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
- 2025 GOTY Scoreboard: In Progress
- 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”
Warp Zoned Presents
- Video Game Research Library
- How a Second-Grade Teacher Revived a Beloved Video Game – The New York Times (2026)
- 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)
Most Recent: Articles
Deathstate will be available on Steam on October 20
I first got a chance to play Deathstate earlier this year as part of the Indie Minibooth installation at PAX East. The game’s retro style helped it stand out amidst this sea of monitors, but I have to admit, its tagline definitely didn’t hurt. According to developer Workinman, Deathstate can be described as a… “top-down roguelike bullet hell single-stick shooter.” That is a lot of adjectives for one game, but you’ll also find plenty of Lovecraftian story elements once you start to dig deeper:
In Deathstate, you are a traveller of the outer realms. You have discovered the secrets of deep astral projection by entering into a fully death like meditative state. While in your Deathstate, you can go beyond the beyond to realms previously only imagined by those enlightened or mad enough to dwell upon them. Tread lightly though, for these far planes of demi-existence that you choose to explore are extremely hostile to mortal souls.
So Deathstate is actually a “Lovecraftian top-down roguelike bullet hell single-stick shooter” and Workinman has just announced it’ll be available to download through Steam on October 20. If you think you can handle all that, you might want to check out the brand new trailer embedded above.
Posted in News, PC
Tagged Deathstate
Weekly Warp-Up: Columbus Day 2015 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…
In fourteen hundred ninety-two… Columbus sailed the ocean blue… etc, etc, etc.
In twenty fifteen… there’s not much new video game news to be seen.
Mostly, publisher stuck to the expected stuff like the announcement of a dozen new tracks for Guitar Hero Live and a new character for Street Fighter V. Though it was a bit surprising that the fighting game’s Brazilian representative isn’t Blanka, but a new character known as Laura. Less surprising is the news that Capcom is thinking about making a Resident Evil 7 announcement sometime soon.
If you’re looking for something else to read this Columbus Day weekend, how about our interview with Qora creator Holden Boyles. Everybody loves Kickstarter success stores, right?
More news from the week that was can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News
New Releases: Yoshi’s Woolly World, Dragon Quest Heroes, Wasteland 2, More
Wooly dinosaurs, dimension-hopping heroes, and the return of a classic strategy RPG series highlight this week in new games.
Yoshi’s Woolly World for the Wii U is Good-Feel’s second attempt at yarn-ifying a beloved Nintendo character. Expanding on many of the ideas they used in Kirby’s Epic Yarn, Yoshi’s Woolly World is a ridiculously cute side-scroller that’ll also include extensive Amiibo support.
There’s no yarn, but Square Enix and Koei Tecmo tie together the various Dragon Quest dimensions in Dragon Quest Heroes: The World Tree’s Woe and the Blight Below for the PS4. Much like last year’s Hyrule Warriors, Dragon Quest Heroes uses Koei Tecmo’s Dynasty Warriors franchise as a template to create a brand new hack and slash game.
If you’re looking for something a little more tactical, this week also marks the release of Wasteland 2: Director’s Cut on the PS4 and Xbox One. More than just a simple turn-based RPG, Wasteland 2 is the first direct sequel to 1988’s Wasteland, which served as the inspiration for the Fallout franchise.
Finally this week, we’ve got a pair of re-releases that might be of interest to those who missed them the first time around. In honor of the movie’s 30th anniversary, Telltale has remastered their Back to the Future game for the PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. And over on the Wii U, Nintendo has finally bundled together New Super Mario Bros. U + New Super Luigi U on a single disc.
A complete list of this week’s new releases can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Back to the Future, Dragon Quest Heroes, New Super Luigi U, New Super Mario Bros. U, Wasteland 2, Yoshi's Woolly World
Shovel Knight disc release pushed back to November 3; Xbox One release canceled
Yacht Club Games dug themselves into a bit of a hole with the recent release of the Plague of Shadows expansion for Shovel Knight. Finishing touches for the add-on took a bit longer than expected, and a desire to include it on the game disc has forced the developer to push Shovel Knight’s planned October 13 retail release to November 3.
