Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- 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
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Wins “Game of the Year” at 2025-2026 GDC Awards
Warp Zoned Presents
- Video Game Research Library
- 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)
- In 2005, games started rewiring our brains – The AV Club (2025)
Most Recent: PC
Vertex Pop will bring Super Crush KO to the PC and Switch in 2019
Super Crush KO is a hyper-colorful side-scrolling brawler, and it’s the next game from Vertex Pop, the indie developer behind We Are Doomed and Graceful Explosion Machine.
With it’s first two games, Vertex Pop employed a graphical style that very closely resembled paper cutouts, and they plan to continue using this approach to worldbuilding in Super Crush KO. Fully on display in the Announcement Trailer embedded above, players will take control of a “stylish-as-heck hero” and fight back against these origami-like creations to quell a robot uprising:
Super Crush KO is a fast-paced brawler / shoot-em-up hybrid set in a vibrant, near-future city. Take control of a neon-wearing, robot-stomping, stylish-as-heck hero and save humanity from an AI apocalypse!
Punch your way through waves of bots, launch them into the air and blast them out of the sky, all chained together in massive, awesome combos.
Super Crush KO will be released for the PC and Switch sometime in 2019, but fans will get the chance to try it out later this month in the Indie Megabooth at PAX West.
Posted in News, PC, Switch
Tagged PAX West 2018, Super Crush KO
Blizzard officially announces that “multiple” Diablo projects are currently in development
Blizzard has been hiring new employees for their “Unannounced Diablo Project” for more than two years now. While we still don’t know anything concrete about where the developer is taking the famed franchise, they did officially (and finally) announce that “multiple” Diablo projects are currently in the works.
The news was delivered this morning during a short video address from Associate Community Manager Brandy “Nevalistis” Camel. According to Camel, we might get a glimpse at what Blizzard’s working on later this year… presumably at BlizzCon in November.
What could Blizzard be working on? It seems likely that Diablo 4 is one of their long-term goals for the franchise, and we know the developer is teaming up with Titan Comics to produce a comic miniseries later this year. But the rumored Switch launch for Diablo III also remains a possibility.
For now, Camel directed current Diablo III players to the game’s 14th Season, the “Season of Greed.” Treasure Goblins will appear twice as often in Season 14, and players will be able to earn new Seasonal Items and rewards. Additional themed Seasons are planned for 2018 and 2019.
Posted in News, PC
Tagged Diablo 4, Diablo III, Diablo Immortal
Sega’s Gamescom 2018 lineup includes Team Sonic Racing, Valkyria Chronicles 4, Persona 3: Dancing, Persona 5: Dancing, and more
Sega has big plans for this year’s Gamescom show, and the publisher will give attendees the chance to try out six playable demos, as well as give gamers their first look at the soccer-centric skills needed for Football Manager 2019.
Strategic planning is at the center of several of Sega’s Gamescom offerings, including “epic strategy RPG” Valkyria Chronicles 4 and team-based racer Team Sonic Racing. But if you want to kick off your shoes and dance, the publisher will also have kiosks available for Persona 3: Dancing in the Moonlight and Persona 5: Dancing in the Starlight.
Here’s a look at their complete Gamescom 2018 lineup:
Team Sonic Racing, developed by award-winning studio Sumo Digital, is the ultimate arcade and fast-paced competitive style racing experience, featuring your favourite characters from across the Sonic Universe. Visitors to the stand will have the opportunity to race on an all new track, Ice Mountain, and experience two brand new playable teams.
Creative Assembly’s Total War: Three Kingdoms will also showcase never-seen-before content and consumers will get the chance to go hands-on with the game for the very first time. Players will witness an exclusive look at the exotic lands of ancient China in a campaign map flythrough before being thrust into the midst of a night-time ambush battle. Sun Jian’s army, led by Sun Ren and Sun Quan, must defend against waves of incoming heroes and warriors or choose to make a break for freedom.
As if that wasn’t enough, epic strategy RPG Valkyria Chronicles 4, frantic action/adventure Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise, and the hugely anticipated rhythm games Persona 3: Dancing in the Moonlight and Persona 5: Dancing in the Starlight will feature on the stand in a collection of some of the hottest unreleased Japanese IP on the planet. Make sure you leave yourself enough time to play everything!
Football Manager 2019 will make its Gamescom debut this year as an official partner of the Bundesliga, with an activation that will put football fans in the firing line for questioning from renowned ESPN Football Journalist, Raphael Honigstein. After they’ve been grilled, they’ll get to line-up in front of a Football Manager themed step and repeat for an authentic Football Manager photo and leave with a Football Manager notebook. A must have for would-be managers! The game itself will not be playable.
Gamescom 2018 will take place, as always, in Cologne, Germany. This year’s show will open its doors beginning on Tuesday, August 21.
Square Enix will bring Dragon Quest XI, Life Is Strange 2, Kingdom Hearts III, and more to Gamescom 2018
Germany’s annual Gamescom event is the biggest gaming show in Europe, and organizers are getting ready to host the 2018 edition from August 21st through the 25th. As usual, Square Enix will have a big presence in Cologne, and the publisher has unveiled their slate of playable demos coming to Gamescom this year.
RPG fans will no doubt be drawn to Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age and Kingdom Hearts III, while gamers looking for something a little more action-packed will be able to try out Avalanche Studios’s Just Cause 4 and Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Dontnod Entertainment will also be on hand to showcase their upcoming narrative adventure, Life Is Strange 2.
