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
Team Ninja is assisting with Hyrule Warriors development
We still don’t know much about Hyrule Warriors (Princess Zelda gets kidnapped again is about it), but it looks like Nintendo and Tecmo Koei have built an all-star team to develop it.
Omega Force, Tecmo Koei’s internal team that’s assigned to the Dynasty Warriors series, is handling the bulk of the game’s development. But according to the latest issue of Famitsu (via Siliconera), Team Ninja’s Hisashi Koinuma and Yosuke Hayasahi will also be involved in the game’s creation as producers. Hayashi has been the driving force behind the Ninja Gaiden series since Tomonobu Itagaki left Team Ninja in 2008 as well as one of the producer of Metroid: Other M. And as expected, Eiji Aonuma, the Series Producer of the Zelda franchise at Nintendo, is supervising the development of Hyrule Warriors to ensure it lives up to the Zelda name.
Hyrule Warriors (which is known as Zelda Unrivaled in Japan) will be released in Japan on August 14. The game will also be released in North America and Europe by the end of the year.
Posted in News, Wii U
Tagged Hyrule Warriors
Microsoft confirms Halo Mash-Up Pack for Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition
Two weeks ago, Microsoft revealed that some kind of Halo/Minecraft crossover was in the works for Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition. Many people assumed it would be a Halo Mash-Up Pack similar to the previously released Mass Effect and Skyrim packs. Looks like those folks were correct as Microsoft announced that a Halo Mash-Up Pack will be available to download soon:
As with our previous Mash-ups, the Minecraft Halo Mash-Up Pack has some exciting features; exclusive Halo-themed texture set, Halo-themed menus & user interface, new-look items inspired by Halo, 40 character skins, and many music tracks from across the Halo series. This epic pack also includes an astonishing pre-made world, recreating some classic Halo locations like Blood Gulch, Sandtrap, and Valhalla, among many others…
More screenshots from the Mash-Up Pack can be found at the Play XBLA blog. And Microsoft has promised that more information related to the expansion will be released this week.
Continue Countdown #4 – Xbox One Ditches Kinect, Halo 5, Sunset Overdrive, More
Nicole Kline dominated everyone in this episode of “Continue Countdown.” You’ll hear plenty of her big opinions as she, and the rest of the Warp Zoned staff, sat down to discuss Microsoft’s decision to unbundle the Kinect sensor from the Xbox One, Sunset Overdrive‘s less-than-impressive initial trailer, and Halo 5‘s delay.
From there we moved on to the possibility that Wolfenstein: The New Order could spark a resurgence in Doom-style first person shooters (consensus: maybe), what Naughty Dog is working on next (consensus: probably something brand new), and whether or not Dragon Quest X will appeal to an overseas audience (consensus: probably not). The home stretch of this week’s episode asked what we’d like to see from Darksiders III and Rockstar’s next-generation project.
Finally, the episode concluded with the echoing cries of “Why?” as the “Continue Countdown” crew talked about 3D Realms’ Bombshell.
9 Topics… 30 Minutes… And Go!
Posted in Etcetera, PC, Podcast, PS3, PS4, Top Story, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Bombshell, Darksiders III, Dragon Quest X, Halo 5: Guardians, Sunset Overdrive, Wolfenstein: The New Order
Daily Scoop: May 19, 2014 – Birthday-filled weekend!
This weekend was an exciting one filled with birthday cake and homework! The former was delicious but the latter was tiring. I didn’t get a chance to play many video games, but I did learn a card game called 9 Holes of Golf, which was a lot of fun! I teamed up with my six-year-old cousin and we beat everyone else. Domination!
There’s a new Humble Daily Bundle, of course. This one’s called the Melee Bundle. Pay what you want for Guilty Gear Isuka. Pay more than the average to unlock Vanguard Princess. And finally, pay $10 or more to unlock Blade Symphony.
There’s also a new Daily Deal over at Steam. Today only, you can get Race the Sun for $3.39. Scoop it up!
What better way to start off the work week than with a few good t-shirts? (more…)
Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News
Today’s Google Doodle is a working Rubik’s Cube
Google has added another game to their growing collection of interactive Doodles… and it’s totally radical.
