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
Sony @ E3 2015: A Final Fantasy VII remake is in the works (and World of Final Fantasy too)
Two trailers were shown during Sony’s Press Conference that should be of interest to Final Fantasy fans, the first of which is for World of Final Fantasy. The game features a chibi aesthetic, and famous characters from the franchise will make cameos. More information will be revealed at a later date, but what we do know is that World of Final Fantasy will hit PlayStation 4 and PS Vita sometime in 2016.
The second announcement is one that fans have been dying for… a real remake of the PSone classic, Final Fantasy VII! After all these years, the oft-requested remake of arguably the best Final Fantasy title had the crowd in an absolute uproar and Producer Yoshinori Kitase, Director Tetsuya Nomura, and Scenario Writer Kazushige Nojima will all return to oversee the project at Square Enix. Aside from tremendously-improved graphics, we don’t know that much about the remake. Though the trailer did say it was coming “first” to the PS4, implying a PC or Xbox One release is possible. It’s also unknown what this means for the re-release of the original version of Final Fantasy VII that was announced last year. But I’m sure more than a few people would say, who cares?
More information on both titles as it becomes available. And you can find the World of Final Fantasy trailer after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PS4, Vita
Tagged E3 2015, Final Fantasy VII, World of Final Fantasy
Video Game Release Calendar Changelog: Pre-E3 2015 Edition
Don’t Forget! This is just a changelog of recently announced release dates. Warp Zoned’s complete Video Game Release Calendar includes every title we could find with a 2015, 2016, 2017, or unannounced release date.
The 2015 E3 Expo will kick off in just a few days with the first-ever E3 Press Conference from Bethesda. The publisher has promised a first look at Fallout 4, as well as Doom 4. Both games currently have “TBA” release dates, but that will likely change this Sunday. As I dive into the rest of the new release dates in this Pre-E3 2015 Edition of our Video Game Release Calendar Changelog, I can’t be sure I got them all. Dozens of games have release dates (or, at the very least, release windows) that didn’t before.
So here’s a few more games we can start looking forward to…
- Until Dawn, Sony’s “kids in the woods” horror game for the PS4, will be released on August 25.
- Skylanders SuperChargers will bring its “interactive game toys” (we need a better name for this genre) to nearly every platform on September 20.
- The Mega Man Legacy Collection will collect the first six games in the series on the PC, PS4, and Xbox One this Summer.
- Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection will bring the three PS3 games to the PS4 on October 9.
- Square Enix will release Dragon Quest Heroes on the PS4 on October 13.
- Bandai Namco’s Tales series will expand on October 20 with Tales of Zestiria on the PC, PS3, and PS4.
- And the next Tales game after that, Tales of Berseria, has been officially announced, but it’s release date is currently “TBA.”
Even more new release dates from this edition of the Video Game Release Calendar Changelog can be found after the break. And check back with us after E3 when we’ll surely get the chance to pencil in even more release dates. (more…)
Bloodstained becomes most-funded video game in Kickstarter history (and there’s still 13 hours to go)
As its wild (and wildly successful) Kickstarter campaign comes to an end, Koji Igarashi’s Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night has risen to the top of the pack as the most-funded video game of all time. Currently sitting at $4.7 million, the campaign proves that gamers still care deeply about Igarashi’s Metroidvania-style gothic castle crawlers. And Igarashi still has 13 hours to gather more pledges as the campaign isn’t scheduled to close until 11:00 PM (Eastern Time) tonight.
The developer has responded to this deluge of money by running one of the most bizarre campaigns in recent memory. He included “achievements” to “unlock” stretch goals, he asked for fan art for a game that barely exists (and which he received by the bucketful), and he created a series of whimsical videos to respond to fans. Igarashi also expanded the scope of Bloodstained considerably through a ridiculous number of stretch goals, including these recently funded features:
- Online Challenge Mode… FUNDED
- Third Playable Character… FUNDED
- Standalone Prequel for PC/Consoles… FUNDED
- Standalone Prequel for 3DS/Vita… ALMOST FUNDED
If the campaign reaches $5 million, Igarashi has promised to create a roguelike mode that reshapes the game into a series of procedurally-generated hallways. But for now, Bloodstained will definitely receive an Online Challenge Mode, a third playable character (details coming soon), and a retro-styled standalone prequel developed by Inti Creates for the PC, PS4, Wii U, and Xbox One. Igarashi and his team are also reasonably confident the standalone prequel will come to handhelds as they’re only a few thousand away.
