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
XBL Store Today: 1001 Spikes, Blood of the Werewolf
Two retro-style platformers made their way to the Xbox Live Game Store today.
Nicalis’ 1001 Spikes is a punishing platformer for the Xbox One that gives players 1,001 lives right from the start. And players will need them all to traverse the spikes, pits, and enemies that will challenge adventurer Aban Hawkins behind the Golden Door of Poko-Mum.
Also available this week is Blood of the Werewolf, a “love letter to classic platformers” from Scientifically Proven and Midnight City. Blood of the Werewolf was released for the PC earlier this year and now it’s found it’s way to the Xbox 360.
More details about both games can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged 1001 Spikes
BioWare updates us on Mass Effect 4 and a brand new game in E3 2014 trailer
In what was more of a talking head, corporate sales pitch than the trailer many had hoped for, BioWare’s developers talked about how the story and characters of their beloved Mass Effect trilogy has shaped the next installment, the currently untitled Mass Effect 4. The most telling quote came from Project Director Casey Hudson:
We start by asking fans what they want, what Mass Effect means to them? One of the things that fans have told us most about what they want in the next Mass Effect game is to go somewhere new and move forward.
Given that Hudson and his team pretty much reworked the entire ending for Mass Effect 3, it would suggest that BioWare is on the level about building a game that the fans want to play. “We’re taking you to a whole new region of space,” he added later. But how new can it be? The jargony “conceptual prototype” featured a character dressed in the N7 Armor, which indicates the game will take place in roughly the same time period as what has come before.
One thing the video does confirm is that BioWare staff in Montreal like to stare into the darkness, and work in really dark rooms. Hudson also revealed that BioWare’s Edmonton studio is cooking up something brand new, but their words were chosen well so as not to reveal anything beyond that.
Posted in News
Tagged E3 2014, Mass Effect: Andromeda, Shadow Realms
Entwined, Digital Devil Saga 2, Enemy Front, more added to PS Store
Sony’s surprise E3 announcement, Entwined, is now available to download from the PlayStation Store. The gorgeous tube flyer (seriously, check out that trailer above) will be joined by a variety of PS3 and Vita titles including Enemy Front (a WWII shooter for the PS3), Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 2 (the PS2 Classic RPG, now available on the PS3), and Soul Sacrifice Delta (the ultimate edition of Keiji Inafune’s Vita monster hunter).
More details on all of these games can be found after the break. And a complete rundown of this week’s new game add-ons can be found at the PlayStation Blog. (more…)
Is Link the hero of The Legend of Zelda Wii U?
When Nintendo finally revealed the latest iteration of The Legend of Zelda franchise for the Wii U, many were focused on the open world aspects described by Producer Eiji Aonuma, or the cel-shaded graphics that the art team has settled upon. However, it seems that while the audience lapped up the brief battle between the game’s hero and the laser-wielding tentacle monster, they may have missed the obvious…
The hero may not be Link.
This is straight from Aonuma, who was quoted as saying, “No one explicitly said that that was Link.” Now, no one said it wasn’t either, but his big tease would indicate that Nintendo is taking a massive step away from the core formula of the series.
A key indicator seems to be the sky blue tunic worn by “Link” in the trailer, a departure from the game’s characteristic green uniform. In fact, it is remarkably similar to the clothes worn by young cel-shaded Link in The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker; could the two games share a continuity of some kind?
Another, more fantastical theory is that the hero is the son, or daughter, of Link and Zelda. This would certainly push the franchise into fresh, new territory, both in terms of history and storyline. What do you think, readers? Is Aonuma just teasing, or does Nintendo plan to expand their hero roster in the Zelda-verse?
[Source: Venture Beat]
Posted in News, Wii U
Tagged E3 2014, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Sunset Overdrive E3 trailer and quick gameplay walkthrough
Insomniac’s Sunset Overdrive has the company’s trademark wackiness. In the E3 trailer, the game mocks hyper-realistic shooter franchises like Call of Duty and Battlefield, with the main character saving a soldier and telling him, “You, and your crate, are safe now!” After the trailer, there’s a quick gameplay video, which makes the game look like a ridiculous mashup of Dead Rising and InFamous, as seen through a Ratchet & Clank filter (with its trademark weapons included), and a touch of Resistance monsters.
Sunset Overdrive will be released on October 28 for the Xbox One.
