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
New Retail Releases: Shadow of the Tomb Raider, NBA 2K19, NHL 19, More
Lara Croft returns this week, and PS4 and Xbox One owners will be able to pick up the Limited Steelbook Edition or Croft Steelbook Edition of Shadow of the Tomb Raider. The finale to the “Origin Trilogy” will also be available to download for the PC.
Sports fans will also get the chance to dig into a few new titles this week, as 2K Sports will launch NBA 2K19 for the PC (download only) PS4, Switch, and Xbox One. The publisher also teamed up with Microsoft to give prospective Xbox One purchasers the chance to jump right in with the Xbox One S 1TB Console + NBA 2K19 Bundle or the Xbox One X 1TB Console + NBA 2K19 Bundle. And don’t worry, EA Sports won’t be giving sports fans the cold shoulder, and that’s because NHL 19 will be available for the PS4 and Xbox One.
Switch owners will be able to put their crafting skills to the test this week with the release of Nintendo Labo: Vehicle Kit, the third Labo set from the consolemaker. This time around, players will be able to build a vehicle that transforms between a Car, a Submarine, and a Plane with the included key.
And if you still purchase your PC games on DVD, THQ Nordic will reissue several games previously published by Microsoft this week, including ReCore: Definitive Edition, Super Lucky’s Tale, Zoo Tycoon: Ultimate Animal Collection, and a few others.
A full rundown of this week’s new retail release can be found after the break.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One
Tagged NBA 2K19, NHL 19, Nintendo Labo: Vehicle Kit, ReCore, Shadow of the Tomb Raider
Hyper Light Drifter, Gone Home, SNK Heroines, more coming to Nintendo eShop this week
Switch owners will be able to stock up on another big batch of classic indie games with this week’s Nintendo eShop update…
Heart Machine’s visually-distinctive (and critically-acclaimed) Hyper Light Drifter leads the way this week. The Zelda-like action RPG is now available to download in a “Special Edition” that includes new weapons and a new Tower Climb area.
The Drifter will be joined by several other indie favorites this week including Gone Home, Fullbright’s narrative adventure; Broforce, Free Lives’s insane side-scrolling shooter; and Dust: An Elysian Tail, a hand-drawn action RPG from Dean Dodrill.
If you’re looking for something new, NIS America will bring their one-on-one fighter, SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy, the Switch eShop beginning tomorrow. And it’ll be joined by a deluxe edition of 2K’s latest basketball simulation, NBA 2K19: 20th Anniversary Edition.
You can learn more about the rest of this week’s additions to the Nintendo eShop (including Yo-Kai Watch Blasters: Red Cat Corps and Yo-Kai Watch Blasters: White Dog Squad for the 3DS) after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, Switch
Tagged Broforce, Dust: An Elysian Tail, Gone Home, Hyper Light Drifter, NBA 2K19, SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy
Alphabear 2 is now available to download for mobile devices
Spry Fox announced Alphabear 2 almost a year ago, and just when it felt like I couldn’t wait any longer, the developer has revealed that the word-based puzzler is now available to download for iOS and Android devices:
Hey people, Alphabear 2, the bigger and better sequel to the original Alphabear, is now AVAILABLE WORLDWIDE!!! Download it! https://t.co/lqYbKbtWiU :-D pic.twitter.com/qzbXgEVfrx
— Spry Fox (@spryfox) September 4, 2018
Alphabear 2 features the same word-building gameplay as its predecessor, as well as an even bigger selection of adorable stuffed bears to collect, Daily Events, a series of standalone Time Warp puzzles, and a Story Mode inspired by Back to the Future.
Great Scott!
Posted in Mobile, News
Tagged Alphabear 2
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4’s Blackout Mode will include zombies, vehicles, and 80 players
With the beta test for Call of Duty: Black Ops 4‘s Blackout Mode set to begin next week, Activision has reached out to Game Informer to share a few details about their take on the battle royale genre.
According to the magazine, Blackout Mode will support 80 players during the beta and at launch, though developers from Treyarch said that number could change in the future: “So we’re starting with 80 players, but we’ve gone higher than that. Whenever we launch a game as a beta or whatever, that’s the beginning of something. We’re going to actively be participating in the community and taking feedback, making changes and adapting, evolving the game as feedback rolls in. So there’s a lot that can go on that can happen beyond that first impact of the game going out there.”
The publisher and developer also shared a brief glimpse at the first set of vehicles that players will be able to commandeer in Blackout. A Cargo Truck (which holds five players) and an ATV (which holds two) will be the ground options, but four players will also be able to travel by sea in a Zodiac Inflatable Boat, while five can take to the air in a Little Bird Helicopter.
Finally, Activision confirmed that zombies will play a big role in Blackout, though we won’t know exactly how they work until the beta begins.
But speaking of the Blackout Mode beta, the publisher revealed the schedule for the upcoming online test on the game’s official website:
PlayStation 4 (Private Beta)
START: Monday, September 10 at 1:00 PM (Eastern Time)
END: Monday, September 17 at 1:00 PM (Eastern Time)Xbox One (Private Beta)
START: Friday, September 14 at 1:00 PM (Eastern Time)
END: Monday, September 17 at 1:00 PM (Eastern Time)PC (Private Beta)
START: Friday, September 14 at 1:00 PM (Eastern Time)
END: Saturday, September 15 at 1:00 PM (Eastern Time)PC (Open Beta)
START: Saturday, September 15 at 1:00 PM (Eastern Time)
END: Monday, September 17 at 1:00 PM (Eastern Time)
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 will be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One on October 12.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Call of Duty: Black Ops 4
Valkyria Chronicles rolls onto the Switch next month
Sega hosted a panel at PAX West this year all about the steps they take to bring games created in Japan to gamers in North America and Europe. As you might have guessed, this was the perfect opening to announce a game or two… like the North American launch of Valkyria Chronicles for the Switch.
