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
Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn to be released for PS4 in April 2014
Sony Computer Entertainment Japan recently held the 2013 PlayStation Awards in Tokyo to honor the year’s best PlayStation releases. Square Enix’s Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn received the Special Award in recognition of its “originality, buzz-worthiness, influence, and performance.”
After the massive debacle the original version of Final Fantasy XIV was, combined with the financial difficulties of Square Enix’s year-to-date, it’s refreshing to hear some positive news coming from the company. And even more good news is coming thanks to the announcement that the official service start date for the PS4 version of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn is scheduled for April 2014.
The April 2014 release will follow a beta test of the game set to begin on February 22, alongside the PS4’s Japanese launch date.
Posted in News, PS4
Tagged Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn
PS Store Today: Tiny Brains, Rainbow Moon Vita, a few others
The PlayStation Store is winding down 2013 with a few more new releases including Tiny Brains, Escape Plan, Rainbow Moon, and Stick It To the Man:
PS4 Games
Tiny Brains ($19.99)
Tiny Brains is a cooperative puzzle that follows four super-powered lab animals in their attempt to escape a mad scientist’s experiments. In this joyously chaotic multiplayer game, the four Tiny Brains must combine their unique physics-based powers to navigate through a trick-ridden maze. All of the puzzles in Tiny Brains can be solved multiple ways depending on how groups combine their powers. Attractive to both hardcore and casual fans, the game has competitive leaderboards and challenging fast paced communicative play along with simple controls so players of any level can jump right in.
PS4 / PS Vita Cross-Buy Games
Escape Plan ($14.99)
Help hapless heroes Lil and Laarg interact with unique and twisted puzzles of each room. Only you can help them survive before their captor and nemesis, Bakuki, recycles them and turns them into his minions. Access 78 puzzle rooms and also receive access to Bakuki’s Lair, featuring an additional 19 rooms. Caged among the chaos of Bakuki’s Lair, Lil and Laarg are doomed without your help. Guide Lil and Laarg to safety by dashing past sausages blasted at your face, skipping over scalding hot cheese and avoiding a bevy of confusing death traps.
PS3 / PS Vita Cross-Buy Games
Rainbow Moon (PS3-Vita Cross-Buy: $14.99 / If You Already Own PS3: $7.49)
The indie role-playing hit Rainbow Moon returns for the PlayStation Vita system with Cross-Save support and numerous updates! Explore a fascinating world and fight nasty creatures in turn-based battles. Visit towns and shop for new equipment and upgrades. Six playable characters await you in an addictive game that lasts more than 40 hours.
Stick It To the Man ($12.99)
On an ordinary day, hard hat tester Ray has a bizarre accident and wakes up with a giant pink spaghetti arm sticking out of his brain, giving him extraordinary mind-reading powers. Ray can suddenly change the world with stickers, transforming his paper universe by tearing it, folding it and using the crazy stickers he finds (along with his awesome new powers) to solve mind-boggling puzzles! Sadly, Ray doesn’t have much time to get to grips with his new-fangled psychic abilities. Instead, he’s on the run from ‘The Man’ for a crime he didn’t commit. Can you help Ray out of this sticky situation? Get ready to tear it, rip it and Stick it to the Man!
And if you’re interested in this week’s new game add-ons, please visit the PlayStation Blog.
Sony sells 2.1 million PS4 consoles during global launch
The PlayStation 4 officially launched in 30 additional countries over the weekend including most of continental Europe, the United Kingdom, Latin America, and Australia. So that means its time for another sales update from Andrew House, Sony Computer Entertainment’s President and CEO. Writing on the PlayStation Blog, he revealed that Sony has sold 2.1 million PS4 consoles across the world:
“It’s an impressive and record-setting accomplishment for our company and for our industry, and we couldn’t have done it without you. I want to personally thank PlayStation fans, both old and new, for your vote of confidence. The best part: the PS4 journey has just begun. In addition to an incredible lineup of PS4 games from the best developers in the world, we will continue to introduce valuable new features and services to PS4 in the months and years ahead.”
The PlayStation 4 still has yet to launch in one major territory: Sony’s home country of Japan. Japanese gamers will get the chance to purchase a PS4 on February 22.
The Order: 1886 will probably be released in Fall 2014
Even though we don’t know much about Ready At Dawn’s first PS4 project, The Order: 1886, the game’s strong visuals and irresistible hook (werewolves in a futurist-Victorian London!) has lead some gamers to already anoint it 2014’s “Game of the Year.” While I’m not ready to go that far just yet, Ready At Dawn’s Andrea Pessino and Sony Santa Monica’s Tim Moss have narrowed down the launch window. Not surprisingly, The Order: 1886 is currently on track for a Fall 2014 release:
@TDMoss yeah, me too! ;)
— Andrea Pessino (@AndreaPessino) November 30, 2013
Before The Order: 1886, Ready At Dawn was best known for developing both God of War games on the PSP. Sony Santa Monica, which created the God of War series, is assisting Ready At Dawn with The Order: 1886’s development.
