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
- 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
- Boss Fight Books to Get a New Look for Richard Moss’s “Age of Empires”
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: PS4
PS4 version of Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster will launch on May 12
Square Enix has announced that PS4 players will be able to get their hands on the Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster beginning May 12. Aside from enhanced graphics, the PS4 version doesn’t differ too greatly from the compilation that was released for the PS3 and Vita last year. However, one of the major changes in the PS4 version is the ability to switch between the game’s original soundtrack and a remastered version. Cross-Save Functionality and Vita Remote Play are also included.
Players who decide to pre-order Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster will receive an exclusive desk calendar featuring artwork by Yoshitaka Amano, one of the illustrators who helped shape Final fantasy X and Final Fantasy X-2‘s look 15 years ago.
Posted in News, PS4
Tagged Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster
Harmonix adds Team Play to Amplitude and shows off first gameplay trailer
Harmonix will bring a playable demo of their “recharged” Amplitude reboot to the PAX East expo this weekend. And if you’re one of the lucky few in attendance, you’ll be able to give the game’s new Team Play mode a try. Ryan Lesser, Amplitude’s Creative Lead, debuted the feature on the PlayStation Blog and tried to convey how the mode works in their musical shooter:
Team play is something we’d never done in Amplitude before, and allowing players to team up 2v2 or even 3v1 sounded like an amazing way to even the playing field without disrupting the current design. We decided to give it a shot, and after some iteration and tweaking, we are proud to say that it’s already super fun.
In addition to introducing Team Play, Harmonix also revealed the first gameplay trailer for Amplitude, which will be released for the PS3 and PS4 sometime this year.
Posted in News, PS3, PS4
Tagged Amplitude, PAX East 2015
A mobile version of Mortal Kombat X is also in development
In years past, NetherRealm’s mobile team has produced a scaled down version of Injustice: Gods Among Us, as well as fighting game spinoffs of Batman: Arkham City and Batman: Arkham Origins. Earlier this year, they turned WWE wrestlers into superheroes and supervillains for the similarly styled WWE Immortals. Today, the developer has confirmed that Mortal Kombat X will get the same treatment this April.
Like their previous efforts, the mobile version of Mortal Kombat X will be a free-to-play fighting/card-battler hybrid. Fatalities will definitely make the cut in the mobile version, as will X-Rays and the “iconic visceral combat” the franchise is known for. Mortal Kombat X on mobile will link up with the PC/console edition and players will be able to unlock content within each version by completing tasks and Achievements/Trophies in the other.
“NetherRealm Studios has created a Mortal Kombat X mobile experience that allows more players than ever before to play this over-the-top fighting game through their ever-present smartphones, tablets or other devices,” said Ed Boon, Creative Director, NetherRealm Studios. “What’s more, we’ve expanded the unique cross-connectivity feature that links the mobile and console versions of Mortal Kombat X, delivering unique rewards to all players for simply playing the mobile game.”
Mortal Kombat X will be available in April for all iOS (iPhone, iPad, iOS Touch) and Android devices.
The Scarecrow takes over in Batman: Arkham Knight’s “Gotham is Mine” trailer
John Noble has brought eccentricity and menace to his roles as Walter Bishop on Fringe and the Horseman of War on Sleepy Hollow, but only his voice is required to strike fear into the heart of Gotham in the upcoming Batman: Arkham Knight. Noble will play Jonathan Crane (AKA The Scarecrow) in Rocksteady’s trilogy-capping entry of the Arkham series. And like on Fringe and Sleepy Hollow, he has a plan.
In this new trailer, dubbed “Gotham is Mine” by the developers, The Scarecrow reveals how he will bring together Batman’s greatest rogues. Two-Face, The Penguin, The Riddler, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, and the all-new Arkham Knight will join forces to kill the Dark Knight once and for all.
Will they succeed? We’ll all find out together on June 2, when Batman: Arkham Knight launches for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Batman: Arkham Knight
Insert Quarter: The PlayStation’s Face Buttons Explained At Last
Insert Quarter is our showcase for some of the best and most interesting writing about video games on the Internet.
Have you ever wondered why PlayStation controllers use X-Circle-Square-Triangle for the face buttons instead of the more traditional B-A-Y-X that Nintendo has employed since the Super NES days or the mirrored A-B-X-Y that Microsoft overlaid on the Xbox controllers? It’s OK, it’s kept me up at night too. Why? Why? Why?
