Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- Jordan Minor’s “Boss Fight Books: Super Mario Galaxy” is Now Available for Pre-Order
- Angry Birds, Dragon Quest, FIFA Soccer, and Silent Hill are the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026
- 2025 GOTY Scoreboard: In Progress
- 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
Warp Zoned Presents
- Video Game Research Library
- With Grand Theft Auto 6 poised to take over the world, I reached out to Jack Thompson and it did not go well – PC Gamer (2026)
- Vib-Ribbon: An oral history – Design Room (2026)
- How a Second-Grade Teacher Revived a Beloved Video Game – The New York Times (2026)
- Spore: An oral history – Design Room (2026)
- Diablo IV PC Cooled With Real Human Blood Is Still Going Strong Two Years Later, Says Guy Who Won It – Aftermath (2026)
Most Recent: PC
Bound by Flame trailer warns “there’s no turning back”
The new Bound by Flame trailer is absolutely gorgeous. Spider Studios goes into more detail about the game, including the main character’s demon side, as well as the mechanics of the game, the combat system, the bestiary, and the crafting system.
But that’s not all. We also get a glimpse at some of the other characters the hero will come into contact with – some of them sexy ladies with whom he can make out – as well as some fantastic creatures.
Bound by Flame is due to come out in Q2 2014 for the PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and Xbox 360.
Outlast Review: House on Haunted Thrill
For a few years, I worked at a haunted house during the Halloween season. My job was, as one would expect, to scare the patrons. It was a great gig, and I have some fond memories of really freaking people out. But it wasn’t all about standing in a corner and jumping out at the most opportune time. There’s a real science behind the perfect scare. You need to be meticulous in your planning by first creating a sense of uneasiness, then instilling dread and fear, and finally, delivering the scare.
Horror games follow a similar process. For example, the dog jumping through the window in Resident Evil is one of the most famous video game scares. Things were already very spooky when you first stepped into that mansion. As you continued, fear crept in, as you knew that something was waiting for you around that corner. Then, when that zombified doberman finally crashes through the glass, it really hits you hard. Some of the better survival horror games follow this formula pretty religiously, creating some pretty intense experiences.
Outlast already has a pretty faithful following among the PC crowd. As a console-specific gamer (my PC can barely run The 7th Guest), I’ve only heard a few things about the game on various gaming forums. The sentiment was almost universal – this is one of the scariest games ever made. Now that I finally got a chance to play through the console version, I can say that I definitely agree with those sentiments. (more…)
Supergiant’s Transistor will be playable at PAX East 2014
Supergiant Games has confirmed that Transistor will be playable at this year’s PAX East expo:
@StrifeCross We're planning to go to PAX East and have Transistor playable there.
— Supergiant Games (@SupergiantGames) February 18, 2014
Transistor made its public debut during last year’s PAX East show. In addition to touting one of the longest lines of the entire expo, the game’s booth featured visits from Logan Cunningham (the voice behind the titular Transistor), Darren Korb (Supergiant’s in-house music man), and lead developer Greg Kasavin during the weekend. In June, Sony revealed that Transistor would exclusively launch on the PC and PS4 in early 2014.
While we know that Transistor will be playable at PAX East 2014, whoever is behind Supergiant’s Twitter feed has so far ignored tweets asking if the game will be released before or after April 11, the first day of the convention.
Posted in News, PC, PS4
Tagged PAX East 2014, Transistor
Harmonix is developing Chroma, a music-based arena FPS
Back in 2012, Harmonix began hiring developers to work on a “combat game.” Today, they lifted the lid on Chroma, a free-to-play, first-person, multiplayer shooter for the PC. If this sounds a bit out of Harmonix’s wheelhouse, then you should also know that in Chroma, “Music is Your Weapon.” Hopefully, Harmonix will explain what that means sooner rather than later.
Harmonix has partnered with Hidden Path Entertainment (Counter-Strike: Global Offensive) to bring the game to Steam sometime this year. Players will be able to choose from multiple from character classes and form a “band” with their teammates to take on their opponents. Also, a “Change Up” system will unleash major moments that “dramatically alter the landscape of the battlefield in real time both physically and strategically, raising sniper towers, adding cover, and more in sync with the music.”
“Chroma has been a dream project of mine for some time,” said Harmonix co-founder and CEO Alex Rigopulos. “Watching the teams at Harmonix and Hidden Path begin to bring this vision to life has been tremendously exciting. We’re also thrilled to release an alpha version of this game and to evolve it in collaboration with our players. We can’t wait to hear what people think of this new approach to both first-person shooters and music games.”
