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
Mighty No. 9 Trial Version will be released on… you guessed it… September 15
While delays are rather common in the game industry, Mighty No. 9‘s release date change earlier this month carried with it a considerable amount of controversy as the game’s Kickstarter backers were literally the last people to be told about it. However, a small part of the game will be available on September 15 as originally planned.
Comcept has used the game’s latest Kickstarter update to announce that a Trial Version of Mighty No. 9 will be released for backers through Steam. The Trial Version will be available for about a month and include access to four stages (the Opening Stage, Mighty No. 1, Mighty No. 3 Stage, and Mighty No. 5). Each of these stages are considered to be in a “complete state” by Comcept, so this Trial Version is likely to be a very similar experience to the final game.
In addition to the four stages, the Trial Version will include every cutscene from the first half of the game, so players will even be able to follow along with the story. A number of sound options (including the Retro Soundtrack) and six Challenge Mode stages will also be included.
Sadly, it looks like the Trial Version of Mighty No. 9 will not be released on any console, which surely has to be a blow to players who don’t own a gaming PC. They’ll have to wait until early 2016, when Mighty No. 9 is expected to be released for the PC, as well as the PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One, 3DS, and Vita.
Posted in News, PC
Tagged Mighty No. 9, PAX Prime 2015
2K Games abducts XCOM 2 and changes its release date to February 5, 2016
Firaxis Games began teasing a project known only as “Advent,” later revealed to be XCOM 2, this past May. A month later, Firaxis released the sequel’s first trailer and announced a November release date. That quick turnaround appears to be too quick as the developer has now announced (via the game’s official website) that XCOM 2 will now be available on February 5, 2016:
We want to give you an update on the release date for XCOM 2. We’ve set a high bar for the sequel and the entire team has been working hard to make sure we deliver a great follow-up to Enemy Unknown. We just need a little more time to make it the best possible game.
With XCOM 2, we want to have more depth, more replayability, and more investment in your soldiers and this extension will give us the time we need to deliver on our promise to you.
After announcing XCOM 2, Firaxis told IGN they want the game to push the limits of the PC platform and that their goals are “ambitious.” This commitment to quality is great to hear, but its also likely the cause of the delay.
Weekly Warp-Up: PAX Prime 2015 Recap 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…
Everybody is losing their minds! The annual PAX Prime expo is chugging right along this weekend in Seattle, but the rest of the world seems to have gone nuts. Case in point, EA’s absolutely baffling launch trailer for Madden NFL 16 that features Dave Franco, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, and a half-dozen football players hamming it up. Rob Gronkowski only has half a shirt! Julio Jones has a mohawk! And Colin Kaepernick thinks he’s Al Pacino. Hoo-Ah, boys and girls!
However, the Madden madness has to be topped by the dedication of several Super Mario Maker players. The unreleased game is currently in the hands of the media, and they’re creating some absolutely out there levels, as evidenced by this video created by Polygon. I can’t wait to try them all and Super Mario Maker’s September 11 release date is coming up fast.
Thankfully, your average Warp Zoned staff member is able to keep a cool head as the world explodes around them. That includes an opinion piece that argues for The Importance of the Double Fine Adventure Documentary and the Third Anniversary Celebration of Kickstart This! Even our look at Mega Man Legacy Collection ponders the the place for nostalgia in a review of a classic game.
More news from the week that was (a lot of it even is connected to PAX Prime) can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News
New Releases: Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Mad Max, More
This week truly marks the end of an era as Konami plans to release Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain for the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. While neither side has officially commented on the matter, this will likely be the last Metal Gear game produced by Hideo Kojima before he leaves the company. His series of political actioners has certainly left a lasting impression with gamers, and even if the franchise continues, he will be missed.
If this news make you angry, perhaps you can turn to Mad Max for advice on how to react. Developed by Avalanche and set to be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One, the open roads of the game’s open world seem perfect for Max. And if you can’t get enough of George Miller’s post-apocalyptic hero, don’t forget that Mad Max: Fury Road is available on Blu-ray this week too.
Finally this week, a pair of games are being re-released in new retail editions for the PS4 and Xbox One. Ubisoft’s Far Cry 4: Complete Edition includes the original game and all of its Season Pass content, while Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons brings Starbreeze’s small adventure to retails shelves for the first time.
A complete list of this week’s new releases can be found after the break. (more…)
WB Games performs a Fatality on the PS3/Xbox 360 version of Mortal Kombat X
Mortal Kombat X launched for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One in the Spring, with plans for a PS3/Xbox 360 version to follow a few months later. Eventually, its previous-generation port was pushed back to the Fall, and today, WB Games officially put an end to its development with an announcement on their community forum:
After months of development, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment has come to the regrettable conclusion that we cannot release Mortal Kombat X for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Please know our teams worked diligently to meet the quality standards set by the current-gen versions of the game. We were not able to get the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions to the quality expected of a Mortal Kombat game and are very sorry for not being able to deliver the products as originally planned.
