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
Watch this fan-made Shovel Knight Holiday Special right now
In just a short time, Shovel Knight has captured the hearts of gamers everywhere. After being created by Yacht Club Games, the character has gone on to cameo in a whole host of games and will make the jump to the PS3, PS4, and Vita in 2015. But first, you should watch Shovel Knight’s Holiday Special, a fan-made animated short created by Wind-Up Dog Animation that features a special appearance from Shield Knight.
I gotta admit, I’d watch an entire series of animated adventures starring Shovel Knight. Especially one from this creative team.
Dragon Ball Z/Naruto/One Piece crossover J-Stars Victory Vs+ coming to US in 2015
Bandai Namco has announced that J-Stars Victory Vs+, a crossover fighter featuring characters from Dragon Ball Z, Naruto, and One Piece will make its way to North America next Summer.
Based on the popular Shonen Jump manga magazine, J-Stars Victory Vs+ is a two-versus-two fighting game that will be released for the PS3, PS4, and Vita. According to Bandai Namco’s Tumblr page, the North American version will include a brand new Arcade Mode.
Posted in News, PS3, PS4, Vita
Tagged J-Stars Victory Vs+
Shovel Knight will be available on PlayStation platforms “early next year”
In a new update to their Kickstarter backers, Yacht Club Games has revealed that Shovel Knight will be released for the PS3, PS4, and Vita in early 2015:
Maybe you haven’t heard the exciting news, but Shovel Knight is branching out on to other platforms for adventure. Early next year, Shovel Knight will make his debut on Playstation platforms: PS3, PS4, and PSVita! Along with this extremely exciting development in the legend of Shovel Knight, a guest character that you are all familiar with will be meeting our stalwart, blue knight: Kratos from the God of War series!
Yes, that’s right. Steel will strike against steel as Shovel Knight’s Shovel Blade challenges Kratos’ Blades of Chaos in a battle for the ages. The team is also hard at work on the Plague Knight campaign, which will be available to all owners of the game as a free downloadable update:
The pedal is to the proverbial metal on Plague Knight! We are working full time on update content (Plague Knight, Body Swap Mode, and Battle Mode!), and it’s shaping up to be amazing. The Plague Knight campaign will be the first content released, and it’s feeling like a whole new adventure already! A new relic system! New characters and bosses! Remixed content! On that subject, we’re going to share a little detail. Mona, who runs the potion minigame in the village, will have a vastly expanded role…
There’s no ETA on when the Plague Knight campaign will be released, but you can head over to Kickstarter for a peek at a few design sketches featuring Mona.
Check out this 30-minute gameplay video of Zeboyd’s Cosmic Star Heroine
Zeboyd Games brought their ultra-retro Kickstarted game, Cosmic Star Heroine, to the PlayStation Experience earlier this month. This video shows half an hour of alpha gameplay, which the developer warns is a very early demo.
“Many things are missing from the demo shown, including sound effects, items in treasure chests, several gameplay mechanics, and a lot of polish (graphics, text, writing, etc.),” they wrote in the description of the video. “These things will be added in due time!”
The game has some great humor, and the combat is definitely a throwback to retro hits like Chrono Trigger. Cosmic Star Heroine is scheduled to be released in 2015 on PC (Windows, Mac), PlayStation 4, and Vita.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Vita
Tagged Cosmic Star Heroine, PlayStation Experience 2014
NIS America will release Operation Abyss: New Tokyo Legacy for Vita in Spring 2015
NIS America has announced that they’ll be bringing Operation Abyss: New Tokyo Legacy to North America and Europe for the PlayStation Vita in the Spring of 2015. This dungeon-crawler RPG will be available as a digital release as well as a physical one.
The game is set in near-future Tokyo, with genetically engineered monsters called Variants, as well as portals to another dimension called the Abyss. The Code Physics Agency has been created to do some investigating, and have created a group of – you guessed it – teenagers called the Xth Squad to check things out.
The game includes a customization system so you can recruit and train your teens, as well as a “unique cyberpunk story.” New Tokyo will be home to over 40 hours of dungeon-crawling, for those of you looking for something to keep you occupied while you wait for Disgaea 5.
Operation Abyss: New Tokyo Legacy will be coming to the Vita in Spring 2015.
Posted in News, Vita
Tagged Operation Abyss: New Tokyo Legacy
Metal Gear Solid 4, Tetris Ultimate, Super Mega Baseball, more added to PS Store
The PlayStation Store is about to get a little more ordered as Tetris Ultimate is now available to download on the PS4. There’s just something about a steady stream of falling Tetris pieces that makes me want everything organized, so here are the rest of this week’s addition to the store in handy list format:
- Guilty Gear Xrd Sign (PS3, PS4) – Arc System Works’ latest entry in the popular fighting franchise brings the Guilty Gear universe to the PS4 for the first time.
- Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3) – Hideo Kojima’s masterpiece is finally available to download from the PlayStation Store.
- Super Mega Baseball (PS3 + PS4 Cross-Buy) – A Baseball Stars-like return to the diamond. Everybody remember Baseball Stars, right?
- Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee HD (Vita) – The second Oddworld game has been remastered and remade for the Vita.
- Loadout (PS4) – A free-to-play shooter that tasks you with building your character via the types of guns they carry.
You can read more about all of these games after the break. And, as always, a complete rundown of this week’s new game add-ons and temporary discounts is available at the PlayStation Blog. (more…)
Posted in News, PS3, PS4, Vita
Tagged Guilty Gear Xrd Sign, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Super Mega Baseball, Tetris Ultimate
Insert Quarter: How Did 2014 Treat Indie Developers?
Insert Quarter is our showcase for some of the best and most interesting writing about video games on the Internet.
It is a precarious time to be an indie developer. Steam’s Greenlight and Early Access initiatives are producing just as many misses as hits and discoverability is still a problem on the Xbox Games Store, the PlayStation Store, and mobile storefronts. Matthew Handrahan examined the squeeze that indie developers are feeling from all sides as part of GamesIndustry.biz’s roundup of 2014’s major stories. The picture he paints is one of gloom and doom, but also one that can be overcome with the right level of talent and a genuinely groundbreaking idea:
So are indies heading towards a “mass extinction event”? Overcrowding is certainly a key aspect of the overall picture, but the act of making and releasing a game is only getting easier, and the allure of development as a career choice seems to grow with each passing month. It stands to reason that there will continue to be a huge number of games jostling for position on every single platform – more than even a growing market can sustain – but there’s only so much to be gained from griping about the few remaining gatekeepers. If the days when simply being on Steam or Kickstarter made a commercial difference are gone, and if existing discovery tools still lack the nuance to deal with all of that choice, then it just shifts the focus back to where it really belongs: talent, originality, and a product worth an investment of time and money.
The full article is available for your perusal at GamesIndustry.biz.
Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions is bound for the Vita too
Sierra Games has confirmed that Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions will soon make its Vita debut in the near future. Geometry Wars 3 was developed by Lucid Games and serves as the sequel to the much-loved Geometry Wars 2: Retro Evolved. Released last month for consoles and the PC, Dimensions adds an Adventure Mode campaign, boss battles, companion drones, special weapons, and a variety of new gameplay modes to the Geometry Wars formula.
That’s all we know for now, but Sierra has promised that more information will be available soon.
Posted in News, Vita
Tagged Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions, PlayStation Experience 2014