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
Baba Is You, Night in the Woods, Getting Over It lead all nominees for the 2018 IGF Awards
The organizers of the Independent Games Festival have announced the finalists for this year’s IGF Awards ceremony.
Six games will compete for the “Seumas McNally Grand Prize” including Getting Over It With Bennett Foddy (Bennett Foddy), Night in the Woods (Infinite Fall), West of Loathing (Asymmetric Publications), Into the Breach (Subset Games), Heat Signature (Suspicious Developments), and Baba Is You (Hempuli).
Baba Is You earned four total nominations, and will also be in the running for “Excellence In Design,” the “Nuovo Award,” and “Best Student Game.” Getting Over It With Bennett Foddy captured two additional nominations (“Excellence In Design” and the “Nuovo Award”), while Night in the Woods was also nominated for two other awards (“Excellence In Visual Art” and “Excellence In Narrative”).
Finally, Cuphead was a big winner at this year’s Game Awards, and the side-scroller is in line for more honors at the IGF Awards including an Honorable Mention for the “Seumas McNally Grand Prize,” as well as nominations in the “Excellence In Visual Art” and “Excellence In Audio” categories.
The IGF Awards will be held on March 21 during this year’s Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.
A complete list of the nominees and honorable mentions for the 2018 Independent Games Festival Awards can be found after the break. (more…)
Blizzard will bring more maps, a new Hero, and encore events to Overwatch in 2018
2018 will probably be a pretty big year for Overwatch, especially because the game’s eponymous epsorts league launches next week. But Blizzard is also planning to add another hefty batch of new content to the game, and we got a sneak peak at some of it earlier this week during Game Director Jeff Kaplan’s latest Developer Update.
First, Kaplan confirmed that the “Blizzard World” map should be available “very soon.” He also said that more “great new maps” will be released this year.
Next, Kaplan said that Blizzard will launch this year’s Lunar New Year event in the very near future. The “Year of the Dog” event should operate fairly similarly to last year’s “Year of the Rosster” event. Players should also look forward to encores of the “Uprising” and “Anniversary” events.
Finally, Kaplan revealed that Overwatch’s 27th Hero is currently undergoing internal testing at Blizzard, but he couldn’t say anything more than that.
Ideally, we’ll learn more about all of these Overwatch updates soon. And in the meantime, be sure to watch Kaplan’s Developer Update, which has been embedded above.
PUBG Corp. wants to put PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds on “every platform”
PUBG Corp. CEO CH Kim has big plans for PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. The executive recently sat down with Inven Global and said that he wants to bring the battle royale game to “every platform”:
[I]t’s going to be an exclusive title on Xbox One for some time, we’d like to focus on completing the Xbox One PUBG for now. If we have the opportunity, the final goal would be to launch the title on every platform.
Obviously, Kim is referring to the pending PS4 launch of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, which is currently on the backburner because of the console’s lack of a “Game Preview” program like the Xbox One. But could Kim’s statement mean that PUBG might one day also make its way to the Nintendo Switch? That would certainly be an interesting outcome.
However, it sounds like PS4 owners might have to wait quite a while before they get the chance to play PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds:
Early Access on Steam and Game Preview on Xbox One are like pre-release, so they don’t have a restriction on quality. However, PS is very strict about this. There were cases where a game took 6 months more to launch even when it was already completed. We are still in the stage of learning the console development environment and console gamers’ taste. We need to think about other platforms after evaluating and completing the Xbox One version first.
Towards the end of the interview, Kim also revealed that his long-range plans for PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds include turning it into a “universal media franchise” that encompasses an esports competition, as well as a film adaptation:
I’d like PUBG to become a universal media franchise based on the game. We want to take part in diverse industries including Esports, movies, drama, cartoons, animation, and more. In fact, we received a couple of love calls from a number of developers in Hollywood and Netflix. Our dream is to build a new game-based culture through various ways like this, and have the lead of that culture.
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is now available in Version 1.0 for the PC and as [art of the Xbox Game Preview program on the Xbox One
Diablo III’s “Darkening of Tristram” event will return on January 1, 2018
Blizzard has announced (via their official website) that Diablo III‘s “Darkening of Tristram” event will return on January 1st. The anniversary event will feature a dungeon that’s designed to be a “loving homage” to the original Diablo, as well as a retro-themed graphical filter, and exclusive loot:
Stop the Cultists
Your journey begins on the trail of a group of mysterious cultists causing trouble in Sanctuary. As you hunt them down in Adventure Mode, you’ll uncover clues leading to a portal into Tristram’s past, and the terrifying darkness that took hold of the town so many years ago…Explore the Cathedral
Follow the clues and you’ll soon find yourself in a realm of glorious RetroVision™, where an all-too-familiar cathedral looms. Explore the depths and you’ll discover familiar enemies and iconic items, all brought to life in the Diablo III engine. Meanwhile, deep beneath the catacombs, the Dark Lord himself awaits any intrepid adventurer who dares to challenge him…Discover Precious Loot
What is a Diablo game without shiny new loot to call your own? Completing activities in the anniversary event yields unique transmogrification effects, achievements, portraits, pets, and more.
