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
- 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”
- GDC Awards: All the Winners from 1996 to Today
Warp Zoned Presents
- Video Game Research Library
- 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)
- Shadow of the Colossus: An oral history – Design Room (2025)
- In 2005, games started rewiring our brains – The AV Club (2025)
Most Recent: Mobile
Shades Review: Do Mess Around With the Guy in the Shades
Lovers of puzzle games and easy-peasy mobile games will enjoy a fun new challenge with the recently released Shades, a puzzle game from Uovo that bears a resemblance to Tetris, except instead of using differently-shaped blocks, Shades requires players to consider the color of a series of rectangular blocks when placing them. The blocks are all uniform in size and shape; however, they are all different shades of one color (sort of like virtual paint swatches) which must be stacked to ultimately create rows of a single shade. Complete rows disappear, a la Tetris, and earn extra points as well as clearing the way for more blocks falling from the top, while like-shaded blocks stacked on top of one another meld together into a single block of the next darkest shade. Points accumulate through the placement of blocks, whether they blend into another shade, and when rows disappear. (more…)
Hype Fatigue: Why I’m Exhausted With Viral Marketing, Elaborate Advertising Campaigns, and Countdowns
The machinations of video game marketers absolutely baffle me. Obviously, “video game marketing” is an incredibly broad term that encompasses hundreds of different campaigns a year, all run by different people, and all carried out with different expectations. Whipsawing between a seemingly neverending series of hype events and viral campaigns has started to make my head spin. Following hashtags and decoding secret messages has become de rigueur if you want to come up with all the latest game news. Last week, three publishers launched three very different viral campaigns that made me long for the days of the simple press release/trailer combo platter. But maybe they aren’t to blame, as video game marketing has been growing increasingly insane for years now. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, Mobile, Opinions, PC, PS3, PS4, Top Story, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Call of Duty: Black Ops III, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Friday the 13th, Joe Montana Football 16, Lego Dimensions, Star Wars: Battlefront
Halo: Spartan Strike was quietly released today for Windows 8, iOS devices
After discovering a variety of major bugs in Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Microsoft and 343 Industries pushed the release of Halo: Spartan Strike, a twin-stick spinoff, from December 2014 to “early 2015.” Today, the game was quietly released for the PC (via Steam), Windows 8 tablets and PCs, iOS devices (iPod Touch, iPhone, iPad), and Windows Phone 8. Halo: Saprtan Assault, which was originally released in 2013, also makes its iOS debut today as part of the Halo: Spartan Bundle.
Developed by Vanguard Games, Xbox Wire says Spartan Strike takes place during Halo 2 and serves as a training ground for Spartan soldiers:
Halo: Spartan Strike tells a compelling new story in the Halo universe set during the events of Halo 2 on New Mombasa in 2552. As a Spartan supersoldier in a classified ONI simulation, delve into 30 challenging missions while leading UNSC troops through cities and jungles with an all new arsenal of weapons, abilities and vehicles.
Players who advance through Halo: Spartan Strike’s Achievements will be able to unlock an exclusive Emblem, Nameplate, and Avatar in Halo: The Master Chief Collection. So I guess it’s got that going for it.
Posted in Mobile, News, PC
Tagged Halo: Spartan Assault, Halo: Spartan Strike
Guitar Hero Live brings back franchise as a first-person live-action experience this Fall
Back in February, unnamed insiders said that Activision would relaunch the Guitar Hero franchise this year with “more realistic” graphics. That report has turned out to be accurate… but in the absolute strangest way possible. The next game in the series, Guitar Hero Live, will launch this Fall as a first-person, live-action experience that attempts to put players on stage for real. Shred that perfect solo and the crowd will cheer wildly for you. But if you screw up, you’ll be begging for the fenced-in stage from The Blues Brothers. That’s if your bandmates don’t kill you first.
Guitar Hero Live will also include a constantly changing catalog of songs in GHTV Mode, which overlays a note track on top of hundreds of different music videos. You can get a glimpse at how both modes will work by viewing the game’s debut trailer, which has been embedded above.
Unfortunately, your old guitars will no longer work in Guitar Hero Live. Activision is throwing out the old design and creating a new design featuring two rows of three buttons each. According to Activision, “beginners can feel like a rock star by mastering play with just the bottom three buttons.” Meanwhile, veterans will take on the new challenge of “creating complex chord-like shapes and finger combinations.”
