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
In the Year 20XX: An Interview With Chris King of Batterystaple Games
Back in the day, Sega used to run an advertising campaign that claimed “Genesis Does What Nintendon’t.” Aside from angering my inner nerd (I was an excellent speller in grade school), I could never actually figure out what Sega did that Nintendo didn’t. The same benefit of the doubt does not apply to the people who currently run Capcom. We know exactly what they aren’t doing, and that’s treating Mega Man, one of gaming’s most beloved characters, with the respect he deserves. There hasn’t been a new Mega Man game in nearly five years, and aside from an appearance in last year’s Super Smash Bros. For 3DS/Wii U (a Nintendo production), the character has been completely forgotten.
Enter Chris King, the programmer for Batterystaple Games. He saw the Mega Man-shaped hole in the market and decided to give the people what they wanted. His new game, 20XX, is a loving homage to Mega Man (more specifically, to the Mega Man X series) that adds in a lot of things that Capcom couldn’t do back in the 90s.
What does Capcom think of 20XX? After playing a few rounds of 20XX, we asked the developer that question, and a few more, at this year’s PAX East expo. (more…)
Posted in Features, Interviews, PC, Previews, Top Story
Tagged 20XX, PAX East 2015
F1 2015 will be released for PC, PS4, Xbox One in June
Codemasters announced today they’re bringing their Formula One racing series to the PC, PS4, and Xbox One this June with the release of F1 2015. Distributed by Bandai Namco, the game will set a new bar for realism in Formula One games.
F1 2015 will include “a significant step forward” in the physics-based handling model, which has been designed with new players and veterans in mind. This new model will offer improvements to all parts of the car including “engine and transmission, aerodynamics, fuel tank, force feedback, suspension, and a brand new tire physics model.” A new “broadcast presentation” graphical style will also aid in the game’s attempt at realism and a voice recognition option on both the PS4 and Xbox One will get you talking to your race engineers. Finally, the game will make all of these features come to life through the use of a brand new version of Codemasters’ popular EGO game engine.
Players will get the chance to compete in two FIA Formula One World Championship seasons in F1 2015 including the current 2015 season and the 2014 season (which is being called “bonus game content” right now, so it may be available as DLC).
ToeJam and Earl: Back in the Groove’s Kickstarter campaign is fully funded
With a little over a day to go, the Kickstarter campaign for ToeJam and Earl: Back in the Groove has reached its funding goal of $400,000. If all goes according to plan, the game will be released on the PC (Windows, Mac, and Linux) this November.
The developers at HumaNature Studios thanked backers with a message that their funky duo would most definitely approve:
WOOHOO!!!!! This game is going to get made!!!
Thanks to all of you, we have made it! Prepare for the FUNK!!!!
From here, with lightened hearts and much less stress we catch our breathes, and then continue up this mountain towards our stretch goals. Happy Day! We have a few more announcements for you, but we’ll save it for another update.
PHEW!!!!!!! Thank you everybody!!!!!!!!!!
HumaNature has launched a huge number of stretch goals for ToeJam and Earl: Back in the Groove, but if you want to play it on the PS4 ($600,000), Xbox One ($700,000), or Wii U ($800,000), you better crack open your wallet, because it’s going to take a substantial bit of coin.
Posted in News, PC
Tagged ToeJam & Earl 4
Halo Online closed beta will launch this Spring… in Russia
Microsoft and 343 Industries will launch a closed beta for a free-to-play version of Halo exclusively for PCs this Spring, but there’s a catch… the game is being designed from the ground up for a Russian audience.
According to the Halo Waypoint blog, Halo Online “is powered by a highly modified version of the Halo 3 engine.” Its use of that aging engine is so the game can smoothly run on “on lower-end PCs.” The multiplayer-only game won’t feature a single-player campaign. Instead, it’s set on “a secret UNSC space installation called Anvil, where Spartan-IV soldiers train together in war exercises to sharpen their battle skills and test experimental technology.”
Microsoft believes Halo Online will serve as an introduction to the Halo franchise for many Russian gamers, and they’re determined to make it a good one. The game is in development at Saber Interactive, the same team that assisted 343 Industries in the creation of Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary and Halo: The Master Chief Collection.
Microsoft currently has no plans to bring Halo Online to the Xbox One and, like Call of Duty Online and Borderlands Online, it’s unlikely that American or European gamers will ever get the chance to play it. But check out the announcement trailer above anyway.
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.
20XX Hands-On Preview: A Mega Man Game Minus Mega Man
Let me paint you a picture of two different titles.
When I hear the title Echoes of Eridu, I’m reminded of the late 80s/early 90s and the, let’s say less enlightened, state of sci-fi/fantasy paperbacks. You know the ones. The women have hair teased out in every direction and, whether the setting of the story is outer space or the English countryside, they’re dressed in skintight spandex bodysuits. If we’re lucky, there might be a unicorn or a spaceship to spice up the scene.
Echoes of Eridu was never a sci-fi/fantasy story from my childhood years. It’s actually an in-progress video game that’s now known as 20XX.
20XX should also evoke feelings of the late 80s/early 90s, but for a slightly different reason. According to Capcom, every game in the Mega Man X franchise takes place in the year “20XX,” so any game that carries that title instantly makes me think of side-scrolling platformers, arm cannons, laser swords, robotic baddies, and spikes… so many spikes. Batterystaple Games’ 20XX delivers all of those things and much more. Changing the name of their in-progress platformer was just one of the many great decisions they’ve made so far. (more…)
Posted in PC, Previews, Top Story
Tagged 20XX, PAX East 2015
Broken Age: Act 2 coming on April 28; PS4, Vita version will launch on same day
Double Fine Productions has announced that PC players will be able to download Broken Age: Act 2 on April 28. After their massive Kickstarter success, Double Fine realized that Broken Age was too big and ambitious to make its originally planned 2012 release date, so the game was split into two Acts. So with the release of Act 2, the complete Broken Age saga will finally be available for all to play:
Broken Age tells the story of Vella and Shay, a girl and boy from completely different worlds who seem to be leading strangely parallel lives…
Vella has been chosen by her village to have the honor of being sacrificed to the terrible monster Mog Chothra, but having no interest in being devoured by a horrible beast, must go against ages old tradition and make her escape. Meanwhile somewhere in space, Shay is living a solitary life under the care of a very motherly computer, and whilst his every need is taken care of in every way imaginable, he wishes for nothing more than to break free from the monotonous safety of his daily life, and have some real adventures.
But what if you don’t like to play games on your PC? Don’t worry, Double Fine has you covered. Both halves of Broken Age will also be released for the PS4 and Vita on April 28 as well. The PS4/Vita version of the game will offer Cross-Save functionality and it’s Cross-Buy compatible, so a single purchase will unlock the game on both platforms.
Now that Broken Age is complete, Double Fine has also decided to make the entire behind-the-scenes documentary series created by Two Player Productions available to everyone. You can view the documentary series, for free, at the Double Fine Productions YouTube Channel.
Mortal Kombat X action figures, bobbleheads, plushes planned
Mortal Kombat X is about to get family-friendly as Mezco Toyz is now accepting pre-orders for plush dolls of Scorpion and Sub-Zero. The eternally-brawling pair will also be turned into bobbleheads, and action figures. The God of Thunder and Earthrealm’s protector, Raiden, will also get an action figure.
Both the bobbleheads ($16 each) and the plush dolls ($15) will be available in October. The action figures will be released in June as individual figures ($22 each) or in a three-pack ($66). You can begin throwing money at the screen to obtain any or all of these toys by visiting Mezco’s website.
I know my wallet suddenly feels a little bit lighter.