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
- 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)
- Shadow of the Colossus: An oral history – Design Room (2025)
Most Recent: PC
Battle Princess Madelyn smashes its Kickstarter goal in two days
Casual Bit Games’s latest crowdfunding project, Battle Princess Madelyn, has managed to hit its target of $60,000 CAD on Kickstarter in less than two days. Not only that, but the project has also burned through nine of its stretch goals with more than 24 days remaining on their Kickstarter clock.
And if backers help Casual Bit reach their last goal of $150,000 CAD, they have promised to port the game to the PS Vita. Though it is already heading for the Nintendo Switch, so backers will have at least option for a portable version of the game.
Battle Princess Madelyn takes its licks from Super NES classic Super Ghouls ‘N Ghosts, and the titular trainee knight and her ghost dog Fritzy will embark on a similar journey to save the kingdom from an evil wizard. The spectral canine can be used to solve puzzles and deployed to tackle end level bosses.
The team at Casual Bit Games is now adding more features to the game as a result of the enthusiasm and support shown during the crowdfunding campaign, including an “Insanity’s Blade King Mode,” which ups the difficulty of the classic Arcade Mode. The developer expects to release the game for the PC, PS4, Wii U, Xbox One, and Switch in February 2018.
With fast-paced 2D action, silky smooth animation, and a retro soundtrack set against an epic fantasy story, Battle Princess Madelyn might just be the next Shovel Knight.
Uncharted 4 wins “Video Game of the Year” at the 2017 SXSW Gaming Awards
Naughty Dog’s Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End was named “Video Game of the Year” at the 2017 SXSW Gaming Awards last night, finally putting an end to Overwatch‘s winning streak. Nathan Drake’s final adventure also earned the big prize in the “Excellence in Narrative” and “Excellence in Animation” categories, and the treasure hunter himself won for “Most Memorable Character.”
However, don’t feel too bad for Blizzard, Overwatch took home three SXSW Gamnig Awards including “Esports Game of the Year,” “Most Promising New Intellectual Property,” and “Excellence in Multiplayer.”
The WWE’s Austin “Xavier Woods” Creed hosted the 2017 SXSW Gaming Awards, and he also handed out statuettes to a wide variety of other games including Pokemon Go (“Mobile Game of the Year”), Doom (“Excellence in Gameplay” and “Excellence in Musical Score”), Battlefield 1 (“Excellence in Technical Achievement” and “Excellence in SFX”), and Dishonored 2 (“Excellence in Design”). And this year’s “Tabletop Game of the Year” award was given to Fantasy Flight’s Arkham Horror: The Card Game.
You can find all the winners from last night’s SXSW Gaming Awards show at Video Game Canon.
Posted in Mobile, News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Batman: The Telltale Series, Battlefield 1, Dishonored 2, Doom (2016), Firewatch, Overwatch, Pokemon Go, Tabletop Games, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
New Retail Releases: Mass Effect Andromeda, Mario Sports Superstars, Zero Escape The Nonary Games, More
Venture into new worlds with this week’s new retail releases…
BioWare will help Mass Effect fans explore the unexplored this week thanks to the release of Mass Effect: Andromeda for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One. Leaving behind the rest of the universe, players will visit the Andromeda galaxy and discover “rich, alien worlds in the search for humanity’s new home.”
Mario and friends will also get to try new things this week in the biggest “Mario Sports” game ever. Coming to the 3DS on Friday, Mario Sports Superstars will include Mario-themed versions of baseball, golf, tennis, horse racing, and soccer. The game will also feature support for a new line of Amiibo Cards that’ll power up your favorite athlete in the Mushroom Kingdom.
Oculus VR owners will be able to become a different kind of superstar this week with the release of Rock Band VR. Harmonix’s latest rhythm game will offer “unprecedented stage presence” in virtual reality and a brand new soundtrack.
But if you’re worried about stage fright and would much prefer to battle giant beasts, Koei Tecmo and Omega Force will release Toukiden 2 for the PS4 and Vita. And if you’d rather explore a more familiar world, Aksys Games will bundle together Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors and Virtue’s Last Reward for the PS4 and Vita in Zero Escape: The Nonary Games.
You can find even more new releases after the break. (more…)
The Video Game Canon – Tomb Raider (1996)
Dig deeper into the Video Game Canon by checking in with Tomb Raider (1996), the debut adventure of one of gaming’s most famous female characters. Here’s a teaser…
For better or worse, Lara Croft is the most famous woman in all of gaming. But all her fame might be a fluke, because the developers behind her creation claim it was all an accident.
Formed in the late 80s, Core Design was an unlikely candidate to be creating a wide open 3D title like Tomb Raider. The developer’s biggest claim to fame at the time was Rick Dangerous, a game that could charitably be called an “homage” to Indiana Jones. Other gamers might remember Chuck Rock, a platformer created by Core that starred a dimwitted caveman. But like many British developers of the time, they didn’t think about their limitations and just went for it. This definitely applied to Toby Gard, the artist behind Lara Croft’s original look.
