Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- Meet the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2025: Quake, GoldenEye 007, Defender, and Tamagotchi
- The BAFTA Games Awards Polled the Public and Shenmue is “The Most Influential Video Game of All Time”
- 2024 GOTY Scoreboard: Astro Bot, Balatro, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, More
- The Strong Museum of Play Acquires Prototypes and Development Documents from Volition’s 30-Year History
- Minecraft’s Volume Alpha Soundtrack Has Been Added to the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry
Warp Zoned Presents
- Video Game Research Library
- It’s beginning to feel like gaming isn’t for everyone – Digital Trends (2025)
- 22 years later, modders are keeping SimCity 4 alive – The Verge (2025)
- The B-movies of Paul W.S. Anderson double as acts of devotion to his muse, Milla Jovovich – The AV Club (2025)
- Breakout, Ripoff, Genre: How Fiction Outgrows Originality – Uncanny Magazine (2025)
- ‘I Could Make “Fart Fart Boobie Fart: The Game” and Maybe It Would Eventually Get Taken Down’ – Devs Reveal Why the Consoles Are Drowning in ‘Eslop’ – IGN (2025)
Most Recent: Vita
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
Mighty No. 9 gets Cross-Buy on PS4; Retro Hero Mode, Collector’s Edition, on all platforms
Mighty No. 9 is just three months away, and new publisher Deep Silver is gearing up to offer gamers plenty of extras if they buy in near the September 15 launch date.
First up, the Collector’s Edition will come packaged with a 6.5 inch, individually-numbered statue of Beck. The $59.99 box (available only for the PS4 and Xbox One) will also include the Retro Hero DLC Pack and special foil packaging featuring a facsimile signature of creator Keiji Inafune. The Retro Hero DLC, a special difficulty mode that offers one-hit death and a retro-inspired look for Beck, will also be part of the Launch Edition, which will be available digitally and on store shelves.
Mighty No. 9 will be available on a wide variety of platforms this September including the PC, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. However, if you purchase the game on the PS4, you’ll also receive a downloadable copy of the game for the PS3 and Vita through Sony’s Cross-Buy program. Mighty No. 9’s Vita launch will take place sometime after the PC/console release. The game is also in development for the 3DS.
Finally, Deep Silver and Comcept have released a brand new trailer for Mighty No. 9 featuring the game’s many bosses.
PS Store Today: The Escapists, Skulls of the Shogun, Class of Heroes 2G, more
Today’s PlayStation Store has a nice indie bent to it including multiple PS4 titles, a handful of PS3 games, and even a Vita game (though it’s the definitely-not-indie portable rendition of Tetris Ultimate from Ubisoft). So what else is new to the Store this week? Well…
- The Escapists brings its 8-bit jailbreak sim to the PS4.
- Skulls of the Shogun: Bone-A-Fide Edition, an RTS/fighting game hybrid, appears on the PS4 two years after its Xbox 360 debut.
- Class of Heroes 2G is an RPG that has finally made its way to America more than five years after its Japanese launch.
More information on all of these games (and a few others) can be found after the break. And a complete 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 Skulls of the Shogun, Tetris Ultimate, The Escapists
Bloodstained coming to Wii U with Vita version now in sight
As expected, backers have pushed the Kickstarter campaign for Koji Igarashi’s Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night past the $3 million mark, reaching a huge stretch goal and opening up a few more.
First things first, this new monetary benchmark means a Wii U version of the game will officially go into development at Armature. The porting house plans to make full use of the GamePad’s second screen and will feature a map that can be fully annotated. Though if you prefer Off-Screen Play, that will also be included. Miiverse integration, and Wii U Pro Controller support will be included as well.
A pair of additional stretch goals have also opened up including Asynchronous Online Multiplayer at $3.25 million and a Vita version of the game at $3.5 million. And actually, the Asynchronous Online Multiplayer features that “Iga” would like to include sound very cool:
- “Borrow” a friend’s character stats for a certain amount of time (your friend will get a bonus)
- Ghost Data (See friend’s saved character movements while fighting a boss)
- Friend’s playthroughs affect your game in some way (e.g. a gravestone and an offering might mark the spot where your friend died)
Bloodstained’s campaign still has 12 days to go, so both of these stretch goals (and surely a few others) seem well within reach.
New Releases: Heroes of the Storm, Lord of Magna: Maiden Heaven, Tetris Vita, More
As we close the book on May and its scant slate of new releases, we look ahead to June and find… another scant slate of new releases. Sigh.
This week, Blizzard is ready to roll out the full version of Heroes of the Storm, their entry into the crowded MOBA field. Also available as a Battle.net download for the PC, this “Starter Pack” will include five heroes (Sonya the Warrior, Zeratul the Assassin, Zagara the Specialist, Li Li the Support, and Jaina the Assassin) and a Golden Tiger Mount.
