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: Switch
Flinthook, Earthlock: Festival of Magic, Bleed 2, more coming to Nintendo eShop this week
We don’t know what Nintendo has planned for tonight’s Nintendo Direct presentation, but it looks like 18 new games will be available to download from the Switch eShop over the next few days.
Leading the way (because the hero carries a grappling hook) is Flinthook, a roguelike side-scrolling platformer from Tribute Games. Available to download tomorrow, players will get to take control of the famed space pirate, Captain Flinthook, and board ships to steal booty.
But set to launch for the Switch today is Earthlock: Festival of Magic, a turn-based RPG from Snowcastle Games that was inspired by the first wave of 3D RPGs from the late 90s. Also available to download today is Bleed 2, a manic side-scrolling shooter from Bootdisk Revolution.
You can learn more about all of this week’s additions to the Nintendo eShop after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, Switch
Tagged Earthlock: Festival of Magic, Flinthook
The Games of March 2018
Welcome to March, you’re cordially invited to a party for the Nintendo Switch’s first anniversary. While fans surely have plenty of backlogged Switch games to keep them busy, the consolemaker also has one new game on their schedule to mark this milestone. And if you’re a Switch owner, and you’re on the lookout for a new game, you might be interested in Kirby Star Allies.
Kirby’s adventures always feature a unique art style, and that’s something that’s very much in vogue with a few other games set to launch this month including The Behemoth’s Pit People and Level-5’s Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom. Elsewhere on the release calendar, after a short delay, it looks like Ubisoft is ready to delve deep into the heart of a doomsday cult in Far Cry 5.
Why is the Warp Zoned staff looking forward to these games? You can find out after the break, along with a complete release schedule for all of this month’s new releases. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, Features, Mobile, PC, PS4, Switch, Top Story, Vita, Xbox One
Tagged Far Cry 5, Kirby Switch, Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom, Pit People
Outlast II will arrive on the Switch eShop on March 27
Red Barrels brought Outlast, their first-person horror experience, to the Switch eShop last week. Today, they confirmed that the sequel, Outlast II, will be available to download for Nintendo’s newest console on March 27. The sequel introduces new characters and a new locale, but it’s just as terrifying as the original:
Set in the same universe as the first game, but with different characters and a different setting, Outlast II is a twisted new journey into the depths of the human mind and its dark secrets.
Outlast II introduces you to Sullivan Knoth and his followers, who left our wicked world behind to give birth to Temple Gate, a town, deep in the wilderness and hidden from civilization. Knoth and his flock are preparing for the tribulations of the end of times and you’re right in the thick of it.
You are Blake Langermann, a cameraman working with your wife, Lynn. The two of you are investigative journalists willing to take risks and dig deep to uncover the stories no one else will dare touch.
You’re following a trail of clues that started with the seemingly impossible murder of a pregnant woman known only as Jane Doe.
The investigation has lead you miles into the Arizona desert, to a darkness so deep that no one could shed light upon it, and a corruption so profound that going mad may be the only sane thing to do.
Beginning today, Outlast II can be pre-ordered through the Nintendo eShop for $29.99.
Posted in News, Switch
Tagged Outlast II
New Retail Releases: Final Fantasy XV Royal Edition, Scribblenauts Showdown, Bravo Team, More
Big sales and critical acclaim greeted the launch of Final Fantasy XV back in 2016. But if you skipped Square Enix’s epic RPG, the publisher is trying again with Final Fantasy XV: Royal Edition. Coming to stores this week for the PS4 and Xbox One, the Royal Edition will include a new dungeon, new features (including a First Person Mode), and all content from the game’s Season Pass.
Square Enix is also bringing Final Fantasy XV to the PC for the first time this week with the release of Final Fantasy XV: Windows Edition. Like the Royal Edition, it will also come packaged with the content from the game’s Season Pass.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, WB Games will release Scribblenauts Showdown this week for the PS4, Switch, and Xbox One. Showdown takes the tried-and-true gameplay from the Scribblenauts series (including a dictionary with more than 60,000 words) and grafts it on to a multiplayer minigame competition.
Supermassive is one of the biggest names behind Sony’s VR push, and the Until Dawn developer is back with another PSVR-powered title for the PS4 this week, Bravo Team. In Bravo Team, players will need to make “constant split-second tactical decisions” as war rages all around you in a fictional Eastern European city.
And bookending this week’s batch of big new games, Square Enix and Deck Nine will release a Retail Edition of Life Is Strange: Before the Storm for the PS4 and Xbox One. The prequel includes the three-part game, as well as a bonus episode starring a younger Max Caulfield.
Finally, PQube will release Island Flight Simulator, 3D Mini Golf, and 3D Billiards: Billards and Snooker for the PS4. And Maximum Games will bring TT Isle of Man: Ride on the Edge, a motorcycle racing sim, to the PS4 and Xbox One.
