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
WWE 2K17 will be released for the PC on February 7
2K Games has announced they’ll bring their newest wrestling sim, WWE 2K17, to the PC on February 7. Players interested in taking their turn in the squared circle will be able to pick it up in two different configurations… a Standard Edition for $49.99 or a Digital Deluxe Edition for $74.99.
The Standard Edition will come packaged with the base game and the Goldberg Pack, which adds two more Arenas and two different versions of the wrestler (“WCW Goldberg” and “WWE Goldberg”) to WWE 2K17. The base game and the Goldberg Pack are also included in the Digital Deluxe Edition, but its higher price also gives players access to the Season Pass content…
PC Digital Deluxe Edition
In addition to the base game, the WWE 2K17 PC Digital Deluxe includes over 20 characters, 50 new moves, and access to loads of additional content:
- WWE 2K17 MyPlayer Kick Start
- NXT Enhancement Pack
- Accelerator
- Legends Pack
- New Moves Pack
- Future Stars Pack
- Hall of Fame Showcase
Steam users who purchase WWE 2K17 before launch will receive a 10% discount on the Standard Edition or a 15% discount on the Digital Deluxe Edition.
Writers Guild nominates CoD Infinite Warfare, Far Cry Primal, Uncharted 4, Mr. Robot mobile app for 2017 WGA Award in Game Writing
The Writers Guild of America has announced the nominees for this year’s Writers Guild Award for “Outstanding Achievement in Videogame Writing.”
Once again, Naughty Dog has collected a nomination for their work on Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. The prolific developer is a popular choice for the nominating committee at the WGA, previously receiving nominations (and later winning) in 2012 (Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception), 2013 (The Last of Us), and 2014 (The Last of Us: Left Behind).
Other nominees for “Outstanding Achievement in Videogame Writing” in 2017 include Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, Far Cry: Primal, and Mr. Robot: 1.51exfiltratiOn, a mobile app developed by Night School Studio.
The winner of this year’s Writers Guild Award for “Outstanding Achievement in Videogame Writing” will be announced on Sunday, February 19. The complete list of nominated writers can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in Mobile, News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, Far Cry: Primal, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
2017 DICE Awards nominations announced and Uncharted 4 leads the way with ten
The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences has announced their nominees for the 2017 DICE Awards.
A Naughty Dog leads this year’s pack, as Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End scored ten nominations including one for “Game of the Year.” The developer’s swan song for Nathan Drake will be competing against Battlefield 1, Inside, Overwatch, and Pokemon Go for the coveted honor. We’ll hear from all of this year’s “Game of the Year” contenders throughout the ceremony as each earned multiple nominations including Inside with nine, Battlefield 1 with eight, Overwatch with six, and Pokemon Go with two.
The AIAS will hand out two new DICE Awards this year for “Immersive Reality Game of the Year” and “Immersive Reality Technical Achievement.” The nominees for both will be announced at a later date.
A total of 56 games received at least one nomination, and hosts Greg Miller and Jessica Chobot will announce the winners on Thursday, February 23, at 10:30 PM (Eastern Time). Viewers at home will be able to livestream the entire ceremony through the AIAS’s official website.
A complete list of this year’s nominees can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, Mobile, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Battlefield 1, Inside, Overwatch, Pokemon Go, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
Lego City Undercover’s re-release on the Switch, PC, PS4, Xbox One gets a new trailer
Lego City Undercover, the Lego-ized homage to Grand Theft Auto, and cop movie classics like Dirty Harry and Lethal Weapon was originally released for the Wii U in 2013, and has remained exclusive to Nintendo’s console ever since. But the rest of the gaming world will soon get to see what all the fuss is about because WB Games will re-release it for the PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch this Spring.
Today, the publisher unveiled the first trailer for the game’s 2017 reappearance, and it features all the goofy humor and family-friendly action you expect from the Lego series:
Lego City Undercover introduces Chase McCain, a police officer who goes undercover and dons multiple disguises to hunt down the notorious – and recently escaped – criminal, Rex Fury, to put an end to his city-wide crime wave.
This open-world Lego adventure allows fans and newcomers to explore the sprawling metropolis that is Lego City, with more than 20 unique districts to investigate, filled with car thieves to bust, vehicles to navigate, mischievous aliens to capture, hilarious movie references to discover, lost pigs to rescue and of course, hundreds of collectibles. Bringing together witty, original storytelling with signature Lego humor, this open-world Lego adventure creates a fun-filled experience for players of all ages.
Lego City Undercover is in development at TT Games, and we’ll probably hear more about it during tonight’s Nintendo Switch Presentation.
