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
Trine 3: The Artifacts of Power announced by Frozenbyte for 2015 release
Frozenbyte has announced they’ve been hard at work on the third game in the Trine series “for quite a long time.” In fact, they’re so far along they announced that Trine 3: The Artifacts of Power is on track to be released for the PC this year. Other platforms will follow, but Frozenbyte isn’t ready to talk about them just yet.
Trine 3 will include the familiar multiplayer puzzle platforming that the series is known for, but the trailer above confirms that some form of limited 3D movement will be included as well, though it looks like there’s still a lot of traditional side-scrolling stuff.
To celebrate the announcement, Frozenbyte is deeply discounting the first two Trine games on Steam for the next two weeks. Both games, as well as Shadowgrounds and its sequel, have been marked down by 85%.
Posted in News, PC
Tagged Trine 3 : The Artifacts of Power
Interplay will resculpt the ClayFighter franchise on PC in 2016
ClayFighter was one of the stranger games to come out of the Super NES/Genesis era, mixing the brutal one-on-one fighting of Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter II with claymation-based visuals. But somehow, the bizarre concept helped ClayFighter rise above the fray and it’s popularity spawned two sequels (1995’s ClayFighter 2: Judgment Clay and 1997’s ClayFighter 63 1/3) and a devoted fan following.
After laying dormant for almost 20 years, Interplay has announced the franchise will return in 2016 in a remastered edition that will include characters, concepts, and features from all three games:
- More with over 20 characters total including Bad Mr. Frosty, Blue Suede Goo, Earthworm Jim, Hoppy, Boogerman, and Tiny!
- Over 20 familiar environments from the series to duke it out in!
- Unique supers and Claytality moves for each character!
In addition to remastering previous characters and environments, Interplay and developer Drip Drop Games will introduce new gameplay mechanics to ClayFighter such as double jumping, air dashing, counters, and reversals. High resolution visuals and revamped audio will round the “ultimate clay based gaming experience.”
ClayFighter Remastered is in development exclusively for the PC, but hopefully it’ll make its way to consoles as well.
A mobile version of Mortal Kombat X is also in development
In years past, NetherRealm’s mobile team has produced a scaled down version of Injustice: Gods Among Us, as well as fighting game spinoffs of Batman: Arkham City and Batman: Arkham Origins. Earlier this year, they turned WWE wrestlers into superheroes and supervillains for the similarly styled WWE Immortals. Today, the developer has confirmed that Mortal Kombat X will get the same treatment this April.
Like their previous efforts, the mobile version of Mortal Kombat X will be a free-to-play fighting/card-battler hybrid. Fatalities will definitely make the cut in the mobile version, as will X-Rays and the “iconic visceral combat” the franchise is known for. Mortal Kombat X on mobile will link up with the PC/console edition and players will be able to unlock content within each version by completing tasks and Achievements/Trophies in the other.
“NetherRealm Studios has created a Mortal Kombat X mobile experience that allows more players than ever before to play this over-the-top fighting game through their ever-present smartphones, tablets or other devices,” said Ed Boon, Creative Director, NetherRealm Studios. “What’s more, we’ve expanded the unique cross-connectivity feature that links the mobile and console versions of Mortal Kombat X, delivering unique rewards to all players for simply playing the mobile game.”
Mortal Kombat X will be available in April for all iOS (iPhone, iPad, iOS Touch) and Android devices.
The Scarecrow takes over in Batman: Arkham Knight’s “Gotham is Mine” trailer
John Noble has brought eccentricity and menace to his roles as Walter Bishop on Fringe and the Horseman of War on Sleepy Hollow, but only his voice is required to strike fear into the heart of Gotham in the upcoming Batman: Arkham Knight. Noble will play Jonathan Crane (AKA The Scarecrow) in Rocksteady’s trilogy-capping entry of the Arkham series. And like on Fringe and Sleepy Hollow, he has a plan.
In this new trailer, dubbed “Gotham is Mine” by the developers, The Scarecrow reveals how he will bring together Batman’s greatest rogues. Two-Face, The Penguin, The Riddler, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, and the all-new Arkham Knight will join forces to kill the Dark Knight once and for all.