Also available this week is Lord of Magna: Maiden Heaven, a new strategy RPG for the 3DS from Marvelous and XSEED. Lord of Magna follows Luchs as he attempts to recruit seven maidens to save the world and battles enemies by literally bowling them over. Speaking of knocking things down, Ubisoft will also bring everyone’s favorite puzzle game to the Vita this week as Tetris Ultimate.
Finally, Rescue 2: Everyday Heroes is a firefighter sim for the PC and a sequel to Rescue 2013: Everyday Heroes.
Posted in 3DS, News, PC, Vita
Tagged Heroes of the Storm, Tetris Ultimate
Get a VIP tour of Lego Jurassic World in this new trailer
I know it’s quite cliche to open an article like this, but welcome to Lego Jurassic World! WB Games and TT Games have released a new trailer to promote their Lego-ized adaptation of the four Jurassic Park films and this time we’re treated to a “VIP Tour” of the park.
We’ve also learned that the first two DLC packs will be available as a free bonus to fans that pre-order the game through the digital storefronts:
Pre-Order Through PlayStation Store (PS3 or PS4) and Get…
Jurassic Park Trilogy Pack #1
Characters – Dino Handler, Eric Kirby, and Paul Kirby
Vehicle – Animal Control Vehicle
Pre-Order Through Xbox Games Store (Xbox 360 or Xbox One) and Get…
Jurassic Park Trilogy Pack #2
Characters – Jurassic Park Helicopter Pilot, Lex Murphy, and Tim Murphy
Vehicle – Ian Malcolm’s San Diego Cruiser
Both packs will be available after launch for $0.99 each.
Lego Jurassic World will be released on June 12 for the 3DS, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. Jurassic World will open in theaters on the same day.
Sony’s Andrew House says 2015 lineup is “a little sparse” and calls Vita a “legacy platform”
It’s no secret that Sony’s 2015 lineup is a little on the small side. The consolemaker has only released three retail PS4 games in 2015 (The Order: 1886, Bloodborne, and MLB 15: The Show) with another three (God of War III Remastered, Until Dawn, and Tearaway Unfolded) penciled in for the remainder of the year. However, it’s absolutely unprecedented to hear the head of the company admit it. And yet, during Sony’s Investor Relations Day yesterday, Sony Computer Entertainment President and CEO Andrew House admitted the publisher’s planned lineup for the current calendar year is “a little sparse” and that 2015 should be considered “a year of investment.”
“I would characterize 2015 as the beginning of a harvest period for the PlayStation 4 platform,” House said. “The beginning of a harvest period. That being said, we are also undertaking to invest in the future, and 2015 will also be a year of investment.”
“We are working very hard to continue very strong support from third-party pubs and devs,” House said. “Our first-party lineup is a little sparse this year, so I think this places even greater emphasis on getting good third-party support.”
On the subject of third-party support, House cited the PS4 release of Street Fighter V in 2016 as a bright spot, but cautioned that such exclusives will be hard to come by in the future. But the CEO had no kind words for the PlayStation Vita. He referred to the handheld, and the Vita-based PlayStation TV microconsole, as “legacy platforms” during his speech. Aside from a portable version of the aforementioned MLB 15: The Show, Sony doesn’t have any other Vita titles on tap for 2015.
Some surprises will surely come out of this year’s E3 Expo, but I don’t expect big things from Sony this year as CEOs are rarely this honest about their shortcomings.
[Source: GamesIndustry.biz]
Smash Derby will mix Smash TV with a destruction derby sometime this year
Smash TV was a one-of-a-kind game that… wait a minute, that’s not right, let me start over…
Smash TV ripped off The Running Man and married its futuristic game show setting with the twin-stick shooting of Robotron 2084. It was a massive hit and fans have patiently been waiting for a followup for the last 25 years. Smash Derby is not that game, but its definitely embodies Smash TV’s spirit of artistic borrowing.
Developed by Fenix Fire, Smash Derby is a futuristic game show overseen by a smarmy host who is always surrounded by a gaggle of giggling babes. However, it differs from Smash TV in that all the contestants are cocooned in hovercars. Rather than blast each other with laser pistols, the contestants have to smash in to one another like cars in a destruction derby… a “Smash Derby,” if you will. A wide range of Defense Units (mines, turrets, and lasers) can also be equipped to put a hurt on the other players in competitive and cooperative multiplayer, deathmatch and team-based modes. The game will also include single-player Arcade, Survival, and Strategy modes.
Fenix Fire hopes to release Smash Derby, which is in development for the PS4, Vita, and Xbox One, before the end of the year.