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
Star Wars EU wiped clean; All future movies, books, games to be part of one continuity
We all expected it, but Lucasfilm made it official yesterday by doing away with the existing Star Wars Expanded Universe in preparation for Episode VII. Originally infamous for the multiple levels of canonicity it imposed on the franchise, going forward, every Star Wars project produced by Lucasfilm (including all movies, games, and books) will hold an equal place in franchise’s continuity. This includes both of EA’s in-production games: DICE LA’s Star Wars: Battlefront and Visceral’s “open world” game.
“We have an unprecedented slate of new Star Wars entertainment on the horizon,” said Kathleen Kennedy, Lucasfilm’s President. “We’re set to bring Star Wars back to the big screen, and continue the adventure through games, books, comics, and new formats that are just emerging. This future of interconnected storytelling will allow fans to explore this galaxy in deeper ways than ever before.”
In addition to the six movies, two previous Star Wars television productions will remain valid in the new continuity: The Clone Wars and the upcoming Rebels. But that doesn’t mean that your favorite Star Wars novels will fall into the Holiday Special hole. Many of the books, including the Thrawn Trilogy, will be republished under the “Legends” banner. However, Lucasfilm was quick to point out that “the universe that readers knew is changing, it is not being discarded.” New writers may use previously published EU material in the new continuity, with the approval of the new Lucasfilm Story Group, of course.
And about those future books… io9 has revealed that the first Star Wars book in the new continuity will be September’s A New Dawn, which will serve as a prequel to Rebels. It will be followed by Tarkin on November 11, and Heir to the Jedi and Lords of the Sith in early 2015.
So say farewell to the characters from all the fantastic Star Wars games over the years. Shadows of the Empire, Jedi Knight, Rogue Squadron, Knights of the Old Republic, The Force Unleashed, and many others… they may be gone, but they’ll all live on in our memory banks.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Star Wars: Battlefront, Star Wars: Visceral
XBL Store Today: Dustforce
Dustforce, Capcom’s janitorial platformer, is now available to download on the Xbox 360 through the console’s Xbox Live Game Store. Previously released for the PS3 and Vita in February, Dustforce carries the same $9.99 price on the Xbox 360.
Here’s what it’s all about, in case “janitorial platformer” didn’t tip you off:
Dustforce ($9.99)
Clean up the world with style! As an acrobatic janitor, you are an adept force against dust and disorder. Leap and dash off walls and ceilings, and deftly traverse precarious environments. Cleanse each level swiftly and thoroughly to achieve mastery in this 2D sweep-’em-up platformer.
Mad Max “Magnum Opus” trailer shows customizable cars and new 2015 release date
WB Games has released a new trailer for their Mad Max game that highlights the vehicles Max and the bandit gangs drive through The Wasteland. The customizable car designs shown in the trailer, including the “Magnum Opus,” a replacement for Max’s “Interceptor,” are also meant to promote a Mad Max-themed episode of West Coast Customs, which will air this Sunday, April 27, on Fox Sports 2 at 10:00 PM (Eastern).
A spearate version of the trailer was also released by WB Games UK with a troubling addendum… a new (and delayed) release date. The Avalanche Studios-developed Mad Max was originally scheduled to be released for the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One this year, but a tag at the end of the UK trailer revealed the game’s new date: 2015. Perhaps this applies only to the UK, but that seems unlikely. Instead, we’ll have to warrior on and deal with the news that Max has been pushed down the road into 2015.
The Last of Us: Grounded Bundle will be available on May 6
Naughty Dog has announced that the next downloadable expansion for The Last of Us, the Grounded Bundle, will be available in the US on May 6 and in Europe on May 7:
Our #TheLastofUs Grounded Bundle DLC is coming the week of May 5 globally. Watch our @Twitch stream for info: http://t.co/Fe0ULzlKxv
— Naughty Dog (@Naughty_Dog) April 25, 2014
The Grounded Bundle is actually a collection of five separate DLC packs including a “brutal” new difficulty mode, a new set of multiplayer maps, a weapons pack, and a pair of “Skills” packs. Naughty Dog recently held their first Twitch stream to talk about the Grounded Bundle after first detailing the DLC last week.