Thankfully, Kill Screen’s David Shimomura went looking for an answer and he found one by talking to Teiyu Goto, the developer who originally designed the PlayStation controller for Sony back in the mid 90s. Goto revealed that he named the face buttons what he did in a nod to symbolism and semiotics. However, American and European players didn’t have the same connection to Goto’s symbols as a Japanese player would and it caused all sorts of friction within Sony:
Goto wanted to be memorable but he also wanted to make sense, at least in his own mind. “I gave each symbol a meaning and a color,” he states in the same interview. “The triangle refers to viewpoint; I had it represent one’s head or direction and made it green. Square refers to a piece of paper; I had it represent menus or documents and made it pink.” So far so good, sort of. The triangle is reminiscent of an arrow or a direction. It has directionality to it and, even though it’s equilateral, it must point somewhere. The square is a little looser but the connection between a page and the square are strong, at least for Goto. One can construe it as a box and use it for inventory or some other kind of menus. But then things got weird.
The full article is available for your perusal at Kill Screen.
Sony’s Spring Fever 2015 includes Hotline Miami 2, Shovel Knight, Titan Souls, five more
This Winter has been absolutely brutal for people all across the United States, but Sony wants to remind us that Spring is almost here with their announcement of a double-size Spring Fever promotion. Beginning March 3 (take that, Punxsutawney Phil!), the promotion will run for eight weeks and include some of the most anticipated PlayStation Store releases across the PS3, PS4, and Vita.
Helldivers, a top-down shooter for the PS3, PS4, and Vita, will kick things off on Tuesday and the whole thing will wrap up on April 21 with Shovel Knight‘s PS3/PS4/Vita debut. In between, gamers will get a chance to test out six more great titles (and PlayStation Plus subscribers will receive a 10% discount on each game during its launch week):
- 3/3 – Helldivers (PS4/PS3/PS Vita Cross-Buy)
- 3/10 – Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number (PS4/PS3/PS Vita Cross-Buy)
- 3/17 – Jamestown Plus (PS4)
- 3/24 – Metal Slug 3 (PS4/PS3/PS Vita Cross-Buy)
- 3/31 – Axiom Verge (PS4)
- 4/7 – Bastion (PS4)
- 4/14 – Titan Souls (PS4/PS Vita Cross-Buy)
- 4/21 – Shovel Knight (PS4/PS3/PS Vita Cross-Buy)
Bastion and Axiom Verge will also launch for the PS Vita at some future date. As with the other Spring Fever releases, both will be Cross-Buy compatible.
Posted in News, PS3, PS4, Vita
Tagged Axiom Verge, Bastion, Helldivers, Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number, Jamestown, Shovel Knight, Titan Souls
Mortal Kombat X adds Mileena and three entirely original characters in new Story Trailer
The Mortal Kombat franchise has always included an extensive backstory that chronicles a mythology involving hundreds of characters and stretching back several millennia. This April’s Mortal Kombat X will push the plot 25 years into the future as Mileena attempts to control Outworld in the aftermath of Shao Kahn’s defeat.
Previously, NetherRealm Studios said that this flash-forward would involve the offspring of several Mortal Kombat favorites including Cassie Cage, the daughter of Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade. In this new “Story Trailer,” we’ve learned that Cassie will lead a new generation of heroes against the forces of evil. This new generation, who will be mentored by the older generation, includes Jacqueline Briggs (the daughter of Jax), Takashi Takeda (the son of Kenshi), and Kung Jin (a descendant of Kung Lao). With the story in place, as you might have guessed, Mileena has also been confirmed as a playable character.
I’d definitely recommend watching the trailer more than once as its chock-full of little details like blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameos from Sindel, Rain, and Shinnok as well as an unmasked (and human) Scorpion. At this time, it’s unknown if any of these kombatants will be added to Mortal Kombat X as playable characters.
Yesterday, NetherRealm released a separate Mortal Kombat X trailer confirming Brutalities, so be sure to check that out as well.
NetherRealm is adding “more than 100” Brutalities to Mortal Kombat X
As part of today’s “Kombat Kast,” NetherRealm Studios has confirmed that Mortal Kombat X will feature the return of Brutalities, the ultra-bloody finishers that were first included in Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. However, unlike the extra-long mega-combos of old, these Brutalities more closely resemble the classic Fatalities found in the first three Mortal Kombat games. More than 100 Brutalities will be included in Mortal Kombat X, so expect each character to have at least two-to-three different ways to dispatch their opponent.
If you’re interested in learning how Brutalities work in Mortal Kombat X, I recommend watching the “Kombat Kast” above. But if you’d rather skip straight to the blood and guts, GameSpot has taken every Brutality shown during the “Kombat Kast” and re-edited them into a concise three-minute trailer.
Mortal Kombat X will be released for the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on April 14. And expect the next character reveal, which might be Johnny Cage, to happen tomorrow.