Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- Angry Birds, Dragon Quest, FIFA Soccer, and Silent Hill are the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026
- 2025 GOTY Scoreboard: In Progress
- BAFTA Games Awards: All the Winners from 2003 to Today
- Clair Obscur Completes the Sweep by Winning “Best Game” at 2025-2026 BAFTA Games Awards
- Boss Fight Books to Get a New Look for Richard Moss’s “Age of Empires”
Warp Zoned Presents
- Video Game Research Library
- How a Second-Grade Teacher Revived a Beloved Video Game – The New York Times (2026)
- Spore: An oral history – Design Room (2026)
- 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)
Author: John Scalzo
Angry Birds Stella will fly high this Fall
As promised yesterday, Rovio has revealed the first details about the newest Angry Birds game, Angry Birds Stella. Is it supposed to be Angry Birds for girls? Don’t girls already love the Angry Birds games?
Anyway, Stella is a small pink bird and she’ll be joined in her battle against the crafty swine by her five “friends/frenemies,” who are currently without names. Wait, frenemies? Is it supposed to be Angry Birds for mean girls? Perhaps it’s an Angry Birds/Disney Princesses crossover thing as the big bird in the back is wearing a crown (is that Queen Stella?). And technically, there are no pigs in this image, so who knows if they’ll even be part of the game?
But one thing we do know is that Angry Birds Stella will be about “serious issues.” According to Rovio, Stella and her friends/frenemies will “have to deal with some serious issues in order to protect their friendship and the environment they live in.”
Angry Birds Stella will be available this Fall, presumably for mobile devices (though that’s also unconfirmed). Until then, Rovio has promised that regular updates will be available at the game’s official website. Seriously though, frenemies?
Posted in Mobile, News
Tagged Angry Birds Stella
Mysterious “New Angry Birds” game to be announced tomorrow
The official Angry Birds Twitter account has begun teasing the next game in the pig-hating series:
Big adventure with new birds coming soon! #NewAngryBirds pic.twitter.com/DWdZ7fBrXq
— Angry Birds (@AngryBirds) February 12, 2014
The game currently has no title, though Rovio has attempted to get people talking by tagging the post with the “#NewAngryBirds” hashtag. The image used to tease the untitled game is a bit on the mysterious side, so who knows what Rovio has planned for the “new birds.” They’re just silhouettes, but I’m liking the art style so far. And I’ll go out on a limb and assume it’s in development for mobile platforms.
A second tweet confirmed that Rovio plans to reveal more details about the game, including its title, tomorrow.
Posted in Mobile, News
Tagged Angry Birds Stella
XBL Store Today: Lightning Returns: FF13, Far Cry Classic, World of Tanks
Lightning Returns in this week’s Xbox Live Game Store update in the aptly named Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII. The Xbox 360 JRPG is available to download now for $59.99.
Also available this week for the Xbox 360 is the return of another classic character, the… um, er… main character of Crytek’s Far Cry. Sorry, I have no idea what his name is, strong characterization is not why Far Cry is well known or why gamers will be interested to know that the game is now available for the Xbox 360 (through the Xbox Live Arcade) as Far Cry Classic. It’s been priced at $9.99.
Finally this week is the official release of World of Tanks: Xbox 360 Edition. The free-to-play war simulator has exited its beta period and is ready for the Xbox Live community at large (well, the ones who subscribe to Xbox Live Gold) to give it a spin.
More details on all of these games can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, Xbox 360
Tagged Far Cry Classic, Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, World of Tanks
Lightning Returns: FF13, Far Cry Classic, Skullgirls Encore, more added to PS Store
There’s plenty of variety in this week’s PlayStation Store update…
Fans of classic JRPGs will get one last chance to take control of Lightning in Square Enix’s Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII (PS3)… Fans of classic first person shooters will get the chance to relive Crytek’s 2004 masterpiece, Far Cry Classic, now available for the PS3… Fans of fighting games can get another chance to play Skullgirls, as Lab Zero has readded it to the PS Store as Skullgirls Encore (PS3)… And fans of tube shooters may want to check out TxK (Vita), a reimagining of the genre classic Tempest 2000.