Shovel Knight is officially coming to Nintendo Switch; Yacht Club also plans to re-release the expansions as standalone games
Followers of the Code of Shovelry have quite a bit to celebrate today as Yacht Club Games uncovered a massive amount of new information about Shovel Knight on the game’s official site… including confirmation that it’ll be released for the Nintendo Switch.
Yes, the side-scrolling masterpiece will make its way to the Nintendo Switch sometime this year, along with each expansion and all the bonus content like Body Swap Mode and Co-Op Mode. Oh, speaking of Body Swap Mode, it’s finished and will be released alongside the Specter Knight expansion this Spring. And in the spirit of sharing, Co-Op Mode will no longer be exclusive to the Wii U (and the Shovel Knight Amiibo). According to the developer, it will soon be available for all consoles and the PC (but not the 3DS or the Vita) as a free update.
Here’s where it gets interesting.
Shovel Knight’s release structure will soon be undergoing some changes, though Kickstarter backers and other current owners won’t notice anything different. Yacht Club has decided to upgrade the game for current owners to the Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove on all platforms. Available this Spring, the Treasure Trove will include free access to all updates and expansions. But because the expansions have grown beyond being simple character swaps, Yacht Club has decided to raise the price of the Treasure Trove for newcomers once its available. The game’s new price has yet to be announced, but the current $14.99 price (and its promise of free updates and expansions) will remain in place until the Treasure Trove is released.
For everyone who has yet to purchase Shovel Knight (or for those who might want to rebuy the game on a new platform), Yacht Club has decided to split each of the expansions off into its own standalone game. So the original Shovel Knight campaign will receive a new subtitle (Shovel of Hope), and the expansions (Plague of Shadows, Specter of Torment, the King Knight campaign, and Battle Mode) will all be available as individual downloads (and for a lower price) on the PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Switch.
Finally, Yacht Club has begun to think about life after Shovel Knight, and will soon begin work on their “second” game (depending on how you count the Shovel Knight expansions). Writing in a new Q&A, the developer said, “[I]f you want something new outside of Shovel Knight… we have vowed to begin work on a new project this year!”
Posted in 3DS, Mobile, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Switch, Vita, Wii U, Xbox One
Tagged Shovel Knight, Shovel Knight Showdown, Shovel Knight: King of Cards, Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows, Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment
The Video Game Canon – Tetris
Dig deeper into the Video Game Canon with a look at how moms helped Tetris become the gaming gargantuan it is today. Here’s a teaser…
In 1989, most mothers believed that video games were a childhood distraction that eventually would be brushed aside as their offspring grew into responsible adults. But something happened along the way that prevented this. Perhaps the Nintendo Entertainment System, the most popular console of its day, was just that much better than previous attempts to bring video games into the living room. But I have a different theory. I believe it was Tetris.
Tetris brought mothers and their children together to play video games for the first time. And then something magical happened. Instead of jerkily moonwalking Mario into a pit or being the most unrad racer on the planet, the mothers were good at Tetris. They were so good that brother and sister soon had to compete with mom for control of the television. And mom wasn’t going to be finished until she made the castle take off into the stratosphere.
Visit VideoGameCanon.com to continue reading this article and to explore the complete Top 1000.
You should watch this great Shovel Knight speedrun race from Awesome Games Done Quick 2017
Awesome Games Done Quick is hosting their first speedrunning marathon of the year this week, and some of the best players from all across the world have descended on the Washington D.C. area to play through a huge number of games as fast as they can. In addition to putting on an excellent show, the AGDQ2017 participants are also raising money for the Prevent Cancer Foundation.
It’s a pretty fun week of gaming, and for further proof, just look at this year’s Shovel Knight race. Not only is it an extremely competitive contest, but you can watch two experts masterfully pick apart the new side-scrolling classic. The two players going head-to-head are “Smaugy” and “Munchakoopas,” and they provide a great match featuring plenty of platforming acrobatics, multiple lead changes, and an amazing photo finish.
Yacht Club Games will release the next expansion for Shovel Knight, Specter of Torment, sometime this year.
Thunder Lotus’s Sundered will be released in July 2017
Thunder Lotus Games has announced that Sundered, their upcoming MetroidVania-style side-scroller, will be released for the PC and PS4 in July 2017. The developer also confirmed plans to launch a Kickstarter campaign on Monday, January 16, to help with development costs and to gather feedback from their fans.
Sundered will include a procedurally-generated world map and random monster placement to encourage replayability. And like Thunder Lotus’s last game, Jotun, it’ll feature hand-drawn art for both the characters and the environments.
In case you missed it, you can get a sneak peek at Sundered’s visuals by viewing its Announcement Trailer, which was first revealed by Thunder Lotus last September.