Like most cross-generation games, the PS3/Xbox 360 version of Mortal Kombat X would have been considerably less impressive than its PS4/Xbox One counterpart. After trying to close that gap for months, the publisher decided to cut its losses and ripped the game’s heart out like Kano. After being delayed three times, it was probably the right call.
Since its release this Spring, the new-generation version of Mortal Kombat X has been expanded by NetherRealm Studios with a Kombat Pass that includes Tanya, Tremor, The Predator, and Jason Voorhees. Rumors abound that a second batch of downloadable characters will join the game’s roster in the near future, but no official has been made.
Posted in News, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Mortal Kombat X
Pulling Back the Curtain: The Importance of the Double Fine Adventure Documentary
Recently, 2 Player Productions wrapped production on Double Fine Adventure, a documentary series that followed the development of Broken Age. It was revolutionary in the gaming scene, being the only documentary to ever follow a studio developing a game from its conceptualization through its release and aftermath. Before it, the average game player had only ever seen brief snippets of development from single-person games or small indie teams. Double Fine was the first developer to pull back that curtain on game development, a feat arguably more important than its rocketing of Kickstarter into the mainstream, and unquestionably having a bigger impact on the industry and the community than Broken Age itself. If we’re being honest, Double Fine completely mismanaged their Kickstarter funds, and Broken Age isn’t great. But by “showing how the sausage gets made,” as studio founder Tim Schafer put it, Double Fine made their campaign more than worth it, and left a long-lasting contribution to the industry.
Until DFA came out, game development was a mystical secret that no one outside the industry could begin to comprehend. So much of it was mysterious that many who wanted to be in the industry viewed it with rose-tinted glasses: a dream job where they could play all day. All we knew about game development beforehand were the two extremes. There were the developers that talked in interviews about how great it was, coming to work and hanging out with cool people, getting to create great games that everybody loves. We also read the headlines about developers losing their jobs, and studios being shut down. That or it was about developers going mad in “crunch time” having to work 80 hour weeks. In fact, Double Fine gives us a good example with the Tim Schafter episode of G4’s Icons, when he took us briefly behind the scenes of production on Psychonauts.
We never knew what it was really like, not until Double Fine showed us. (more…)
Daily Scoop: August 28, 2015 – It’s finally Friday
So, the good news is, I finished up a full draft of my project! The bad news is, I never want to look at it ever again for as long as I live. That’s usually not a good idea, but I just don’t want to look at it right now. Maybe I’ll wait a few hours and then try!
What I do want to look at right now are deals! There’s a big End of Summer Sale happening at the Humble Store right now. You can get Stealth Inc 2: A Game of Clones for free until August 31. Hunie Pop is $3.39, Valkyria Chronicles is $4.99, and GRAV is $6.79, among others.
The Weekend Deal over at Steam is Company of Heroes 2. You can play the game for free, and if you like it, snatch it up for $9.99. The Daily Deal is Hand of Fate, which is on sale for $12.49. You can also pick up the DLC for under $4 each.
Just four t-shirts again today! (more…)
Posted in Daily Scoop
Xbox Store Today: Magnetic, Blues and Bullets, Nova-111, Whispering Willows
The final day of Microsoft’s Summer Spotlight promotion is here… and so are its last three games.
The first of those three games is Magnetic: Cage Closed, a first-person puzzler for the Xbox One that encourages players to “manipulate and master magnetic forces.” This special Magnet Gun will give players the ability to navigate the game’s deadly maze.
Also available this week is Blues and Bullets, the first part of an episodic adventure series that casts players in the role of Elliot Ness. With his days with The Untouchables over, Ness is living out his days working in a diner and keeping his head down. But you can’t keep a good lawman off the case and he’s quickly drawn in to the “increasingly morbid and decadent scenarios” that grip Santa Esperanza.
Nova-111 is a side-scrolling space exploration that asks players to pilot their trusty ship to”fix space-time and search out the scientists lost in the aftermath of the universe’s greatest experiment.” No pressure there.
Finally this week, Whispering Willows is a side-scrolling puzzler where players explore a mansion as Elena, a young girl who can project her spirit outside of her body. Elena needs to use this supernatural ability to communicate with the benevolent spirits and wicked wraiths of the mansion, solve their riddles, and find her missing father.
More information on all of these games can be found after the break. (more…)