Valkyria Chronicles will be released for the Switch on October 16, and the trailer that Sega unveiled during “A Sega Perspective: Bringing Japanese Games to the West” has been embedded above:
Sega of America is happy to announce that the original Valkyria Chronicles is heading to the Nintendo Switch eShop on October 16, 2018! Experience the tale of Lieutenant Welkin Gunther, Sergeant Alicia Melchiott, and their comrades in Squad 7 in Valkyria Chronicles on the Nintendo Switch.
It looks like Valkyria Chronicles will be exclusive to the Nintendo eShop, but it’ll include all previously-released downloadable content, and players who own Valkyria Chronicles 4 will receive a 25% discount when they purchase the first game in the series.
Posted in News, Switch
Tagged PAX West 2018, Valkyria Chronicles, Valkyria Chronicles 4
Casual Bit Games shares a new trailer from Battle Princess Madelyn’s Arcade Mode
Casual Bit Games delivered the “August 2018 Development Update” for Battle Princess Madelyn to Kickstarter backers over the weekend, and they also gave fans their first look at the game’s Arcade Mode:
There are seven levels in arcade mode, and 11 boss fights – two of them being end-of-the-game gauntlet fights. These levels come at you like you would expect – relentlessly but in a fair sorta way. They’re definitely not a walk in the park, but those o you who have good reflexes will find themselves right at home with this more demanding version of the gameplay.
The levels are a mash-up of the three main stages in story mode. We’ve picked our favorite levels and turned them into the levels contained within this mode. In Arcade Mode there are less hidden items and no puzzles to get around, so it’s straight up Ghouls ‘n Ghosts style action, presented in our own way.
The bosses have been tweaked to be harder, but with less hit points in order to balance out the play time in these levels. Enemies have been tuned differently to be a little more spot-on with their abilities compared to how they behave in Story Mode.
Battle Princess Madelyn doesn’t have a final release date just yet, but the game will be available for the PC, PS4, Switch, Wii U, Vita, and Xbox One.
New Retail Releases: Spider-Man, Dragon Quest XI, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, More
Summer is (unofficially) over and we’ve reached the fine month of September. But this calendar flip is also wrapped up in the very official start to the “Holiday Shopping Season” and game publishers have begun stocking store shelves with a bumper crop of new games this week. Ready? Because here we go…
Sony and Insomniac Games are starting things off in a big way with the long-anticipated release of Spider-Man. The PS4-exclusive aims to take the wallcrawler’s video game adventures in a new direction, and Sony is giving non-PS4 owners an easy in with the Limited Edition Spider-Man PS4 Pro 1TB bundle.
Another staltwart video game franchise will get a new lease on life this week, as Square Enix is gearing up to launch Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age for the PS4 (and digitally for the PC). The massive turn-based RPG will include (as always) dozens of hours of gameplay and artwork by Akira Toriyama.
Over on the Xbox One, Microsoft has teamed up with PUBG Corp to launch the “Full Product Release Edition” of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. Unlike the earlier retail package for the battle royale game, this version includes a fully-updated copy of the game on a disc.
This Fall’s NBA season won’t tip off until the end of October, but 2K Games and EA Sports don’t want to wait. Both publishers will release their new basketball simulations, NBA 2K19: 20th Anniversary Edition for the PC (download-only), PS4, Switch, Xbox One, and NBA Live 19 for the PS4 and Xbox One, later this week.
A decidedly different kind of competition will take place in SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy, but the one-on-one fighting game will launch for the Switch this week (and on the PS4 as a PS Store-exclusive). And Bungie will crank up the action in Destiny 2 with the game’s first major expansion for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One, Destiny 2: Forsaken.
Finally this week, a slew of other titles will also be added to store shelves, including Hinterland’s The Long Dark (PS4, Xbox One), 704 Games’s NASCAR Heat 3 (PS4, Xbox One), Konami’s Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner – Mars (PS4), Monomi Park’s Slime Rancher (PS4, Xbox One), and Nicalis’s Blade Strangers (PS4, Switch). NASCAR Heat 3 and Blade Strangers will both also be available to download for the PC.
A full rundown of this week’s new retail release can be found after the break.
Shovel Knight: King of Cards will be released on April 9, 2019
Yacht Club Games originally wanted to release Shovel Knight: King of Cards a few years ago, but the expansion kept getting pushed back as they dug deeper into Shovel Knight’s world. Today, the developer is finally ready to confirm that Shovel Knight: King of Cards will be released for the 3DS, PC, PS3, PS4, Switch, Vita, Wii U, and Xbox One on April 9, 2019.
The developer is also bundling together the original Shovel Knight and all of its expansions (including Plague of Shadows, Specter of Torment, King of Cards, and the recently-announced Shovel Knight Showdown) in a new retail release for the PS4 and Switch. This Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove will also launch on April 9.
But wait, there’s more. The Amiibo 3-Pack featuring King Knight, Specter Knight, and Plague Knight will also make its debut in stores on April 9. The figures will unlock “exclusive armor sets, new Challenge stages, and the ability to summon fairy companions to accompany players on quests” in the games for the 3DS, Switch, and Wii U.
Finally, attendees at this weekend’s PAX West show in Seattle will get the chance to try out a playable demo of Shovel Knight: King of Cards at Yacht Club’s booth.