an astronaut giving the “Sieg Hiel!” to a Nazi flag on the moon. The pop music landscape is going to look completely different, but thankfully, they’ve got that covered too.
Instead of just ignoring the American Bandstand set entirely, MachineGames has commissioned a complete 1960s-style pop soundtrack (“We conquered the world, we conquered the moon, and we conquered rock and roll!”) for Wolfenstein: The New Order.
The song snippets found in the Neumond Recordings “commercial” above are great, but Bethesda has gone one better and created a website that includes full versions of eight songs. The Beatles are represented with “Mond, Mond, Ja, Ja” (a parody of “She Loves You”) and The Monkees’ “Last Train to Clarksville” has been repurposed as “Zug Nach Hamburg.” But my favorite might be “Weltraum Surfen,” which is clearly a superior version of The Beach Boys’ “Surfin’ Safari.”
Wolfenstein: The New Order will be available for the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on May 20. And don’t forget, if you pre-order now, you’ll be guaranteed access to the Doom 4 beta.
Square Enix @ PAX East 2014: Hitman Go, Murdered: Soul Suspect, Nosgoth
Square Enix will be bringing a trio of upcoming games to this year’s PAX East expo and not a single one has the words “Final,” “Fantasy,” “Dragon,” Quest,” “Kingdom,” or “Hearts” in its title. From April 11 through April 13, Square Enix will set up shop in Booth #548 with the following games:
Hitman Go – Hitman Go is a turn-based strategy game where you will strategically navigate fixed spaces on a grid to avoid enemies, infiltrate well-guarded locations and take out your target on beautifully rendered diorama-style set pieces. You really have to think about each move and all the Hitman tools of the trade you would expect are included; disguises distractions, sniper rifles and even 47’s iconic Silverballers. Developed by Square Enix Montreal, Hitman Go is set to arrive soon on mobile.
Murdered: Soul Suspect – A new take on the action/adventure genre, players take the role of Ronan O’Connor, a detective with a checkered past, whose life is brought to an untimely end by a brutal and relentless killer. Unable to move on and stuck in the limbo world of Dusk, he won’t find peace until he can bring his killer to justice from the afterlife. Set for release on June 3, Murdered: Soul Suspect will be available for PC, as well as current and next-gen consoles.
Nosgoth – Developed by Psyonix, Nosgoth is a unique team-based third person PvP title pitting a variety of brutal Human and Vampire characters in a fight for survival. The two races have very different play styles: Humans have an arsenal of devastating raged weaponry and lethal devices while Vampires specialize in visceral close-up melee attacks augmented by their inhuman abilities. Nosgoth is set in the dark fantasy world of the Legacy of Kain series and is currently in Closed Beta.
If you plan to attend PAX East and want to learn more about Nosgoth and Murdered: Soul Suspect, Square Enix will also host a pair of panels showcasing each game. The Murdered: Soul Suspect panel will take on Friday, April 11 at 6:00 PM while the Nosgoth panel, “Nosgoth: Vampire vs. Human Action,” will be held on Sunday, April 13 at 12:00 PM.