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
September 1 release date for MGS5: Phantom Pain leaked ahead of big announcement
It’s hard to believe that news this big would just sneak out of Konami, but it looks like Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain will be released on September 1. The news comes courtesy of a a behind-the-scenes interview with Hideo Kojima that IGN accidentally published a day earlier than planned. Several sites (including Game Informer) peeked at the video before it was pulled and shared the good news with the world.
Kojima had a few other interesting tidbits to share in the video including the fact that Snake will be more of a “silent protagonist” in The Phantom Pain. If that’s true, then why hire Kiefer Sutherland? Rather than expound on that puzzling question, Kojima reiterated (again) that The Phantom Pain will be his last time directing a Metal Gear Solid game:
“I always say this will be my last Metal Gear, but the games in the series I’ve personally designed and produced: Metal Gear on MSX, Metal Gear 2, Metal Gear Solid 1, 2, 3, 4, and Peace Walker, and now Metal Gear Solid V are what constitute a single Metal Gear saga,” he says. “With Metal Gear Solid V, I’m finally closing the loop on that saga. In that sense, this will be the final Metal Gear Solid. Even if the Metal Gear franchise continues, to me, this is the last Metal Gear.”
Konami acknowledged the leak on Twitter, but they also promised players that more Metal Gear-related announcements will be made tomorrow (at 12:00 PM Eastern Time) when their countdown expires.
Mad Max will go beyond release on September 1
Two generations enter, one generation leaves…
WB Games and Avalanche Studios have announced that Mad Max will be available for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One on September 1. If you remember, the game was also in development for the PS3 and Xbox 360 but, according to Game Informer, those versions of the game have been “left by the wayside.” Avalanche made the decision to cancel the previous-gen versions of Mad Max so they could focus on creating the best game possible without also trying to make it work on lower-powered hardware. This new focus will allow the team to deliver “stunning vistas and effects that will challenge your expectations of what the Wasteland might look like.”
But anyone who wants to travel through the Wasteland will need transportation and Avalanche is providing just such a vehicle for Mad Max. “The Ripper,” a fully upgradeable car body with “a powerful V8 engine, upgraded exhaust with custom off-road tires, a ramming grill and a tuned suspension,” will be available as a pre-order bonus to all players who pre-order the game.
Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows add-on will be available this Spring
Now that we know when it’ll launch on the PS3, PS4, and Vita, Yacht Club Games has announced that Shovel Knight‘s first expansion, Plague of Shadows, will be available this Spring. Plague of Shadows will be a free update when its released and it’ll place the spotlight on the diminutive Plague Knight as he searches for the Ultimate Potion:
You play as Plague Knight, the villainous master of alchemy, in a quest all his own. Using his maniacal scientific mind, Plague Knight is seeking to concoct Serum Supernus, the Ultimate Potion. However, to retrieve these ingredients, he must extract them from his former allies… the villainous knights of the Order of No Quarter! World class platforming, music, storytelling, and art all return in Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows; an explosive quest with a new play style, new story, new bosses, and more!
Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows will make its public debut at this weekend’s PAX East expo. If you’re heading out to the Boston convention, the expansion will be playable on the show floor at Yacht Club’s booth, where they’ll also be selling a never-before-seen Shovel Knight plush toy with a magnetized shovel.
Plague of Shadows is the first of three planned expansions for Shovel Knight on the 3DS, PC, Wii U, and PlayStation platforms. Eventually, those who dispense shovel justice will also be able to play as the swanky King Knight and the wealthy Mole Knight.
Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U
Tagged PAX East 2015, Shovel Knight, Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows
Trine 3: The Artifacts of Power announced by Frozenbyte for 2015 release
Frozenbyte has announced they’ve been hard at work on the third game in the Trine series “for quite a long time.” In fact, they’re so far along they announced that Trine 3: The Artifacts of Power is on track to be released for the PC this year. Other platforms will follow, but Frozenbyte isn’t ready to talk about them just yet.
Trine 3 will include the familiar multiplayer puzzle platforming that the series is known for, but the trailer above confirms that some form of limited 3D movement will be included as well, though it looks like there’s still a lot of traditional side-scrolling stuff.
To celebrate the announcement, Frozenbyte is deeply discounting the first two Trine games on Steam for the next two weeks. Both games, as well as Shadowgrounds and its sequel, have been marked down by 85%.
