Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- 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”
- GDC Awards: All the Winners from 1996 to Today
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Wins “Game of the Year” at 2025-2026 GDC Awards
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: Vita
Nominate your favorite game for the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2016
The International Center for the History of Electronic Games (ICHEG) at The Strong Museum is once again seeking nominations for its World Video Game Hall of Fame. The Class of 2016 will be announced on May 5, but the museum will solicit suggestions from the general public until February 29. Anyone interested in nominating their favorite game should visit the Hall of Fame’s website, and they should also keep the selection criteria in mind:
- Icon Status: The game is widely recognized and remembered.
- Longevity: The game is more than a passing fad and has enjoyed popularity over time.
- Geographical Reach: The game meets the above criteria across international boundaries.
- Influence: The game has exerted significant influence on the design and development of other games, on other forms of entertainment, or on popular culture and society in general. A game may be inducted on the basis of this criterion without necessarily having met all of the first three.
Six games were selected for induction in 2015 (Doom, Pac-Man, Pong, Super Mario Bros., Tetris, and World of Warcraft), and a similar number of titles will likely make the cut in May. That means nine games from last year’s shortlist failed to be inducted (Angry Birds, FIFA International Soccer, The Legend of Zelda, Minecraft, The Oregon Trail, Pokemon Red/Blue, The Sims, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Space Invaders), but they’ll likely be at the top of the suggestion pool again this year.
This year’s finalists will be chosen by an internal advisory committee from the ICHEG, and will be revealed to the public on March 29. The new class of inductees to the World Video Game Hall of Fame will be selected by an international selection committee made up of journalists, scholars, and other individuals familiar with the history of video games and their role in society.
We Are Doomed will be released for Vita on February 9
We’re big fans of We Are Doomed here at Warp Zoned, so it’s exciting to learn that the twin-stick shooter will be available to download for the Vita beginning on February 9. Vertex Pop’s Mobeen Fikree announced the good news on the PlayStation Blog yesterday, while also including a number of tips for the oftentimes frantic shooter.
He also revealed that We Are Doomed is Cross-Buy compatible, so it’ll be a free download on the Vita if you already own the PS4 version.
Posted in News, Vita
Tagged We Are Doomed
The Witness, Lego Avengers, This War of Mine: The Little Ones, more added to PS Store
Jonathan Blow’s The Witness aims to bring back the exploration genre on the PlayStation Store this week. The PS4 game is now available to download and its Myst-like qualities are readily apparent. Once you add in the whole “you’re alone on a deserted island and there are puzzles everywhere” thing, it almost starts looking like a stealth sequel.
Also available this week is Lego Avengers (PS3, PS4, Vita), the 18th Lego adaptation from TT Games. This time, the British developer has mined the Marvel Cinematic Universe to create a game that links together Captain America: The First Avenger, The Avengers, Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Finally this week, a trio of other titles will be added to the PlayStation Store including This War of Mine: The Little Ones (PS4), a war game that focuses on the civilian experience; Saturday Morning RPG (PS4 + Vita Cross-Buy), a dual homage to JRPGs and Saturday morning cartoons of the 80s; and Gemini: Heroes Reborn (PS4), a first-person adventure in a superpowered world.
More details on all of these games can be found after the break, and a full rundown of this week’s new game add-ons and discounts can be found at the PlayStation Blog. (more…)
Posted in News, PS3, PS4, Vita
Tagged Lego Avengers, The Witness
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt nabs eight nominations at 2016 SXSW Gaming Awards
South by Southwest Gaming recently announced the nominees for this year’s SXSW Gaming Awards and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, not surprisingly, has captured the most accolades. CD Projekt’s sprawling RPG is up for eight awards, including “Game of the Year.” It was also nominated for “Excellence in Gameplay,” “Excellence in Art,” “Excellence in Technical Achievement,” “Excellence in Visual Achievement,” “Excellence in Narrative,” “Excellence in Musical Score,” and “Most Enduring Character.”
Competing against Geralt of Rivia for “Game of the Year” is a familiar-looking quartet of games including Bloodborne, Fallout 4, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, and Undertale. Bloodborne was actually a close second to The Witcher 3 with seven nominations.
Who wins at the 2016 SXSW Gaming Awards will be determined in part by a public vote that will hosted by IGN from Monday, February 1 through Friday, February 12. The winners will be announced on Saturday, March 19 at 9:00 PM (Eastern Time) and you can watch it live on Twitch.
The complete list of this year’s nominees can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, Mobile, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Batman: Arkham Knight, Bloodborne, Fallout 4, Her Story, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Ori and the Blind Forest, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Rocket League, Splatoon, Star Wars: Battlefront, Superhot, Tabletop Games, The Order: 1886, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Mighty No. 9 delayed for a third time… will now be released in Spring 2016
There is no joy in Mudville… Mighty Keiji has delayed again.
