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
- 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”
- GDC Awards: All the Winners from 1996 to Today
Warp Zoned Presents
- Video Game Research Library
- 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)
- Shadow of the Colossus: An oral history – Design Room (2025)
Most Recent: News
Valve has acquired Firewatch developer Campo Santo
Valve hasn’t published a new game since 2013’s Dota 2, but that’s all about to change in the very near future. Over the weekend, the gatekeepers of Steam acquired Campo Santo, the team behind Firewatch. In an announcement on their official website, the developer said that their pairing with Valve came about due a mutual enjoyment of “making and producing entertainment”:
If you’re the type of person who gives two flips about this news, we can elaborate a little bit on this big decision. First, we really like making video games. Furthermore, and perhaps more accurately, we really like making and producing entertainment. From the day-to-day production of our last game, Firewatch, to the way we run the company, make merchandise, meet players at expos and shows, send out a quarterly literary journal, throw open-to-the-public game demos in the middle of an artificial forest—all of it is geared towards surprising, delighting, and entertaining the customers who have shared in our success.
In Valve we found a group of folks who, to their core, feel the same way about the work that they do (this, you may be surprised to learn, doesn’t happen every day). In us, they found a group with unique experience and valuable, diverse perspectives. It quickly became an obvious match.
Campo Santo has promised that it will be business as usual going forward, with Valve now signed on to publish their next game, In the Valley of Gods. The developer also said they will continue to publish their literary journal, The Quarterly Review, and future support for Firewatch (including the upcoming Switch launch) will continue as planned.
Finally, this whole deal may have happened because Campo Santo stole a bottle of champagne from IGN that was originally destined for Valve. It sounds a little far-fetched, but I want to believe that it’s nothing but the truth.
New Retail Releases: Rick & Morty: Virtual Rick-ality, South Park: Fractured But Whole, More
It’s another slow week for the employees at your local game store, but a handful of new releases will make their way to retail shops this week…
First up is Rick & Morty: Virtual Rick-ality, a PS4 adaptation of the hit animated show. Previously available to download through the PlayStation Store, the developer has promised that players will explore the insane multiverse of Rick & Morty with a PlayStation VR headset and “solve puzzles, step through portals into strange dimensions, get yelled at by Rick, fight aliens, drink detergent,” and “press buttons.”
And speaking of animation for adults… South Park: The Fractured But Whole launched last year for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One, but Switch owners will finally get a chance to purchase the superhero RPG from Ubisoft. Switch owners will also be able to buy Red Hook’s ultra-challenging RPG, Darkest Dungeon: Ancestral Edition this week.
Continuing the “For Adults” theme, PQube will release Gal*Gun 2 this week for the PS4 and Switch. The shooter sequel asks players to help a pack of possessed teenagers by shooting them with a “love gun.” Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly, another Japanese oddity from Aksys Games, will be available for the Vita this week.
Elsewhere on store shelves, Big Ben will bring a pair of extreme racing games to the Switch (Aqua Moto Racing Utopia and Snow Moto Racing Freedom), and they’ll be joined by Max: The Curse of Brotherhood from Flashbulb Games.
Finally this week, the GameStop-exclusive mystery game The Invisible Hours will make its Xbox One debut.
That’s all for now, but we’ll be back later this week with a look at all the new additions to the PlayStation Store, Xbox Games Store, and Nintendo eShop.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Switch, Vita
Tagged Max: The Curse of Brotherhood, South Park: The Fractured But Whole
Night Trap: 25th Anniversary Edition will be released for Switch this Summer
In 1993, Nintendo of America Chairman Howard Lincoln testified before Congress about the growing debate around “Violent Video Games.” Lincoln’s testimony tried to shift the blame away from Nintendo, and accused Sega and Midway of peddling their gory games directly to children. To say it wasn’t his finest hour might be an understatement.
But he also made sure that the assembled senators (and everyone watching on C-SPAN) knew that Night Trap would never appear on a Nintendo system:
In the past year, some very violent and offensive games have reached the market. And of course I’m speaking about Mortal Kombat and Night Trap. And let me say that for the record, I want to state that Night Trap will never appear on a Nintendo system. Obviously it would not pass our guidelines. This game… which, as you’ve indicated… promotes violence against women, simply has no place in our society.
Somewhere, Howard Lincoln is dining on a large plate of crow, as Screaming Villains has announced that Night Trap: 25th Anniversary Edition will be released for the Switch this Summer.
Players must operate a trap-based security system to keep a group of teenage girls safe from a pack of invading vampires in Night Trap, and the game, which popularized the Full Motion Video genre, will be available to download through the Nintendo eShop. A special physical release of Night Trap (a game-only Standard Edition and a to-be-announced Collector’s Edition) will also be available from Limited Run Games.
The first trailer for Night Trap: 25th Anniversary Edition’s Switch debut has been embedded above.
Posted in News, Switch
Tagged Night Trap
Phantom Trigger, Samurai Shodown IV, more added to Xbox Store
It’s Friday, and Microsoft has added a handful of new games to the Xbox Games Store…
First up is Phantom Trigger, a “neon slasher” with RPG and roguelike elements from TinyBuild and Bread Team. Xbox One owners who purchase Phantom Trigger will also receive a copy for their Windows 10 PC through the Xbox Play Anywhere program. Also available to download today for the Xbox One is Samurai Shodown IV, yet another one-on-one fighting game that originally appeared on the NeoGeo.
You can learn more about all of today’s additions to the Xbox Games Store after the break. (more…)
PEGI rates 20XX for Switch and Xbox One
20XX is a roguelike platformer from Batterystaple Games that was very obviously influenced by Capcom’s Mega Man X. The procedurally-generated game is currently available for the PC, but back in December, we learned that it was making the leap to the PS4 in “Early 2018.”