Today’s Google Doodle celebrates the 40th birthday of one of the most famous puzzles of all time. Initially known as the Magic Cube, the ingenious little contraption didn’t catch on with the rest of the world until it was rechristened as the Rubik’s Cube in 1980. From there, it grew from fad to phenomenon to an enduring symbol of the 1980s. With more than 350 million cubes sold (as of 2009), it’s considered the best-selling toy ever. And for many people, the ability to quickly solve a Rubik’s Cube is seen as a sign of a genius-level intellect. I’m not sure I’ve ever solved a Rubik’s Cube, but Wikipedia has an amazing list of speed records including:
- 5.55 Seconds: Fastest Solve (set by Mats Valk)
- 9.03 Seconds: Fastest Solve Using Only One Hand (set by Feliks Zemdegs)
- 23.8 Seconds: Fastest Solve While Blindfolded (set by Marcin Zalewski)
- 27.93 Seconds: Fastest Solve Using Only Feet (set by Fakhri Raihaan)
- 3.25 Seconds: Fastest Solve… by a Robot
If you don’t have a Rubik’s Cube lying around your house, be sure to give today’s Google Doodle a whirl. Even after it leaves the Google homepage, you’ll be able to find it in the Google Doodles Archive.
Weekly Warp-Up: Kinect-ion Lost 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…
After suggesting that Nintendo should get into the moviemaking business and watching Kevin Spacey take over the Call of Duty franchise, the Warp Zoned staff has got movies on the brain. So naturally, our UK Correspondent, Andrew Rainnie, checked in with Legendary’s Mass Effect adaptation and mused about 10 Actors (and Actresses) Who Could Play Commander Shepard.
After that, Nicole Kline took a look back at Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I DON’T KNOW and just threw her hands up at the whole thing. John Scalzo (hey, that’s me) had a similar reaction to R.B.I. Baseball 14 in his review of MLB AM’s attempt at a retro baseball sim.
But this week was really all about Microsoft and the moves they made to get people interested in the Xbox One again. Moves like announcing Halo 5: Guardians and (possibly deliberately) spreading the rumor that a Halo 1-4 Box Set is in the works. Then there’s the matter of Gears of War 4 and the fact that the Xbox One will no longer ship with the Kinect sensor (maybe I should have lead with that one).
More news from this week can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News
New Releases: Wolfenstein: The New Order, Drakengard 3, Mugen Souls Z, More
In Wolfenstein: The New Order, the Germans managed to win World War II through a combination of mechs and mutants. Now it’s up to William “B.J.” Blazkowicz to turn the tide and make this alternate 1960 a very Nazi-unfriendly place. Wolfenstein: The New Order was developed by MachineGames and will be available for almost every current platform including the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.
PS3-owning RPG fans will find a pair of interesting new games on store shelves next week as well. Square Enix will bring Drakengard 3 to Sony’s system while NIS America will release Mugen Souls Z.
Finally, a few re-releases round out next week’s batch of new games. First up, Grasshopper’s Killer Is Dead will make its way to the PC as Killer Is Dead: Nightmare Edition. Also next week, Nordic Games will re-release a few of the games they picked up from the THQ auction including the Darksiders Collection on the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360; the Red Faction Collection for the PS3; and Red Faction Complete for the PC.
A complete list of next week’s new releases can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Drakengard 3, Mugen Souls Z, Wolfenstein: The New Order
Rumor: Halo: The Master Chief Collection will compile series on Xbox One this Fall
Did you think that Halo 2 Anniversary Edition rumor was a good idea? Well, check this out. In a new report published by Engadget, the technology blog is claiming that Microsoft will release a compilation of the four “main series” Halo games this Fall for the Xbox One. The bundle will be known as Halo: The Master Chief Collection and it’s said that it won’t include spinoff titles like Halo 3: ODST and Reach. Instead, we’ll be greeted to remastered and remade versions of the Master Chief’s four big adventures ahead of the release of Halo 5: Guardians in 2015. Engadget also notes that Saber Interactive, the developer behind Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary for the Xbox 360, has an unannounced Xbox One project in the works.
It’s certainly interesting speculation and would go a long way towards filling up the Xbox One’s rather sparse Fall 2014 lineup. Microsoft has said that this year’s E3 Expo will be a “great” time for Halo fans and the announcement of a Master Chief Collection would certainly serve as an appropriate apology for Halo 5’s delay.
Posted in News, Xbox One
Tagged Halo: The Master Chief Collection