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
Hardcore Henry’s second trailer is even more video game-y
I still don’t know what to make of Hardcore Henry, the Sharlto Copley-starring action movie that uses a first-person perspective for its entire runtime. But I do know that it’ll be released on April 8 and that the second trailer gives off an even stronger “VIDEO GAMES!” vibe than the first one.
Watch as Henry mutely… parkours through a construction site… punches out several nameless mooks… cinematically equips a number of different weapons… drops a grenade into a moving vehicle… and rides a motorcycle into a van while spraying machine gun fire in every direction.
I… I got nothing else to say.
Sniper Elite 4 will be released for PC, PS4, Xbox One this year
Rebellion has announced that Sniper Elite 4 is in development for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One. Best of all, the sniper simulator will be released this year. This time out, “elite marksman” Karl Fairburne is behind enemy lines in Italy in 1943:
Italy, 1943. Covert agent and elite marksman Karl Fairburne must help free Italy from the yoke of Fascism and defeat a terrifying new threat that could halt the Allied fightback in Europe before it’s even begun.
From sun-drenched Mediterranean coastal towns, to colossal Nazi megastructures, daunting forests, and giddying mountain monasteries, Sniper Elite 4 will offer breathless emergent stealth action and unrivaled sniping freedom across maps many times the size of those seen in Sniper Elite 3.
In addition to the supposedly massive single-player campaign, players will be able to team up with friends for a co-operative or compete in an adversarial mode. Rebellion doesn’t want to waste any time and plans to reveal more information about Sniper Elite 4 during next week’s Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.
Blizzard’s Overwatch will be released on May 24
Blizzard has announced that their upcoming “hero shooter,” Overwatch, will be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One on May 24. The merry month of May will actually be a busy one for nascent genre, as 2K Games and Gearbox will release the similarly-themed Battleborn on May 3.
A brand new “Street Date” trailer will clue players in on the story so far, along with Overwatch’s many different modes:
In Overwatch, players join the ranks of a legendary force of soldiers, scientists, adventurers, and oddities, and clash on the battlefields of a near-future Earth. The game features a diverse cast of 21 heroes—each with their own unique arsenal of extraordinary weapons and incredible abilities. Teamwork is critical as players complete objectives, swap heroes on the fly, and combine their powers to game-changing effect—the action is intense, immediate, and fun.
Since the world last caught up with Overwatch at BlizzCon 2015, Blizzard has introduced a number of game features in the ongoing closed beta test. In a new map type, “Control,” teams battle to capture and hold objectives in locations such as an omnic village in the mountains of Nepal and a high-tech skyscraper in a Chinese metropolis. Overwatch’s new progression system awards players with Loot Boxes containing an array of cosmetic items to personalize heroes, including sprays, emotes, voice lines, and skins such as Punk Tracer and Safari Winston.
In addition to “Quick Play” mode, which automatically matches players with teammates and opponents of similar skill online, players can test their mettle against computer-controlled opponents in a new “Play Vs AI” mode, while “Custom Games” allow players to set special rules for hero switching, damage modifiers, and more.
Players who haven’t had the chance to try Overwatch yet will be able to participate in an Open Beta scheduled to take place May 5-9 on all three platforms. But if you’re already convinced that it’ll be great, prospective players who pre-order the game by April 29 will receive early access to the Open Beta beginning on May 3.
Microsoft cancels Fable Legends and makes plans to close Lionhead Studios
There are big changes happening at Microsoft Games Studios this morning.
After several starts and stops over the years, Microsoft has announced plans to cease development on Fable Legends. This announcement comes just a few months after developer Lionhead Studios delayed the free-to-play title’s launch from Late 2015 to Spring 2016. Sadly, it’s not just the end for Fable Legends, Microsoft is currently in discussions with representatives from Lionhead about the proposed closure of the studio.
Microsoft also confirmed that Press Play Studios, the team behind Max: The Curse of Brotherhood and Kalimba, will also close its doors. The Danish studio was working on a multiplayer survival game known as Project Knoxville, but it too will be canceled.