And they’re not done. This morning, a new update revealed that Yacht Club’s Shovel Knight will be included in the game in some way. Is he friend? Is he foe? Igarashi isn’t saying, but his inclusion is sure to be interesting.
After all these reveals, it’s hard to believe we’ll have to wait until 2017 to play Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. Hopefully, Igarashi can keep the crazy updates coming for the next two years.
Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox One
Tagged Bloodstained Prequel, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
The Witcher 3 hunts down the top spot as May 2015’s best-selling game
The NPD Group has published their monthly report on the financial state of the video game industry and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has emerged as the best-selling game of May 2015.
The Witcher 3’s victory was assured after the game leapfrogged both of April’s big releases including Mortal Kombat X (#2) and Grand Theft Auto V (#3). The only other May release to make the list, Nintendo’s Splatoon, swam its way into the fifth spot. Though Splatoon should get extra notice for being the only platform-exclusive title in the top ten.
All told, retail sales for games, hardware, and accessories were down 13% versus May 2014. However, Mario Kart 8, Watch Dogs, Wolfenstein: The New Order, and the continued success of TitanFall more than explain the sales gap. The drop-off might have been even bigger if it weren’t for a new wave of Amiibo figures. According to NPD’s Liam Callahan (speaking to GamesIndustry.biz), accessories rose 20% year-over-year, with a 73% increase for “interactive gaming toys.” Callahan also confirmed that the PS4 was the best-selling console of the month.
The complete top ten list of best-selling games for May 2015 can be found after the break. (more…)
Lego Avengers is coming this Winter… and here’s the first trailer
Are you ready to recreate the Battle of New York using Legos? Well, you’re in luck, because the first trailer for Lego Avengers is here and it lets us all see how the finale of The Avengers would have looked using the famous toy bricks. In addition to the first film, a series of stages based on this Summer’s The Avengers: Age of Ultron will also be included in the game.
Lego Avengers, in development at TT Games and scheduled to be published by WB Games, will be available this Fall/Winter for the 3DS, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.
PS Store Today: The Elder Scrolls Online, Lego Jurassic World, Gradius, more
Only a small number of new releases were added to the PlayStation Store today, but they include a pair of games that are both big in their own way.
The Elder Scrolls Online is Bethesda’s first attempt at creating an Elder Scrolls MMO. First released for the PC last year, The Elder Scrolls Online makes its PS4 debut today without any of those pesky subscription costs usually associated with MMOs. Players will be able to make a one-time purchase and then dive in to all the game has to offer including adventurous quests or crafting quality goods.
This week’s second big game will be available Friday and its Lego Jurassic World for the PS3, PS4, and Vita. In addition to including Lego-ized versions of all four films, Lego Jurassic World also gives players the opportunity to play as the massive Tyrannosaurus Rex… with its itty-bitty arms.
In other new release news, Gradius joins the PS4’s Arcade Archives line and Operation Abyss: New Tokyo Legacy is out for the Vita. Gradius is, of course, one of the forerunners of the space shooter genre and Operation Abyss: New Tokyo Legacy is the latest JRPG from NIS America, so you can expect plenty of superheroic high schoolers, evil demons, and an alternate dimension full of bad goings-on.
Yup, goings-on. More information 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 Jurassic World, Operation Abyss: New Tokyo Legacy, The Elder Scrolls Online
XSEED @ E3 15: Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel 1/2, EDF 4.1 PS4, EDF 2 Vita, more
XSEED Games has big plans for the remainder of the year. The publisher, which specializes in localizing obscure and niche titles from Japan, will release ten more games by the end of the year and they plan to bring all of them to this year’s E3 Expo.
