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: Articles
Warpback: What We Played in September 2016
We here at Warp Zoned had a busy month of gaming this past September. For the most part, we dug into our backlogs, but with our Senior Editor at PAX West, there were a lot of newer games on the list as well! Hit the jump to see just what we were up to for the last few weeks. (more…)
Daily Scoop: October 3, 2016 – Last day for September’s free PlayStation Plus games
I played a ton of Pokemon Go this weekend, as well as a lot of games on my 3DS! We also played some board games, worked on game design, and watched all of Luke Cage. Oh, and I did homework and wrote a lesson plan, and got brunch. All in all, it was a pretty amazing time!
There’s just one more day left to get the Humble Jumbo Bundle 7. Pay what you want for RollerCoaster Tycoon 2: Triple Thrill Pack, Devil Daggers, and Runestone Keeper. Beat the average to unlock Stronghold Crusader 2, Prison Architect, Punch Club, Agatha Christie – The ABC Murders, Elegy for a Dead World, and Road to Ballhalla. Pay $9.99 for early access to Miscreated.
There are 392 new Weeklong Deals happening over at Steam. Valley is $13.99, CrossCode is $16.99, Bit Blaster XL is $0.49, and Frozen Synapse is $6.24, among many others. The Daily Deal is Deponia Doomsday, which is on sale for $14.99. It includes a 200+ page art book, a soundtrack, and concept art – all digital, I’m assuming!
Today is the last day to take advantage of September’s PlayStation Plus free games! Pick up Lords of the Fallen (PS4), Journey (PS4, PS3), Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands (PS3), Datura (PS3), Badland (PS Vita, PS4, PS3), and Amnesia: Memories (PS Vita).
Hit the jump to see today’s t-shirts! (more…)
Posted in Daily Scoop
Dragon Quest Builders Hands-On Preview: Raising the Roof
Last week, Square Enix released a demo of Dragon Quest Builders ahead of its October 11th launch. I haven’t played a Dragon Quest game since Dragon Warrior hit the NES, and that one ended in horrible tragedy. I never had any prior interest in Dragon Quest Builders; my only knowledge being that it incorporated elements of mega-hit Minecraft. I was a fan of Minecraft, so I decided to give it a shot. I mean, that’s the point of a demo, right? (more…)
Posted in Previews, PS4, Top Story, Vita
Tagged Dragon Quest Builders
Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes will be available for PlayStation VR on October 13
The launch of Sony’s PlayStation VR headset is less than two weeks away, and even though dozens of games will be available for the peripheral on day one, more announcements just keep on coming. Over the weekend, Steel Crate Games confirmed that Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, their multiplayer bomb defusal sim, will be available to download through the PlayStation Store on October 13.
In Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, one player is trapped in a virtual room with a ticking time bomb they must defuse. The other players are the “Experts” who must give the instructions to defuse the bomb by deciphering the information found in the bomb defusal manual. But there’s a catch: the experts can’t see the bomb, so everyone will need to talk it out – fast!
With PS VR, experts can view and control the bomb defusal manual on their TV screen while communicating with the defuser. The manual is also freely available and can be printed or viewed on a tablet or any other web-enabled device.
Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes is an absolute blast at parties (I WILL NOT apologize for that pun) and it’s also currently available for the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and as a non-VR PC download through Steam.
Posted in News, PS4
Tagged Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes
Rain Games might release World to the West on Nintendo NX
Rain Games will release World to the West, an overhead action-adventure game, for the PC, PS4, Wii U, and Xbox One in Early 2017. But during a recent interview with Miketendo64, the developer hinted the game might also be released for Nintendo’s NX next year:
Artist Ole Ivar Rudi spilled the proverbial beans during this exchange:
Miketendo64: “Since World to the West will be coming to the Wii U, and the NX is set to release next year, are there any plans to release it on the NX as well?”
Ole Ivar Rudi: “Hehe, gotta keep answers straight here. As we mentioned earlier it’s very unlikely to come out on 3DS, but it *will *show up on additional platforms. Maybe even another Nintendo platform, but our lips are sealed though.”
World to the West is a sequel to Teslagrad, a side-scrolling puzzle-platformer that’s now available for the PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, and Xbox One. The developer clearly has experience working with many different platforms, but they also have a fairly cozy relationship with Nintendo (the consolemaker demoed the Wii U version of World to the West at PAX West this year).
With all this evidence, I’d be shocked if World to the West doesn’t make its way to the NX eventually.
