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
Broken Age: Act 2 will be available this Spring alongside retail version
Double Fine Productions and Nordic Games have announced that they’re bringing both halves of Broken Age to retail stores this Spring. The retail version of the PC adventure will be released at the same time as the digital launch of Broken Age: Act 2. A PS4/Vita version of the game is also in the works, but its release date is still “To Be Announced.”
If you were wondering why Double Fine would release Broken Age as a retail game, would you believe its to protect their game from solar flares?
“I am very excited about the retail version of Broken Age,” said Double Fine President and CEO Tim Schafer, “And also relieved, as having a widely distributed, physical copy of the game will make it more safe from solar flares and EMP bombs and stuff like that. As long as people store their disks in fire proof safes. People do that, right?”
“Not really” replied COO Justin Bailey, “But people who purchase the physical copy can get to playing the exciting conclusion without having to wait for the game to download!”
The retail version will also add a German language option when its released this Spring.
Posted in Mobile, News, PC
Tagged Broken Age
The Walking Dead Season 2: No Going Back Review: Darling Clementine
The two adaptations of The Walking Dead produced by Telltale have been nothing short of amazing. Some of the best storytelling I’ve ever experienced in a video game has come from these titles. That’s why it makes the finale of Season 2 so bittersweet… it means I’ll have to wait another year (at least) to see what happens in Season 3.
Last season, this wasn’t much of a problem: I purchased the full season when it was on sale, but it stayed in my backlog until Season 2 was announced. Then, I blazed through the first set of episodes in a five-day emotional rollercoaster. Once it was completed, I only had to wait a few months for the next chapter in Clementine’s struggle for survival.
But for now, I must wait. And it will be excruciating. Because chapter five of Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead Season 2, No Going Back, marks the conclusion of one of the greatest games I’ve ever played. (more…)
The Interview is now available to watch via Xbox Live and other streaming services
The movie that Kim Jong Un, North Korea’s Supreme Leader, doesn’t want you too see can now be viewed on your Xbox 360 or Xbox One. The Interview, which will open in theaters tomorrow thanks to a successful petition from a group of independent theater owners, is now available to watch through the Xbox Video service for $5.99 (to rent) or $14.99 (to buy). The film can also be viewed for the same price at other streaming services such as YouTube, Google Play, and SeeTheInterview.com (which is hosted by Sony Pictures).
Oddly, the film is not available through the PlayStation Store, which is owned and operated by Sony Computer Entertainment, Sony’s video game division. Apple has also come out and said the film will not be available through iTunes, though that may change in the future.
The Interview was at the center of the recent Sony hacking scandal, which the FBI believes was prompted by the North Korean government’s dislike of Kim Jong Un’s portrayal in the movie. Directed by Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen, the movie stars Rogen and James Franco as two journalists who are recruited by the CIA to assassinate the dictator.
Rogen said on Twitter that “The people have spoken!” and “Freedom has prevailed!”
Telltale teams up with Mojang for Minecraft: Story Mode
After teasing some kind of “super secret surprise announcement” yesterday, Telltale Games has announced that they’re teaming up with Mojang to produce an episodic game series based on Minecraft. They were right, that is surprising!
The first episode of Minecraft: Story Mode will premiere sometime in 2015 and “introduce new characters” to the world of Minecraft whole exploring “familiar themes.” To that end, Telltale has also confirmed that they plan to enlist prominent members of the Minecraft community to help them craft the game’s story.
“People really like the idea of stories about Minecraft, but forcing a narrative into our core game experience would restrict players’ freedom to view the world in their own unique ways. Instead, letting them explore an alternate interpretation via Minecraft: Story Mode, driven by the proven might of Telltale, seems like a no-brainer,” said Owen Hill, the Chief Word Officer at Mojang. “We’re big fans of Telltale Games at Mojang, and we can’t wait to reveal more details on Story Mode soon.”
Minecraft: Story Mode is currently in development for the PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PC platforms (Windows and Mac), and mobile platforms (iOS and Android).
Telltale Games teases a “super secret surprise announcement”
Telltale Games has had a very busy year. They completed development on The Walking Dead Season 2 and The Wolf Among Us over the Spring and Summer before moving on to the launch of Tales From the Borderlands and Game of Thrones this Fall. And both of those episodic titles will be completed in 2015 before the developer rolls right into The Walking Dead Season 3. But they’re not done yet.
