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
Retro Studios confirms they’ve got a new Wii U game in the works
Retro Studios recently completed development on and released Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. The developer has yet to announce their next move, but they have confirmed (via GameSpot) that they’ve got a new Wii U title in the works and that production began after development on Tropical Freeze was completed in November. However, Retro’s President and CEO, Michael Kelbaugh, couldn’t reveal any specifics about the unannounced game. And he purposely attempted to downplay its identity by stating how fun all of the company’s previous projects were:
“We love working with Donkey Kong. It’s a great character. It’s a lot of fun. We love working with Metroid Prime, with Mario Kart; those are fun, fun games to work on. So, you know, you can’t lose,” he said. “Every one of those IPs have been a lot of fun to play with and work on and [we’d] love to come back to them sometime.”
So is Retro working on the oft-rumored Metroid Prime 4/next Metroid game? Or perhaps that “American Legend of Zelda” is more than just wishful thinking. There’s even the possibility that they’re helping put a last-minute shine on Mario Kart 8. Whatever Retro’s next project is, Kelbaugh sees a lot of untapped potential in the Wii U and believes the system is a “powerhouse”:
“Unfortunately, the perception is that it’s not a very powerful machine,” Kelbaugh said about the Wii U. “That’s just not true. It’s a powerhouse. It’s more than adequate to make great games on.”
With any luck, Retro’s next game will hopefully be announced at this year’s E3 Expo.
Weekly Warp-Up: No Candy For You! 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…
Ding dong! The witch is dead! Which old witch? The Bubble Witch! Look at that, it even scans correctly! King, the developer behind Candy Crush Saga has given up their crusade to trademark the word “Candy.” While I’d love to celebrate, the mobile game behemoth is still attempting to put a stranglehold on the word “Saga” (which is used in all of their other games such as Bubble Witch Saga and Pet Rescue Saga). Playing Tetris until you see the shapes in your dreams is worthy of the word “Saga,” matching three peppermints is not.
Also this week, UK Correspondent Andrew Rainnie has rooted out another group of crowdfunding projects that show some promise in the latest edition of Kickstart This! And Nicole Kline has reviewed the latest Borderlands tie-in novel, Borderlands: Gunsight. Spoiler alert, it stinks!
We’ve got more news from the week that was after the break. (more…)
Posted in News
New Releases: South Park: The Stick of Truth
Just one game will be added to store shelves this week, but it’s a big one… South Park: The Stick of Truth.
If you recall, South Park: The Stick of Truth has been in development at Obsidian Entertainment for a long time. Originally a THQ production, the game shifted to Ubisoft after THQ went bankrupt. Then it was delayed multiple times to ensure that it lived up to all the hype. Does it? You can find out for yourself this week on the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.
A few more new releases will make their way to the PlayStation Store, Xbox Live Store, and Nintendo eShop this week. We’ll talk more about those titles over the next few days.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged South Park: The Stick of Truth
343 Industries has “a great plan” for Halo at E3 2014
Microsoft’s Phil Spencer has confirmed, via Twitter, that the consolemaker has big plans for the Halo franchise at this year’s E3 Expo:
@MarvelousJoJo Halo news will be coming at E3. 343i has a great plan in place, will be cool to share with everyone.
— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) February 28, 2014
Interestingly, what Spencer did not do was confirm that Halo 5 would make an appearance at E3 2014. A persistent rumor continues to circulate among industry insiders that states Halo 5 will miss its planned 2014 launch. Instead, so the rumors says, the currently unannounced Halo 2 Anniversary would take its place on the release calendar. Halo 5 would move to 2015, or possibly beyond.
Of course, Spencer could also be referring to that live-action Halo series that Steven Spielberg is involved with. Microsoft has been uncharacteristically mum about their original programming initiative and we haven’t heard anything about Halo: The Television Series since last May.