Posted in News, PC
Tagged Trine 3 : The Artifacts of Power
Interplay will resculpt the ClayFighter franchise on PC in 2016
ClayFighter was one of the stranger games to come out of the Super NES/Genesis era, mixing the brutal one-on-one fighting of Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter II with claymation-based visuals. But somehow, the bizarre concept helped ClayFighter rise above the fray and it’s popularity spawned two sequels (1995’s ClayFighter 2: Judgment Clay and 1997’s ClayFighter 63 1/3) and a devoted fan following.
After laying dormant for almost 20 years, Interplay has announced the franchise will return in 2016 in a remastered edition that will include characters, concepts, and features from all three games:
- More with over 20 characters total including Bad Mr. Frosty, Blue Suede Goo, Earthworm Jim, Hoppy, Boogerman, and Tiny!
- Over 20 familiar environments from the series to duke it out in!
- Unique supers and Claytality moves for each character!
In addition to remastering previous characters and environments, Interplay and developer Drip Drop Games will introduce new gameplay mechanics to ClayFighter such as double jumping, air dashing, counters, and reversals. High resolution visuals and revamped audio will round the “ultimate clay based gaming experience.”
ClayFighter Remastered is in development exclusively for the PC, but hopefully it’ll make its way to consoles as well.
A mobile version of Mortal Kombat X is also in development
In years past, NetherRealm’s mobile team has produced a scaled down version of Injustice: Gods Among Us, as well as fighting game spinoffs of Batman: Arkham City and Batman: Arkham Origins. Earlier this year, they turned WWE wrestlers into superheroes and supervillains for the similarly styled WWE Immortals. Today, the developer has confirmed that Mortal Kombat X will get the same treatment this April.
Like their previous efforts, the mobile version of Mortal Kombat X will be a free-to-play fighting/card-battler hybrid. Fatalities will definitely make the cut in the mobile version, as will X-Rays and the “iconic visceral combat” the franchise is known for. Mortal Kombat X on mobile will link up with the PC/console edition and players will be able to unlock content within each version by completing tasks and Achievements/Trophies in the other.
“NetherRealm Studios has created a Mortal Kombat X mobile experience that allows more players than ever before to play this over-the-top fighting game through their ever-present smartphones, tablets or other devices,” said Ed Boon, Creative Director, NetherRealm Studios. “What’s more, we’ve expanded the unique cross-connectivity feature that links the mobile and console versions of Mortal Kombat X, delivering unique rewards to all players for simply playing the mobile game.”
Mortal Kombat X will be available in April for all iOS (iPhone, iPad, iOS Touch) and Android devices.
The Scarecrow takes over in Batman: Arkham Knight’s “Gotham is Mine” trailer
John Noble has brought eccentricity and menace to his roles as Walter Bishop on Fringe and the Horseman of War on Sleepy Hollow, but only his voice is required to strike fear into the heart of Gotham in the upcoming Batman: Arkham Knight. Noble will play Jonathan Crane (AKA The Scarecrow) in Rocksteady’s trilogy-capping entry of the Arkham series. And like on Fringe and Sleepy Hollow, he has a plan.
In this new trailer, dubbed “Gotham is Mine” by the developers, The Scarecrow reveals how he will bring together Batman’s greatest rogues. Two-Face, The Penguin, The Riddler, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, and the all-new Arkham Knight will join forces to kill the Dark Knight once and for all.
Will they succeed? We’ll all find out together on June 2, when Batman: Arkham Knight launches for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Batman: Arkham Knight
Valve and HTC team up for the Vive virtual reality headset
A new player has joined the virtual reality wars as Valve and HTC have announced that they will collaborate on the creation of Vive, a virtual reality headset that will use Valve’s SteamVR technology. A “developer edition” of Vive will be available this Spring and a consumer version is expected to launch this Fall. The Vive will be on display at this week’s Game Developers Conference in San Francisco where it will join a very crowded marketplace that includes the Oculus Rift, the Samsung Gear VR, and Sony’s Project Morpheus. The Vive’s official website includes more details about the device, including a claim that it will eliminate the “jitter” found in other headsets:
A 1,200 by 1,080 pixel screen in front of each eye, with refresh rates of a blistering 90 frames per second, displays photorealistic imagery that fills your field of vision in all directions, eliminating the jitter common to previous VR technologies and transporting you to another world.
A special two-handed controller will allow players to interact with objects in the simulation and optional SteamVR “base stations” can be paired with Vive to create a 15×15 area that players can use to walk around their virtual world. So who will be creating these worlds? Valve has partnered with three developers (so far) to create content for Vive including Cloudhead Games (The Gallery: Six Elements), Dovetail Games (Microsoft Fight Simulator), and Fireproof Games (The Room).
More will surely sign up in the coming days.