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
Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary will get a retail release for the PS4, Xbox One next week
Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour will be available to download for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One later today, but publisher Gearbox Software has announced it’ll also receive a retail release next week. Available only at GameStop, the retail version of Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour will be released for the PS4 and Xbox One on October 18.
The GameStop-exclusive edition will carry the same pricetag as today’s digital release ($19.99), and doesn’t appear to include any additional bonus content.
Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour will include the original game rebuilt for modern platforms, as well as a brand new fifth episode created by Allen Blum III and Richard “Levelord” Gray. New music from the game’s original composer, Lee Jackson, and new Duke dialogue from Jon St. John will also be included.
Posted in News, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Duke Nukem 3D
Will EA release Mass Effect: Andromeda on March 21, 2017? Probably…
Over the weekend, Dark Horse unveiled The Art of Mass Effect: Andromeda at the New York Comic-Con. While collecting unpublished concept art and pairing it with a behind-the-scenes look at the development process has become a common tie-in for many blockbuster games, but fans are paying particular attention to this one because Dark Horse’s promotional efforts for the book may have revealed the game’s release date.
According to the Amazon listing for The Art of Mass Effect: Andromeda, the next entry in BioWare’s RPG franchise will be released on March 21, 2017, the same day as the book:
The award-winning Mass Effect series captured the renegade hearts and paragon souls of gamers everywhere with it’s memorable characters, stunning visuals, and visceral combat! Now, journey to a new galaxy with Dark Horse’s The Art of Mass Effect Andromeda- featuring never-before-seen art of the hotly anticipated game’s characters, arsenal, locations, vehicles, and more! This deluxe hardcover is an essential addition to any gamer’s collection!
Dark Horse will release The Art of Mass Effect: Andromeda simultaneously with the game!
Exclusive never before seen concept art from the making of Mass Effect Andromeda!
The comprehensive companion to the wildly anticipated Mass Effect Andromeda!
It’s certainly possible that Dark Horse isn’t using “simultaneously” to mean “the exact same day,” but it seems likely that Mass Effect: Andromeda will launch sometime around March 21. Especially since EA has already told fans that the PC, PS4, and Xbox One game will be available in “Early 2017.” To make that deadline, the game has to be out by the end of March.
So will Mass Effect: Andromeda be released on March 21, 2017? Probably… but we’re still waiting on an official announcement from EA and BioWare.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Mass Effect: Andromeda
Weekly Warp-Up: Time For an Official Beyond Good & Evil 2 Announcement…
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…
In an announcement that’s been in the works for more than eight years, Ubisoft has confirmed that pre-production on Beyond Good & Evil 2 has officially begun. No one knows when we’ll hear more about it, but some people are speculating that it could be in development for Ninetndo’s NX console, which we consider in the “October 2016 Update” to our Big List of Nintendo NX Games.
But in the more immediate future, the Warp Zoned staff filed hands-on previews for Dragon Quest Builders, which will be available next week, and Outlast II, which will be available in Early 2017.
And in the even more immediate future (and the recent past), the Warp Zoned staff got together to discuss What We Played in September and The Games of October.
Finally this week, Andrew Rainnie filed entry Kickstart This! column, focusing on Sulphur Nimbus: Hel’s Elixir.
More news from the previous seven days can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News
New Retail Releases: PlayStation VR, Gears of War 4, Dragon Quest Builders, More
The Oculus Rift and HTC Vive launched the “Great VR Arms Race” a few months ago, but virtual reality enthusiasts will get a much more affordable option this week with Sony’s release of PlayStation VR.
More than two dozen games will launch alongside the PS4’s VR headset, and there looks to be a little something for everybody including the superheroics of Batman: Arkham VR, the high octane racing of Driveclub VR, the robotic combat of RIGS Mechanized Combat League, and the gory stealth of Until Dawn: Rush of Blood. Square Enix will also bring Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration Edition to the PS4 this week, and the game’s PS4 debut will receive “Blood Ties,” a unique VR-compatible chapter.
Rather than shy away from Sony’s juggernaut, Microsoft is charging into the fray head-on with the launch of the “Standard Edition” of Gears of War 4 for the PC and Xbox One. While this version of the game doesn’t include the Season Pass, it does feature the same action-packed co-op campaign for JD Fenix and friends.
Square Enix will deliver a game that’s a bit more colorful than Gears of War 4… but no less post-apocalyptic… to store shelves this week with the PS4 launch of Dragon Quest Builders. Players will return to the time of the original Dragon Warrior and rebuild Alefgard (using a Minecraft-like crafting system) after the destruction caused by the Dragonlord’s monstrous allies.
Rather than dwelling on the cage match between Sony and Microsoft, we could turn our attention to WWE 2K17, which will be available this week for the PS4, Xbox One, PS3, and Xbox 360. 2K’s latest wrestling sim stars Brock Lesnar, and it features a major focus on the popular NXT promotion.
Finally this week, Konami will package Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain together on the PS4 and Xbox One in Metal Gear Solid V: The Definitive Experience.