There’s more information on all of these games, as well as a few additional PS3 and Vita games, after the break. And a full breakdown of this week’s new game add-ons can be found at the PlayStation Blog. (more…)
Posted in News, PS3, Vita
Tagged Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, Far Cry Classic, Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, Skullgirls
First Evolve trailer, “Happy Hunting,” hints at PAX East debut
2K Games and Turtle Rock Studios have released the first trailer for Evolve, the latest cooperative shooter from the creators of Left 4 Dead.
The trailer, officially known as “Happy Hunting,” uses pre-rendered video to show us the game’s four character classes including a heavy weapons guy, a shield/healer specialist, a defensive character (check out the harpoon gun), and a jetpack-besuited butterfly woman. The cinematic battle against a raging alien is also sountracked to an awesome cover of Danzig’s “Mother” by Lissie.
I’m not sure what to make of Evolve, but this first trailer definitely ticked a few of my pop culture boxes including a pinch of Predator, a dash of Muldoon from Jurassic Park, and a bit of Duck Dynasty. But we’ll get a closer look at Evolve in April as Turtle Rock and 2K plan to bring the game to PAX East in some form.
Evolve is in development for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One and will be released this Fall.
God of War 1 + 2, Sly Cooper Collection coming to Vita
Sony is compiling the biggest hits of two of their most beloved characters for Vita owners this May.
The God of War Collection will be available on May 6 and it will bundle together Kratos’ two PS2 outings: God of War and God of War II. The compilation will be priced at $29.99. And if you want, you can head over to the PlayStation Blog and watch as Sony Santa Monica’s Cory Barlog loses his mind over the announcement.
Sony has also announced that The Sly Collection will be released for the Vita on May 27. It is currently without a price, but the collection will include all three of Sly’s PS2 games: Sly Cooper and the Thievius Racconus, Sly 2: Band of Thieves, and Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves.
Cory Barlog had no comment on The Sly Collection.
Posted in News, Vita
Tagged God of War Collection, The Sly Collection
Watch Dogs still on track for Spring release… except on the Wii U
Good news! Ubisoft has reconfirmed that Watch Dogs is stil on track for a Spring release. The game will be available in stores during the first quarter of Ubisoft’s 2015 fiscal year, which runs from April 1, 2014 through June 30, 2014.
But the bad news is that this release date doesn’t apply to the Wii U version of the game. According to Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot, the Wii U version was delayed to provide more development resources for the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One versions: “We made the difficult decision to further delay the release of Watch Dogs on Wii U to focus the team’s resources where they could have the broadest possible benefit for both our customers and Ubisoft.”
As terrible as this news is for Wii U owners, I suppose we should consider ourselves lucky that the Wii U version of Watch Dogs wasn’t outright canceled.
[Source: Game Informer]
Sega reveals Sonic Boom: New game, TV show, and toy line coming soon
Sonic: Lost World didn’t set the world on fire when it was released for the 3DS and Wii U last year. But Sega still has at least one more game to release as part of their exclusivity agreement with Nintendo and so they’ve wasted no time in announcing that Sonic Boom will be available for the handheld and home console later this year.
Sonic Boom isn’t just a game. It is also going to be a television series (airing this Fall on Cartoon Network) and a toy line (including plush, action figures, and RC vehicles all created by Tomy). Oh, and it’s not being developed by Sonic Team. Instead, Sega has handed development duties for Sonic Boom to Big Red Button Entertainment (Wii U) and Sanzaru Games (3DS), two American developers. Though Sonic Team will supervise their progress.
Sega was also quick to point out that the Americanized makeover received by Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy Rose will represent a “new branch” of the Sonic series. So if Sonic Boom is a bust, you can bet that Sega will hit the big red reset button and restore Sonic the Hedgehog’s classic look in his next game.
Sega will surely reveal more details about Sonic Boom soon, but until then, check out the first screenshots and some concept art at the Sega Blog.
Posted in 3DS, News, Wii U
Tagged Sonic Boom