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
First PS4/Xbox One trailer for Madden NFL 25 showcases “10X the Detail”
EA Sports wants you to know that Madden NFL 25 on the PS4 and Xbox One is pretty. In fact, it’s so pretty because of the “Next Definition Visuals,” “High Fidelity Animations,” “10X the Detail,” and “4X the Texture Resolution” that are apparently impossible on the PS3 and Xbox 360.
See it for yourself by watching the trailer above and be sure to visit EA Sports’ “Next Generation of Presentation site” if you’re interested in learning more behind-the-scenes secrets and looking at a few more very pretty screenshots of Madden NFL 25.
Posted in News, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Madden NFL 25
Sonic the Hedgehog, Toon Link join Super Smash Bros. 4
Nintendo has added two new characters to Super Smash Bros. 4 on the 3DS and Wii U and they’re sure to make fans very happy.
First up is Toon Link, the cel-shaded version of Link that was previously seen in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. Toon Link will wield his sword, a bow, and the Wind Waker wand as he does battle with the rest of Smash Bros. 4’s combatants (including regular Link).
But the big news is that Sonic the Hedgehog will be back for a second round of smashing in Super Smash Bros. 4. The blue speedster’s Spin Dash will make a powerful and makes Sonic a natural rival with Samus Aran and her Morph Ball.
New screenshots of both characters (Toon Link and Sonic the Hedgehog) can be found at the official Smash Bros. site.
Posted in 3DS, News, Wii U
Tagged Super Smash Bros. For 3DS, Super Smash Bros. For Wii U
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze slips (on a banana peel) to February 2014
Nintendo has announced (via their latest Nintendo Direct presentation) that Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze has been delayed. The side-scrolling plaformer, which is in development at Retro Studios, will now be released in February 2014. It was originally set to launch this November.
Nintendo President Satoru Iwata stated that the reason for the delay is to give Retro a little more time to deliver the best game possible.
Posted in News, Wii U
Tagged Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
Mighty No. 9 is coming to PS4, Xbox One, 3DS, Vita too
With a little over ten hours left in their Kickstarter campaign, Keiji Inafune and his team at Comcept have announced several huge developments for Mighty No. 9. The total pledge amount currently sits at $3.4 million, which means that a PS4 and Xbox One version of the game is a go. And rather than waste any time, they’ve gone ahead and unlocked the 3DS/Vita stretch goal as well. So for those scoring at home, Mighty No. 9 will be released for the PC (Windows, Mac, Linux), PS3, Xbox 360, Wii U, PS4, Xbox One, 3DS, and Vita sometime in 2015. That’s amazing.
But rather than rest on his laurels, Inafune has revealed new stretch goals. If Mighty No. 9 reaches $3.8 million, the team will add an optional retro-style chiptune soundtrack to the game’s Settings menu. Finally, if the campaign reaches $4 million, Mighty No. 9 will include an Online Battle Race Mode.
What does that mean? Well… “You and a friend compete online, racing to the end of slightly customized versions of single-player stages. You can see your rival as a “ghost” image in your game, but you can’t affect each other… save for the enemies you defeat being sent over to impede your opponent’s progress!”
Wow. Time to up my pledge again.
Comcept reveals Mighty No. 9 test video as Kickstarter campaign nears end
Keiji Inafune’s Kickstarter campaign for his spiritual successor to Mega Man, Mighty No. 9, has a little more than one day left on the clock. The campaign is more than 300% funded, but Inafune and his team still have a few surprises in store for us.
First, he posted the “Test Video” that you can view above. The short video clip showcases Mighty No. 9 walking, jumping, and shooting thanks to the game’s newly chosen development environment, the Unreal Engine. Inafune was quick to stress that the video is a very early taste of what Mighty No. 9 could look like and it will have no bearing on the final game. That said, it looks awesome and I’ve replayed the 13-second clip over and over again.
Inafune also revealed that Takashi Tateishi, the composer behind Mega Man II‘s memorable tunes, will be lending his musical talents to Mighty No. 9.
Finally, Mighty No. 9 is ridiculously close to reaching the PS4/Xbox One stretch goal. Less than $200,000 separates Inafune’s passion project from a next-generation console debut. Be sure to check back tomorrow to find out if Mighty No. 9 it makes it. And, of course, you can always bump up your pledge to help the game reach its goal. You’ve already donated, right?
Guerrilla Games exits Killzone to work on original project
Guerrilla Games has confirmed that Killzone: Shadow Fall will be their last contribution to the franchise for the foreseeable future. Speaking to Eurogamer, Lead Designer Eric Boltjes revealed that the developer is ready to move on to something new and original.
“As a studio we do want to branch out, and we have started work on a new IP, something completely different to Killzone. I don’t want to say anything about it right now, but as a studio we do want to keep it fresh,” Boltjes said.
Killzone: Shadow Fall will be available on November 15 as part of the PlayStation 4’s launch lineup, but obviously, Boltjes kept any details about Guerrilla’s next project to himself during his discussion with Eurogamer.
Batman: Arkham Origins will include hardcore “I Am the Night” Mode
Warner Bros. Montreal is definitely taking the “Origins” part of Batman: Arkham Origins seriously. Speaking to Eurogamer at this weekend’s Eurogamer Expo, Producer Guillaume Voghel confirmed that the “Initiation” DLC pack will send Bruce Wayne to Asia as part of his ninja training with the martial arts master Kirigi. The DLC will be the first time any part of the Arkham games take place outside Gotham City.
“It’s when he learned to be a ninja and learned those techniques. He goes to a monastery – custom content was created for the DLC. You’ll be in Asia in the monastery. The team did a great job on that, it looks really good,” said Voghel.
Voghel also talked a bit about the game’s “I Am the Night” Mode, an extremely hardcore test of Batman’s heroic abilities that opens up after players complete the main game and the New Game Plus campaign. In “I Am the Night,” players will have to complete the game’s entire 12-hour campaign using a single life.
You can find out if you’re up to the challenge when Batman: Arkham Origins is released for the PC, PS3, Wii U, and Xbox 360 on October 25.
Precursor puts Shadow of the Eternals on hold
It looks like the dream of a spiritual successor to Eternal Darkness is dead. Or, at the very least, in a very deep sleep.
Precursor’s Denis Dyack has announced, via the company’s Official Forums, that Shadow of the Eternals has been put “on hold.” Most of the team will be taking a break, though the forums will remain in place for those who want to talk about a game that will likely never come out. Though that might not be fair as Dyack also said: “Is the project dead? No, but we feel it needs a rest too. We have all agreed as a group that when and if the time is right we will get together and start it up again.”
But after two failed Kickstarter campaigns, I’m not sure it’ll be that easy.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Wii U
Tagged Shadow of the Eternals