Posted in News, Xbox One
Tagged E3 2014, Halo 5: Guardians
Warner Bros. is making a Minecraft movie
What kind of film could you create out of a video game with no characters, no plot, and no consistent world from player to player? I don’t know, but when you’re talking about the most popular game in the world, Warner Bros. is willing to give it a try. Deadline is reporting that the movie studio has reached a deal with Mojang to create a movie based on Minecraft.
The Minecraft movie will be produced by Roy Lee, who is one of the masterminds behind this year’s massively popular The Lego Movie. Jill Messick, a producer on Mean Girls, will also help bring Minecraft to the silver screen. It is much too early to discuss writers, directors, or actors, but might I suggest Quentin Tarantino for all three? Nah, I’m only joking… I think.
Warner Bros. is no stranger to the world of video games. In addition to producing the next Mortal Kombat movie, the company is one of the few to find success in game publishing thanks to its WB Games label.
Nintendo Download: Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy
While the Professor Layton series will continue in some form, tomorrow’s addition of Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy to the 3DS eShop marks the end of the good Professor’s tenure as the face of the franchise. Also available on the 3DS eShop this week is Tappingo, a puzzle game of a different sort. Taking a bit of inspiration from Minesweeper, Tappingo is can be downloaded today.
Over on the Wii U eShop, Wii U owners will have a chance to download My Farm, a cartoony farm simulator.
Finally, the NES game Renegade is now available on both the 3DS eShop and the Wii U eShop. Renegade is the first game in the long-running “Kunio” series (which is better known in America as the River City Ransom series).
More details about all of these titles can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, Wii U
Tagged Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy
The Behemoth headlines a list of 65 new developers added to ID@Xbox program
After single-handedly kickstarting the movement to bring indie developers to the console space with the Xbox 360’s Xbox Live Arcade, Microsoft seriously dropped the ball with their attempts at indie outreach on the Xbox One. Initially, indie developers were expected to partner with an established publisher to bring their games to the next-generation console. In 2005, this was a reasonable policy. But with Sony and Nintendo’s more open approach to indie developers in recent years, Microsoft has to change. So last year, they removed the publisher requirement and allowed indie developers to self-publish their games on the Xbox One through the ID@Xbox program. The first ID@Xbox games should be released over the next few weeks, but Microsoft has no plans to stop there.
Today, the consolemaker confirmed that over 200 developers have signed up to be a part of the ID@Xbox program. In recent days, 65 indie developers have received Xbox One development kits and the list includes some big names. The Behemoth (of Alien Hominid, Castle Crashers, and BattleBlock Theater fame) leads the way and I cannot wait to see what they have in store for the Xbox One.
A few other big names stand out including FarSight Studios (makers of The Pinball Arcade), Heart Machine (who are currently working on Hyper Light Drifter), Humble Hearts (the team behind Dust: An Elysian Tail), Playdead (the developers of Limbo), and Ska Studios (who created the recent Charlie Murder). The complete list of all 65 indie developers recently added to the ID@Xbox program can be found after the break. (more…)
The Walking Dead Season 2: A House Divided will be released next week
Telltale Games has announced that the second episode of The Walking Dead Season 2, “A House Divided,” will be available to download for the PC and the PS3 (from the PlayStation Store) next Tuesday, March 4. The game’s Xbox Live Arcade and iOS App Store release date will be confirmed “at a later date.” But I’d bet good money that both versions will be available sometime around March 4.
For “A House Divided,” Telltale has tapped Michael Madsen to play the mysterious Carver. What does Carver want? You’ll have to play the game to find out. Like the previous episodic editions, The Walking Dead Season 2’s second episode has been priced at $4.99. All five episodes from Season 2 can also be pre-purchased through the $19.99 Season Pass. If you plan to follow the entire story of Clementine’s survival, it’s a good deal.
Vita owners will be happy to learn that Telltale also confirmed that The Walking Dead Season 2 will be released for Sony’s handheld. The first two episodes will be available to download in late March.