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
Sega announces a January 24, 2017 release date for Yakuza Zero
Available in Japan for over a year now, Sega has officially announced that Yakuza Zero will be released throughout North America and Europe on January 24, 2017. In development exclusively for the PS4, Yakuza Zero travels back to the 1980s to tell the story of how Kazuma Kiryu and Goro Majima began their rise within the ranks of the infamous organized crime syndicate:
Yakuza Zero tells the origin stories of Kazuma Kiryu, the rising Dragon of Dojima, and Goro Majima, before he’s known as the Mad Dog of Shimano, as they fight, hustle, flirt, and dance their way through the seedy underbelly of Japan. Taking place in a chilly but electric Kamurocho, Tokyo in December 1988, Kiryu’s story follows his steady ascension up the ranks of the Dojima yakuza crime family until he gets blamed for a debt collection gone wrong. Kiryu must utilize his cunning and his fists in order to regain his honor and save the reputation of his father figure, Shintaro Kazama. Meanwhile, Goro Majima is running a popular cabaret in Osaka, but he wants more than anything to rejoin the yakuza clan that ousted him. He’ll need to complete a series of impossible tasks set by his bosses, but will these tasks push Majima past the point of no return?
Yakuza Zero will be available as both a digital download through the PlayStation Store, and as a Blu-ray disc release at your favorite game retailer. In case you missed it, the game’s E3 trailer has been embedded above.
Posted in News, PS4
Tagged Yakuza Zero
Hyper Light Drifter, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 1+2, Tumblestone, more added to PS Store
The PlayStation Store is now home to a massive list of new releases, including a few sought-after indies, an RPG re-release, and a pair of surprise remasters from Marvel…
Hyper Light Drifter (PS4) is an overhead action RPG from Heart Machine with a uniquely “glitched” retro style. Meanwhile, Tumblestone (PS4) is a multiplayer match-3 puzzler that also includes a massive Story Mode. And Mutant Mudds Super Challenge (PS4 + PS Vita Cross-Buy) is a challenging side-scroller from Renegade Kid.
Looking to new games we’ve seen before, Fairy Fencer F: Advent Dark Force (PS4) is a remastered re-release of an RPG from the PS3 era. And previously available for the PS3, Activision re-released the superhero team-ups Marvel: Ultimate Alliance and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 for the PS4 this week as standalone downloads and a two-game bundle.
Finally this week, Telltale continues their Minecraft: Story Mode with Episode 7: Access Denied on the PS4 and PS3. This time, Jesse and friends challenge an AI that’s run amok.
More information on all of these games (and a few other new releases) can be found after the break. And a complete list of this week’s new add-ons and discounts is available at the PlayStation Blog. (more…)
Daily Scoop: July 26, 2016 – Blood Bowl II on sale at Steam
We took some time out of our gaming schedule to catch up on current events! We went to the movies and saw Ghostbusters, and then started Stranger Things, which are both amazing! But tonight it’s back to gaming, game development, and what else? Laundry!
Speaking of cleaning up, you should head over to the Humble Store and pick up everything in their NIS America sale! Disgaea PC is $14.99, or you can get the Digital Deluxe Dood Edition for $16.86. There’s also Phantom Brave PC for $17.99, Cladun X2 for $7.99, and Stranger of Sword City for $29.99, among others.
The Midweek Madness over at Steam is Blood Bowl II, which you can get for $15.30. You can also get it bundled with Blood Bowl: Chaos Edition for $17.00, or pick up Blood Bowl II DLC for 33-66% off. The Daily Deal is Shadow Complex Remastered, which is on sale for $10.04.
Hit the jump to see today’s t-shirts! (more…)
Posted in Daily Scoop
Vince, Shane, and Stephanie McMahon will all appear as playable wrestlers in WWE 2K17
It’s a McMahon family reunion as Stephanie McMahon has revealed (via Twitter) that she’ll appear as a playable wrestler in WWE 2K17, alongside her brother, Shane, and father, Vince:
It's a family affair! Catch @VinceMcMahon, @shanemcmahon, and I in #WWE2K17! Check out @IGN for Roster Reveal info. pic.twitter.com/Boi89MaaMt
— Stephanie McMahon (@StephMcMahon) July 26, 2016
Vince most recently appeared in last year’s WWE 2K16, but this announcement marks the first time all three McMahons will be playable wrestlers in the same game since 2012’s WWE 13.
2K Games is teaming up with IGN to unveil a large chunk of WWE 2K17’s roster over the next five weeks. Dubbed the “Suplex City Census,” the second batch of playable wrestlers will be announced next Tuesday, August 2.
WWE 2K17 will be released for the PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on October 11.