Posted in News, PS3
Tagged The Last of Us
Unreal Engine 4 adds PS4, Xbox One support; Epic confirms next-gen game in development
Epic Games has announced that the 4.1 update to their Unreal Engine 4 subscription service will include support for the PS4 and Xbox One. To showcase the abilities of their new engine on next-generation systems, Epic founder Tim Sweeney told Edge that the company has an “ambitious” PS4 and/or Xbox One title in development: “It’s going to push next-generation graphics as you’d always expect Epic to do.”
In addition to the untitled console game, which won’t be officially announced for “some time,” Epic is also working on an Unreal Engine 4-powered mobile game and Fortnite, their PC-exclusive survival strategy game.
Developers looking to dive into Unreal Engine 4 development are encouraged to peruse all the new features found in 4.1 by viewing the Release Notes on Epic’s website. A Twitch stream with Epic developers is also available for a more in-depth look at the Unreal Engine update.
Skylanders: Trap Team introduces a new Portal on October 5
Toys For Bob, the original development team behind the Skylanders phenomenon, will return for the next game in the series… Skylanders: Trap Team. Trap Team will be available on October 5 for the PC, PS3, Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360, and, for the first time, the PS4 and Xbox One. A 3DS version of the game, which Activision is calling a “completely unique adventure,” will also be released on October 5.
Trap Team introduces a new gameplay mechanic to the Skylanders universe and requires a new Portal accessory for the game’s figures, the Traptanium Portal. With the Traptanium Portal, the Skylanders will turn into quasi-Ghostbusters and trap some of the game’s biggest baddies. After trapping them in the Portal using a Trap Master token, players can send the villains back into the game as reformed heroes.
In Skylanders: Trap Team, Kaos continues his ongoing quest to rule over Skylands. He has discovered the location of the legendary Cloudcracker Prison — a fortress built entirely out of the magical substance Traptanium and home to Skylands’ most nefarious baddies. In an attempt to build his own army of foes, Kaos blows up the prison, releasing the most wanted villains and blasting shards of Traptanium to Earth in the form of Traps. Now it’s up to Portal Masters to recapture all of the escaped villains using powerful Traptanium Traps and defeat Kaos before it’s too late! The new adventure delivers a diverse and dynamic story-driven gameplay experience, filled with adventure, combat, puzzles, mini-games, activities, platforming and drop-in/drop-out co-op play — all set within new compelling environments.
As you might expect, an entirely new line of Skylanders figures will be available alongside Trap Team’s October launch including a new series known as Trap Masters, new “Core Skylanders” characters, and reposed “fan-favorite Skylanders characters.” Your wallet will be sorry.
Nintendo Download: NES Remix 2, Child of Light, Yoshi’s Island, more
It’s an embarrassment of riches in this week’s Nintendo Download. But don’t expect most of the major titles to be available today.
Beginning tomorrow, April 25, Wii U owners will be able to download NES Remix 2, Nintendo’s second challenged-based minigame collection featuring NES classics. On April 29, Wii U owners will also be able to download Child of Light, Ubisoft’s side-scrolling action RPG. However, if you have to have something new to play today, Nintendo added Yoshi’s Island: Super Mario Advance 3 to the Virtual Console section of the Wii U eShop today.
What can we look forward to on Nintendo’s 3DS handheld? Well… Majesco wants you to say hi to Mama once more as Gardening Mama 2: Forest Friends will be available for the 3DS on April 29. And the Big N themselves have made a demo version of Mario Golf: World Tour available to download today.
More information on all of these (as well as a few additional new releases) can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, DS, News, Wii U
Tagged Child of Light, NES Remix 2
Can Watch Dogs hack it as a movie? Ubisoft and Zombieland writers think so
Even though it’s still a few weeks from release, Deadline is reporting that Sony Pictures and New Regency are collaborating with Ubisoft to produce a film adaptation of Watch Dogs. The film version of Aiden Pearce’s quest for vengeance will be written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, the screenwriting duo behind Zombieland.
Watch Dogs isn’t the only Ubisoft property currently stationed in New Regency’s production office. The company is also adapting Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell and Assassin’s Creed. Tom Hardy is set to star as Sam Fisher in the Splinter Cell adaptation while Assassin’s Creed will feature Michael Fassbender (though its unknown if he will play Altair, Ezio, Desmond, or someone else entirely).
It’s currently unknown who will play superhacker Aiden Pearce, but I could see Jim Caviezel doing a good job with the role. Oh, wait…