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
Tetsuya Nomura says we’ll have to wait “a little longer” for release of Final Fantasy VII Remake and Kingdom Hearts III
Like Valve and Blizzard, Square Enix is well-known for taking their sweet time with projects they have in development. Not surprisingly, the publisher is using the same deliberate pace to produce Kingdom Hearts III and Final Fantasy VII Remake, which have been in the works since 2013 and 2015, respectively.
Director Tetsuya Nomura recently offered an update on both titles to Famitsu (translated by Siliconera), and while progress is being made, it might be quite a while before either is released:
Famitsu: What’s the development status on Kingdom Hearts III?
Nomura: The production process is different than what we’ve had up until now, so I can’t just give you a general idea, but I can say that there are worlds that still remain untouched. We’ve advanced on the production of worlds that have yet to be announced, so we can’t show them for now. As far as development status goes, there’s still a ways to go.
Famitsu: What’s the development status on Final Fantasy VII Remake?
Nomura: We’re making steady progress on its production. While we are indeed working on it, I think we’ll have you guys wait a little longer for both Kingdom Hearts III and Final Fantasy VII Remake.
Nomura apologized for the delays, but assured fans that it takes time to create “something that will meet expectations.” Hopefully, we’ll get the chance to see how both games are progressing later this year, as the Director also said he’s looking forward to showcasing both games at at least one event in 2017.
It sounds unlikely that Kingdom Hearts III or Final Fantasy VII Remake will launch in 2017, especially after Nomura said, “[Square Enix has] many titles releasing this year,” implying that neither game will be available by the end of the year. Though he did say that fans should look forward to some “surprises.”
Posted in News, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Final Fantasy VII, Kingdom Hearts III
Square Enix has shipped six million copies of Final Fantasy XV so far
After shipping more than five million copies at launch, Square Enix continues to make Final Fantasy XV available to consumers in a big way.
In a press release this morning, Square Enix announced that shipments and digital sales of Final Fantasy XV have now reached more than six million copies total. The publisher didn’t release any additional information about this latest milestone, so we can’t make any comparisons for physical versus digital or PS4 versus Xbox One.
But Square Enix wants fans to stay excited about Final Fantasy XV in 2017, and they plan to make a large amount of post-launch content (both free and paid) available to players. They recently kicked off the game’s second life with the launch of the Holiday Pack and Holiday Pack Plus expansions, which also includes access to the “Moogle Chocobo Carnival,” an in-game event that starts on Tuesday, January 24.
Posted in News, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Final Fantasy XV
Microsoft officially cancels Platinum’s Scalebound
Earlier this morning, we heard rumblings that Microsoft was thinking about canceling Platinum’s Scalebound. The game’s “hostile world” and “formidable dragon” were originally unveiled during the 2014 E3 Expo with a cinematic trailer, but the public hasn’t heard much about it since. And now it looks like we never will.
In a short statement to Eurogamer, Microsoft confirmed that Scalebound has officially been canceled:
After careful deliberation, Microsoft Studios has come to the decision to end production for Scalebound. We’re working hard to deliver an amazing lineup of games to our fans this year, including Halo Wars 2, Crackdown 3, State of Decay 2, Sea of Thieves and other great experiences.
According to Eurogamer’s earlier report, it appears that Scalebound was the victim of an overly ambitious design and scheduling problems:
Work on the game took a serious knock last autumn, Eurogamer sources say, when several senior members of the development team were forced to take a month away from the pressure of the project’s heavy workload.
These project members then returned, but Scalebound was now behind schedule. With continuing issues surrounding the game’s engine and overdue deadlines, the decision was made that the project could no longer continue.
As they said in their statement, Microsoft has several other games lined up for release in 2017. Hopefully, we’ll hear more about them soon.
Posted in News, PC, Xbox One
Tagged Scalebound
2017 IGF Awards nominees include Hyper Light Drifter, Inside, Stardew Valley, more
The Independent Games Festival has announced the finalists for this year’s IGF Awards, and it should come as no surprise that critical darlings such as Hyper Light Drifter and Inside have scored multiple nominations. But leading the way is Variable State’s Virigina, which received four nominations (“Best Audio,” “Excellence in Narrative,” “Excellence in Visual Art,” and “The Nuovo Award”) and an Honorable Mention for the “Seumas McNally Grand Prize.”
Other games in competition for the IGF’s “Grand Prize” include the aforementioned Hyper Light Drifter and Inside, along with Concerned Ape’s Stardew Valley, Blendo Games’s Quadrilateral Cowboy, Ocelot Society’s Event[0], and Ghost Town Games’s Overcooked.
