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: PS4
Wolfenstein: The New Order launches May 20 with Doom 4 beta access
Bethesda has announced that Wolfenstein: The New Order will be released for the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on May 20 (May 23 in Europe).
Wolfenstein: The New Order is in development at MachineGames and will skip the seemingly mandatory multiplayer mode for a renewed focus on the game’s alternate history storyline. In this New Order, Hitler won World War II through the use of “mysterious technology” and has goosestepped across the world, slapping swastikas on EVERYTHING. Enter B.J. Blazkowicz and the rest of the resistance heroes introduced in the new trailer above. Like Captain America, they plan to sock Hitler right in his stupid face… in a Mature-rated style, of course.
As a special bonus, all players who pre-order Wolfenstein: The New Order will receive access to a Doom 4 beta test. Now known simply as “Doom,” Bethesda has promised to reveal more details about the fourth enrty in the Doom series at a later date. However, a beta FAQ is available at the publisher’s website.
Progress on Doom 4 has experienced several starts and stops since it was first announced in 2008. Last year, Creative Director Tim Willits said that id Software started over on Doom 4’s development because the game lacked “soul” and “personality.”
Posted in News, PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Doom (2016), Wolfenstein: The New Order
Bound by Flame trailer warns “there’s no turning back”
The new Bound by Flame trailer is absolutely gorgeous. Spider Studios goes into more detail about the game, including the main character’s demon side, as well as the mechanics of the game, the combat system, the bestiary, and the crafting system.
But that’s not all. We also get a glimpse at some of the other characters the hero will come into contact with – some of them sexy ladies with whom he can make out – as well as some fantastic creatures.
Bound by Flame is due to come out in Q2 2014 for the PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and Xbox 360.
PS Store Today: Strider, EDF 2025, Assassin’s Creed: Freedom Cry, a lot more
Sony has just uploaded another big update for the PlayStation Store and while it doesn’t have something as tantalizing as the TitanFall open beta, it’s still chock full of impressive downloads. But speaking of betas, an open beta for the PS4 edition of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn was included in today’s update.
As for this week’s new games, current-gen and next-gen gamers will be able to download a rebooted version of Capcom’s beloved side-scroller Strider, which was developed by the now Amazon-owned Double Helix. PS3 and PS4 owners will also get a chance to try out Assassin’s Creed: Freedom Cry, a standalone expansion to Assassin’s Creed IV that doesn’t require players to own its parent game. In addition to Freedom Cry, Ubisoft released a PS4 edition of Rayman Legends.
Finally, the PS2 Classics section is now home to Neo Contra, an odd entry in Konami’s Contra franchise, but one worth checking out all the same.
More information on all of these titles (and a few others) can be found after the break. A complete rundown of this week’s new game add-ons can be found at PlayStation Blog. (more…)
Posted in News, PS3, PS4, Vita
Tagged Assassin's Creed: Freedom Cry, Earth Defense Force 2025, Rayman Legends, Strider
Outlast Review: House on Haunted Thrill
For a few years, I worked at a haunted house during the Halloween season. My job was, as one would expect, to scare the patrons. It was a great gig, and I have some fond memories of really freaking people out. But it wasn’t all about standing in a corner and jumping out at the most opportune time. There’s a real science behind the perfect scare. You need to be meticulous in your planning by first creating a sense of uneasiness, then instilling dread and fear, and finally, delivering the scare.
Horror games follow a similar process. For example, the dog jumping through the window in Resident Evil is one of the most famous video game scares. Things were already very spooky when you first stepped into that mansion. As you continued, fear crept in, as you knew that something was waiting for you around that corner. Then, when that zombified doberman finally crashes through the glass, it really hits you hard. Some of the better survival horror games follow this formula pretty religiously, creating some pretty intense experiences.
Outlast already has a pretty faithful following among the PC crowd. As a console-specific gamer (my PC can barely run The 7th Guest), I’ve only heard a few things about the game on various gaming forums. The sentiment was almost universal – this is one of the scariest games ever made. Now that I finally got a chance to play through the console version, I can say that I definitely agree with those sentiments. (more…)
Supergiant’s Transistor will be playable at PAX East 2014
Supergiant Games has confirmed that Transistor will be playable at this year’s PAX East expo:
@StrifeCross We're planning to go to PAX East and have Transistor playable there.
— Supergiant Games (@SupergiantGames) February 18, 2014
Transistor made its public debut during last year’s PAX East show. In addition to touting one of the longest lines of the entire expo, the game’s booth featured visits from Logan Cunningham (the voice behind the titular Transistor), Darren Korb (Supergiant’s in-house music man), and lead developer Greg Kasavin during the weekend. In June, Sony revealed that Transistor would exclusively launch on the PC and PS4 in early 2014.
While we know that Transistor will be playable at PAX East 2014, whoever is behind Supergiant’s Twitter feed has so far ignored tweets asking if the game will be released before or after April 11, the first day of the convention.
Posted in News, PC, PS4
Tagged PAX East 2014, Transistor
Take “The Pledge” to join The Order 1886 in new trailer
Since its public debut, the PlayStation 4-exclusive The Order 1886 has been causing a stir amongst Sony fans looking for the system’s first truly next-gen, must-buy title. Now, the company has released a stonking new trailer that reveals more about the mysterious order of knights and their mission a technologically advanced Victorian London.
The game’s developer, Ready At Dawn, has taken a leaf from Naughty Dog with this new trailer, in which a gruff narrator talks while the camera glides through time, chasing a mysterious black ooze that seems to represent the evil forces players will face. Eagled-eyed viewers will spot various references and clues about the game hidden within the texts and newspapers that flash by. It comes to a head with a sneak peak at two of the knights, a young female and the moustached protagonist from the original reveal. As he says, “I think we should be prepared for anything.”
The Order 1886 will be released this Fall.
Posted in News, PS4
Tagged The Order: 1886
PS4 install base has surpassed 5.3 million
Another month, another update from Sony on the sales statistics for their PlayStation 4 console. According to internal reporting, which is current as of February 8, the company has now sold 5.3 million PS4 systems worldwide since the console launched in November 2013.
“I am thrilled that so many customers around the globe have continued to select PS4 as the best place to play throughout and beyond the holiday season,” said Andrew House, President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment. “We are delighted that according to the NPD Group’s latest data, PS4 was January’s top-selling console in the United States. The PS4 system’s momentum just keeps growing stronger, and we are extremely grateful for the continued passion and support of PlayStation fans.”
Sony’s new PS4 sales total is an increase of 1.1 million consoles over their last announcement in January (for sales through December 28, 2013). And the system’s acceptance should only grew from here as the PS4 is scheduled to launch in Japan this Saturday, February 22.
Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark will be released this Summer
The continuity snarl that is the Transformers franchise makes the last half-century of Marvel and DC storytelling look neat and ordered by comparison. The series is rife with alternate universes and the executives in charge of this narrative morass have attempted to merge, split, and remerge the storyline since the 1980s.
The latest attempt at building an all-purpose Transformers universe is Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark, the latest game adaptation of the long-running series from Activision. According to GameSpot, Rise of the Dark Spark will merge High Moon’s War For Cybertron/Fall of Cybertron continuity with Michael Bay’s Transformers films to tie-in with this Summer’s Age of Extinction. Sadly, High Moon won’t be developing the game. Instead, Activision has enlisted Edge of Reality to create the PC, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Xbox One game. WayForward Technologies will develop a handheld version of the game for the 3DS.
Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark will be released this Summer to coincide with the theatrical opening of Transformers: Age of Extinction.