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
Lego City Undercover’s re-release on the Switch, PC, PS4, Xbox One gets a new trailer
Lego City Undercover, the Lego-ized homage to Grand Theft Auto, and cop movie classics like Dirty Harry and Lethal Weapon was originally released for the Wii U in 2013, and has remained exclusive to Nintendo’s console ever since. But the rest of the gaming world will soon get to see what all the fuss is about because WB Games will re-release it for the PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch this Spring.
Today, the publisher unveiled the first trailer for the game’s 2017 reappearance, and it features all the goofy humor and family-friendly action you expect from the Lego series:
Lego City Undercover introduces Chase McCain, a police officer who goes undercover and dons multiple disguises to hunt down the notorious – and recently escaped – criminal, Rex Fury, to put an end to his city-wide crime wave.
This open-world Lego adventure allows fans and newcomers to explore the sprawling metropolis that is Lego City, with more than 20 unique districts to investigate, filled with car thieves to bust, vehicles to navigate, mischievous aliens to capture, hilarious movie references to discover, lost pigs to rescue and of course, hundreds of collectibles. Bringing together witty, original storytelling with signature Lego humor, this open-world Lego adventure creates a fun-filled experience for players of all ages.
Lego City Undercover is in development at TT Games, and we’ll probably hear more about it during tonight’s Nintendo Switch Presentation.
Shovel Knight is officially coming to Nintendo Switch; Yacht Club also plans to re-release the expansions as standalone games
Followers of the Code of Shovelry have quite a bit to celebrate today as Yacht Club Games uncovered a massive amount of new information about Shovel Knight on the game’s official site… including confirmation that it’ll be released for the Nintendo Switch.
Yes, the side-scrolling masterpiece will make its way to the Nintendo Switch sometime this year, along with each expansion and all the bonus content like Body Swap Mode and Co-Op Mode. Oh, speaking of Body Swap Mode, it’s finished and will be released alongside the Specter Knight expansion this Spring. And in the spirit of sharing, Co-Op Mode will no longer be exclusive to the Wii U (and the Shovel Knight Amiibo). According to the developer, it will soon be available for all consoles and the PC (but not the 3DS or the Vita) as a free update.
Here’s where it gets interesting.
Shovel Knight’s release structure will soon be undergoing some changes, though Kickstarter backers and other current owners won’t notice anything different. Yacht Club has decided to upgrade the game for current owners to the Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove on all platforms. Available this Spring, the Treasure Trove will include free access to all updates and expansions. But because the expansions have grown beyond being simple character swaps, Yacht Club has decided to raise the price of the Treasure Trove for newcomers once its available. The game’s new price has yet to be announced, but the current $14.99 price (and its promise of free updates and expansions) will remain in place until the Treasure Trove is released.
For everyone who has yet to purchase Shovel Knight (or for those who might want to rebuy the game on a new platform), Yacht Club has decided to split each of the expansions off into its own standalone game. So the original Shovel Knight campaign will receive a new subtitle (Shovel of Hope), and the expansions (Plague of Shadows, Specter of Torment, the King Knight campaign, and Battle Mode) will all be available as individual downloads (and for a lower price) on the PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Switch.
Finally, Yacht Club has begun to think about life after Shovel Knight, and will soon begin work on their “second” game (depending on how you count the Shovel Knight expansions). Writing in a new Q&A, the developer said, “[I]f you want something new outside of Shovel Knight… we have vowed to begin work on a new project this year!”
Posted in 3DS, Mobile, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Switch, Vita, Wii U, Xbox One
Tagged Shovel Knight, Shovel Knight Showdown, Shovel Knight: King of Cards, Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows, Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment
Xbox Store Today: Nevermind, Acorn Assault: Rodent Revolution
Welcome to the first Xbox Games Store update of 2017. Microsoft is easing their way into the new year with two new releases… an “adventure thriller” from Flying Mollusk and a furry turned-based strategy game from High Tale Studios.
In Nevermind, players will “explore strange worlds and solve puzzles” as they try to solve the mystery lurking within the inner psyche of psychological trauma survivors. Just like in The Cell, this task involves entering the minds of comatose patients and helping them cope. Thankfully, players won’t have to deal with a nearly-naked Vincent D’Onofrio. Nevermind is now available to download for the Xbox One.