Harmonix plans to offer players early access to Chroma through a closed alpha later this year. You can apply to enter the alpha right here.
Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark will be released this Summer
The continuity snarl that is the Transformers franchise makes the last half-century of Marvel and DC storytelling look neat and ordered by comparison. The series is rife with alternate universes and the executives in charge of this narrative morass have attempted to merge, split, and remerge the storyline since the 1980s.
The latest attempt at building an all-purpose Transformers universe is Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark, the latest game adaptation of the long-running series from Activision. According to GameSpot, Rise of the Dark Spark will merge High Moon’s War For Cybertron/Fall of Cybertron continuity with Michael Bay’s Transformers films to tie-in with this Summer’s Age of Extinction. Sadly, High Moon won’t be developing the game. Instead, Activision has enlisted Edge of Reality to create the PC, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Xbox One game. WayForward Technologies will develop a handheld version of the game for the 3DS.
Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark will be released this Summer to coincide with the theatrical opening of Transformers: Age of Extinction.
The Evil Within will scare you silly on August 26
Bethesda has announced that Shinji Mikami’s return to horror, The Evil Within, will be released on August 26. Not only does The Evil Within mark Mikami’s return to the survival horror genre, but it also echoes the haunted house shenanigans of his first hit, Resident Evil:
While investigating the scene of a gruesome mass murder, Detective Sebastian Castellanos and his partners encounter a mysterious and powerful force. After seeing the slaughter of fellow officers, Sebastian is ambushed and knocked unconscious. When he awakens, he finds himself in a deranged world where hideous creatures wander among the dead. Facing unimaginable terror, and fighting for survival, Sebastian embarks on a frightening journey to unravel what’s behind this evil force.
The Evil Within is in development at Mikami’s new studio, Tango Gameworks, for the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.
GOG.com and EA are giving away the original Dungeon Keeper for free
To put it charitably, EA’s launch of the mobile version of Dungeon Keeper has been a bit of a disaster. But it looks like the company is ready to make amends. This weekend, they’re teaming up with GOG.com to give away free copies of the original PC game, Dungeon Keeper Gold. Whether this is their mea culpa for tarnishing a beloved franchise with excessive in-app purchases or just a canny way to promote the mobile game, I can’t say. But hey, free game!
Beginning today, all you have to do is visit GOG’s homepage and click the “Get It Now!” button on the “Dungeon Keeper For Free” banner. That’s it. But don’t dawdle, the offer expires on Sunday, February 16 at 6:00 AM.
The Dungeon Keeper giveaway is part of GOG’s Valentine’s Day promotion that focuses on “titles that can be played with-or against-a gamer’s favorite Player 2.” The Valentine’s Day sale slashes the price on 29 games including Dungeon Keeper 2 ($1.49), the rebooted Rise of the Triad ($2.99), Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition ($1.19), System Shock 2 ($1.49), and many more.
So go get your sweetheart some games this weekend… they’re definitely better than Candy Hearts.
Posted in News, PC
Tagged Dungeon Keeper
CoD: Ghosts is the best-selling game of the month for the third straight month
The results are in and, according to The NPD Group, Call of Duty: Ghosts is once again the best-selling game of the preceding four weeks. After reigning supreme during November and December, the military shooter has emerged victorious against a particularly weak January release slate.
In fact, the only other new release in this month’s top ten is the “Definitive Edition” of Tomb Raider, which, along with sales of the “Game of the Year Edition” on the PS3/Xbox 360, helped Lara Croft’s latest adventure take the #10 spot.
Post-Christmas gift cards likely played a role in determining January’s biggest moneymakers as many of 2013’s biggest games staked out the remaining eight spots. NBA 2K14, lead by a strong performance on the PS4, landed at #2 and Battlefield 4, despite its continued online woes, was the #3 best-selling game of the month. And what about the next-generation consoles? Well, the NPD revealed that the PS4 is currently the #1 next-generation console in the US with the Xbox One close behind.
A complete look at last month’s top ten best-selling games can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, Battlefield 4, Call of Duty: Ghosts, FIFA 14, Grand Theft Auto V, Lego Marvel Super Heroes, Madden NFL 25, Minecraft, NBA 2K14, NPD, Tomb Raider