Keiji Inafune and his team at have Comcept have informed Kickstarter backers that Mighty No. 9 has been delayed again. The platformer won’t be able to meet its planned release date of February 9 and will instead now launch sometime in the Spring. Once again citing bugs in the network code as the reason for the delay, all the developer could do was apologize:
The reason for the delay is rooted in bugs inside the network modes, and specifically problems with matchmaking. There are two large reasons for this problem, one of them being the large number of platforms supported (the solution for each platform is slightly different) and the other stems from the fact that the engine we are using is no longer being updated which means adjustments for matchmaking and online code are being made manually (actually reprogramming parts of the engine by the dev team themselves).
Unfortunately, this is all a result of miscalculations on the part of us, the development staff. As a result, our fans who have been looking forward to Mighty No. 9 have been forced to wait for over half a year longer than expected, and for that we are sincerely sorry. I want to take this chance to apologize personally, and on the behalf of the development staff.
Inafune added that the development team “has been working on these issues non-stop without break” and that “the end is in sight.” If that’s true, Mighty No. 9 will finally be released for the 3DS, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Xbox One this Spring.
New Releases: Final Fantasy Explorers, Lego Avengers, Rise of the Tomb Raider for PC
This might get said every January, but January 2016 was an abnormally slow period for new game releases. The first month of the year closes out with the launch of a trio new games and a promise of much more to come in the remaining eleven frames:
- Final Fantasy Explorers (3DS) is a multiplayer action RPG from Square Enix that resurrects “legendary” Final Fantasy characters to battle with a horde of monsters guarding a cache of crystals. Yup, sounds like a Final Fantasy game.
- Lego Avengers (3DS, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One) is the latest Lego-ization of some pop culture favorite by the geniuses at TT Games. This time, they’ve set their sights on the sprawling Marvel Cinematic Universe and created a brick-filled adaptation of The Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Iron Man 3, and Thor: The Dark World.
- Finally, Square Enix comes back around again to bring Lara Croft’s latest adventure, Rise of the Tomb Raider, to the PC.
As always, we’ll be back later this week to shine the spotlight on the latest digital releases available through the PlayStation Store, Xbox Games Store, and Nintendo eShop.
Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Final Fantasy Explorers, Lego Avengers, Rise of the Tomb Raider
Resident Evil 0, Dark Cloud 2, Oddworld: New N Tasty Vita added to PS Store
Brains! Braaaaaaiiiiiinnnnnsssssssss!
Rampaging zombies made their shuffling return to the PS3 and PS4 this week thanks to the launch of Resident Evil 0, the chronologically first game in the Resident Evil series, on the PlayStation Store. Originally released for the GameCube back in 2002, this new version of the game includes enhanced graphics and a brand new control scheme. Sony was pretty busy yesterday afternoon, and added a rather large number of other games to the PlayStation Store as well:
- Dark Cloud 2 was one of the most popular action RPGs on the PS2, and now its available to download on the PS4 with 1080p graphics and full Trophy support.
- Oddworld: New N Tasty makes its Vita debut, allowing players to take the Abe’s Oddysee remake on the go.
- The Deadly Tower of Monsters is an overhead shooter from ACE Team with a 70s sci-fi theme.
- Atelier Escha & Logy Plus: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky is the latest Vita re-release for the popular RPG franchise.
And that’s just scratching the surface because a total of 17 games were added to the PlayStation Store yesterday on the PS4, PS3 and Vita. A complete rundown of this week’s new releases can be found after the break and you can visit the PlayStation Blog for a list of this week’s new game add-ons and discounts. (more…)
Posted in News, PS3, PS4, Vita
Tagged Resident Evil 0
A Day-By-Day Guide to All of 2016’s New Video Games (January – March)
After years and years of publishers packing the September through November “Holiday” season with an unmanageable number of new AAA titles, we might get a much more balanced release calendar in 2016. But can you believe it all happened by accident?
Video game fans have always had to deal with delays, but publishers got even more use out of their erasers than normal in 2015. Aside from the one-two punch of Fallout 4‘s E3 2015 announcement, and its eventual release on November 10th, no game felt safe… and more than a few big titles got pushed into 2016. So now we get to ring in 2016 with a release calendar that just might offer up something exciting all year long.
Are you ready? Because here… we… go… (more…)
Posted in 3DS, Features, Mobile, PC, PS3, PS4, Top Story, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Amplitude, Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia, Bravely Second: End Layer, EA Sports UFC 2, EVE: Valkyrie, Far Cry: Primal, Final Fantasy Explorers, Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright/Conquest, Gone Home, Hitman, Hyrule Warriors, Killer Instinct, Lego Avengers, Life Is Strange, Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam, Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, Mega Man Legacy Collection, Mighty No. 9, Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 2, Pokken Tournament, Project X Zone 2, Rebel Galaxy, Resident Evil 0, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Rocket League, Street Fighter V, The Banner Saga, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, The Walking Dead: Michonne, The Witness, Tom Clancy's The Division, Umbrella Corps, XCOM 2