Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- Clair Obscur Completes the Sweep by Winning “Best Game” at 2025-2026 BAFTA Games Awards
- Boss Fight Books Gets a New Look for Richard Moss’s “Age of Empires”
- GDC Awards: All the Winners from 1996 to Today
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Wins “Game of the Year” at 2025-2026 GDC Awards
- Silent Hill, Dragon Quest, Skyrim, and More Announced as Finalists for the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026
Warp Zoned Presents
- Video Game Research Library
- We Pitched a Museum a 1993 Game Hint Line (And They Actually Said Yes) – Yarn Spinner (2026)
- The History Of The Word “Metroidvania” And How It Spread – A Critical Hit (2025)
- Creator of Hit Game Shovel Knight Is at a ‘Make or Break’ Moment – Bloomberg (2025)
- Shadow of the Colossus: An oral history – Design Room (2025)
- In 2005, games started rewiring our brains – The AV Club (2025)
Most Recent: Switch
Nintendo Download: Lego City Undercover, Graceful Explosion Machine, Vroom in the Night Sky, more
Four new games are now available to download for the Nintendo Switch… and three of them will offer players plenty of explosions.
Lego City Undercover is an open-world action game that takes the gritty “cops and robbers” genre and gives it a family-friendly makeover. Players will take control of Chase McCain, an undercover officer who has been ordered to take down notorious criminal Rex Fury. But they’ll also be able to keep themselves busy with “more than 20 unique districts to investigate, car thieves to bust, hilarious movie references to discover, vehicles to drive, and hundreds of collectibles.” Oh, and an explosion or two.
As you’d expect, Graceful Explosion Machine is also packed with fiery detonations. In this side-scrolling shooter, Switch owners will pilot the Graceful Explosion Machine, using its quartet of weapons to blast a bunch of aliens. If you prefer your shooters to scroll vertically, Alpha Mission II, which was originally released for the NeoGeo in 1991, is also available to download today.
Finally this week, Switch owners will be able to download Vroom in the Night Sky, which doesn’t appear to include explosions of any kind. Instead, players will fly through the night collecting Stardusts to unlock the Magical Gate.
You can learn about this week’s additions to the Nintendo eShop (which also includes several 3DS and Wii U games) after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, Switch, Wii U
Tagged Graceful Explosion Machine, Lego City Undercover
Graceful Explosion Machine Review: Colorful Arcade Shooter Pops On Nintendo’s Switch
When your brand new console launches with a single marquee game, you need to do something in the ensuing weeks and months to hold the interest of all those early adopters. Most Nintendo Switch owners (approximately 89%, according to GameStop) are busy exploring every corner of Hyrule in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but the consolemaker’s “Nindies” program has also given the eShop a boost in these early days thanks to exclusive and semi-exclusive software like Snipperclips, FAST RMX, Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment, and Blaster Master Zero.
Available today, Vertex Pop’s Graceful Explosion Machine is the latest title to join this steady stream of smaller Switch launches. (more…)
Posted in Reviews, Switch, Top Story
Tagged Graceful Explosion Machine
This News Is On Fire… NBA Playgrounds will be available for PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One in May
IGN is reporting that Saber Interactive will team up with the National Basketball Assocation to release NBA Playgrounds for the PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One this May.
NBA Playgrounds is following in the footsteps of the wild antics and insane dunks that NBA Jam and NBA Street pioneered more than a decade ago. Midway and EA Big may both be defunct, but their love of an over-the-top arcade basketball experience definitely lives on in 2017.
The game will feature 2-on-2 matchups with players from all 30 NBA teams, as well as a deep bench of retired legends such as Shaquille O’Neal, Allen Iverson, Patrick Ewing, and more. And as you might expect, players can pick up and play NBA Playgrounds in single-player or multiplayer (local and online) modes.
NBA Playgrounds will be available next month exclusively as a digital download, but do not miss the game’s debut trailer, which has been embedded above.
Cars 3: Driven To Win will be released for every available console on June 13
WB Games and Avalanche Software have announced that the Cars 3 video game, Cars 3: Driven To Win, will be released for the PS3, PS4, Switch, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on June 13.