And that’s it for this week’s New Retail Releases report, but we’ll be back in a few days with a look at all the upcoming additions to the PlayStation Store, Xbox Games Store, and Nintendo eShop.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One
Tagged Final Fantasy XV, Life Is Strange: Before the Storm, Scribblenauts Showdown
Outlast, Subsurface Circular, Scribblenauts Showdown, more coming to Nintendo eShop this week
The Nintendo Switch’s eShop got a little scarier this week.
With the launch of Outlast: Bundle of Terror, which contains the original game and its Whistleblower expansion, players can take Red Barrels’s demented romp through an insane asylum on the go for the first time. Also now available for the Switch is Subsurface Circular, a text-based detective game from Mike Bithell (the creator of Thomas Was Alone).
And on Tuesday, Switch owners will be able to download Scribblenauts Showdown, a multiplayer party game spinoff of the long-running franchise.
You can learn more about all of this week’s additions to the Nintendo eShop after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, Switch, Wii U
Tagged Outlast, Scribblenauts Showdown
ESRB to add “In-Game Purchases” descriptor to games with loot boxes and DLC
In response to the growing furor over loot boxes, especially their similarity to gambling, the Entertainment Software Ratings Board has announced plans to create a new descriptor for “In-Game Purchases.”
According to the ESRB, the “In-Game Purchases” label will be affixed to any game that gives players the chance to purchase loot boxes, in-game currency, subscriptions/season passes, and other downloadable content (such as bonus levels, skins, upgrades, and music) with real money.
“The video game industry is evolving and innovating continually, as is the ESRB rating system. ESRB’s goal is to ensure that parents have the most up-to-date and comprehensive tools at their disposal to help them decide which games are appropriate for their children,” said Patricia Vance, the ESRB’s President. “With the new ‘In-Game Purchases’ interactive element coming to physical games, parents will know when a game contains offers for players to purchase additional content. Moreover, we will be expanding our efforts to educate parents about the controls currently at their disposal to manage in-game spending before their kids press Start.”
As part of their push to educate parents on loot boxes and other digital purchases, the ESRB will also launch ParentalTools.org, a new online resource that includes…
- A detailed introduction to the new “In-Game Purchases” and other interactive elements;
- Links to step-by-step guides for setting parental controls to help manage different aspects of video game use in the home, including money and time spent playing; and
- A link to the ESRB Ratings Guide that provides an explanation of ESRB’s three-part rating system.
Players should begin to see games with the “In-Game Purchases” descriptor in stores soon.
New Retail Releases: Payday 2, De Blob 2, Gravel, More
A pair of sequels will find new homes in this week’s New Retail Releases report.
Overkill will bring their cooperative crime simulator, Payday 2, to the Switch for the first time. The developer will add an exclusive new character to the Switch version, as well as a brand new local multiplayer mode. Also new on store shelves this week is THQ Nordic’s De Blob 2 for the PS4 and Xbox One. Originally released in 2011, this remastered version of the game includes a cooperative multiplayer mode and improved graphics.
Italian developer is also burning rubber for retail stores this week with the release of Gravel on the PS4 and Xbox One. Gravel is an off-road racing game that includes several single-player and multiplayer modes.
Finally this week, bargain hunters will be able to pick up Don’t Knock Twice, a horror adventure, and Shiny, a colorful platformer, for the PS4.
And that’s it for this week’s New Retail Releases report, but we’ll be back in a few days with a look at all the upcoming additions to the PlayStation Store, Xbox Games Store, and Nintendo eShop.
Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild wins “Game of the Year” at 2018 DICE Awards
Nintendo was definitely the big winner at last night’s DICE Awards presentation. The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences awarded 11 victories to the consolemaker, including “Game of the Year” for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Link’s newest adventure also received accolades for “Adventure Game of the Year,” “Game Design,” “Game Direction.”
Studio MDHR’s Cuphead received several awards for its outstanding sound and visual at the 2018 DICE Awards, including “Original Music Composition,” “Animation,” and “Art Direction.”
Developers for several other games strode to the stage to collect multiple awards during last night’s ceremony. That list includes Guerrilla’s Horizon: Zero Dawn (“Story” and “Technical Achievement”), PUBG Corporation’s PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (“Action Game of the Year” and “Online Gameplay”), Nintendo’s Snipperclips: Cut It Out Together (“Family Game of the Year” and the “D.I.C.E. Sprite Award”), and Oculus’s Lone Echo/Echo Arena (“Immersive Reality Technical Achievement” and “Immersive Reality Game of the Year”).
Congratulations to everyone who won big at the 2018 DICE Awards. A complete list of all the winners can be found after the break. (more…)