Like Rick Dangerous, Lara began life as a man with no name that bore a striking resemblance to Harrison Ford. Fearing a lawsuit, Gard redrew the character as a woman and began tinkering with a number of different personalities. The artist told IGN in 2008 that the proto-Tomb Raider began life as a “sociopathic blonde” before morphing into a muscle woman, a “flat topped hip hopster,” and a “Nazi-like militant in a baseball cap.” None of these looks fit the game that Core envisioned, but Gard’s final pass at it proved to be the winner. Laura Cruz, “a tough South American woman in a long braid and hot pants,” was born.
We’ll never know if Laura Cruz would have received the same reception, but Gard continued to tinker, and eventually, the character became a descendant of British royalty when the developers plucked the name Lara Croft out of a City of Derby phone book. The final piece of the puzzle fell into place when Gard was playing with a slider that controlled the size of Lara’s breasts and accidentally inflated them to 150% their original size. The Core Design team gathered around Gard’s computer and hooted their approval, even if the artist himself was skeptical of the character’s inflated curves.
Visit VideoGameCanon.com to continue reading this article and to explore the complete Top 1000.
New trailer reveals that Project Sonic will officially be known as Sonic Forces
Sega announced yesterday that this Fall’s mysterious “Project Sonic” will officially be known as Sonic Forces. Like the earlier teaser trailer, the title’s militaristic vibe is front and center in the first gameplay trailer, which shows Sonic speeding through a post-apocalyptic cityscape. The game’s impressive visuals were created using Sonic Team’s brand new “Hedgehog 2” engine.
Though Sonic Forces will feature a revamped graphical style, the game is also being designed to serve as a spiritual followup to Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations.
Sonic Forces will march into stores this Fall for the PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
Sonic Mania launch date dashes to Summer 2017 as Sega reveals “Flying Battery Zone” trailer
“Flying Battery Zone” made its debut in 1994’s Sonic & Knuckles, but we learned yesterday that a remixed version of the stage will also appear in the upcoming Sonic Mania. A trailer depicting Headcannon and PagodaWest’s new take on the stage was unveiled during Sega’s Sonic-themed SXSW Gaming presentation, and its been embedded above for easy viewing.
Unfortunately, Sega also confirmed that Sonic Mania won’t be released this Spring as originally planned. Instead, the side-scroller will now make its way to the PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One sometime in the Summer.
For Honor rises to the occasion as the best-selling game of February 2017
Ubisoft’s For Honor conquered all comers during its first month of availability, as The NPD Group declared it the best-selling game during February 2017. The multiplayer brawler faced some tough competition, but it emerged victorious on the retail battlefield, besting both Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (#2) and Grand Theft Auto V (#3).
The only other new release to crack last month’s top ten was Nioh, an action RPG developed by Team Ninja and published by Koei Tecmo.
But the overall retail health of the industry was on a downward swing in February. According to GamesIndustry.biz, hardware and software sales were down: “Total hardware sales amounted to $204 million, down 30% from last year. Console and portable software dropped 14% to $344.2 million, PC software fell 26% to just $25 million, while accessories fell 21% to $150.8 million. All told, industry sales took a 21% hit, declining from $918.7 million to $724 million.”
However, it seems likely that the successful launch of the Nintendo Switch (and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild) will change that trajectory in March.
The complete list of best-selling games from February 2017 can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Battlefield 1, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, For Honor, Grand Theft Auto V, Madden NFL 17, NBA 2K17, Nioh, NPD, Overwatch, Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege
Latest trailer for Quake Champions introduces us to Scalebearer the Galactic Warlord
Sometimes you just need to throw your weight around…
Bethesda Softworks has released a new trailer for Quake Champions, and this time they’ve shone a spotlight on Scalebearer the Galactic Warlord. Using his size to control the battlefield, Scalebearer can crash right through other Champions with his “Bull Rush” Active Ability or crush them under his feet with his “Heavyweight” Passive Ability:
Scalebearer (Galactic Warlord)
This warlord of the marauding Greiss plundered the technology of countless worlds to strengthen his armies. But defeat by a reclusive, phase-shifting race led to his exile. Obsessed with vengeance, he discovered their power source: an ancient shrine holding a seething sphere of liquid within. When at last he slaughtered its guardians and entered, the sphere consumed him – and he vanished. He awoke in the Dreamlands, a bizarre, brutal realm, transformed by arcane energy. Now he seeks a way back to the waking world to regain his command and wield his newfound might.Active Ability – Bull Rush: The galactic warlord’s active ability, Bull Rush, will let him charge head on against foes in Quake Champions, clobbering your opponents with full force.
Passive Ability – Heavyweight: Scarebearer’s Heavyweight passive allows him to use his extra weight to crush his enemies. Spot an enemy Champion approaching? A well timed rocket jump landing will crush opponents below your feet.
If you’re interested joining the Quake Champions Closed Beta, you can sign up for a chance to receive an invitation to test out the upcoming free-to-play PC game at Bethesda’s official website.
Posted in News, PC
Tagged Quake Champions