Rive might skip the Wii U and be released for NX instead
Two Tribes is putting the finishing touches on their side-scrolling shooter, Rive, but it looks like the game’s upcoming launch this September will skip the Wii U. Speaking to Nintendo Life, Two Tribes Co-Founder Collin Van Ginkel confirmed the developer is having problems getting the game to run smoothly on the Wii U:
The Nindies demo in 2015 was specifically optimized to perform well in hand-picked levels and didn’t manage 60FPS consistently. We’ve added a lot of stuff since then and we haven’t been able to reach the performance level required yet. We won’t release Rive unless it’s a solid 60FPS, and if that means delaying it to a future platform, we will make that call and make sure Nintendo fans get the perfect experience.
This performance problem, coupled with the impending retirement of the Wii U, has prompted Two Tribes to consider moving Rive to the NX:
The market has also changed. The game was supposed to ship over a year and a half ago, and things are a lot different now. Nintendo is exiting the Wii U market early in favor of the NX which means a long tail in sales is not looking likely. So that is the business part; do you release a game on a platform in its last days or on a new one that’s better suited and can reach gamers for years to come?
Two Tribes has yet to announce when Rive will be available for a Nintendo platform, but we do know the game is on track to launch this September for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Rumor: Nintendo’s NX is a handheld/console hybrid with detachable controllers
According to a new report on Eurogamer, the Nintendo NX will take the form of a handheld/console hybrid that features “detachable controllers” for multiplayer gaming on the go. The rumor report, which was compiled thanks to information from “a number of sources,” describes the NX as “a high-powered handheld console with its own display.” But the system will also be able to hook in to a dock station at home for television-based gaming.
Most interesting of all, owing to the system’s portable nature, Eurogamer has learned that Nintendo plans to ship NX games on cartridges. The NX is also said to be powered by Nvidia’s Tegra mobile processor, which is a very different from the IBM PowerPC processor that powered the GameCube, Wii, and Wii U. Due to the change in physical media and internal architecture, Eurogamer’s sources believe it’s unlikely the NX will offer backwards compatibility. And this would corroborate the earlier rumor that Nintendo is planning a rash of Wii U re-releases for the NX.
Eurogamer’s sources have also hinted at a September unveiling of the NX, and a streamlined marketing plan that positions the handheld/console hybrid as an entirely new thing, completely separate from the Wii/Wii U family. In the meantime, be sure to check out a new Digital Foundry report that explores the rumored innards of the NX.
And don’t forget, we heard a very similar rumor about the “Nintendo Fusion” all the way back in 2014.
Kickstart This! Columnae: A Past Under Construction
As I was discussing last time around on Kickstart This! with regards to Mighty No.9, nostalgia can be a powerful thing, but also something that potentially cripples any chance of success should it not rekindle that warm fuzzy glow from your childhood memories.
So when Nightdive Studios launched a Kickstarter campaign for a remake of classic horror FPS System Shock, I was of two minds whether to recommend it or not. It has enough fans to have passed its hefty $900,000 target, but will it be as good as promised? I’m more than hopeful. For one, Nightdive released a demo to persuade people to back the game, but the pitch video takes a very satirical approach, and the dark humour makes me believe it may just live up to expectations. Go check it out, especially if you are thinking of launching a campaign, as it is well crafted.
But System Shock has its money in the bag, so I wanted to recommend something that needs your cash to succeed. I originally thought about Prey for the Gods, which looks like a close sibling to Shadow of the Colossus with the added benefit of a grappling hook to help you climb the giant gods that you must destroy. It looks amazing, and worthy of the comparisons to Shadow of the Colossus as well as your donations. However, it is getting a lot of global press, and is well on its way to reaching its $300,000 goal, so I wanted to highlight a little gem from the Belgrade-based Moonburnt Studio that may need more help to hit its target. (more…)
Daily Scoop: July 25, 2016 – Last day for Revelmode Bundle
I played tons of games this weekend, and it was wonderful! We got to playtest a bunch of board games, and I dug into Far Harbor more. I’m so in love with it. I want to give more details, but I’ll be reviewing it soon, and I don’t want to spoil anything! But, just, wow. I love it.
But hey, let’s talk about deals! You have less than a day to hop in on the Revelmode Bundle at Humble! Pay what you want for Robot Roller-Derby Disco Dodgeball, Nidhogg, and Choice Chamber. Beat the average to unlock Skullgirls with all characters and color palette bundle, Spelunky, Roguelands, and early access to Golf with Your Friends. Pay $15 or more to unlock Rocket League.
There are 327 new Weeklong Deals at Steam! Crypt of the Necrodancer is $7.49 (or you can get the Collector’s Edition for $17.49), Chaos Reborn is $6.79, and It came from space, and ate our brains is $4.99, among many, many others. The Daily Deal is early access to Paint the Town Red for $7.99.
Just three shirts today, but they’re pretty awesome! (more…)
Posted in Daily Scoop