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
Shovel Knight is the first project from Yacht Club Games
Prepare to taste justice, Shovel Justice!
Yacht Club Games has pushed off shore and officially announced their first project, Shovel Knight. The former WayForward team members have cast their newest hero in a game that owes a very large debt to Mega Man and more than a bit to the cane-pogo mechanics of DuckTales:
Shovel Knight is a sweeping classic action adventure game with awesome gameplay, memorable characters, and an 8-bit retro aesthetic. It’s a hot mashup of new and old that may remind you of Mega Man, Castlevania, or Dark Souls! You play as the eponymous Shovel Knight, a small knight with a huge quest. Shovel Knight has come to this valley with two goals: to defeat the evil Enchantress and save his lost beloved. He wields a ShovelBlade: a multipurpose weapon whose techniques have now been lost to the ages. Always honest and helpful, Shovel Knight is a shining example of the code of Shovelry: Slash Mercilessly and Dig Tirelessly!
But, between Shovel Knight and his beloved stands a cadre of villainous knights. These terrible foes, known as The Order of No Quarter, have been dispatched to prevent Shovel Knight from reaching the Enchantress, and will pursue their mission at any cost.
Yacht Club has organized a Kickstarter campaign to help fund development and, as of this writing, they’re a third of the way there with 27 days to go. Provided all goes well, Shovel Knight will be available for the PC in September 2013 and, if all goes really well, Yacht Club hopes to bring the game to the Wii U and 3DS sometime after that.
If you’re attending this year’s PAX East convention, you’ll be able to play Shovel Knight at Yacht Club’s booth all weekend long.
Posted in News, PC
Tagged PAX East 2013, Shovel Knight
New Releases: Lego City Undercover, GoW: Judgment, Walking Dead FPS, More
Another week, another highly anticipated prequel. Gears of War: Judgment will be available this week, exclusively for the Xbox 360.
Sidestepping to a shooter of a different kind is The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct. This other game based on The Walking Dead used the television show for inspiration and stars the crossbow-wielding fan favorite, Daryl Dixon. The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct will be released for the PC (download-only), PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii U.
Speaking of the Wii U, this is actually a big week for new releases on Nintendo consoles as Lego City Undercover and Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate will soon be available for the Wii U. The 3DS will receive a pair of big new releases in Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity and Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon, as well as a portable version of Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate.
More new releases can be found after the break. (more…)
Maxis explains always-on requirement for SimCity: It’s an MMO
When SimCity first launched, Electronic Arts and Maxis were adamant that the game required an “always-on” connection to supplement your PC with server side computing that would handle some of the game’s more demanding simulations.
Apparently, that’s a bigger lie than “I tried it, but I didn’t inhale” and “I did not have sex with that woman… Monica Lewinsky” combined. (Side note: Bill Clinton was a great President, but when you need a “lying politician” joke, he’ll forever be the go-to guy).
In a blog post titled “Straight Answers from Lucy” on EA’s official website, Lucy Bradshaw, the General Manager of Maxis, has admitted that SimCity could have shipped with a single-player option. But it didn’t because the developer’s thought of the game as an MMO:
So, could we have built a subset offline mode? Yes. But we rejected that idea because it didn’t fit with our vision. We did not focus on the “single city in isolation” that we have delivered in past SimCities. We recognize that there are fans – people who love the original SimCity – who want that. But we’re also hearing from thousands of people who are playing across regions, trading, communicating and loving the Always-Connected functionality. The SimCity we delivered captures the magic of its heritage but catches up with ever-improving technology.
This abrupt 180 comes on the heels of a modder discovering an “offline mode” within SimCity’s code. With this new information, I suspect the number of players who demand a refund from EA will continue to grow.
DICE will unveil Battlefield 4 on March 26 at GDC 2013
A little over a week ago, Electronic Arts sent out an email to members of the media inviting them to “Save the Date” for a special announcement during the Game Developers Conference. Yesterday, they sent out a second round of invitations confirming that the event, which will take place on March 26 at 7 PM (Pacific Time), will feature a first look at Battlefield 4.
Back in 2011, Battlefield 3 made its debut during a similar presentation at the Game Developer Conference. And it was available in stores less than a year later. So I think it’s safe to assume that Battlefield 4 will follow a similar schedule and we should all be playing it by Christmas.
Previously, the only we’d received of Battlefield 4 was the promise that Medal of Honor: Warfighter purchasers would be invited to take part in the game’s beta. So it’s assumed that the game will launch on the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360, with a PS4 port a possibility.
