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
Nintendo Download: Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy
While the Professor Layton series will continue in some form, tomorrow’s addition of Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy to the 3DS eShop marks the end of the good Professor’s tenure as the face of the franchise. Also available on the 3DS eShop this week is Tappingo, a puzzle game of a different sort. Taking a bit of inspiration from Minesweeper, Tappingo is can be downloaded today.
Over on the Wii U eShop, Wii U owners will have a chance to download My Farm, a cartoony farm simulator.
Finally, the NES game Renegade is now available on both the 3DS eShop and the Wii U eShop. Renegade is the first game in the long-running “Kunio” series (which is better known in America as the River City Ransom series).
More details about all of these titles can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, Wii U
Tagged Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy
The Behemoth headlines a list of 65 new developers added to ID@Xbox program
After single-handedly kickstarting the movement to bring indie developers to the console space with the Xbox 360’s Xbox Live Arcade, Microsoft seriously dropped the ball with their attempts at indie outreach on the Xbox One. Initially, indie developers were expected to partner with an established publisher to bring their games to the next-generation console. In 2005, this was a reasonable policy. But with Sony and Nintendo’s more open approach to indie developers in recent years, Microsoft has to change. So last year, they removed the publisher requirement and allowed indie developers to self-publish their games on the Xbox One through the ID@Xbox program. The first ID@Xbox games should be released over the next few weeks, but Microsoft has no plans to stop there.
Today, the consolemaker confirmed that over 200 developers have signed up to be a part of the ID@Xbox program. In recent days, 65 indie developers have received Xbox One development kits and the list includes some big names. The Behemoth (of Alien Hominid, Castle Crashers, and BattleBlock Theater fame) leads the way and I cannot wait to see what they have in store for the Xbox One.
A few other big names stand out including FarSight Studios (makers of The Pinball Arcade), Heart Machine (who are currently working on Hyper Light Drifter), Humble Hearts (the team behind Dust: An Elysian Tail), Playdead (the developers of Limbo), and Ska Studios (who created the recent Charlie Murder). The complete list of all 65 indie developers recently added to the ID@Xbox program can be found after the break. (more…)
The Walking Dead Season 2: A House Divided will be released next week
Telltale Games has announced that the second episode of The Walking Dead Season 2, “A House Divided,” will be available to download for the PC and the PS3 (from the PlayStation Store) next Tuesday, March 4. The game’s Xbox Live Arcade and iOS App Store release date will be confirmed “at a later date.” But I’d bet good money that both versions will be available sometime around March 4.
For “A House Divided,” Telltale has tapped Michael Madsen to play the mysterious Carver. What does Carver want? You’ll have to play the game to find out. Like the previous episodic editions, The Walking Dead Season 2’s second episode has been priced at $4.99. All five episodes from Season 2 can also be pre-purchased through the $19.99 Season Pass. If you plan to follow the entire story of Clementine’s survival, it’s a good deal.
Vita owners will be happy to learn that Telltale also confirmed that The Walking Dead Season 2 will be released for Sony’s handheld. The first two episodes will be available to download in late March.
Daily Scoop: February 26, 2014 – Beatbuddy added to Humble Bundle
The guys over at Threaks have been busy! Not only is Beatbuddy coming to tablets and consoles, it’s also been added to the Humble Indie Bundle 11! Pay what you want for Guacamelee! Gold Edition, Dust: An Elysian Tail, Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams, and The Swapper. Pay more than the average for Antichamber, Monaco: What’s Yours Is Mine, Fez, Starseed Pilgrim, and Beatbuddy: Tale of the Guardians. This was a steal before, but now it’s an absolute must-buy!
Today’s Daily Deal over at Steam is Red Faction Guerrilla, which has been marked down to $4.99. Oh, and If you were looking for something to get me for my birthday, you could buy me this bad boy, though I’m afraid I exceed the weight capacity.
And now, t-shirts!
Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News
Trials Fusion will be released on April 16
Ubisoft has just announced that the next entry in the beloved Trials series will be released on April 16.
