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God of War captures “Game of the Year” at 2019 SXSW Gaming Awards

Posted on March 18, 2019 by John Scalzo

Sony Santa Monica’s God of War continued its award-winning ways this weekend with a trio of wins at the 2019 SXSW Gaming Awards. The action-adventure title was awarded “Game of the Year” by SXSW’s Gaming Advisory Board, as well as “Excellence In Design” and “Excellence in Visual Achievement.”

The rest of the 2019 SXSW Gaming Awards were spread out among a large number of games, and like Kratos, several managed to secure multiple victories. Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption 2 was the only other game to win in three categories, and it took home some hardware as the “Trending Game of the Year,” along with “Excellence in Technical Achievement” and “Excellence in SFX.”

Insomniac’s Spider-Man won two awards (“Excellence in Convergence” and “Excellence in Animation”), as did Epic’s Fortnite (“Most Promising New Esports Game” and “Excellence in Multiplayer”) and Beat Games’s Beat Saber (“VR Game of the Year” and “Most Promising New Intellectual Property”).

Congratulations to all the winners, and you can find a complete list of every award-winning game from the 2019 SXSW Gaming Awards at Video Game Canon.

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Yacht Club is bringing “something new” to PAX East 2019… and it looks like a post-apocalyptic ninja game

Posted on March 16, 2019 by John Scalzo

Yacht Club Games originally released Shovel Knight in 2013, and the developer has spent the half-decade since producing multiple expansions for the game to fulfill promises made during its Kickstarter campaign. The final two expansions, King of Cards and Showdown, will be available later this year, and now it looks like Yacht Club is getting ready to move on to their next project.

Yesterday, the developer uploaded a stunning bit of artwork to their Twitter account, while also confirming that they’re bringing “something new” to PAX East 2019:

Unlike the medieval aesthetic found in Shovel Knight, this new project looks to feature a more post-apocalyptic vibe as a ninja stands amongst the rubble of a modern skyline.

Yacht Club’s new game is obviously a bit of a mystery, but we’ll all find out what they’re cooking up in just a few weeks. PAX East 2019 kicks off later this month in Boston on Thursday, March 28.

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The Behemoth is probably bringing Castle Crashers to the Switch, PS4

Posted on March 15, 2019 by John Scalzo

The Behemoth recently uploaded a mysterious new image to their Twitter account that is most likely pointing to an upcoming launch of Castle Crashers for the Switch. The tease is very subtle, but see if you can spot it…

All joking aside, linking the Castle Crashers’s color scheme with a quartet of Joy-Con Controllers was an absolute stroke of genius. The image is instantly recognizable and it says everything that The Behemoth wants to say without actually saying anything at all.

We don’t know when Castle Crashers will be released for the Switch (or even when it’ll be officially announced), but PAX East is coming up in two weeks and The Behemoth plans to have a big presence at the Boston-based show. I’d wager we’ll learn more about the developer’s future plans for Castle Crashers there.

UPDATE: A further tweet from The Behemoth is now hinting at a PS4 launch for Castle Crashers as well.

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God of War receives ten nominations and leads the way at 2019 BAFTA Games Awards

Posted on March 14, 2019 by John Scalzo

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has announced the nominees for this year’s BAFTA Game Awards and Sony Santa Monica’s God of War lead the way with ten nominations, including an unprecedented four nominations in the “Performer” category (one each for the actors behind Kratos, Atreus, Freya, and The Stranger). Boy!

Naturally, God of War is also in running for the “Best Game” Award, and it’ll be competing against Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey, Sony’s Astro Bot: Rescue Mission, Matt Makes Games’s Celeste, Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption 2, and Lucas Pope’s Return of the Obra Dinn

The BAFTA Game Awards will be held at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London on April 4, and the ceremony will once again be hosted by comedian Dara O’Briain. Fans across the globe are encouraged to tune in to a livestream of the ceremony at BAFTA.org.