Posted in News, Xbox One
Tagged E3 2014, Sunset Overdrive
Super Smash Bros. 4 adds Miis, Pac-Man, Mr. Game & Watch
Picture it. The playground. You’re 10 years old. Someone has just said that Nintendo is working on a game that lets Mario, Sonic, Mega Man, and Pac-Man fight it out for video game glory. Well, the dream has become reality as Nintendo has confirmed that Pac-Man will be included in the 3DS and Wii U versions of Super Smash Bros. 4. Mr. Game & Watch, a stick figure-like character that served as the mascot for Nintendo’s early handhelds, has also been confirmed to be included in the game.
But wait, there’s more. GameSpot is reporting that Nintendo will also include Miis in the final fighting roster:
You can assign your Mii to one of three different fighting styles: brawlers rely on their fists and fight empty-handed, swordfighters specialize in weaponry, while gunners focus on projectile attacks. Each style has 12 different special moves to choose from, and players will be able to select four different abilities for their fighter. This gives Super Smash Bros. a light customization feel when it comes to playing with a Mii. I say light, however, because you won’t be able to mix and match abilities from different styles. So if you wanted to make your Mii into a gun-wielding martial arts expert, for example, you’re out of luck when it comes to Super Smash Bros.
It’s like Christmas! And that’s probably when we’ll finally get the chance to play Super Smash Bros. 4 on the Wii U as Nintendo is still saying that it will be released during the “holiday season.” The 3DS version of the game will be available on October 3.
Posted in 3DS, News, Wii U
Tagged E3 2014, Super Smash Bros. For 3DS, Super Smash Bros. For Wii U
Mortal Kombat X: Ed Boon reveals new characters and story, gameplay details
Ed Boon, the Creative Director at NetherRealm Studios, stopped by the PlayStation Blog Stage yesterday to talk about Mortal Kombat X. Secrets were revealed as Boon was finally ready to reveal the future of Mortal Kombat.
Those who enjoyed 2011’s Mortal Kombat will be right at home with Mortal Kombat X. The game uses a very similar fighting engine and retains the three-tiered Super Meter. Boon says the Meter has been “refined,” but it still offers the same progression of Enhanced Attack to Breaker to X-Ray Move. And for those that played NetherRealm’s Injustice: Gods Among Us, Boon confirmed that the interactive stages first seen in that game will also appear in MKX.
Boon also revealed some new stuff, including four brand new characters. Currently, the Character Selection screen has 24 slots. This may change in the future, but as it stands today, we’re looking at 18 additional characters yet to be discovered. D’Vorah is the half-insect/half-human character that we saw in the debut trailer as she did battle with Torr and Ferra, “the big hulk and the little lady on his shoulders,” according to Boon. We also got a quick glimpse of Kotal Kahn and Cassie Cage, who is the daughter of Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade. Boon said that her attacks will be patterned after both of her parents.
Before a fight, players will be able to select a Variation for each character. Similar to Fighting Styles from the Deadly Alliance trilogy, Variations will open up different attacks and strategic choices for each character.
Finally, the developer opened up about where the story will go after Mortal Kombat’s wild ending. According to Boon, “The story [begins] right after Mortal Kombat (2011) ended and goes as far as 25 years in the future.” That means that descendents of some of the original characters (like Cassie Cage) will show up along with aged versions of the more familiar characters. And the final boss is said to be “surprise returning character” that “not a lot of people will see coming.”
Is it Goro? I bet it’s Goro. Mortal Kombat X will be released for the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One sometime in 2015.
Platinum Games will bring Scalebound exclusively to the Xbox One
Platinum Games loves their big action. Platinum’s core team began within the hallways of Capcom and produced some of the biggest action games around including the original Devil May Cry. After breaking away to form Clover, the team went on to create Viewtiful Joe and, as Platinum, Bayonetta and MadWorld. Their latest game, Scalebound, is their first partnership with Microsoft, but the E3 trailer showcases the big action Platinum is known for.
The next great adventure from critically-acclaimed developer Platinum Games and renowned Game Director Hideki Kamiya, Scalebound transports you to a distant, hostile world. You’ll come face to face with fearsome creatures, including a formidable dragon—and the bond you forge with this awesome predator will prove crucial to the survival of both worlds.
Check out the hydra dragon at the end for a taste of the large-scale dragon-versus-dragon battles that Platinum has planned for Scalebound. There’s no release date yet, but Scalebound should be available for the Xbox One sometime in 2015.
Posted in News, Xbox One
Tagged E3 2014, Scalebound