Trials Fusion will be available to download on the Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Steam for $19.99. A $39.99 disc-based retail version, which will include the base game and a Season Pass, will also be made available for the next-generation consoles. The Season Pass will be available to purchase separately for $19.99, giving player access to new tracks, bike parts, rider gear, and other items in six packs that will release between now and April 2015. The packs will be available without the season pass, but without the savings of 30%.
If you’re new to the Trials series, here’s what Ubisoft and developer RedLynx had to say about some of the new features found in Trials Fusion:
Trials Fusion builds on the same maddeningly addictive physics-based gameplay as its predecessors while incorporating brand new features, including the FMX tricks system. Players will be able to create tracks that stretch both their imagination and skill, and put their friends to the ultimate Trials test by sharing online with the bustling Trials community, made possible by the fan-favorite Editor Mode.
You can watch the latest trailer for Trials Fusion above.
Batman: Arkham Origins “Cold, Cold Heart” DLC available April 22
After a New Year’s tease, WB Games has announced that the first downloadable campaign content for Batman: Arkham Origins will reveal the story of the first time Batman and Mr. Freeze met. The DLC expansion will be known as “Cold, Cold Heart” and it’ll thaw your heart this Spring.
Priced at $9.99, and available for free to Season Pass subscribers) the “Cold, Cold Heart” add-on will take place within the walls of Wayne Manor during an awards banquet that Mr. Freeze decides to crash. Batman will be able to use a variety of new toys including the new Extreme Environment (XE) suit, as well as Thermal Gloves and Thermocharged Batarangs. Maybe this is a stupid question, but if “Cold, Cold Heart” is the first time Batman will tangle with Mr. Freeze, why does he even have Thermal Gloves and Thermocharged Batarangs?
The “Cold, Cold Heart” DLC will be available for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 on April 22.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Batman: Arkham Origins
XBL Store Today: Thief, Castlevania: LoS2, PvZ: Garden Warfare, Pac-Man Museum
The Xbox Live Game Store is now home to four new games, and two of them will be available for the Xbox One in addition to the Xbox 360.
Thief, for the Xbox 360 and Xbox One, marks the return of the stealthy Garrett. The adventures of the titular thief have been rebooted by Eidos Montreal, the developer that gave the Deus Ex franchise a similar makeover in 2011 with Deus Ex: Human Revolution.
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2, the conclusion to Mercury Steam’s Lords of Shadow 2 saga, has also been added to the Xbox 360 section of the store today. And if getting bloody with Dracula isn’t your thing, there’s also PopCap’s cartoony shooter, Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare, which is available on both the Xbox 360 and Xbox One.
Finally, Bandai Namco has compiled many of Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man’s earliest adventures in Pac-Man Museum for the Xbox Live Arcade. But the collection doesn’t just highlight their 80s heyday, the pack also includes newer releases such as Pac-Man Championship Edition and the never-been-released Pac-Man: Battle Royale. (more…)
Posted in News, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2, Pac-Man Museum, Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare, Thief
Beatbuddy will be swimming onto consoles and tablets soon
Beatbuddy: Tale of the Guardians, one of our favorite games from 2013, won’t be confined to the PC for much longer. The game’s developer, Threaks, has exclusively told us that Beatbuddy will soon be swimming onto “tablets and consoles.” Which tablets? Which consoles? Threaks’ Wolf Lang wouldn’t say, but I’m hoping the answer will eventually be “all of them.”
Lang would go on to say that the tablet version will appear first as development on the console edition continues. Threaks is very proud of the touch controls they’ve developed for Beatbuddy as he also said, “The touch controls we developed almost play better then the game pad!”
If you want to see what all the fuss is about right now, Beatbuddy: Tale of the Guardians was recently added to Humble Indie Bundle 11 and it can be yours if you pay more than the average (currently $4.64). In addition to Beatbuddy, the bundle includes a ridiculous number of great games including Dust: An Elysian Tail, Fez, Monaco, Guacamelee, and many others.
More details on the tablet edition of Beatbuddy: Tale of the Guardians will be released ahead of this year’s GDC conference.
Posted in Mobile, News, PC
Tagged Beatbuddy: Tale of the Guardians, GDC 2014