Taking place after the events of Disney/Pixar’s upcoming film, Cars 3: Driven To Win will ask players to master advanced racing abilities such as “Drifting, Turbo, Two-Wheel Driving, Driving Backwards and Side-Bash” as they rise through the ranks of the Piston Cup. Naturally, the game will also feature splitscreen multiplayer for competitive and cooperative modes:
Picking up after the final big race in the film, Cars 3: Driven to Win extends the storyline of Cars 3 with all-new action packed adventures and takes players through a high-speed competition that is filled with both familiar and new faces. Players will be able to join Lightning McQueen and Cruz Ramirez as they prepare to take on rival racer Jackson Storm. The game features more than 20 customizable playable characters including popular heroes from the Cars franchise and next generation racers. Players can also select their favorite race environments from a series of iconic settings from the film, such as Radiator Springs and Florida International Speedway, with over 20 unique tracks to choose from across 13 different locations.
We also got a glance at the first trailer for Cars 3: Driven To Win, and its been embedded above.
It looks like Udon will publish a Shovel Knight: Official Design Works artbook in August
We’re still waiting patiently for the release of those children’s books based on Shovel Knight (they’re currently scheduled to arrive in stores on April 18), but it looks like you’ll be able to purchase yet another tome featuring the titular knight later this Summer.
According to a new listing on Amazon, Udon Entertainment will publish Shovel Knight: Official Design Works on August 29. The artbook will include 184 pages of images from the game, as well as new information about Shovel Knight from the development team at Yacht Club Games:
Shovel Knight: Official Design Works collects the fun and original artwork behind this landmark title. Inside you’ll find key art, character concepts, enemy designs, sprite sheets, unused ideas, and an all-new Shovel Knight tribute art gallery! This epic tome is also packed with creator commentary, as well as exclusive interview with the Yacht Club Games team.
Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment, the newest expansion to Shovel Knight’s side-scrolling adventure, will be available to download for the PC beginning tomorrow. If missed its Nintendo Switch launch last month, you might not know that it’s an AMAZING addition to the franchise.
Nintendo unveils “Humpback Pump Track” stage for Splatoon 2
ESL hosted the Go4Splatoon European Grand Finals over the weekend, but after the winners were crowned, Nintendo of Europe had a surprise in store for the crowd. The consolemaker unveiled a brand new stage set to appear in the upcoming Splatoon 2.
“Humpback Pump Track” is the name of the stage, and it takes place in the middle of an indoor BMX track. Inklings will be able to zip through the stage’s “curvy ups and downs,” as they trade ink in Turf War. Nintendo’s short video introducing the “Humpback Pump Track” can be found after the break.
Splatoon 2 will be released exclusively for the Nintendo Switch this Summer, and congratulations to Team Rising Moon, the winners at the Go4Splatoon European Grand Finals. (more…)
Posted in News, Switch
Tagged Splatoon 2
New Retail Releases: Persona 5, Lego City Undercover, Bulletstorm Full Clip Edition, More
Persona 4 became one of the last major launches for the PS2 when it was released in 2008 by Atlus. It’s long-in-the-works sequel, Persona 5, will do the same when it launches this week for the PS3. Thankfully, the RPG will also be released for the PS4, so all PlayStation players will get the chance to save the world as a member of the Phantom Thieves.
A pair of re-releases will also make their way to store shelves this week, giving players a second chance to try out two unsung titles from the PS3/Xbox 360/Wii U era. First up, the family-friendly open-world action game Lego City Undercover will make its debut on the PS4, Switch, and Xbox One. Also this week, Gearbox and People Can Fly will bring Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition to the PS4 and Xbox One with an extra does of Duke Nukem.
Finally this week, an aerial combat sim (Air Conflicts: Secret Wars) and a deckbuilding RPG (ArmaGallant: Decks of Destiny) will be released for the PS4.
That’s all for now, but we’ll be back later this week with an expanded look at the latest additions to the PlayStation Store, Xbox Games Store, and Nintendo eShop.
Posted in News, PS3, PS4, Switch, Xbox One
Tagged Bulletstorm, Lego City Undercover, Persona 5