Since we’re now well into April, that obviously didn’t happen. But a new rating for 20XX from Europe’s PEGI organization has confirmed the game will also be coming to the Switch and Xbox One.
We still don’t know when 20XX will make its console debut, but it’s nice to know that more people will get the chance to play Batterystaple’s excellent spin on the Mega Man formula.
South Park: The Fractured But Whole, Death Road to Canada, Wild Guns Reloaded, more coming to Nintendo eShop this week
UPDATE: Death Road to Canada‘s publisher, Ukiyo Publishing, has delayed the game until further notice after the recent terrorist attack in Toronto… “We feel it would be deeply inappropriate to launch the game at such a time,” said Paul Hann, Managing Director of Ukiyo Publishing. “We would like to express our deepest condolences to everyone affected by the tragic events in Toronto.”
ORIGINAL STORY: It looks like another big batch of Switch games will be added to the Nintendo eShop over the next seven days. Here’s what we can look forward to this week…
Ubisoft will bring South Park: The Fractured But Whole to the Switch on Tuesday, April 24. This time out, the boys are skewering superhero movies, and players will be able to “create [their] own superhero, build up [their] notoriety and use [their] superpowers to save South Park.” Also next week, Rocketcat Games will bring Death Road to Canada, their procedurally-generated post-apocalyptic adventure game, to the Switch on Wednesday.
But if you’re looking for something to download today, Natsume has re-released Wild Guns, a cult classic originally available for the Super NES, as Wild Guns Reloaded. This version of the game will include new characters and modes, as well local multiplayer support for up to four players.
You can learn more about the rest of this week’s additions to the Nintendo eShop (including Real Bout Fatal Fury Special, Gal*Gun 2, and more) after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, Switch
Tagged South Park: The Fractured But Whole
Disgaea 1 Complete will be released for PS4 and Switch this Fall
The Disgaea franchise is celebrating its 15th anniversary in 2018, and fans will get the chance to join the festivities thanks to Disgaea 1 Complete, an updated re-release of Disgaea: Hour of Darkness for the PS4 and Switch, and it’ll be available this Fall.
According to NIS America, Disgaea 1 Complete will recreate the RPG’s “classic gameplay,” with “upgraded graphics” built for modern consoles:
About Disgaea 1 Complete
The Overlord is dead. The Netherworld is in turmoil. Time to kick some ass! Netherworld Prince Laharl awakens to fight for his throne and it’s up to him and some unlikely allies to defend what is rightfully his. Together with his devious vassal Etna, the angel trainee Flonne, and a whole cavalcade of explosive characters, Laharl will slash, shoot, and punch his way to the top. Build your squad to level 9999 and unleash crazy special skills, team attacks, and spells to deal millions of points of damage in this zany high-definition remake of an RPG classic.Disgaea 1 Complete Features
- Feel the Wrath of Laharl! – Take control of Prince Laharl as he conquers the Netherworld to become the Overlord in this zany story of assassins, Prinnies, and robots!
- Hours of Darkness! – The original Disgaea is back and better than ever! Play through the main story, or try Etna Mode with extra characters not found in the original release! Get lost in the Item World for hundreds of hours of fast-paced strategy RPG action, now in HD for the first time!
- LEVEL UP, DOOD! – Level up anything from characters to items to shops, all while wearing 100-ton boxers! Things not working out in your favor? Head to the Dark Assembly, and change the laws of the Netherworld!
In addition to the Standard Edition of the game, Disgaea 1 Complete will also be available exclusively through the NIS America Online Store in a special Rosen Queen’s Finest Edition. Priced at $99.99, the Rosen Queen’s Finest Edition the game, the Official Soundtrack, an Official Hardcover Art Book, an Enamel Pin Set (Set of Nine), an Orthodox Prinny Coaster Set, a Noppai Etna Flat Mousepad, two posters (the “Poster of Darkness” and the “Netherworld Unbound”), a Prinny Cube Plush, and a Rosen Queen Certificate of Authenticity. To top it all off, the entire package will be housed in a Prinny Pouch Collector’s Box.
You can get a closer look at the contents of the Rosen Queen’s Finest Edition after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PS4, Switch
Tagged Disgaea: Hour of Darkness
Casey Powell Lacrosse 18 and I, Hope added to Xbox Store
Two new Xbox One games are now available to download through the Xbox Games Store…
Casey Powell Lacrosse 18 is the latest lacrosse simulation from Big Ant Studios, and it features “a completely reworked series of faceoff, shot, stick, and dodging controls.” Also available today is I, Hope, a game where a young girl battles “a dark monster called Cancer.”
You can learn more about both of these games right here…
Now Available on Xbox Games Store – 4/18/18 [Major Nelson]
Casey Powell Lacrosse 18
Casey Powell Lacrosse 18 offers sports fans a dynamic, fast, and challenging experience, with all the excitement, speed, and scoring of real-life lacrosse, including a completely reworked series of faceoff, shot, stick, and dodging controls. It also features enhanced AI that responds to the complex 6v6 tactics of lacrosse. New motion capture animations for everything from faceoffs and shooting to post-goal celebrations add even further realism to the game.I, Hope
A young girl named Hope lives peacefully with her Grandpa upon an island floating in the clouds. That is, until one day, a dark monster called Cancer attacks and destroys her village, ensnaring the surrounding islands with its evil tentacles. Hope must travel to these islands to free their creatures and acquire the weapons she will need to defeat her ultimate enemy.Developed in partnership with hospitals and child researchers to have a poignant impact on the lives of children fighting cancer, I, Hope is also donating fully 100% of all sales to GameChanger Charity, an organization that supports children and families fighting cancer and other life-threatening illnesses.