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)
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New Releases: Criminal Girls: Invite Only, Cities XXL, SpongeBob HeroPants
2015 marches on and after a particularly slow January we’re moving into a February that is, well, pretty equally unspeedy. A trio of games make up this week’s batch of new retail releases…
- Criminal Girls: Invite Only (Vita), a turn-based RPG that asks players to save a set of naughty schoolgirls from the depths of Hell, sometimes by “punishing” them. In case you were wondering… yes, it’s from Japan.
- Cities XXL (PC), the latest city-builder from Focus Home Interactive offers even more architectural options than ever before.
- SpongeBob HeroPants (3DS, Vita, Xbox 360), a new SpongeBob platformer, released to coincide with the theatrical debut of The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water.
And that’s it! Though the PlayStation Store, Xbox Games Store, and Nintendo eShop will all be home to several new games this week as well.
Conan, Marshawn Lynch, and Gronk walk into “Clueless Gamer” to play Mortal Kombat X
“Gronk, use your bumblebees!”
Another segment of Conan O’Brien’s “Clueless Gamer” aired Thursday night, guest starring Marshawn Lynch of the Seattle Seahawks and Rob Gronkowski of the New England Patriots. If you’re anything like me, you don’t really know who they are and don’t really care. Evidently, there’s some sort of important American Football match this weekend that their two teams are playing, and as sort of a preamble to such frivolities, Conan invited them to square off against each other playing the soon-to-be released Mortal Kombat X.
While not as amazing as some previous “Clueless Gamer” segments, this one had its moments. See what horrific thing made Lynch briefly walk off the set and which allegedly gave Conan “a sexual thrill”! See what made Conan curl up on the floor in the fetal position! See one female character punch another in her downstairs lady-nuts!
Mortal Kombat X is set to be released April 14. Until then, enjoy this clip featuring Ferra-Torr, Kano, Cassie Cage, D’Vorah, Quan Chi, Raiden, Scorpion, and Sub-Zero.
Sega will release Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax on PS3, Vita this year
Sega has done a lot to bring a variety of distinctly Japanese games across the Pacific in the last few years. And if any game can qualify as “distinctly Japanese,” it’s a game like Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax. Set for a Summer release on the PS3 and Vita, Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax is a 2D fighting game that features characters from a wide swatch of anime franchises. I’ll let Stephen Akana, an Associate Marketing Manager from Sega, handle the heavy lifting of describing Dengeki Bunko:
Developed by Ecole and French Bread in cooperation with ASCII Media Works, this 2D fighting game celebrates the 20th anniversary of Dengeki Bunko with an all-star cast of their popular characters set against Sega-themed worlds. With playable characters such as Asuna from Sword Art Online or Kuroyukihime from Accel World, and support characters like Touma Kamijou from A Certain Magical Index or Izaya Orihara from Durarara!!, Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax makes the most unlikely of character matchups a reality.
Fighting Climax features a fighting system that is both easily understood and complex, thus catering to veterans and newcomers alike. Using weak, medium and strong attacks, each of the playable characters have move sets that are similar in execution, yet differ in attack range, power and speed.
More details (and a bunch of screenshots) for Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax can be found in an announcement post at the PlayStation Blog.
Daily Scoop: January 30, 2015 – Time for the weekend
It’s Friday, which means it’s almost time for our break from the work week! I’ve got games piled on top of games at home, and I can’t wait to dive into them. Dying Light has been especially fun, despite my inability to do parkour (in real life or video game life).
There’s a brand new Humble Weekly Bundle, and it’s all Made in Spain! Pay what you want for Nihilumbra, Spy Chameleon: RGB Agent, and AR-K. Beat the average to unlock Full Mojo Rampage and Deadlight. Pay $10 or more to unlock Pixel Piracy and UnEpic.
The Weekend Deal at Steam is all about Lego games! Get LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham Premium Edition for $22.49, and the season pass for just $7.49. Don’t want the premium version? Get the regular one for $14.99. The LEGO Batman Trilogy is $20, and… well… lots of others! The Daily Deal is Never Alone, which is $8.99.
Let’s see what the final t-shirts of the week are… (more…)
Posted in Daily Scoop
Xbox Store Today: Life Is Strange: Episode 1, IDARB, Unmechanical: Extended
Three very different games have found their way onto the Xbox Games Store today…
- Life Is Strange: Episode 1 (Xbox One, Xbox 360) is the first part of an episodic adventure game that follows Max, a teenager who can rewind time. Unfortunately, Max’s shenanigans are exposing “the darker side” of her hometown, which manifests itself as some kind of dark cloud of doom.
- IDARB (Xbox One) is a “chaotic” multiplayer “jumping future arena ball game.” I don’t know what that means, but if you like retro-style sports games, IDARB might be for you. IDARB was originally expected to launch in February, but it’s available a few days early and its a free download as part of Microsoft’s Games With Gold program.
- Unmechanical: Extended (Xbox One) is an overhead puzzle-platformer starring an adorable little robot.
More information about all of these games can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged IDARB, Life Is Strange
Sega to institute layoffs, early retirement program as company continues to struggle
Sega (which officially does business under the Sega Sammy Holdings name) has been dealing with financial difficulties for some time, but it looks like their latest round of problems will result in some big changes for the company.
Sega’s Board of Directors met this morning and hammered out a restructuring plan that they believe will help the company’s financial position in the future. Unfortunately, a key part of that plan will involve an unspecified number of layoffs and a voluntary early requirement program that the company will offer to 300 employees. Some of the layoffs will come from Sega of America, which will be moving from its current headquarters in San Francisco to a smaller facility somewhere in Southern California.
The restructuring, which is expected to be completed by the Summer, will also lead to a new focus on downloadable titles developed for smartphones and the PC. Sega is also heavily involved in big budget and mid-tier on consoles and the PC, but it’s currently unknown how this plan will affect the company’s internal development teams.
Life Is Strange launches tomorrow… so here’s the launch trailer
Dontnod’s Life Is Strange will be released for the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One tomorrow, so the developer wants to get everyone ready by releasing a launch trailer for the game.
Life Is Strange is an adventure game that follows Max, a teenager who can rewind time, and Chloe, her best friend who always seems to be in danger. The game forces Max to make choices about when and where to use her powers to save Chloe, and sometimes this creates disastrous results. However, those results also include a quirky story that fans of indie movies will probably love.
Dontnod plans to tell Life Is Strange’s story across five episodes, so if you like what you see, get ready for a lot more of the game.
Ermac force punches his way into Mortal Kombat X
NetherRealm Studios streamed the latest “Kombat Kast” through Twitch this afternoon (archived at YouTube) and it revealed yet another Mortal Kombat X character… Ermac. Gone is Ermac’s palette-swapped red ninja garb and in its place is a hooded outfit that is likely meant to resemble a monk’s robe. But I think it’s safe to say that Ermac definitely did not take a vow of non-violence.
Like Reptile before him, Ermac reuses many of his special moves from 2011’s Mortal Kombat in Mortal Kombat X. His telekinetic powers return, as does his flying ability and his Force Ball. These special moves are well represented in Ermac’s three style variations: “Spectral”
(Gains ability to fly and unique attacks from the air), “Mystic” (Gains the telekinetic abilities Tele-Lift and Tele-Push), and “Master of Souls” (Gains Soul Ball and the ability to Vanish to avoid damage).
Be sure to watch the “Kombat Kast” linked above for even more Mortal Kombat X action and don’t forget that the game will be released for the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on April 14.