Also launching for the Xbox One today is Acorn Assault: Rodent Revolution, a turned-based strategy game where players must overthrow King Louis the Umpteenth with a squirrel army. Oh, and it’s also somehow a retelling of the French Revolution.
More information on both Nevermind and Acorn Assault: Rodent Revolution can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News
Latest Horizon: Zero Dawn trailer offers a look at Aloy’s allies and enemies
We’re just a month-and-a-half away from the launch of Horizon: Zero Dawn, and developer Guerrilla Games is back with yet another look at the game’s story. We’re still no closer to figuring out the circumstances behind the mixture of primative humans and high technology found in Aloy’s world, but it does introduce us to some the other people that’ll populate it.
In this gameplay trailer, we meet the “Masked Men,” the mysterious force seemingly behind the techno-organic animals that roam the land, along with a few of Aloy’s friends and neighbors.
Horizon: Zero Dawn will be released exclusively for the PS4 on February 28.
Posted in News, PS4
Tagged Horizon: Zero Dawn
Earthlock: Festival of Magic will be released for PS4 on January 27
Snowcastle Games originally released Earthlock: Festival of Magic for the PC and Xbox One last year. Yesterday the Norwegian developer took over the PlayStation Blog and confirmed that their RPG will also be released for the PS4 on January 27.
Lead Artist Fredrik Dahl also shared a few secrets about how Snowcastle tried to “honor and exceed” old-school RPGs with Earthlock:
Strategy is key to survival, not the grind.
“In the traditional turn-based RPG, I don’t think it’s a big secret that there’s a lot of grinding going on — to level up in order to beat a boss, for example. We’ve tried to limit that by focusing more on a tactical experience. Usually you can get through the bosses in Earthlock by choosing the right strategy, getting your talent board set up, and having the right character pairings. Getting wiped out is more often than not a case of having the wrong party setup.”
Earthlock: Festival of Magic is also in development for the Wii U, but it’s currently unknown when, or even if, it’ll reach Nintendo’s console.
Posted in News, PS4
Tagged Earthlock: Festival of Magic
Hatsune Miku: Project Diva Future Tone, Fatal Fury, more added to PS Store
It’s the first PlayStation Store update of the year… so let’s kick things off with a big dance party!
Hatsune Miku: Project Diva Future Tone, the Virtual Diva’s latest starring role, is now available to download for the PS4. According to Sega, Future Tone is the biggest game in the series (if you download both expansion pack), and it’s amped up speed and energy will provide fans with the most intense rhythm game experience yet.
Also new this week is Fatal Fury, a PS4 recreation of the classic arcade game from 1991. As one of SNK’s earliest games, Fatal Fury helped lay the groundwork for the dozens of fighting games the developer would produce over the next two-and-a-half decades. Fatal Fury will be available to download through the PlayStation Store beginning tomorrow, January 12.
More information on all of this week’s new additions to the PlayStation Store can be found after the break. (more…)
You should watch this great Shovel Knight speedrun race from Awesome Games Done Quick 2017
Awesome Games Done Quick is hosting their first speedrunning marathon of the year this week, and some of the best players from all across the world have descended on the Washington D.C. area to play through a huge number of games as fast as they can. In addition to putting on an excellent show, the AGDQ2017 participants are also raising money for the Prevent Cancer Foundation.
It’s a pretty fun week of gaming, and for further proof, just look at this year’s Shovel Knight race. Not only is it an extremely competitive contest, but you can watch two experts masterfully pick apart the new side-scrolling classic. The two players going head-to-head are “Smaugy” and “Munchakoopas,” and they provide a great match featuring plenty of platforming acrobatics, multiple lead changes, and an amazing photo finish.
Yacht Club Games will release the next expansion for Shovel Knight, Specter of Torment, sometime this year.
Thunder Lotus’s Sundered will be released in July 2017
Thunder Lotus Games has announced that Sundered, their upcoming MetroidVania-style side-scroller, will be released for the PC and PS4 in July 2017. The developer also confirmed plans to launch a Kickstarter campaign on Monday, January 16, to help with development costs and to gather feedback from their fans.
Sundered will include a procedurally-generated world map and random monster placement to encourage replayability. And like Thunder Lotus’s last game, Jotun, it’ll feature hand-drawn art for both the characters and the environments.
In case you missed it, you can get a sneak peek at Sundered’s visuals by viewing its Announcement Trailer, which was first revealed by Thunder Lotus last September.