Microsoft released a statement about the closures through the Xbox Wire:
These have been tough decisions and we have not made them lightly, nor are they a reflection on these development teams – we are incredibly fortunate to have the talent, creativity and commitment of the people at these studios. The Lionhead Studios team has delighted millions of fans with the Fable series over the past decade. Press Play imbued the industry with a unique creative spirit behind games like Max: The Curse of Brotherhood and Kalimba, which both captured passionate fans. These changes are taking effect as Microsoft Studios continues to focus its investment and development on the games and franchises that fans find most exciting and want to play.
We wish everyone at Lionhead and Press Play the best of luck in the future.
Posted in News, PC, Xbox One
Tagged Fable Legends
Super Meat Boy will be available for the Wii U in “a couple of months”
Tommy Refenes, one half of Team Meat, has confirmed that Super Meat Boy will be released for the Wii U in the next few months:
Super Meat Boy is coming to WiiU very very very soon. @BlitWorks is wrapping it up and you should be playing it in a couple months! Hooray!
— Tommy Refenes (@TommyRefenes) March 4, 2016
Super Meat Boy is an ultra-hard side-scrolling platformer that actually takes more than a few cues from the Super Mario Bros. series. It was originally released for the PC and Xbox 360 in 2010, before making its way to the PS4 and Vita last year. The Wii U port will be handled by BlitWorks, a team that has quite a bit of experience porting indie side-scrollers to new platforms.
Posted in News, Wii U
Tagged Super Meat Boy
Here’s your first look at Obduction, Cyan’s spiritual successor to Myst
Myst changed everything when it was released in 1993. The puzzle game popularized the first-person exploration genre, kickstarted the adoption of CD-ROM technology, and became the best-selling PC game of all time (a record it held for almost a decade). After creating a handful of sequels and an online-only spinoff, developer Cyan is working on a spiritual successor to Myst that’ll be available this June.
Obduction will take place on an alien world that is also home to a farmhouse from Kansas and other locales that properly belong on Earth. Somehow, these buildings have merged with this alien world, but by piecing together a series of clues, players might be able to return home.
The first teaser trailer for Obduction has been embedded above, but be warned, Cyan said it may include potential spoilers.
Paper Mario: Color Splash will be released for the Wii U in 2016
It looks like the rumors were true and Nintendo is planning to release a brand new Paper Mario game for the Wii U this year. In Paper Mario: Color Splash, players will travel to Prism Island, and attempt to restore the color that’s slowly draining from the world:
Prism Island is being drained of its color and it’s up to Paper Mario to stop it! Use Paper Mario’s paint hammer to splash paint on anything it hits and bring the color back to the island in this new action-adventure game.
Paper Mario: Color Splash will be released sometime in 2016, probably closer to the end of the year.
Posted in News, Wii U
Tagged Paper Mario: Color Splash
Kirby battles aliens with power armor in Kirby: Planet Robobot
Not a hoax! Not a dream! Kirby, Nintendo’s adorable pink puffball, is going to battle aliens and pilot a walking mech in his next game. Set to be released for the 3DS on June 10, Kirby: Planet Robobot is all too real:
Invaders have mechanized Dream Land. To restore his home to its original form, Kirby must use their technology against them with the new Robobot Armor. The Robobot Armor can even destroy a variety of obstacles in his way.
Kirby: Planet Robobot will support a wide variety of Amiibo figures, each of which will grant Kirby new copy abilities. A brand new Kirby series of Amiibo figures (featuring Kirby, King Dedede, Meta Knight, and Waddle Dee) will also be available. Finally, the game will include a four-player co-op mode known as “Team Kirby Clash.” Players will be able to select one of roles and battle it out with a series of bosses.
Power armor in a Kirby game… The only way this dream could be more beautiful is if Kirby: Planet Robobot is just a prelude to “Super Mario Warriors.”
Posted in 3DS, News
Tagged Kirby: Planet Robobot