A full look at all of this week’s new releases can be found after the break. (more…)
Bloodstained’s Wii U release may move to the Nintendo NX
The release date for Koji “Iga” Igarashi’s Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night was recently pushed back to 2018, and now it looks like the planned Wii U version of the game might be in trouble. Speaking to IGN, Igarashi said that his team may want to move on to the new hardware found in the Nintendo NX:
“Yeah, it’s a very complicated problem,” Iga said. “The reality is this: As timelines move on, certain pieces of hardware become irrelevant. Sometimes new pieces of hardware come out that make you think about what is the right strategy. And as a creator, usually you want to make stuff for the new hardware. That’s the reality.”
“Unfortunately, some of those don’t make as much sense anymore as they did before, and that’s also reality. So you’re in a very difficult position, and at the end of the day, if you’re going to go in one certain direction, you want to make sure that you have support from them,” he explained.
“But so far we’ve, I think, been incredibly transparent through all the things that have happened with our backers, and they have been very supportive. So I’m hoping that if there is going to be a difficult decision some day, and we don’t know, that we’re able to have that conversation. If they say they don’t get it, well that’s where we’re at. And if they say they do get it, well then, we’ll be able to do things that are maybe more interesting. We’ll see.”
Moving Bloodstained, a side-scrolling “MetroidVania” developed by one of the great masters of the genre, to the Nintendo NX makes sense from a lot of angles. Looking at the technical side of the equation, the game is being built with Unreal Engine 4, which is not designed to work with the Wii U. Porting house Armature Studio said they can make it happen, but it would be tricky even if the Wii U was in the prime of its life.
But that leads us to a secondary question about Bloodstained’s recent delay. If the NX launches in March 2017 as announced, then the Wii U will have been dead for more than a year by the time Bloodstained is ready for release. And the console is already struggling now, in 2016, as it nears the end of its life cycle. From a financial perspective, it just makes sense to release Bloodstained on the NX instead of the Wii U.
But as Igarashi said, “we’ll see” what happens.
Posted in News, Switch, Wii U
Tagged Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
Xbox Store Today: Gears of War 4 Ultimate Edition, Mafia III, Rogue Stormers, more
Happy Friday everyone! Four new games were added to the Xbox Games Store today, and the quartet includes one particular title that Xbox fans have been waiting for for a long time.
Gears of War 4: Ultimate Edition is the first new game in the Gears of War franchise completely under Microsoft’s control and it is now available to download for the Xbox One. Taking place a generation after the war with the Locust, players will follow JD Fenix and his friends as the battle “a monstrous new enemy.” In addition to Gears of War 4, the Ultimate Edition will include the game’s Season Pass and other downloadable content. And everyone who downloads the game through the Xbox Games Store will also receive access to the game on Windows 10 PCs.
Monsters also exist in the world of Mafia III, and while they don’t have fangs or tentacles, they’re no less dangerous. Developed by Hangar 13 and published by 2K Games, Mafia III is an Xbox One that stars Lincoln Clay, an orphan and Vietnam veteran who battles the organized crime families of New Bordeaux (a stand-in for New Orleans) in the late 60s.
Clay and his crew often employ a heavy arsenal of guns, just as the stars of Rogue Stormers do. Available to download now for the Xbox One, Rogue Stormers is a steampunk-styled side-scrolling shooter with roguelike elements from Black Forest Games, as players try to vanquish “the ultimate evil threatening Ravensdale.”
Finally this week, One Hundred Ways is puzzling game for the Xbox One where players have to guide a ball to its goal.
More information on all of these games can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PC, Xbox One
Tagged Gears of War 4, Mafia III, Rogue Stormers
The Super Mario Bros. “Any Percentage” tug-of-war continues with new record of 4:56.878
Like Michael Jordan returning to the basketball court after trying his hand at baseball, “Darbian” has returned to the realm of competitive Super Mario Bros. speedrunning. On Wednesday, “Darbian” completed the game in a time of just four minutes and 56.878 seconds to set a new “Any Percentage” world record for the beloved side-scroller.
No one really knows just how low the Super Mario Bros. speedrun record can go, so it’s possible that “Darbian” won’t remain the champion for long. Especially since the previous world record, a 4:57.194 run by “Kosmic,” stood for just two days.
Posted in News, Retro
Tagged Super Mario Bros.
Turn-based strategy Dungeon of Zaar is now on Kickstarter for the PC and Nintendo NX
The Nintendo NX is coming to Kickstarter! Don’t get too excited, the consolemaker isn’t funding the creation of their mystery console on the crowdfunding site. But a young development team has given prospective backers the option to select an NX copy of their upcoming project, Dungeon of Zaar.
Dungeon of Zaar is a turn-based strategy game in development at Kurb, a development studio located in France. Looking to Final Fantasy Tactics, Advance Wars, and Pokemon for inspiration, Dungeon of Zaar will feature 5v5 battles that focus on lightning fast decision-making to win the day. Multiple multiplayer options are also set to make the game stand out from the traditional solo-only genre.
Kurb is seeking €25,000 ($27,828) to help fund Dungeon of Zaar’s creation through Kickstarter, and they hope to release the game on the PC in Summer 2017. The Nintendo NX launch for Dungeon of Zaar is planned for a few months after that. Their pitch video, which explains quite a bit more about their dreams for the game, is embedded above.