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
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- 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
Fez II canceled as Phil Fish quits game development
Phil Fish is one half of Polytron and the outspoken developer behind Fez, a highly acclaimed puzzle platformer released on the Xbox 360 and PC last year. During this year’s E3 Expo, Fish announced that he had begun work on a sequel, Fez II. But over the weekend, things between Fish and the gaming public turned ugly and he has canceled Fez II. In fact, Fish has decided to get out of game development completely. In a statement on Polytron’s webiste, he wrote:
FEZ II is cancelled. i am done. i take the money and i run. this is as much as i can stomach. this is isn’t the result of any one thing, but the end of a long, bloody campaign.
you win.
The dustup started after Marcus Beer, the “Annoyed Gamer,” tore into Fish on the latest episode of Invisible Walls, his show on Game Trailers. Beer was angry at Fish for refusing to comment on Microsoft’s recent Xbox One policy change allowing indie developers to self-publish their games on the system. Actually, describing Beer’s tirade as “angry” might be underselling it. It was much closer to verbal abuse.
Fish, quoting a line said by Bender on Futurama, told Beer (via Twitter) to kill himself and promptly canceled Fez II. Phil Fish has endured a lot of criticism from gamers over the years. Some of it is fair and some of it isn’t. But it looks like his battle with Beer was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Unless Fish changes his mind and tries to play the whole thing off as a PR stunt.
NBA 2K14 soundtrack handpicked by Lebron James… listen to it now!
In a first, cover athlete Lebron James has been tapped by 2K Sports to select the songs that will appear on NBA 2K14‘s soundtrack. The soundtrack to last year’s game, NBA 2K13, was handpicked by Jay-Z, that title’s honorary “Executive Producer.” The world’s most famous sports agent also raps occasionally, and James has included Jay-Z’s “The Ruler’s Back” amongst this year’s selections.
“2K is letting me take control of some important elements in NBA 2K14, including this year’s soundtrack,” James said. “I love that I’m the first NBA 2K cover athlete to choose the soundtrack.”
So what other songs did King James choose? You can listen for yourself at Spotify or you can check out the complete soundtrack listing after the break. Actually, feel free to do both. (more…)
Neil Gaiman will bring Wayward Manor to PC, tablets this Fall
Few names carry more cred in geek circles than Neil Gaiman (maybe Joss Whedon, as long as you ignore Season 6 of Buffy). Because of his reputation, there was much rejoicing in geek circles today as Gaiman announced that he plans to take his first step into the video game industry this Fall. The fantasy author has contributed the story to Wayward Manor, a PC/Mac/tablet game in development at The Odd Gentlemen (who also worked on The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom).
Wayward Manor, which shares a similar art style with the film adaptation of Gaiman’s Coraline, stars a ghost who just wants to enjoy his death in peace:
Set in a 1920s Victorian Gothic pastoral estate, Wayward Manor focuses on the plight of a ghost whose hope of a peaceful after-life is interrupted by a remarkable cast of intruders. Awoken from his post-mortem slumbers, our ghost must find ever-more inventive and brilliant ways to scare them away. As the ghost learns more about the living characters, he also learns more about his own death and after-life, and the danger they are all facing.
Players can pre-order the game, as well as a huge stash of Wayward Manor-stamped swag, at WhoHauntsNeil.com.
Precursor relaunches Shadow of the Eternals Kickstarter campaign with no episodic content
The first time Precursor Games tried to obtain funding for Shadow of the Eternals, their spiritual successor to Eternal Darkness, they had a tough time. When the campaign was suspended last month, backers had pledged only 10% of the requested $1.35 million total.
Today, the developers are back with a second shot at Kickstarter glory, but with some major changes to their pitch. The new Shadow of the Eternals will be no longer be released in an episodic fashion. Precursor is now stating that they will create a complete 8-10 hour game if their funding goal (which has been lowered to $750,000) is reached. David Hayter, the former voice of Solid Snake, has also been brought aboard as the voice of Detective Paul Becker, the game’s main character. Finally, Precursor will bring the game to the PS4 if they reach an unnamed stretch goal.
The rest of the pitch looks very similar to what we saw before, including a level that takes place in Csejthe Castle (home of Elizabeth Bathory, “The Blood Countess”), the Sanity Events, and an action-adventure look that is very reminiscent of Eternal Darkness. If all goes well, Precursor expects to release the game sometime in the Fall of 2014.
The Kickstarter campaign for Shadow of the Eternals will run through Friday, August 23. As of this writing, just a hair over $40,000 has been pledged towards the project.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Wii U
Tagged Shadow of the Eternals
Deadpool Review: SUCK IT WOLVERINE!!
Deadpool is the Marvel equivalent of Marmite; you either love him or you hate him. From his crass and vulgar sense of humour to his habit of breaking the fourth wall and talking directly with his gathered audience, the Merc with a Mouth offers some sweet comic relief in place of grim, dark, and brooding superheroes. But how is the character’s transition from comic to video game? (more…)
Saints Row IV Season Pass announced as game goes gold
After escaping THQ’s collapse relatively unscathed, Volition is proud to announce that development work on Saints Row IV is done. In industry terms, the game has “gone gold” (insert your own scatological joke here).
To celebrate, Volition has announced that gamers are now able to pre-order the (rather affordable) Season Pass that will be released with it. The Saints Row IV Season Pass will be sold for $9.99 and will entitle the owner to two downloadable expansions and an exclusive weapon, The Rectifier anal probe (again, insert your own scatological joke here).
The first expansion is scheduled to be the previously announced Director’s Cut of the “Enter the Dominatrix” scenario. It should be available sometime in the Fall and a second expansion will follow in “late 2013.” Saints Row IV will be released on August 20.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Saints Row IV
Batman will also battle The Mad Hatter in Arkham Origins
During their Comic-Con panel, Warner Bros. Interactive revealed that a redesigned Copperhead will do battle with The Dark Knight in this Fall’s Batman: Arkham Origins. Today, the newest issue of Official Xbox Magazine (via All Games Beta) has confirmed that another of Batman’s rogues will be included in the game: Jervis Tetch, better known as The Mad Hatter.
Tetch, a serial killer in the Arkham universe, will play a large part in Arkham Origins and be responsible for the game’s “trippy action sequences.”
Don’t be late for a very important date. Batman: Arkham Origins will be released for the PC, PS3, Wii U, and Xbox 360 on October 25.
Kickstart This! The Organic Monochrome Augmented Reality Edition
Summer is in full swing, like a party at Jay Gatsby’s house. While we are currently in the middle of a month of suffering thanks to a gaming drought, there’s always new opportunities on Kickstarter. This month, choose whether to join Team Meat or Team Cheese in Organic Panic, explore the chilling dystopia of Monochroma, or get your steampunk on in turn-based strategy Tooth and Cog.
Taking a slight detour from video games themselves, there is also the augmented reality board game Darkling Plain, a new open-source programmable handheld console in the FEZ Game-O, and finally, Double Jump, a novel about a man who finds himself in a world governed by video game logic.
Let’s jump right in! (more…)
Posted in Features, PC, Top Story, Xbox 360
Tagged Tabletop Games