More information about all the demos set to be available within Square Enix’s Gamescom booth can be found after the break. (more…)
Tekken 7’s Season Pass 2 includes Anna Williams, Lei Wulong, and Negan from The Walking Dead
Tekken 7‘s first Season Pass featured Eliza, Geese Howard, and Final Fantasy XV‘s Noctis, but it looks like Bandai Namco has plans to add even more characters to the game. Season Pass 2 was announced yesterday during Evo 2018, and it’ll include six new characters. So far, Tekken series mainstays Anna Williams and Lei Wulong have been revealed… as well as Negan from AMC’s adaptation of The Walking Dead.
Your eyes do not deceive you, your pounding heart does not betray you; Negan from AMC’s The Walking Dead is making his way into Tekken 7 to deal a world of pain in the Tekken universe. Negan, beloved by fans of The Walking Dead for his charismatic yet sinister demeanor, is ready to destroy all challengers, regardless of their stature in the Tekken universe.
Lei Wulong makes his long-awaited return to Tekken, this time sporting some new threads, new attitude, and his deadly Tiger, Crane, Leopard, Snake, and Dragon styles. True Lei Wulong fans will also enjoy the return of Lei’s Drunken Master style to the Tekken 7 arena!
Anna Williams returns to wreak havoc in Tekken 7 and to drive her sister, Nina Williams, crazy! As the personal bodyguard of Kazuya Mishima and the second-in-command of the G Corporation, Anna doesn’t only have the intelligence to run circles around her opponents, she’s got the deadly fighting skill to back-up her killer looks as well.
Some fans might scoff at Negan’s inclusion, but you have to admit, he seems downright normal when you’re talking about a franchise that also features a “bodyguard bear” that knows karate.
The first trailer for Tekken 7’s Season Pass 2 has been embedded above, and according to the publisher, the characters will be available to download “soon.”
The Games of August 2018
The Summer’s almost over, but game publishers have decided to fill these final school-free days with a steady stream of re-releases and a few side-scrollers that look very interesting.
We’re very excited for the console debut of Motion Twin’s Dead Cells, which looks to combine a retro-inspired look with roguelite elements and a MetroidVania style. Bread Machine will also try their hand at reimagining a popular genre on consoles, the party brawler, with Slam Land. Featuring a hand-drawn art style, Slam Land wants players to slam their friends to impress a mysterious Giant Blue Man.
Also this month, a few classic games will make their way to new locales, including Zeboyd’s Cosmic Star Heroine and Sega’s beloved Shenmue I & II. We may have missed them the first time around, but that’ll soon change.
You can find out exactly why the Warp Zoned staff is interested in these titles after the break, and take a gander at August’s full release schedule, which also includes WarioWare Gold, Madden NFL 19, Overcooked! 2, We Happy Few, The Walking Dead: The Final Season, and many more. (more…)
Posted in Features, PC, PS4, Switch, Top Story, Xbox One
Tagged Cosmic Star Heroine, Dead Cells, Shenmue, Shenmue II, Slam Land
Nintendo scored both the best-selling game (Mario Tennis Aces) and console (NES Classic) of June 2018
Nintendo can lay claim to the top-selling console in June 2018… but it wasn’t the Nintendo Switch. Instead, it looks like the relaunched NES Classic was the month’s best-selling console.
However, that’s not to say that the PS4, Xbox One, and Switch (as well as the Super NES Classic and 3DS) were slouching. According to the NPD Group (via GamesIndustry.biz), the three major consoles, both of Nintendo’s retro microconsoles, and the 3DS created a 52% increase in overall hardware sales versus June 2017.
All told, the game industry tallied $1.1 billion in sales in June, which was good for a 25% year-over-year increase.
June is typically a slow month for new releases, and that was reflected in the NPD’s companion report on best-selling games. Mario Tennis Aces was the top-selling game during the month, with The Crew 2 (#4), and Lego The Incredibles (#7) also breaking into the top ten. Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy‘s debut on the PC, Switch, and Xbox One also helped it re-enter the list at #9.
A quick rundown of the remainder of June 2018’s best-selling games can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PC, PS3, PS4, Retro, Switch, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Crash Bandicoot, Detroit: Become Human, Far Cry 5, FIFA 18, Grand Theft Auto V, Lego The Incredibles, Mario Kart 8, Mario Tennis Aces, NPD, The Crew 2
Procedurally-generated bike game Descenders will get Ring of Fire Update on August 7
Descenders, the procedurally-generated downhill biking game from RageSquid, will receive a new update on August 7. Players who download the Ring of Fire Update on the PC or Xbox One will receive access to a brand new world known as “Volcano,” which is based on the Pacific Ring of Fire.
Here’s what the developer had to say about the Ring of Fire Update on their Steam Community page:
With this new update comes a brand new world. Volcano is the fifth Descenders world, and it’s, well… it’s a bit tricky. Volcano drops the “stunts” parameter, and instead introduces “tectonics”, making for a rather bumpy ride. Oh, and there’s lava everywhere, in case you hadn’t guessed.
The Volcano world is based around the Pacific Ring of Fire area, where earthquakes and volcanic activity are prevalent — but the Ring of Fire name also doubles up as a hint about how to reach Volcano.
See, you can’t just enter Volcano by beating Peaks. There are special requirements to complete during a run, and if those requirements are met, Volcano will open up to you.
In addition to a new world, the Ring of Fire Update will also include “brand new bonus levels, new Freeride options, and new bikes and kits to unlock.”
Posted in News, PC, Xbox One
Tagged Descenders