Guitar Hero Live’s tracklist is still being finalized, but a wide variety of bands and singers will make the cut including The Black Keys, Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, Gary Clark, Jr., Green Day, Ed Sheeran, The War on Drugs, The Killers, Skrillex, The Rolling Stones, The Lumineers, Carrie Underwood, and Pierce the Veil and Blitz Kids. More will be announced as we get closer to launch.
Guitar Hero Live is in development for the PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Wii U at FreeStyleGames, the same team behind DJ Hero and DJ Hero 2. Somehow, Guitar Hero Live will also be playable on mobile devices and tablets, but details on that version of the game will be announced at a later date.
Activision is going to announce Guitar Hero 7 tomorrow… but don’t tell anyone, it’s a secret
This morning, Activision released a teaser trailer touting an April 14 announcement of a “Mystery Game.” Could it be more Destiny? Or an official unveiling of Skylanders 5? Maybe the Call of Duty: Black Ops III reveal got pushed up two weeks? I should probably just watch the trailer…
Let’s see what we’ve got. There’s a kid with a guitar… and a band about to go on stage… and a cheering crowd. There’s also a tagline: “It’s About To Get Real.” Hmm, it’s a toughie, but I think I’ve got it… Activision is bringing back Crash Bandicoot! Wait a minute, that doesn’t sound right. Meh, it’s probably just a tease for Guitar Hero 7.
It’s not like there were a bunch of rumors back in February that said the franchise would return this Fall with a “more realistic” graphical style. Oh wait, there were. OK, it’s probably Guitar Hero 7.
I’ll keep waiting for you, Crash.
Mortal Kombat X now available on iOS App Store; coming to Google Play soon
The mobile version of Mortal Kombat X was quietly added to the iOS App Store last night by NetherRealm Studios. So now you can perform Fatalities on the go if you’ve got an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch. However, if you’re an Android user, you’ll have to wait to hear Shao Kahn say “Finish Him!” as the Android version is currently “coming soon.”
Mortal Kombat X on mobile devices will feel very familiar to players who’ve previously downloaded Inustice: Gods Among Us, Batman: Arkham Origins, and WWE Immortals. Each fight involves a 3-on-3 battle and each character is represented by a card that can be leveled up and buffed. Players will also be able to link the mobile version of Mortal Kombat X with the PC/console release to unlock special content like costumes in each version.
And don’t worry, mobile players will be able to take part in Mortal Kombat X’s Faction Wars when the PC/PS4/Xbox One edition launches on April 14. A Challenge Mode will also be available soon, but players can join daily events and battle opponents in an multiplayer mode right now.
Posted in Mobile, News
Tagged Mortal Kombat X
Mortal Kombat X TV spot goes back to the past to ask “Who’s Next?”
Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!
With just a few weeks to go until Mortal Kombat X‘s April 14th launch, NetherRealm Studios has unveiled the game’s full-length television commercial. It’s mostly comprised of footage we’ve seen before, but it’s interesting to see NetherRealm ask “Who’s Next?” by traveling back to the past.
First, you’ll notice that the soundtrack blares to life courtesy of System of a Down’s 2001 hit, “Chop Suey.” But what you might not notice is that the Mortal Kombat X spot is also a modern riff on the very first commercial used to sell the series. The crowd, the urban setting, even some of the camerawork, can all be linked back to the infamous “Mortal Monday” commercial that was used to promote the console release of Mortal Kombat in 1993.
Mortal Kombat X will be available for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One on April 14. A mobile version for iOS and Android will also be released next month, and a version for PS3 and Xbox 360 owners will be available in the Summer.
RBI Baseball 15 will be released for PS4, Xbox One on March 31
Polygon is reporting that MLB Advanced Media’s RBI Baseball 15 will be released for the PS4 and Xbox One on March 31. That means the retro-styled sports game will be going head-to-head with Sony’s MLB 15: The Show, which will also launch on the last day of this month.
Last year’s game, RBI Baseball 14, was a stripped-down sports game that kept things simple. A little too simple, we thought at the time. While still not a modern simulation, RBI 15 will add in several features absent from RBI 14 including full team rosters, stat tracking, and online multiplayer.
RBI Baseball 15 is also in development for the PC and mobile platforms, but MLB Advanced Media wasn’t ready to reveal a release date for those versions just yet.