Here’s a quick look at XSEED’s full lineup:
- Corpse Party (PC) – The first game in the survival horror series is in development for the PC. (Fall 2015)
- Corpse Party: Blood Drive (PS Vita) – The third, and final, game in the survival horror series will be released for the Vita. (Fall 2015)
- Earth Defense Force 2: Invaders from Planet Space (PS Vita) – The second game in the bug-bashing shooter series will shrink down onto the Vita in its first American release. (Fall 2015)
- Earth Defense Force 4.1: The Shadow of New Despair (PS4) – An enhanced version of Earth Defense Force 2025 will come to the PS4 with an expanded level count. (Fall 2015)
- Return to PoPoLoCrois: A Story of Seasons Fairytale (3DS) – Farm and fight in this turn-based RPG. (Fall 2015)
- The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky Second Chapter (PC, PSP) – Yes, the “Trails in the Sky” series will finally continue in America with this PC and PSP release. (Fall 2015)
- The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel (PS Vita, PS3) – Another Legend of Heroes game, set in the same universe as “Trails in the Sky” but starring different characters, is also coming soon. (Fall 2015)
- Onechanbara Z2: Chaos (PS4) – The “bikini zombie slayers” will be back chopping heads on the PS4 soon. (Summer 2015)
- Senran Kagura: Estival Versus (PS Vita, PS4) – The wave-based fighter will offer ten-player play on the PS4 and four-player play on the Vita. (Fall 2015)
- Senran Kagura 2: Deep Crimson (3DS) – The anime-influenced fighting series will return for another go-round shortly. (Summer 2015)
Finally, XSEED will also release The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II for the PS3 and Vita, but it currently has no release date and likely won’t be at this year’s E3 Expo.
Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS4, PSP, Vita
Tagged E3 2015, Earth Defense Force 2: Invaders from Planet Space, Earth Defense Force 2025
Bloodstained officially coming to Vita; final stretch goals announced
Koji Igarashi’s Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is officially coming to the PlayStation Vita after crossing the $3.5 million mark in total pledges over the weekend.
Like the Wii U version, the portable port of Bloodstained will be developed by Armature. They plan to offer a music import option to transfer Bloodstained’s soundtrack to your Vita music library, PS4 Cross-Save support, touchscreen map support, and PlayStation TV compatibility. Like all other versions of the game, digital and physical copies are currently available to backers.
With the campaign scheduled to conclude in just four days on Friday, June 12 at 11:00 PM (Eastern Time), Igarashi and his team at Inti Creates have revealed the final stretch goals, which include another playable character and a separate prequel game created created in a retro style:
$3,750,000 – Orchestrated Tracks: Yamane and Yamada are thrilled to see this goal on the horizon, as it will enable them to have some of their compositions performed and recorded by a live, professional orchestra! These tracks will, of course, end up in the game, not to mention on the soundtrack.
$4,000,000 – Online Challenge Mode: Compete and cooperate with a friend to earn points in specially designed stages by clearing challenges, killing enemies, collecting items, and more. Rumor has it there there may even be incredibly powerful bosses which drop rare crafting materials…
$4,250,000 – 3rd Playable Character: Iga and Inti Creates will include a third playable character in Bloodstained! They don’t want to give away too much—it might even be a character you haven’t met yet.
$4,500,000 – Prequel Mini-Game For Consoles: Inti Creates is so excited about Bloodstained that they’re hoping to create a 2D, pixel-based, retro-styled mini-game that sheds some light on the world of Bloodstained before Miriam awoke from her coma. This is a complete game which will be sold separately, but every $28+ backer copy of Bloodstained will come with a FREE download of this game on PS4, XB1, Wii U, or PC! (Backers at Physical+Digital tiers will be eligible for 2 copies of the mini-game.)
$4,750,000 – Prequel Mini-Game For Portables: At $4.75 million Inti will port their side story game to the PS Vita and Nintendo 3DS. Backers $28 and up will be able to choose any platform for their free copy (or copies)!
$5,000,000 – ?????
More than 44,000 backers have pledged over $3.6 million to Bloodstained so far. Can Igarashi find more folks to push it to $5 million? Check back Friday to find out.
Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox One
Tagged Bloodstained Prequel, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night