According to the Job Stauffer, their Director of Public Relations, the company has plans to make a “super secret surprise announcement” as early as today:
Super secret surprise announcements before the holiday break? Maaaaaybe.
…hashtag #subtle!
— Job J Stauffer (@jobjstauffer) December 17, 2014
Not only that, but Stauffer later said that the announcement isn’t “directly related” with anything they’ve released this year:
I'll also clarify – it's not directly related to anything else we've made in 2014.
— Job J Stauffer (@jobjstauffer) December 17, 2014
So what does Telltale have up their sleeve? Hopefully we’ll find out soon…
Insert Quarter: How Did 2014 Treat Indie Developers?
Insert Quarter is our showcase for some of the best and most interesting writing about video games on the Internet.
It is a precarious time to be an indie developer. Steam’s Greenlight and Early Access initiatives are producing just as many misses as hits and discoverability is still a problem on the Xbox Games Store, the PlayStation Store, and mobile storefronts. Matthew Handrahan examined the squeeze that indie developers are feeling from all sides as part of GamesIndustry.biz’s roundup of 2014’s major stories. The picture he paints is one of gloom and doom, but also one that can be overcome with the right level of talent and a genuinely groundbreaking idea:
So are indies heading towards a “mass extinction event”? Overcrowding is certainly a key aspect of the overall picture, but the act of making and releasing a game is only getting easier, and the allure of development as a career choice seems to grow with each passing month. It stands to reason that there will continue to be a huge number of games jostling for position on every single platform – more than even a growing market can sustain – but there’s only so much to be gained from griping about the few remaining gatekeepers. If the days when simply being on Steam or Kickstarter made a commercial difference are gone, and if existing discovery tools still lack the nuance to deal with all of that choice, then it just shifts the focus back to where it really belongs: talent, originality, and a product worth an investment of time and money.
The full article is available for your perusal at GamesIndustry.biz.
Insert Quarter: The Rise and Fall of THQ’s Empire
Insert Quarter is our showcase for some of the best and most interesting writing about video games on the Internet.
Gamers often didn’t know what to make of THQ. The publisher built its empire on the backs of tie-in games based on Nickelodeon and Pixar properties such as SpongeBob SquarePants and The Incredibles. But they also produced intriguing original games such as Saints Row: The Third and Darksiders. They were even the initial driving force behind Evolve, one of 2015’s most anticipated games. But that all changed when the company went bankrupt early last year.
So what happened? Tracey Lien, writing for Polygon, set out to discover the answer by talking to as many former THQ employees as she could including the charismatic (but possibly crazy) Danny Bilson. Her portrait of a publisher in free fall makes you wonder, could anything have been done?
Many blame the company’s fall on the licensed games well drying up. Some pin it on the commercial failure of the company’s uDraw tablet for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Others point to poor management and too many risky bets.
“There isn’t any one, isolated event that killed the company,” says a former THQ executive who asked to not be named. “This was one of the most successful video game businesses in America. We were a billion dollar company. It was complicated.”
THQ suffered a “death by a million spider bites,” the executive says.
The full article is available for your perusal at Polygon.
Posted in 3DS, DS, Insert Quarter, Mobile, PC, PS2, PS3, PSP, Retro, Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360
Tagged Darksiders, Evolve, Saints Row: The Third
NetherRealm is making WWE Immortals for mobile devices
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment has announced that NetherRealm’s mobile team has teamed up with the WWE to create WWE Immortals for mobile devices running iOS (iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch) and Android. In recent years, the team has produced mobile games based on Batman: Arkham City, Batman: Arkham Origins, and Injustice: Gods Among Us.
“It’s amazing to be working with WWE to offer a new way for fans to experience the brand on mobile platforms,” said Greg Ballard, the Senior Vice President of Mobile, Social, and Emerging Platforms at WB Games. “NetherRealm Studios are experts in creating award-winning games and the team is working hard to deliver the same quality of engaging gameplay with WWE Immortals.”
“We are excited to partner with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and NetherRealm Studios to create WWE Immortals and bring a new action-packed mobile experience to our passionate fan base,” said Casey Collins, the Executive Vice President of Consumer Products at WWE. “By tapping into NetherRealm’s legendary game development studio along with the unparalleled reach of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, we are creating a new way for fans to engage with the larger-than-life WWE characters.”
Chicago-based Phosphor Game Studios will assist in the development of WWE Immortals, which will be available sometime in 2015.