Will they succeed? We’ll all find out together on June 2, when Batman: Arkham Knight launches for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Batman: Arkham Knight
Valve and HTC team up for the Vive virtual reality headset
A new player has joined the virtual reality wars as Valve and HTC have announced that they will collaborate on the creation of Vive, a virtual reality headset that will use Valve’s SteamVR technology. A “developer edition” of Vive will be available this Spring and a consumer version is expected to launch this Fall. The Vive will be on display at this week’s Game Developers Conference in San Francisco where it will join a very crowded marketplace that includes the Oculus Rift, the Samsung Gear VR, and Sony’s Project Morpheus. The Vive’s official website includes more details about the device, including a claim that it will eliminate the “jitter” found in other headsets:
A 1,200 by 1,080 pixel screen in front of each eye, with refresh rates of a blistering 90 frames per second, displays photorealistic imagery that fills your field of vision in all directions, eliminating the jitter common to previous VR technologies and transporting you to another world.
A special two-handed controller will allow players to interact with objects in the simulation and optional SteamVR “base stations” can be paired with Vive to create a 15×15 area that players can use to walk around their virtual world. So who will be creating these worlds? Valve has partnered with three developers (so far) to create content for Vive including Cloudhead Games (The Gallery: Six Elements), Dovetail Games (Microsoft Fight Simulator), and Fireproof Games (The Room).
More will surely sign up in the coming days.
Weekly Warp-Up: Everything is Mature Edition
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…
The big “M For Mature” floated over the video game industry in a big way this week, especially after it was revealed that Batman: Arkham Knight had been given a Mature rating by the ESRB. Aside from the underrated “Uncaged Edition” of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Askham Knight will become one of the few M-rated games based on a mainstream comics character.
In other news, we got major updates on the two franchises that folks think of first when they think of the Mature rating. Rockstar informed the world that Grand Theft Auto V has been delayed on the PC once more, but that Heists Mode will be available on March 10. And over in Mortal Kombat land, NetherRealm Studios pulled back the curtain on an epic Mortal Kombat X Story Trailer, revealing a ton of new (and returning) characters in the process.
In a de-maturing, 8-Bit Cinema published a new short this week of one of the world’s greatest R-rated movies. If you ever wanted to see Al Pacino’s Tony Montana as a pixelated brawler, I highly recommend giving 8-Bit Scarface a watch.
And finally, it’s very possible that if Netflix and Nintendo move forward with their Legend of Zelda television show, it’ll take place in a “grim and gritty” world. So our own Andrew Rainnie cataloged 10 Actors We Think Could Play Link in The Legend of Zelda TV Series if the show were to go in that direction.
Hit the jump for more news from the week that was (most of it is even all ages appropriate). (more…)
Posted in News
New Releases: ScreamRide
You’re going to feel a bit lonely if you head out to your local game shop this week in search of new releases. Microsoft’s ScreamRide, which will be released for the Xbox One and Xbox 360 is the only new game receiving a retail release this week.
ScreamRide is a roller coaster construction that was developed by Frontier Developments. If you recall, Frontier is also the team behind the popular RollerCoaster Tycoon series as well as the later Thrillville. If anybody could be called experts in the rather niche “roller coaster construction simulator” genre, it’s Frontier Developments.
If ScreamRide isn’t your thing, don’t worry, there are plenty of downloadable games planned for a digital release this week including the start of Sony’s Spring Fever promotion.
Posted in News, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged ScreamRide
Xbox Store Today: Pneuma: Breath of Life
Are you ready to get philosophical at the end of your Friday? I hope so because Deco Digital and Bevel Studios have added Pneuma: Breath of Life, their first-person puzzler that explores “the fundamental nature of being” is now available to download for the Xbox One from the Xbox Games Store. You can check out the launch trailer or you can read a deeper explanation of Pneuma direct from the developer:
Pneuma: Breath of Life ($19.99)
Pneuma provides players with a sense of awe and a relentless determination to solve every puzzle and progress through a narrated story of self-discovery, exploring the fundamental nature of being. This is the first person puzzler of 2015 which is designed to force players think outside the box and explore beyond what they know as reality. This game isn’t about your skill with a controller, it’s about how you perceive and analyse situations. Push your brain to its limits in this exciting new first person puzzler as Pneuma contemplates the nature of reality and you explore the ontological mystery of the Breath of Life.