Unfortunately, it looks like the Xbox One edition of the game won’t be released at all. Writing on their official website, “We really gave it our best effort, but unfortunately, because of publishing policies on that platform that are totally beyond our control, we couldn’t make it happen.” The developer will continue to negotiate with Microsoft for the right to publish a retail version of Shovel Knight on the Xbox One, but as of right now, it’s in “indefinite limbo.”
Yacht Club also revealed the retail version of Shovel Knight will be priced at $24.99 (instead of the expected $19.99) when it’s released. The developer said they were forced into this pricing tier to keep the game out of the dreaded “bargain bin.” However, to make up for the $5 price increase, all copies of the game will come with a download code for the Jake Kaufman-penned soundtrack.
So, to recap… The physical version of Shovel Knight will be released for the 3DS, PS4, and Wii U on November 3, but the Xbox One launch has been indefinitely postponed. The game will also be priced at $24.99, but that cost will include a free soundtrack download.
Also, don’t forget that Shovel Knight is now available to download on the 3DS, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, and Xbox One through each platform’s digital storefront.
New Lego Avengers trailer reveals levels based on Iron Man 3, Captain America 1+2, Thor 2
Lego Avengers got a whole lot bigger during a New York Comic-Con panel today as WB Games and TT Games revealed that the game will also include levels based on Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The First Avenger, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Playable scenes from these four movies will join the previously announced Lego-ized adaptations of The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Lego Avengers will be released on January 26, 2016 for the 3DS, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.
Activision adds 12 “fan-favorite tracks” to Guitar Hero Live
I honestly thought Activision would call it a day after the Guitar Hero Live tracklist ballooned to 110 songs, but it looks like I was wrong. This morning, the publisher announced that 12 more songs would be included on the game disc, all of which have been featured in previous Guitar Hero games. There’s a lot of good stuff to be found in this latest tracklist update, especially if you’re a fan of 80s/90s rock:
- AFI – “Girl’s Not Grey”
- Audioslave – “Cochise”
- Disturbed – “Down with the Sickness”
- Faith No More – “Epic”
- Incubus – “Drive”
- Living Colour – “Cult of Personality”
- Pat Benatar – “Hit Me With Your Best Shot (Live)”
- Queen – “We Are the Champions”
- Ratt – “Round and Round”
- Slipknot – “Before I Forget”
- Survivor – “Eye of the Tiger”
- Warrant – “Cherry Pie”
Guitar Hero Live will be released in less than two weeks, on October 20, for the PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and mobile devices. If you want to dive deep into the entire tracklist, Activision has created a Spotify playlist that’ll keep you busy for exactly seven hours and 40 minutes.
Xbox Store Today: Kaiju Panic, Three Fourths Home: Extended Edition
Two new Xbox One games have been added to the Xbox Games Store today… and they couldn’t be more different.
Kaiju Panic is a strategy game where players take control of a field commander leading an anti-monster task force into battle. Like any good General, players will have to give orders to battle back the beasts while rescuing survivors and surveying damage. Don’t get stepped on!
Also available this week is Three Fourths Home: Extended Edition, a stark adventure game that is referred to as a “visual short story” by the developers. Players will step into the shoes of Kelly, a twentysomething woman who is trying to drive home. But a phone call makes the drive much more eventful than it normally is.
More information on both games can be found after the break. (more…)
Tales From the Borderlands: Episode 5 will be released on October 20
Telltale has announced that Tales From the Borderlands will come to its explosive end during the week of October 20 with the release of the fifth episode, The Vault of the Traveler. If the trailer embedded above is any indication, Rhys and Fiona are in some kind of trouble again, but hopefully a series of humorous shenanigans will help them escape. The complete release schedule for The Vault of the Traveler can be found right here:
- Tuesday, October 20: PC/Mac, PS4, PS3
- Wednesday, October 21: Xbox One, Xbox 360
- Thursday, October 22: iOS App Store, Android’s Google Play Store, Amazon.com Appstore
And if you haven’t had a chance to take Tales From the Borderlands for a ride yet, Telltale wants to remedy that. The developer also announced yesterday that the game’s first episode, Zer0 Sum, is now available as a free download on consoles and mobile devices.