The 2017 IGF Awards ceremony will be hosted by developer Nina Freeman on March 1. Fans will be able to tune in to the Twitch channel for the Game Developers Conference to watch the show, and GDC attendees will be able to test out every nominated game at the IGF Pavilion area on the expo floor.
A complete list of the nominees and honorable mentions for the 2017 Independent Games Festival Awards can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in Mobile, News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged GDC 2017, Hyper Light Drifter, Inside, Stardew Valley
Joe Carnahan has finished the script to the Uncharted movie
After years in development, Final Fantasy XV, The Last Guardian, and No Man’s Sky all launched in 2016. With that trio of games now available in stores, we might have finally reached the point where all the vaporware-adjacent video games have either finally been released or officially canceled. Thankfully, the Uncharted movie is the gift that keeps on giving.
The film adaptation was first announced in 2009, and since then, Naughty Dog has actually said “goodbye” to Nathan Drake with the release of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. Before that, but after the Uncharted film was first announced, they managed to produce three sequels to the original game and multiple spinoff titles. Several directors and writers have taken a crack at the franchise over the years, and all of them eventually stepped away. But it looks like director Shawn Levy and screenwriter Joe Carnahan will finally be the ones who bring the franchise to the big screen.
Carnahan got on Instagram this weekend and revealed that the script for Uncharted is finished. This is an accomplishment in itself, but he also seems rather proud of his work. Carnahan referred to the script as “a BEAST” and claimed “[there’s not] a more monstrously cool action script in Hollywood right now.”
The Uncharted movie will begin filming sometime this year, and you can find Carnahan’s Instagram post after the break. (more…)
Posted in Etcetera, News, PS3, PS4
Tagged Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
Valve is adding Xbox One/Xbox 360 controller support to every game on Steam
Most games on Steam will support Valve’s fancy new Steam Controller and a variety of other controllers, including those packaged with the Xbox One, Xbox 360, and PS4. But the next Steam Client Update will include the option to use Xbox One and Xbox 360 controllers with any game on Steam.
The update is currently in beta testing, and here’s the relevant entry from the Patch Notes:
Added Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Generic X-Input controller configurator support. This allows all recognized controller types to use the advanced mapping features of the Steam Controller Configurator. Note that because X-Input currently lacks per-controller means of unique identification, all controllers of that type will share personalization and configuration settings. As they share the same inputs, Xbox 360/One/Generic controllers will all see each-others configurations when browsing. Automatic conversion will be attempted when loading configurations from other controller types.
It’s unknown when the update allowing Xbox One/Xbox 360 controller support for all games will be released to the public, but you can learn more about how to opt-in to Steam’s Beta Client by visiting the Steam Client Beta Group.
Someone remade Super Mario Land in Super Mario Maker
Super Mario Land was one the five games to launch alongside the Game Boy in 1989, but it has been largely forgotten by Mario fans thanks to the release of the superior Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins in 1992 and the inevitable march of time.
Thankfully, one dedicated Super Mario Maker maestro is bringing it back. “KHAce” recreated all 12 courses (along with the final boss fight against Tatanga) from Super Mario Land in Super Mario Maker, and you can download them on the Wii U right now:
- 1-1: 8088-0000-02E1-8DAB
- 1-2: 3EB9-0000-02E1-8E7E
- 1-3: 0BE6-0000-02E1-8F1B
- 2-1: 5751-0000-02E1-8FCF
- 2-2: E5C3-0000-02E1-90B3
- 2-3: 3624-0000-02E1-9251
- 3-1: BC22-0000-02E1-93EE
- 3-2: 20C5-0000-02E1-9504
- 3-3: 25B0-0000-02E1-963A
- 4-1: B108-0000-02E1-9772
- 4-2: EE82-0000-02E1-986D
- 4-3: 0103-0000-02E1-9992
- 4-3 (Tatanga Fight): ECCD-0000-02E1-9A32
“KHAce” also uploaded a video walkthough of his Super Mario Maker recreation, and its been embedded above.
Posted in News, Wii U
Tagged Super Mario Maker
Weekly Warp-Up: Welcome to 2017…
No, that’s not a typo. Welcome to the Weekly Warp-Up, your weekly wrap-up of the biggest and the best articles posted at Warp Zoned this week…
Welcome to 2017!
We at Warp Zoned rang in the new year by launching our biggest project ever: “The Scientifically Proven Best Video Games of All Time.” We analyzed 44 different “Best Video Games of All Time” lists and used the data to produce a definitive Top 100. We’re also going to look deeper at at least one game in the Top 100 every week, and we hope you’ll join us for that.
Also this week, we handed out the 2016 Golden Pixel Awards to some of our favorite games from last year including Doom, Final Fantasy XV, Dark Souls III, Pokemon Sun and Moon, and many more.
More news from the past seven days can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News