Someone beat the Super Mario Bros. “Any Percentage” speedrun record by a single frame
In April, “Darbian” lowered the World Record “Any Percentage” speedrun for Super Mario Bros. to just four minutes and 57.26 seconds. In the aftermath of his achievement, he retired from speedrunning, saying, “I have reached my potential in this category.”
But some records were made to be broken… and even the slimmest of margins can mean the difference between Silver and Gold.
On Thursday, “Kosmic” set an unbelievable new “Any Percentage” record for Super Mario Bros. of four minutes and 57.244 seconds. The minuscule difference between the two runs, just 0.016 seconds, is actually equivalent to a single frame of animation in the game. So how did he do it? “Kosmic” has a pretty extensive FAQ up on YouTube, and a desire to get his World Record down to four minutes and 56 seconds.
If you’re interested in watching him try, you can follow his Twitch Channel to see all his attempts.
UPDATE (10/4/16): Believe it or not, but Kosmic has already set a new Super Mario Bros. “Any Percentage” record. He posted to Twitter that his new best time is 4:57.194, an improvement of 0.05 seconds (or three frames) over his previous record-setting attempt.
Posted in News, Retro
Tagged Super Mario Bros.
Weekly Warp-Up: Time for More Nintendo NX Rumors…
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…
Psst! Hey! You! Get over here! Do you wanna hear some new rumors about Nintendo’s NX console? Supposedly, a trial production for the Nintendo NX was recently held, which means the console is still on track to launch in March 2017.
We even heard about a few new games in development including Puzzle Box from Bplus and the very strong possibility of a Beyond Good & Evil Prequel from Ubisoft. Now that’s exciting.
Equally exciting was the news that J.J. Abrams told reporters that a pair of films based on Portal and Half-Life are still in development. We might even get an official announcement “soon.”
Finally this week, UK Correspondent Andrew Rainnie dove deep into the crowdfunding rabbit hole and came out with three new Kickstart This! selections: Z’Isle, Ultra Captain & The Great Piratey Space Escape, and Magicland.
More news from the week that was can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News
New Retail Releases: Gears of War 4 Ultimate, Mafia III, Paper Mario Color Splash, More
After a brief surge in September, the “Fall Gaming Season” continues to ramp up with a trickle of big new releases during this first week of October.
It’s likely that none of this week’s new games will be bigger than Gears of War 4, which Microsoft is releasing in an Ultimate Edition ahead of its official launch next week. Fans will return to Sera alongside a new generation of heroes on the PC and Xbox One, and they’ll do it in style. The Ultimate Edition of Gears of War 4 will include a copy of the game, the Season Pass, and download codes for all four Gears of War games on the Xbox 360 (and yes, they’re backwards compatible).
If you’re looking to upgrade your Xbox One experience, Microsoft will also offer an Xbox One S 2TB + Gears of War 4 Limited Edition Console Bundle that includes a digital copy of the game, the Season Pass, download codes for the Xbox 360’s Gears of War title, and a custom “Crimson Omen” Xbox One S and Controller.
Not to be outdone, 2K Games will launch it’s own action epic that focuses on a new generation with Mafia III. Set to be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One, Mafia III is set more than 20 years after the second game in the franchise and relocates the action to New Bordeaux, a stand-in for New Orleans. Mixing the cultural upheaval caused by the Vietnam War with era-appropriate music, 2K wants to give a different kind of organized crime experience with Mafia III.
If you’re looking for something a bit more colorful, Nintendo will release Paper Mario: Color Splash for the Wii U this week. The RPG gives Mario a Paint Hammer and asks him to restore color to Prism Island. I don’t know if Nintendo was trying to make a comment on the current state of AAA games, but releasing Color Splash on the same day as Gears of War 4 is a rather obvious bit of counter-programming.
Finally this week, a trio of lower-profile games will be available on store shelves including Azure Striker Gunvolt: Striker Pack (a compilation of the 3DS platform shooter series from Inti Creates), Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide (a co-op survival game set in the Warhammer universe for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One), and Rocksmith 2014 Remastered (an updated version of the music tutor for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One).
That’s it for now, but we’ll be back later this week with details on all the new downloadable additions to the PlayStation Store, Xbox Games Store, and Nintendo eShop.
Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS4, Wii U, Xbox One
Tagged Azure Striker Gunvolt, Azure Striker Gunvolt 2, Gears of War 4, Mafia III, Paper Mario: Color Splash