The “Darkening of Tristram” event will be available in Diablo III on the PC, PS4, and Xbox One through January 30th.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Diablo III
Ubisoft removes VR requirement from Star Trek: Bridge Crew
Star Trek: Bridge Crew is a game that puts you in control of your own Federation starship, but only if you own the required virtual reality headset. However, the slow adoption rate of VR peripherals has prevented many Trekkies from playing the game, and Ubisoft has announced (via their official website) that they’re dropping the requirement in a new update:
Star Trek: Bridge Crew challenges four players to work together to pilot a Federation starship through dangerous missions, but until now, it’s only been playable through VR hardware. That changes with the latest Star Trek: Bridge Crew free update, which removes the requirement for a headset and opens the door for non-VR players to join in and boldly go where no one has gone before.
This free update for Star Trek: Bridge Crew is now available to download on the PC and PS4.
Studio MDHR’s gamble pays off as Cuphead sells two million copies
People are still talking about Studio MDHR’s Cuphead… and with good reason. The side-scrolling shooter features a colorful array of big bosses, all created in a style that evokes 1930s animation from Fleischer Studios and Walt Disney.
Now, the developer has even more reason to celebrate, as they’ve just announced that Cuphead has sold two million copies on the PC and Xbox One. Here’s what developer Chad Moldenhauer had to say about this sales milestone on Studio MDHR’s official website:
Even in our wildest dreams, we never thought our crazy little characters would be embraced by this many fans from around the world and we are continuously humbled by your support.
So to everyone who has drawn fan art, composed memes, performed songs, conquered challenge runs, streamed their playthrough, or just played Cuphead and had a good time, we love and appreciate all of you from the bottom of our hearts.
Cuphead crossed the million-seller mark after it was on sale for two weeks, and I’m fairly sure this won’t be the last time we talk about the game’s sales success.
Activision unveils The Resistance DLC Pack for Call of Duty: WWII
Players will be able to join The Resistance in the first downloadable expansion for Call of Duty: WWII.
Activision has announced that The Resistance DLC Pack will be available to download for the PS4 on January 30 (and on the PC and Xbox One a month later). The expansion will add three new multiplayer maps to Sledgehammer’s shooter, as well as a new War Mode scenario, and the next chapter in the Nazi Zombies co-op mode:
Multiplayer Maps in Call of Duty: WWII’s Resistance DLC Pack
- Anthropoid: Based in Prague, Czechoslovakia, this map is inspired by Operation Anthropoid, the famous assassination attempt on a high-ranking German officer during World War II. This map features a center lane divided by a river, with long-flanking paths that can be used by snipers for ranged attacks.
- Occupation: In this remake of the classic Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Multiplayer map Resistance, players battle through the streets and shops of German-occupied Paris during WWII. Long side streets encourage mid-range combat, with nearby homes and storefronts lending defensive positions for ambush and recovery.
- Valkyrie: Located in the Masurian Woods, East Prussia, this map was inspired by The Wolf’s Lair, Hitler’s Eastern-front headquarters during Operation Barbarossa, the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. This is a medium-sized map with gameplay focused around a dangerous center lane covered by multiple overwatch positions and mounted machine guns.
War Mode: Operation Intercept
Outside of St. Lo, France, our next War Mode experience leads us on an urban rescue mission to save Resistance fighters being transported by train. The first objective on the Allied side is freeing the fighters, followed by the destruction of key communication equipment, and ending with stopping a train.Nazi Zombies: The Darkest Shore
The Darkest Shore follows our heroes into the next chapter of their dangerous journey. Only days after the horrific disaster of Mittelburg, the crew has received intel that suggests Doktor Straub is on an island just north of Germany. Blanketed in fog, this island is surrounded by Nazi air and sea power – and crawling with the Undead. Marie, Drostan, Olivia, and Jefferson will need to battle all this and more to uncover the mysteries hidden within the Darkest Shore.
More information about Call of Duty: WWII’s Resistance DLC Pack can be found at the Activision Games Blog. And don’t the miss the behind-the-scenes “Preview” video embedded above.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Call of Duty: WWII
Kickstart This! The French Are Coming!
A little while ago in a string of Kickstart This! posts, I teased that I would cover a French game in the future. That future is now. There are not one but two two brilliant games currently seeking donations on Kickstarter from the country that gave us cafetiere coffee and the Etch A Sketch. So let’s give these hard-working developers the kindness and support that this holiday season is meant to be about.
What have you got, France? (more…)