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
New Releases: Shin Megami Tensei IV, Dynasty Warriors 8, Time and Eternity, More
It’s a “grab bag” week of new releases as there’s a little something for everyone.
Atlus is bringing their popular Shin Megami Tensei series (known as MegaTen to fans and well wishers) back to the 3DS with the fourth numbered entry in the series, Shin Megami Tensei IV. It will be joined by Time and Eternity, a hand-drawn PS3 RPG from NIS America, that other Japanese RPG powerhouse.
Fans of action games will be happy to know that another Dynasty Warriors game will be available in stores this week. Dynasty Warriors 8 will be released for the PS3 and Xbox 360. In other action news, somebody packaged all of the Serious Sam games together for the Xbox 360-exclusive The Serious Sam Collection.
Finally this week, Turbo: Super Stunt Squad, from DreamWorks and D3 Publisher, will be released on nearly every system known to man: 3DS, DS, PS3, Wii, Wii U, and Xbox 360.
All You Can Arcade wants to be the GameFly of arcade cabinets
Even with the success of the Galloping Ghost Arcade in Brookfield, Illinois, it’s obvious that the American arcade scene is not in good shape. Enter All You Can Arcade, a California-based company that wants to become the GameFly of the arcade world.
For $75 a month, subscribers to the service can rent a full-sized arcade cabinet for an entire month. And if you want to build a (temporary) game room in your home, the company also offers two-game ($150 per month) and three-game ($225 per month) plans. Thankfully, the cost of delivery (and the pickup at the end of the month) is included in the subscription price. Because of the size and bulk of your average arcade cabinet, All You Can Arcade currently only serves the the San Francisco and Sacramento areas, but they hope to expand nationwide through their Partner program. Partners would register their location and the names of the cabinets they’re willing to rent out and All You Can Arcade would serve as the middleman to connect them with potential subscribers.
Check back Monday for our interview with Seth Peterson, the company’s passionate co-founder and CEO.
Posted in News
“The Legend of Zelda” (sort of) stumps 2 of 3 contestants in Final Jeopardy!
Alex Trebek has asked many questions inspired by video games over the years on Jeopardy! But yesterday’s episode likely marked the first time that Final Jeopardy! would test a contestant’s knowledge of joysticks, pixels, and 1-Ups.
The category was “Video Game History” and the clue read, “The title princess of this game, which launched a best-selling franchise, was named for F. Scott Fitzgerald’s wife.” Have you figured it out? I hope so. The answer is “(What is) The Legend of Zelda.” All three players knew the answer (though Trebek kept asking the three contestants if they knew the name of the franchise), but only one got credit for it.
Champion Mark Japinga was able to come up with the game’s full title, but challengers Ken Dasher and Toby Crew both answered “Zelda.” If this were the Jeopardy! or Double Jeopardy! round, the host likely would have asked them for clarification, but because it was Final Jeopardy!, the wrath of Trebek was delivered (“Gotta pay attention,” he told both losing contestants).
I think we all know how Sean Connery would have responded to that.
Posted in Etcetera, News, Retro
Tagged The Legend of Zelda
Rovio will (probably) announce Angry Birds Star Wars: The Prequels on July 15
Rovio will more than likely reveal an Angry Birds Star Wars expansion and/or sequel related to the Prequel Trilogy on Monday, July 15.
The jolly Finns uploaded an Angry Birds Star Wars image that parodies the first teaser poster released for Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace along with the text “Big new game announcement coming on Monday!”
I know Yoda teaches Luke that seeing the future with The Force is not an exact science (“Always in motion, the future is.”), but “Angry Birds Star Wars: The Prequels” seems like a sure thing.
Posted in Mobile, News
Tagged Angry Birds Star Wars II
AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! getting Oculus Rift support
AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! For the Awesome (sometimes shortened to Aaaaa!) is truly one of the greatest titles for a video game ever conceived. And the first-person BASE jumping sim has also been pretty well received among PC gaming enthusiasts. So naturally, the next step was to marry first-person BASE jumping with the virtual reality possibilities of an Oculus Rift headset.
AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! indeed.
Developer Owlchemy Labs is currently working on the Oculus update for Aaaaa! and plans to make it available on Steam soon. How real does the Oculus Rift make the BASE jumping of AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!!? Very real:
Here at Owlchemy Labs HQ, we’ve engaged in numerous play-tests in our secret Owl Cave and we can easily say (with confidence) that this is one of the most absurdly amazing gaming experiences to date! The all-encompassing sense of free-fall is so intense, the feeling of blasting past buildings for points so real, our very own play-testers have been known to duck their heads, in real life, when large objects scream past their face.
A few screenshots of the Oculus Rift version of AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! can be found at the Owlchemy Labs’ official website.
More iOS games go free for 5th Anniversary: Angry Birds Star Wars, Peggle, Dead Space
Five more games are now available as free downloads in celebration of the 5th Anniversary of the iTunes App Store. They include Angry Birds Star Wars, the latest entry in the bird-flinging series; Peggle, PopCap’s popular puzzler; Chopper, a side-scrolling helicopter shooter; and a pair of EA-published console adaptations: Dead Space and Mirror’s Edge.
All five games will be available to download for free for “a limited time.”
And good news! The previous batch of free titles (Badland, Infinity Blade II, Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP, Tiny Wings, and Where’s My Water?) are also still available as free downloads. So if you missed them a few days ago, there’s still time.
Posted in Mobile, News
Tagged Angry Birds Star Wars
DuckTales Remastered woo-hoos its way to PC, PS3, Wii U on August 13
Ever since DuckTales Remastered was announced at this year’s PAX East, I’ve been waiting patiently to refill Scrooge’s magnificent Money Bin with treasure. Today, Capcom announced the game’s official release date, so I won’t be waiting much longer.
DuckTales Remastered will be available to download through Steam, the PlayStation Network, and the Wii U eShop on August 13. A special PS3 retail edition, which includes a PSN download code and a collector’s pin, will be released on August 20. The Xbox Live Arcade version will follow a month later on September 11. All four downloadable versions have been priced at $14.99, while the retail version will carry a $19.99 price tag.
Finally, developer WayForward has released the first “Duckumentary” behind-the-scenes video detailing how the background designers took the original artwork and gave it a “Remastered” look and feel.
Nintendo Download: Shin Megami Tensei IV (July 16), Star Wars Pinball, more
May the TILT may be with you! Zen Studios has added their Star Wars-themed pinball collection, Star Wars Pinball, to the Wii U eShop this week. Also available this week for the Wii U is a pair of NES classics: Donkey Kong and Metroid. Come to think of it, the lone addition to the 3DS eShop today, Super Mario Bros. 2, can also be considered an NES classic.
Next Tuesday, July 16, Nintendo will add three more games to their download services. Turbo: Super Stunt Squad, a game based on the DreamWorks animated film of the same name, will be available to download for the 3DS and Wii U. Finally, Shin Megami Tensei IV, the latest game in the popular RPG series from Atlus, will also be added to the 3DS eShop.
Nintendo and Atlus have also teamed up to offer a big bonus if you purchase Shin Megami Tensei IV by August 31. If you buy the game and you already own Fire Emblem: Awakening (or if you purchase it by August 31), you’ll receive a $30 eShop credit. Score!
As always, more information on all of these games can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, Wii U
Tagged Shin Megami Tensei IV, Star Wars Pinball