[Source: Game Informer]
A World of Keflings comes to Windows 8; Wii U version announced
NinjaBee has announced that A World of Keflings, the popular city-building game that came to the Xbox Live Arcade in 2010, is available in the Windows 8 Store now and will be released on the Wii U later this year.
Brent Fox, Art Director at NinjaBee commented, “Both of these new platforms offered us huge advantages and were ideal marketplaces for a light-hearted city-builder. Windows 8 gave us the chance to make the game mobile and add in very smooth, natural touch controls. The Wii U has allowed us to significantly enhance the game’s visuals and, with the Wii U GamePad, explore new ways to interact with the game and its characters.”
Gamers who sign onto Xbox Live on Windows 8 will be able to experience playing as their own Xbox Avatar, compete with Xbox Live Leaderboards, and be able to unlock 20 all-new Achievements. However, A World of Keflings on Windows 8 does not include multiplayer or support Avatar FameStar functionality.
Posted in Mobile, News, PC, Wii U
Tagged A World of Keflings
Saints Row IV goes intergalactic on August 20
The Saints are back! After being purchased by Deep Silver at the THQ auction, developer Volition is ready to unveil Saints Row IV, the next game in the popular open-world series. Continuing the bigger is better mentality of the last two games, Saints Row IV will take everyone’s favorite gang into outer space to battle an alien scourge known as Zinyak. Oh yeah, I can’t wait to see the weapons in this one.
In the next open-world installment of Saints Row, Volition continues the story of the Third Street Saints by elevating their status to the highest level – the leaders of the free world. In Saints Row IV, the head honcho of the Saints has been elected to the Presidency of the United States. But the Saints are just getting started. Now the larger-than-life insanity of the Saints series gets a new twist with a catastrophic alien invasion, and the aliens have transported the Saints to a bizarro-Steelport simulation. Wield gargantuan superpowers and fight to free humanity from alien granddaddy Zinyak’s mental grasp. Escape the simulation that’s trapped the Saints crew, or die trying.
Saints Row IV will be released for “current-generation consoles” and the PC on August 20. You can find the first three screenshots after the break and if you’re attending next week’s PAX East convention, you can check out a closed-door Saints Row IV presentation at Deep Silver’s booth. (more…)
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged PAX East 2013, Saints Row IV
Modder discovers “offline mode” for SimCity
The SimCity debacle reared its ugly head again today and it continues to look bad for EA.
The latest Godzilla stomp on EA’s city simulation is the news that a modder has discovered an offline “debug mode” that bypasses the always-online requirement of the game. EA has always maintained that their servers provide constant computational support to SimCity players, but this debug mode paints the always-online requirement as little more than a backdoor DRM scheme.
This backs up a recent anonymous tip reported by Rock, Paper, Shotgun that claims SimCity doesn’t require an Internet connection.
“The servers are not handling any of the computation done to simulate the city you are playing. They are still acting as servers, doing some amount of computation to route messages of various types between both players and cities. As well, they’re doing cloud storage of save games, interfacing with Origin, and all of that. But for the game itself? No, they’re not doing anything. I have no idea why they’re claiming otherwise.”
However this brouhaha resolves itself, I think EA’s mayoral aspirations are over.
[Source: Destructoid]
Dead Space 3 slices up the competition in February 2013 NPD report
Do you remember that rumor about Dead Space 3‘s poor sales? Yeah… apparently that was a load of space garbage. The action horror title was officially crowned the best-selling retail game of February 2013 by retail tracking firm The NPD Group.
New releases Crysis 3, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, and the troubled launch of Aliens: Colonial Marines also landed spots in the top ten.
Here’s the complete list of the top ten best-selling games in February 2013:
1. Dead Space 3 (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)
2. Call of Duty: Black Ops II (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii U, PC)
3. Crysis 3 (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)
4. NBA 2K13 (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, Wii U, PSP, PC)
5. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (PS3, Xbox 360)
6. Aliens: Colonial Marines 2013 (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)
7. Just Dance 4 (Wii, Xbox 360, PS3, Wii U)
8. Far Cry 3 (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)
9. Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time (PS3, Vita)
10. Madden NFL 13 (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, Vita, Wii U)
Posted in News, PC, PS3, PSP, Vita, Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360
Tagged Aliens: Colonial Marines, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, Crysis 3, Dead Space 3, Far Cry 3, Just Dance 4, Madden NFL 13, NBA 2K13, NPD, Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time