The complete list of nominees in all categories can be found after the break. (more…)

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Here’s the first Teaser Trailer for the Doom movie reboot Doom: Annihilation

Posted on March 12, 2019 by John Scalzo

Universal Studios has been promising/threatening to release a new film based on id Software’s Doom for years. But even though original stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Karl Urban, and Rosamund Pike all became massive stars in the intervening years since 2005’s Doom, the studio decided to go the reboot route when they officially announced the new adaptation last April.

Now we know that it’ll be titled Doom: Annihilation and that it looks to be a slightly more faithful adaptation of the game franchise. A newly released Teaser Trailer gives us a glimpse at a platoon of space marines (though no clearcut shot of the Doomguy), a roving band of demonic imps, goretastic special effects, and the promise that unethical scientific shenanigans opened a “Portal to Hell.”

However, the film also looks to have a much lower budget than 2005’s Doom, and that’s because Doom: Annihilation will be released direct to DVD/Blu-ray and streaming services sometime this Fall.

And just in case you were wondering what the developers at id Software think of the new film, they rather bluntly informed a fan that “We’re not involved with the movie” on Twitter.

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Epic adds a human-sized hamster ball to Fortnite in Season 8

Posted on March 12, 2019 by John Scalzo

Epic Games is constantly updating Fortnite, but the game’s newest update might just be its best yet. As part of today’s kickoff to Season 8, the developer has added a new vehicle to Fortnite known as The Baller… a human-sized hamster ball with a grappling hook.

I’m not sure the world of FOrtnite is ready for a giant hamster ball of doom, but you learn more about it at the game’s official website:

Keep the good times rolling! Combine your boost and grapple to perform unbelievable feats with the newest vehicle addition to Battle Royale!

This single seat vehicle is found at Expedition Outposts and around pirate camp loot stashes. Use the attached Grappler and Boost functionality to pull yourself up cliffs or swing through the trees. The driver is protected from damage, but The Baller is vulnerable to enemy weapon fire.

A new trailer for Fortnite: Season 8, which has been subtitled Pirates and Treasure, can be found after the break. (more…)

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Warp Zoned Wish List: What We Want from Tetris 99’s Future Updates

Posted on March 11, 2019 by John Scalzo

Tetris 99 is already a tremendously-addictive puzzle game, but after participating in this past weekend’s Maximus Cup, I’ve been thinking a lot about its future.

After its launch, Nintendo promised that Tetris 99 would (like all “Battle Royale” games) receive regular updates, and if I had my way, the consolemaker would add these features to the puzzle game as soon as possible… (more…)

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New Retail Releases: Tom Clancy’s The Division 2, Lego Marvel Collection, More

Posted on March 11, 2019 by John Scalzo

It looks like another handful of new games will make their way to retail establishments this week…

Ubisoft is shifting the locale of The Division from New York City to Washington D.C. in Tom Clancy’s The Division 2, which will launch this week for the PS4 and Xbox One (and as a digital download for the PC). Players will march into a “post-pandemic Washington D.C.” and fight to restore order and prevent the collapse of the city in online co-op or competitive PvP.

Players looking to upgrade to a new Xbox One console will also be able to pick an upgraded version of Microsoft’s machine and the game in a Xbox One X 1TB + Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 Bundle or a Xbox One S 1TB + Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 Bundle.

A different type of group-play will be available in WB Games’s new Lego Marvel Collection for the PS4 and Xbox One. The package will bundle together Lego Marvel Super Heroes, Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2, and Lego Avengers, as well as all previously-released downloadable content for all three games.

A variety of other games will appear elsewhere on store shelves this week. Bandai Namco will bring the anime-inspired One Piece: World Seeker to the PS4 and Xbox One. NIS America will expand and enhance the turn-based RPG The Caligula Effect: Overdose for the PS4 and Switch. Outright Games will team up with Nickelodeon to release Paw Patrol: On A Roll for the Switch. Rising Star Games will release cel-shaded FPS Rico for the PS4 and Switch. And THQ Nordic will update MX Vs ATV: All Out – Anniversary Edition for the PS4 and Xbox One.

That’s it for this week’s New Retail Releases report.

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