Posted in News, PS4
Tagged The Order: 1886
Cyber Monday Game Deals 2013: Amazon
Black Friday may be over, but Amazon always saves the best deals for Cyber Monday. And this year is no exception. I suggest swinging over to Amazon’s Cyber Monday Deals page and checking out some of the great all-day deals they’ve got going on (including The Last of Us for $35, Call of Duty: Ghosts for $45, Grand Theft Auto V for $40, and Batman: Arkham Origins for $40) as well as this interesting schedule of Limited Time Deals:
8:10 AM (Eastern)
- Skylanders Giants – Portal Owner Pack (3DS)
9:10 AM (Eastern)
- Rage (PC)
- Family Party 30 Great Games: Obstacle Arcade (Wii U)
- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Legendary Edition (PC)
10:10 AM (Eastern)
- Resident Evil 6 Archives (Xbox 360)
- Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 (Xbox 360)
11:10 AM (Eastern)
- Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (Vita)
- Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes (Wii)
12:10 PM (Eastern)
- Eve Online: The Second Decade (PC)
5:10 PM (Eastern)
- Dead Space 3 (PS3/Xbox 360)
- Nancy Drew: The Deadly Device (PC)
- The Secret World (PC)
- NCAA Football 13 (PS3/Xbox 360)
7:10 PM (Eastern)
- Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two (PS3)
- Brave (PS3)
8:10 PM (Eastern)
- Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure – Starter Pack (Wii)
- Skylanders Giants Triple Pack
9:10 PM (Eastern)
- TriMount (PS3/Xbox 360/Wii)
3:00 AM (Eastern)
- Moshi Monsters: Moshings Theme Park (3DS)
I admit, the Limited Time Deals are less than stellar (though Amazon has promised to add more throughout the day), but the all-day deals feature some of the best prices you’ll see on some of the biggest games of 2013 this holiday season.
MGS5: The Phantom Pain will be released after gamers adopt next-gen systems in big numbers
It’s hard to believe, but Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain was only officially announced a little over a year ago. However, the notoriously chatty Hideo Kojima has been talking about the game for years, so it feels like its release should be just around the corner. That’s apparently not the case.
While it’s true that the game’s prologue, Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes will be released next Spring, Kojima has revealed (to Famitsu, via Kotaku) that The Phantom Pain is actually much further away. Kojima was cornered by the weekly Japanese gaming magazine at this month’s PS4 launch event in New York City and told them, “It looks like we’ll be able to release The Phantom Pain around the time that the PlayStation 4 becomes widely [adopted].”
So how wide is “widely adopted”? 10 million consoles? 20 million? Who knows? And don’t forget, The Phantom Pain is also in development for the Xbox One, Xbox 360, and PS3. Presumably their userbases should be involved in this calculation as well.
This statement really is classic Kojima. He dropped a huge bombshell without actually saying anything specific. Bravo.
Metanet will launch N++ on PS4 in next few months
Metanet’s Mare Sheppard and Raigan Burns recently sat down with GamesIndustry International to discuss N++, their upcoming ninja-steals-gold platformer for the PS4. While N++ missed the PS4’s launch, they had a lot to talk about.
Firstly, the developers revealed that N++ made the jump to the PS4 because of Sony’s willingness to help finance the game through their Pub Fund program. N+ originally appeared on the Xbox Live Arcade in 2008 and the duo said that if anyone at Microsoft had offered up a similar deal, they would have considered taking N++ to the Xbox One.
Sheppard and Burns also confirmed that N++ should arrive on the PS4 sometime in the next few months. They’re hopeful for a December release, but admit that “early next year” could be a possibility.
Lego The Hobbit announced for Spring 2014 release
You didn’t think WB Games and TT Games were going to stop making Lego games did you? The publisher and developer announced the latest Lego adaptation, Lego The Hobbit, today. Based on the first two movies in Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy, the game will is in development for the 3DS, PC (and Mac), PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.
In Lego The Hobbit, players will go on a quest with Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf the Grey, Thorin Oakenshield, and many others as they travel to the Dwarven Kingdom of Erebor. Those many others will include all of the Dwarves (Thorin, Fíli, Kíli, Óin, Glóin, Dwalin, Balin Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Dori, Nori and Ori), each of which has their own special ability.
“We are thrilled to depict the characters and environments of Peter Jackson’s Middle-Earth in Lego form with the Lego The Hobbit video game,” said Tom Stone, Managing Director, TT Games. “Our family-friendly take on these thrilling adventures will have kids and parents playing and laughing together as they build and explore in Lego Middle-Earth.”
Lego The Hobbit will be released Spring 2014, probably just in time for Blu-ray/DVD release of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.