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
NextGen Pants launches Kickstarter campaign to complete Tetropolis development
Tetropolis was one of our favorite games on display at this year’s PAX East convention. The Metroidvania-style puzzle platformer puts players in the minos of a pair of deformed tetrominos as they attempt to escape the obstacles laid out before them. It’s an interesting new take on the genre and I’m looking forward to the rest of its progress.
However, developer NextGen Pants announced today that they’re need of a bit more money to complete Tetropolis and they have launched a Kickstarter campaign in their quest to complete its development. The team is seeking $50,000 to finish the game and hopefully eager backers won’t be as elusive as one of those line pieces.
In addition to the previously announced PC edition of Tetropolis, the game is in development for Mac and Linux. An Ouya version is also in the works and NextGen Pants is participating in their FreeTheGames Fund, which will provide matching funds up to $250,000.
If all goes well, Tetropolis will be available sometime next Summer. In the meantime, be sure to check out the demo available through the Kickstarter page.
Square Enix teams up with Dontnod for Life Is Strange
Developer Dontnod has partnered with Square Enix to publish their next project, an episodic game known as Life Is Strange. The downloadable game is Dontnod’s first title for next-generation consoles and will be released for the PS4 and Xbox One, as well as the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.
Dontnod has given Life Is Strange a hand-drawn look and will ask players to weigh “choice and consequence” throughout the story, as they employ the main character’s ability to rewind time:
The game takes place in the fictional town of Arcadia Bay, Oregon, where senior student Max Caulfield returns after a five year absence. Reunited with her former friend Chloe, the pair will attempt to uncover the uncomfortable truth behind the mysterious disappearance of fellow student Rachel Amber.
In addition to solving Rachel’s disappearance, the developer said that Max’s powers may allow her to “change the course of history.” Say it with me… “This is heavy, Doc!”
Posted in News, PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Gamescom 2014, Life Is Strange
Kickstarter campaign for “ReVamped” version of Night Trap launches
OK, this is unexpected…
The original team behind Night Trap, the full-motion video horror title that indirectly lead to the creation of the ESRB, wants to bring a high-definition remake of the game to the PC, Mac, PS3, and Xbox 360. Naturally, the developers (Director James Riley, Co-Designer Rob Fulop, Technical Director Mark Klein, and Executive Producer Tom Zito) have turned to Kickstarter to fund this bizarre endeavor.
The quartet is seeking $330,000 to “revamp” the Sega CD classic, and I use that term loosely, for modern machines. As opposed to the heavily compressed video seen in the original, the developers want to go back to the original 35mm film and create the definitive version of Night Trap. For those who don’t know, the game put players in control of a security team that is monitoring a sorority slumber party. But their job isn’t to keep out panty raiders, they’re protecting the young women from a gang of bloodthirsty vampires. For all the controversy connected to it, Night Trap seems rather tame by 2014 standards… as a game or as a movie. And the developers themselves always envisioned the game as something a little bit scary, but in PG-13 range.
If Riley and his compatriots reach their goal, they expect to release their Night Trap remake sometime next Spring. I don’t know if it’s got the name recognition to pull it off, but the developers have revealed that if they pull in enough money, they will buy up the rights to other FMV games originally published by Digital Pictures and begin work on Night Trap II.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Night Trap
Weekly Warp-Up: Pre-Gamescom 2014 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…
Europe’s biggest gaming convention, Gamescom, begins next week and publishers the world over are preparing for the show. 2K Games confirmed that Evolve will be at the show… and then promptly delayed its release to February. Sony is teasing something that will probably end being the return of Until Dawn. BioWare released another one of their “You’ve Been Chosen” teasers. And Activision is bringing back the Sierra publishing label. Sure, why not?
But if you’d prefer to look back at one of 2013’s most interesting games, we’ve got a review of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag for you as well.
More news from the week that was can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News
New Releases: Akiba’s Trip, Risen 3, Disgaea 4 Vita, More
If you haven’t been keeping up with its development, you might not be aware of how absolutely insane Akiba’s Trip: Undressed and Undead. XSEED will release the PS3 and Vita game this week and, if you don’t mind, I’m just going to quote from its official description: “The player’s goal is to identify vampires called ‘Synthesizers’ with the help of an in-game smartphone app, then engage them in battle to strip their clothes off so their bodies are fully exposed to sunlight.” Just… what? And by the way, this insanity all takes place in Akihabara, Tokyo’s “Electric Town” where all the otaku congregate.
Three other games will be released this week including…
- Risen 3: Titan Lords (PC, PS3, Xbox 360), which has dropped the pirate theme of Part 2 and returned to the medieval setting of the first Risen game.
- Disgaea 4: A Promise Revisited, a Vita re-release of NIS America’s popular strategy RPG.
- A retail version of World of Tanks: Xbox 360 Edition, the online-only tank simulator.
Seriously though, Akiba’s Trip sounds BONKERS.
Get your first glimpse at Kevin Durant in NBA 2K15
Are you a basketball fanatic that followed all the Lebron James hullabaloo this Summer like it was a Presidential election? If so, then you might like to know that 2K Games has released about a dozen seconds of footage from NBA 2K15 featuring coverboy Kevin Durant.
NBA 2K15 will be available for the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on October 7. Everyone who pre-orders the game will receive the Kevin Durant MVP Bonus Pack, which includes “5,000 in Virtual Currency, Kevin Durant Throwback MyTeam Card, Two MyTeam Card Packs, and MyPlayer Leg Sleeves Inspired by Kevin Durant.”
Activision is bringing back the Sierra label at Gamescom 2014
The Sierra Entertainment publishing label has laid dormant for the last six years, when the label’s parent company, Vivendi, merged with Activision. But it looks the name will get another chance in the sun as Activision has relaunched Sierra.com and released a teaser trailer promoting the label’s return at next week’s Gamescom convention.
Sierra was best known for a string of adventure games released throughout the 80s and 90s, but it’s still a mystery how the label will fit in with Activision’s focus on massive franchises like Call of Duty, Skylanders, and Destiny.
I guess we’ll find out next week.
Posted in News
Tagged Gamescom 2014
Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition definitely coming on October 14
After finding success with Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition earlier this year, Square Enix has announced that Sleeping Dogs will also get the next-gen treatment this Fall. The re-release will be developed by the original team behind Sleeping Dogs, United Front Games. It will include all 24 pieces of downloadable content originally released for the game as well as all three single-player expansions (“Nightmare in North Point,” “The Zodiac Tournament,” and “Year of the Snake”).
“It was an exciting opportunity for the original development team to be able revisit a game we’re so passionate about”, said Dan Sochan, Senior Producer at United Front Games. “We’re giving old and new fans a lot reasons to pick up the game, as we’ve gone beyond just increasing resolution and running at 1080p. We listened to the fans: we tuned gameplay, we added to the ambience of Hong Kong, increased audio fidelity and pushed the visuals further than we could on the previous generation of consoles.”
Square Enix has quite a bit of faith in their open-world game of undercover cops and gangsters. In addition to this re-release, Sleeping Dogs was previously available as a free download through PlayStation Plus and Microsoft’s Games With Gold. If you haven’t played it before (and you really have no excuse), now’s your chance.
Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition will be available for the PC (through Steam), PS4, and Xbox One on October 14.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Sleeping Dogs